I’ve long been a proponent of the idea that social media marketing, or trying to make sales through “the social media channel” is a beyond a waste of time… it is driving potential business away, never to return. And for everyone’s sanity, including my own, I still feel that way! This past weekend at BarCamp Memphis, I had the opportunity to have some extended discussions that included this very topic. One blog owner was very concerned about having any advertising on their site saying they had made a huge investment gaining the trust of their readership and didn’t want to risk that by selling ads. At the same time, there has to be a viable revenue model or many sites, including some pretty popular ones, will not be able to continue. Well, maybe there is a way…

While reading my way through the feed reader today, I came across a post at Rod Kirby’s Success Center entitled Has Social Media Marketing Changed the Online Sales Landscape? Rod is pretty good about throwing excellent questions out there and this one is no different. And it was while I was reading this post that a possible answer to the social trust / need for revenue delima came to me.

Don’t Hide It… Flaunt It
The metaphors are flooding in at the moment but lets see if I can get this right anyway. We become so concerned with “what will our audience thing” that we forget a pretty important fact… we can talk to them! One blogger that I know recently shared with his audience that he was struggling with revenue, to which he received several comments saying, “we never knew.”

One of the key elements in trust is transparency, which shows off the good and the bad. We usually try really hard to hid the bad when in fact a little more openness about what’s going on could go a long way! So if you have a revenue need, don’t tip-toe around it… put it out there.

“We’ve resisted selling ad space in the past because we value the trust you’ve put in us and don’t want to risk compromising that. The realities of this site however tell us daily we need income, and short of asking for donations, ads is the best way to create revenue.”

Who knows, your audience may be able to help… if they just know of your need.

Select Advertisers With Your Audience In Mind
When we finally do break down and start looking for advertising, we’ll often take whatever we can get. Instead of throwing up ads (or affiliate links!) for the first advertiser that will let you, be more selective. Be the gatekeeper for your audience.

You’ve obviously spent a great deal of time building the trust of your followers, that’s what got this conversation started. Just because you need revenue doesn’t mean you have to violate that trust. In fact, you should guard it even more closely. Choose ads and affiliate that add value to your audience. If you have a local site, deliver coupons to local retailers. If you’re a foodie, free recipes from advertisers (which feature their products of course) will work well. If you cater to the t-shirt and jeans crowd, hawk Busted Tees or make your own products with Zazzle! Whatever you choose, just be sure to do it with your audience in mind!

So Why Do I Think This Will Work
Well, simple actually. Because you’re not taking advantage of your network. The people who visit, that have put their trust in you do not want to be blindsided by spam email, spam posts, or spammy tweets. They follow your site for a reason and, presumably, they like it. If you’re honest with them and tell them why you take ads, most will understand, maybe even help out. If you honestly try to deliver quality products that fit with your audience, any backlash should be minimal and the revenue should start, maybe slowly, but it will start.

What Do You Think?
Ok, there it is… so tell me… am I full of it? Do you think this will work? As a patron of other blogs and sites, how would you react to this kind of development on your favorite web venue? Join the conversation in the comments below and let us know your perspective!

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Ok, so lets take a crowd sourced stab at answering this one. Here are some ideas to get you thinking…

• Is it blogging? Well, that is certainly a part of it, but not ALL of it.
• Is it social media? Again, that’s part of it, but to say, “I’m into social media,” what does that mean?
• Does it have something to do with communities? If so, what? We’re not community managers, communities don’t want to be managed. Curators? Maybe, that sounds promising. Facilitators?
• Is it something we haven’t even defined yet? If our blogs or Twitter & Flickr streams are just parts of a greater whole… what do you call that whole?

And just to make this a little more fun, lets put a prize on the line!

Leave your thoughts in the comments below. The Disqus plugin has a voting option (the “like” button thingy… that’s the technical term for it!). The comment that gets the most like votes will win the prize!

“Um, excuse me! You haven’t told us what the prize is!”

Ok, fair enough. Hows this. If your comment is most “liked” by the group, you’ll get your choice of Tribes by Seth Godin or a Starbucks gift card, hows that! Not too much, but a little bit on an incentive!

I’ll tweet this out in a bit but be sure to spread the word. Lets get the largest crowd we can in on this to come up with the best possible description of what we do! If I need to throw in a RT or Stumble prize too… I will!

Thanks in advance for your input! Even if the best answer doesn’t really describe what YOU do, I’m sure the conversation will spark thoughts that will help you and your community!

Good Luck!

@jtrigsby

PS – I guess we should put a time limit on this thing. Let’s go ahead and say a week, next Sunday will be the cutoff, so send your friends sooner rather than later!

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TEDx is a new program that enables local communities such as schools, businesses, libraries, neighborhoods or just groups of friends to organize, design and host their own independent, TED-like events.

It all came about in pretty short order. I think I found out about TEDxHuntsville on Wednesday night, probably through a LinkedIn post. So what did I do… I tweeted it of course!

Welcome to TEDxHuntsville

Of course, I’ve known about TED for quite a while and the opportunity to attend even a similar event here locally was enough to hook me. I checked out the TEDxHuntsville website and honestly, found it a bit vague and not really clear about what to expect. Undeterred, I registered and hoped for the best. After all, the price was right… free!

So Apparently Tweeting Pays-off
Promptly upon arriving, I was greeted at the door by Everett Alexander, our host for the afternoon. A quick stop at the registration table and a dabble on my “Hello, my name is…” name tag and I’m set!

The room was small and already pretty full when I got there but I was still able to make out a number of familiar faces. We were underway on time with an introduction by Everett. As he was wrapping up, he asked how we found out about the event. CLEARLY, the majority of the room are Twitterholics. In fact, it may have even been this tweet that got the ball rolling?

Yeah, Yeah… So What Went on?
Well, after we were all sworn into the super secret club… wait… wrong meeting, sorry! Actually, it was pretty good. With the assistance of the good folks from TED, Everett had put together a selection of seven TEDTalk videos (see links below). We watched four, discussed, took a break, watched three, discussed and wrapped it up. Several of the videos I’d seen before but it was even better watching them with a group. The discussion that ensued after the vids was GREAT!

As things were drawing to a close, Everett asked if we liked it and would like to see a larger event here soon. Of course everyone (at least it looked like everyone to me) agreed and so, I suppose, planning should begin soon for the next TEDxHuntsville event.

Which TEDTalk Videos Did You Watch?
Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s a list complete with links. Enjoy!

Shai Agassi on electric cars.

Michael Pritchard with his Lifesaver Bottle, self-contained water purification.

Kamal Meattle on creating air with plants.

William Kamkwamba on thinking and doing… and windmills. (good one).

Rives on 4:00am (pretty funny)

Aimee Mullins on perceptions, beauty, and augmentation.

Ken Robinson on creativity and education (best of the bunch. If you only watch one, watch this one)

So What’s Next
Well, frankly, I’m not sure. I expect to hear from Everett again soon and that at some point in the future we’ll hear more about TEDxHuntsville. Perhaps they will take the form of monthly or quarterly video watching events, maybe we’ll get to have a live event. Who knows at this point.

If you’re interested in keeping up with upcoming TEDxHuntsville information, be sure to check out the website, subscribe to the RSS feed, or just keep an ear to the rail here at jtrigsby.com. I’ll have as much information available for you as I can get my hands on!

@jtrigsby

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One of the really cool things on my calendar recently was SocialCamp Memphis, a decidedly un-conference in the BarCamp tradition. Now, if you’ve been reading Life in the Internet even a short time, you’re gonna recognize that term from my ramblings about BarCamp Chattanooga. Well lets suffice it to say… I’m a big fan of the format!

In fact, it was BarCampChatt where I met Dave Barger (@lalunablanca), the driving force behind SocialCamp Memphis. (Thanks Dave, it was awesome!) But I can hear you out there asking now, “What is a social camp anyway?” Well, I’m glad you asked!

SocialCamp is about Social Media, Social Networking, and the community of people that use it

I had the distinct pleasure to start off the morning leading a discussion about the line that exists between our on-line and off-line personas. Wow, what a group! Its not unusual in a forum like that for the speaker to have to work at least a few points into the preso to get the questions and discussion flowing… well not with this bunch! I think I did a brief intro, setup the topic and asked a question. The rest of the hour the room was filled with lively, some may say “spirited” debate, discussion about rights and wrongs in the social space and all things in between. It was one of the easiest and most enjoyable conversations I’ve ever had! Thanks to all!

Leading the Conversation at Social Camp Memphis

It was more of the same during lunch as the conversation continued over plates of wonderful Memphis BBQ. Follow ups, meet ups, and debate make for a terrific side to some smoked sausage! And then it happened…

PowerPoint Karaoke
I know, it sound strange right. Well it was one of the highlights of the day to be sure. The basic premise is you have three contestants. Each has a 20 slide presentation to narrate with only a few seconds per slide. What’s the catch? Well, the contestants are seeing the slide with you, for the first time. If you’re quick on your feet and can rattle off for five minutes, this is definitely your game! Try it some time.

And then there was the afternoon… more and more and more!

Too Many To Thank
Coming out of something like SocialCamp Memphis, I kind of feel like I’ve spent the day drinking from a fire hose. There is just so much to take in… you take notes, record what you can, exchange business cards & twitter names, and hope you can absorb a fraction of what you’ve heard.

There are many spectacular sponsors worthy of thanks and praise. Rather than list them all here, I’ll point you over to the SocialCamp Memphis blog where they’re all named and linked.

Of course the organizers, you guys rock. Without you there would be no camp!

And one of the groups that is probably left out when its time to spread the love… the attendees. I know as one of the presenters, it was totally the other folks in the room that drove the conversation and gave back to me, I just happened to be in the front of the room facing the wrong way. If you have an opportunity to attend a camp meeting, I strongly encourage you to do so. The wealth of communal knowledge present in the group is hard to replicate and may never be in the same place at once again.

WordCamp Birmingham
So I’m taking some of my own advice. Vickie and I are headed down to Birmingham for the weekend to attend WordCamp Birmingham. I am totally stoked, can’t wait to get there, can’t wait to try and recap that one as well. If you’re at WordCamp Birmingham, track me down, I’d love to connect with you!

@jtrigsby

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There were lots of smart and interesting folks at BarCampChatt and one that I had the pleasure to meet and share a couple of sessions with is Dave Barger, aka @lalunablanca via Twitter. Dave is a wealth of knowledge on topics of social media and a driving force behind Social Camp Memphis.

Heck, I’ve even submitted a topic for a round table discussion (what am I… crazy?). Social Media: Transparency or Trespassing… hopefully it will be a thought provoking discussion about just how open we are or should be online and what, if any, exposure our online persona should have on our off-line lives. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Also, can’t get out of here without dropping a plug for WordCamp Birmingham coming up September 26 & 27. @acnatta and the crew are working hard to put on a great camp and I’m really looking forward to being there. And a special note to all you WordCamp Birmingham attendees… my wife Vickie is making her first tech meeting appearance… be sure to tell her hi, it will make her day!

@jtrigsby

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