I am really interested in writing for TNGG and sent in an email using the contact form. However, I haven’t heard back. I even contacted Stuart Foster to no avail. There is a great company in Malaysia, started by a Gen Yer and is a haven for Entrepreneurs and creative techies from all over the world. I wanted to do a piece on them because I think they are the epitome of an ideal place for Gen Yers to work.

What do you think?

Regards,
Mimi
.-= Mimi V´s last blog ..Social Media Monster =-.

I definitely agree that Google etc. are great tools which can be utilized with some work. I think my bigger concern is looking forward. As content increases, and more businesses come online, will the average consumer take the time and effort to find that needle in the haystack perfect pizza for them?

I think I am a little pessimistic today about so many companies just maiming the real value of online marketing by saturating the web with awful content. Huge pet peeve!

In fact, after commenting here I wrote a rant on my blog about the same thing. Do check it out if you can. Thank you!

You make some good points, but I think you’re looking at some of the problems rather than the solutions and opportunities.

Smart marketers and brands have a host of ways to identify, reach, engage with, and inspire prospects/customers/loyal customers. There is advertising for awareness, good content that helps one get found via search, listening tools to know what people care about, and ways to both build communities and let them participate in everything from product ideas to content. If you’re a retailer, it includes your in-store behavior. If you’re an online service, it includes your UX and IA. None of this is easy, and it takes a curator/choreographer at the brand level, but it’s possible. Look at brands as diverse as Starbucks (retail experience and social media) Zappos (brilliant service online and over phone, plus via Twitter), Harley Davidson (harnessing the power of its loyal community) and Wine Library (Gary V’s YouTube channel, blog, fan page, and most importantly the content he creates that helps introduce people to wine.) They are all being successful in how they use media, open source software, social, and community.

Yes, if you are an individual, you need filtering systems to counter the impotence of abundance, but creating your own community/tribe of people you trust, via Twitter, Google Wave, etc. can help. And, of course, you can always shut if off and read the magazines you love and trust. (New Yorker and Wired for me.)

Finally, consider that everyone wants something different. There is no one pizza for everyone. So there has to be ways to opt in and find what you want. I’m a big believer in six degrees. Find someone you can trust. Read her content. Connect with others that are connected to her. Expand your personal community. You have people to ask. And if not, don’t give up on Google. Master all it has to offer.

Anyway, keep thinking about it, and expressing your thoughts as you did here. It will help.

Thanks again.

No one appreciates the power of social media and digital branding more than I do but I do think there is a huge problem which will surface once avid bloggers, tweeters and Facebookers step back; there is too much information and too many people who don’t know how to find or use it.

1. There are healthy debates about the right and wrong ways to do social media but the fact remains that all companies from mom-n-pops, B2Bs, and corporations are rushing to catch that social media bandwagon creating a lot of content…most of it BAD. This causes an overflow of information that drowns out relevant, quality content.

2. Finding the right information is a nightmare. Its even more frustrating when you are fairly certain it is out there but a Google Search or Delicious tag is not enough to find it. What is the use of companies creating ground breaking content and messages that will never get heard?

3. If the shift away from traditional marketing to online continues…won’t it be absolute chaos? Finding a product or a business was a little easier in the old days because you were limited to local ads, local messages etc. If more and more companies go online, it gets harder to find the right fit for your needs. Ideally consumers should be able to find information and content online like in this frozen pizza ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8yWjJXbaPA

The real value of internet marketing is the ability to give valuable information to customers who are genuinely looking for it. It seems to me that marketers are yelling on one side hoping to be heard, whereas consumers are seeking, hoping to hear what they want among the noise. There is a great need to develop tools that help consumers find the company or product they want. 2009 was filled with software to help companies gain marketing insight from social media/ online users. Shouldn’t agencies invest in tools that work the other way around? Tools more specifically made to improve the marketing process instead of forcing the consumer to rely on search engines or social bookmarking?

What I mean to say through all this is that 2010 will be the year this incredibly relevant problem will come to surface. Thoughts?