Network Solutions is producing the Solutions Stars Video Conference on October 29 at 1 p.m. This free video conference aims to provide insights and online marketing tips to small businesses. It will be of great service to small businesses, particularly now that the economy has gotten tough, and it’s not as easy to attend a conference in person.

As author of Now Is Gone, it was an honor to work with Network Solutions Social Media Swami Shashi Bellamkonda and the 32 top bloggers who participated and shot videos with us at BlogWorld Expo.  The conference features nine different documentary style video sessions:

• Building Web Presence
• The Social Opportunity
• Start with Listening
• Strategy Drives Outreach
• You Need Social Networks
• To Blog or Not to Blog
• Visibility Through Search
• Rising Above the Noise
• Time Demands

In addition to Now Is Gone Co-Author Brian Solis, Solutions Stars include:

I hope you can participate in this  conference and conversation. It will be well worth your while, with lots of great insights.

In addition to the main site, please visit the Solutions Stars Video Conference event pages on Facebook and Upcoming:

• www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33854706886
• upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1200021

A few days ago a friend who recently launched a new   business asked about the importance of creating an online presence. She’d been doing well in her local town based on word-of-mouth alone, but wanted to ramp-up her marketing efforts.  I replied, somewhat cavalierly, that if her business didn’t have an online calling card of some sort, it may as well not exist. This is not entirely true, of course, but the point I was trying to emphasize was that today’s online footprint is the equivalent of yesterday’s requisite Yellow Pages listing.

She completely understood and while eager to jump right in, was somewhat concerned about the “how.” As the founder and head of her company, she felt that she was one of its main evangelists  — and her enthusiasm for her work certainly shined through. She’d heard the terms “transparency” and “authenticity” being thrown around, and was trying to figure out how to present her personality online in such a way that it advanced her business goals. She was asking all the right questions and, as a result, she’ll be successful when her site launches.

But I wasn’t entirely surprised that she was struggling with striking the right balance between online sharing and not revealing too much — even some social media and communications professionals frequently confuse authenticity and transparency with letting it all hang out online. No wonder clients are confused!

No, I’m not going to provide links to questionable online behavior – calling people out publicly is not my style (although it does seem to be an unofficial sport among some members of the online community, who take enjoyment in other people’s mistakes and feel it’s their duty to embarrass the heck out of them) – but spend just a few minutes online, or even conduct a relevant keyterm search, and you’ll find a plethora of examples that will make you cringe. So, for example, while talking about your latest vacation is ok, oversharing in excruciating detail about the effects of the local diet on your digestive system probably isn’t.

Showing personality doesn’t mean being myopic about your online behavior and how it will be evaluated and received, but neither does it mean people should be so fearful of criticism that they become cardboard cutouts of themselves. Stand for something! But don’t let it all hang out!

What are some of your favorite examples of how to show personality the right way?

The lastest marketing buzz and propaganda features the term web 3.0. Ahhhh!!!! An s.technorati search reveals 608 high authority posts using this term in the past six months.

We had a hard enough time understanding 2.0 (the movement from static to truly social technology and content). It was hard to constantly explain this horrific cliche to the masses. Then once everyone started messaging anything new as 2.0 it lost its value (image from F1 blog). 

Like Scott Baradell says 2.0 is so 2005.  So to be fresh I guess marketers and PR types have attempted to brand new technology advancement as 3.0. Why?  What’s the big paradigm shift to justify this terminology?

Propagating a new cliche — 3.0 – just seems like bad marketing to me. When I complained about the over proliferation of 2.0 it seemed appropriate to say:

“Webolution” (thank you, Michael Pranikoff for this coined word) is a process that will continue to develop, and move beyond current conceptions. Technological change will further impact us. What are they going to call the localized craze that’s sure to follow the GIS-induced geographic tie into everything user generated? It’s best to create a brand name that meets the product’s value proposition to its community?

 

It seems appropriate to say it again. Web 3.0 only confuses people, and does not explain what the actual technology does.