Jason Mikula Inbound Marketing Blog: SEO, PPC, Social Media & More

Manic Monday for Nov 22: Five Great Posts from Last Week

This is the SECOND edition of "Manic Monday," my round-up of some of my favorite posts from last week that you may have missed.  Last week was quite a busy one for me, as I imagine this week will be with the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.  Last week did see the first #UsGuys chat (read my summary here), which I'm incredibly excited about - a lot of smart, motivated people involved with our group, and I can feel it going places.

Beginner's Guide to Web Data Analysis: Ten Steps to Love & Success (via Occam's Razor)

Occam's Razor (a reference to the idea that the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one) is written by Avinash Kaushik, a well-known resources and author in the web analytics space.  While I have yet to read one of his books, this post is encouraging me to do so as soon as possible.

Set aside some time to read this one, as the ten steps provide an incredibly thorough introduction to the practice of web analytics.  Avinash provides specifically examples using Google Analytics to help you go beyond staring at charts to being able to get actionable intelligence from your web site analytics.

Social Media Management: Does Experience Trump Talent (via The BrandBuilder Blog)

This video post (about 4 min) by Olivier Blanchard sparked an interesting and heated discussion about the skills and/or experience one needs to bring to the table to work in social media management - is it about 'talent' or 'experience'?

I added my thoughts in the comment section, stating that for a social media manager position at a major corporation, you'd have to take a look at the responsibilities of the role (managing other employees? creating strategic plans? reporting back to marketing/C-suite?) and select a person with the right combination of experience AND talent for the position in question.

The First Amendment of Social Media: Freedom of Tweet (via Brian Solis)

I'm including this post by Brian Solis because I gave him a bit of a hard time about it in the comments and via Twitter -- while referencing the First Amendment, the point of this piece was not to analyze the implications of jurisprudence on social media, but rather to demonstrate that our actions in social networks have consequences, and we should all 'think before we tweet'.

While Solis discusses Paul Chambers, who sent a tweet that could have been misinterpreted as a terrorist threat, I think his point is better illustrated by a recent incident in China, where a woman was sentence to a year in a labor camp for retweeting a message someone else had written.

Five Social Media Trends for 2011 (by Social Media Explorer)

Well, I guess it is about that time of year -- turkey, Christmas music, and "best of" lists and predictions for next year.  This list from Jason Fall's Social Media Explorer doesn't contain anything too surprising (consumer content, location, social gaming, and QR codes), but it is a good round-up of trends to watch next year.

Why 'Personal Branding' is Not Just an Exercise in Egoism (by Galactic)

The discussion of personal branding is an interesting one -- in an era where anyone can create an Internet presence via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or a personal website, what does it mean to be a 'person' vs. a 'brand'?  Can people actually BE branded?  Cristian's post argues that personal branding isn't just about our own egos.

Rather, by providing value and helping others (through Twitter, Facebook, personal websites, etc.) we are creating our personal brands.  While there are people who take this too far, by concentrating on branding themselves to the point it interferes with providing value, personal branding is an important and valuable way to stand out in a crowded employment market and be noticed.

YHDB9C9EQXXD