2009 August

Social Media ROI? Traditional Is Still More Accepted.

by Jason Falls · August 26, 2009

The return on investment for social media marketing is not an easy thing to determine. It’s not easy to measure. It’s not easy to argue. It’s not easy to prove.

: Image via Wikipedia

I’ll pause while the Kool-Aid drinkers curse at the screen and jump to the comments to call me names before reading the rest of the post.

For more on my thoughts, please revisit this post and conversation with Katie Payne from PRSA International last year.

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How Social Media Is Changing The World

by Jason Falls · August 24, 2009

Esra’a Al Shafei put it all in perspective Saturday. Speaking via Skype from her home in Bahrain, the founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com, showed the crowd gathered at Social South the true power of social media, the internet and the idea of freedom. Al Shafei was denied a visa by her country to attend the event, which was the least of her concerns.

Her grassroots organization of young people around the world to fight against oppressive regimes, civil injustice and even genocide puts the 20-something young woman in constant danger. If the governments of any number of countries she travels to routinely discovered who she was, she would be imprisoned or, more likely, executed. Her actions put her in a state where she should constantly fear for her life.

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Exploring Sponsored Conversations With IZEA’s Ted Murphy

by Jason Falls · August 19, 2009

I had the pleasure of connecting with Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA, the sponsored conversations company, last week. We talked via ooVoo, a video chat software, for an episode of Social Media Explorer TV.

Talking Sponsored Conversations With IZEA’s Ted Murphy from Jason Falls on Vimeo.

Sponsored conversations touches on some controversy because the purists in social media believe that advertising and marketers have no place in the social media space. Social media as a gathering place for people emerged largely because people grew tired of thousands of marketing messages per day being thrown at them from all directions. The online space offers technology that allows people to manage their media environment and avoid interruption-type advertising if they want. So, those true to The Cluetrain Manifesto-esque principals of social media say ads don’t belong and what IZEA is doing is antithetical to what social media is about.

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The Five Ws of Social Media Listening

by Jason Falls · August 18, 2009

: Image by Fenchurch! via Flickr

Note: The following is a guest post from Chuck Hemann, the research manager at Dix & Eaton, an agency in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the first in what I hope becomes a series of guest posts from social media thinkers working in agencies and firms around the world. Perspective from the front lines, if you will. It is 100-percent inspired by Chuck’s persistence in pitching the idea of the five Ws of social media listening concept to me. I finally just said, “Why don’t you write it?” He did. Here it is.

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You’re Going To Hear A Lot About This Book

by Jason Falls · August 17, 2009

Image by jdlasica via Flickr

I read “Trust Agents” this weekend. Before you read further, please know that both authors, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, are people I consider friends. Their publisher sent me a free copy of the book to read and review. I’m not unbiased here, nor do I intend to fake it.

But you can trust me when I tell you that even if these two guys weren’t my friends, this book is well worth reading. In fact, it’s well worth buying a few copies to give to friends, business associates, clients or potential clients and so on.

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