Don’t worry this isn’t a sales pitch, but rather a gentle reminder to rethink your online marketing message. With the social media sonic boom we have all experienced, there was (and still is) a mad rush to get on linkedin, facebook, start a blog, rethink your website content, etc and yet after the dust has settled, the ROI for all your efforts looks sadder than a cat soaked in water.

I believe the main reason for the lack luster return is we effectively took out the human element of our marketing messages. Our main focus has been to develop a message online created based on our assumptions, making it SEO friendly, and published in a automated format, almost slamming it in the face of any poor soul who decided to “content with or friend” you.

So What’s The Solution? It’s simple really. Stop selling and start listening. All of us have been taught that in order to be effective with Social Media, you have to put out content and hope that it sparks dialog and possible business. The problem is because we are really digging for new content, most of it isn’t any good. It’s true that you need to be active with content, but quality of the content is more important. What if for example, instead of posting where you are, what you are doing, or what sort of deal you are running, you decided to just sit back and start to listen to the people in your network talk. By listening we can know what everyone is looking for and how you can position your company’s services via an effective marketing message to grab their attention. The idea is to create content holding true to a specific message that directly brings value to the intended person. Quality of message rather than quantity.

Let’s get more specific. As an example, Linkedin is a great way to connect with others and constantly post all the boring things you are doing along with 90% of the other people posting similar posts. What if you decided to start digging around the “Answers” section and try to help someone out with a problem they are having without heavily promoting your business. Just simply helping without strings attached. What if you joined a group and did the same thing, but all you did was interact with others and got to know them a little more? Sounds like more work, but I can almost promise you that the results will be a lot better than just writing out a meaningless 140 character status.

If we keep to our simple old school ways of building strong relationships by listening to others, trying to help them, and ultimately providing tremendous value like we do outside of the online world, then the rewards are endless. Your company can develop a better marketing message based on what you hear is needed and at the same time, you are building a strong network of business relationships that can last forever.

So knowing that we have amazing technology out there and more yet to come out, are we doomed to a life where all of our initial social interactions are handled via Facebook, Linkedin, mobile or other electronic outlets? Will family conversations, office conversations, or conversations in general no longer happen in person? Will it be better not have interactions in person? Will technology improve our social interactions and make us better at socializing with each other online and off?

My honest opinion at the moment: things are not where they should be and we are suffering a little socially. I do believe, however, that technology can make us better and I also believe that our company is helping to make that possible. I just think we need to remember how to interact in real life with each other in order to create technology that will help improve interaction online. Case in point: Cyber Bullies. A cyber bully is an individual who beats up on others online using words or other media (videos, etc.), without the feeling of any consequences. Hiding behind a device makes it easier to not see the dramatic effect caused to the other individual. Would the bully do the same thing to the person in real life, outside of the Internet, if they could see the person’s reaction right in front of them?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not thinking the end of the world is coming due to technology. I guess when you have children, it gets you to start thinking about how life will be in a few years from now and if some old habits still need to be taught to avoid turning our young into non socialized robots.

I’m a big advocate for balance and believe that you can’t do one thing more than the other, which is something I tell all of our clients. I believe if we balance our activities online with the offline world, the positive impact on our business, our personal lives, and society in general will be greatly improved.

Video 5 of 5 of “Interview with the CEO of Boost Labs” video series. In this video, Ali talks about Facebook and why it is here to stay. If you have opinions please post them up.

Video 4 of 5 of “Interview with the CEO of Boost Labs” video series. In this video, Ali talks about how Boost Labs is different from the other firms out there. If you have opinions please post them up.

Video 3 of 5 of “Interview with the CEO of Boost Labs” video series. In this video, Ali talks about how the company’s past innovation. If you have opinions please post them up.

Video 2 of 5 of “Interview with the CEO of Boost Labs” video series. In this video, Ali talks in-depth about the online marketing services Boost Labs offers its clients. If you have opinions please post them up.

Video 1 of 5 of “Interview with the CEO of Boost Labs” video series. In this video, Ali talks about how the company name “Boost Labs” was created. If you have opinions please post them up.

Every online marketing firm, including ours, always includes some sort of Twitter marketing option. Most of the time it isn’t by choice, because our clients read all about Twitter and buy into the hype that it’s an effective marketing tool. But is Twitter really all that popular than say, MySpace? Most of us already know that with the dawn of Facebook, MySpace sort of took a backseat in the online social environment. Even with riding in the backseat, MySpace still is able to control more user attention than Twitter.

But why are we lead to believe that Twitter is top dog when it comes to user traffic? The simple answer is “the media”. If you look at a recent Google Trends chart comparing search traffic with Facebook and MySpace, Twitter ranks so far down it sits at the bottom of the chart. What’s even worse are the signs of decreased traffic, which also holds true for MySpace. The interesting part is if you notice the “News Reference Volume” section, which basically means news articles related to Twitter, you will see greater coverage than Facebook and MySapce.

My theory of why the media industry is focusing on covering Twitter more than Facebook and MySpace is primarily because they themselves (the media) are very active with Twitter in distributing their content to users. If you can provide publicity to a platform that you use to help promote your own stories, why not try to help bring more users? It helps to sell more advertising and possibly subscriptions. Smart. The only problem is that Twitter in itself is not as interactive as Facebook. Because of that, it seems as though users don’t feel as engaged or entertained as they would be on Facebook, so the traffic numbers don’t seem to improve.

So what’s my point? Don’t believe in hype and always look at hard facts before you decide on which social media platform to promote your business on. Having a customized solution is critical to understanding where your business fits in online.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook and think it’s an effective marketing channel that can help build really great relationships. The big problem is how does Boost Labs as a brand clearly define what it is we do without being labeled as a Facebook only shop or worse go too long winded into an explanation giving the impression of a jack of all trades? Facebook is just one of many channels available in the social media marketing pie and there’s a ton of foundation work to get any company into the social media environment. So in light of this, I decided to try a new term to describe our service offering: “Social Marketing”.

Social Marketing to me is defined as: marketing to a crowd or a group online within a social environment. By removing the word: “Media”, I feel takes the focus away from a Facebook only service and really helps define the “marketing to a crowd” concept. Granted Facebook would definitely be part of any Social Marketing campaign, but my hopes are that it would be now viewed as a channel/avenue rather than a service.
To make sure I wasn’t crazy, I actually tested the new term out at networking events and guess what? It looks like we have a winner! The results weren’t a landslide victory but 80% of the people I talked to didn’t end up labeling us a FB only shop. Hurrray!!!

At Boost Labs, we are very passionate about our work in social media. Every second of everyday if we are not brainstorming really cool ideas for our clients, we are sipping on something that is caffeinated. Which got me to think…is our caffeine intake encouraging our creativity?

To test the theory out, I decided to run a little observation experiment to see if caffeine is our secret for awesome ideas. So here are the results for everyone out there who cares:

Meeting#1 (No Caffeine-Right After Lunch) – I noticed that enthusiasm needed to be built up a little at the start of the meeting. Everyone coming in were dragging their feet. Being caffeinated myself, I used my exuberance to motivate the troops… oh wait… I shouldn’t have been caffeinated… dam. Anyways moving on, the ideas were following at the meeting, but it required more effort to get out. So in the end the meeting took longer and wasn’t as high energy as it could have been.

Meeting # 2 (Swiss Chocolate Almond Coffee-Right After Lunch) – Wow what a difference. High energy, loads of creativity, tons of ideas, and all within a very short amount of a time. Can’t say most of the ideas were any good, but there were definitely a lot of them….

Conclusion: I don’t think caffeine really improves creativity in our case. It just seems to provide a lot of ideas in a very short amount of time regardless if they are any good. My solution: Just have morning meetings, instead of right after lunch.

Now where’s my coffee?