Scott Moroney

A Great Prank That Has Nothing to Do with Marketing

Although it is a bit outside the normal scope of this blog, this is just too funny not to share.  Sorry guys, this is just too great not to applaud.  Whoever pulled this off, my hat is off to you....I just hope my wife does not pull it off on me.

Here are the instructions:

When your boyfriend, husband or significant other does something that makes you angry don't give in to the temptation to argue and fight.  Count to ten, remain calm and after he goes to bed, super-glue their flip flops to the floor.

Social Media is Like a Blinking Pen

We need to move ahead and make "social media" more a part of marketing and less of new thing that everyone is fawning over as a medium alone.  I would like to see companies make their marketing teams responsible vs. specialized teams for social media alone.  My concern here is that social media acting alone is not effective.  It must be a part of the larger marketing of a company or group. 

Oh, your already doing that?  Great, you get it then.  For those that are not doing this and putting social media in some silo expecting it to churn out amazing twitter stats and blog traffic, you will be disappointed if your marketing strategy is not integrated to the activity.  Why, the traffic is useless if it does not serve a purpose.  Think of it this way.  Do most companies want as many people as possible, regardless of their potential as a customer?  If you do, you are wasting your time giving away free blinking pens at tradeshows instead of targeting real prospects.  A social media program with no targeted connection/integration with your overall marketing strategy is just a blinking pen that will eventually drain it's battery with no ROI.

Thanks to Flickr and JennyPBJ's for the photo.

Craigs List Scams - Are There Real Buyers or Just Scammers Out There?

I have been advertising a mountain bike on Craig's List and have learned how scummy some, not all, people are that are scanning the items for sale.  Here are a few things to beware of when selling on this site.

"Certified Check" is a scam.  If it isn't still stay away.  The buyer will contact you shortly after the ad is posted and ask if the item is for sale.  They quickly come back to you telling you they will buy at full price and sound very excited.  Here is the text of one I received.  Read it through and then I will show you the flaw.  Watch the grammar as an indicator that this is shady.  My guess is that this author is not even in the US. 

And the same type of reply from another scammer.  Look familiar?

The certified check scam works this way if you fall for it.  The check is mailed to you (now they know who you are, where you live, and have multiple phone numbers).  You deposit and your bank initially cashes it and you contact the seller to pick up the item.  They pick it up and you feel like everything is great.  It takes the bank a few days to find out from the "other" bank in which the bogus check was counterfeited, that it is a phony.  Your bank contacts you to reimburse them, or files a police report for fraud. 

The result?  You not only lost your item but you also have to pay the full price you asked.  Hopefully you don't have to explain it away in a police department.

Watch out for this scam on Craig's List.  It is too bad since this service has such great intentions.  One other thing to be careful of is the location you choose to meet any buyer.  Don't ever bring them to your house for obvious reasons.  Invite them to meet you at a Police Station.  If they are legit, they should not mind meeting you there.  If you have a weird feeling, show up early and walk into the Police station and tell them why you are there.  They will likely keep an eye out for you.  I would imagine Police stations don't want to be Craig's List pick up areas, but they are here to protect your safety.

"Monica" and "Jake", I hope that at some point you see what you are doing to people. 

In Five Years Will Twitter be a "Furby"?

You all remember those Furby dolls that talked in weird sentences.  They were the rage for a a short period of time to such a degree that it seemed like they would be around forever, like Barbie.

What about Twitter?  Is it inconceivable that it could be a similar fad?  I don't think so.  The reason is simple, people are adopting a new way of communicating and sharing.  I read today that Google is a bit nervous about Twitter and the percentage of web traffic that is being directed from Twitter.  Heck, they tried and tried unsuccessfully to buy it until recently. 

So why is Twitter different from a Furby in terms of a fad vs. a movement?   Twitter has substance, not in the traditional sense of the word, but in the new evaluation.  A Furby was novel.  Twitter is substance.  Substance stands the test of time. 

Will Twitter be the same in five years?  No.  Not at all.  Time will tell how it evolves, but it will certainly not be a Furby.

Is Social Media Alive and Thriving?

We are reaching a tipping point with social media.  The hype has our attention and by normal standards it is time to deliver on the hype.  But this is where we may need to take a new look at how we measure.  I am not sure what the measurement is just yet, but it is important to not be too quick to judge by our current standards.

Keep this in mind.

Expanding Focus

After six months of sharing info on social media, I have decided to expand the focus of the blog a bit.  I also have a blog focused on my experiences throughout a lifetime of bike...appropriately called "Life of Bikes".  The new focus of my namesake blog will be more about what I am learning overall in life, not just solely in social media.  It will still feature plenty of content on social media, but will surely include more interesting stories as they occur in my life.  This brings two of my deep passions together in one place. 

Stay tuned, but in the meantime take a look at some of the stories already posted on Life of Bikes.

Reaching 2000 page views - Persistence When You are not a Superstar

This blog is about to hit 2000 page views.  For many blogs this is not a big deal.  Commercial blogs do this in hours or days.  So why mention it here?  I started this blog in November as a way to share what I am learning about social media.  I started with nothing in terms of credibility and no history of drawing in visitors to a blog of any type.  Having had 2000 people read the information I have shared is a pretty cool thing in my eyes.  I am not Seth Godin or Chris Brogan or Robert Scoble.  These are blogger's bloggers who live it and live it and live it some more for all of us that are interested in their every move. 

So Thank you to the folks that have visited and I hope you have taken something away from the time you spend on this blog.  I have learned a great deal so far and expect to continue learning.  Be Persistent.  Hard work pays off.  Persistence is one of the main ingredients.  Thanks again.

Embedding YouTube into a website

For those of you wondering what the "Embed" option on YouTube videos is all about, I have a simple answer.  This is the HTML code that anyone can use to "embed" or include a video directly in a web page or blog.  When you see a page with the YouTube player in it, this is how the page builder accomplishes it.

An example.  I have embedded a video of myself riding a bike on a treadmill by copying the embed code to this blog post.  I could do this with any other video that does not have "embed" disabled.  Some authors do not want to make this option available.  Please keep in mind that when you allow others to embed your video you have no control over how it is used.

Here is how you do it.

Using your web page editor (Dreamweaver, Yahoo, Google, Typepad, WordPress, etc...), select the "HTML" or "Edit Code" feature.  This will allow you to paste the HTML code into the area you want the video to appear.
Once pasted in, you can preview the location by switching back to the "normal view" or "Rich Text" view.

So how does copying the code in work?  By copying the code from YouTube you are establishing a feed directly from YouTube's servers to your website (your web server).  The code contains information that specifies what video should be played on your site or blog.

Give it a shot and experiment.  You may find some bumps along the way, but it does work.

The Secret Behind Online Quizzes and Facebook "You Are"

Although I am not alerting anyone to something to be terribly scared of, it is worth noting that there are some motives behind online quizzes and those "You Are" applications on Facebook.  The thing to be aware of is that marketers are collecting info based on your answers.  Most people know this so I am not revealing any major secret.  Based on how many of these I see on Facebook, I believe many people don't care or they don't realize that at some point all this data will culminate in a serious load of junk mail or spam if those collecting the info are in fact who we suspect they are...marketers looking to qualify who you are and direct some products to you.

Is this so bad on the part of marketers?  Maybe not, but you don't know who is collecting this info in most cases.  It makes me wonder.  I hope it at least makes you think before taking a quiz or seeing what you Mafia name is online.  Good luck.

Read on.

Elements of Publicity

Publicity is defined today as..

“The noise you CREATE and voice you SEIZE”

Noise is good.  The most annoying sound to some, is music to the ears of others.  Mass media is inconsiderate of this assumption. It looks to make it all homogeneous.  I don't have the same buying triggers as you do and down the line for all of us.  Our buying triggers are getting more refined and companies trying to attract and influence upon us must adapt to how we prefer and are willing to be contacted.

Promotional methods have shifted, and continue to shift, away from static forms of promotion (noise) such as print ads, tradeshows, catalogs and line cards.  Does this ad from 1960 still make you get in your car and buy a package of Hi-C?  First off, many of us don't read magazines... print format is dying along with newspapers.  They depend upon a new generation of readers to follow on each other.  Folks under 50 or so are online more than offline to find information.

News flash...you don't have to go to a physical tradeshow to see something new in most cases.  Customers are less interested in "lemonade stands" and more interested in how you make the lemonade or how you make it better, especially in tech markets.  Consumer marketing may still have some tradeshow appeal in some cases, but it is limited more to user communities (i.e., Apple users).  In most cases you get your info online instead of in person.

Although efforts to shift to more active media have been up and down during, the tide continues to rise in terms of support of the following basic assumptions:

 Publicity is a necessary element of how companies operate globally (Noise)

• Forms of publicity are evolving along with the preferences of customers and markets
• Many industry media outlets are slow to adopt new forms currently
• Self-publishing is more important and viable than ever (Seize)
• A holistic approach to publicity (all promotion mediums) is more important than ever – nothing exits on its own
• The anchors of the past school of thought are no longer viable debates – move onto how you can contribute

Image from Flickr user Jackie121467's photostream.