@tommy_landry's posterous

Musings on a Real-Time World

SEO Content Strategy: The Importance of Personas | Return On Now

There are many components of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), from keyword selection to technical optimization to the way you approach content as a whole. While it was once sufficient to simply stuff a bunch of keywords onto a page and show up well-ranked for those terms, those days are long gone.

Quality and Relevance Are Even More Important than Ever

The Panda / Farmer update introduced quality as a key metric, and it is measured through a rather complicated algorithm. This algorithm reviews the word count, the style, the grammatical correctness, and the type of website it is. Then, it factors in how it ranks sites that it deems “similar”, and assigns a ranking factor there as well. There are no “tricks” to get around this one. Just write good content with correct spelling and grammar, in natural language that a real reader would understand.

Relevance also influences this algorithm, albeit indirectly. Panda incorporates metrics that indicate how readers respond to the content (bounce rate, time on page/site, pageviews / visit, etc. – all readily available via Google Analytics or any leading commercial analytics package). This is a GREAT development for those of us who practice white hat SEO exclusively. Write for your audience, keep them engaged, include keywords that your readers will relate to, and the rankings will come over time.

How to Manage Relevance

The first requirement is clearly to understand  your space. Keep up with the latest trends, jargon, technologies, events, thought leaders, and social “buzz” to start. If you have been in the same industry for several years, you likely already have this covered.

The second, and most commonly overlooked, requirement is to develop good user personas. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept, here is my definition of the term as it relates to web content:

A persona is a fictional character that describes your target audience or a segment of your target audience, whichever is most practical for making rational splits in content, tone, and approach.

So basically, a persona is “Joe Customer” or “Jane Prospect”. It is outlined in prose format, often reading like a brief biography of the fictional person. Many companies go so far as to give the persona a name, age, job title, and even a photo. The idea is to get buy-in across your leadership team as to exactly who you are writing for. To know them, their story, what motivates them, what their hobbies are, whatever it is about them that you think you should message to.

Check out some sample personas on the following websites for reference:

Some marketing and IT  types (personas are also useful for Software Interface Design and Usability) are skeptical about this idea. They claim to already know their audience. Some call this a silly exercise. And really, it may not be necessary to document each individual persona…in one situation: where you already know the persona intimately, and you ( and ONLY you) will be involved in generating content for that audience. If you write content for a business with more than five employees, there is a place for user personas.

How to Apply Personas to Content

The first step to moving the needle with personas is to get buy in from the most important decision makers in your organization. We’ve seen far too many persona efforts scrapped mid-way because leadership was not included early enough. It is crucial that those decision makers start to really envision the fictional character to whom you will be messaging. Once you are all on the same page, you will get a lot less pushback later once you turn persona into messaging and finished content.

Next, review your customer lifecycle in more detail. Do you already have content for all the key pre-sales stages in the life cycle? Specifically, you should have:

  1. Thought leadership materials that educate (not pitch) the customer on important trending topics in your space? Complete with calls-to-action that drive them to your website for potential conversion
  2. More in-depth content about the technology, technique, service, or product type you sell, and even deeper content about your own products or services
  3. Very focused differentiation and validation materials, such as why you are best, case studies, third party reports, and testimonials
  4. A very clear path to purchasing once they are ready to do so

Now you are ready to take action. Look at each persona and start listing the types of materials they might like to see at each of these points in the life cycle. Look for where there are overlaps and differences, because overlaps are opportunities to write content once, and use it for multiple audiences. Then prioritize based on two factors:

  1. Relative importance to your business or cause for each persona
  2. Areas where you can provide relevant content to multiple personas with the same information or very similar content

Once you complete this exercise, you should have a reasonable start on the content plan to improve your analytics and relevance in tandem.

Summary

User personas are a key component of any content strategy that places relevance at the top of the priority list. With Google Panda now measuring relevance, you really have no choice but to pay attention to this topic. Take time now to be sure you know who your target audience is personally, and enjoy the SEO and increased traffic it will offer to you under the new ranking algorithm.

Have you ever been involved in user persona creation? What worked and didn’t work? Do you have any samples that would help our readers better understand this?

Please share your experiences, successes, failures, and samples in the comments section below!

via returnonnow.com

Google Search vs. Display – Pros and Cons | Return On Now

This week, PPC expert Matt Kelly shares his guidance about when to use Google AdWords and when to focus on the content / display network.

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Search vs. Display: What Are They?

In Google Adwords, there are two primary “venues” on which you can display ads, the first being Google Search, the second being the Google Display Network (GDN).

Google Search and their search partners, such as search.aol.com, allow the display of text  ads along with organic results (unpaid) that are triggered by keywords. You type in a keyword or phrase, Google displays the most relevant ads.  When you click on the ad, the advertiser is charged based on an auction price and you are re-directed to the advertiser’s website.

GDN on the other hand are “contextually” targeted ads based on content, interests, or topics. Publishers of content use Google Adsense as the vehicle for displaying ads. In addition, Google uses your demographic data and interests to display ads you might be interested in.

You can view your Ad Preferences at: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

So if, for example, you are reading an article about Tiger Woods skipping the US Open and see an ad for the new Nike 20XI golf ball, the ad is there.  Nike recognizes that, if you are reading an article on golfchannel.com, you probably have an interest in Golf. So you might buy golf balls.

On the other hand, if you are reading an article on nytimes.com, you might see the same Nike 20XI Golf ball ad.  Most likely, this ad was displayed because your Ad Preferences indicate “Golf” as an interest.

How to Find a Good Site Where You Can Advertise

There are a variety of ways to find relevant/high quality sites to target.  Generally speaking, I look for them in this order:

  1. Search Google using the most valuable keywords I am trying to target.  I prefer using Google Search initially to find sites to advertise on, since those that show up on the first page are presumably more relevant. From the organic search results, I look at the websites on page one to see if they are running ads from either Google or Double Click. I also check the depth and content of the site for quality. If you see display ads on the site, check the link of the ad by either hovering over it, or look for the “Ads by Google” logo. (Hint: If you are a publisher, invest in SEO so we can find your site. [Double Hint from editorial team: Return On Now can help you])
  2. Next step is to use the Google Adplanner.  Adplanner allows me to more specifically target websites running Adsense based on audience parameters such as geography, language, demographics, online activity, and interests.  Adplanner also provides filtering based on Google Ranking method, inventory, category, ad specific, and domain suffix.
  3. I’ll use the “Placement Tool” in Adwords, even though the results are typically comparable to those found in Adplanner.
  4. I look at the sites referring traffic in Google Analytics to find sites that are sending some traffic, but would be good prospect for sending more.

From the research above, I will add sites as “Managed Placements,” in addition to a list of standard sites I always target such as mail.google.com, ehow.com, about.com. and nytimes.com

Managed placements are my highest value group of websites, as opposed to automatic placements, which are those that Google is determining as relevant and then displaying my ads accordingly.

Think of the difference between Automatic and Managed placements as if they were baseball teams.  Managed placements are the players on the team that have made it to a Major League Team. I hand picked them, and if they don’t play well, I kick them off them team. In the past, they have performed well and are of above average quality.

Automatic placements are those that are still in the farm system working extremely hard to perform well enough to make it to the Major League. Automatic placements, like a Baseball Scout,  are also always on the lookout for new sites to target or new players to add to the team.

Search Pros

  1. Simple to set up and manage

Search Cons

  1. It’s the first thing everyone thinks of when launching a paid search campaign, so the competition for a keyword may be high resulting in poor ROI / Return-on-Investment.
  2. In order to have an effective search campaign, a large amount of emphasis needs to be on targeting high Quality Score keywords
  3. It is available as “Cost-Per-Click” Pricing Only (also referred to as PPC / Pay-per-click pricing)
  4. Text ads are the only format allowed

Display Pros

  1. Lower Cost per click and conversion. On average the CPC is 30% less for display than search.
  2. Remarketing – This is the practice of displaying an ads on GDN  to someone that visited a particular page on your web site
  3. Measuring “view-through-conversion”, which is a metric of the number of conversions that happened within 30 days of someone seeing the ad
  4. Casts a much wider net (better reach) across content that is related to your keywords
  5. Pricing flexibility: Cost per Click or Cost per thousand (CPM pricing)
  6. Better targeting to content-rich and relevant sites
  7. More visually appealing ad options rather than just text
  8. Behavioral, demographic, and geographic targeting capabilities

Display Cons

  1. Getting your boss or client to understand why such a low Click Through Rate (CTR) is a good thing can be challenging
  2. Initial set up is more complicated that search
  3. Initial cost to set up is higher than search as you may incur a cost for advertisement design
  4. Less control can mean lower quality traffic if you are using automatic placement. Automatic placements require increased maintenance to exclude sites that are of poor quality (i.e. one page websites running Adsense on what is essentially nothing more than a doorway page)

So how do you sell this to your metrics-driven Boss or Client?

First, focus on what the key metrics are as follows:

  • Impressions:  Depending on a number of factors, including your overall budget and how much of it is allocated to display, you can see 10-20 times as many impressions as you can in search
  • Cost per click: As a general rule of thumb, your cost per click on display should be 30% less than Search
  • Cost per conversion:  The metric I personally manage to for display conversions is 20% less than search

Search Engine Marketing: PPC vs. GDN Metrics

If you are a newbie to display advertising, here is where to start:

  • Have five non-animated banner ads designed. The sizes I recommend are 300×250, 160×600, 200×200, 468×60, and 728×90. You should be able to get a decent graphics designer to design these ads for less than $400. The GDN ad specs are located at: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/static.py?hl=en&topic=28431&guide=28427&page=guide.cs
  • Create a separate campaign for “Managed Placements.” This will allow you to control the budget separately from search campaigns.
  • Limit that campaign to one of your ad groups so that you are testing a small group of keywords and phrases.
  • Allocate a small amount of your search budget to managed placements. I’d start with 10%.
  • Only use a handful of managed placements, i.e. less than ten. Make sure mail.google.com is on that list.
  • Cap your CPC at 30% less than your search CPC.

The biggest advantage of display versus search is it’s reach and the ability to give a product context through the use of images. As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. So maybe a text ad is worth only one hundred words?

Think beyond just Search.

via Return On Now (ReturnOnNow.com)

Steve Lawson Interview | Fretless Bass Guitar Hub

Thanks to all of you who forwarded me positive feedback after I published my interview with Michael Manring earlier this year. Today, we bring you an interview with another favorite: Steve Lawson.

The timing of this post was carefully chosen, as today he releases his newest album, 11 Reasons Why 3 is Greater than Everything (available on his website TODAY). Steve was kind enough to share a preview of the CD with me, and I must say, the playing is as elaborate and melodic as ever. The CD is mostly ambient and down-tempo, primarily composed of one-take basslines. I especially enjoyed track 10, “Minor Miracles”, which is uplifting and bright in mood. He also showed off some great chops and layered bass tones on several other tracks, including distorted basslines, echo/delay (in particular on track 4 which has a Steve Roach like sound to it), and some sweet sliding artificial harmonics.

Once I can absorb the CD more fully, I’ll do a more thorough write up. But just know, it’s worth your time to give this 80-minute work of art a listen. On that note, on to the interview…

Read the original post on Fretless Bass Guitar Hub

SEO: Why You Need A Content Strategy | Return On Now

Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing need for any business that is serious about establishing and maintaining good positions on Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Many businesses depend on Google alone for more than 50% of their overall traffic.

Achieving that sort of success with SEO takes more than the basics (on-page, backlinks). It requires that your website take another step to plan out a site that is:

  1. Easy to navigate
  2. Structured with broad keywords at the higher levels, and more specific keywords deeper in the nav
  3. Generating quality new content on a regular and ongoing basis

While it is rather easy to dive in and start tweaking the on-page elements that are used by search engines (page title, meta description, H1 / H2 / H3, etc.), the opportunistic online marketing mind will ask the question, “Is this the right content in the first place?”.

Content Strategy Before On-Page

Before diving into the tactics, it makes the most sense to do a self-review of your business, cause, nonprofit, or whatever entity it is that drives you to generate quality content. Map out the categories (e.g. product lines or different audiences served) at the highest level and decide what keywords best match with those categories.

Then line up the most important topic areas in the next level beneath. These will also be keywords. Feel free to even build out more specific topics at the third level (we recommend only three levels for most types of site). Continue until you have a solid plan for what keyword-rich, highly relevant content you need.

From there, you can begin generating or reworking content to fit. As you generate the new material, take a couple of extra minutes to label the right keywords…highest level category, keyword for that level, any long-tail words that make sense….and insert those into the appropriate on-page locations. And be sure to pepper in some conversion pages to collect leads if it makes sense for your business.

Planning Ahead Works

There are multiple benefits to optimizing your website with this approach.

First, it gives you a chance to take a fresh look at your site from a macro perspective. It is so easy to get caught up in the daily minutiae, that we sometimes need to take a step back to evaluate where we are, how we got there, and where we want to be.

Second, the output will be very helpful at beginning your ascent up the rankings. By structuring your website in a way that the search engine crawlers will find logical, they will better be able to connect your website to the keywords you are targeting. The bonus is that, when you relaunch your website or launch a new website, Google will typically do a full crawl of the site quickly, assuming you have an XML sitemap file logged with them.

We Can Help

You can most likely manage the build out of a content strategy yourself. If not, SEO and Content Strategy are specialties of ours. If you need help, drop me a line at tommy (at) returnonnow (dot) com.

via returnonnow.com

Customer Intimacy: A Lesson In Worst Practices | Return On Now

With all of the talk about social media, transparency, content relevance, and user-generated content, we most certainly have a grand vision in front of us. As marketers, we want to evolve with our customers, moving from a mindset of pushing our content out to large audiences to a mindset of collaboration and engagement.

What we truly want is the next iteration of Customer Intimacy, a term that originated over a decade ago, yet still applies well in today’s environment. The pinnacle of marketing and product success is to become not only a vendor, but a trusted partner. This can be delivered in a number of ways, from custom product delivery, to special support terms, to well-structured, data-driven marketing efforts that suggest the company truly cares about the customer.

To establish customer intimacy, we need to move past economies of scale and one-size-fits-all thinking. The qualities that matter most are flexibility, responsiveness, and engagement (sounds like social networking, doesn’t it?). And most of all, if you say you know me, you darn well better know me. Even if that’s just a mirage served up by advanced database marketing techniques.

Customer Intimacy: How to Do It Wrong

Earlier this week, I was sorting through a stack of junk mail when I came across an envelope from Domino’s Pizza. Even when sorting through junk, I take a moment to look at each piece for two reasons:

  1. To see if there are any deals of interest
  2. To review for any marketing takeaways or lessons I should take note of

Since I tend to eat more healthy, all-natural foods, I was not interested in whatever special coupon or deal the mailer included, but it caught my attention from a marketing perspective. Here is the mailer in question:

We Miss You Domino's Mailer

Okay, good start. I have in fact purchased Domino’s Pizza in the past. It’s just good database marketing to look at your customers to determine activity/inactivity over time, seasonal patterns, and other trends. It has been quite a while since we’ve ordered from them, so I naturally assumed they did their job and send a re-engagement plea.

Then I looked at how the envelope was addressed. See for yourself…

Addressed to Postal Customer

That’s right, they don’t even know my name (which I had to give to them when they took each and every order I’ve ever placed with them)! Even worse, I went ahead and opened the envelope to see if there were any other interesting gaffs, only to find a letter addressed to “Dear Domino’s Pizza Customer”.  Of course, they did explain that they noticed no activity on my part in 2011, but by the time I read that part, it was too late.

Small Errors, Big Impact

As you might guess, this mailer had exactly the opposite effect on me than they wanted. Should I get a craving for pizza, they’d be at the bottom of my wish list based on this campaign.

The lesson here is important – if you don’t have the data or the discipline to collect it, then don’t try to pretend you “know” me. Just send a generic message without all the hints that you did some analysis in it. If you can’t or won’t do it right, you simply can’t fake it. Not only will today’s consumers turn on you, but they could easily amplify their complaints online, perhaps via a blog or other outlet. Oh wait, that’s what I just did…

Got Any Examples Of Your Own?

I’d love to see any other amusing or simply awkward attempts at personalization and customer intimacy. If you have something good, share with us in the comments below!

via Return On Now

12 Ways to Tell if You're Confident – or Arrogant | MktgLadder

Perception is reality. No matter how good your intentions are, what matters is how you are perceived. To start, avoid these 12 don’ts so your team doesn’t think you’re too arrogant to work for.

January 18, 2010
By Carmine Gallo

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. This is especially true given both entail a strong belief in one's own abilities. When it comes to the responses they provoke, however, that's where the similarities end.

Confidence is inspiring; arrogance is a turn-off.

Confidence gets hired; arrogance is shown the door.

Building confidence takes work; arrogance is simple. In fact, it's easy to come off as arrogant. Avoid these 12 behaviors so you don't leave the impression of being a Class-A jerk people would rather avoid instead of the confident leader they want to follow.

1. Drop names out of context.

The name-dropper is a character who frequents many local Chamber of Commerce mixers. Name-droppers are a dime a dozen. Completely unsolicited, they will jabber endlessly about who they know, who they met and who they pal around with. As a journalist, I interview many great business leaders, one of whom was Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Bringing up his name in a presentation about leadership is appropriate; talking about Schultz with a barista at my local Starbucks is arrogant.

2. Avoid eye contact.

Arrogant people could care less about others. They're only interested in themselves. The arrogant person will constantly be looking past you for someone else to talk to — someone they think will benefit them more than you. Confident leaders look you in the eye and make you feel as though you're the most important person in the room.

3. Arrive consistently late to meetings … and don't apologize.

Arrogant people think their time is more important than anybody else's. Being late means nothing to them. Confident leaders are timely and quick to apologize when they're off schedule.

4. Use condescending phrases and put-downs.

Some well-known business leaders have been known to put down others with phrases like “that's stupid” or “you're a bozo.” These particular leaders are supremely confident, of course, but they've crossed the line into arrogance. I worked for one famous broadcast executive who routinely demeaned his employees and colleagues. Before long there was a massive brain drain from his department. He was bright; ambitious; and yes, confident. But his arrogance turned so many people off that he lost the loyalty of his team (and ultimately his position).

5. Strut or swagger when you walk into a room.

The best way to describe arrogant body language is “dominating.” Examples include pointing a finger at someone's chest, hands on hips or waving someone off with a flick of the finger. Confidence is open and less intimidating.

6. Interrupt conversations … frequently.

Since arrogant people are only concerned about themselves, they're not really listening to you. Not only are they always on the lookout for someone else to talk to, they interrupt the conversation frequently.

7. Have an answer for everything.

Psychologists say that arrogance is a compensation for insecurities and weaknesses. An arrogant person will rarely say, “I don't know the answer, but I'll find out.” Confident people admit mistakes and learn something from those experiences.

10. Always one-up the other person.

The other day I was speaking to someone who has a reputation for arrogance, and I noticed a common theme in his conversation with me — he always tried to one-up everything I said. For example, when the conversation turned to a documentary that I had recently seen on sharks, this man said, “That's nothing, I swim with sharks.” This trait in arrogant people is so common that the famous Dilbert cartoon strip has a recurring character named “Topper.” Confident people don't feel the need to brag. Their accomplishments do it for them.

11. Blast competitors.

Arrogant people can't see the strengths in their competitors, and if they do, they seek to minimize those competitors by bad-mouthing them. This simply makes the arrogant person look even smaller. I recently overheard a woman talking to a recruiter and saying vicious things about her former company as well as other companies in the industry. The recruiter listened patiently. When the woman left, I leaned over and asked the recruiter what he thought. He simply rolled his eyes. Take the high road so you don't get the eye roll.

12. Blame someone else.

Arrogant people can't 'fess up to their own mistakes. Watch "America's Next Top Model" with Tyra Banks. The most arrogant young wannabes are the ones who blame others for not taking a good photograph — it's either the fault of the photographer or the makeup artist. Needless to say, they don't last long, even in an industry that has more than its share of divas.

Some famous business leaders are unquestionably arrogant — people about whom you may have heard or for whom you work. But the vast majority of inspiring leaders are confident, not arrogant. Be a leader people want to follow and not one people would rather avoid.

Carmine Gallo is the communication skills coach for the world's most admired brands. He is a popular speaker and the author of several books including his current title, "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience" (McGraw-Hill). Visit Carmine directly at http://www.carminegallo.com

via MktgLadder

Fretless Bass Effects - Check This Out | Fretless Bass Guitar Hub

Recently, I was going through my old stuff, including my old music accessories, in a massive clean up of my house. While purging unwanted things and finding some long lost favs, I came across a Digitech DSP 256-XL unit that I once used as my main effects processor live.

You are probably familiar with all of the newer Digitech gear, but for the time it was bought, this was a top notch unit. Here is a picture of the 1U chassis it was housed in.

Digitech DSP 256-XL Effects Processor

Photo Quality Courtesy of an iPhone 3GS (sarcasm intended)

As you can see, it sits nicely atop the Carvin head for toying around with. It’s a decent unit overall still, but the biggest issue is that the internal memory is failing. The system can still load all the presets, but any custom settings I dialed in have vanished. I suppose that’s what happens when it sits on the shelf for over 7 years unused and without any access to power.

I’ve been pulling together a new project in the background lately, and I just might break this baby out for a song or two when we get out there live. We’ll see.

What’s your favorite bass effect and what unit helps you get the sound to happen? Catch me up! I used no effects for years and have come around to it again, so share any tips you have below fellow fretless junkies!

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Enjoy the latest post from Fretless Bass Guitar Hub.

12 Mind-Blowing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know | Hubspot

Today I saw a great post on Hubspot, titled 12 Mind-Blowing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know. I agree, so the stats have been pasted below for you to review and use as you see fit.

1. 78% of Internet users conduct product research online.
That means your website stands a good chance of being a prospect's "first impression." That also means your new business card isn't a business card—it's Google.

2. In the past year, Web-based email usage dropped a staggering 59% among 12-17 year olds, who prefer to communicate via text, instant messaging, and social networks.
If 12-17 year olds aren't your primary customers, you may think, "So what? They're just kids." But web-based email usage has been on the decline among ALL Internet users under the age of 55. And by the way, today's kids are tomorrow's customers—and they're probably not going to be reading your email.

3. 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email.
So that means pretty much everybody that can check email on a mobile device, does. Is your email newsletter optimized for mobile devices?

4. 40% of US smartphone owners compare prices on their mobile device while in-store, shopping for an item.
Is your business website optimized for mobile devices? If not, you may be missing out on hundreds of sales opportunities.

5. 200 Million Americans have registered on the FTC's "Do Not Call" list.
That's 2/3 of the country's citizens. The other 1/3, I'm guessing, probably don't have a home phone anymore.

6. 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted-in to.
We're getting savvier with technology and less patient with unwanted solicitations. And it's just so easy to hit 'delete'.

7. 84% of 25-34 year-olds have left a favorite website because of intrusive or irrelevant advertising.
Frankly, I'm surprised this stat doesn't read "100%" and apply to a much wider age range. 

8. 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.
Finally, some good news! Blogging is good. Intrusive ads are bad. See how simple it is?

9. 41% of B2B companies and 67% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
If this stat doesn't poke a hole in the "Facebook is not useful for B2B companies" myth, I don't know what will.

10. The number of marketers who say Facebook is “critical” or “important” to their business has increased 83% in just 2 years.
That's right—critical or important. When a channel generates not only leads, but real revenue, you can't call it "experimental" any longer.

11. Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic.
The more you blog, the more pages Google has to index, and the more inbound links you're likely to have. The more pages and inbound links you have, the higher you rank on search engines like Google—thus the greater amount of traffic to your website. Which is why we repeat: Blogging is good.

12. Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing.
That's right—62% less. The average outbound lead costs $373. The average inbound lead costs $143. And as we love to say around here, "if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense." Outbound marketing just don't make sense anymore.

Bireli Lagrene Sweet Jaco-esque Fretless Bass Jam | Fretless Bass Guitar Hub

Bireli LagreneToday I came across the following video featuring Bireli Lagrene on fretless bass. I had never heard of him before now, but this solo simply made me happy when listening to it. The bass playing on this song is sweet…funky, technical, groovy, and jazzy…all qualities our old favorite Jaco Pastorius brought to the table back during and after his Weather Report days.

After hearing this tune, I had to go look up what else Bireli Lagrene has done. He has quite a record of playing impressive music. He first emerged as relevant playing classical guitar and electric, with which he is well known in some circles as a jazz fusion virtuoso. Check out the Bireli Lagrene Wikipedia page to see the long list of recordings in his discography, and you’ll realize that this dude has a wealth of a track record – 35 discs, to be exact!!!

One thing is for sure, it’s a darn good thing he decided to take up the fretless bass guitar as well. Give this video a watch and listen, and let me know in the comments what you think about the playing. Trust me, if you liked Jaco, you’ll be able to find something interesting to enjoy in this track. Particularly the sweet bass solo he jumps into in the latter half of the clip.

For some reason, YouTube has the video locked for embedding into external sites, so you will need to click through to the following location on YouTube to watch the footage. I’m currently looking for another version of it that can be embedded and will add it to this post if/when I find it. Thanks in advance for understanding.

Bireli Lagrene fretless bass, Jaco would be proud

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This week's commentary...

A Note on Authenticity and Social Media | Return On Now

Last week at the #BASHH (Big Ass Social Happy Hour) event that helped kick off South By Southwest Interactive 2011, I had an interesting conversation with Wesley Faulkner about authenticity.

I’ve read Wesley’s blog for a while now, and he covers some rather interesting topics on there. He has done everything from commenting on new mobile technologies, to interviewing the leadership at Klout, to commenting on his personal interactions with folks he meets online.

One refreshing thing about Wesley is that he aspires to be authentic at all times, through all mediums including in-person. We chatted briefly about this very topic, and both agreed that authenticity is the most important thing you can do to establish and sustain trust online. You have to be yourself at all costs.

Unfortunately, not everyone you encounter online is truly who you would expect once you meet them IRL.

Zappos – Authentic or Not?

Give a read to his blog post that documents his experience at a Zappos event in October. Zappos CEO Tony Hseih himself was presenting, so Wesley was excited to get a chance to hear him first hand. What followed was disappointment.

Most apparently, Mr. Hseih was nowhere near the energetic enthusiast he appeared to be online. Of course, a book tour can take a lot out of you. So Wesley introduced himself and commented about a Twitter conversation he had had recently with Tony. He then met Tony’s “stand-in”, Mimi, and began to question the authenticity of the whole operation.

Tony Hseih of Zappo's

Why Authenticity Is So Critical

Wesley’s blog post is important, but not because it calls out Zappos or Tony Hseih.

This is important because it turns the equation around completely. It gives us the view from the other side – showing how it feels to meet someone who is nowhere near what you expect of them after seeing them online.

For a thought leader whose message relies on the concepts of pursuing happiness and engaging with customers, it is crucial to “walk the walk”. Be who you say you are, right? But it gets worse…especially when you learn that they don’t even manage their own Twitter account.

A Lesson in Authenticity

The problem with all of this jockeying is that is compromises the most important variable in the whole equation – trust.
It’s not just about whether we like you; it’s about whether we can count on you to be the same person when we read your book, follow your tweets, hire you to do a keynote speech, and come up to you in public to shake your hand.

How disappointing would it be to learn that one of your all time favorite books by one of your all time favorite thought leaders was actually written by a college intern or a freelance graduate student? That’s what it is like when you hire a ghost tweeter to “be authentic” for you, so you can focus on more important things.

Be who you are. All the time. You can’t hide behind a keyboard for the rest of your life, so get over yourself and be real.

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Who else has run into this problem? Let’s make this a group post! Add your own horror stories to the comments below. Feel free to sanitize the names and faces if you prefer, but share away!