Conversation seems to be the major Buzz word of the day..hour…make that year I guess.  Get engaged and add value and you will be showered with leads and profits. Apparently anyway.

It all makes for more genuine relationships online , and if thats all it brings to the table then its worth it.  Have a gander at this handy Linkedin Tips video to see what I’m talking about:

Joining a Linkedin group Conversation is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

A touching short movie about dogs and cats who haven’t been that lucky. Thousands of volunteers takes care of them in centers spread all over Spain. These images were shot in AAA – Marbella. Their hard work allows us the possibility to adopt.

Great work people ! aaahelps.com.

Needs mentioning that centers like “AAA”  live from donations. The local government only takes care of the electricity bill; luckily dogs don’t consume that much …. !
Shameful if you ask me.

The movie was shot on our new Canon 5D MarkII and edited in Final Cut Studio. “Blondy” is my dog and she once lived on the street ….

Awaiting Home … from quanvision on Vimeo.

Awaiting Home … shot on Canon 5D Mark II is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

We all need inspiration right !

It’s what feeds our creations never mind the kind of work we do.

We all live by it and we find it around us. Specially with nowadays social media it has been made very easy for us to find. I came across this guy on Vimeo, his name is Leonardo Dalessandri and he works with the same camera equipment as we do; a Sony EX1 with 35mm adapter, a Canon 5D Mark II and a wide variety of lenses.

He makes short movies of the things he shoots and somehow turns them into art. Inspiring !

Thanks for sharing your work with us Leonardo.

An autumn’s tale from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo.

Inspiration on video with the Sony EX1 and Canon Mark II is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

Personal Search:

Well this was getting the rounds heavy in the dojo the other daty and well this sums up just how pervasive Personal Search is. Goes beyond Cookies is at least IP aware, specially if you have any Google account… and other than my brother I don’t know anyone who doesn’t.

Google Social Strategy:

Fails miserably because it’s now creating “the follower economy” to replace “the link economy” it created with the same reckless abandon it did with PageRank! Talk about head in the sand!

Universal Search:Real Time Search

So this was the best part for me! I get to use a song by Matthew Good, because we all know his is the epitome of rediculous Twitter following. Follows 2 and has 800,000 + followers. As I’ve said earlier Google’s decision to use followers shows just how misguided they are telling eveyone their algo is dumb as a fencepost and based on wonky Social premises dismissed years ago.

And the beauty part is the vid uses Matthew’s Last Parade as the music for a tribute to the great Mats Sundin, in my books second only to Davie Keon as the greatest to where the glorious Blue and White! So I have now scored a hat trick combining my favorite Hockey palyer, my current favorite song and as always my first love SEO or as we now call it Website positioning because SEO is Dead!

Google SEO Side Show on Video! is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

Creating something original doesn’t necessarily mean you need a massive budget or some new (and expensive) technology.

Usually it takes a little creative thinking, out side the box, and of course a video camera.  Coca Cola have done a great job in getting some excellent branding views with this viral video currently doing the rounds on Youtube.

Having set up a coke dispensing machine in a cafeteria they filmed the reactions of students in a kind of Big Brother, unscripted, and very natural way and it worked a treat.  Having a body of people interact with their product and end up smiling from ear to ear, only to have the situation expanded into the surreal, further increasing the engagement with the brand and the positive feel good feeling makes for incredibly effective viral video marketing.

Have a watch and enjoy.  All it takes is one good idea to be effective.

Happy Machine from Coke – Making viral video easy is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

With the addition and rising popularity of Foursquare.com in the social scene, businesses have entered yet another new world of marketing. In this virtual community, customers aren’t just talking about your business, they’re using it. They can become the mayor, meet their friends, and find the best locations to eat, sleep, drink, and be merry.

The Ups and Downs of Foursquare

This online community/’game’ could easily create a strong customer base for businesses that choose to embrace the concept. As Foursquare recommends on its website, businesses can encourage participation in the community and visits by offering small incentives such as a discount, a free product, or even just advertising the person’s name in store.

Unfortunately, businesses also need to keep in mind that these types of things could also make a huge problem for businesses that don’t put their customers first. If someone has a bad experience, for example, you could potentially lose far more via online word of mouth advertising than ever before.

Tying Foursquare Together With Other Marketing Efforts

Foursquare has the potential to drive a fair bit of interest, particularly in major centers where lots of people are using the system. To get the most benefit from this attention, businesses really need to funnel this attention towards their other marketing platforms as well. This is easily done, and the benefits could be substantial if done correctly.

When someone uses the community to let everyone know they liked a meal from your restaurant, for example, give them a code or special link in store that they can use elsewhere on the web. This could be either for another social network, or for a complimentary business site. For example, if you become a fan on Facebook and message us with this code, you’ll get $20 off your next purchase.

Taking It Beyond Foursquare

Of course, businesses don’t have to use Foursquare to incorporate similar concepts into their marketing plans. Contests can be set up where customers can Tweet you or leave a message on your blog or Facebook page when they’re going to visit. They could leave a receipt number, a secret word, or even just give you a few sentences about their visit. Then, when others find your website, Facebook, or search for you on Twitter/Google, they’ll find this great information.

The secret to this type of network marketing is simple: creativity. Don’t be afraid to do something new and stand out. Even if the concept is a little crazy, the reward will be worth it. Besides, who doesn’t like to have fun once in awhile?

Foursquare, Marketing & Your Business is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

(ByronShell)

Copywriters have a big job to do. They need to write content that brings in traffic using the right words and keep your site at the top of the search results (SEO), but it also needs to convince web visitors to follow your call to action. This often leaves site owners with a conundrum:

Do they post SEO content and make sure their site is found? Or do they post good content and forget about all that SEO mumbo jumbo stuff?

You want to know the secret? Both. It is literally impossible to write good content without some SEO keywords in it because you can’t write about ‘cookies’ without mentioning ‘cookies’ or other related words. And, you can’t have good quality SEO copywriting without good content because if it sounds awkward and has glaringly obvious keywords, it isn’t as high in quality as you think. Even more importantly they have to work together in order for your website to get traffic and convert that traffic into sales, signups, or whatever goal it is you’re trying to achieve.

The following video is done by a good friend of mine, blog consultant and coach Michael Martine. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Michael through his blog and on Twitter, and have been fortunate enough to learn a lot from him. Now, you can too! Here’s Michael’s view on SEO vs good content:

Getting More From Your Online Content: SEO VS Conversion is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

(C O A C H)

Could your website stand to sell more, get more sign ups, and more visitors? Would you like your marketing campaign to generate more sales? Of course! A majority of my clients have this problem. Their website/landing page/product pages aren’t converting. Can better copywriting help boost sales? Well, yes, but not always.

You can have the greatest products and services on earth with a beautiful website and the best copy money can buy, but if your landing page sucks, you’re not going to sell anything. This doesn’t just happen with sales either. Signing up for a newsletter, subscribing to your RSS, and many other goals all suffer if the design is poor.

Bottom line, pretty web pages don’t always sell!! So, if you want to improve your website or landing page, you’re going to want to watch this.

(If you don’t know Tim Ash, Sitetuner’s CEO and landing page optimization specialist, you’ll want to after watching this webinar. Yes, it’s long, but don’t worry. It’s super easy to understand and filled with fantastic tips, explanations, and how-tos on improving landing pages.)

Getting More From Your Online Content: Landing Page Design Tips is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

The Title is somewhat true but it’s not just Twitter,  Social Media and Networking sites are affecting blog engagement and comments in particular. Social Media is partially responsible and was definitely a catalyst for change in the habits of the linkeroti (not a spelling mistake think link rot) and according to some stats and forecasts this could get worse before it gets better.

This is the second post on blog engagement with more to come! In the first Twitter: Blog Engagement Killer or Lazy Linkeratti? I discussed the phenomena of decreasing blog engagement on one of my favorite blogs. I first started to think about this seriously after reading a post on Hobo Web ( @hobo_web ) and noticing less comments on the Search Engine People blog. BTW two blogs I highly recommend and often comment on. SEP has since hidden the twitter comments and I do see more comments but it’s still not near what it was at it’s peak.

 I like to start with something positive and when I came across this video it seemed a perfect fit. For those who are wondering why… I believe  commenting is an artform!

Warning extreme geekery: tips on blog commenting

So… T what’s killing blog engagement? Have Bloggers changed the way they react to “content discovery”? Or is it the ways in which content sharing is happening? Or are visitors reluctant to comment among the ”noise” that is Twitter and Tweetmeme. ReTweets and Tweetmeme are, IMO, the blog equivalent of the much maligned “Me too” post on forums and blog comments.

Social Media has changed the Content Discovery and Sharing Habits in the Blogosphere

There are few ways to gauge the disruptive nature of  new technology. In the case of bloggers feed reader stats and provider viability are good indicators of the changes that are occuring due to technology. Bloggers/linkeratti are just starting to notice the changes in their linking and sharing habits as Steve Rubel pointed out in the excerpt below:

Now, however, slowly but surely I am moving more of my consumption out of RSS and into the Twitter stream. Twitter, not blogs, long ago became the focal point for reading and conversing around news for many.

Reading the comments on that post are very interesting in that although almost all went to bat for RSS as a content discovery method it was more because of the characteristics of the twitter stream that result in missed opportunities and posts. Another equally enlightening post I discovered in Steve’s post is a report on ReadWriteWeb indicating that most of us who were even using RSS readers to begin with have ditched them and have moved to tracking news in the stream instead.

I am not in agreement with Steve that the conversation around content has moved from blog comments to Social networks.  At least that has not been my personal experience, however, the SEO communitity is still a large part of my following and those I follow. In fact I wouldn’t be surpirised if 70% of those I follow are SEO or developers. IMO, they are less liable to engage on a blog or Twitter.

The Twitter RT or straight Tweet and other sharing have  to some extent replaced comments as a way of expressing gratitude, exchanging ideas and thanks for quality info. TweetMeMe is, misguided or not, is used as an indicator of quality. We’ll leave the ways that can be a bad indicator for another day.

Social Networking and Micrblogging Provide More Value and Opportunities than Blogs

Blogs are very susceptible to Twitter and TweetMeMe eroding the number of comments and to a lesser degree links. In the past trackbacks and posts discussing another post were common because that was one of the automated means of sharing “content discovery”.  Social networks are a more convenient and quicker means of fulfilling the sharing task.

PostRank, is a Waterloo startup that looks to be a real player in developing technology to measure blogs and Social engagement. The manner in which the technology segments Social signals is, for me, the first time I’ve seen Social signals that make the same sense as SEO analytics. i.e. I look at the numbers and can connect the dots and take action or it’s as simple as me noticing the engagement on blogs I’ve used for years is decreasing.

The dots, in the case of Blog Engagement don’t make for a pretty picture.  The PostRank blog posted Measuring Engagement of the Social Web: ‘07-’09 which indicates a paradign shift occured in the blogosphere between 2007 and 2009. The blog ”linkeratti” are seemingly using less trackbacks and blogged responses to posts. Twitter, Social Networking sites like Facebook and microblogging sites like TypePad and Tumblr have replaced the trackback. One of the reasons could be new microblogging sites like Tumblr are tailor made for that post that’s just a quick response to a post or conversation.

Moreover it seems trackbacks are also in decline degrading seconday engagement and IBLs SEO’s are seeking from blogs. In fact to some degree sites like Tumblr and TypePad are designed to keep that engagement internal using reblog and like option buttons to encourage it. Many trackbacks were the result of responses to a post or a means to share the post with their audience. The Social Networking sites have gained most of that activity.

Here are some interesting stats from the post

• In absolute terms, when we sample over the top 1000 of the most engaging feeds for the past three years, we see approximately a 30% year over year growth in engagement –- a sign that more people are participating in the social web. The “share, and like this” phenomenon, which is sweeping through Facebook, Twitter, and dozens of other social hubs, are all facilitating this trend.
• Between 2007 and 2009, the amount of on-site engagement has dropped by over 50%, while the off-site engagement has skyrocketed!
• From 2007 to 2009, the contribution of trackbacks to total engagement has dropped from 19% to 3%! In the meantime, channels such as Twitter, Friendfeed, and Facebook have gone up from less than 1% to over 29%.
• Back in 2007, we observed that over 94% of all the engagement occurred within the first day of publishing the article. Even more interestingly, the 98% of the engagement on that first day occurred within the first hour. In other words, the half-life of a story was, and still is, less than an hour! Fast forward to 2008 and 2009, and we’re seeing a steady increase in the lifespan of a story: down to 83% of total engagement for the first hour in 2008, and 64% in 2009.
• over 50% of the engagement happens in the first hour
• According to Forrester eight percent of US online adults post and read updates on Twitter at least monthly, while another 4% read but don’t post.

2010 Blog Engagement Strategies

The Forrester report also included this excerpt which indicates that going forward this Social Media phenomena will be important to your blog engagement strategy going forward

While modest, both of these groups will prove powerful for marketers to tap. They’re influential and highly active in social applications. Moreover, these Tweeters want to interact with you: 26% say they recently started to follow a company on Twitter. To tap this channel profitably, concentrate on delivering value, not just promoting your brand. Quickly engage people who mention your brand, share content worth tweeting about, recognize what tweets work, and dedicate staff to managing your Twitter presence.

eMarketer’s CEO made some prdictions and provided some good info pertinent to engagement and ad spending (usually the life blood of blogs) in the post Seven Predictions for 2010

• Looked at another way, while total US media spending will decrease by 14.6% this year, the $192 billion spent in 2008 will represent the absolute peak of media spending
  • The measurement and accountability mandate will intensify demand for lower-cost, more efficient media.
  • Media fragmentation will force marketers to target their messages to ever smaller niche audiences.
  • Digital technologies are creating new opportunities for firms to self-market, such as a company’s own Website, online videos, e-mail marketing to existing customers and so forth. These channels end up bypassing paid media such as yellow pages and direct mail.
  • There will be a continued emphasis on “earned media,” such as on social networks and other consumer-generated community platforms. This will also siphon dollars away from paid media.
• According to Forrester Research, 59% of US marketers plan to increase their budgets for digital by pulling funds from traditional outlets.
• And while ad spending on these sites will never represent a significant share of total online ad dollars, spending on non-advertising forms of social marketing will rise significantly next year and beyond.
• Advertising will support less and less of the load for content and entertainment. Fueled by the low cost of digital distribution, combined with vast amounts of consumer-generated content in the form of blogs, social networks, photo- and video-sharing sites, and rampant Twitter activity, media choices have exploded. There is no way advertising can pay all the freight for this media tonnage. In addition, marketers are clamoring for more direct contact with consumers, especially to engage with them on social networks, and this will divert ad money and attention away from third-party publishers.
• Marketers will be increasingly willing to trade off reach for deeper engagement. This goes right along with the drive toward improved targeting and increasingly efficient media buys. If a marketer is successful at the above—zeroing in on a narrow group of likely prospects—then there is a much better opportunity to engage with those consumers on a deeper, more meaningful basis.

Based on the information from the PostRank report and moreso the predictions by emarketer it is certain that bloggers must:

• Include 3rd party sites in their strategies
• Build both a following and system that enables them to amplify engagement on 3rd party sites
• Attention should shift to RSS feed subscribers and newsletter subs from blog comment because RSS feeds are a metric used in measuring blog engagement

In an environment of hyperSocial the audience and Social Networking opportunities of Facebook and audience that can be engaged on Twitter,  TypePad and Tumblr provide traffic and unique visitors that blogs have never been able to match. I worked with bloggers marketing a consumer product and found that many reviews and giveawys do not deliver as much traffic, brand visibility (Social network streams) and in particular unique visitors.

Social Engagement image Courtesy of Pliggs   Social Networking image Courtesy of Gary Hayes

CiYaAtdaTop!
         T

In 2009 Twitter Put Blog Engagement into a Death Spiral is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

It is probably the most talked about camera in my direct surroundings so why not join the conversation and tell you something more about it. The Canon 5d Mark II is an excellent photo camera but more important of course for us is that it shoots some awesome quality video in full HD (1080p). This camera has the audio visual sector rumbling on its foundations so we finally decided to buy one ourselves. Yes sir! Some things you just need to have, …. you know the feeling ?

We normally shoot with our Sony EX1 and, as mentioned in my previous posts, we bought a letus 35-mm adapter (links) to create more depth of field in our images. It’s the film look we’re after and this is also exactly what the new Canon 5d achieves. Mind you that it shoots a great quality video but as sole video camera it has of course it’s limitations. A camera like this doesn’t serve all purposes like our Sony EX1 but having it aside is simply perfect. As well does it provide you the ability to shoot stills and video without changing cameras and this opens up new creative boundaries.

Mobility and Anonymity

New creative boundaries are always nice of course as creativity is our business but what really made us decide to do the purchase are the words “mobility” and “anonymity”.
Just imagine yourself going to Barcelona and wanting to abuse the occasion to shoot some nice city images. I can tell you that walking around our EX1 with the Letus mounted and a needed, serious tripod means weight. Even if your name is “Rambo” you would already scream for help if you see a nice shot on the other side of the street and need to cross it. You speak altogether about a rough 20 kilos on your big shoulders and with considerable volume which makes simply going around by Metro not so simple. The Canon 5d with a good set of lenses and monopod fits a small shoulder bag and does it for a rough 10 kilos. Ok true, … It will take you some more time to set up your shots but thats actually the fun part….

Another things is that you draw some attention with an EX1 and mentioned equipment. It looks professional so people start asking which TV channel you are filming for, security guards love asking permits and if you come anywhere near their responsible territory they’ll hunt you eagerly to ask for one and others simply enjoy waving into your camera. The Canon 5d seems to appear less impressive at first sight. Suddenly you are no longer a professional and you are left alone …. thank you so much Canon !!

Shooting with the Canon 5d in comparison with a “normal” professional video camera is a relief in specific occasions while in others it can be a pain so make sure to make the right choice for the right job.

Here some of its key features;

* 21.1 Megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor
* 1920×1080 Full HD Movie Capture
* ISO range from 50-25,600 with expansion
* DIGIC 4 processor

The full-frame sensor provides a field of view the same as film. Depth-of-field is the same as well, allowing for finer control over what is in and out of focus. The larger sensor also means larger pixels, with inherently lower noise levels.
The advantage of the full-frame CMOS sensor is immediately clear – low light performance is excellent and the depth-of-field in videos can be tightly controlled in a way that video cameras with smaller sensors cannot achieve. You can even shoot stills while shooting video. It also allows the use of all the EF lenses from the Canon lens range, so would-be film-makers like myself have no shortage of options when it comes to choosing the look and feel of their productions.

Have a look at a commercial a highly respected colleague of mine shot with the 5d for Greenpeace. Brilliant stuff !

Greenpeace: Voices of change. Shot on Canon 5dmkII from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

The Canon EOS 5d Mark II DSLR is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas