Meet the New Corporate Boardroom – But Not Yet

As a result of the Web, Social Media and all its parts have taken us by storm. They’ve caused an unprecedented shift in transparency, ease, speed and reach in the distribution of a message in almost any form you want. But I think the biggest shift is in the level of transparency that’s come out of it. So powerful is this shift that all the brands we know so well are feeling the heat to comply to survive and grow by being a “part of” rather than “aloof to” the consumers and people in general – and really mean it. They had to change.

All Great Causes Begin as a Movement, Degenerate into a Business, and then end up as a Racket.

Like most other enterprises in the beginning, these hyper-successful Online products and services ala’ Social Media were not the makings of a corporate boardroom. Then somewhere along the way they thought they should develop a corporate board.  In came the Venture Capitalists with the boardrooms and the meetings. The different and radical thinking that got these startups to where they are gave way to acting like all the other guys.

The transparency that has “gingerly” nudged brands into conducting themselves with more responsibility and sensitivity in regards to the consumer has yet to reach the boardroom level with the old school “behind closed doors” approach to things. Money changes everything so things can stay the same – but times they are a changing.

Because the speed, reach, and transparency of a message is only going to continue to accelerate and evolve , I believe an entire new breed  of Venture Capitalists are going to emerge that’ll look through different eyes and take different risks and find a way to use the transparency and everything else to their advantage. They’ll adapt and change out of sheer survival.  In other words they won’t fight this paradigm shift created by Social Media and they won’t want to. They’ll leverage it.  They’ll think like the very people that created these game-changing products and services. The end users will become the boardroom.

Understanding the name itself, “Social Media” tells the tale. It is “Social” meaning involved, part of, engaged, responsive, mindful, and eventually transparent. All parts of a solid relationship. One Tweet can alter a business’s approach drastically in action – or non action at their peril, (depending on if they are even paying attention.) The corporate boardrooms are holding on for dear life to protect the status quo.  But how long do you think before the boardroom has to do the same as other aspects of their brands and become Social on a level I don’t think they want to look at yet?

Blackball Online Marketing provides SEO Pittsburgh Services and Pittsburgh Online Business Consulting services.

We have been hearing for some time now about blog posting frequency and the value of traffic generation. Warm and fuzzy statistics and pretty pictures broken down to the nth iteration of data on how traffic goes up and blah, blah, blah. This is nothing new, but we never hear about the deterioration of content that happens when firms try to post beyond their means or what happens to reader abandonment rates as a result.

At Blackball Online Marketing we value your time and don’t want to produce useless and pointless posts for the sake of posting. The Internet is saturated with this kind of content already. There are those of you who may say this is a pointless post. LOL and that’s OK. We just want to say Thanks for reading our blog and ask you to sign up if you’re new.

I bet if the analytics crunchers did a study on the frequency of blog posting as it relates to the value of the posts they would find the content has a severely declining curve. Devalued content would then most assuredly lower the conversion rates; and the conversion rates are after all what we’re in business for.

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Twitter Monetizes - Finally

…or the Big Dog needs to eat if you want him to hunt.

…or feed the Big Dog if you want him to hunt.

Unless I just missed the memo why didn’t Twitter simply Tweet their intent to monetize and leverage the invaluable feedback they'd get from the very people who have incorporated a steady diet of  Tweeting in their daily professional and personal lives. Twitter could approach this in a number of ways while having a lot of fun with it. Twitter could Tweet surveys, ask for ideas, maybe even a contest for the best Twitter monetization idea, and simply asking what do you think - we’d love to hear from you. 

Twitter would be asking input for one of their most important business decisions from the very people that make Twitter soar. The effect could prove to be very positive. Imagine the creativity from all that input.  There may not be enough bandwidth to hold the explosion of involvement. You could say this has the air of opportunity. If you want to engage and rally a community, here it is. And with such a radical and different approach to a corporate business move it just may create “pause” with those “other guys” and/or possibly raise the bar - if not change the bar’s direction.

I’m saying this because I’ve read some excerpts here and there that Twitter was fretting over their decision to monetize, to what degree only Twitter knows, but this is where Twitter turns the fretting into freedom by way of a dialog that simply says “we’re in business, we want to stay in business, and we’re pretty sure all you Tweeters want us to stay in business, so what do you think, how do you feel about this, and what are your ideas.” Twitter is a fantastic, intelligent and innovative product and with us in the SEO, Social Media and information business we’re finding new ways everyday to use Twitter to help our clients do business better which makes the deal this - what took Twitter so long?

Twitter is a business, and this is America, so why would Twitter fret over this decision? First a little peek into their history tells us something. And what it tells us is this; Twitter began to help, to solve a problem, not so much to make money, and before you know it Twitter is a business, better yet, an “accidental empire.” With this in mind, maybe human nature is the reason for Twitter’s monetizing angst, based on the “fear of offending” which we all struggle with at times. But hell, what do I know, I’m just speculating. Only Twitter knows for sure.

I don’t think Twitter has a thing to fret about.

Build Your Local Business Reputation with the BBB and Your Local Chamber of Commerce

Pittsburgh, PA – We say it over and over again in our Pittsburgh Online Marketing Newsblog - sound marketing and advertising fundamentals for small businesses have not changed. The Internet has just increased the speed of information delivery and breadth of exposure. Add to this mix joining your local Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau and your brand reputation can be greatly enhanced while reaching a wider audience.

Joining these organizations lets your customers know you are reputable and dedicated to providing services worthy of their business; that you are willing to go that extra mile. Whether you are a brick and mortar business or an Online Marketing Business like Blackball Online Marketing, joining these two organizations is, we believe, good advice.

In addition to building your brand and personal reputation in the community these resources build your online reputation by providing quality links to your site by highly valued authorities. Businesses in Pittsburgh are very fortunate to have so many assets to choose from yet many small businesses fail to utilize them. The Better Business Bureau or BBB has a host of resources and some very knowledgeable folks just waiting to assist you.

Build Trust…..Build Your Business

Given the current economic climate consumers are being more cautious on where and how they spend their money. It has created a specific feeling in today’s marketplace playing a role in producing what has been labeled a “fear economy”.

“As a result of the uncertainty and the fear, people are actively seeking to do business with companies that can offer them solutions without stress and uncertainty. Today’s consumer values authenticity, honesty, integrity, reality and trust, and they expect these same values in the companies with which they choose to do business,” states Warren King, president of the Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania.

People want to do business with companies they know they can trust. To be successful – to create a marketplace where buyers and sellers can trust each other - we need businesses to adhere to and adopt standards for trust in the marketplace. As you think about your own businesses, there are three key things every business should do:

• Communicate and live by a set of standards or values. Your consumers should know what you stand for, and they should want to do business with you because of it.

• Honor your promises. It’s easy – do what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it.

• Lastly, act with integrity. People will remember you for it, and they’ll want to do business with you because of it.

To learn more about consumer trust trends, go to the BBB/Gallup Trust in Business Index for more information.

Click the picture to learn more about our services and to view our BBB listing.

Below are some of the benefits of becoming a member of your local Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau:

Local Business to Business relationships can be cultivated and experience and services can be traded. Many other professionals may have areas of expertise that will benefit your business. This also offers you a chance to show your skills and services to a number of local businesspeople.

Any local Chamber of Commerce also affords networking opportunities, advertising at affordable rates, and many other highly coveted affiliations. Education and information are key to building a solid local presence in your community.

The Better Business Bureau has an outstanding website and very good service from personal experience. Blackball Online Marketing encourages all small businesses to join each of these outstanding institutions. Costs may vary in your area for each of these products but in our opinion it’s well worth it.

Google’s Move To Goggles – A Shift Towards Mobile Search

Out with the maps and in with the Goggles. Google has eliminated the Maps listings for Online Marketing categories such as Pittsburgh SEO, Pittsburgh Online Marketing, Pittsburgh Internet Marketing, and some other search phrases related to Internet Marketing. Is this the first of many categories to be removed? We see this as a possible emerging trend or shift in Google’s Map endeavors. Is Google making an attempt to scrap the often spammed Maps listings? Let’s look further…

Google has introduced Goggles, formerly titled Google Visual Search in the development phase. We see this as a possible replacement for Maps altogether. It aligns itself perfectly with Google’s move towards mobile computing in a big way. First, the Android Operating System, and recently the Nexus phone release all seem to be aimed at Google’s strategy towards focusing on Mobile Search Technology. Add to this Google’s Cloud computing initiative and the signals become stronger. (Pun intended)

As previously mentioned, this may be the beginning of Google's attempt to curb the rampant spam problem that plagues their maps. Bing has a more stringent verification requirement and their maps algorithm is less spammy because of that. Sometimes being first to market has its drawbacks as companies submitted multiple bogus listings in an effort to be found. Bing learned from this and only allows for Direct Mail registration as opposed to Google’s phone verification option which allows businesses to register from anywhere.

Pittsburgh is the home of Blackball Online Marketing so I can only speak to this issue from our point of view. As a small Pittsburgh Online Marketing Company we cater to Pittsburgh businesses only. It would be nice to have a very pretty maps listing for Pittsburgh SEO again. It would also be nice for Google to share its decisions and be transparent about this selective omission. But Google is Google and that's that.