Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

Something Old, Something New, Something Blue

Hey there! So I really wanted to add the Something Borrowed option too, but couldn’t think of anything, so the three in the title will have to do. So…

It’s been a little quiet here last week, since Kevin Green’s great guest post about LinkedIn (and if you haven’t read it yet, you’re missing a great ongoing discussion in the comments). But there’s a good reason for that, which is where the Something New and Something Old part comes in. And yes, I’m the something old part in the image at the start of this post…

Last Thursday, February 2nd at 11.52am, my wife Jacki gave birth to our second child, this time a daughter to join her brother Ewan, who showed his excitement at the news by offering back-up vocals to his favourite Thomas the Tank song.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1tLP0KKeu8[/youtube].

Salem McKellan Brown weighed in at 6lbs and 15oz, and both mama and daughter are well (they came home on Saturday morning). She’s a cute little tyke, and very wriggly – fun when it comes to diaper time!

So, obviously, my energies have been elsewhere. Normal service will be resumed shortly. In the meantime, you can hop over to Sarah Robinson’s blog where I guest as part of her 28 Days… series. This month, she’s looking at how you can encourage fierce loyalty from your community.

My post is titled If You Want Fierce Loyalty, You Need to Be Fiercely Loyal First. I kind of cuss a few times and talk about dog poo. Hence the Something Blue reference. Check it out if you have time, and make sure to check the rest of the series out too, there are some wicked smart people in it.

Cheers, have a great week and see you soon!

If LinkedIn.com Fails in the Social Network Forest, Will It Make a Sound?

This is a guest post by Kevin Green.

Would anyone be really upset if LinkedIn?s .com destination up and disappeared tomorrow?

It?s safe to assume that recruiters scouring the site for new talent and current shareholders would be pretty peeved, even if the stock (LNKD) is trading at half price from the IPO.?But how would the lack of an online destination really impact everyday users?

Users that are tethered to their mobile phones and enamored by the promise of applications, innovation and integration?

Of the top 10 most trafficked social networking sites, LinkedIn is a bit of an anomaly.?Its success is not dependent on status updates, games or rich media content, but on connecting individuals around professional interests and capabilities.

Even with 135 million registered users, LinkedIn has (not surprisingly) had difficulty keeping the attention of its user base ? with members spending an average of only8 minutes per visit (source: Google DoubleClick Ad Planner).

Compare that to the new social media darling, Pinterest.com. Traffic to Pinterest has grown a whopping 40% in the last 6 months ? and its 13 Million users are spending an average time spent of 15 minutes and 40 seconds on the site ? nearly double time spent on LinkedIn.com.

With numbers like these you can?t help but wonder how LinkedIn will compete for mindshare when interest-based social networks are cropping up everywhere and stealing bigger pieces of the consumer engagement pie?

If I was Reid Hoffman, I?d A) ? be a lot wealthier, and B) ? try a new approach that liberated LinkedIn from its .com chains, and focus more on applications and integration.

From a pure functionality standpoint, the standalone LinkedIn.com destination doesn?t offer anything that can?t be found or easily deployed within Facebook or Google+.? However, as a brand, LinkedIn has established a lot of credibility with business professionals around the world and has become the de facto standard in online CVs.

But there is only so long LinkedIn can maintain that credibility without innovating to better meet user needs ? because it?s only a matter of time before someone does ?LinkedIn? better.

Opportunities and Competitive Challenges

Facebook?s Open Graph applications present an interesting opportunity and risk for LinkedIn.

Of the initial 80+ applications within the Timeline Apps catalogue, Monster Worldwide managed to squeeze in the LinkedIn competitor Branch Out. Although the application struggled initially, the feature set is nearly identical to what is offered by LinkedIn, and deeper alignment with Facebook could gain significantly more interest.

Note – Alison Hillman of BranchOut offered a correction the the comparison Brian makes. You can find more information here.

Considering Facebook?s 800+ million global user base and the staggering amount of time users spend on the social network per visit on average (23 minutes and 20 seconds), Monster?s move to integrate Branch Out deeper into the Facebook ecosystem presents significant risk to LinkedIn?s externally-focused strategy.

To date, LinkedIn has focused more attention on bringing users from Twitter, Facebook and Google+ deeper into its social network.? Users have linked accounts to share their activity in these more populated destinations rather than participate within the LinkedIn destination itself (we?ll see what happens when users realize the Tweets application is no longer supported as of January 31, 2012).

The result has been a redundancy in content and value.? While some of the LinkedIn Groups are thriving, many times it?s still not enough to warrant a separate destination as participation is infrequent and the feature is not dramatically differentiated from circles in Google+ or Facebook Groups.

LinkedIn has traditionally held the user base close to their vest and been strict about third party application development and sharing information.?However, the opportunity to bring down some of those walls, innovate and integrate is now.?While Branch Out may not be a true competitor in the long run, it?s only a matter of time before someone approaches the professional audience and delivers a more seamless experience with a unique feature set.

With such a powerful brand presence, LinkedIn has the opportunity to own the professional dialogue and connectivity across social networks, and not just on LinkedIn.com.

Time for LinkedIn to Re-Engage

As it?s become such a trusted resource in finding, evaluating and hiring employees, the LinkedIn ?Seal of Approval? carries weight and should be amplified to encourage more connections, more conversation and more action.? It?s not a new concept, LinkedIn tried back in 2010 to deploy an application in Facebook, but it failed miserably (9,000 likes compared to 398,347 for Branch Out).? Why LinkedIn chose not to continue its integration with Facebook is a bit of a mystery, but it?s time to re-engage.

The development of a robust application could dramatically increase interaction and time spent among LinkedIn?s core user base.? It also creates an opportunity to gather more data about members and enhance their targeted advertising around interests and behaviors.

If the core functionality of LinkedIn was more portable, then the role of the LinkedIn.com destination moves away from being a standard social network that requires daily participation, to a distributed presence that can more easily integrate with highly trafficked and engaging social networks and eventually, permeate corporate websites.

Just think about how LinkedIn community engagement would change if it was effectively integrated with Facebook, where 81% of users log in at least weekly (in comparison to the 14% of users that log in to LinkedIn)? (Source: Mintel ?Use of leading social networks, June 2011?)

In my opinion, LinkedIn as a social network is too valuable and useful to disappear entirely, but without some strategic adjustments, it faces the biggest challenge from competitors and entrepreneurs.? Segregating itself from others and facilitating fringe connections with Twitter and others is a missed opportunity.

That said, if there was one social network to watch over the next two years, I?d place my bets on LinkedIn, if it strives to innovate and integrate.? Otherwise, LinkedIn could become the MySpace of professional social networking.

About the author: Kevin M. Green is the Vice President, Strategy at Digital Influence Group, a full service digital marketing agency located in the Boston, Massachusetts area.? He blogs regularly at Green Matter Thoughts?and can be reached on Twitter @kevinmgreen.? For more on his professional background, you can visit?Kevin’s LinkedIn profile.

Collaborative Marketing and the Natural Progression to Real Customer Satisfaction

I?ve been thinking a lot about collaborative marketing lately, and how we can turn co-existing businesses?more into partners and less about missed opportunities. I think there?s a great untapped market for someone that really wants to grab collaborative marketing and run with it.

For example ? imagine you?re going on a trip. You have to fly to get there, so there are a few processes you need to go through before, during and after:

Buying your ticket.
Driving to the airport.
In-flight activities.
Hotel or accommodation when you land.
Rental car.

These are just the basics ? I?m sure there are a lot more depending on what your individual needs are.

Now.

Instead of doing this all separately, what if there was some form of collaborative marketing behind it to make your life easier? I don?t know about you, but I know when my own life is made easy, I?m inclined to use the same service or product again. So.

Imagine if, when you buy your ticket (online or offline), the airline has a deal with all the major car hire firms like Hertz, Enterprise, Avis, etc. So, you buy your ticket and you have an option to hire your car at the same time. The rental firm then comes out and drops your car off. Or, better still, the airliner has a deal with airport cab firms to pick you up and take you to your flight.

Now, let?s also say that when you?re buying your ticket, you have the option of logging onto the booking site via Facebook Connect. If you?ve filled out your Movies and Music preferences on Facebook, the airline sees this. They then load this information into the media options available to your flight using something like iTunes. You can then watch your type of movies (if there?s a screen on the back of the seat in front of you), or your favourite music via an iTunes console.

With regards the hotel or accommodation, if you have to look after it and your company isn?t paying for it, again the airline has a partnership with hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and more, and not just the big ones but of all sizes. You fill out a short cheat sheet when buying your ticket and the three most suitable?accommodations pop up.

And the rental firm that started it all off?

They?re there (obviously) at the other end. But what they?ve done when you booked initially is ask what type of trip you?re having, and?the kind of things you like to do when relaxing. So, when you pick up your car at the other side, the GPS is loaded with some destinations you might enjoy. And they?re tied in with local businesses that are part of the collaborative marketing approach of all the above.

Now, this is a pretty simple take on basic marketing 101. Yet, as an example of true collaborative marketing, it?s a start.

But it’s got to be?better than a non-starter, no?

image: Ranjith Shenoy

The Only Thing That’s Dead Is Your Crappy “Everything Is Dead” Meme

I?m a little tired. Not physically. I could always do with a little more sleep, but then so can everyone.

No.

I?m more tired about the constant ?The End of PR?, ?The End of?Marketing?, ?The End of Print? and ?The End of Advertising? missives? that seem to be flying about at the minute.

I can?t open my email subscriptions without the latest link shouting?out ?The end of?. Where now for Industry X??.

I?m an avid blog reader?and use Alltop regularly?to find interesting stories from my industry and beyond. Yet it seems?that there?s an ?End of?? blog post for every *normal* one at the?minute.

Why?

Why do we have to bang the nails into the coffin of industries that?are still very much alive? Why do we have to look at an industry that?s been around for years as ?ending?, just because there are new tools?available? Is there really such a thing as an ending, anyway?

End or Mend?

Instead of saying an industry is ending, how about we say it?s?mending instead? If an industry is really viewed as being broken, should?we be closing the door on it or helping it back on its feet?

If your pet breaks its leg in an accident, do you immediately want to? put it to sleep or do you love it back to health? If you break the?point on your trusty pencil, do you sharpen it or throw it in the bin??Even when that pencil eventually writes its last word, you don?t stop using pencils ? you start afresh. But it?s still with the same type of?pencil.

When you?ve taken your last step on a particular journey, it doesn?t mean your travels are over ? it simply means there?s a new journey to? begin.

It?s easy to say something is finished ? you don?t have to worry?about it anymore as it heads for that big garbage bag of irrelevance.?The harder part?is making irrelevant into relevant.

It?s not easy, but if there are solid enough foundations already there, isn?t it better than starting again?

image: Black Glenn

Before We Believe You

We buy products and services every day.

Some we need, some we don?t. But we?ve heard good things about them so we buy them.

Who have we heard good things from?

Our friends. Our family. Our colleagues.

People we trust.

Why do we trust them? Because they?re not a mystery to us.

They don?t wear masks. They don?t hide behind veils. They don?t try and fool us with trickery.

They simply are.

You?re in business. You have a blog. You have a podcast. You want to be popular. You want people to like you; connect with you; follow you.

You want people to trust you.

We will. Just don?t wear a mask. Be yourself. Be true. Be honest.

We know you need to occasionally have your professional head on. Your business head. But does that mean you need to trick us? Does it mean you need to be the person you?re not, the business you?re not, the people we?re not?

No.

So wear the mask, but make it transparent. Wear the hat but make it your own. Pull the veil down but let us know it?s still you underneath. Make us trust you. Let us know who you are and that it?s you each time we talk.

That?s the way you?ll get our business. Our eyes on your blog. Our acceptance on Twitter. Our recommendations to our friends.

If you want us to believe, then make us believe in you. It?s not that hard.

Is it?

Image: GALERIEopWEG