SEO Werkt!

I’m a GoPro fanboy. It’s an amazing camera born from an even more amazing American company. But, as any GoPro owner quickly discovers, the camera demands all sorts of accouterments and add-ons. Mine are stored in a large camera bag with different parts haphazardly thrown into a different compartments. It’s essentially a grab bag of GoPro parts. Clearly I’m not alone. Riseful’s Kickstarter campaign for the RollPro III tackles this problem with an age-old design.

The RollPro III is a simple but seemingly effective GoPro roll up organizer. Everything has a spot in the roll-up case from the mounts to the backplates to the cameras themselves. Made out of industrial grade marine fabric, it can hold three cameras and most of their accessories; it seems to hold everything but the large suction mounts. Then, once everything is safely stashed away in their separate compartments, the whole thing neatly rolls up.

The company is looking to raise a modest $10,000 on Kickstarter and they’re almost there. As of this post’s writing, the project is $500 shy of their goal with 16 days remaining on the campaign. Pledge $59 or more to pre-order the case and help make it a reality.

Are you chafing at the constraints of the closed app world? Are you still waiting for the potential of HTML5 to be fulfilled? So, what’s the hold up?

Jenn Webb offers a an excellent overview of the current discussions about HTML5, apps, publishing and the way forward, with links to the original articles. Well worth your time to read.

I was out most of last week with a bad, bad cold. It seems it’s going around (ie the really viral). But I was still able to find a few gems to read in between heavy nanna naps.

1. Some snappy writing and a barb in the tail of Jim Parker’s writing. He explains why journalists fear academics and shines a light on the process of opinion making and influence wielding in the Australian media. You’ll love it.
2. Greg Verdino takes us behind the scenes with the American Express OPEN Forum and shares the four principles that keep it fresh and focused.
3. Is branding something that only your customers experience? What if you treated your employees first? In Let’s Go to Work, Katie Chatfield talks about what this might mean.
4. Despite our interest in authenticity, it can be hard to live by. Mark Schaefer shares a recent conference experience and explains why.
5. Is Facebook the New Big Mac? Tim Longhurst casts an accusatory eye across the over-hyped Facebook IPO to tease out the sense, if not the dollars, underlying the valuation and market expectation.

Oh and if you are looking for one more, here’s my post on the future of work and the need to think like a teenager.

Each week, as I click links, follow trails and read through my ever burgeoning list of RSS feed, I leave tabs open in my browser. That often means that I will have 60-70 tabs open at one time – which also means that my browser is slow to load each morning. In an ideal world I read, cull and move on – with only the best tabs left still open at the end of the week. It is from this list that I draw my five must-read posts. Here are a few that I just can’t seem to close:

1. In my mind there is no doubt that Search and all its variants is under pressure. We are slowly but surely coming back to our trusted networks to source knowledge, resolve issues and decide on the things that we buy. And because if this changing behaviour, it’s I also believe the interest graph is the future of social commerce 
2. And on that subject, as “the social customer” becomes clearer in our marketing lenses, it will no doubt require new ways of organising our businesses. Michael Brito shares this presentation on the shift to social business
3. We’re not just seeing a massive behavioural shift in the marketplace – we are also seeing a significant demographic shift. Augie Ray reminds us that the Gen Y tidal wave is on the horizon – and will bring with it even more discontinuous change. Time to dust off the longboard
4. How do you build your blog into one of the leading sites for your industry? Valeria Maltoni shares some of the secrets that have made her Conversation Agent site so successful
5. Remember when you weren’t so good at your chosen profession? Sometimes you need to work through some skills and build your capabilities before you can truly deliver for your employer, clients or customers. Sean Howard reminds us that you will suck, deal with it.

I was pretty excited during the last week to read the great insight and ideas that are appearing again. It is nice to see some deeper levels of consideration and analysis appearing in articles across the web – rather than the more simplistic commentary that clogs up our brains and bandwidth. I hope you enjoy these stimulating posts!

1. We tend to trust what people tell us. Whether they are people from agencies, consultants that we are working with or friends, colleagues – or even competitors. But just because someone says something, doesn’t make it true. In the world of digital and social there’s a lot of bad advice floating around. Craig Wilson asks, what’s the price of bad advice?
2. Often we think about the behaviour of people – our customers, our employees and so on. But we often overlook the larger, connected behaviours of groups. Mark Earls suggests that we are missing the point and that we need to think about behaviour beyond the individual. Awesome.
3. And on the subject of “awesome” – this. Read it and weep in agreement. Understand it and know that the path ahead in your career is full of challenge. And then proudly go forth preaching the gospel according to Olivier Blanchard.
4. When it comes to managing a social media crisis you need to keep a level head. And one person who knows how to keep their head when many others are losing their is Matthew Gain. Here are his five best ways to respond to a social media attack.
5. It’s great to see creative industries ramping up on Newcastle, NSW. Gordon Whitehead shares the news that a new screen industry group has been started up and they’re looking for script ideas. Pull that dusty script out of the drawer and get about the Film Republic.

Happy Monday!  Here’s some motivational music to get your marketing rear in booty-shaking gear on this lovely Monday!

“It’s Your Thing” by The Isley Brothers to help you do your thang!

Virtual marketing hugs!

Web Marketing Related Posts:

1. Music Monday Marketing Motivation on Pandora
2. Monday Web Marketing Motivation: Five Must-Read Marketing Rx Posts
3. Monday Marketing Motivation

As I surf the web or watch the feeds, links, articles and images scuttle by, often a theme emerges. After all, we are part of a massive, global, connected consciousness. But I often forget that we are all not connected to the same people – or that we have differing levels of focus or interest. But this is precisely why these collection style posts can be useful – to share with those who otherwise missed a tweet, a link or an email.

1. Dave Phillips has distilled the #kony2012 conversation into an an engaging discussion. Some great reflections and provocations here
2. I saw some of the back and forth on Twitter with Mack Collier on the topic of social business – and now he has followed up with more context. He says we need to stop marketing “social business” if we want to start selling it. What do you think?
3. What do CEOs want from their CMOs and the marketing team? It may not be what you think. Try and work a few of these 10 key impacts into your KPIs and see how it changes your role in the business
4. Which channels, accounts and platforms should you use for your social media efforts? And when? Drew McLellan shares the recent updates for the CMO.com’s Social Landscape. Download it – it’s worth its weight in gold
5. Kevin Rothermel shares a great piece on how creativity works. It looks like it might be my new favourite ebook.

It’s been a busy fortnight (I love using that work even if it’s a little archaic these days).

In fact, the first couple of months of the year have flown by – and to be honest, I am feeling a little nostalgic for the time when January was a “slow month” and we could take some time to think and plan before rushing into project action.

But no matter how busy you are, you’ll want to read these gems from last week. There’s only five. It will be your best investment for the week!

1. Stowe Boyd shares this conversation between Fast Company writer, Linda Tischler and  Roger Martin, author of The Design of Business. It’s a great read and plays to the type of thinking I love – Why Companies Need Futurists, Not Analysts.
2. Just because much of social media is free, it doesn’t mean it is cheap. My buddy, Drew McLellan has produced a Social Media Strategy Workbook that you can download for free. But putting your strategy into action will tax your brain.
3. Do we still believe in civic responsibility? Should we? Danielle Chiaverini asks some challenging questions.
4. A lot of times – especially in social media – we talk about “just doing it”. This has appeal for those who have a vested interest in “talkability” – after all, you need a reason to share, right? But Valeria Maltoni asks, what’s the value of thinking in a do culture.
5. The team at Zeus Jones have put together this great presentation that just shares “what’s on our minds at the moment”. I love the simplicity of that concept – and the fact that they are sharing ideas that are bourn out of their work with their clients.

South by South West (SXSW) which is the interactive, film and music festival in Austin Texas annually in March, can be intimidating for first-timers. So instead of worrying and being overwhelmed by it, just be prepared, so you can enjoy the immense awesomeness of the event. 

Here are my tips for being prepared, and having fun at SX (South By): 

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