Must Market

Social Media It's The Conversation, Stupid is about the new rules of branding created by a social / mobile / connected world.

There is a new invisible giant, a giant using 5 "tricks" so the "new seo" is hard and harder to see and understand. This Haiku Deck and Curatti blog post is about how to see the invisible giant. How to win hearts, minds and loyalty online.

Marty Note
Agree with every one of these "missing" ingredients:

* ROI Driven Metrics (what we are working so hard to create at our Startup Factory funded startup Curagami.
* Behavior Based Marketing.

* Complete goal alignment.

* Willingness to FAIL.

The last bullet is the one that really registers. When I started creating websites in 1999 we had nothing to lose and everything was new. As things grew we became more cautions. "More cautious" is a RX for disaster in Internet marketing.

Google may have done us a great favor by shuffling the deck so violently reminding us control is an illusion so taking RISKS makes sense.

Red Bull Branding shared how we are all media companies now. Red Bull Branding 2 is about how to build online community via Friends of Friends. Marketing.

Free websites can become expensive fast. So called Free Websites can hurt brand, seo and marketing. If something seems to good to be true...it is.

5 Reasons To Avoid "Free Websites"
* You Lose Control.

* Limited Plugins and Addons.
* Ads.

* Slow Site.
* Migration Challenges.

Thanks to @malekfor his great summary (as always) that reminded me to put the bullet points into the Scoop. Not following Malek?  You should because he SHARES, curates amazing stuff and helps a friend out (all the time). #toogood and a #mustfollow on my Top Scoopers list. Marty

Is your website a tease? It should be since teasing, promising and delivering is how trust forms. Right after trust is community. How to become a web tease.

How aligned is yoru brand to its "ideals"? When former P&G Marketing Director Jim Stengel wrote Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profits at the World's Greatest comanies he may have created the most important branding checkliss.

Stengel defined 5 Brand Ideals:

• Eliciting Joy: Activating experiences of happiness, wonder, and limitless possibility.
• Enabling Connection: Enhancing the ability of people to connect with each other and the world in meaningful ways.
• Inspiring Exploration: Helping people explore new horizons and new experiences.
• Evoking Pride: Giving people increased confidence, strength, security, and vitality.
• Impacting Society: Affecting society broadly, including by challenging the status quo and redefining categories.