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.

The Power of Connection

Seems numbers continue to be a hot topic.

I offered my views on the numbers game recently; as did both Dan Schawbel and Kasey Skala in posts of their own (and, I’m sure, many others have done and will do).

So, clear to see, numbers matter – how they matter is up to you.

As you’ll tell by my original post, my preference is on the quality versus the quantity set of numbers. Here’s a little example why.

I’m currently in the process of finalizing a special 24-hour charity fundraiser via Twitter and streaming video for my 12for12k Challenge. This takes place this coming Monday, June 29 (love to see you there!).

As much as I’d love to think I’m a multi-tasker, I’m not. This could be to do with the fact that I’m a guy and we all know women are far better multi-taskers than us, or plain and simple I’m useless. So, to help this event (hopefully) go smoothly, I know I need help.

I reached out to the 12for12k “team” and they responded like the stars they are. Emails, phone calls, favours called in, contacts spoken with, etc. So much so that already the event is taking shape fast and there looks to be some great stuff happening.

Now this team doesn’t run into the thousands. The numbers are relatively small – maybe a core group of around 100 people that want to help share the message of what 12for12k is trying to achieve. But it’s the power of this small group and the connections between us and outwith us that really emphasizes quality over quantity.

From these inner connections, we all have outer connections who, again, because of the quality of the connection itself, are also jumping in to help.

People like Amanda Hite; Brian Carter; Amanda Beals; Niki Madsen D’Alonzo; Christina Kingston; Susan Elaine; Delores Williams; and way too many more to list here. Donating time, services, gifts and more to make this event as big a success as possible.

But again, these numbers don’t run into the thousands. You might argue that the combined number of connections on Twitter run into hundreds of thousands, and you’d be right. But it’s the intimate relationships that everyone above has built with each other that’s allowing the message to be heard, acted upon and shared.

It used to be that you could just throw any message out to the highest denominator and hoped that some would stick. You can still do that, by all means – but now there’s much more to be had with connections. Real connections.

Chris Brogan talks about trust agents and how their connections help build armies and believability, because of the intimacy and way they each present themselves, their stories and their relationships.

My friend Iggy Pintado has written a book about the Connection Generation and how the old rules are changing and connection (or lack of) is everything. It’s a fantastic read and full of great insights.

So what does this mean for you, or your business? It’s simple:

Numbers are becoming less relevant than the numbers behind the numbers. How many of your connections are real connections and how many are just empty statistics?

If you want to spread your message, you need to have people – your customer, if you like – want to spread the message. How do you do this? Interact, involve and empower.

Make the connections physical. New product to launch? Offer more than your staid news release and get people into your place of work to try it. Real people. Your people; your customers. Make it a family day event and have fun while presenting your goods.

I’m one person. You’re one person. Together, though, we’re two and we’ve immediately doubled our strength. Now imagine how strong the message is when each person brings one more connection?

Are you ready to connect?

photo credit: ~Aphrodite

Why Semanti Smart Search is Going to Rock Your Social Web Experience

While Bing has been making the news recently, new web browser add-on Semanti Smart Social Search looks set to take search to another level again.

Released to the public today, Semanti doesn’t seek to replace Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Instead, it aims to offer a truly semantic experience for anyone using these search engines to find information.

Not only that, but it offers interaction as well with your friends on Facebook using the Facebook Connect option. More on that in a bit.

So how does Semanti work and why should you be excited about using it? To get the full scoop, I chatted with Semanti CEO Bruce Johnson about some of the key features and future plans and tinkered with the beta version over the weekend.

Why Semanti?

Search engines have come a long way in the last year. Newcomers continue to try improve how we gather information, some more successful than others.

Yet a lot of the time, results can vary depending on what search engine you’re using and how well a website or web page has been optimized for search. The top results aren’t necessarily the best.

Currently available as a download for Firefox 3 or greater, where Semanti differs is how the information is both gathered and displayed.

“The problem with the current search engines is that there’s a lot of ambiguity,” says Bruce. “Which isn’t surprising – there are over 10 billion web pages on the web, and dissecting this noise can be tough, especially with different names or terms for the same thing.” Thanks to Semanti Suggest?, any ambiguity is soon dealt with.

Better Results with Semanti Suggest

An example is the word “apple” – type that into Google and it returns the Apple company, apple the fruit, images from Flickr and similar. With Semanti Suggest, however, a drop-down menu with a descriptive side box allows you to choose which definition you mean.

You can then edit labels regarding that result, so the next time you used search and you typed in “computer” or “Mac”, Apple the company would be the result.

Semanti Suggest also takes into account the difference between users internationally. An apartment in the U.S. may be a condo in Canada, which may be a flat in the U.K. Or, New York may be searched as NYC or the Big Apple as well. Thanks to Semanti’s ontology software, it will recognize that these mean the same thing and bring up the results you’re after.

“At the moment, Semanti has more than 8 million terms and 2.7 million unique concepts to grab this information and we will continue to add as new yet related phrases come to light,” explains Bruce. “We also plan to use our community to help keep us up-to-date by using a Wiki-like system further down the line.”

Semanti Suggest also gives you an option to preview the results. Just click the preview tab and you’ll be able to view the website in question via an in-line box opening up. Simple yet incredibly useful.

Making Search Results Personal

Another of the cool concepts behind the Semanti web browser is MyWeb. Similar to standard bookmarking options, MyWeb allows you to save a page you like to your favourites.

However, unlike standard bookmarking options, Semanti saves all the text and the search options for that page. Semanti then scans your saved pages as well as the search engines for your keywords. The results appear at the top of your search, making it far easier to find a previous page than having to dig through hundreds of bookmarks.

Also, the pages are saved on Semanti’s servers. All you need to do is log-in to your Semanti account and you’re good to go, regardless of whether you’re on the same computer you bookmarked the site with or not.

Because Semanti is looking to build community recommendations as well as that of personal friends, you do need an account to use the browser. This can either be via Semanti itself, or Facebook Connect. If you go with the latter choice, this is where the fun really begins.

Semanti, Facebook and Search Results You Can Trust

Since social networking is such a big part of our online experience, it’d make sense to use these connections when looking for something, no? Semanti agrees and, through its use of Facebook Connect, allows you to see recommendations from your Facebook friends.

By signing up using your Facebook account details, Semanti then lets you send invites to your Facebook friends to open a Semanti account. This then opens up a whole new level of interaction.

Because Semanti (understandably) believes that you and your friends share common interests, this will transfer itself to search engine queries. Video games, music, bars, clubs, cars, fashion, etc – everyday things that make you and your friends… well, friends.

Now, if that friend has the Semanti plug-in running, their search for shared interests will appear at the top of your own search. Not only that, but their edits and recommendations will appear too. If you hover over the little Facebook icon next to the result, it will show which of your friends recommended that result.

If you’re like me, you know which friends are better judges on certain topics, so you listen to them more. Semanti allows this word-of-mouth recommendation from a search engine point of view. Again, simple yet incredibly effective.

Future Plans

Although Semanti is new to the search engine table, it’s clear to see why it offers great potential. I know I’d rather trust the word of my friends and community over someone who knows how to game search engine optimization.

Additionally, I really like the idea of the Semanti Suggest option taking into account different terminology for the same product. This alone could make a huge difference to web users. But it’s just the beginning, according to Bruce.

“While we’re using Facebook Connect at the moment, we don’t rule out Twitter Connect, or LinkedIn, or blog plugins, etc. And there are the other browsers to include, like Safari and IE (Google Chrome doesn’t currently support plug-ins). We want to make search engines better and I think Semanti does that.”

From playing with it over the weekend and seeing it in action, I have to agree. It’s the natural evolution in web browsing and is true Web 3.0 in feel and approach. You can download the plug-in from the Semanti website, and follow them on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news.

How about you? Do you think you’ll be using Semanti and what features would you like to see that aren’t in the initial build?

My thanks to Bruce Johnson for chatting with me and answering my queries, and to Nicole Roseveare for arranging the chat.

Why Your Numbers Game is BS

I’m from an old-school marketing background. I got my marketing degree back in the early 90’s and it helped educate my views on how to market a message or product, and continues to help me shape strategies today.

But there’s one thing that stands out clearly from these early days – the numbers game is utter bullshit.

My educator and many of my fellow students subscribed to the theory that numbers are the linchpin of any marketing campaign. The more eyeballs your message reaches, the more potential for interest.

But there’s a key word in there that makes all the difference – potential.

Your message could potentially get these eyeballs. Your message could potentially land in 10,000 email inboxes. Your message could potentially make a new sale.

Your message could also potentially piss off the same customers you’re trying to convert.

Think about it. You have two options. You can either send out 10,000 mass emails in the hope that maybe 5% will reply to you or even bother to read it. Or, you can send out 1,000 targeted emails knowing that every single person will at least read your message.

It’s not rocket science. It’s called simple research and knowing your target.

It’s also why the race to amass thousands (millions, even) of followers on Twitter is more a vain ego stroke than a valid exercise. So you have 20,000 people following you on Twitter. Do you think every single one knows who you are and what you say at any given time?

How many are dead accounts, or bots, or people that have no interest in what you’re saying, you just seemed like a good fit at the time?

Numbers mean squat. Unless you’ve built up a core audience that you can message, or employ to share your words or sales pitch, numbers are simply a way to make you feel important.

They make a marketing director’s job a little easier when it comes to budget meetings with the CEO. They make advertiser’s look at you with salivating mouths (until they realize you’re not really as influential as 1,000 bots say you are).

If you really want to show off your numbers, show off the amount of sales you got from your last project. Show off the quality of your list as opposed to the quantity. Show off the numbers that make a real difference.

Otherwise you’re just throwing out empty facts. And no-one ever succeeded from emptiness. Did they?

photo credit: Thomas Hawk

Can You Have Too Much Disclosure?

If you’re speaking with a friend about something you like do you also say, “I use it myself – I can vouch for it”?

Probably.

But if you’re speaking to that same friend a few days later and you ask how he/she got on with that product, do you again say that you use it yourself? No. Because obviously they know that from your first recommendation.

So how much disclosure is needed when you recommend something online?

Last night Chris Brogan posted a link to his blog post about Hubspot’s new Twitter report. I half-jokingly asked him whether that tweet should mention disclosure, since Hubspot sponsors Chris’s Inbound Marketing Summit.

Chris, being the open guy he is, replied that it was a good question and so went and edited his blog post to mention the sponsorship. It also opened up a good little conversation on Twitter about how much disclosure is needed.

The fact that people joined in the conversation and offered their views on disclosure policies shows that it’s an important topic. People and companies obviously need to be transparent about their dealings, or else it could lead to a slippery slope later on.

Yet there is also the danger that we get sucked in to the whole “disclose, disclose, disclose!” mindset. Yes, we all need to be clear about who our partners or sponsors are. But we also need to temper that with common sense.

If it’s the first mention of a company or sponsor that you work with or have as a client then, yes, full disclosure is needed. But I don’t think you need to keep mentioning it in every single conversation you have from thereon in. You’ve already disclosed and you’re not hiding anything, so you’re good to go (as long as you’re not blatantly pitching something).

You could go one step further and have either a Disclosure page on your blog or website, or a Partners With page. This can then be updated with each new announcement or partnership and keeps everything in the open (thanks to Heather Allard for the hat tip).

The main thing is, disclosure is important and you need to make sure that you’ve covered yourself from any potential backlash. But I don’t think you need to mention relationships in every single thing you mention about that person or company.

How about you? Do you disclose every time, or just initially? Can there be too much disclosure or never enough?

photo credit: Thomas Hawk

From Twitter to Blog – #FollowFriday Vol. 4

Recently I wrote about why I was moving my #followfriday recommendations from Twitter to this blog. So, without further ado, here are my recommendations for this week.

I hope you check them out ? they?re all worth getting to know.

Community. Seth Simonds (@SethSimonds). Seth’s an interesting guy. This is someone that shed 45,000 Twitter followers so he could concentrate on a lesser number and connect better. He tries video experiments to show his community the horror of waterboarding. He consistently has amazing conversations via the comments on his blog. He’s what I call a good egg.
Ladies of Twitter. Susan Murphy (@SuzeMuse). Sue is a bona-fide all-round megastar when it comes to multi-tasking. She’s a creative genius; video editor extraordinaire; voice of non-profits; geek; and one of Ottawa’s finest beer drinkers. She’s also writer of one of the best social media blogs period, without even being tagged as social media.
Gentlemen of Twitter. Iggy Pintado (@iggypintado). Iggy is one of these cool people that doesn’t only talk about stuff, he does it. He’s one of Australia’s most connected people; he’s written a book called “Connection Generation”; he’s an incredibly savvy businessman; and he still makes time for his family. One of life’s good guys.
Non-Profits. James Topham (@Topsatwarchild). I first met James when 12for12k supported War Child in January. Not only is he passionate about non-profits, he’s as unassuming as they come, which makes him great company. He’s also a fellow Brit, has a dry sense of humour and follows Toronto FC soccer club. What’s not to like?
Marketing. Sonny Gill (@sonnygill). Sonny is one of the smartest marketers I know. And what I like about him is that he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops. He shares great reads in his blog; he’s as sharp as a card on Twitter; and he and fellow marketer Scott Hepburn helped pay to fly a friend out to a networking event. Awesome.
Public Relations. Arik Hanson (@arikhanson). Speaking of flying out to a networking event, it was Arik who was that very person. Yet it was well deserved – Arik used his PR skills and networking to help land Sonny and Scott new jobs with communication firms. He’s also one of the most understated and underrated PR pro’s out there, and the founder of the Reader’s Choice PR Blogger Awards.
Social Media. Mark Horvarth (@hardlynormal). Mark could easily have sat in the non-profit choice, but I really like the way he’s using social media. He’s telling the story of homeless people through video, blogging and Twitter. He’s offering them a voice and allowing you to speak to them through him. THAT, my friends, is creative social media at its finest.
The “Everyone Should Know” Wildcard Entry. Michael Schechter (@mschechter). This guy is a star. He makes me laugh like a pig in mud whenever he starts ripping into my character. He’s a devoted dad and husband, is uber-friendly, and simply put one of these people that anyone would be better off for having him as a friend.

Cheers, guys, for being who you are every day of the week.