I moved my blog to WordPress I moved over to WordPress. I got really tired of the clumsiness of Blogger so I made the port. All in all it was pretty easy. I am already loving how much easier WP is on the eyes and the dashboard is very friendly. How is the change for you? Did I make a good decision? Find the new blog here.  ¶ 9/01/2009 0 Comments Links to this post

  Why statistics make everything better I love my Subaru Outback, mainly because I can take it anywhere, put anything in it or on it and it runs like a charm. Something else I love about it is the digital dashboard display. This display tells me things like, how long my drive time is, my avg. MPG’s and how hot it is outside. Each day on my commute home I try and shave minutes off my drive time or I take different ways home to see if that changes the avg. MPG and the display lets me measure all of this. It’s really entertaining and adds big value to my driving experience. The cool thing is, that this idea can be applied anywhere. For instance the Nike+ product is a great way to combine product and statistics. When applied to a website, especially one that has members who are working towards a goal the idea gets very interesting. Even if the task isn’t epic in nature, the more statistics you can give to a user relating to the task, the more enjoyment the user will get. What I'm saying is why not share all those metrics you capture for your clients with your members? You all ready have the information, so why not give your users some bonus value? They will appreciate this. This also means the user will spend more time on the site, talk to more people about it, tell their friends to join, tweet/blog about it… and well you get the point.

Labels: advocates, UI design, user interface, Word-of-mouth

  ¶ 8/17/2009 2 Comments Links to this post

  Shepard Fairey Public Bomb Site I pass this site the street artists Shepard Fairey "bombed" on my way home from work everyday. I finally stopped to take a better look. That is my lovely mother in front of the anti-war image. She came to visit last month.
-Marcus
  ¶ 6/30/2009 0 Comments Links to this post

  Social Media is the WOM Marketer's dream girl If you Twitter search WOM and Social Media together, you find a plethora of bad information, with the occasional buried nugget. So why is there so much confusion around what WOM is and what social media is? Because the two are often synonymous, they are however fundamentally different.

WOM is the viral spread of communication, whether it be online or off, when a person tells someone else about something its word-of-mouth. Social Media is a reference to the new set of tools that communicators (everyone) are using to transfer information, the poster child of which is the social network.

When we learned that info spreads like butter in a social network, we deemed it the social media, many-to-may revolution. The many-to-many concept is really good ol' fashioned word-of-mouth. The tools of social media just act to excite the process because it is so easy and fun to transfer information in social networks. That's why social media is such an attractive lil ditty to the WOM marketer. It is only one peice of the puzzle for the WOM marketer however. Studies show that offline recommendations and WOM generate more leads for business then online WOM. If done right though online WOM generates offline WOM. This is the WOM marketers holy grail and why it social media is so so attractive. But not unlike chasing that dream girl it is hard to accomplish this feat.

Hope this subtracts from the WOM vs Social Media ideas, what do you think?

Thanks dragonhawk for the picture :)

Labels: Marcus Andrews, social media, WOM, Word-of-mouth

  ¶ 6/24/2009 0 Comments Links to this post

  Who is your Social Media Expert? Dave fleet wrote a blog post recently about how he doesn’t care how long you have been on Twitter. In the post he talks about how people who have been on Twitter a long time don’t appreciate those who are new to Twitter and that these newbs are soiling the sanctity of Twitter (paraphrasing). A comment on his post rationalized the situation to when people love a new band so much they tell all there friends but when the band gets big they call them “sellouts”.

For the record I agree with Dave’s ideals about how Twitter should be used: to start conversations and post relevant content. However I will never get into how Twitter should or shouldn’t be used in this blog. I will though attempt to tackle the cultural aspects of Twitter.

So this commentary from the earlier Twits is a direct testament to the competitive nature of Twitter. There is a large portion of Twitterati that enjoy stroking their ego with the fact that they have more followers then you and have joined before Oprah or whoever. Many of these people consider themselves heavy weights in the social media sphere. Social Media “experts” if you will. Most of these experts have blogs and many are over 25. These people have been on Twitter since 2007, so they obviously aren’t riding the wave they know a great new social media platform when they see it right? S o they are experts right?

The problem is that anyone over 25 has the distinct social media disadvantage of going though college in the pre-Facebook days. That’s right your average 22/23 year-old has been on Facebook the largest and most influential social network for FIVE years. During those five years they sat shotgun while Facebook grew up. This is Gen Y’s claim to fame and why they are so important.

So let me play Devils advocate for a second. You're a small business looking to hire a social media consultant, associate or expert. Who do you hire?

A: The “seasoned” social media consultant who has been on Facebook for 3 years Twitter for one and had a blog for 3 years. Who can write well, talk business, has a lot of connections and requires a hefty hourly rate.
Or
B: The recent college graduate who has been on Facebook for 5 years had a blog for one and been on Twitter for 8 months. Who may be a little rough around the edges, not very business savvy but brings original creative ideas to the table.

??????

There is probably no right answer. But what is a great bet is whichever one claims to be a social media expert, has already lied to you 5 or 6 times since meeting you. I know who the social media experts are: they have names like Mark, Biz, Kevin, Tom and Guy. Everyone else is just trying to figure it out.
If you’re a small business go with the personal that you trust. Experience is absolutely irrelevant when it comes to hiring a social media person.
-MA

Can you disagree? Can a 33 year old be more experienced in social media than a 23 year old?

Thanks Jgarber for the pic
And Whiteafrican

Labels: Marcus Andrews Blog, small business, social media, Twitter expert

  ¶ 5/07/2009 0 Comments Links to this post

  Twitter vs Facebook Disclamer: I am a 23 year-old consumer of social media. I work professionally in social media. This blog post represents my personal opinion and probably a lot of other kids in my demographic. It you agree comment, if you disagree email me. :) JK do both.

Facebook vs. Twitter (insert Star Wars analogy)

And why I need both.

Q: “Does anyone have any tips for growing a mustache?’

A: “Watch a complete season of Walker Texas Ranger.”

Above is a recent status update on my Facebook page. It is coupled with one of the responses I got. I got a bunch of responses about it. It was just for fun and I have no real interest invested in growing a mustache (I can’t) however it makes for a great point about my personal differences between Twitter and Facebook.

I wouldn’t post that status update as a tweet on Twitter. It wouldn’t get a response. I wouldn’t post an article on research numbers for word-of-mouth marketing on Facebook. For me Twitter is a way to connect to social media people and a professional resource. Twitter helped me find an internship, a job and where I go for relevant information about my industries and irrelevant information from @iamdiddy.

I have met almost all of my 700+ friends on Facebook I probably haven’t met a third of the 500+ people I follow on Twitter.

The culture is way different on Facebook than it is from Twitter. On Facebook I don’t really want very many friends, just those people who are important enough to me personally to keep in touch with. I really don’t want to follow brands either. But I cant connect with my friends on Twitter like I can on Facebook. Also I cant "watch" people who I think are important or my submit valuable information to me via Facebook.

The point is that the two insanely popular social networks are different, are NOT competitors and if you’re like me you need both.Twitter is awesome and it filled a void that was obviously needed. At Facebook and everywhere else we need to understand that copying the Twitter model isn't going to get you very far. Mark Z keep doing what works for you. People who comment on Mashable and Techcrunch get over Twitter and start thinking of new ways to make social media great. There are ton of very smart people in social media we should have four or five Facebooks and Twitters. Like @iamdiddy would say

"Its so hard to stop eating carbs! I love carbs!!!! Lol"

Thats not right, I meant

"Let's go people!!!!!! LOCK IN!!!"

-Marcus

Thanks to Blake for the Apple pic

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/2379175662/

Labels: Facebook, iamdiddy, Marcus Andrews, Mustache, Twitter, Walker Texas Ranger

  ¶ 4/13/2009 0 Comments Links to this post

  Take that economy! I've got a job. Ladies and Gentlemen I am employed! Best of all I am working in social media for a company I admire and can immediately contribute to.
Starting March, 25 2009 I am the Social Media Associate for HealthTalker.

HealthTalker is a Boston-based, full-service word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing agency that develops innovative programs for the healthcare market with a specific focus on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

At HealthTalker I will be responsible for helping to moderate online communities, engage in client relationships, assist CEO and bring my social media expertise to the table.

This transition marks a new chapter in my career. I finished up a wonderful internship at Schneider Associates PR and will now begin an exciting entry level position with a small marketing agency that I am really excited about. I am very happy to see my networking and hard work pay off. There are still jobs in this market!

Thanks to my superiors at Schneider: @ Brett Pohlman @Patrick Richardson @Jullie Hall also many more people at SA you know who you are! I miss my fellow interns already!
Big thanks to @BostonMarketer for introducing me to @Pamellawell. Also thank you Pamela Rosenthal and Andy Levitt I am excited to join the HealthTalker team!

If you want to know more about HealthTalker or how I used social media to get my job in social media email me MAndrews33@gmail.com
-MA
@Marcus Andrews

Labels: Bret Pohlman, HealthTalker, job search, Jobs, Marcus Andrews, Schneider Associates, social media, Twitter

  ¶ 3/24/2009 0 Comments Links to this post

  The difference from having a personal brand and being your own inbound marketer.

Feb. 28th I attended Boston University’s PR Student Society of America’s: PR Advanced. The conference featured presentation by Mike Volpe: VP Marketing at Hubspot and Ryan Alexander: Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Its not fun trying to find a job right now, however there are some very effective tools online that you can utilize to connect to employers, showcase your skills and stand out in the crowd. Personally I try to take advantage of all the advice about using social to network. I use Twitter to connect to people who can help me in my search. I write a blog to showcase my writing and research skills. I have my resume posted online for easy dissemination. I have a great set of professional contacts through Linkedin. I stay on top of latest trends by reading lots and lots of blogs and articles. I engage other bloggers in conversations by commenting on their blogs.

It has become popular to say that the culmination of all these things is your “Personal Brand” or "Online Presence" and the stronger the personal brand the more equity you hold online. If you're a job seeker the stronger your personal brand the better chances of landing a job at the company you like or in an area of your choice. I agree with all of this, that of course is why I do it. (I also think its fun and love the medium but that’s beside the point right now :)

There are many things that I am doing wrong in regards to my brand, some I knew about and some I didn’t until the 28th.

What I knew:

1. My Brand is confusing. I post online almost exclusively under the handle Mandrews33. Confusingly this is not my real name. This means that without the assistance of a name tag my to my offline contacts I am Mandrews33.

2. What I blog and about is all over the board. I blog about what I’m interested in and that changes every time I see something shiny. This is bad. Yes this is a personal blog but it has a purpose: to showcase that I would be a great addition to your company. This does not stand out.

3. I am most likely doing something wrong in relation to my brand. :(

What I found out! Thanks to Ryan Alexander.

1. Social Media is ineffective in achieving a goal unless you have a consistent strategic message. I have figured out mine (for the time being):

Marcus very much wants to start a career in Boston. He excels in building and extending brands through strategic, integrated marketing communications. He has an eye for design and enjoys finding creative solutions to tough problems.

2. Social Media is ineffective if what you are doing becomes more about the medium than your message.

I often write about how cool Twitter is or how people are using this or that new application of social media. It’s not wrong to write about these things but it needs to be more about my message not about the medium.

What I found out! Thanks to Mike Volpe.

1. When he gets a resume he will look at it for five seconds and then spend 30 minutes looking at the applicant’s online content.

When critiquing an online presence Mikes looks for great content. Content that shows you have a defined niche and that you’re passionate about it.

2. Buy your blog. You can’t (dot) blogspot stand out.

Mike compared this as calling a 1-800 number than having to dial an extension to reach your party. He stressed that it is extremely important to buy the domain for your blog from the beginning.

3. If you’re a job searcher tailor your message for who you are trying to reach.

This best way to cut through the clutter and have an employer notice you is to tailor your message for them. The VP at Hubspot says write about the company you want to work for, everyone has the right alerts and search process setup that they will notice. If someone has already read your blog before they get your application you are way ahead of the competition.

So having thought about all this advice I have taken some steps to try and change my brand.. I bought my blog, You can now find it here: Marcus Andrews Official Blog. I have changed my Twitter handle form @Mandrews33 to @Marcus_Andrews. My blog will hopefully become more focused as a platform to attract employers. I will work on always focusing on my message not the medium. Whenever I create content I will think about my message: I build and extend brands through strategic marketing communications.

Thanks to Mike and Ryan: You can find them here.

@MVolpe Hubspot Inbound Marketing

@RyanAlexander Booz Allen Hamilton

The BU PRSSA was an amazing event. They are a great organization and super duper smart.

- MA

@Marcus_Andrews

Marcus@Marcus-Andrews.com

Photos Via Flickr: Joe Pemberton & YoavShapira Creative Commons Licensed

Labels: Boston, Hubspot, Inbound Marketin, Marcus Andrews, Online Marketing, Personal Brand, PR, PRSSA

  ¶ 3/13/2009 0 Comments Links to this post

  Video content is better at engaging audience. Its true! People love video. Here at The Markaos I give the people wait they want. I've decied to scratch the traditional banner that says "Hey this is a blog" and give you a quick 30 seconds about my blog from the horses mouth. Please be nice my acting and editing skills are not what you would call.... good but I hoped it would be fun and engage you because its all about you. Heres the final product!: (It took me all afternoon belive it or not.)

What do you think? Let me know if this could be somthing.

BONUS VIDEO!
A project a did with a group of mine last semester. Thats our school mascot if your wondering.

-MA

Labels: mandrews33, Marcus Andrews, Marcus Andrews Blog, social media, Vlog

  ¶ 3/05/2009 0 Comments Links to this post

  Bellow.com Freelancer's Twitter.
Today Blellow.com launched. Blellow is potentially a freelancers dream. The site has a Twitter-esk platform that brings together collective knowledge in the effort of figuring out tough problems. I truly believe Blellow can make a huge impact on how freelancers work if they find the right people; people who want to share all the tricks of their trade.

I found Blellow or Blellow found me through Twitter around a month ago. Since then I have been awaiting its launch. The big idea of Blellow is that it is a Twitter for freelancers. A Twitter-esk platform that has groups and asks the question "What are you working on?" If another users are asking for help and you can answer them they can give you Kudos. The user with the more Kudos gets ranked higher in a Yahoo answers sort of fashion. One of the draws is that users can post projects and jobs on a board. Making this the first interesting social network where freelancers and job seekers can come together with people seeking talent and collaborate. Just by using the beta version that launched to day I am impressed. They took their time with the site. Everything is smooth and the design is neat and easy to navigate. Only time can tell if Blellow will take off but I believe it is an honest investment of time and effort.
-MA
@Mandrews33

Labels: Blellow, Blogspot, mandrews33, Marcus Andrews, social media, Twitter

  ¶ 3/03/2009 0 Comments Links to this post