SOMEWHAT FRANK

BuzzGain To Help Companies With Online PR

If you are a bootstrapping company or brand looking for ways to join various online conversation and promote your product you might want to look at BuzzGain. BuzzGain is a do-it-yourself PR and marketing solution that just launched into public beta today. It empowers businesses to identify online communities such as blogs, Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, and also traditional media so that companies can then reach out and share their story. BuzzGain prices range from $99 to $999 per month depending on the revenue of the company. BuzzGain was co-founded by my friend, Brian Solis and Mukund Mohan. Check out TechCrunch's further analysis of BuzzGain.

hi5 Gets A New Communications Director

hi5, a fast growing social networking site, has just landed a new director of communications in Adriana Gascoigne. hi5 is a social networking site for Tweens, users in their teens and 30's, and is among the top-10 global social networks. Based on the June comScore Media Metrix worldwide figures released in June, hi5 grew 79% in the first half of 2008. Adriana made her plans to move to hi5 public via her blog yesterday as she decided she wanted to:

"to build castles in, make new playmates, dig to discover new treasures – most importantly, as Frank Gruber has stated several times, “Have fun!”

You are exactly right Adriana. You have to have fun in life because life is too short, because we die. I am happy you realize that and are taking action. Congrats to Adriana on the new gig with hi5. The social networking space is definitely an interesting and exploding territory and I am sure Adriana's expertise will make a positive impact on hi5's direction which already appears to be up.

Live Video: Personality Not Included Q&A

Watch and interact live over the Web! Today at 7 p.m. EST, I am chatting with Washington, DC local marketing/PR guru Rohit Bhargava the author of the new book, Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity And How Great Brands Get it Back. I am excited to be able to chat with Rohit tonight as part of the Network Solutions powered event that SOMEWHAT FRANK teamed up to host.   

I met Rohit last year as he moderated a panel that I sat on with fellow social media experts, Gary Vaynerchuk and Geoff Livingston. You can watch that video here, as I recorded it from a video camera mounted to my head. Interestingly, my three colleagues have all since published books - now doesn't that make me feel like a slacker. :) 

Personality Not Included is different from your typical marketing book and we are going to discuss it at this event. The actual event is sold out but you can watch it below thanks to BlogTV.

StickerGiant.com Delivers Logo Stickers

Stickers are part of the Web 2.0 culture as just about every startup, blogger and social media expert knows. I recently got a package delivered to me from the StickerGiant.com, a Colorado-based sticker company, which was filled with stickers that sport the SOMEWHAT FRANK logo. They are awesome - thank you StickerGiant!

SOMEWHAT FRANK Featured As 'Must Know' Blog

I got word this morning that TheMarker, Israel’s prominent business magazine and Haaretz, one of Israel’s largest newspapers, featured SOMEWHAT FRANK in a spread titled "The Blogs That Every Israeli Startup Should Know." 

The Point: Helps Solve 'Tipped' Problems

Have you ever had a issue you wanted to stand up for but figured it would not go anywhere without the support of a larger group of people? Well, now you can test the waters of any issue or problem with the help of The Point. Inspired by the book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell which explained the idea that trends need to reach a certain point before becoming mainstream, The Point is a community where people come together and take action, securing the safety in numbers necessary to make things happen to solve problems.

Now Is Gone: Video Interview with Brian Solis

I got a chance to sit down with Future Works and Bub.blico.us founder and PR 2.0 blogger Brian Solis to chat about the book that he assisted Geoff Livingston in authoring - Now Is Gone.

The book which retails for only $10 on Amazon.com (less than you spend on lattes in a week) is positioned to be a good primer for anyone that is thinking about the new media landscape from big companies to entrepreneurs.

ReviewMe: My First 30 Days of Use

ReviewMe an online product review broker recently launched as highlighted previously on Somewhat Frank. Like many other bloggers I inquisitively registered Somewhat Frank for the service. Thirty days have passed and I wanted to follow-up with some additional thoughts on my first experiences with the service. To date ReviewMe has sent me four different review requests. I was given 72 hours to accept each offer. I briefly checked out each service and decided not to review any of the products.

Why did I decline an easy $475 or $125 per post? It is simple. The products did not excite me. As Seth Godin puts it, they were not Purple Cows. Not to say that every product or blog post I highlight is a ‘purple cow’ but these did not arouse my interest. It isn’t that these companies aren’t doing valuable things online, they just didn’t catch my attention. After receiving these review requests it is very clear to me that ReviewMe puts bloggers into a somewhat compromised situation since ReviewMe bloggers could be perceived in the blogosphere:

1.)    As a sellout if they write a positive review and get paid for it.
2.)    As a pompous egotistical bastard if they write a negative review and get paid for it.

ReviewMe presents a tough nut to crack and thus far I have chosen to abstain until the right review opportunity happens to arise, but I would love to hear about other bloggers experiences with the product.

Photo Attribution: sunclover via Flickr

Social Media Club DC Wrap-up

Last night, (October 30, 2006) I had a chance to attend the Washington, DC stop on the Social Media Club International tour (which stopped in San Francisco last week). The Social Media Club is an organization founded by Chris Heuer with the mantra:

"If you get it, share it."

I slipped into the event late since I had to travel through rush hour traffic from AOL HQ in Dulles but the hour or so I did attend included a very poignant conversation regarding the direction and nature of human communication. Although the meeting resulted in more of a discussion to "define humanity" I found one quote to be extremely powerful:

"Technology will change, people do not change. Therefore, (managing social media) is more of a challenge of managing humanity."

That being said, I think it's interesting that communication is still influencing "humanity" in similar ways, despite the methods through which it presents itself. I posted a few photos here.

Cluetrain Manifesto, Blogging and Life

Lounging poolside at the Bellagio, in the 105 degree Las Vegas temperatures, I re-read a few chapters of the book Cluetrain Manifesto. I read it previously in bits and pieces while commuting to and from work therefore I felt I might have lost the flow of the book. If you work in business, PR, marketing or are a blogger or plan on being one I would highly recommend you read Cluetrain Manifesto.

I noted a few quotes that I wanted to mention. The first quote I came across today may summarize my constant participation in the online conversation that is the blogosphere. I think the reason I love the web so much is because:

"The World Wide Web reinforces freedom."

I blog my mind which reinforces my freedom. I don't want to give too much of the book away but one other quote popped out today as I reflected on life while I relaxed inVegas.

"Life is too short because we die."

This quote may have stuck out more because I am currently in sin city, Las Vegas, but in actuality it can be transcended to everyday life. Life is short and we die, therefore you have to live in the now and enjoy the ride because life is always changing. Trite as it may sound, you never know what will happen next - so enjoy it.

A Podcast Promo Grid Only Seconds Away

If you are looking for some free publicity for your podcast you might want to check out seconds11. With seconds11 you can claim a square on the podcast grid (shown above) and potentially gather referrals. Metrics are collected for each podcast on the grid and the rankings can be found here. For more information check out seconds11's recently launched blog.

Google Scares Me!

With the recent leak of Google Calendar images onto TechCrunch, the speculation of GDrive and the indexing of the personal desktop via Google Desktop, all I can say is:

Google scares me!

Google appears to be out to own everyone's information whether it be cellphone conversations, emails, documents on your PC and most recently your schedule of events via Google calendar.

Does this bother anyone else?

Google has everything that is necessary to totally invade my privacy. It is the classic case of "big brother" that could alter our behavior, which in part invades our freedom. Like most of the general public, I like Google. It is to the point where my girlfriend calls me a" Google-phile" because I converse about them so often in the blogosphere, verbally and sometimes even while in my sleep. I even have a Google fleece throw that is quite honestly one of the nicest fleece blankets I have ever seen, which only further reinforces my liking for Google. However, Google's transparent and somewhat arrogant public relations approach has created a disconnect and its actions are speaking louder than its words.

What is Google doing to help ease the disconnect?

Google has executed a lousy public relations strategy. On the Google blog this week -- the same week that dropped both the speculation of a GDrive and Google Calendar -- the posts highlighted pugs and the Google News expansion. I think pugs are cute dogs and could act as a distraction, but it seems like a total avoidance of the week's happenings. I am afraid this type of avoidance could hurt Google in the long run. I am already hearing the whisper campaigns of a "Google is evil!" drawing parallel to similar campaigns towards Microsoft five or six years ago. I would hope that Google was able to learn from Microsoft and that the company will address these rumors now in the blogosphere where the conversations begin. Have a conversation with a blogger. Show them that Google is not too high and mighty for conversation with a lowly grassroots journalist with a love for cool products and the scope. The real irony here is that Google's simple rule of thumb has been:

"Don't be evil."

I would advise you to listen to Steve Gillmor's Daily Show as he talks with Mike Arrington of TechCrunch about Google. Mike shows some love for Microsoft for the way that they have been embracing the blogosphere and calls Google evil. I do not think Google is evil but do share similar fears to Mike in regard to Google's plans to invade our privacy and potentially our freedom. If Google would just take a more apparent approach to educating the general public on the ins and outs of its products and ultimately its intentions for all of my personal information, the whispers would most likely be quelled.

Naked Conversations: Blog Success Tips

I would highly recommend any PR, marketing or business professional to read Naked Conversations, a fairly new book by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. This book should help those professionals that are totally out of the loop on the blogosphere and the blogging phenomenon since it covers a brief history on blogging and introduces hundreds of blogging examples. The book examines cultural obstacles, business blogging strategies and a number of other topics. The book’s various examples might help you to come up with a blogging strategy for your business. Basically, if after reading this book you still don't get it, blogging, you probably never will.

Additionally, I wanted to highlight “Five Success Tips” for blogging as found on pages 78 – 80 of the book. I think they are important to understand and should be examined by any business or individual looking to jump into the blogosphere. The main success tips are in bold and I have added my own commentary to explain each:

Talk, don’t sell – You lose credibility if you are trying to sell on your blog.

Post often and be interesting – Easier said than done I know, but if you post once a day at the minimum you will have nearly 365 post in a year. Being interesting is the tougher of the two mentioned in this success tip. Be creative and interest should follow.

Write on issues you know and care about – Be the authority on something you love and are passionate about.

Blogging saves money but costs time – You can save advertising dollars by blogging…but you will pay for it in time spent generating compelling content so be ready for the time investment.

You get smarter by listening to what people tell you – Blogging is not a one way communication but a many to many communication. So allow your readers to respond and listen to what they have to say. You will be rewarded while opening your mind to new thought streams.

With the TechCrunch Naked Conversations Launch Party tonight (February 17, 2006) hosted by TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington, I thought it was a great time to highlight the book in a blog post. I must admit, I am somewhat envious of those able to make it out to Arrington’s place tonight. Robert Scoble, co-author of the book, will be there as he has taken a travel day today. Enjoy the party and have a martini for me!

*Martini image thanks to MLHS via Flickr

Leverage People's Love For Name In Lights

  Big Screen At United Center
Originally uploaded by Somewhat Frank.

I took in a Chicago Bulls basketball game at the United Center Friday evening (January 20, 2006) and while it was an exciting double overtime lose by the Bulls to the Houston Rockets I was reminded of the simple adage about people the holds true in business, technology and life.  The adage I am referring to is that:

"People, no matter how young or old, love to see their name in lights."

This shined through in illuminating lights as the Bulls game programming and marketing staff spent just about every timeout and break in the game action promoting a different fan camera with some sort of familiar jocks jams tune playing in the background for fans to dance to. After watching the game I feel I saw just about every person in the United Center that was willing to stand up and TWIST AND SHOUT, PUMP UP THE JAM or GET THE PARTY STARTED! It was to the point that I started to recognize some of the featured fans on the big screen since I had seen them so much. I found this intriguing but it really just proved as reinforcement to old adage:

"People love their names in lights."

I suggest based on this fact, we create a sporting event called "Fan Cam" where people pile into arenas like to the United Center to watch other people in the stadium on the big screens. There is no need for an actual sporting event, since for most of the fans the game is a distraction then anything as it was the timeouts and the fan cam that make the event. So give people what they want.

In a business environment, as a blogger in the blogosphere, in marketing, product development or in other aspects of life I feel the same lesson holds true. So I guess the best thing to do is what the Chicago Bulls have done leveraging the energy of people's love for their name or in some cases entire dancing body in lights to help promote your product, event or cause.

Blogging Is Like Baseball

I am a huge baseball fan so I have been watching the Major League Baseball playoffs. The Chicago White Sox have played well and put on a pitching clinic. While the Houston Astros beat up on the St. Louis Cardinals (with slight contention by Albert Pujols), one of the teams with the best records in baseball, to reach the World Series for the first time in the history of the game. Congrats to the both teams, they both are well deserving of a trip to the World Series.

The baseball season is like no other sport since it is so long. It starts in February when pitchers and catchers head to the warm weather and ends in nearly November. A lot can happen in that long amount of time. For example, the Astros were only had a 15 win and 30 lose record  in by the end of May yet were able to turn it around. While the White Sox saw a sizable lead in the American League turn into an intense pennant race as they edged out a surging Cleveland Indians team.

Like baseball, the key to blogging is being consistent through a long season, everyday. To maintain a successful blog you need to feed it with content at a consistent pace to maintain consistent readership. If I went out and wrote 10 posts a month but all on the same day, you might get a few readers initially, but your numbers would most likely decline thereafter as the content became stale. In blogging, like baseball, you some days need a "duck snort post" to maintain your blog and other days you are filled with ideas, like a day on the diamond where the baseball looks like watermelon on a tee.

Ironically, the blogosphere had a few different baseball analogies lately like the one I just read on Micro Persuasion where Steve Rubel made this baseball analogy in regard to blogging:

"Baseball is a good metaphor here. A blog link/mention combo is like a home run - a four bagger. You get attention, Google Juice, traffic and branding. Blog links without mentions and plain old mentions are like doubles because in either case you get two out of these four bases."

Blogspotting mentioned this Steve Rubel post and highlighted a post by Bruce Stuart who contested the analogy. Bruce  disagrees because he does not think baseball has the appropriate reach for a comparison with the global reach of blogging. I see what he is trying to say but I do not think  Bruce understands the reach of the game of baseball and undoubtedly has never heard of the Baseball World Cup. Nonetheless, I do not think Steve's analogy is that far off since he is not referring to blogging and it's reach but rather explaining how a blog link or mention is an exciting aspect of blogging, like a home-run is an exciting aspect of a baseball game. A home-run contributes a run to the game in baseball the team with the most runs wins. While links and mentions in blogging contribute to a blogs popularity and a blog with the most links and mentions could be construed as the most popular blog, thus winning the blogging game.

For other recent baseball and blogging references in the blogosphere check out the posts on Resonance Partnership Blog and Business Blog Consulting.