I’ll be on the Hot Seat at the Austin Content Marketing Meetup on Friday, June 24 (noon, at the Flying Saucer in the Triangle). Several folks have asked what I’ll be talking about. This particular meetup isn’t a “talking about” kind of event — it has a much more interesting format. Basically after a brief intro the attendees can ask me anything.

I’ve been immersed in the online world since 1993, when I built my first websites. And I’ve been immersed in some flavor of marketing, social media, and content marketing since 1996, when I sold my company, Go Media, to Excite. I’m a generalist, so I know a little bit about a lot of things. Some of you might be wondering what might make a good question for me.

Here are some of the things I’ve done, and what they mean in the context of content marketing. Hope this gives you some ideas :)

I’ve helped 3 microbusinesses and 2 small businesses achieve national recognition in under a year.

Things I got really good at as a result:

• multi-channel marketing strategy (get the word out in the right places)
• Users/goals assessment, information architecture & wireframing (provide the right content for the right people in the right format)
• Creative, organic traffic-building

I started a new blog, Queen of Points, a few months ago. After only 6 weeks I was appearing on the front page of Google for significant keywords and phrases.

What I learned/did right:

• I SEO’d the shit out of this blog. Turns out it’s not rocket science.
• Best practices for categories, tags, and meta-data
• Best practices for using images to boost SEO
• How to use Google’s tools — Keyword tools, speed test, webmaster tools
• All sorts of great apps & plugins helped a lot

A few other areas I know pretty well:

• graphic design
• project management
• social media
• web development

Did I miss anything?

Looking forward to the Hot Seat tomorrow. I’ll take any and all questions :)

There’s a ton of social media snake oil out there. You’ve seen it. Crapware that promises you a million Twitter followers and Facebook fans. Social media marketing “gurus” with no experience ready to sell you their secret magic systems.

It makes me crazy. Much of it is apparent for what it is the minute you land on the ugly website with the direct mail design and the coiffed “expert” flashing their pearly whites at you.

These are easy ethical calls. It’s snake oil. Just say NO.

But there’s a wide, fuzzy grey area, too.

A Real Life example: there’s a smart, savvy social media marketing expert out there with a huge following. He gives great advice, and clearly knows what he’s talking about. He will also Tweet — as himself, using his hard-won social media reputation — on your behalf for a fee.

My first reaction to this is “Ugh! Not cool. Ethics FAIL.” But he does tell people that this is how he works. Not in every Tweet, of course, but it’s on his site. Not right up front, but it’s there. So is it ok? My gut says no. How am I to know when he’s Tweeting about something or someone he really believes in and when he’s doing it for cash?

I have a new, fun, very cool client. It’s a local small business. I’m working with them to get more business, and there’s a significant social media element to it. So is it cool for me to occasionally Tweet about them? They’re not paying me to Tweet, per se. And of course I know that I’d only do this for clients I really believe in. But that’s what everyone says, isn’t it?

I talked with Susan Price about this. As usual, she was able to point out how I was rationalizing.

“You should only tweet about them if you’d be tweeting about them even if they weren’t your client. That’s what I do. Else you’re diluting your own reputation on behalf of the client. You’re either selling tweets or you’re not.”

Ouch. She’s right.

On the other hand, when I owned Go Media — long before social media — I would often talk about/spread the word about my clients when I was out and about. How is Tweeting about them — with restraint — really any different?

And from my client’s point of view, part of the reason they hired me is for my knowledge of and access to their demographic.

So now I’m trying to find a happy medium that fits with my own ethics. Facebook and blogging are no problem — I can simply explain. Twitter is another issue.

We need a hashtag. Anything I Tweet on behalf of a client should be noted as such. That’s tough to do that in 140 characters. I used #pimpingmyclient on one Tweet, but that’s too long, and it’s not exactly professional. Would #client be enough?

Suggestions are most welcome.

What ethical quandaries have you bumped into?

Today I gave a presentation about Integrating Social Media Into Your Marketing Plan as part of this week’s RISE Austin conference in Austin.

It was standing room only for the presentation, and it was a fantastic audience. Not only did I get some great questions about everything from tools to analytics to psychographics, but there were some experts in the audience who taught me a few new things as well. How cool is that?

I made some great contacts this afternoon, too, including one woman who interviewed me for a class she was taking back in the 90s when I was still running Go Media. Apparently I played a small part in her decision to become an entrepreneur, which thrills me more than you can imagine. I’m looking forward to getting together with her and several other folks in attendance for some invigorating conversation.

Really, this session was so fun — I came out of it energized and excited and inspired. I’m so glad I decided to participate in RISE.

The presentation is embedded below. It’s pretty information packed — I show some analogies between traditional marketing and social media marketing while stressing the importance of both.

My Social Media Ecosystem slide is always a favorite, and that’s here too. I swear I have to update that file every couple of weeks, things are changing so rapidly. Ideally I want to create the same kind of diagram for traditional marketing and show where they overlap and where they diverge. I’ve been working on it, but this is proving to be a pretty big undertaking.

I follow that up with a case study of JPeterson Garden Design, my wonderful gardener, dear friend, fabulous client, and favorite success story.

Thanks to Jan Triplett of the Business Success Center for hosting my presentation.