Social media expert and author David Meerman Scott (whose content is syndicated through Newstex Authoritative Content) speaks about marketing and social media around the world. In a new video that he released this month, he tells the story of the number one question he’s asked at the vast majority of speaking engagement he attends — how do you calculate the ROI on social media marketing?

Instead of going into a detailed explanation of social media ROI, David asks his audiences three simple questions, and with a show of hands from audience members as they answer each question, he demonstrates what he calls social media ROI hypocrisy. You can see for yourself in the short video below which includes snippets from his actual audiences at events held in multiple cities across the globe.

What do you think of David’s method of explaining the hypocrisy of social media ROI?

As a 20-year marketing veteran, I’m in agreement with David in terms of the blind focus that many business people have in delivering ROI numbers for social media marketing initiatives. We live in a world of information paralysis where we can’t act unless the numbers tell us it’s okay to do so. Social media marketing is a long-term brand building strategy that includes short-term tactics, but it’s power comes from its ability to deliver long-term, sustainable, organic growth. There’s no place for “brand” on the company balance sheet, but there is no doubt that brand equity is a valuable business asset.

Social media conversations are similar in that there are currently few ways to accurately track ROI, but that doesn’t make social media any less valuable to an organization. It’s difficult to track ROI on many ads or on press releases, but companies still invest in them because they’ve been around for a long time. Social media is new and easy to question. It’s the organizations that don’t wait around for the numbers to act on the social media opportunity that will succeed in the long-term.

What do you think?

In an insightful blog post this week, Seth Godin (whose popular marketing blog is syndicated through Newstex Authoritative Content) offers his thoughts on the shifting world of media through what he refers to as the “erosion in the paid media pyramid.”

First, you need to understand how Seth defines the media pyramid. He breaks media down into four distinct categories:

• Free: The most prevalent (e.g., movie trailers and free book chapters)
• Mass: Offered for a price but that price is affordable enough that a large audience can access it (e.g., newspapers and books)
• Limited: With a higher price tag, smaller audiences pay for this content (e.g., Broadway shows and small conferences)
• Bespoke: The most expensive content accessible to only a small audience who is willing and able to pay for it (e.g., the most expensive conferences or events)

As Seth explains, free content appears at the bottom of the media pyramid as shown in the image below. It’s the most prevalent and accessible, particularly with the massive number of content creators and amount of free content available online today.

As we all know, the shift from paying for media and content to accessing free media and content is only going to continue. Seth writes in his post:

“The creators aren’t going to go away–they have no choice but to create. The infrastructure around monetizing work that used to have a marginal cost but no longer does is in for a radical shift, though. Media projects of the future will be cheaper to build, faster to market, less staffed with expensive marketers and more focused on creating free media that earns enough attention to pay for itself with limited patronage.”

He’s absolutely right. Publishers that continue to fight against the free content movement will fight a losing battle. If you read my article about the Associated Press restricting its employees from using social media, then you already know that many mass media organizations have yet to understand that they’re focusing their efforts in the wrong places.

What do you think?

Image: Seth Godin

Another blog that is syndicated through Newstex has been recognized for its authoritative content!

WomenOnBusiness.com won the Best Blog award at the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business at an awards ceremony hosted by Sara Eisen of Bloomberg Television and attended by 300 people in New York City last week. This year’s winners were chosen by over 200 judges through multiple rounds of judging among a record 1,300 entry applications.

The Stevie Awards honor women executives, entrepreneurs, and the companies they run worldwide. In 2002, Paul Tharp of the New York Post referred to the Stevie Awards as the “Oscar Awards for business.” Coincidentally, the 24 karat gold and crystal statues given to winners are made by the same company that makes the Oscar, Emmy, and Clio Awards — R.S. Owens.

WomenOnBusiness.com was founded by Susan Gunelius in 2007 with a goal to offer a place for women in business to demonstrate their thought leadership, share their expertise, develop their professional platforms, and learn and grow in an authoritative and credible media space.

Visitors to WomenOnBusiness.com can share their business news by submitting press releases for publication, submitting guest posts, or joining the team of volunteer contributors.  Additionally, business women who write their own business blogs can add their blogs to the Businesswomen Bloggers Directory. All features on WomenOnBusiness.com are offered free of charge.

WomenOnBusiness.com has been named to numerous “best blog” and “best website” lists including Forbes’ list of the top 100 websites for women, Forbes’ list of the top 20 marketing and social media blogs for women, and the Little Pink Book’s list of the top 10 business blogs for women. WomenOnBusiness.com was a finalist in the Best Blog category in the 2009 and 2010 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and 2011 marks the first time the blog has one this award.

You can view the complete list of 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business recipients and finalists here.

Congratulations to Michael Englund, chief economist for Action Economics (whose content is syndicated through Newstex Authoritative Content) for winning the September 2011 Forecaster of the Month Award from MarketWatch. This marks the third time that Michael, has won the forecasting award from MarketWatch.

Michael beat economists from Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Wrightson ICAP, and TD Securities for the September 2011 Forecaster of the Month Award. Of 10 indicators tracked in the September contest, Englund had 7 forecasts that were found to be among the 10 most accurate, and of the 43 forecasters in the September contest, Michael had the most accurate forecasts on 2 specific indicators, housing starts and new home sales.

It’s not surprising that Michael Englund has won the Forecaster of the Month Award multiple times. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry having spent significant time as chief economist at MMS International and Standard & Poor’s. As the principal director and chief economist for Action Economics, he leads a highly experienced economics team who create authoritative commentary, analysis, and forecasts that their audience trusts and depends on.

Michael Englund spent many years with MMS International where he pioneered the early stages of real-time economic commentary in financial markets. Today, Action Economics is a perfect example of authoritative content getting the recognition it deserves.

You can visit Action Economics to learn more about Michael and the Action Economics team and to read the authoritative content published there.

Congratulations, Michael!

In a new article published on Slaw, a Canadian, co-operative blog about all things legal which is syndicated through Newstex Authoritative Content, Doug Jasinski shares his insight and tips for law blogs and some lessons to learn from lawyers, law firms, blogs, and social media.

First, Jasinski notes that social media doesn’t “automatically reward firm size or lawyer seniority.” Instead of the size of the firm and the tenure of the lawyer being most important, smaller firms and younger, less experienced lawyers are playing larger, more prominent roles in legal social media, including blogs. Furthermore, individual lawyers see more success in social media than firms do. It’s not surprising. Social media and blogging require personality, something that is often missing in law firm communications.

Second, Jasinski shares that law firms (particularly larger firms with varied clients) “push out a series of almost exclusively self-laudatory items across a scattershot array of industries and topics.” He is absolutely correct when he explains that most of these updates are useless and irrelevant to the audience making it very obvious why people prefer the interesting and personable Twitter updates and social media content from smaller firms.

How do law firms solve the problems they face in publishing content on blogs and social media channels? Jasinski offers some suggestions.

• Specific content beats generalized content. [I'd like to add that this is also a fundamental rule of branding.]
• Readers don’t care about law firms. They care about themselves. [By the way, this is also a fundamental rule of copywriting.]
• One Twitter feed isn’t enough. Firms need niche feeds of content to speak directly to specific audiences. [That's a fundamental rule of marketing -- audience segmentation and messaging.]

To get started, Jasinski recommends that firms start with the practices within the firm that are already “self-sufficient in putting out newsletters, e-alerts, or a blog and add social media tools to their arsenal.” Find existing social media knowledge and talent within the firm and use it.

Furthermore, Jasinski suggests that firms divvy up the work between multiple people. For example, each lawyer should sign their Twitter updates to the firm Twitter feed he or she publishes on with his or her initial, and a key should be included so readers know who those initials refer to with a link to full bios. Finally, encourage contributors to provide useful content, be personable, and link to news and information from external, credible sources.

You can learn more by reading Jasinski’s complete article on the Slaw blog. It’s filled with information to help take your law blog to the next level of success.

Image: Morrhigan

There are a lot of books about blogging available today, but the new Bloggers Boot Camp brings something different to the table — its authors.

Between the two authors, John Biggs and Charlie White, they have written thousands of blog posts for popular blogs like Gizmodo (syndicated by Newstex), TechCrunch, and Mashable. Their book doesn’t teach the step-by-step process to start a blog using the blogging application of choice for the reader, but instead, dives into how to write and run a blog that is successful.

The authors offer a number of rules and instructions to build a blog and publish content that can be written every day. This is not a book for casual bloggers or people who write a blog for fun without goals to drive large numbers of visitors or make money. Instead, this is a book for people who want to make blogging a job. As the authors explain, “Blogging is a job. It may be your second job but it is a process that takes hard work and discipline.”

Bloggers Boot Camp covers everything from how to manage your blog and social networking to how to promote your blog and handle advertising, hiring writers, and more. In other words, it covers everything you need to know to develop and maintain your blog as it grows. It also references a variety of tools that you can use to streamline processes.

The authors offer two rules in the first chapter of the book that they believe are essential to every blogging plan: always be blogging and post consistently. Following is a brief excerpt that explains more about how you can make sure you’re always blogging.

“Keep posting! What do you mean, there’s nothing to write about today? Of course there is! There’s always something going on that would interest your readers every day. Your goal is to be the person “in the know” about all things involved in your topic. If you truly love what you’re writing about, you won’t have any problem writing something at least daily. If you find you’re having trouble, you may be facing a serious problem in your choice of topic. There is no topic too mundane that you can’t pull a post out of it. Can’t find news? Post some pictures from a recent activity related to your topic. Talk about what other bloggers in your niche are doing. Prepare a round-up of news from other sources.”

If you need a book that will teach you how to take your blog from hobby to revenue-generator, then Bloggers Boot Camp might be a good choice.

Congratulations to the Newstex Authoriative Content publishers who won 2011 Online Journalism Awards — ProPublica and OpenSecrets.

Both ProPublica and OpenSecrets were recognized for their outstanding online news journalism with awards from the Online News Association and the University of Miami’s School of Communications. Prize money for several 2011 awards was provided by the Gannett Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The Online Journalism Awards debuted in 2000, “to honor excellence in digital journalism, focusing on independent, community, nonprofit, major media, and international news sites.” For the first time this year, award entries were open to news content produced for any digital device.

ProPublica, a non-profit news organization devoted to reform through journalism, was awarded the Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Small Site, for its Dialysis series. This isn’t the first time ProPublica has been recognized for journalistic excellence. ProPublica has won numerous awards including a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 and again in 2011!

OpenSecrets.org is owned by the Center for Responsive Politics, which is a non-profit research group that tracks money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. The OpenSecrets.org site was awarded the 2011 Online Journalism Award for Online Topical Reporting/Blogging, Small Site. Like ProPublica, this is not the first journalism award for OpenSecrets.org.

ProPublica and OpenSecrets.org both demonstrate the authoritative content that is being published online today and syndicated through Newstex to the people who need it to do their jobs. Congratulations to ProPublica and OpenSecrets.org!

For the second year in a row, ProPublica (whose content is syndicated through Newstex) has won a Pulitzer Prize!

ProPublica reporter Sheri Fink won a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, and now, ProPublica reporters Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein won a 2011 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for their stories on how some Wall Street bankers delayed and worsened the financial crisis in an effort to make themselves richer at the expense of their clients and the companies they worked for. This is the first Pulitzer Prize awarded for a group of stories that was published online, not in print.

ProPublica is a non-profit  news organization devoted to reform through journalism. ProPublica reports on stories with a “moral force” with particular focus on stories about “abuse of power and failure to uphold the public trust.”

The organization’s work has been recognized with numerous awards in addition to the two Pulitzer Prize wins. So far in 2011, ProPublica has won two George Polk Awards, an American Society of News Editors Batten Medal, two Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards, and two awards from the Society of News Design. ProPublica was also a National Magazine Award finalist in 2011.

Please join Newstex in congratulating ProPublica, Jesse Eisinger, and Jake Bernstein on their great work and Pulitizer Prize win!

The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has an idea that seems to verge quite close to being an act of suppressing freedom of speech with a new $300 “business privilege license” that all bloggers in Philadelphia will be charged if they want to keep writing online. 

All local Philadelphia bloggers will have to pay for the privilege license regardless of whether or not they make any money from their blogs.  Even if a person writes a blog as a hobby, just for fun, or for a personal creative outlet — they’ll have to cough up the $300 to keep blogging.

The online buzz about Philadelphia’s new “business privilege license” is calling it a violation of free speech citing the fact that only people who can afford to pay the $300 license fee will have the ability to express their thoughts on the heretofore free-flow of online information and conversation on the social web that was born of user-generated content and citizen journalism.

MSNBC.com republished an article by Teresa Masterson of NBCPhiladelphia.com, where Masterson makes the following keen observations:

“Blogger Marilyn Bess, whose Ms. Philly Organic Blog has made her a whopping $50 over the past few years, went to the city’s tax amnesty program to explain that she makes pennies on her hobby. They told her to hire an accountant, she told the City Paper. In an economy where jobs are sparse and people try to make ends meet with part-time jobs, taxing the independent, scrappy freelancers and bloggers seems counterproductive. But the emptying of bloggers’ wallets may not be the worst result of these taxes. With the city’s charge being more than what most bloggers make, their voices could be silenced, as the extra expense is enough to discourage many from even having a blog.”

The story even made the news as you can see in the video below:

What do you think?  How can bloggers fight similar tactics from spreading to other cities?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Congratulations to Dan Schawbel (whose Personal Branding Blog, Student Branding Blog, and Twitter updates are syndicated through Newstex) for his well-deserved inclusion in Inc.com’s 2010 List of the Top Entrepreneurs under 30.

Seeing Dan on this list doesn’t come as a surprise to me.  I’ve been one of his fans for a while now (he was even kind enough to write the foreword for my book that’s coming out in November, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing), for a simple reason — he gets two of my favorite subjects, social media marketing and branding.  To see someone who is under 30 with such a clear grasp of somewhat intangible topics and a desire to help his peers gain a better understanding of those subjects in such a positive manner is inspirational.

Dan is a sought after public speaker and offers social media and branding services through his company, Millenial Branding.  You can hear Dan describe his company and his vision in the video below.