I’ve long been a fan of TubeMogul.com Upload a video once to TubeMogul and they will publish it on multiple sites.  How many?  Over 20 different video hosting sites. 

That’s a real time saver!

But that’s just half of what TubeMogul does. Delivering analytics is the other half.

We learn from our mistakes.

If you are producing hyperlocal video wouldn’t you want to know if you are doing it right?  Are people watching the entire video?  When are they clicking out and more importantly was it something you said or did?  Something that you can fix or be better at next time?  To me, that’s the reason behind analytics.  Yet amazingly most people seem to upload and forget.

They just launched a new version.

What’s different?

What’s truly revolutionary about this launch is that rich tracking from our own InPlay technology will now be available not only to sites that host their own video, but also from many of the Web’s top video sites.

What does that mean? Within seconds, users (i.e. you) can view cross-site data on audience engagement, referral sites/search terms, audience geography and much more.

The best part? It’s available for free to almost all of our non-commercial users.

Here’s what that means…

Here’s a little press on the subject:

• TubeMogul to Roll Out New Online Video Metric Tool
• YouTube’s Rivals To Offer Better Video Analytics

Now before you start blasting out your next hyperlocal video go read this excellent article on the Dakno site:  10 Awesome Real Estate Video Tips

 

       

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I’ve heard there are over 500 people registered for the event!

Those that are there (as well as those that are not) are using the Twitter Hashtag: #REBCDEN

Here’s a couple of ways you can virtually follow along. 

• Do a twitter search for that hashtag. 

• Open up Tweetdeck, Seesmic Desktop or tweetgrid and create a group for just that hastag. 
  

I’m liking that with both TweetDeck and TweetGrid, I don’t have to leave the application to see the attached pictures.

#rebcden - Twitter Search

 

       

Meet John Harper.

He’s just one of the many Harpers of the Harper Mees team.
(there’s quite a few of them)

John is a full time Real Estate Agent and is responsible for leading the team direction in it’s internet and technology.  On top of that, he is an Instructor and Speaker.  He’s got his hands full.  You might imagine, even being as smart as John is, it’s hard to keep on top of all the emerging technology, especially that concerning Social Media.

So what did John Harper do? (here’s where the Genius part comes in )

He reached out to local Social Media types, changed the dynamic and did exactly what I’ve always touted as the real reason for Social Media.
Bringing it all Face to Face or as they say on Twitter - #IRL (in real life)

Just as easy as that!

And last night we did meet at Amber Bistro.  I met and chatted with owner Eric Janssen.  Soon Reggie and Nicole Nicolay of (MyTechOpinion.com ) arrived as did the Mees half of the team, Ginny and Paul.

The wine flowed, the food and service was top notch. More important than that, many new ideas blossomed, new relationships formed and existing relationships were strengthened.

One of the best ideas we talked about was Ginny’s project:  http://www.singlewomanhomeowner.com/

a website for a national network of professional women dedicated to helping you with the unique challenges you face when it comes to real estate and home ownership.  You’ll find the answers to your questions, gain insight into the real estate market and have access to a network of professional women who share your interests.

Check it out, join the site.  It’s a virtual support group for all Women Homeowners everywhere.  What a great concept!

Now, do you really need to go to such lengths as John did?  Probably not.
A simple “Hey! Let’s meet for coffee” would generally work.

Moral of the story: Social Media is just a tool.  It’s not a tool to broadcast your message “Buy from Me!”.   It’s a tool to start the conversation.  From Twitter to email to phone call to coffee (or dinner) to a real human relationship.

John Harper understands that and that’s why I say he’s a Genius.

*  And yeah, just for fun I did Photoshop John up on a pedestal, sorry John!

       

And 2 things that do.

#1 – Your Title

Is it just me?  No matter what particular title you use after your name, Social Media Guru or Social Media Ninja , or just the simple “Expert ” they all make me cringe.  The hairs literally go up on the back of my neck.  Was there a class I missed giving you that designation or did you live abroad for years studying Social Media with your fellow Shaolin monks eating only wafers while surfing the interwebs?

Social Media is so new, so rapidly changing, the best any of us could hope for would be to be called “Students”.  You might know more than the student next to you but the fact is, we’re all learning as we go along.  Get over yourself.

#2 – Your Friends and Followers

I got the spam you sent.  That email spouting that you can get me Page ONE of Google or remember that twitter direct message you sent touting that your “system” can get me 10,000 followers automatically.

I know it works, you’ve proved it and done so in a Magnum kind of way!  Good for you!  I’ll bet you were really popular back in school.

But the massive amount of followers you have, and the massive amount you are following, do not make you a Ninja.  Your lack of understanding what makes Social Media work gives you away.  Twitter and Facebook are not a popularity contest.  You’ve missed the point, you’ve failed, and now Master Robin wants his Ferrari back.  Zeus and Apollo…fetch!

Got the idea?  Understand where I’m coming from?  Cool!
Now here’s the two things that might make you a “Social Media SuperStar ”
(if that’s the dream you want to dream, so be it)

#1 Real People, Real Relationships

The real key to success isn’t the number of followers, it isn’t the number of false friends you have, it’s the relationships that you have.  They may start as a single tweet that turns into a conversation that turns into a phone call that turns into a face to face meeting (or not).  It’s the growth and building of the relationship, the strength of the relationship that counts.  The self proclaimed Gurus fail at understanding the human side of engagement.

#2 Education

Knowing, realizing, and accepting that you are a student as well as a teacher is key.  What you knew yesterday no longer applies to today.  Besides having a deep understanding of human interaction you need to know the technical stuff.    Staying on top of the rapidly changing landscape is hard work.  Constant testing and retesting is hard work.  New programs, new API’s emerge daily.  What works, what doesn’t, and how do you measure it?  There is no Autopilot for your Social Media Education.

That’s it.  There’s the path. 

The low road to Social Media Marketing Failure and the high road to Social Media Relationship Success .  The choice is yours.  Which way will you choose?

       

A simple question.
As a small business owner, do you need more Friends or more Clients ?

Earlier this year when Facebook changed the way a “Fan” Page interacts with people I instantly became a Fan (full pun intended).

It’s no secret everyone and their Mother is logging in to Facebook.  Not just pimply faced kids in dorm rooms, but the exact demographic that makes up your Client database.  The problem is this; the natural tendency is to add all your contacts as Friends in Facebook.  “Hey! Friend me up!”

There’s a thousand reasons every small business owner should have a Business Page (which should aptly be renamed a Business Page).  I’ll just concentrate on one for now.  Adding a contact or potential client generally gives them access to your wall, your links, and other important items you might want to share.  That’s generally not a problem.

The problem is “those photos ”… You know, the ones your beer guzzling roomies in college just found and uploaded?  Yes, you can manually remove them from your wall or fool around with the privacy settings.  But…

to someone in business, a Fan Page does more than give you another profile to keep track of.  It’s a manner of separating the Friends from Clients.  Business from Personal.  You can still and should, inject your personality into the stream but your Fans are not going to see Doogie’s pictures.

That alone should be enough reason to go out a build a Business Page on Facebook .  The question is now…

How to inspire someone to become a “Fan”?

Simply change the links that you have that might normally lead to your Facebook Profile (resulting in a new Friend ) to your Facebook Business Page (resulting in a new Fan )

Would that really work?

Looking at the below real time chart from Facebook I would say,

VERY MUCH SO!

That Facebook Bottle Cap is much smaller and more concealed than my previous “Join Mike on Facebook” widget yet my traffic dramatically increased.

Currently I have 3 different Facebook Pages :

Mike Mueller: I started this Page as a way to better promote upcoming events I’ll be speaking at, classes I’ll be teaching, or really anything related to the business side of my life.  This page is where I also do a little experimenting.  Check this out…  If you are new to the page you’ll be brought to my Video tab, Existing Fans will see the Wall.  If you are a Fan of the page you’ll also see a “Coupon” for Mueller Maps discount, non fans will not.

Join the Mike Mueller Business Page

---

Mueller Maps: This is just to showcase and demonstrate my Google Map Mashup I call “Mueller Maps ”. If you are not familiar with the concept, it’s a great way to embed video directly onto a Google Map.  Best of all, it’s easily updated by adding a row on a spreadsheet.

Join the Mueller Maps Page

---

AreWeConnected.com: I realized after starting the first two pages, I had not yet created a page for this website.  The website itself needs it’s very own page.  This is a place where everyone who comes by the site and signs in using Facebook Friend Connect will be directed.  Think of it as a home on Facebook for AreWeConnected.com .

Join the AreWeConnected.com Page

---

That’s enough about me.  Let’s talk about you!

These are my three examples of Facebook Business Pages.  I’d like to hear and see about yours.  Share your Facebook Business Page story, leave a link to it in your comments and let’s see if we can’t build up your fan base.  Tell us what you have done with it.  Tell us what you don’t understand (it can be very confusing).  And if you have a really cool application  - what did you do and how did you do it?

As an incentive for sharing, I’ll give away one free Mueller Map to one of the lucky people leaving a comment (even if you don’t have a Page).

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As you check in with Twitter on a Friday you might notice tweets packed to the brim with replies.  At the end of the tweet you might notice a hashtag #FollowFriday.  

In essence the sender of that tweet is putting the twits mentioned up on the proverbial Twitter Pedestal and suggesting to the Twitter Universe that they should follow them too.

Those tweets that contain the #FollowFriday hashtag can then seen here: http://search.twitter.com

All in all a great idea.  I love the gesture, and I certainly appreciate everyone who mentions me.  But looking at the sample tweet above I can now assume one of two things.

1. Josh Benson thinks these 11 people are worthy enough to be mentioned and followed.

Ok, so now I know @drewm is fine company to keep but I am still missing the “WHY ”.  I’m missing some vital information.

• What is it about @drewm that makes them a great person to follow?
• Do we have any of the same interests?
• Will we “click” or will we “clash”?
• Speaking of that, I don’t even know who Josh Benson is for that matter.  I just pulled him from the hashtag stream

That WHY is very important to me. I’m not looking to add new followers just to play a numbers game.  Twitter isn’t a popularity contest.  In fact, I’m doing the opposite and working on slowing down the stream.

The last time I checked, tweets were free.  May I suggest you take a moment and give your reader at least a little hint as to the WHY of your suggestion.

You don’t have to write a novel.  All I’m suggesting is that you give the TwitterVerse a little more than just a name to go by.  As I mentioned above, I certainly appreciate and am honored by everyone who mentions me in any form.

Since I have the opportunity, I think you should follow Tom Plant , not because he mentioned me, not because he tweets his #FollowFriday’s in what I perceive to be better form, but because he’s a wonderful person who shares and promotes others freely but here’s an additional bonus…

If you like wine, he’s also @WINEormous . He’s a Wine Geek, a Cork Dork, and has great insights to the wine biz and deals in great wine, and you should absolutely follow him there!

       

Here's a great article by Diane Guercio.

And yes, I am a member of TwitterQueens but technically you sould refer to me as a

Twitterdude

: )

Image via CrunchBase

Naming Names

A little more than a month ago I wanted to quickly find my friend Lane Bailey’s Facebook profile. I was reading one of his blog posts and in his sidebar was a Retaggr button. Clicking on the Facebook link in his Retaggr Card I was instantly taken to his… ooops, no make that my profile page . Realizing he had a bad link in his card I immediately told him. Things like this happen all the time.

Friends don’t let friends have bad links

Shortly thereafter I got an email back from Lane stating that my Retaggr card was broken too! How could that be? Certainly I know what the link to my profile is, don’t I? The other day I was doing much the same thing and happened upon yet another bad Retaggr link, then another and another.

The people I’ve named in the video are all smart, tech savvy bloggers. They should know what a profile link should look like. What went wrong? http://areweconnected.com/2009/05/retaggr-facebook-part-2/ has the rest of the story.

Twitter is a strange entity for the business owner. Admittedly, when I initially signed up, I didn’t "get " Twitter.  I talk to many business owners daily about their marketing and time and time again the same hot spot comes up.  Twitter.

Last week I quietly built a one question poll.  That’s it, just one question.

Question:  What stops you from marketing your business on Twitter?

“LinkedIn allows for 5 answers but also provides for great demographic results.

To keep the poll results on the clean side, I did not post or push this on Twitter.  Instead I pushed to to a few on LinkedIn and then also on Facebook.   (make sense?)

Dustin Luther made my day when he noted on Facebook "a linkedin poll about twitter on facebook… love the convergence ".

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/37041/xpszc

If you are in business, or in charge of marketing a business, I would like to have you take this simple one question poll.  Click on the link or image above.

Once you have answered, feel free to leave a comment (on LinkedIn) but make sure you check out the results, especially those broken down by age and gender.  They are pretty surprising!  I’ll expand more on that in the future.

Please feel free to spread this poll to your contacts, the broader the the better.  Reblog it, forward it, share it on almost any social media site you like.  The one thing, and something that I would not normally ask, is that you don’t Tweet or Retweet this post (for the same reasons described above)

I downloaded / upgraded Version 0.2.0 last friday and had a chance to play with it this weekend.  http://d.seesmic.com/seesmic/SeesmicDesktop-0.2-rc2.air

I was at the original LIVE Launch at Seesmic HQ, tried it out and wasn’t happy about it’s wonkyness - That was then.  Today is a different story.

The biggest change?  Facebook. You can now pull the updates from all your friends and put that on a single column.  You can selectively push updates to Facebook.

I like the “Like” function as well.  If I see a wall update I “Like” I can “Like” it directly from the Seesmic Desktop.  I cannot leave a comment on it (yet), apparently that’s soon to come.

Adding a new source or stream of content to my already overcrowded following might not be a good idea.  That’s why the biggest reason I use it (or TweetDeck) is to slow down the stream.  I do that by adding certain people to a group.  (In TweetDeck it’s a Group, in Seesmic Desktop it’s a UserList.)  My “SlowStream” group consists of 100 or so people I want to make sure I have a better chance of engaging with.

Remember, the Seesmic Desktop is still a work in progress.

My current list of changes I would like to see is…

• Auto lookup of @ (I’ve become spoiled by this feature in TweetDeck).
• Auto add of Hashtags, If I reply to a tweet with a hashtag I want my tweet to auto add that hashtag.
• The ability to @ multiple people easily.
• Video Integration - why not?  They have the power of Seesmic behind them.

What would you like to see them add next?