You are the front line of content quality. Don’t just post to post. Post WISTfully. Tell a story. Make it sparkle. Take a stand. Give it a twist. Humanize it. Sing it. Relate it. Feed our inner Cliff Clavin. Capture the moment. Find the beauty. Build the brand. Before you post it ask yourself one question: “Would I Share This?”

Download a little WIST reminder poster for your office: http://charliecurve.com/keynotes/WIST.pdf

Is it time to add photography as a required competency in schools?

We’re a visual society. We skim more than we read. And we love to look at pictures. A lot.

Take a gander at just about any marketing case study these days, and you’ll see smart marketers are using photos to drive traffic with Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr, Picsa, 500px, DailyBooth, TwitPic and Tumblr.

And that’s not even mentioning the insane numbers YouTube and Vimeo put up every day. Maybe we should be talking about adding video production/editing to the required curriculum?

The old world looked down at folks who could write or spell. And while that won’t change anytime soon, I believe the day is quickly approaching where we will snub job candidates who cannot light, compose, capture, retouch, edit and share.

Photo by the most excellent photographer Brad Stanley.
http://www.stanleyphoto.com

Less: Ideas for a brilliant social media campaign. 
More: Brilliant ideas worthy of a social media campaign.

Social media is a remarkable tool for spreading your ideas, but only if you have remarkable ideas worth spreading. And here’s the secret: it easier to promote remarkable ideas – your network will actually relish spreading them.

So let’s go back to the drawing board. Grab a blank sheet of paper. Look at your big idea/product/service/innovation with fresh eyes. Build remarkable right in.

Your sizzle should sell a delicious steak.
Your sizzle should not be the best part of the meal.

It’s pretty hard not to like Ford these days. The automaker is rocking it from product to promotion to profit.

Much of the credit on the promotion side goes to the good Scott Monty and his band of merry marketers engaging folks in new ways via social media. Recent case study-worthy marketing efforts include Ford Fiesta Movement, the World’s Largest Tweetup, Ford Explorer Launch on Facebook, the top secret Focus Global Test Drive and Doug the Ford Spokespuppet. Ford is even one of the few businesses to be welcomed by Google for the Google+ beta.

Now, Team Ford is giving the media junket a social media makeover. 

Ford recently hosted a 3-day, in-depth look into the future called Ford Trends. The event took attendees behind the scenes for tours of Ford’s design, safety and technology labs. In the past, the event would have been reserved for highfalutin members of the automotive and business press. This year, Ford invited nearly 350 influential bloggers who cover a wide variety of topics to attend. Bloggers had an all-access pass to visit the Ford HQ in Detroit, Michigan and meet with executives, engineers and designers. My new favorite person, and Ford Social Media Manager, Craig Daitch hooked me up with an invite.

I share my impressions of the event in the video above. You can also see me tearing up the test track behind the wheel of the new Ford Focus in this clip. Or if tomfoolery and Disney showtunes are more to your liking, watch this video of Jenn Berry and I remixing Ford with The Little Mermaid.

For a look at the cool tech innovations highlighted at Ford Trends, read Jeffrey Powers‘ Geekazine Ford Trends posts. A few of my favorite bloggers also posted their impressions: Read CC Chapman, Sugar Jones, Curtis Silver, Naomi Shapiro and Christina Linnell.

For more information on the keynote speakers at Ford Trend, I highly recommend picking up a book or two from Malcolm Gladwell or Joel Garreau.

And most of all, if you haven’t found yourself behind the wheel of a Ford lately, you need to give them a second look. I’m looking at the Edge or Fusion for my next car. My wife Elena loves the all new Explorer.

How do you describe Google+ to someone who loves Facebook or Twitter?

Google Plus is a lot like Facebook—
minus the farms
minus the interface gunk
minus the pokes
minus the ads (for now)
minus the status update cholesterol 
minus the dumbed down photo engine
minus the mainstream
minus the clutter

Google+ is also kind of like Twitter+
plus threaded conversations
plus easy to use groups
plus rich media sharing
plus more robust profiles
plus digital life integration
plus more characters

The best way to figure out what Google+ is like is to dive in:
http://gplus.to/CharlieCurve

Connections, Friends, Followers and now Circles (or is it Additions or Pluses). As we watch the launch of Google+ unfold, it’s time to step back and look at how to rebuild our social networks from the ground up.

I rounded up five of my smartest friends and asked them 7 questions about starting over in social networking, network size and the future of Google+.

Our panel of experts include:

Gini Dietrich - Founder of Arment Dietrich. Author of SpinSucks.com.
CC Chapman - Founder of DigitalDads.com. Author of Content Rules.
Chris Brogan - Founder of Human Business Works. Author of Trust Agents.
Terry Bean - Founder of MCC. Author of Universal Guide to Business Networking.
Nate Riggs - Founder of Social Business Strategies. Author of NateRiggs.com.
Charlie Wollborg - Founder of Curve Detroit. Tweeter of tweets. Vlogger of Vlogs.

Question 1 – “How are your wins and/or missteps in building your Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter networks influencing your Google+ strategy?”

Gini Dietrich: The biggest thing I’ve learned from the other social networks is how to organize my network within G+. When I started on Twitter, there was no such thing as lists. Heck, there wasn’t even a desktop application. So, having to go back in, after a year of being on the platform and organizing my followers was super painful.

Chris Brogan: I’m trying something new, at least at the start. I’m not following everyone back. I’m very selective. I have about 4 circles: one for close people (defined as people I’d let watch my kids), one for good people (people I actually care about what they say), attention getters (like Robert Scoble and Bre Pettis and others, who are media makers - mind you, they’re good people, too, but I have to quantify these lists somehow), and bacon filchers, which is my list of brand types. I read the public stream a lot right now, but I retreat into those four circles quite often, which is very different from how I use Twitter.  

Nate Riggs: I am much wiser and more cautious. Not that I don’t still accept invitations from folks I don’t know. I’m a blogger so I’m used to that kind of thing. But Circles has given me a way to be honest about the level or type of relationships I have with people. I’m finding that I send out things like personal pictures to family more than I would on something like Facebook.

Charlie Wollborg: I’m organizing folks into meaningful circles as I add them. Adding them now and organizing later doesn’t work for me. Later never comes.

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Question 2 – “Are you more or less selective as you add to circles vs when you have connected, friended or followed in the past?”

Gini Dietrich: I didn’t really know how to set up my Circles at first. I’m adding people to a Circle IF I know them in some form already. If I don’t know them, but they’ve added me, I’m adding them to a big circle to review later.

CC Chapman: I am not just porting over from other networks. I’m being VERY selective on who I add to a circle and am using Google+ as a filter so that I don’t miss anything shared by those really close to me.  

Chris Brogan: I’m worlds more selective. It’s an experiment, but I’m trying my best to learn how to make this environment feel a lot more meaningful, content-wise, than what I did with Twitter. It’s really hard for me to see everything sluicing by in the stream over there, so I’m doing a lot more work on that here. So far, it’s paying off. I’m feeling a stronger connection to people, lots of whom I’d lost touch with over the last little while. That, to me, is a big win.  

Terry Bean: As a very open networker I’m selective in how I create my circles, but I’m open to having lots of circles. The main thing I will do differently is stay on top of this network. Linkedin has grown unruly for me and I wish I would have done a better job assigning my friends ib Facebook. Its almost too messy to worry about it now. With Google+  I feel like I get a “do over”.

Nate Riggs: Not really. I add everyone, But, if I don’t know you and you’ve added me, I do drop users into an “added me” circle. Once I’ve had some time to get inside that circle and talk with people, it helps me deiced if theirs a deeper connection that leads to a second or third circle. My “added me” circle is kind of like the triage area in a hospital.

Charlie Wollborg: I’m an open networker in my outer circles, but I’m very selective about who makes it into the inner circles.

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Question 3 – “Do you find you’re just cross pollinating your existing networks?”

Gini Dietrich: Not at all! It’s a different network, just like the others are different, and it’s a different message and a different strategy.

Chris Brogan: Absolutely. I’m seeing a LOT of the same old faces refriending me, yet again, on another platform. I *wish* we could carry that graph with us, in some ways. In other ways, I’m happy to get the chance to do this a bit more specifically this time.  

Terry Bean: I do think there is about an 80% cross pollination effect. That’s ok because we will have different interactions on plus then we do elsewhere.

Nate Riggs: Not really. I still spend more time on Twitter and Facebook.  Abandoning what you’ve spent years building for some new shiny object is just plain dumb. I’m looking at Google plus as somewhat of a courting period.  I’m spending enough time there to get really familiar, but it will be a while I’m ready to move in in all my stuff. 

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Question 4 – “Do you find you’re just replicating your status updates and/or content on each network?”

Gini Dietrich: Um, no. My Facebook status on Sunday was a poll about whether or not I should wear my cycling spandex to Starbucks. That wouldn’t ever go on Twitter or LinkedIn or G+. Different networks get different messages and different strategies.

CC Chapman: I am only sharing unique content on Google+ because I don’t want to just keep pouring the same things into all networks. If it is something I’ve created then I will share it across all networks, but if I’m just sharing something then no.

Chris Brogan: No. I do it differently everywhere. I treat LinkedIn and Facebook as a lot less personal, and I treat Twitter like a back and forth conversation, interrupted by sharing. On Google+, I’m doing a lot more work in the arena of curating interesting content, finding new off-Google+ stuff to share, and I’m doing a lot to keep conversations alive there.  

Terry Bean: There will be replication of status updates and there will be repurposibg of updates too. People will use each of these sites differently and at different times. Its ok to repost because you may hit a different audience or you may actually hit your intended one.

Nate Riggs: I do that at different times on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Repurposing your content is savvy and helps to create some sense of consistency across all the contexts of the different networks. I’m taking the approach of reading more than I post right now to see if I can figure out themes of what works and what doesn’t.  

Charlie Wollborg: Replicating, no. Repurposing, yes. My content is my brand so I’m reformatting it to best fit the tone, audience and attitude of each network.

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Question 5 – “How many circles are you up to? Do you think the new circles you add will be more broadly or narrowly focused?”

Gini Dietrich: I only have 12 Circles, but I have more than 1,000 people waiting to be added to one of them. The 12th Circle is the “I don’t know you, but you’ve added me” Circle.

CC Chapman: I have 8 circles at the moment and until nesting is available I’m not sure I’ll add many more.  

Chris Brogan: I have 4. I’m trying not to add too many more. But I like the 4 that I have.

Nate Riggs: I’m on the broad end of things right now and working towards narrowing. I think my total circles are about 10-12 right now.  Here’s a recent post on how I’ve organized them (for now): 5 Point Framework for Organizing your G+ Circles.

Charlie Wollborg: I have plenty of circles divided into three broad categories: Location, Expertise, Relationship. Most folks fall into multiple circles.

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Question 6 – “What do you think is sweet spot or perfect size of a circle?”

Gini Dietrich: I think it’s too early to tell, but I’m liking no more than 20 right now.

Chris Brogan: I don’t know. My “close” circle is at 13. My “attention getters” is around 350. Neither seems to bug me. I guess you want enough to keep the stream going but not so much that you lose the thread of conversations and flow there. When someone announces the birth of their kid, and you miss it, the circle’s too big.  

Nate Riggs: If you look at Facebook on the top stories tab when EdgeRank is doing it’s stuff, you’re probably looking at between 15-25 different friend’s updates on a regular basis. I think I’d have to give the engineers at Facebook some credit as that number has worked well for keeping people spending time on Facebook. Another way to look at it would be through Dunbar and 150 people.  So, somewhere in between 15 and 150 is my vote. Final answer.

Charlie Wollborg: Each circle serves a unique purpose so there really isn’t a right answer for me. My largest circle is 500. The smallest is 3.

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Question 7 – “Put on your Carnac the Magnificent turban and look into the future. One year from now, how do you think Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Justin Timberlake’s new MySpace will rank in influence?”

Gini Dietrich: If Justin Timberlake works with Ashton Kutcher on a new MySpace, it’ll take over the world. I don’t see Facebook going anywhere. If Twitter dies, it won’t be because of G+. It’ll be because they still haven’t figured out how to monetize themselves. I think G+ is going to kill email, if it kills anything.

CC Chapman: Myspace is doomed. Not worth talking about it. All of those platforms will still be around except for perhaps Twitter which I still believe is primed to be bought by someone. They will all still being used and in unique ways.

Chris Brogan: Facebook will still be #1 in one year. I don’t know the numbers on MySpace but doubt Justin can fix it (with all respect and love to Justin). LinkedIn and Twitter will grow slowly, unless Google+ hurts Twitter somehow. But that’s in one year. Ask me about what happens in three…

Terry Bean: I think LinkedIn, MySpace and Google+ will grow. LinkedIn will do so because business is such a valuable niche. MySpace will grow because JT brings sexy where ever he goes…seriously because they will carve out a little bigger niche and bring some heavy star power. The only way Google+  doesn’t grow in the next year us if they shelf it too soon ala Google Wave. Facebook and Twitter will experience shrinkage.

Nate Riggs: Facebook reigns supreme at number 1. Why? They already are wining the adoption race. Google+ is not attractive enough to the average non-techie Facebook user to pack up and leave, people are lazy in nature. I think Google Plus will eventually prove to be more useful as a business communications network.  Not for marketing or selling, but for business to business team collaboration. I think in the next year we will see Wave re-emerge inside of Google+ as well as some more robust project management applications, search and RSS features. 

Charlie Wollborg: Facebook’s farms and lifestreams (the years worth of photos, videos and posts 500M people have shared) will keep Facebook at the top of the heap for a long time to come. I think Google+ will become the top place for industry chatter. Twitter will dominate pop culture and Linkedin will continue as a “set-it and forget-it” business rolodex on steroids. I really hope MySpace goes away.

Agree? Disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

“I Like you, now please shut up.”

“Like us on Facebook!” It seems to be the new rallying cry of every marketer in the world. And why shouldn’t it be? Facebook is THE place to be on the interwebs these days. 

Brands are scurrying to add fans as quickly as possible - incentivizing people to click their Like button at great cost. Unfortunately, most of these companies are chasing the wrong cheese.

A recent study by IBM says most brands misunderstand what consumers want out of their social media brand relationships. Many consumers follow or friend a brand simply to save a buck.
More on the study: http://j.mp/IBMstudy

How can this be? Social media is a conversation!?!

Everyday, we all use hundreds of brand name products. We slip from our Wamsutta sheets into our Merrell shoes. We Sonicare our smile and scent up with Old Spice. We sip our Diet Coke and shift our Genesis Coupe into drive. Just about everything thing we touch, taste, see and smell at home and at the office is a brand wanting to be our friend.

Now imagine the nightmare of having all of them interacting with you (and cluttering your facebook feed).

We may like you. We may even love you. But that doesn’t mean we want to chat with you.

At Curve, our social strategy process looks for opportunities where Personal Interaction, Remarkable Content, Marketing Strategy and Relevant Value intersect. We help you balance your message, find your authentic voice and develop a likable brand personality. 

Before your jump on the Like bandwagon with your social strategy, figure out what your customers would actually like from you in return. It could be just a coupon. It could be just answering an occasional question. Or it could be the start of a beautiful relationship.


Need some help creating a social strategy? Talk to the social media marketing pros at Curve Detroit: http://www.curvedetroit.com

Looking for an engaging presentation on the topic of branding, marketing and innovation? Invite Charlie Wollborg to speak at your company or event: http://charliecurve.com

Connect tech - looking beyond paper

Quit thinking paper or tech. Start thinking paper AND tech.

Here are a few new sites, applications and technologies that a smart brand marketer should be investigating:

Online Business Cards (Personal Brand Sites)
Everyone wants to be your new homepage, but no one is doing it better than About dot Me right now. Build a personal splash page. Write a short bio. Link to all of your social networks. Add links to your company site, personal site and more.
http://about.me
http://about.me/CharlieCurve

Also see:
http://magnt.com
http://businesscard2.com
http://twtbizcard.com

Mobile Business Cards (Contact Info Exchange)
Bump allows smartphone users to exchange virtual business cards by bumping there phones together. It’s slick technology and we love that the physical act of bumping makes an inherent connection between the recipients.
http://bu.mp

Also see:
http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=mobile
http://www.mynameise.com

Texting Business Cards (Contact Info Exchange)
Contxts is banking on all those teens and twentysomethings that love texting will one day love business networking too. 
http://www.contxts.com
http://cntx.me/vRw

Technology should never replace remarkable a business card, but always be on the look out for new ways to connect and establish your brand. Remember: business cards don’t work at all when they’re sitting in your pocket. Get out there and meet new folks, grow your network and grow your business.

 

Need some help creating a remarkable brand and unforgettable business cards? Talk to the design pros at Curve Detroit: http://www.curvedetroit.com

Looking for an engaging on the topic of branding, marketing and innovation? InviteCharlie Wollborg to speak at your company or event: http://charliecurve.com

Just the facts. None of the fax.

Good news: Today, there are more ways to contact and connect with people than ever before. Bad news: All those methods of contact are junking up your business card.

No one loves social media and the mobile, connected lifestyle more that us. We’re all in favor of reaching out to friends, prospects and customers on as many nodes as you’re comfortable. But, that doesn’t mean you need to put them all on your business card.

You business card is part of your marketing campaign. It’s your brand ambassador. You contact information needs to be clean, simple and easy to read.

What do leave off your card:
- Your fax number (goodbye 1970s)
- Your social media URLs (we’ll be able to find you if your website is built correctly)
- Every phone number connected to you (don’t make us chase you)
- QR codes (sure, they’re neat, but do your prospects use them?)

What to include on the front of your card:
- Your logo
- Your name
- Your primary phone number
- Your primary email address
- Your primary URL

 Build your brand. Build a better business card.

Need some help creating a remarkable brand and unforgettable business cards? Talk to the design pros at Curve Detroit: http://www.curvedetroit.com

Looking for an engaging on the topic of branding, marketing and innovation? InviteCharlie Wollborg to speak at your company or event: http://charliecurve.com

Every week, you probably see the hashtag #FF dozens of times. Unfortunately, what started as a cool part of the twitter culture has devolved into little more than username spam.

#FF or #FollowFriday started as a way to introduce the world to your favorite people on twitter. It was a great way to say thank you, to discover new people and to make sure the twitter community grew stronger and more vibrant.

We haven’t gotten lazy. Nowadays, your average #FF tweet just contains a list of random twitter usernames. Gone are the reasons why we should follow these people - along with the luster, utility and honor of being listed.

Just because most people are using #FF incorrectly, Doesn’t mean we all have to. Lets get back to basics. Here are three ways to use the #FF hashtag more effectively.

Good - The List
If you want to list a bunch of people, use a unifying hashtag that describes them all.

#FF #ChevySXSW rockstars @nateriggs @30lines @kayleehawkins @kylestuef @nikkistephan @primesuspect @jacki_halas @djmeph @shaunan @AdrenalineJoe @Rmercader

#FF the people who bring #TEDx #Detroit to life: @NickDenardis @BecksDavis @HubertGAM @NaynaDub @Janet_Tyler @ShelliGutholm @CharlieCurve

Better - The Team
Describe a winning attributes of a small group and then list the 5 of so usernames of the people responsible.

#FF Social media dads with big hearts and big brains: @BryanWillmert @PatrickReyes @MattEder @DavePeckens

#FF Grand Rapids is kicking ass right now. This is how you innovate: @ArtPrize @5x5Night @LaughFest @GRWalks @TEDxGrandRapids

Best - The Person
Use your 140 characters (or better yet, 120 characters so you’re retweetable) to make us fall in love with a tweeter you think is a rockstar. Remember, your description should make us WANT to follow this person.

#FF Give Detroiters on loan to Japan, @ashetler & @markmatsusaka a follow for live updates of the earthquake & tsnami.

#FF An amazing event producer, marketer and photographer, follow @SlayterCreative for the best of jam bands, #LoveLansing, #Ignite and #TEDx

The best way to learn twitter is to use twitter, so get out there and start recommending good folks to follow today and every Friday.

Need some help making sense of social media marketing? Talk to the good folks at Curve Detroit: http://www.curvedetroit.com

#FF Team @CurveDetroit: @AmyCurve @TomCurve @VinceCurve @BeckyCurve @AshleyCurve @SakoCurve @SethCurve @MiaCurve @CharlieCurve 

Invite Charlie Wollborg to train your team on the finer points of using twitter for business: http://charliecurve.com