It is my day to blog on the Digital Rodeo and unfortunately, I don’t have anything earth shattering to blog about (hey, it happens). Fortunately, some of my favorite Bloggers have a lot to say. Here is a list of recent must-reads:

1.) Pete Blackshaw wrote a terrific post on what text mining tells us about the brand of the ad industry (here’s a shocker: the industry has a bit of a reputation/credibility problem). One of the critical questions Pete asks here is “what is the cost of messaging through the noise of distrust and disbelief?” This is the right question. The WRONG question (and one I’ve been hearing all too often lately) is “what is the direct ROI of social media?”. Failure to understand and embrace Web 2.0 impacts the ROI of every “one to many” tactic in your arsenal. Think about it.

2.) I’ve often thought that the conversation mining potential of social networks is at least as valuable as ad revenue. Why not mine the conversations of your SN and sell the nuggets of wisdom (data versus ads)? Nielsen has an interesting twist on this with their new site, Hey!Nielsen, “the place to make a name for yourself while trading opinions on TV, movies, music, personalities, web sites and more”. It makes sense. Nielsen helps people do what they are going to do anyway in a Web 2.0 world (create, connect, opine) and then uses that gold mine of information to explore and define its own research. This is a terrific example of thinking about Web 2.0 beyond its potential as a marketing tactic (although the indirect marketing benefits in this case are clear).

3.) Steve Rubel has a fascinating post on using Google Reader Search as a trend mining tool. One possible use: If you are trying to mend fences with a handful of Bloggers whose coverage hasn’t been great in the past, you could use Google Reader Search to track shifts over time. I’ve just set up a folder of feeds from the Twitter pages of the Democratic presidential front runners. Just for fun, I think I’ll use Google Reader Search to trend the buzzwords used most often in the candidates’ Twitter updates (house party? donate? speech?).

4.) The Ironman World Championships are coming up on October 13th. This year, our friend and client, Cherie Gruenfeld, will be attempting her 7th Age Group win in Kona (May Pele smile on you, Cherie!). Cherie’s husband, Lee Gruenfeld, is a terrific fiction writer and also blogs for the Ironman organization. Lee’s very funny thoughts on why people attempt this grueling race (a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride and then a marathon) is one of my all time favorites.

Happy reading!

Filed under: Social Marketing on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 by Nan Dawkins |
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