Marketing is really nothing more than just learning to communicate a message to large amounts of people. Good marketing is knowing who are your customers. Successful marketing is know where they spend their time and these days, having a conversation. If you can target a specific group of people, you can customize that information for them. You can make your message relevant to them. FlowTown does just that.

FlowTown really takes the next step in social email marketing by creating a social networking profile of a person from just their email. In a nutshell, simply enter customer A’s email or import it (Gmail, Mail Chimp, CSV) into FlowTown. Then within the FlowTown UI, you can simply organize your customers into specific groups or use existing social network organization for targeted email marketing campaigns. Let’s say you’re a BBQ joint who just wants to invite Twitter followers for a Tweetup. With a few click, you’ve just shot an email out to all of your customers who are on Twitter.

There are lots of possibilities for this tool in the future as well. One thing I would like to see added is to campaign to customers within some of the various social networks. Why? Well, I was talking with a relative last night and she said the words:

I could waste an entire day on facebook and not touch my email once.

I’m pretty sure there are many a soccer mom out there who are just like my Aunt Edna (yes, she’s the cool one).

There’s a great concept going here with FlowTown. And they have received a lot of exposure already with articles on such sites as All Things Digital and Fast Company. And the fact that they have positioned themselves to not be competing with other email marketing companies (MailChimp, for example), makes them a company to watch in the young year.

(image source)

Hey Folks!

We’ve got a special treat! A Tweep and blogger, Fiona Cullinan, is traveling to SXSWi and couldn’t pass up on the chance to visit the other “Birmingham” while she was in the states. Since she’s just passing through, she’ll only be here Sunday, March
7th. We’re going to meet up at On Tap Sports Bar starting at about 5pm (Google Map Here)

This is really a great opportunity to have a chance to see how our friend in “Brum” (Birmingham, UK) are using blogging, twitter, and other Social Media tools! Can’t wait to see you there!!!

Ok, so I thinking I’m not in the minority when I say that Google Buzz is a bad idea.

Well, that may be too harsh. It would have been a good idea 3-4 years ago when Twitter was born. And probably would have put Twitter out of business. Now, Buzz is just annoying. It’s the one more thing in my inbox that I really could care less about.

Twitter is already integrated in my workflow. It’s separate from my email and I like it that way. Kinda the same way with my Google Reader. I don’t like my informational inputs mixing with my business communications. That’s just how I roll.

Now Google Wave, on the other hand, is a different story almost entirely. Google Wave would be a great addition to my business communications. It’s an intuitive, natural way to plan, organize, or map out just about anything. And it would fit perfectly in my Gmail, just under my inbox button. You know, where Google Buzz was before you turned it off.

So, looks like there’s a Tweetup forming (thanks to @2fishweb @shiftworkspace @PaintedPerson @rebecca_morrow) this Friday Night (2/26) at ShiftWorkSpace downtown, probably starting around 6pm. Instead of just random, casual SM (Social Media) chat, we’ll actually have a topic.

Amber Naslund (blog) wrote this great post when asked by DJ Waldow asked about professional uses for Twitter and what we got out of it during Twitter’s #SMChat.

Just to be clear (if it’s you’re first time), there’s no charge. This is just people getting together for great discussion. However, bringing snacks or a 6 pack of your favorite frosty adult beverage is encouraged.

Look forward to seeing you there!
–DW

I think one of the major turning points in my social media studies has to be attending Social Fresh Nashville this year. Getting to meet so many great people there who are taking Social Media to the next level was amazing.

One of the sessions I remember most was @JasonFalls talking about Social Media and the Bottom line. Mainly because the #sofresh hashtag blew up trying to find out about the “tree-hugging hippies” in our lecture.

But basically, Jason called out all the Social Media “flower children” and “tree-hugging hippies”. You know, the ones of us who are “you can’t put ads in your RSS or on your site to make money. People hate ads”. As much as I hate to admit it, I was one of these people for quite some time.

But what Jason said struck a cord with me. It’s not People who don’t like ads. It’s us, the social media community. We are tired of being bombarded with banners and flashy flash ads. Normal People, those who live outside the bubble, really don’t mind those ads and may actually find the side banner ad for a bagpiper in Atlanta actually useful and helpful, adding value to their experience on your site.

But how does this relate to experts? Well, mainly because we’re confusing our clients by NOT calling ourselves experts. I can think of no less than 5 so-called “social media experts/gurus/whatever” who are having success in the market with half the knowledge and experience they need. Why? Because their clients know what to expect from them.

An Expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain. –Wikipedia

No where in that description of “expert” does it mention that the expert has to know how to use all the tools effectively. All they really need to know is the main concepts of the techniques and skills they provide to execute the task effectively. Tools are the easy part. Anyone can tweet, create a Facebook fanpage, or blog. It takes an expert to move the needle and get an ROI on Social Media.

This past week, I felt just how powerful social media here in Birmingham can be.

A couple of weeks back, I went to Social Fresh Nashville. It was great to rub elbows with Community Managers and CEOs who are living proof that social media can stay social and benefit a business (ROI anyone?).

In the ROI of Community Building panel, I remember DJ from Blue Sky Factory and Amber from Radian 6 talking about how your community will protect you. Essentially what they were saying is that if something blows up while you’re not around for some reason (sleep, dinner, vacation, sleep, driving, etc), you’re community will step up to the plate for you until you can take care of a situation. Assuming, of course, you’re cultivating a good community, of which Amber and DJ do a great job.

Fast forward to Thursday of last week. I had this very same conversation with Mellanie from Taziki’s (@tazikis_bham) during a meeting. It was more of a tidbit at the end of a conversation, but a serious point nonetheless.

Not less than an hour later (distance from Taziki’s in Hoover to Wal-mart in Roebuck, minus a pitstop to Burlington Coat Factory), I had a chance to run lead blocker for Mellanie.

I was checking my Twitter feed before going to pick up some zucchini (love the stuff) when I noticed that @heydusti had had a bad experience at one of the local Taziki’s. I also noticed that she had used the wrong @reply to get to Mellanie directly. So, I sent a simple tweet saying to @heydusti that I think that Mellanie may want to chat.

Within 5 minutes the entire situation was taken care of. Mellanie caught up with @heydusti and hear what happened. I hear Mellanie even did some followup within the location to get to the root of the problem, which was a simple fix. No one got in trouble and a little education was all that was necessary.

My point is that if you are good to your customers and your customers see that, they can be your most powerful marketing/pr tool of all (adverts, TV spots be damned). How do I know this? Because I have heard from at least from at least 2 people in person they were watching and liked how @tazikis_bham handled the situation (and how fast). Now, I know for a fact that there are a lot more people watching/lurking on twitter than just those two. How many people will now head over to their local Taziki’s for take out dinner than before? This may not be measurable directly, but it added a heck of a lot of brand value to those who where watching, and those who they choose to tell.

I just want to take a moment late on this friday night to say I’m part of #teamcoco and supporting Conan O’Brian in the NBC debacle. Part of his final monologue addressed something I try to run Social Media Birmingham by and all of my social media consulting.

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. As proof, let’s make an amazing thing happen right now.

–via Variety

Class act, Conan. Can’t wait to see what you do next. After your 7 month forced vacation, that is. My vote is Revision3…

So, for about the last two weeks, I’ve been playing with FourSquare, a location-based game on most app-based phones. Since it opened to all cities around the world back on January 8th, I’ve seen it’s usage amongst my friends triple.

The idea behind foursquare is that you compete for points with your friends by “checking in” at different locations you travel throughout the day. The points reset every sunday morning, but the power of foursquare is huge.

I recently attended #sofresh in Nashville (blog post coming) and automatically checked myself in to the hotel via foursquare. In that second, it dawned on me just how powerful FourSquare was. I looked at recent checkins and knew who else attending the conference was there, nearly automatically. I saw four others, three of which where chatting in the lobby. I was able to recognize them immediately.

Now, I’ve also had the question from a couple of local users: “But my followers don’t want to know where I am”. Have you asked? As an early adopter, I’m just going with the flow. But I’ve already had a few chance encounters meeting other “plugged-in” people. We talked in passing, or sat and had a coffee. You never know until you ask. If they have said that they don’t like your foursquare tweets, ask them nicely to continue to follow you, then let them make the choice. Again, I’m an early adopter. I go for the gold. Opinions may vary.

Probably my favorite part has got to be the badges. If you check in a certain amount of times, at certain times, in certain places, you can get badges. There’s nothing that they do, other than let others know just how nerdy you are. I have five currently, and am looking for ways to get more.

Overall, I love the idea of FourSquare and think it’s got a good backbone. But it’s still very new to most of the world and will take getting used to. I’m just glad I’ve got a head start. That way I can be Mayor for much longer.

Part one of Geekend Jan 2010 was attending WordCamp Atlanta. Let me first start off by saying thank you to @tessa, @sheatsb and @cdharrison for putting on an amazing conference. Incredible turn out and incredible support for the local community.

Now, #wcatl had three main tracks: Design, Development, and Content. I attended at least one session in each track and had several very interesting discussion about each. And the message from each track seemed just about the same from all the people I talked to.

Design = Confidence

Wordpress is a very stable platform. There are a lot of people who attended the conference who are monitoring their use of Wordpress via consulting/freelancing/etc. The main message I received from sessions and people about this track was have the confidence to ask what you are worth. You have invested the time and effort to develop a very unique skill. Now it’s time to get an ROI.

Development = Community

Whether it was from the keynote by @janeforshort talking about 3.0 or by the volume of people who attend, one thing was clear. Community is what sets Wordpress apart from other platforms. And it’s that community that will drive the future success of the Wordpress platform. A huge reemphasis of that community is a commitment of @automatic and the other leaders of the #wordpress community.

Content = Consistency

Simple concept, yet very hard for many to execute. Whether you’re just getting started or building brand loyalty, you have to be consistent in the content that you’re generating otherwise you’re not contributing to the community. And communities don’t like dead weight.

There will be more news/notes/stories from #wcatl in the coming days/weeks. Stay tuned.

So, for those playing the home game, I’ve spent the weekend traveling the southeast to a couple of conferences. Friday and Saturday, I hailed from #Atlanta for #wcatl. Yesterday and today, I’ve been in #Nashville for #sofresh.

I know @treypennington has already hit me up for a blog post about #wcatl and I know that #sofresh is going to be HUGE so be patient, posts for both are coming.

In the meantime, head over to WordCampATL and Social Fresh and check them out. Hopefully, that will keep ya’ll busy enough for me to absorb/regurgitate some of the great information I got this weekend.