Okay... this blog is dead.

It's been so busy here at Nuffnang I have neglected this blog so long that it's dead.

Moving forward, I'll be maintaining another blog that focuses on blog marketing aptly named Blognomics. It's a resource for marketers who are looking for insights, case studies, research, data, and the ins & outs of blog marketing.

Please check it out http://blognomics.com.au

Speaking at AdTech Sydney 2009

As you may or may not have known, I have been invited to speak at AdTech Sydney for 2009.

I have been chosen to moderate the panel for "Effects of Transparency: Dark Marketing & Cash for Comments" on Tuesday, 3.45pm. Given my experience in blog marketing, transparency and integrity is most important for what we do. I look forward to sharing my case studies, experiences, and views on dark marketing & cash for comments in the Australian digital scene.

I will also be joined by Julian Cole of The Population and hopefully Tim Longhurst (subject to technical AV issues).

Look forward to chatting and sharing your views as I will try to keep it open with audience participation.

My presentation will be uploaded after the panel finishes.

Agencies scrambling to be the social media experts

More recently, I have notice there has been a scramble by agencies to do more "social media". There are numerous individuals claiming to be experts in the field who live and breath web 2.0 or writing great articles from well researched pieces.

But as the dust settles in the gold rush, I wonder which agencies will actually succeed in this area. It's something I have been debating with a few of my colleagues and the steps they should take to put in the right agency structure to lead in the social media field.

This morning I came across an article by AdAge who mentioned "scale is agencies' best weapon in the hotly contested battleground." They cite various examples of different agencies in the US, ranging from Edelman, Mediacom, to Leo Bernetts who have managed a social media campaign for their clients.
Let's look at the strength & weaknesses of each agency shops in social media:

PR Agencies
Social media is free media. PR agencies are experienced in managing free media. They have also built a business around free media so they know how to make money from their services. They know how to host PR events to create buzz within traditional channels. The evolution for PR agencies to include digital social media isn't a big step. Their problem lies in perhaps technology, measurability, and scale. They are trying with finding and trialing a few "big" bloggers and through random blog searches. But when it comes down to measurability on campaign results through their seeding efforts, I am not aware of any. Where social media also relies on scale, the time and resources involved is far heavier than a press release to News and Fairfax.

Creative Agencies
These guys are talented in building creative solutions. Creating buzz. Creating talkability. And the ability to build a platform for it. Some creative shops have found the right people to run with social media. They have the ability to build communities online through strategic insights, create something half interesting, and communities will come. If they hit in on the nail, they will come in masses. But when it comes to scale it may take time and that may not be soon enough for clients. They are interested in short term gains in today's market conditions.

Media Agencies
They have a tonne of tools. They have tools to find people. They have tools to tell us how many people who owns a Toyota, has an income of $100k+, and visited Facebook in the last 3 months. They have measurability, accountability, and scale. However, they don't have the ability to implement beyond media spots. I agree with Ad Age when they say "Most media agency-driven social-media campaigns look a lot more like traditional media with a social twist than they do created-from-scratch communities...". Fair point. This is due to core structure of media agencies whos revenue stream is predominantly media bookings. But one thing media agencies do have is scale - but how do you use that for social media strategies?

In my experience, although the best intentions of social media evangelists from each agency shops, they will struggle in social media because of simple business models. There needs to be closer collaboration between agency shops to use their stregths - which clients may struggle trying to manage them. This is where smaller boutique agencies has the ability to flourish where they could take the strategic and guide the shops to implement the campaign - no doubt with agencies kicking and screaming along the way!

Another interesting quote was from CEO Mike Lazerow of Buddy Media who builds social media applications, "It's hard to buy applications in a spreadsheet model," he said. "When you're buying impressions, where do you put the app?" A quarter of his revenue froms from media shops, another quarter comes from creative shops, and the remainder clients directly.

A bit of cerveat here, I am part of Nuffnang Australia which is a blog marketing network. This puts us in an interesting position because we have found we can plug the gap in what media, creative, PR and clients are after. We can offer scale. We can offer measurability. We can offer bloggers information which was never possible before. We help media agencies in implementation just like buying a media spot. We help creative and PR bring bloggers to events. We help clients build a blogger fan base.

In revisiting Laurel Papworth's favourite Australian social media campaigns, it's interesting to see who led the thinking and, more importantly, the implementation of these campaigns. Media/Creative/PR?

i) Government - Future of Melbourne

ii) Education - Me.Edu.Au - a collaborative forum for teachers

iii) Venue - Powerhouse Museum

iv) Causes - Getup.org

v) Gaming - Australian military - DefenceJobGames

vi) Crisis Management - Department of Fisheries Avian Flu

vii) Media - Scorched.Tv - User Generated TV program

viii) Fitness - Blackmore's Be your Best Campaign

ix) Retail - Sportsgirl

x) Photos - National Library Picture Austraila Flickr Groups

xi) - Politics - KeepAdelaideAlive.com - David Campbell election campaign

If they can... so can YOU!

I have been terrible in updating my blog. It has been a busy few weeks as we're growing the Nuffnang community. I've managed to secure a few clients (ANZ bank and Roadshow Films) to run a few campaigns with bloggers which have shown promising results in terms of high CTR and blogger response. Early days but positive.

In speaking to a few clients lately, most have shown continual active signs to explore Social Media. This is great news for us as Nuffnang is right in the mix of it with blog marketing in terms of resource, database, and access to 400 bloggers.

If there is anything more obvious to prove that Social Media has hit mainstream... check out this job ad by Hairfree Plus - Australia’s leading permanent hair reduction specialists. They are looking for a Social Media / Search Engine Marketing expert. Maybe come across as funny but... What are YOU doing for social media in 2009?

Thanks Tamir from FRANk thougths for the tip!

Budtrap - Dr Estebestaban solving tangled cords... socially

I'm sure those who own an iPod have in one way or another managed to tangle their cords.

Dr Estebestaban of Budtrap.com are out with a cause to have "One less tangle, for Free". They are seeding this socially through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BudTrapcom-No-More-Headphone-Tangles/27102488134#/pages/BudTrapcom-No-More-Headphone-Tangles/27102488134?ref=s

2009 The year "social" becomes mainstream.

In 2008, I'd see leading/edgier brands play within the web2.0 space. It was very much digital agencies educating and evangelising the social media platforms.

In 2009, I've seen a flip where clients are now coming to agencies asking for a social media solution. They have seen that it works. They want to be involved in that space. Perhaps they are more comfortable and no longer see this as a risky new world thing. "Bloggers...they are real people?"

It looks like the pack is shifting (or have shifted) to embrace social media strategies.



Congrats and good work to all the digital strategist, digital evangelists, digital media, and digital folks for a good 2009.

Cheers.

Street Fighter in YouTube

Gadget Tribes - Which one are you?

In world transformed in the last 10 years, we live in an "always on" community that is plugged into a social web. Like it or not, a peak into your shoulder bag, backpack, your home, your pockets, your Chanel hand bag, you'll no doubt find 3 basic devices that keeps you connected.

Boing Boing put together a great compilation of gadgets to identify your tribe.

I work off a MacBook Pro and addicted to my iPhone.... plus I just bought my MSI Wind U100 netbook on Wednesday. I'm scarily accurate a "Blogger."

Which one are you?

If you think you have tracked undiscovered tribes, tell Boing Boing (email: rob o' boingboing.net)

In our tennis spirit... a light hearted Friday funny video of Novak Djokovic Impressions

Why I think Social Media, in Australia, has been all talk but little action.

Apologies for the long gap since my last post. It has been a busy 2-3 weeks for Nuffnang with an Australia wide bloggers meet up in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. It was a great turn out and an insightful chat with the leading bloggers in Australia. I think we had around 40 people turning up at each event all with various backgrounds such as Social Media evangelists, Media, Pro-bloggers to Nuffnang bloggers. FYI - Nuffnang has since signed over 300+ bloggers... and it's still growing.

Lately, there has been articles about Social Media is all talk but little action... and I'd like to share my views on it.

While chatting to some of the leading bloggers in Australia ranging from Fashion, Parenting to Food blogs... one thing kept coming up.

Australian media do not "get" bloggers.

They don't pay bloggers the respect that they deserve. To highlight some examples, big fashion bloggers from Melbourne and Sydney echoed the same experience that their blogs are being featured in Elle, Vogue, etc.... in Europe. They also see trends featuring in Australian magazines... a month after their post. They know some of their posts are influencing magazine contents too.

Which leads me to think, if the general Australian media does not understand bloggers or blogging... Can Social Media strategists effectively implement campaigns in Australia? In some notion, social media needs traditional media to lift it's profile. Australian bloggers are losing out to our European, North American and Asian counter parts. It is almost embarrassing that they know more about our own bloggers and their blogging talents when Australia turns a blind eye to it.

Once Australian blogger profiles are lifted, we will no doubt see more social media campaigns. I believe we have the talent in Australia... but in today's market, to most clients, blogging still remains a mystery. Unfortunate.

Through Nuffnang, I hope to start lifting the profiles of various bloggers. The challenge in a campaign that involve bloggers is finding, contacting, and managing them. You almost have to fly blindly because they can be hard to find and you don't know what sort of traffic they have. How accountable can you be for your client?

With over 300 Australian bloggers in Nuffnang's database, I can contact them, I know where they are based, I know how many readers they have, and best of all, they want to connect with brands.