And Murray personal secrets revealed in the blog fan club.

Sharing personal titbits / secrets about your live is a way to enable people to feel connected with you, an element of a peek into Murray’s World. This is amplified  if you do this in a “special club”.  Andy Murray did this by saying thanks on Twitter to his local pizza shop for staying open for him. Not a secret but a view into Murray World. His twitter covers more than just tennis, it enables you to feel you know what is happening in his life. Fans in particular feel a sense of being close to the celebrity. That is why celebrities share their coffee drinking habits and people listen. This is also why celebrities feed the media with the endless monotony of their lives as well as secrets. I have also seen well known bloggers do the same thing.

Now I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this and I can be a very strong means of getting people to connect and trust you. Let’s remember that people are much more likely to connect with a personal site than a corporate site become people connect with other people. The challenge with this can be that some people see that openness on your part with your life as permission to get to close to fast and those they know you and that you know them. Stalkers are the ultimate in this but people being over demanding is symptom of a similar trait.

Beyond the above there is a need to feed interest with constant updates it is hard to always produce real news to life stream information helps to maintain connection between highlights.

Personal branding is about developing a self image and Dan Schawbel is an expert at this, in the way that I understand. However I have recently heard it termed in another way and that is developing yourself into a sales machine.  The truth is that the more audience you have and the more the enraged the audience you have the more you are valuable to other brands you are in  reviewing / represent / recommending them you are.

What is your favourite celebrity share you have seen lately? What would you like to know about Murray’s World?

Social Media Monitoring Tools:
Lessons From My Own Search

Social Media Monitoring Services enable you, your company or your brand to listen to and participate in online conversations. They have gained popularity over the last few years and their insight and analysis they offer can be crucial to being a meaningful part of the online conversation. But if you are starting from zero, where do you begin?

Earlier this year I set out to research and choose a social media monitoring service for an online affiliate business that I was working with. I knew nothing to begin with, so I started by looking at everything from the free services to the big names in social media monitoring (at the time, I didn’t know they were the big names)

To start, I looked at several services that came up in my initial searches: Visible Technologies, Radian6, SM2 (by Techrigy), Biz360, BuzzLogic, Trackur, and Social Mention.

Lesson #1: Free Services vs. Paid Services

Early on I learned that Social Mention is a search engine that works like Google, searching all social media on the web. Displayed results can be filtered into categories but users cannot perform sub-searches. It’s a free service that is one of many and only searches one part of the Internet. Some of the free searches check blogs, others forums, and others micromedia like Twitter. For more about the free tools, many of which are included in the paid options, check out Dan Schawbel’s great post with Mashable about Free Brand Monitoring Tools. It’s from late 2008, but still a great place to start.

The larger services are paid services that have built their own filters, collection and display software. (A few months after this search MurrayNewlands.com made a Top Ten Social Media Monitoring Tools Review post that is a great place to start and want to do some comparing of your own. Interestingly enough, the only two companies who commented on our article were SM2 (@cbensen) and Radian6 (@ambercadabra), so that in and of itself should be a recommendation for each of them!)

Lesson #2: Size Matters.

I tried to contact Visible Technologies, Radian6, BuzzLogic and Biz360, SM2 and Trackur to find out more about their services.

• Visible Technologies: Starts at $10,000/ month- they recommended that I look at a service geared toward a smaller company.
• Radian6: Starts at $600/ month and goes up quickly. I set up a demo with Marc Whitchurch (@MarcWhitchurch).
• BuzzLogic: Non-responsive for demo at time of writing.
• Biz360: Non-responsive for demo.
• SM2 from Techrigy: Starts at $500/ month. I set up a demo with Ahad (@Ahad_Kamal).
• Trackur: Online Demo

Lesson #3: Looking Good

Seeing the demos was enlightening. I have a lot of different searches and aggregated feeds that get sent to me through Google alerts, RSS feeds and other updates- but the monitoring tools I saw- Radian6 and SM2- are both visually and functionally fantastic. Everything about what they do makes more sense. Get the demos.

Lesson #4 What Do Services Search?

I didn’t think about this at the time, but knowing what services focus on and where they get the results they provide would be good information. I would have asked different companies to search for the same keywords during their demos. Different social media monitoring services generate results using different tools, crawlers and filters so your results will vary for the same terms and keywords depending on which service you use. Ken Burbary wrote a great post called The Dirty Little Secret of Social Media Monitoring earlier this year that does a side-by-side comparison of Radian6 and Techrigy. Well worth the read, and the comment conversation has some great perspective and reactions from the companies.

Lesson #5: Digging Even Deeper

I asked a lot of questions and learned a lot through the demos and personal research. If I were to do it again I would have a much better idea of what to ask and how to find out what the service could do for me. Whether you have been using a social media monitoring tool for a while and want to reevaluate or want to do a thorough search to choose a new service, Jennifer from ScoutLabs has a great new post on how to dig deeper to find out which social media monitoring tool is best for you called Advanced Questions That You Should Be Asking Your Brand Monitoring Vendor. Great post that pushes the envelope.

My Take- The Quick & Dirty:

Visible Technologies: Great marks from Forrester. They do big accounts, so if you have a lot to monitor, look to them. If you’re just doing yourself or a small business, look somewhere else. They got a high ranking on the Forrester Wave report so we may want to switch to them when we get bigger.

Radian6: They get high marks from Forrester. Also, great visuals and bells and whistles on the service. The costs are higher than other services but their interface is just plain cool. And the do a great demo.

SM2 from Techrigy: When I first set out to find a social media monitoring tool, I was impressed with the response time from SM2. Fast and friendly. They responded to me with sales and tech people and spent almost 2 hours with me over 2 days. @cbensen is the best customer service rep I’ve had the pleasure of working with in a long time.

Trackur: Solid service and for economic rates. They don’t offer the tech and strategy support that other services do, but if you are willing to deal with bumps along the road or have a solid idea of how to use their service on your own it’s a great option.

My Final Call:
(For an online business with an e-commerce website, 4 employees, 300 affiliate partners at 3 months old and growing)

I recommend that we get SM2. Their people were the most responsive and their plan seems the most economical and appropriate. Other programs were good but are either too expensive for what we have to spend or don’t offer the tech/ strategy support we need since we were just starting out.

The Plan I Chose: SM2 From Techrigy
• $500/ month, Unlimited profiles, user logins and keyword searches.
• All results are exportable.
• We can set up repeating searches to update every morning (or more often)
• Real-time alert feed to a Google Reader so we know about conversations as they happen.

I would love to hear if you have done a similar search, who you chose and why, and what you think. Leave your stories in the comments.

Extra Lesson #6: Monitoring the Monitors
I recently found a blog called Impact Watch that updates each week with all of the new blog posts about social media monitoring. It’s a great way to see everything new about the Social Media Monitoring Tools that happens each week.

Social Media Monitoring Tools – A buyer’s guide

Scott

Note this is a few weeks old – Murray

Edit 9/10/09 see also Social Media Monitoring Tools – A buyer’s guide 2

Personal Branding Blog Top Ten, Personal Branding Blog Reviews

Personal Branding is a hot topic, especially with people who exist in the social media and online worlds. But finding people and blogs who can help you figure out your strategy and how to do the best personal branding you can do can be tough. Here is a

Personal Branding Blog Top Ten:

1. Dan Schawbel http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/
The Personal Branding guru, Dan knows how to make it happen. He has been interviewed on this topic by network TV and the New York Times and writes fantastic advice and blog posts. His book Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success is a must read for the new business era.

2. Personal Branding Blog http://robcuesta.typepad.com/
Rob is a leadership consultant who works with people moving into leadership roles within their organisation. He keeps a great blog updated weekly and has a free download called: “3 Secret Steps to Creating the Professional Career You Deserve.”

3. The Personal Branding Blog http://www.thepersonalbrandingblog.com/
Started in 2005 by William Arruda, this blog is now a collective project of several Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists. They look at how to incorporate personal branding strategies into everything a business does.

4. Personal PR http://tiffanymonhollon.com/blog/
This is a great personal blog by Tiffany Monhollon who explains it simply, “This blog is really about two very simple ideas: building relationships and sharing ideas.”

5. Work Life Nation http://www.worklifenation.com/
Written by Judy Martin, this blog has a subtitle of: Success, Serentity and Significance 24/7. Powerful perspective from a seasoned news journalist.

6. The Emerging Professional http://emergingprofessional.typepad.com
Written by Chandlee Bryan, a former Ivy League Career Counselor, Recruiter, and Resume Specialist for Microsoft’s “My Resume Talks,” this blog is great for people who are starting out in their career or planning their next launch.

7. Branding Personality http://www.brandingpersonality.com/
They say it best: “Branding Personality is an online marketing agency for real people, who need to become the go-to person for their added value in this world. I believe each one of us has a talent that is given to them to use for the best of themselves on this earth in this life.”

8. Brand-Yourself http://blog.brand-yourself.com/
Run and written by some impressive college students, Brand-Yourself is aimed at people getting ready to enter the work arena for the first time. They are collectively campaigning to be College Entrepreneur of the Year.

9. Free Personal Branding Blog http://www.advancingwomen.com/wordpress/free-personal-branding-blog-guide/
This one hasn’t been updated since April, but it’s notable because it focuses on empowering women. They say the purpose of the blog is, to “level the playing field” and to empower women and like- minded men in business and careers.”

10. Practice Marketing your Expertise http://www.practicemarketingadvisors.com/
This is focused on people who are already established in their field who want to expand their client base and become more successful in their field.

Design Consultant at Visual Duration Studio, Eric Tsai an Interview Visual Duration Studio.

Tell me about your Company?

Visual Duration Studio (www.visualduration.com ) is a design consultancy dedicated to providing strategic solutions for branding, marketing and design services. I was a creative director for an apparel brand then advanced into product development and eventually had landed some side contracts to help other brands with products and branding.

What was your first experience of social media?

I would have to say designdamage (www.designdamage.com ) was my first experience with social media. In 2001 I created designdamage as an outlet for my creativity while fostering relationships with other creative individuals on the internet. Back then there were no free and easy content management system like WordPress or Blogger, everything was hand coded. I had to constantly upload and replace existing files to update the content.

I started posting sites I check regularly during that time because I was creating some experimental design with my artwork using designdamage as the platform and information repository to document my work.

Not long after I launched the first version, I got request for other designers to post their links and when I launched version two and version three I was doing a lot of collaborative work and posting links and news constantly. It wasn’t even called social media back then, it was just a hobby turned into a community.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie in social media?

Use the right social media tool for your niche, learn them well and know what you’re trying to get out of it. Don’t go and sign up on every social media website just because it’s popular or you feel the need to be part of a community.

What do advertisers do that you wish they wouldn’t?

Spam the crap out of everything and abuse relationships to their own benefits.

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t?

Having no personality the “me too” blogs or posts, and blogs that just focus on making money. Covering similar content is fine but many blogs lack style and true substance, take a stance and don’t do it just for money. It’s like watching CNN, NBC, or Bloomberg, people tune in to watch the anchors even though they may be covering the same news.

Where do you see growth in the social media field?

I see growth in the mobility aspect of social media because technology will reduce the cost of connectivity (to the internet) so it’ll be easier to access people, knowledge, and brands. The “instant access” to all things we do everyday without geographic restrictions.

For example, if you go to the grocery store, you could instantly access opinions on products from local shoppers, rating from experts, or recipes ideas for a meal. It won’t be limited to only mobile devices, it could be a display in store aggregating the information or a device attached to your shopping cart streaming audio as you walk. Imagine the entire Amazon.com business model in a real physical store that interacts with you.

What new ideas are advertisers coming up with to take advantage of new trends?

Distributing marketing messages by leveraging key opinion leaders on social network without spending a lot of money. I think most people gravitate towards strong personal brands, and as authority figures, celebrity-status people have a lot of influence on regular people. As a result what’s been advertised will gain rapid social proof without spending the kind of money you do with traditional TV, radio, print advertising. If the person like what you’re saying, they can easily retweet, reblog, comment, or share.

What do you do to improve the world?

I try to help everyone I met in any way possible. It may sound like what everyone does, but most of my clients I started to help them out for free and some stayed as free client while others insists on paying me for my time.

What do you do that is green?

Funny you say that, I am working with one of my client to build a green product in the personal care sector. I can’t get into too much detail but it’s something that will help the conservation of water. I live in California and we have severe drought for years now (http://drought.unl.edu/DM/DM_state.htm?CA,W ) but everyone still waste water like crazy because we can get it from elsewhere. I hope to change that with this brand’s product and the owner is very passionate about sustainability and eco-green initiatives.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?

That I love to eat! I used to travel to Europe and Asia and there wouldn’t be anything I won’t put in my mouth.

What’s your favorite book?

Agony and Ecstasy, a novel about Michelangelo.

What is on your iPod?

Air, Al Green, Beastie Boys, Bob Sinclar, Daft Punk, Dimitri from Paris, DJ Shadow, Esthero, Fila Brazillia, Grover Washington Jr, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Nas, Radiohead, lots of jazz and Chinese music.

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?

Email: eric@designdamage.com
blog: www.designdamage.com 
twitter: www.twitter.com/designdamage
linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/erictsai
facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Eric-Tsai/588665759
work: www.visualduration.com

What events do you go to?

ET: If I get time I’d like to go to technology events, it’s a good place to meet people and get ideas. I attend Web 2.0 Conference last year it was great to hear what everyone has to say. I am also interested in attending marketing events to learn what everyone is doing, what’s working, and what’s next. I was going to attend the CMO Leadership Forum (www.argyleconferences.com/cmosf2009registration) last week but something came up and I wasn’t able to go.

I am also planning to start a MeetUp event locally here in Southern California, specifically Orange County, focusing on “Branding and Social Media for business owners and entrepreneurs.”

If anyone’s interested and is in the area get in touch with me.

How do you prefer to communicate?

Email is probably the best, I don’t mind talking if I get a chance.

Who would you recommend, and why?
Yaro Starak from http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com
- Expert blogger, all things about business of blog, lots of resource and currently my mentor

David Armano and the crew at Dachis Corp from http://darmano.typepad.com
- David knows exactly what his blog title says, logic + emotion. Authentic media and marketing content.

Brian Clark from http://www.copyblogger.com
- The art of copywriting and blog marketing all in one place, if you need tips on copywriting there isn’t a second place I recommend.

Eben Pagan – just Google his name you’ll know why he is on my list.

Darren Rowse from http://www.problogger.net
- The Godfather of professional blogging, if you’re serious about blogging and you don’t know Darren, you will.

Dan Schawbel from http://personalbrandingblog.com
- Dan is the up and coming personal branding expert that knows his way around social networking and provide great advice for young professionals.

David Carson from http://www.davidcarsondesign.com
- If you’re a designer and you know a thing or two about typography, you know DC.

Mat Mejia from http://www.droppod.com
- Mat is my personal favorite creative director, he was one of my main inspiration from my old designdamage days, he used to have a site called h73 which is just ahead of his time.

Nancy Duarte from http://blog.duarte.com
- The queen in slide:ology, her company did Al Gore’s movie’s slides, she’s got the secrets to the art of presentation.

Everyone at K10K http://www.k10k.net
- The ultimate portal for designer inspirations from when I first learn about in late 90s, you’ll never know what great links and ideas you’ll find check it out.

What is one thing people can do for you?

Read my blog and get in touch with me, like you Murray! I am always open to learn and help.

Thanks to Eric Tsai, Design Consultant at Visual Duration Studio!

Dan Schawbel, Personal Branding Expert an interview PersonalBrandingBlog.com

Tell me about your Personal Branding blog?

The Personal Branding Blog (www.personalbrandingblog.com) is the number one resource for personal branding online. It focuses on how to build your personal brand for career success and touches on topics such as networking, search engine optimization, marketing and human resource practices, with a deep focus on web 2.0 technologies. It was the #1 job blog last year by Careerbuilder.com and is in the top 30 marketing blogs in the world.

What is your book Me 2.0 about? Who should read it?

Me 2.0 is about personal branding and how to leverage online tools to create the career you want and become known for your expertise. It is the first book of its kind written by a millennial for the millennial generation. It gives the history of personal branding, all the topics involved in personal branding, a four-step proven process, tips for entrepreneurs and a lot more. In the current economy, this is the one book that can help position you so that you keep your job or get a new job faster than everyone else.

What do you think is the most important thing for someone just starting to build their personal brand?

The most important thing is to discover your brand so that you can align what you do with who you are and be able to articulate that to your audience. It’s also imperative that you select a niche that blends your passion with your expertise, so that you can position yourself, where you’re compensated doing what you love. Most people just get involved in the social media world and neglect a branding strategy. They don’t get results because they had nothing to measure against.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie blogger?

As a blogger, you should network with as many other bloggers in your industry as possible, especially the more influential ones. You should also blog a few times each week because it’s the only way to really get your name out there in the midst of all this clutter (300 million blogs). Also, be sure to comment on other blogs, write guest posts and join social networks where your audience is, so that you can attract them back to your blog.

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t?

I wish bloggers wouldn’t post people’s emails on their blogs without asking for permission first. I think people need to be a bit more courteous and realize that their blogs can really hurt people’s reputations in an instant. Bloggers should ask before they post anything and be mindful that their influence can do everlasting damage.

How has social media changed the way people do business?

Social media has enabled people to connect directly with other people, instead of going through the media or working ten times as hard meeting people in real life. It have given everyone who leverages it a platform they can use to grow their business and build their brand name.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?

I don’t drink coffee. This surprises most people because I have so much energy and I work over a hundred hours per week. I just don’t like the taste of coffee and think it’s unhealthy. If I ever drank coffee, I think I would have a heart attack!

Thanks to Dan Schawbel, Personal Branding Expert from PersonalBrandingBlog.com !

Dan Schawbel is the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He is the author of the bestselling career book, “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 2009).” With over 100,000 results for his name in Google, Fast Company calls Dan a “personal branding force of nature.” He is the founder of the Personal Branding Blog®,which was the #1 job blog by Careerbuilder in 2008, is an AdAge top 50 marketing blog and is syndicated by Reuters, Forbes, Fox Business and other major networks. Dan is also the publisher of Personal Branding Magazine®, head judge for the Personal Brand Awards® and director of Personal Branding TV®.

Famous people on twitter

The number of famous people on Twitter is growing exponentially. It seems that celebrities from all walks of life are using twitter as a way to get their message out there, connect with fans or just take part in the most recent fad- which happens to be the presence of famous people on Twitter.

One great thing about famous people on twitter, though, is that there are actually people who have become famous by being on twitter. Twitter celebrities. While this phenomenon, famous people on twitter who are famous by being on twitter, is a fascinating layer of the changing nature of celebrity. So we have two separate categories: Famous people on twitter who are famous for other reasons and famous people on twitter who are famous because of twitter!

Celebrities certainly don’t need another place to promote themselves beyond television, movies and print- now we have this influx of famous people on twitter. I don’t follow famous people on twitter because they are famous and don’t have a huge interest in what celebrities twitter about. As I said in my last post on this, though, famous people on twitter do have a draw for a variety of reasons.

Famous people on twitter whose tweets resemble our own or mention something that is real in our lives bring us closer to them, and maybe make us feel more like we can relate to them. In the end, famous people on twitter aren’t any closer to use, but the popularity of famous people on twitter does bring up the question of what we gain by Following them.

That said, if you are interested in following famous people on twitter, here is a list that I have put together as a resource.

Famous people on twitter include:

http://twitter.com/aplusk

http://twitter.com/murraynewlands

http://twitter.com/ericschechter
http://twitter.com/danschawbel
http://twitter.com/adventuregirl
http://twitter.com/affiliatetip
http://twitter.com/MissyWard
http://twitter.com/joetech
http://twitter.com/tedmurphy
http://twitter.com/adrants
http://twitter.com/HeatherinBC
http://twitter.com/jeffpulver
http://www.twitter.com/vincestev

http://www.twitter.com/benspark

http://twitter.com/AzamMarketing
http://twitter.com/serenasocial
http://twitter.com/usocialdotnet
http://twitter.com/usocialnet

In the quest to compile a comprehensive list of famous people on twitter, which famous people on twitter would you include?

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