Sometimes, on difficult days, like today, or was it yesterday, now, I just feel like throwing in the towel, on Social Media.
Even as Barack Obama begins the first YouTube Presidency, you'd think there would be recognition if the vital role of Social Media Analytics via professional, member driven organizations.
But some people have their heads buried in the sand.
In fact, It can get really messed up when an association suddenly decided social media part of it's core mission.
Where would Barack Obama be, today, if he believed, and those around him believed, social media wasn't important?
I understand online advertising, in general, is being cut back quite a bit, given the Global Recession we're now in, but ... You'd think that now, especially just now, would be the perfect time to ramp up on social media as it's one of the least expensive and most effective ways of reaching people.
But some people don't see it that way.
You know, I was speaking to a friend recently about the most effective source of traffic to her site; she used Google Analytics custom segmentation and found out that Stumbleupon was 1500% more effective than any other other source of referral traffic ...and it's a well known site that gets several million visits a month.
And yet .... You'll find plenty of organizations who believe Social Media is not particularly important. I bet John McCain did not think much about Social Media, and look where he is, today.
Actually, I'm glad McCain and Palin didn't focus on Social Media; I didn't want them to win.
But in other cases, you'd be surprised; I know, I was.
Recently, I asked Eric T. Peterson, author of Web Analytics Demystified, what he thinks Analytics Organizations ought to focus on.
Peterson said, Social Media Metrics.
I also asked him if Special Interest Groups, or SIGs, would be useful for this purpose.
By the way, I noticed the recent EMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit that I attended, in Alexandria, VA, had an entire Tract (3 solid days of Social Media sessions) dedicated to Social Media Metrics.
That had never happened before at a Web Analytics Conference; found this encourging, and the speakers were great.
Too bad that focus isn't actually carried into the organizational level more often.
I would imagine, and suspect, Social Media, really needs more of a focus in most organizations than it gets. Perhaps, that is also true of Online Marketing and Analytics Associations.
In fact, some of the best uses of Social Media, and some of the best presentations this year on Social Media, came from Panalists who worked for or with Non-Profits.
It turns Non-Profits tend to be willing to try things they think work and won't cost much money.
Anyway, this is a long, rambling post, written entirely on my IPhone, hense, no hyperlinks or grammer, spellchecks.
I'll be at MobileBarCamp, over at Microsoft Headquarters, in New York City, on Saturday, along with Sebastian Wenzel, WebAnalyticsBook.com; it will be a welcome change, attending this Mobile Analytics grassroots gathering, with Sebastian, who also happens to be part of the Web Analytics Association, the same one whose Board I currently sit on.
On the other hand, this Friday, for me, was a tough but interesting, intense day; Bryan Eisenberg of FutureNowInc and Grokdotcom.com, Freedman of Code4Software.com, Eric T. Peterson of Web Analytics Demystified Inc, and Jesse Harriot of Monster Worldwide, are some of the best people I connected with and spoke with, today, and Bryan, Jared, Eric and Jesse really helped to make up for misguided individuals who also cross my path.
My conversation with Bryan Eisenberg, who talked me into running for the WAA Board 2 years ago, Bryan has been particularly helpful today and he was sick as a dog, with a bad cold, yet he spoke to me, and shared wisdom and insight. Thanks Bryan!
I'm actually hearing, in my mind, the old saying about an Egyptian God, Seth, Replaced, by another, Osiris.
Perhaps, replacing Seth with Osiris relates to the month of April Where Spring begins. What we nead is renewal and the right focus.
And maybe, we need to drill for that focus, or Oil, in Texas (ops! Solar Panels and Green, Renewable energy, please). We really nead is Wisdom focused on Social Media and Web Analytics, and, too often, it has not happened.
Yeah, Seth being replaced by Osiris, and in April; God Willing, the sooner, the better.
Ok, time for bed, this has been a long, long day.
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