Being Different: Fresh Content Project

While social media isn't the end all to communication, it did open a conversation that marketers had forgotten. There is no singular path through the forest to success. More correctly, there is a forest to success but it is your willingness to cut a new path that will take you where you want to go.

All fresh posts, three of which are by one author, touch on this fact. Communication is situational in its crafting and delivery. It's never the answer most people want to hear, but it is, without question, one of the most important lessons to learn. Ask any successful marketer and they'll tell you. While some experience can help you plot the course, the course is always different.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of August 30

• Should You Be Pitching Me?.
"You give me way too much credit if you think your potential customers read my blog," begins a thoughtful post by Valeria Maltoni before going on to explain that new new media is not the same as traditional media. Many professionals have better luck doing something other than pitching something, she says. And she's right. The quantity of the pitch in social media is less than the quality of the pitch to a single blogger. Think about it. Who knows? Maybe you'd be better off talking to customers direct...

• Five Steps to Better Communication With Customers.
Anna Barcelos shares her wisdom with five tips that might help your organization communicate with customers. I'll share a few here. The first, she suggests, is finding out exactly what is going on within your organization. It might be of interest to someone (but perhaps not who you think). Another is to visualize them as real people. And finally, realize that there are no cookie cutter solutions in modern marketing. All of it requires that you test, measure, and adjust on an ongoing basis.

• Four Challenges Facing Location-Based Services.
Almost everyone knows that the next step in communication is mobile, especially with continued advancements to location-based services. However, that doesn't mean that the transition is guaranteed. In this post, Mike Schaffer shares what he believes are the greatest challenges facing location-based services: fear, technology, urban-centric, and badge exhaustion. All of them are valid, with only technological penetration being the easiest to overcome.

• Set Your Own Rules.
When Valeria Maltoni writes a quick book review, she frequently lends as much to a conversation as she gets out of it. In this post, she runs down a list of 11 ways to be unremarkably average from The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau and applies it to her own life. At the same time, without asking her readers to do it, it's easy enough to infer that it might be a worthwhile experience. How about you? Are you stuck on rules that make you unremarkable?

• See How They Did It: 104 Social Media Case Studies
There really are more than 104 case studies in Valeria Maltoni's notes, but she only shared 12 within the body of a single post. Even better than the case studies, she provides a four-step structure not all that dissimilar to strategic communication case studies: situation or challenge, timeline or complication, solution, and results. Showing how these four fit within a strategic communication outline would take a little longer than a couple of sentences so I'll highlight the best point here. If you understand the true situation or the challenge, you'll be that much more likely to develop a strategic solution as opposed to a tactical one.

Managing People: Fresh Content Project

Most communicators (the better ones anyway) already know you cannot "control" information or people. The most you can hope for is developing a brand promise that can be met.

In other words, the best you can do is to manage your behavior and your communication (or your company's communication when you are charged with writing or speaking it). And by doing so — assuming you have the right passion, energy, realism, and enthusiasm — you might set an example for others to follow, colleagues or coworkers, or inspire consumers to give your company an opportunity to make them customers.

All five fresh picks tap into management in one form or another. And, all five provide a lesson that you can apply today, one that is vastly superior to always being worried about the other guy, whomever that might be.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of August 23

• Everyone Is Replaceable.
Andrew Weaver puts his spin on a classic executive reminder that "everyone is replaceable" but with a lesson that some might find surprising. While the old adage might be true, the reminder isn't for employees as much as managers. Given the weakened economy, Weaver alludes to the idea that some managers are taking the easiest possible management path ... fear. Unfortunately, fear has a habit of demoralizing employees even if their output increases over the short term.

• The Connection Between Branding and the Customer Experience.
Jay Ehret presents a simplified take on how branding works within the context of customer service. Specifically, he says that the brand promise plus the personality of the brand provides the expectation or framework for what people expect. The quickest way to kill a brand is to deviate from the framework. When that happens, it breaks trust. Incidentally, a new study conducted by the Relational Capital Group and a team of researchers at Princeton University proves exactly that.

• Staggering Discovery: Goal-Oriented Content Works.
Even before citing six points for goal-oriented content, Valeria Maltoni lays down an important piece of information. She says writing about a subject without passion will circumvent any goals you might have in mind. She's right and that's where her six points come into play. Not only do they serve as a model for what you are trying to do, but they also help some writers remember why they used to be passionate about the subject matter in the first place. By asking yourself the six questions she proposes, you might reignite some passion in your writing.

• When a Good Thing Comes Together: Helping Neighbors in the Gulf of Mexico.
There were several recaps to the Citizen Gulf event held last month and all of them were solid. However, Kami Watson Huyse's recap seemed to go even further in accounting many of the people involved. The best part of Citizen Gulf was that it took the social aspects of online communication and brought them to life in 20 cities across the United States. If you didn't happen to be in one of those cities, you could find enough online updates that you still fell connected.

• The Most Wasted Page On the Web
John Jantsch points out one Web page that seems to have no content management whatsoever — the thank you page. Most companies either waste the space outright or oversell, making customers regret the decision to give up their email address in the first place. In the post, Jantsch provides several ideas that many customers might respond to, including optional surveys, related context (related to why they subscribed), or an instructional page that might prove useful on their next visit.

Adding Common Sense: Fresh Content Project

For all the emerging expertise in social media and communication, there is an increasing shortage of one skill set. It's called common sense.

It must be in short supply, especially because many of my colleagues write about common sense all the time. And, no matter how much they write about common sense, people are still dazzled by it. Me too.

This week's fresh content picks all share some sound advice on the back of popular discussions, with their solutions all ringing true with common sense. Was Steven Slates really a working class hero? Do customers always use your company's name when they talk about you? Can monitoring really improve CRM? Can content farms replace journalists? Should we care about other people's petty judgements?

Hark! Common sense, I say. Here are some frightfully smart writers who offer periods to the end of everyone else's sentences.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of August 16

• Steven Slater Is No Working Class Hero.
In the wake of Steven Slater's sliding escape from JetBlue after losing his cool with one of the airline's passengers, Andrew Weaver puts the incident into perspective. While everyone becomes overwhelmed by the bad behavior of others, Slater went further by inconveniencing everyone with his alleged display of runaway egoism. He didn't hurt the passengers as much as his employer, innocent bystanders, and anyone else who happened to be at the airport. As one of my friends point outs, he captured the essence of how many Americans feel right now, angry at everybody.

• Why TweetDeck Isn’t A Discussion Monitoring Strategy.
Everybody talks about building brand evangelists in social media circles (heck, me too, at times) and Jeremy Meyers says that it is all fine and good. However, social media experts who attempt to control the language of their new found brand evangelists are a step too far. More importantly, Meyers smartly points out that social media experts who are searching for brand names are only hearing part of the story. Most of the time, people don't include the brand name in their discussions. Common sense for us, but not common sense for most people.

• Understanding And Implementing Social CRM
Jason Falls recaps the mash up of "social CRM" and why some of these automated programs are falling short. CRM, if you don't know, stands for customer relationship management. It doesn't stand for monitoring what customers do. It's about developing a meaningful relationship with customers. It's one of several functions that step well ahead of "monitoring" services and requires an investment by people, not programs, in nurturing that relationship. While the tools might help improve your proficiency, don't expect them to replace people.

• Content Farms And The Death of Remarkable Content
Basically, Lisa Barone cites the ill-conceived document that claims content farms are stealing journalists’ jobs and lowering content standards. There is some truth to that. Some folks have even been so bold as to offer our firm content for pennies on the dollar. The trade, of course, is content farm content might not be all it is cracked up to be. Repurposed prose doesn't consider the end user. It simply provides content that is then trumped up by fancy headlines and solid SEO backlinking. It's a game of bait and switch. Of course, content farm content is not sustainable.

• Everyone Will Judge You (But No One Cares)
A few weeks ago, someone wrote an article that called for the death of "cool," saying that "cool" was always about what people liked and trying to catch up. I had to correct them. "Cool" originated from keeping one's cool in the face of judgement, whether it was spoken or not. Ergo, Steve McQueen didn't care what people thought of him. It was also a nice warmup to Julien Smith's post, which highlights various traits among great people who typically ignore the judgements of the otherwise mundane. His advice: be who you want to be (unless you'r representing someone else) and let all those other folks think what they want. Amen.

Considering Customers: Fresh Content Project

When you really stop to think about it, most customer communication is remarkably backwards. Most of it seems to run contrary to face-to-face communication. Sure, when customers call or are standing at a counter, customer service agents tend to ask questions. Did you find everything okay? Can I help you? What else can I do to make your stay with us better?

Take these same organizations online and all the questions evaporate. Suddenly, every customer contact becomes: let me tell you more about me, my product, my organization, and how great we are. The same holds true when the media calls. Questions are quickly answered with statements: let me tell you more about us, our policies, and what it is we want you to know.

It's weird. And I'm not the only who thinks so. All five of these posts carry a warning against making the conversation about "you" when it really ought to be about "them." Imagine what might happen if more of this communication focused on serving customers instead of the organization.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of August 2

• Emotions, Trust, and Control at the Heart of the Customer Experience.
Valeria Maltoni shares some insights on how service organizations can make customer experiences more positive by considering how CRM can create a customer advantage. Among the points: professional appearance, clear communication, active involvement, likability, willingness to take the high road, and follow up can all contribute to better customer service. But most importantly, she also reiterates that setting customer expectation is invaluable. It sets a foundation for stated excellence.

• 5 Reasons Why No One Is Reading Your Email Newsletter.
Sean D'Souza pulls out all the stops in pinpointing why many e-newsletters aren't read. His list of reasons include that the information isn't helpful, the voice isn't compelling, they don't tell any stories, they don't have a specific frequency, and they contain half-hearted calls to action. All of his points are true, with several that overlap. For example, many of the e-newsletters I receive talk mostly about themselves without any attempt to sell anything. No surprise, agency newsletters are among the worst. Most recap how great they are, demonstrate how little they understand about the tips they share, and never provide anyone a compelling reason to call them. After three issues like that, we mark them spam but the agency won't even know it.

• Community Is About People And Interest, Not Technology And URLs.
Almost every ad agency, public relations firm, and social media consultant sells social on its ability to create a community. Then, they go out of their way to fill Web sites and social networks with people who never visit again. Why? They don't know anything about building an online community. Francois Gossieaux understands this fact well enough, reminding organizations that people are less interested in them than some common interest between them and the product or service. Exactly.

• JetBlue – Right Things, Wrong Ways.
So, some flight attendant has a meltdown, berates a passenger, steals some beer, and jumps down an inflatable slide to exit the plane. For most companies, this is a no-brainer crisis communication scenario. Unfortunately, JetBlue isn't most companies. Its track record for crisis communication sucks. This time around, it turns the flight attendant into a folk hero and ends up eating crow. Mike Schaffer picks up two of the most obvious mistakes — waiting the next day to suspend the attendant and commenting that they "weren't going to comment." Ho hum.

• Do Websites Still Matter?
Using an article by Pete Blackshaw, editor of Advertising Age Mobile, Shane Kinkennon addresses the growing trend that most organizations are using their Web sites as a home base and their outreach on rented space. Kinkennon reinforces the idea that the problem isn't the Web site as much as it is the communication most organizations put up on their Web sites. It's generally not engaging, participatory, or helpful beyond recapping product specs and providing contact information. It's a good point. Web sites will matter, assuming they do something other than talk exclusively about the organization.

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Decoding Data: Fresh Content Project

Something happened in between social media being considered a fad and full adoption. When companies asked people to prove social media worked, they obliged by providing any number of measures. It didn't matter what these measures were. Most of them include anything with numbers.

Never mind that numbers lie. It seemed to be what executives wanted to hear. All five of these fresh pick posts poke holes in most commonly accepted beliefs. If you think that the number of retweets conveys trust and/or transaction, that social media is different from strategic communication, that free platforms don't carry risk, that B2B and social media doesn't mix, or that Facebook is isolated from the Internet, then please read on.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of July 30

• New Experiments Question The Power of Social Proof On The Web.
While one of my passions has been to debunk "reach" on social networks, I'm not the only one conducting experiments. Dan Zarrella recently ran an experiment of sorts on Twitter. In one experiment, a post showing "0" tweets was clicked on more than one showing "776" tweets. In another, "15" tweets earned just as much traffic as "776" tweets. In yet another, he tested subscribers, discovering no significant difference between "0" and "62,172" subscribers. When you add it all up, the measures most marketers look at nowadays are extremely poor indicators of success.

• 7 Common Business Pitfalls that Impact Social Media Strategy.
Valeria Maltoni offers up seven excellent ideas to help keep social media programs on track. Rather than look at raw numbers, she suggests you consider everything much like you would any marketplace: changes in the competitive landscape, customer attrition rates, focus, vision, product problems, goal misalignments, and channel issues. The point, of course, is that any number of factors cold be outstripping your performance on a day-to-day basis. And often times, it might not even be what you think it might be.

• The Sharecroppers Are Revolting.
Becoming too reliant on one network or platform without a backup plan is always a bad idea. Ike Pigott, with his flair for analogy, sized the issue up as something akin to sharecropping. There are many different forms of sharecropping, ranging from people who build their social presence on networks to those who utilize platforms with extensions (Typepad, Wordpress, etc.). He's right and, personally, I wish he would have been right years ago. I've personally lost three content assets: one when a network closed; one when a network shredded data; and one where YouTube didn't realize a production company owned the rights to its own clips.

• The Case for Social Media in B2B.
Every time I read about B2B excuses for not engaging in social media, I always shake my head. First and foremost, I shake it because the people who tell me this read my blog (marketing/communication is B2B). But even more bothersome, I always envision some account executive telling a prospect in a restaurant that he can't talk business in a restaurant. In a much more eloquent fashion, Valeria Maltoni outlines her thoughts on B2B social media, after sharing projections that B2B online marketing spending could reach $54 million by 2014.

• 6 Facebook Search Engine & Data Visualization Tools.
After Lee Odden noted a significant increase in referring traffic from Facebook to Web pages over the past 6 months, he decided to pull together a list of six Facebook tools that could prove useful. All of them rely on Facebook search functions and range from fully functional to visually interesting without any other substance. One of the most interesting ones, in my opinion as well as Odden's opinion, is Touchgraph Facebook Browser. It reorganizes your friends and fans to display what might be mini niche networks on their own. It lined up mine perfectly. Check out the other ones too.

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Thinking First: Fresh Content Project

If someone asked me right now what is the most important skill set a marketer or public relations professional needs to learn today, it would have nothing and everything to do with the Internet. It's called critical thinking.

Critical thinking is the foundation upon which all of their other decisions will be made. And, more importantly, it will help them realize that everything they thought to be true or learned from a teacher (or speaker) is almost always wrong for the needs and situations they will face once they work in the field.

After all, if circumstances didn't continually bend the rules that came before, we'd still be running vintage duotone ads to peddle other people's junk. Well, all right, maybe that's a bad example. Or maybe not. The campaign I'm linking to might work for Skype, but not for AT&T. And that's the point of several fresh content picks listed below. Think before you believe tip links.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of July 26

• Sentiment Analysis And The Problem With Computational Analysis.
When Jed Hallam opened a much needed discussion on sentiment analysis, people took notice. And while most of them noticed his follow-up post more, the initial post has much more meat. The slickness of computational analysis — spitting out that a brand has a positive sentiment — based on supposed online mentions, has little to be desired. Without vetting the analysis, you really don't know what is going on with a brand, especially if it happens to be those stacked up with a common name. Think before you report.

• 10 Ways Geolocation Is Changing The World.
Guest posting and cross content posts certainly have advantages. I may have never seen Rob Reed's post on geolocation marketing had it not also appeared on Collective Thoughts. I'm glad it did. Reed, who is also the founder of Max Gladwell, provides ample examples and ideas around mobile or proximity marketing. We've often said that mobile is the future of the Web, but when you look at Reed's post, you realize that geolocation is also what will usher in most brick and mortar to the Internet in any number of creative ways.

• Digital case studies: Punch Pizza.
One example you won't find on Reed's list was recently featured by Arik Hanson. Punch Pizza doesn't waste time playing by social media and social network rules. Instead, it looks at the platform and wonders how those various networks might help introduce its pies. Flickr became its coupon corner. It gave away pizzas for football fans when their teams lost. They've also capitalized on current events and hosted several creative contests. What makes this case study great isn't the numbers as much as the thought behind the campaigns. Punch Pizza asks "why not?" instead of "why?"

• Brand Crisis Revisited: The Silence Of The Crisis Police.
One of the reasons Bob Conrad resonates is because he doesn't bend to convention, especially when it comes to how to handle a crisis. In this post, he tackles the apology, empathy, and getting ahead of the problem, all three of which have become the pat answers for almost everything in the crisis communication arsenal. When some people critique a crisis going afoul, these are the most mind-numbing of the bunch. It's not that they are wrong, but they deny any semblance of situation analysis. Sometimes the laundry list that is taught is not the right laundry list to employ because the shirts aren't really dirty.

• Social Media Spending To Double This Year.
If there is any doubt whether social media is already mainstream for modern marketing, take a look at the report racap from Brian Solis. Almost 20 percent of most marketing budgets are now dedicated to social media. In fact, Internet marketing has taken over the top skill sets that employers are looking for from marketers. They simply cannot exist without some semblance of social media knowledge. It doesn't even matter if you are talking about B2B or B2C businesses. Most companies have finally figured out that they must market where the people are and the people are online.

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Speaking Simply: Fresh Content Project

I read a quote this weekend that stuck with me. I believe in the concept anyway, but quotes are always fun to find in order to share what you think with someone else's articulation of it. Here's the quote...

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.” — Charles Mingus

The next five fresh picks are much like that. They provide smart and simple solutions, like why the Old Spice guy might have really worked or why thinking of your blog as a loss leader is a bad idea. They show you why the media isn't trusted all the time, why chasing comments is silly, and why algorithms that include the "number of followers" don't tell the whole story.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of July 19

• How to Reproduce the Old Spice Video Phenomena.
I'm not a fan of the Old Spice euphoria nor the Old Spice cynicism, but John Bell did one of the best jobs asking the right questions. Was it successful? What about it made it so? And did it drive sales? But more than that, he warns people away from trying to duplicate the tactics. (Elf Yourself is no fun for hotdog buns beyond a chuckle.) Like most great advertising, it was breaking the mold that captured our attention (even if some ideas were in play before). With exception to not noting that the social media element was part of a larger campaign, including a huge coupon drop, we need more thinking like this.

• Blogs As Loss Leaders.
Chris Brogan debunks some of the myth behind considering a blog your or your company's loss leader. He suggests looking at it differently, as part of the entire value chain. While the value chain may have different parts that cary more financial weight than other parts, they are just as important. If you want an analogy to help this sink in, think of your car having a value chain. The seat might not have anything to do with getting you where you need to go, but leather sure feels better while you're getting there.

• Social Media is the Servant of Strategy, Not the Master.
Adam Singer considers the problem with comment counting, which was all the rage in determining (gasp) influence a few years ago. (If you had more comments to count, you counted more. Whatever.) Singer then goes on to point out something we can never hear enough of — drive outcomes instead. As he mentions, comments don't do much for businesses. And not all comments happen on blogs anymore, anyway. That doesn't mean to discount them. Just keep them in perspective.

• The I-Dumbing of Journalism.
Ike Pigott shares one of the most blatant and silly stories sensationalized by a media outlet. The reason is clear enough. It was a ratings period and the Oklahoma City television station knows that fear for family drives eyeballs. So it spiked up a story on audio files that kids download to make them high and how these sounds are, basically, the new gateway drug. Pigott debunks a small part of the story simply by noting that binaural or "two-tone" sounds are easy enough to come by. Telephone tones, among them.

• My Followers Are Bigger Than Yours: On Twitter, Quality Beats Quantity.
Ian Lurie has been doing an unscientific study by tracking what happens after someone retweets his posts. He noticed that people with a moderate following actually generate more responses from their RTs than people with larger followings. No surprise, he also found spammy people do not generate as much interaction, engagement or link clicks because they have already established a reputation for sharing junk. Ergo, the only place spammy guy has reach or influence is on algorithms.

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Flipping Social: Fresh Content Project

When you talk about communication in a social media space, the conversations tend to shift toward social media. Even when they do, I always try to remind fellow professionals, friends, and students that social media topics often have lessons that transcend online communication. Replace the nouns and most posts are about communication.

That's what you'll find in this week's lineup of Fresh Content picks. The context might be mostly social media, but the lessons are embedded in communication. Take Jason Falls's post as a prime example. Before social media bubbles, there were people who would invest half of their day in professional organizations and feel pretty good about their illusionary places of power as industry leaders. There is nothing wrong with that, unless you want clients too.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of July 12

• Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone, Or Else.
Jason Falls offers up a hard reminder why working too much or too long inside the social media bubble can dampen potential. With social media experts constantly talking to themselves and praising each other's ideas, there's still the rest of the world that doesn't know much about social media or communication. He then shares two encounters to illustrate his point. The greater majority don't follow the rules that communicators have erected and some never will.

• A Cupful of Wisdom.
Finding an analogy between social media and the World Cup, Ike Pigott points out the obvious. There is a tendency for social media pros to game their stats but never score a goal. Sure, all those blind follows look good on spreadsheets much like being the shots-on-goal leader. But unless there is a conversation that leads to something tangible, your communication metrics aren't much more than the sound and fury, signifying nothing.

• Social Media is the Servant of Strategy, Not the Master.
Writing a guest post for Jay Baer, Mike Cassidy shares his insights into why he sometimes feels that social media pros place too much emphasis on allowing the cart to drive the horse. He has a point. Embracing social media doesn't have to mean organizational change as much as it changes the organization. The difference might be subtle, but it's an important one. Social media can do an organization good, but not at the expense of a vibrant internal community.

• The Internet Is A Kennel.
Ike Pigott explores minion behavior that sometimes occurs within the organizational structures that develop within social media. The minion's reward for following a chosen one is quite clear. In exchange for social servitude, minions receive attention, transference, respect, and a sense of belonging. And when the chosen one is attacked, the minions band together to assault the so-called attacker, even if there wasn't much of an attack to speak of.

• The Million Dollar Pickle.
Communicators tend to be great storytellers, but that doesn't mean all stories are successful. Sometimes the stories we tell are memorable, but no one remembers the teller. It happens all the time in advertising, with one of my favorite examples being the company that ran a dazzling spot on cat herding. One week later, everyone remembered the commercial. No one remembered the company. Roger Dooley's pickle story is just as powerful.

Ranking Content Providers: Fresh Content Project, Second Quarter

For those who don't know (or maybe forgot), Copywrite, Ink. is running a year-long experiment called the Fresh Content Project, which puts popularity to the test. By eliminating the popularity equation from about 250 blogs, we pick a single standout post per day (with weekend posts spilling into Monday). There is no algorithm.

In fact, we don't even tally daily picks until the end of each quarter. And, after kicking it around the office, we decided not to keep year-to-date tallies either. Each quarter can stand on its own. We'll recount it all, every post, at the end of this year.

Last quarter, we published 36 Fresh Content Communicators. This quarter, April 1 to June 30, we found 38. Some names are new. Some of last quarter's names didn't make the cut.

What does that mean? It could mean anything. It might mean their best posts landed on a day when someone wrote something better. It might mean they're on vacation or haven't written in some time. Some have already been fresh picks in the third quarter. So suffice to say, this experiment isn't about winning and losing and there is no possible way to game it.

The way we see it, anyone included last quarter or this quarter has provided some invaluable content. And in our book that makes anyone who reads their blogs the real winners. Also, in terms of ranking, there is no correlation between the first quarter and second quarter. Nobody really rose and nobody really fell. If you think otherwise, wait until the end of the year.

So, below are 38 communication-related professionals who provided Fresh Content picks in the second quarter of 2010. While some are suited for specific tastes, the top of this list (with more than one pick) ought to be in your reader.

The folks below represent some of the freshest, most original content related to communication today. And, we look forward to reading more of their fresh content in the third quarter along with even more new and fresh faces. The comments are yours.

38 Fresh Content Communicators By Quality Of Content

1. Valeria Maltoni continues to blend communication strategy into everything she does at the Conversation Agent. Some regular readers might have noticed Maltoni is favoring tighter posts lately. In this case, tighter might not be better but it doesn't hurt either. Maltoni belongs on your daily read list. Her posts consistently land on the top of the pile.

2. Last time around, we called Ike Pigott an undervalued smart guy who pens Occam's RazR. In the last three months, he has only gotten better, with one of his posts still considered the best we read all year. His ability to simplify subjects by employing analogy and storytelling is a rare treat to read. Even when there isn't room to be the top pick of the day, Pigott always provides something within the top three.

3. We made Adam Singer smile over the idea that The Future Buzz might have been overly bullet heavy last quarter. You won't find it that way anymore, and it makes for memorable reading. Singer is easily someone to put on your watch list, especially if you like your communication conversations sprinkled with business. Memorable.

4. Geoff Livingston doesn't write as much about communication like he once did. However, anyone reading his work at Geoff Livingston will find it still rings loudly in whatever theme he covers. Even when you don't agree with him, his knack for nailing the truth on a great many subjects will dazzle you — especially when they go against the grain. More than that, he has a big heart and his recent efforts to help people in the Gulf are admirable.

5. If you have ever had the pleasure to meet Jason Falls, you already know he can best be described as infectious. And lately, Social Media Explorer has been digging ever deeper into the fine line between perception and reality. His conclusion: Get out of your comfort zone because sometimes the people who aren't talking hold more insights than the people who are. So that's why we read Jason Falls.

6. Louis Gray, author of LouisGray.com has penned his fair share of surprising insights in the last quarter, including his comprehensive list of 50 top startups. So if you want to keep up with the tech business side of social media, he has to be included on your read list.

7. As the dominating voice on TopRank, it's probably no surprise to see Lee Odden on this list. Lately, what we've loved best about Odden's work is his quest to keep pace with the changes occurring within SEO and social media. For the last few months, Odden has also led the charge on putting a more human face on SEO, which is a direction that will only make the industry stronger.

8. Roger Dooley doesn't only care about what people think. He cares about how they think too. Several times a week, he'll show some studies and observations about how they do on Neuromarketing. If you're in communication today, you ought to be interested. Nothing will help you think more strategically than skipping tactical tips and thinking about how people think.

9. You know Ian Lurie must write some good posts on Conversational Marketing. Why? If they weren't good, I'd never pick them just because it's such a hassle to find his Twitter account. That little rant aside, Lurie has a nice blend of SEO, social media, and marketing that become addictive over time. He's especially good when he's grounded. Watch for those moments.

10. Arik Hanson and his Communications Conservations is another under-read communication blog, with an emphasis on social media. Many of his tips are task-oriented, but every now and then Hanson tackles the reality of a deeper issue — like the myth of a viral video. In addition to his blog, make sure you follow him on Twitter.

11. There doesn't seem to be any doubt that Dave Fleet is at his best when he outlays what he thinks in the frankest way possible. The DaveFleet.com blog is a mix of lists with the occasional burst of well-thought-out insights. It's a good mix of anything goes and everything Fleet finds relevant. One of our favorites this quarter was Fleet telling people why their social media campaigns probably suck.

12. It seemed to take some time before the Web Strategy blog by Jeremiah Owyang had as much as passion as it did when we first started reading it. But this time around, Owyang's less frequent posts seem back on track in between the news bites. His tried and true signature matrix maps always bring something new to communication strategy. Watch for those.

13. Mitch Joel isn't going to go anywhere soon. Six Pixels Of Separation always provides a deep look at whatever content Joel happens to be presenting. Some people say that makes his blog too heady to be popular. But on the contrary, that is precisely what makes his blog worth reading daily. You'll find a sort of zen there that other thinkers just don't seem to have.

14. If you are looking for someone to make you smile while you learn some lesson in communication, try This One Time At Brandcamp, penned by Tom Fishburne. Every week or so, Fishburne offers up a lesson or two tucked under an illustration that could stand on its own. You might not always be sure which came first, the cartoon or the post, but they always match just the same.

15. Reading The Brand Builder by Olivier Blanchard won't be everyone's bag. We say that only because his most memorable posts attempt to teach us two things at once. It makes the post much longer, and we think more memorable too (which is our bag). We especially like his lesson wrapped up in history. He's sharp on ROI too, you know, for good measure.

16. Perhaps it's because he hails from South Africa, but Patrick Collings sees things differently at the Brand Architect. What's somewhat refreshing here is that he doesn't always have a need to repurpose other people's ideas. He just shares them straight and allows you to draw your own conclusions. It also makes his thoughts on branding more powerful when he does take the time to share his ideas on how things could be done.

17. Peter Winick is a new face to Fresh Content, but Thought Leadership Leverage has been in our personal reader much longer. What we like best about Winick is his regular procession of asking the right questions at the right time. A few days ago, I mentioned that asking questions is one of the three cornerstones of creativity. Winick gets it.

18. Peter Himler offers up plenty about public relations on The Flack with an emphasis on using YouTube as a conversation starter. Sometimes there are great social media crossover topics too, including his analysis on what BP could have done better in reaching people online. It was smart, bookended by many other smart ideas.

19. Dean Rieck isn't as well known among the social media crowd, but he has made a name for himself in copywriting circles. We met online several months ago, and I've been reading ProCopyTips ever since. If you want to start looking outside your bubble, make sure you add him to your list. I'm not just saying that because of my background as a copywriter. Heck, Rieck didn't even call while he was in Vegas.

20. Maria Reyes McDavis aka WebSuccessDiva is our favorite colossal digital geek brainiac at Digital Peas & Carrots. She's always helpful outlining various SEO tactics for copy and content writers as opposed to the IT teams. And she always tempers her SEO advice with a warning. Being found is great, but you still need great content to keep people around.

21. Anytime you need someone to liven up a party, don't look any further than Bill Sledzik. Before heading out for the summer, he sparked more than his share of conversations at ToughSledding before moving it to a new address. No worries. ToughSledding, when Sledzik has time, is as tough as ever.

22. Jay Ehret aka The Marketing Guy knows a thing or two about branding. The Marketing Spot has been a long-time favorite around here for that exact reason. Any time Ehret tackles a branding issue, it's likely to help you clarify your thoughts on the subject and lead to new insights on old ideas that feel worn.

23. Last quarter, we noted how Jenn Riggle was providing valuable insight into social media with a medical twist, but her content is becoming more expansive on The Buzz Bin. Much like I once said of the person who founded The Buzz Bin, she's somebody to watch. So are some of the other voices over there.

24. Jeff Bullas seems to be on a roll lately, with some well-considered tips on Internet marketing, buried under his always sensationalized headline. Skip the headlines and get into the meat of the content and you might be surprised to find some compelling data and research on trending. Bullus needs more readers. It's that simple.

25. Chris Brogan always has a lot of irons in the fire. He has one of those blogs you almost have to read even if, over time, you come to realize the reading isn't all that deep at Chris Brogan. Don't misunderstand me. There is obviously some solid content there or he wouldn't be here (there is someone as equally popular who isn't here, I might add). Still, I'm only mentioning it now because sooner of later someone might appreciate that deep and read don't always go together. Brogan is read.

26. Kyle Flaherty tends to look upon social media with a skeptical eye. Anytime someone does that, they are likely to see some social media enthusiasts turn off. Maybe that's why we liked a post or two from Dances With Strangers. In fact, we like Flaherty, even if he is wrong about all ROI being mostly about sales. It ain't all direct response. Ha.

27. Ari Herzog, writing AriWriter, frequently finds himself on the lower end of the AdAge Power 150. (No worries. We don't even play.) And yet, his blog — between shorter personal interest posts — frequently brings a perspective to social media that can't be ignored. What you might like best about this blog is his willingness to take a hard look at the finest of details. What do we like? Its crispness.

28. When it comes to visual communication, few people do it better than David Armano. Logic + Emotion has been around for some time. Recent social media rant aside, anytime Armano has time to illustrate his thinking is something not to miss. Sometimes in a single image, you immediately see what he means. Sure, he has a little less time since he joined Edleman, but it's still a treat when he has the time.

29. Sean Williams is one of the nicest guys around online (and one of several that I'd most like to meet). Communication Ammo is also climbing up as one of our favorite reads because it often covers topics that we just don't find anywhere else. It's less popular but more relevant than many other reads out there.

30. When Jed Hallam mapped out an online network theory at Rock Star PR, we immediately knew why we decided to add him to the list. Even if the devil is sometimes in the details, Hallam is on the right track in mapping the connections people make online. Social connections can tell you a lot. Hallam had several second pick posts this quarter too.

31. Anytime someone says online and B2B in the same breath, it's hard not to immediately think of Christina Kerley. The Ck's(B2B)Blog is a longstanding veteran on the topic. And, like many other bloggers, picking this niche was a decision she made to stick close to her core as opposed to making a break for popularity. True, CK doesn't post as often as she used to, but you'll always find passion when she does.

32. Kristen Hines was one of the newer fresh content finds this quarter. She writes the very robust blog at Kikolani.com. We absolutely love her blog, but the drop down banner makes her a better read in the Google feeds. What also makes her stand out is she generously shares what she does and how she does it, ranging from why you need an e-newsletter to the experiment that proves popularity and page rank don't mix.

33. Since Chris Koch approaches marketing from the B2B perspective on Chris Koch's B2B Marketing Blog, he tends to be a little more targeted. To be more targeted, he suggests that copywriters and marketers learn something about the stories that journalists tell. We've grown fond of him because he see marketing as leading in social media, but adds that marketing has to change in order to do it.

34. MarketingProfs, headed by Ann Handley, still cuts through the clutter with the occasional study. This time around, MarketingProfs shared findings from Vision Critical to show how social networks can be influential, but not always trusted. It mirrors our findings that influence is often a collective action attached to an idea and not an individual.

35. Jay Baer likes to bill himself as hype-free social media, but we know better. His posts speak volumes about his enthusiasm for everything social and we wouldn't have it any other way. He sees social media as the final frontier and often uncovers evidence that will have you believe it must be so on Convince&Convert, where you'll find other fine voices too.

36. When Brian Solis isn't writing about his book, he recaps studies and adds insight better than most. It makes us wonder if maybe that's it: We read Brian Solis because he has a nose for news as it relates to social media. And even when we don't agree with his assessment of what that news might mean, we still give him credit for setting the right agenda.

37. Ben Decker is another new addition to the list, writing for the Blog Decker. He tends to contribute less than the co-authors, but he always makes it personal when he does. I like his prose better than his videos because video seems too linear. However, I know plenty of people who will disagree with me. He's very personable, on camera or off.

38. Michelle Bowles hasn't been active on TopRank Online Marketing Blog since April (she left in May), but her contributions are considerable. Her forte tended to be developing clear and concise tip sheets, usually with three to five tips at a time. We'll keep an eye out to see where she lands next.

Serving Oddballs: Fresh Content Project

Every now again, the only way to describe an entire week of fresh picks is to admit they're all off kilter. The first full week in July was much like that, with five posts that make us blink at the less celebrated outcomes of social media.

Right. Sometimes social media does the unexpected. Numbers get twisted for effect and then still land on the front page of mainstream media. Media outlets create contests to make fun of online participants, only to erode the credibility of the jokesters. And then, someone with a lighter and brighter touch does something similar with a startlingly positive outcome.

When these are the headlines, is it any wonder some companies are asking their CIOs to protect employees (for their own good, they think)? But perhaps that's the lesson. When social media is taken too seriously, it makes the sharpest people look silly.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of July 5

• EWG Hits Home Run (Again): This Time, Sunscreen Is Unsafe.
Ever wonder how much you can believe on the Web? Bob Conrad does, especially when it comes from Environmental Working Group (EWG). EWG sometimes releases "studies" that capture everyone's interest, landing it on the front page of the press. The downside, of course, is that the details don't always hold up. In its latest attempt at garnering attention, EWG declares sunscreen is worse than ultraviolet rays.

• How Fast Company Confused Ego With Influence.
Influence is all the rage as a conversation starter, but Amber Nusland was one of the first to flush out one of several problems with Fast Company's approach to measurement. Sadly, even though most people have passed on the game or got out while the getting was good, some folks are still fighting for first place in a url pimping contest. There is no question about it. We pity the person who, er, wins. Indeed, it was sad to see someone I once respected beg for votes.

• Everyone is Wrong About Influence.
In a follow-up to the Fast Company debacle, Valeria Maltoni pinpoints that movements tend to influence people more than the people themselves. Even more interesting, the better direction for Fast Company was somehow outstripped by the link bait party antics of the Influence Project. Much like reputation, influence is a by-product not the "salesman" but in tune with what is being sold. Put up a link toward great content and people might click on it. Pimp meaninglessness and soon the so-called influence slowly fades away.

• What Type of Earthquake Tweeter are You?.
Everybody needs some comic relief now and again, and Rachel Kay provided some with a psychology twist. She shared eleven different responses to earthquake news that has become all too familiar on Twitter and Facebook. What makes this post so brilliant is that Kay doesn't tell her story from inside a fishbowl. Instead, she puts the whole world inside one. One wonders how the fish felt gazing up at their reflections or if they even know. Better yet, after a great chuckle, some people might quickly scroll back to see where they might have fit.

• CIOs Are Sticking Their Heads In The Sand By Blocking Social Media.
As impossible as it seems, some companies are still trying to find ways to block social networks or attempt to regulate their workers from writing on each other's walls for work purposes. Jenn Riggle captures what some CIOs have either been asked to do or perhaps made up as some sort of solution to pull out of their hats. There seems to be a much easier solution than read- only access. Social media might be treated much like the two martini lunch was in the 1970s. Landing the client was cool. Coming back drunk, not so much.

Keeping It Real: Fresh Content Project

The buzz phrase most commonly associated with keeping it real online is to "not drink the Kool-Aid." In fact, it's used and misused so often that some people aren't always sure what it means. (Sometimes the people who are advising you not to drink the Kool-Aid serve up the same.)

The five posts below are nowhere near Kool-Aid. While the topics are broad, ranging from a simple Blogger update to how fishermen are being impacted in the Gulf, they still share a common connection. Sometimes it is not enough to listen to what people have to say about social media, you might have to take a look for yourself. After all, this is a space where yesterday's intelligence is tomorrow's ignorance. Keep it real.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of June 28

• Matrix: Brand Monitoring, Social Analytics, Social Insights.
Since social media is a noisy place and brand monitoring isn't sufficient (it tends to make a brand reactive as opposed to active), Jeremiah Owyang suggests that many brand monitoring companies risk becoming little more than trilobites. He rightly says that the evolution of monitoring will be to help companies derive intelligence from excessive data. That makes sense. Given that the best run companies don't give customers what they want as much as what those customers never even knew to ask for, tapping into the mindset of consumers or customers will take a bit more than simply hearing what they have to say.

• The Plight of the Louisiana Fishing Family.
Geoff Livingston brings the plight of Louisiana fishermen to life. These brave souls have been rebuilding since Katrina, many of them had finally found their footing. That is, they had, until the BP oil spill. Many of the fishing families think about how they are going to get through the crisis day to day, with most of them volunteering or accepting modest pay just to keep the oil off the shores and hope for the best next year. But next year is a frightfully long time away and at least one organization estimates that more than 47,500 fishing homes may eventually require food assistance into next year.

• Three Essential Small Business Search Marketing Trends
What are they? First, integrating online and offline marketing. Second, tapping mobile and local searches. And third, social media advertising. Those are some heavy hitting tips from Lee Odden that don't resemble many of the social media plans that have ben implemented today. On the contrary, the entire space is moving toward integration. If this is the first you heard of these ideas, you might as well mark today on your calendar. This is when many social media-only companies could start to slide.

• Are You Gambling With Your Freelance Future?
Dean Rieck went to Las Vegas and came back with some nifty tips that any freelance writer could benefit from: play your best game, know the rules, hedge your bets, play to win, and stick with it. After all, unlike the odds on the casino floor, your chances to win have much more to do with persistence than any other measure (assuming you have talent). It's good advice, and not all that different than some I shared earlier this week. You can be as creative as you want, but run your freelancing business like a business. If you do, one day it will be a business and you can pack the freelance moniker away.

• Blogger Rolls Out Real-Time Stats For All Users.
Anybody following the Fresh Content Project might find this post almost feels out of place. It's a simple update from Louis Gray that shares real time stats from Blogger, which tends to be the most beat-up platform of the bunch when anybody talks about blogging. In reality, real-time stats is just the beginning of what has been happening at Blogger. There are much more intuitive design features that give your blog a custom look (without a template), an increasing number of useful tools, and share buttons embedded into the posts (although I haven't added them here).

Considering Density: Fresh Content Project

When you look up at the night sky hundreds of miles away from ambient city lights, you might be amazed to find that not all look the same. Some are large with welcoming red hues and others would be much smaller, burning with bright whites and blues. But much like most of the universe, looks can be misleading.

Gravity is dictated by density more than mass. Or, simply put, all those red giants that command our attention at a glance tend to have much less power than their hotly burning counterparts. Marketing and communication blogs operate much like that. Content density cannot be measured in popularity or reach. Smaller stars tend to have the more powerful posts. Here are five...

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of June 21

• Four Common Blogger Outreach Mistakes.
Arik Hanson touches on several myths associated with blogger outreach. While one of them holds true for journalists too (make it relevant), the other three tips remind public relations professionals that bloggers are not journalists and many have no desire to be journalists. They approach their content like people as opposed to professionals. And like people, they appreciate a personal connection. To expand the idea further: if you consider yourself a public relations professional and bloggers as an opportunity, your outreach is already headed in the wrong direction.

• Social Content.
After setting up an analogy using the World Cup, Valeria Maltoni shares a content grid that underscores how content format tends to interact on the Internet. She sums that you can catalog content by degrees of social, type of opportunity for the business, and depth of data you get back. The same can be said for content itself. Not many people want to read about a company ad nauseum (centralized), but they may be interested in the greater context of an industry or environment.

• Ignore The Influencers: The Dangers Of A Social Media World
Ian Lurie tackles one of our favorite subjects: warning people away from hanging on every word spread by "influencers." He's right. Social networks, for all their merits in expanding reach, have dramatically changed the Web in ways we would have never imagined five years ago. When such networks were limited, we tended to consider every point in a post before sharing it in a post of our own. Today, some "influencers" have grown omnipresent in networks, with their work being shared by dozens of people who never read the post or, even if they did, assumed it was accurate because of who wrote it without any other consideration. Spooky, but true.

• How Hospitals Can Battle Comment Trolls — And Win
Writing within the medical communication niche has become a speciality for Jenn Riggle, but much of what she writes about can be applied anywhere. In fact, one of the solutions being imposed by some publications is to disallow anonymous comments, given how often they spiral out of control, with one person leaving as many as 20 comments under 20 different names. I have mixed feelings over the loss of anonymous comments, believing journalists could have curbed them by engaging their comment sections. And, in fact, Riggle outlines five steps that can turn a "troll" into a win for the organization.

• Five iPad Trends To Watch.
Jeff Bullas sees the future much like we do. It's increasingly mobile and the iPad, despite some strong naysayers on the front end, has already reshaped what it used to be. The iPad, which combines laptop-like functions and mobile app addictions to the early e-readers, has already caused a drop in netbook sales, caught on as a gaming device, and allowed for some robust app creations that magazine publishers love because people are reading more than a single post on this new platform. The numbers alone suggest the truth. The iPad and future tablet competitors are something to track.

Asking Questions: Fresh Content Project

It's no surprise to me that the best solutions often come from the people who ask the right questions, whether or not they are prepared to answer them. This week's fresh picks in review ask some killer questions, and some of them provide answers.

Even if your content can be translated, will your audience understand you? Can you really manage communication or are you better off managing the information (assuming you're not going to lie about it)? Does dissent strengthen understanding of a topic or simply undermine relationships? Can someone really be expected to do it all in social media (unless all they do is social media)? And how has the Internet changed our profession for the better, especially among those who never really knew any other way?

All of them are amazing for consideration, some worth much more depth than I afford them here. See for yourself.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of June 14

• Lost In Translation.
Tom Fishburne shares his first hand account of feeling lost in translation. It's a marvelous story that serves up a healthy reminder that many terms do not translate, even those that are somehow exempt from being classified as jargon or industry speak. As one of his examples, Fishburne retells how disruptive innovation might mean something to you or me. But to the audience he was speaking to, he might as well have told them to kill their existing businesses. Yes, sometimes presenters are charged with covering introductions into subjects they never intended to cover.

• A Pool Approach to Coverage.
"Should we believe that BP's decision to limit media access or withhold vital information was made for fear of running afoul of those who govern the New York or London Stock Exchanges?" asked Peter Himler before providing five bullet points on how BP could have effectively used social media to manage the information related to the spill as opposed to attempting to manage the communication related to the spill. You can't get much clearer than his five ideas, all of which would prove better than what they are attempting to do.

• Social Media Examiner Defends Their Own Inaccurate Content.
Sometimes private discourse is only a foreshadow to public discourse. The most common kind occurs when one blogger might casually mention to another blogger that they disagree. But when they disagree in private, there are no benefactors. Adam Singer knows this, and benefits us all in recapping the discussion between himself and the folks at Social Media Examiner. Interestingly enough, I know something about the subject. Singer is right, based in part on the same confusion caused by this study.

• If Your Content Is Your Concerto ...
While it's always distracting to see images spill into the side bar, Peter Winick's visual misstep is par for the post. There are dozens of people who are proponents that social media is a one-man show, with the executive taking center stage and somehow managing the company. Not so fast. Maybe there is a balance to be struck because even great composers lead orchestras as opposed to playing every instrument. The solution is as simple as knowing what you are good at and sticking with it. Sure, the composer can dazzle everyone with the surprise solo set now and again, but daily it doesn't make sense.

• The Internet Wasn't Around Then.
Frequent fresh pick Valeria Maltoni shares some insights about how she experiments with her own blog, but places an emphasis on the people who read it. But where the fresh pick content really kicks in is in the contrast of how things once were and how they are today. Real time communication provides immediate feedback, for better or worse, from a much larger pool of professionals with practical skill sets. The benefits are only tempered at times when it becomes impossible to know everyone who is paying attention.

Branding Freshness: Fresh Content Project

Considering that a brand is one of the most powerful elements in any communication measurement equation, it's surprising how often professionals misunderstand them. People believe all sorts of nonsense about brands.

Some think a new name or mission statement might change them. Others have promoted the idea that brands are best left to the management of crowds. And yet others still think introspection can somehow trump the relationships they are built upon. Right. Most of what people think about brands is utter nonsense. The five fresh picks below all touch on elements of branding that are anything but nonsense.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of June 7

• What Does It Mean To Re-Brand?
Jay Ehret gives his readers the skinny on re-branding. It takes much more than a new identity, name, or facelift, he says. Brands are defined by actions. He's right. Brand relationships are created by the actions and interactions between products and companies, customers and the public. See for yourself with a side-by-side comparison of ideas.

• Are You Ready for the Opportunity Economy?
Jay Baer shares his insights on using social media, which can sometimes be summed up as a series of opportunities that begin online and end on a site or in the store. He suggests three of the most powerful connectors are geography, inquiry, and context. Targeting location, answering questions, and gaining exposure are all proven to open up opportunities online. The only cautionary element in the assessment is that Baer says you cannot plan for it. Of course you can, just not with scripts.

• Shifting Sands Are Shafting Brands.
Sometimes using popular online tools carries an element of risk. Ike Pigott reminds anyone online that the strength of an online presence that is reliant on a specific platform, network, or technology is always subject to change. And in some cases, there have been several that have changed, grown, become diminished, or disappeared outright. (Nobody's looking for an Utterz expert nowadays.) Pigott's solution is to ensure you own as much of your data as possible, never becoming overly reliant on someone else's sand.

• 50 Top Startups Worth Watching.
As evidence of Pigott's assessment, we really need to look no further than another post penned by Louis Gray. He lists 50 start- ups that have been making some progress for one reason or another online. One or two of them could become the next Twitter or Facebook, with a brand strong enough that every consultant and company will want to include a new link of their advertisements. Others rely on the current structures of different networks. And many probably won't last more than a year.

• Sharing Versus Self-Promotion: An Experiment.
Jason Falls created the first phase of an experiment of sorts, tracking whether people are more likely to read his posts or the posts he shared. Typical social media thinking suggests self-promoted posts might take a back seat to sharing content. The opposite holds true. While some people easily spotted that the Falls brand is often more powerful than those he might promote, the experiment still provides a glimpse into how many social media constructs just don't hold over time.

Making Business Choices: Fresh Content

While most fresh content picks listed today could fit under the banner of social media, they also provide a common sense approach to something beyond the online trappings of the Internet. They're all related to the choices companies make and how they impact customer relationships.

Do you want a quick transaction or lifelong customer? Is social media as simple as talking to people or does it only look easy? Are you willing to sacrifice short-term expectations in order to deliver long-term value? Did you ever consider too many eyeballs at the wrong time might hurt your company? Here are four posts with answers.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of May 31

• Build A Customer Community, Gain Loyalty.
Valeria Maltoni shares her insights on flipping the funnel and building a sense of customer community. Just a few points include: rewarding customers with exclusive benefits, providing access and knowledge before anyone else, supporting issues that will help them improve their business, opportunities to share and discuss ideas without you, multiple touch points beyond short-term transactions, etc.

• 7 Common Social Media Marketing Problems and Their Solutions.
Lee Odden not only nails seven social media problems, but also offers some solutions to help fix them. He's right. Many companies struggle with social media because they tend to "try" to follow in the footsteps of everyone else while missing the finer details that help make it work. He provides some worthwhile solutions, while sharing some additional sources to back up his solutions. Best of all, Odden frames up one very simple truth about social media. If it looks effortless, it's only because it isn't.

• Why I'm Writing This On An iPad.
Dave Fleet does something only a few bloggers do now and again. He wrote a post why he was wrong, and did it on the product he was wrong about. It seems certain the iPad lacks a few technologies at a glance. But when weighed against the strengths, some those deficiencies evaporate. However, that isn't why it ended up as a fresh pick. While not billed as such, this post is a great case study in the process of how skeptics become fans.

• Exposure and Visibility.
Do you think eyeballs are the end all answer to social media? Think again. Pitching to as many people as possible might help a company earn a small percentage of sales, but what is lost in the process isn't measurable. When ten thousand prospects push the button on a pitch only to find no real value exists, then you might have lost them forever. Valeria Maltoni helps put this thinking into perspective while inspiring a post we'll be working on this week.

Pretending At Freshness: Fresh Content Project

In the film industry, most producers know that you can have a good script and still produce a bad movie. However, if you have a bad script, you can't hope to produce a good movie. Communication works much the same way.

You cannot spin bad actions into positive perception. You can, however, change negative perception by communicating positive action. Even then, it's still hard work. In fact, it can be extremely hard to change public perception when the communication is grounded in truth and results are self-evident, never mind trying to paint a smiley face on sludge.

Ergo, you can adopt social media and still come up short when the focus is on creating the perception of a following (without actually having one). You can give customers every product choice under the sun and gain nothing more than overstocked inventory. You can attempt to spin away a crisis, but all it does is add more fuel to slipping public trust as the oil washes on up on southern beaches.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of May 24

• Social Media in Small Business is Anything But Small.
Brian Solis recaps the Small Business Success Index (SBSI) by the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business with Network Solutions. The study reveals that social media adoption by small business has doubled in the past year, with an emphasis on social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The primary reason is to identify and track new customers, but several small businesses are looking to do much more in terms of understanding customers and engaging them.

• Four Reasons Your Social Media Marketing Campaign Sucks.
While small business is adopting social media, it doesn't mean everybody is adopting it right. Dave Fleet pulls together four of the most common reasons social media doesn't always work for business. His list includes investing too little into the effort, scrapping programs too soon, misidentifying the environment as a paid medium, and treating it as a one-way communication tool. He's right. In an effort to establish a presence, businesses assume they can attract an audience too fast with very little effort.

• What Will Top Kill?
At the 36-day mark of the BP oil spill, Geoff Livingston provides a balanced accounting of BP communication efforts. He notes that while its communication improved, much of those improvements occurred too late in the crisis to be effective. The result has been a loss of public trust not only in BP but also the Obama administration, which allowed the company to control most of the communication. Eventually, the administration learned that while the public blames BP, they expected more than oversight from the administration.

• Cut Products, Boost Sales
As someone who writes with a focus on neuromarketing, Roger Dooley frequently hits upon little known facts within the communication and marketing field. While some people are content to attempt to cater to customers by giving them an infinite amount of choices, the science behind the marketing shows the opposite might be true. By reducing the number of selections, sales actually increase. However, Dooley also does a great job in balancing out the analysis. Some low volume products are supported by highly engaged and passionate consumers.

• BP: 2010’s Most Irresponsible Corporate Citizen
After BP claimed it acted responsibly in its attempts to correct the spill, Geoff Livingston analyzes whether or not it can own that statement. Of course it can't. In a virtual repeat of what Toyota did wrong earlier this year, BP was too slow to shore up its crisis communication but too fast in proclaiming a success to stop the problem. Livingston pinpoints seven examples of why the BP communication not only failed but also served to make the public even angrier.

Considering Content: Fresh Content Project

Over the last five years, dozens of bloggers have pinpointed four of the most critical elements — content, engagement, participation, community — for a "successful" and sustainable social media program. And yet, only a few of them understand that none of these elements exists in a bubble. They have to work together, plus one more.

Three out of five of these posts touch on what can easily be considered the fifth element, best defined as a mix of innovation and leadership. Listening to some social media experts, you might miss it as they tend to drone on about being submissive to consumers. These authors, on the other hand, get it right. At some point, you have to lead.

The other two posts are perfect examples, as they take the lead in dispelling two common social media myths: that extensions like blogspot, wordpress, and typepad are always bad and affiliate marketing does not always have to be considered evil. At the same time, you might also take away that content, engagement, participation, community, and leadership/innovation trump whether or not you have a blog extension or participate in an affiliate marketing program.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of May 17

• Don't Just Show Up (Participation), Step It Up (Innovation).
Christina Kerley calls it right when she writes that communicators ought not to be overly dazzled by the various platforms that serve up content on the Web. They are innovation, but the creation, content, and communities applied to the space can be equally innovative. Participation is always an excellent first step to understand an existing online community, but it requires more than participation from marketers to shine.

• Affiliate Marketing And Its Bad Reputation.
"Affiliate marketing had a bad reputation, the history of which seems to echo forward," writes Chris Brogan. "A lot of the blogging crowd, especially those with a PR background strongly dislike the use of affiliate marketing." The conversation stems in part from the age-old argument of just how much editorial needs to be separated from advertising, with Brogan falling on the pro-affiliate marketing side with proper disclosure. Public relations hates it sometimes because they like to get ink free.

• A First-Ever Look At The Top Blogger.com Wordpress.com & Typepad.com Blogs.
Jason Falls provides an in-depth review of various subdomains, blogs which have an extension attributed to the online software that powers them. (This blog did for years, until a few weeks ago). In reviewing the various top blogs that still retain their extensions, it seems extensions have little bearing on cumulative Postrank engagement scores as opposed to the size of the audiences that authors reach.

• 10 Ways To Be Referential.
Referential means containing a reference or pointing to and involving a referent. And Adam Singer provides 10 ways to become a referent, including being consistent within a topic field, taking a lead position in conversations, and sharing little known ideas or accepting an unpopular view. His tenth point is the best for bloggers: analyze and contextualize the information from your unique vantage point. The next fresh pick provides the example.

• 10 Things Julius Caesar Could Have Taught Us About Business, Marketing, Leadership.
By blending his own views and history with an emphasis on quotes and concepts from Julius Caesar, Olivier Blanchard delivers an entertaining and engaging piece of prose that still makes sense of the average business person or blogger today. The second point, that people want to be led and not controlled, is especially timely. There are plenty of people — business owners, executives, and even parents — who have a difficult time understanding the difference between the two. Blanchard and Caesar help put it into perspective.