The Viral Garden is Two Years Old!

Last year to mark my blog's first birthday, I changed the banner for one day to put the focus on you wonderful people who had helped make my blogging journey so memorable. After changing the banner back the next day, I talked to CK who wanted to know WHY I had changed the banner back! I explained that I only changed the banner for one day because it was a special occasion and a reason to celebrate.

Well as you can guess from the new banner, the time to celebrate has come again! As of last Thurs, The Viral Garden is two years old. As was true a year ago, this couldn't have happened without so many of you that are kind enough to read my thoughts here, and that continue to amaze and inspire me every day. That's why I have always viewed this blog as a community project, and I thank all of you for giving me some of your time to read what I write here. Creating content that's worthy of your time is my highest goal.

But since this IS a birthday party, we need presents, right? A few weeks ago, my friend Andy Sernovitz was kind enough to send me an autographed copy of his book Word of Mouth Marketing, which I reviewed back in late 2006. Andy had already sent me an advance copy which I based that review on, so I now have two copies of the book. And since that won't do, I'm going to give away the autographed copy to you guys! If you want this book, just leave a comment to THIS post saying so, and I'll randomly pick someone on Wednesday, and announce the winner here.

Thanks again to everyone! Can you name everyone in the banner?

PS: Congrats to Cheryl on winning the autographed copy of Word of Mouth Marketing! Cheryl send me your mailing address to mack.collier@gmail.com and I'll get it right out to you! And thanks again to everyone!

Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing

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Have you joined the Bum Rush for The Age of Conversation?

Today is the day for the launch of the Bum Rush for The Age of Conversation! Thanks to the massive efforts of Chris Wilson we're trying to push The Age of Conversation to the top of the Amazon sales charts!

And so far it looks like we are well on our way, as the sales rank for AoC has risen from 102,282 to currently 1,562 in less than 24 hours!

If you aren't familiar with The Age of Conversation, it's a groundbreaking collaboration involving over 100 bloggers/marketers/writers that each submitted a chapter on this 'Age of Conversation' we are entering into. Each co-author talks about why conversation is important, and the tools that are making the conversation possible.

Here's my write-up from last April, as well as a preview of my chapter.

And best of all, all proceeds from the sale of AoC benefit Variety, the Children's Charity. The authors don't make a penny. I will admit that I am probably prouder to be involved in this project than any other since I started blogging in 2005.

So if you want to join the Bum Rush and push AoC to the top of the Amazon sales chart (and demonstrate the power of the blogosphere and social media in the process), then you can order your copy of The Age of Conversation at this link. Please only order one copy at a time, so that we have the maximum affect on the sales rank. Also, if you are planning on attending Blogger Social next weekend, keep in mind that 38 of the co-authors of The Age of Conversation will be attending, so order a copy and bring it so we can sign it!

UPDATE: The Amazon sales rank for The Age of Conversation is now up to 1,161. So the book has risen over 100,000 spots in the last 24 hours! Sweet!

Nother UPDATE: The Age of Conversation has cracked the Top 1,000, and is now ranked #917 on Amazon! Power to the People!!!!

Yet ANOTHER UPDATE: Now the AoC is up to #368 overall! HUGE!

Still ANOTHER UPDATE: The AoC moved up to #293, and now sits at #262 overall and #36 in business.


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The Viral Garden's Top 25 Marketing Blogs - Week 100

Here's the standings for Week 100:

1 - Seth's Blog - 8,843 (+98)(LW - 1)
2 - Search Engine Guide - 1,883 (No Change)(LW - 2)
3 - Logic + Emotion - 1,291 (+8)(LW - 3)
4 - Duct Tape Marketing - 1,276 (+18)(LW - 4)
5 - Daily Fix - 1,093 (+12)(LW - 5)
6 - Brand Autopsy - 814 (-1)(LW - 6)
7 - Influential Marketing - 751 (+17)(LW - 7)
8 - Jaffe Juice - 720 (+1)(LW - 8)
9 - Drew's Marketing Minute - 668 (+2)(LW - 9)
10 - Church of the Customer - 661 (No Change)(LW - 10)
11 - What's Next - 649 (No Change)(LW - 11)
12 - Conversation Agent - 603 (+7)(LW - 12)
13 - The Viral Garden - 580 (+5)(LW - 13)
14 - Six Pixels of Separation - 558 (+9)(LW - 14)
15 - Diva Marketing - 525 (-1)(LW - 15)
16 - The Engaging Brand - 481 (-33)(LW - 16)
17 - Converstations - 434 (+1)(LW - 17)
18 - Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog - 416 (+2)(LW - 18)
19 - CK's Blog - 375 (No Change)(LW - 19)
20 - Servant of Chaos - 374 (+2)(LW - 20)
21 - Every Dot Connects - 364 (+2)(LW - 21)
22 - The Lonely Marketer - 349 (-1)(LW - 22)
23 - Experience Curve - 340 (-9)(LW - 23)
24 - Customers Rock! - 282 (-1)(LW - 24)
25 - Movie Marketing Madness - 280 (No Change)(LW - 25)


A reminder that the Top 25 Marketing Blogs are ranked according to the number of sites/blogs linking to each, according to Technorati. The number you see after the blog name is how many sites/blogs Technorati claims have linked to the blog in the last 6 months. After that number is a positive or negative number, and this represents how many links the blog gained or lost from last week's Top 25. The final stat tells you what position the blog held in the Top 25 Last Week (LW). If you see this; (LW - UR), it means the blog wasn't ranked last week.

Very quiet week for the Top 25 as every blog stayed in the position it was last week. 14 blogs were up, with only 6 being down.

Since this marks the 100th week of the Top 25, I thought it would be a good time to stop and reflect on where its come. When I started the Top 25 Marketing Blogs list, my two goals were to bring attention to deserving blogs, and more importantly, to serve as a reference for readers so they could find what I thought were the best blogs in the marketing area, according to first Alexa, and now Technorati.

But for a while now I've been wondering if the Top 25's usefulness hasn't run its course. First, it's difficult to accurately measure 'authority'. Technorati is one popular way, but that doesn't mean it's the best, or that sometimes it isn't dead wrong. And do we even need another ranking system?

I know and understand why bloggers would like the rankings, we all like seeing our blog up there. I do, everyone else does. But I always go back to, do the readers benefit? I think they do, because every day I can scan the traffic logs and I will see a visitor that had 30 or so page views. Every time I check, it turns out that he entered via one of the Top 25 lists, and no doubt spent the next 30 mins or so checking out every blog on the Top 25. So I know that the list IS serving my intended purpose of bringing attention to the blogs on the list.

Another consideration is that two years ago, I blogged mainly about traditional marketing and branding. But since then, the content here has shifted more toward how companies can utilize social tools to better communicate with and understand their customers. So should the list change to being a list of the Top 25 Marketing AND Social Media blogs? That would change the list a bit, as great blogs such as Chris Brogan's and Social Media Explorer would join in.

So really what I would like from you guys is some feedback. Do you like the list? Do you think it's silly and there's no need for another ranking? What do you think?

Here's some of the options I am considering for the list moving forward:

1 - Keep it exactly as it is.
2 - Scrap it. 100 weeks is a good enough run.
3 - Change it to cover blogs that focus on Marketing OR Social Media, or both. The list would still exclude advertising and pr-oriented blogs. If I add in PR and Ad blogs, it just becomes the Power 25.

Is there another option? I'm really interested in what you guys think as this list was always intended as being more for the benefit of my readers than anyone else.





Next update is next Wednesday.

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The Viral Garden, Marketing, Top 25 Marketing Blogs

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You want engagement? You can't HANDLE the engagement!

Ericka at E-Commerce Times interviewed me for an article about Starbuck's MyStarbucksIdea site. The basic idea I tried to get across is that this is a great idea, but that if Starbucks doesn't carry it out and act on the ideas their customers give them, it's going to backfire. They are currently on the clock.

It's funny because I was talking with John Moore about this just yesterday, and mentioned that even if this effort falls flat for Starbucks, it's still good to see big 'name' companies like SBUX and Dell using social media, as it gives the entire space credibility. Shel Holtz has also noticed that MyStarbucksIdea seems to mirror Dell's Ideastorm. But notice that Dell's Caroline Dietz read the post and commented, which prompted this comment from John:

Dell gets it. Caroline Dietz, from Dell, reads Shel’s post and provides clarification in the comments. Awesome!

When has Starbucks ever done that?

Wouldn’t it be great if some of the 48 Starbucks employees assigned to engaging Starbucks customers on the MyStarbucksIdea blog would venture out into the blog world and provide clarifying comments like Caroline did AND does for Dell.

Which of course raises another interesting question: What would be more effective for Starbucks, to start the MyStarbucksIdea where 48 Starbucks employees attempt to engage Starbucks customers via the site, or to have those same 48 employees attempt to engage SBUX customers OFF the site, a la Richard Binhammer? I would lean toward having 48 employees reach out to customers online in THEIR space if those 48 did even half as well in engaging and responding to customers as Richard does.

One thing that has changed is that Starbucks is starting to move some of the suggested ideas into the 'Ideas in Action' section, which they say means they are 'considering' the ideas. So they are at least understanding of the fact that they need to let their customers know that they will act on their feedback if at all possible.

Ideally it would be best if Starbucks could quickly implement an idea from the site. And then maybe follow up that with a guest-post from the member that submitted the idea.

It's all about blurring those lines...


Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing

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The future of marketing is about embracing people, not tools

I was hoping the audio and video to our panel on The Future of Corporate Blogging at SXSW would have been up by now because I wanted to give my thoughts on the panel. I think the panel itself was great (other than my hiccup during the introductions), and I was very lucky to make my panel debut with three people that are old pros at this in Kami, Mario and Lionel. If you click on their names, that will take you to their review of how the panel went.

The key takeaway I had from the panel is that it's not about these social media tools, but it's about the conversations that these tools help facilitate. And it's no longer about blogs, it's about companies having multiple touchpoints with customers in order to spark as much interaction as possible. It just makes good business sense, as more interaction between company and customer leads to greater understanding, which leads to more efficient and effective marketing. Which...costs less.

It's also about putting a human face on an organization. That's what struck me about how smart it is for companies to be involved in events like SXSW. People that attended our panel didn't get to talk to Dell and LinkedIn, they talked to real people named Mario and Lionel that work at LinkedIn and Dell. It's tough to connect with or even care about a company, but when you get to know the real people that work there, and they you, then the dynamic changes. At that point a relationship becomes possible, and that's extremely powerful for both the company, and the customers. I've talked before about how in many cases the company and customer are isolated from each other, both groups speaking different languages with different wants and needs. As a result, neither group really understands or trusts the other.

But smart companies like Dell and LinkedIn are finding ways to remove barriers that exist between them and their customers. Don't think for a minute that other companies aren't seeing how other companies are using social tools to better communicate with and understand their customers. Starbucks annoucing MyStarbucksIdea last week is a perfect example of this.

But I guess my key takeaway from this panel is that I am genuinely excited about the future of company/customer relationships. We have smart companies like Dell and LinkedIn that are exploring new ways to better understand their customers, and we have smart consultants like Kami that are helping get companies up to speed on how these social tools can help them get to where Dell and LinkedIn are now.

I think we are on the verge of seeing companies move in earnest toward tools and methods that let them bring the customers' voice into their business processes. Exciting times indeed.

Pic of our panel via Jeremiah's Flickr pics.

Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing

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Starbucks launches community-suggestion site

The name is different, but Starbucks has unveiled a new suggestion site that looks an awful lot like Dell's Ideastorm community. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The site, MyStarbucksIdea, proposes to take suggestions from customers on what changes they would like to see Starbucks make. The community then votes on their favorites, and comments on them.

But John Moore points to a quote from Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks chief technology officer, made when the website was introduced on Weds: “I am not aware of another organization that is investing in making this kind of a commitment to integrate customers and their ideas and their insights into the products and experiences that they develop.”

I have serious doubts that no one at Starbucks has heard of Ideastorm, and will assume this is just corporate posturing. But the bigger point here is, as Moore alludes to, is Starbucks' culture ready to act on the feedback they will receive from MyStarbucksIdea? Because you better believe that feedback is coming.

Interestingly, this ties into a discussion several of us were having at the Conversation Starters event during SXSW. We were discussing whether or not large companies are more likely to stumble on their first social media attempts. Dell's initial slip-ups in the blogosphere helped get their culture to a point where they were willing to embrace blogging and a community-empowerment idea like Ideastorm.

Is Starbucks at that point now? We'll soon find out. But besides that, I think this is a great move by the company and I applaud Starbucks for taking such a bold step.

Which raises an even bigger question, is this the start of a trend? What if MyStarbucksIdea ends up being the runaway success that it could become? How many more Fortune 500 companies might adopt a similar customer-empowerment site in the next year?

Exciting times my friends, exciting times...

Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing, Starbucks, Dell

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The Viral Garden's Top 25 Marketing Blogs - Week 99

Here's the standings for Week 99:

1 - Seth's Blog - 8,745 (+33)(LW - 1)
2 - Search Engine Guide - 1,883 (-143)(LW - 2)
3 - Logic + Emotion - 1,283 (+55)(LW - 4)
4 - Duct Tape Marketing - 1,258 (-9)(LW - 3)
5 - Daily Fix - 1,081 (-33)(LW - 5)
6 - Brand Autopsy - 815 (-3)(LW - 6)
7 - Influential Marketing - 734 (+14)(LW - 7)
8 - Jaffe Juice - 719 (+13)(LW - 8)
9 - Drew's Marketing Minute - 666 (-16)(LW - 9)
10 - Church of the Customer - 661 (No Change)(LW - 10)
11 - What's Next - 649 (+11)(LW - 11)
12 - Conversation Agent - 596 (+5)(LW - 12)
13 - The Viral Garden - 575 (+12)(LW - 14)
14 - Six Pixels of Separation - 549 (-7)(LW - 16)
15 - Diva Marketing - 526 (-33)(LW - 15)
16 - The Engaging Brand - 514 (-51)(LW - 13)
17 - Converstations - 433 (-13)(LW - 17)
18 - Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog - 414 (-9)(LW - 18)
19 - CK's Blog - 375 (No Change)(LW - 20)
20 - Servant of Chaos - 372 (-19)(LW - 19)
21 - Every Dot Connects - 362 (+13)(LW - 23)
22 - The Lonely Marketer - 350 (-16)(LW - 22)
23 - Experience Curve - 349 (-17)(LW - 21)
24 - Customers Rock! - 283 (LW - UR)
25 - Movie Marketing Madness - 280 (LW - UR)



A reminder that the Top 25 Marketing Blogs are ranked according to the number of sites/blogs linking to each, according to Technorati. The number you see after the blog name is how many sites/blogs Technorati claims have linked to the blog in the last 6 months. After that number is a positive or negative number, and this represents how many links the blog gained or lost from last week's Top 25. The final stat tells you what position the blog held in the Top 25 Last Week (LW). If you see this; (LW - UR), it means the blog wasn't ranked last week.

After taking a SXSW-induced week off, the Top 25 returns with a fairly level week. About half the blogs added links, half lost some. A couple of big moves, which is to be expected over a 2-week period. Perhaps the most significant is Logic + Emotion moving up into the #3 spot. Influential Marketing and Jaffe Juice both continue to march upward, and could close in on Brand Autopsy in the coming weeks.

We have a pair of blogs returning to the Top 25, with Customers Rock! and Movie Marketing Madness both rejoining the Top 25. Branding and Marketing, Chaos Scenario and Brains on Fire just missed the cut.




Next update is next Wednesday.

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The Viral Garden, Marketing, Top 25 Marketing Blogs

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It's not about the tools, it's about the conversations

Recently it seems that the conversation about social media among companies is becoming MUCH smarter. Before, it was like 'we need to get into blogs, cause I saw the story in Business Week on them'.

Now it seems that companies are beginning to understand that social media isn't the golden egg, but instead it's about using these tools to better reach and understand their customers. I had several conversations during and after SXSW with companies that drove home this point, but I love this quote from Michael Dell during an interview with Shel Israel: "You know, people talk about social media programs but I just think about conversations with customers."

Companies are beginning to understand why social media matters. They are beginning to figure out that it's not about these tools, but rather the conversations that these tools can facilitate.


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Are you curious?

More than once during my stay in Austin last week, I had someone tell me that they were worried that blogs and social media had passed them by. They feared that everyone they encountered knew more about these tools than they did, which made them helplessly behind.

I made two points in response:

1 - The people at SXSW do NOT represent the majority. In face I would wager they are still closer to the top one percent. We are still the outliers, most people and companies have no idea what social media is about, and many still do not care.

2 - These people were at SXSW because they were curious. They were interested in learning more about social media and how it could improve their marketing efforts and grow their businesses. Being curious about how to use these tools correctly is much more important than how you use the tools. If you are curious, the rest will probably take care of itself.

Case in point, a few months ago, I didn't get much value from Twitter. I just didn't see the value in the service. But I remained curious because I saw how well others were using it. So I kept experimenting and finally changed my usage of the site, and I now find Twitter to be incredibly valuable to me.

Using these tools correctly isn't what counts, remaining curious about the correct way to use these tools is more important. I got to talk to several people at Dell last week, and whenever we discussed their strategy online and how well the company was doing in utilizing social media to communicate with its current and potential customers, they were always quick to add that 'we still have so much to learn'.

As we all do. A sense of curiosity serves you well in these times.


Pic via Flickr user shibby_h

Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing

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The rumors we have heard are true...

...SXSW is absolutely amazing.

If TED is about the ideas, then SXSW is about the people. Sure there were amazing panels, but there were so many amazing people at South by Southwest. It was like a homecoming, I lost count on how many hugs I collected in my 2 days there. And you have to understand, I had never actually met ANY of these people prior to 3 days ago. Not a ONE of them.

But it didn't matter, because everyone was family. I purposely waited till now to post this because I feared sounding like a gushing idiot if I had posted last night while still in a high from SXSW. It simply blew me away how people came together at this festival.

Ben and Jackie, who everyone knows are two of my heroes, were kind enough to spend a ton of time with me on Mon and Tues. They are amazing and you've gotta love those (swomi) turbans! Check out their newest project, the Society for Word of Mouth.

Chris Brogan and Laura (@Pistachio) Fitton have somehow found a way to make themselves and their kindness scale. They had EVERYONE pulling at them, but they found a way to make time for everyone. You guys inspire me and I really appreciate both of you taking the time to talk to me.

Deborah Schultz is brilliant. No no no, I'm not talking about she has some cool marketing ideas, I'm saying she has a razor-sharp intellect. She flawlessly brought clarity and relevance to ideas with ease. If you have seen her speak, you know what I mean. Subscribe to her blog now!

And I finally got to meet Jordan Behan, who was about the 3rd or 4th blogger that I ever talked to waaaay back in 2005. I'm really excited about his new position with Strutta, which has some serious potential.

I'd better stop now because I met so many people and if I try to list them all I will no doubt unintentionally leave someone out. But I appreciated everyone that I met and my only regret was that I didn't have more time here.

Stephanie Agresta had the best tee-shirt eva, it said i heart my internet friends That says it all.

We had great panels, we had panels celebrating fictional porn stars (don't ask). We had @Pistachio stage-diving, we had Customer Evangelists in turbans. We had panelists running through the crowd throwing candy as 'The Final Countdown' boomed in the background. We had chaos, we had controversy, we had Geeks Gone Wild. And every damned second of it kicked total ass and I wouldn't have missed any of it and these wonderful people for anything in the world.

Pic of Jason Falls (yes you guessed it, he kicks ass) and myself via Flickr

Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing, sxsw

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The Viral Garden's Top 25 Marketing Blogs - Week 97

Here's the standings for Week 97:

1 - Seth's Blog - 8,712 (+19)(LW - 1)
2 - Search Engine Guide - 2,026 (+33)(LW - 2)
3 - Duct Tape Marketing - 1,267 (+18)(LW - 3)
4 - Logic + Emotion - 1,228 (+18)(LW - 4)
5 - Daily Fix - 1,114 (+8)(LW - 5)
6 - Brand Autopsy - 818 (+6)(LW - 6)
7 - Influential Marketing - 720 (+7)(LW - 7)
8 - Jaffe Juice - 706 (+14)(LW - 8)
9 - Drew's Marketing Minute - 682 (+2)(LW - 9)
10 - Church of the Customer - 661 (No Change)(LW - 10)
11 - What's Next - 638 (+12)(LW - 11)
12 - Conversation Agent - 591 (+18)(LW - 12)
13 - The Engaging Brand - 565 (-7)(LW - 13)
14 - The Viral Garden - 563 (-3)(LW - 14)
15 - Diva Marketing - 559 (-5)(LW - 15)
16 - Six Pixels of Separation - 556 (+7)(LW - 16)
17 - Converstations - 446 (+7)(LW - 17)
18 - Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog - 423 (+12)(LW - 18)
19 - Servant of Chaos - 391 (-4)(LW - 19)
20 - CK's Blog - 375 (No Change)(LW - 20)
21 - Experience Curve - 366 (+1)(LW - 21)
21 - The Lonely Marketer - 366 (+13)(LW - 22)
23 - Every Dot Connects - 349 (+4)(LW - 23)
24 - Chaos Scenario - 320 (-11)(LW - 24)
25 - Branding and Marketing - 309 (+1)(LW - 25)


A reminder that the Top 25 Marketing Blogs are ranked according to the number of sites/blogs linking to each, according to Technorati. The number you see after the blog name is how many sites/blogs Technorati claims have linked to the blog in the last 6 months. After that number is a positive or negative number, and this represents how many links the blog gained or lost from last week's Top 25. The final stat tells you what position the blog held in the Top 25 Last Week (LW). If you see this; (LW - UR), it means the blog wasn't ranked last week.

Very strong week for the Top 25 as only 5 blogs were down, and every blog in the Top 12 was up. And the five down blogs all had small moves backwards. Search Engine Guide and Jaffe Juice just continue marching upward. SEG is firmly entrenched at #2, but JJ is closing in on Influential Marketing at #7, and could have Brand Autopsy in its sights as well.

No new blogs in the Top 25 this week, with Customers Rock! and Brains on Fire just missing the cut.




Next update is next Wednesday.

Technorati Tags:
The Viral Garden, Marketing, Top 25 Marketing Blogs

Is 2008 the year of video for social media?

Viddler, Seesmic, Qik, DanceJam, Strutta. It seems that video-chat/sharing/streaming sites are hotter than ever heading into the tech conference Super Bowl that is SXSW. Even YouTube is preparing to roll out live video capability later this year.

Last year Twitter vaulted into the collective consciousness of online geekdom at SXSW, and is still growing today. But even with that growth, the site still has only around a million users, and continues to face nagging outages as it struggles to scale to meet the increased server demand. And many are thinking that the service could be down for the count in the coming days as SXSW gets started officially this Friday.

So moving forward, there's two issues to consider here; which if any of these sites/services will be a hit with online geeks, and can any of them crossover and appeal to the masses?

First, I should say upfront that my level of usage with any of these sites/services is minimal at best. But looking at what they offer and could offer, I see three that might have what it takes to become the next big social hit.

1 - DanceJam. I think DanceJam has a couple of things going for it. One, it has MC Hammer's name attached to it. Yes I realize that this isn't 1991, but celebrity is celebrity, and in a very crowded field, it really helps to have a 'known' name associated with the site (it also counts Michael Arrington among its initial investors). DanceJam is a video-site where users can submit dance videos and 'compete' against each other to see who has the best moves, winning prizes in the process. The community can vote and comment on the videos submitted.

2 - Strutta. Strutta is also a video 'competition' site, but the difference is, the site is built around themes, such as best celebrity impersonation, best dance, etc. The people that submit videos are then tracked and a leaderboard is created. I can see a ton of sponsorship possibilities here, such as 'Best Score on Guitar Hero'. The site isn't open to the public yet, it's currently by invitation-only and I'm looking forward to meeting Jordan Behan at SXSW and learning more about exactly what Strutta has up its sleeve. But so far the idea looks like it could be a winner.

3 - Viddler. The more I hear about Viddler, the more I like it. I added the below video from iJustine that explains a lot of what's happening here, but I love the fact that viewers can add comments that show up as the video is playing(RSS readers click HERE to see the video). Also, the ability to add tags that also offer up advertising will appeal to those that have a following and want to monetize their audience.



But the bottom-line is that right now, all this stuff is still appealing to the geeks, which is another word for 'early adopters'. That's why I think the sites such as DanceJam and Strutta have an advantage over video-chat/streaming services, because believe it or not, everyone doesn't have high-speed internet and a souped up computer and all the gadgets necessary to fully utilize this cool stuff. The number that does is increasing everyday, but we aren't there yet.

If any of you have used these services/sites, what do you think? Which ones do you think we will still be talking about this time next year? Are there any I missed that you think are cool? Do you think any of them will be the 'next big thing'?


Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing

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Let's meet at SXSW!

One of the great things about SXSW is that EVERYONE will be there! I can't wait to meet so many people that I have come to know online over the last 3 years. It's going to be a blast!

If you are going to be at SXSW, PLEASE contact me so we can meet up, even if it's only to shake hands. You can leave a comment here, or email me, or you can send me a DM on Twitter. I'll try to give updates via Twitter, but I have no idea if they will be able to handle the load from SXSW or not.

And make sure that you come check out the panel I'll be moderating on The Future of Corporate Blogging at 10am on the 11th, and I'll also be at the Iron Cactus on the 10th, so make sure to stop by both events!

Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing

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Two weeks left to register at the early-bird rate for the Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference!

As of today there are only 14 days left to register at the early-bird rate for the Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference in Houston on April the 21st and 22nd. If you're a small business owner, this 2-day conference will help you get your online marketing up to speed. We'll be covering link-building, search marketing, social-media marketing, viral marketing, blogging, and community-building. I'll be giving a presentation on Blogging for Business.

And as an added bonus, if you register by March 15th, you'll lock-in the special early-bird rate of $850, which is $125 off the regular $975 rate! Here's the two-day agenda, and here's where you can register. Hope to see you there!




Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing

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