Media AWAKEN

Affiliate Summit East Review

I spent last Monday and Tuesday attending Affiliate Summit East 2008. I was issued my first ever press pass (w00t and FTW) and allowed full entry into the ongoing on the largest conference for affiliate marketers. I was skeptical at first, after all affiliate marketers are the used car salesmen of the internet, right? But, after spending two days surrounded by those people, I’m starting to think there is a lot social media-types can learn from affiliate marketers and vice verse. We know how to engage in dialogue, create community and connect. And they know how to make money. Imagine a world where we could all make money by conversing and connecting?! Brilliant!

Backing up for a minute, let me explain my conversion from skepticism to compliance. When I first arrived at the conference, I didn’t expect to get much out of being there. The only session I attended on Monday was a panel (with their awesomeness-es  Chris Brogan and Stephanie Agresta plus two others) called How is Social Media Changing Affiliate Marketing. This was more of a social media 101 session for affiliate marketers and so while it was wonderful as always to hear Chris and Stephanie speak, I didn’t learn much (my notes from the conference can be found in my twitter stream).

The next day, while attending another social media related session, I had the epiphany to add a “books I love” section to my personal blog, and to have those books not just linked to Amazon.com but to set up an affiliate account so that if anyone buys a books I recommended I would get a few coins. Brilliant. Yet so elementary. While I was impressed with myself for my ingenuity I knew it was kindergarten play. That is when I began to think that I had something to learn from this conference after all.

Conferences are, of course, not about the sessions but about the people. And it was the people that really solidified the turning of my head. I sat with Bosco Pereira from Marketing Tips and discussed the merits of both social media and affiliate marketing and briefly touched upon ways to marry the two–a conversation I am eager to continue. Adam Gilad sat on a panel about copy writing and gave excellent advice on how to build a compelling story out of your products copy. And our conversations later continued to sway my preconceived notions.

So, while I still only know as much about affiliate marketing as will fit on a thumbtack, I am intrigued.

[Many apologizes for the tardiness of this post. I was called out of town unexpectedly last week and only returned late last night.]

Twenty-Something Bloggers for Social Change

I care deeply about social change (obviously, otherwise why would I have started Media Awaken?!) and I also care deeply about my generation. At the most recent PodCamp Boston, Alexa Scordato and I presented on that very subject: is the millennial generation prepared to inherit the earth?

This is why I was thrilled when I read a blog post by Beth Kanter called Where are the twenty-something or GEN-Y Bloggers Who Are Writing About Social Change and Nonprofits? In this post she complies a list of twenty-something bloggers who write about social change and nonprofits. This is an incredible list! While some I had heard of, many I had not. SO, if you are interested in social change and want to hear what the millennial generation has to say about it, check out that post!

My First Baby: Epic Change.org

As the proud owner of a new consultancy, I thought it would be months before anyone would seek out my expertise. Oh was I wrong. I hadn’t even launched yet when @StaceyMonk and I began chatting on Twitter. When she told me about Epic Change (in conversation, not as a pitch) I fell in love. Having grown up in India, development projects are near-and-dear to my heart.

Epic Change is a 501(c)(3) whose mission states:

Epic Change believes that people’s stories are assets that can be used as resources to improve their lives. We help people in need share their “epic” true stories in innovative, creative and profitable ways to help them acquire the financial resources they need to create positive “change” in their communities.

Basically, they are a micro-finance nonprofit who gives loans intended for social entrepreneurial efforts. Because the receivers of the loans are using the money for social causes and not to start a business, the repayment system is unique:

Our somewhat novel funding model is based upon the best practices of other successful businesses and charities. We use donations to provide interest-free loans to local partners to finance their community improvement efforts. We then facilitate loan repayment by collaborating with our partners to share their stories through projects that generate income. Finally, we “pay it forward” by recycling repaid loans to help fund Epic Change in other communities.

So, the day I launched Media Awaken I had my first client! Their first project is to rebuild and expand a small pre- and primary school in Tanzania. We hope that by the end of 2008 Epic Change will have raised enough money to help purchase a school bus (as of right now the kids don’t have one), to build a playground (the kids currently play on a dirt field) and to build another classroom (the 4th graders need to become 5th graders!). I am so excited to be involved with this organization and I hope that you will check out their site www.epicchange.org and consider getting involved too!

Chris Brogan’s Rockstars

A few weeks ago, Chris Brogan asked me to categorize the Rockstars page on his site.

The list was long, and it was quite daunting to have to decide in which category to place these amazing blogs. Even more daunting was categorizing the blogs of people I know personally, what if I got it wrong? With a deep breath, I dove in. What I found was that there were some very user friendly blogs, and some that were not so much user friendly.

By “user friendly,” I mean that within a few moments of looking at the page, and without reading a single post, I knew what the blog was about. The ones that were had nice, succinct tag lines. Although, sometimes the tag lines were along the lines of “social media, technology, art and musings.” Those ones didn’t help me very much. Ranked after clear tag line came tag clouds–the kind where the more frequently a tag is used, the bigger the word is. Next comes categories, but only if they have a post count next to them. If all else failed, I looked at the about page. More times than not though, the about page was about the author, not the blog. Maybe, have two about sections?

Maybe you are thinking, “Why should I spell it out for people? Just read my posts!” Well, unless you don’t care if anyone reads your blog (and secretly, or not so secretly, we all care), why throw up road blocks. We all live hectic, jam-packed lives. Most of us don’t have time to slowly peruse a blog we’ve never read before. So, make it easy! Spell it out for you readers. Tell them exactly what they will find, why it matters, and perhaps even, why they should listen to you.

Once I got over my issues with categorization, I began to notice a trend. Almost all the blogs were people’s personal contributions to cyberspace. I was shocked at how few company associate blogs there were. If you aren’t familiar with Chris’ Rockstars page, maybe this doesn’t seem surprising. But the thing is, Chris doesn’t choose who is and isn’t on that page. If you send him the link to your blog and RSS feed (and now preferred category), he will post it on his page. Its a freebie!

Considering that his blog is ranked 899 in Technorati, he might be what you would call an opinion leader. So, why aren’t more companies taking advantage of this freebie? In my opinion, this is just indicative of the larger issue, companies aren’t getting involved enough in new media. A million blog post have been written about the subject so I won’t get into it, but it continues to amaze me.

So, here’s my advice: if you have a blog, make it user friendly. If you work for a company that isn’t fully taking advantage of all new media has to offer, kick it in gear! There is no time like now. One of my favorite quotes (but can’t remember who said it): “Today is the tomorrow you were dreaming about yesterday.”

ps. I realize that my blog doesn’t adhere to any of the user friendly suggestions. I realize this, so I’m not being hypocritical. My blog is a baby. I’m working on it. Lots of user friendliness to come!!

Reflections on Week 1

It is Monday, just like many other Mondays. But for me, today is different. It is the second Monday of Media Awaken’s existence. Clearly, the perfect time to reflect on the past few months and specifically, this past week. I’m also sitting on a bus traveling from NYC to Boston, so that might have something to do with it too…

A few months ago, Jeff Pulver offered me my dreams on a silver platter. The hopeless romantic that I am, I of course jumped at the chance, and the idea for Media Awaken was born. But back then it was called Prajna something-or-other. Through feed back from my favorite past-time (and invaluable tool) Twitter, Prajna was chucked and Media Awaken was born. I have to take a moment to thank Christopher S. Penn for suggesting the name (he even checked to make sure the URL was available before doing so). Thanks Chris!

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve known that some day I was going to save the world. No, I’m serious. Since I wasn’t born with super powers like the characters in Heroes, it took me a while to figure out just how I was going to go about doing that. So, as my personal tag line goes: I’m a SuperGeek, here to save the world. Corny I know, but it fits.

So, back to Media Awaken. How it all came together was I first discovered PR–a job where I got to talk. Perfct! Because, anyone who knows me at all, know how much I love to talk. To talk, and to relate, to converse and to communicate. The came alone New Media. Wow, now that ws a perfect fit. I got to be a communicating computer geek. Heaven. Pair those will helping non-profits and other socially conscious organizations, and I had hit the lottery.

Of course, there was much trepidation at first. I couldn’t actually start my own company! That would be crazy! Luckily I had people like Professor Steve Quigley, Amanda Gravel, and Laura Fitton cheering me on. So, here I am, the second Monday in June and I run a company. And let me tell you, WOW. I love it! I love the clients I’m working with (I will shamelessly plug them in a future blog post), I love the freedom of structuring my own schedule, but most of all I love knowing that every day I get to wake up and spend my day doing what I love most: being a super geek and saving the world!

So, more blog posts to come–some about my experience of starting a company, most about the wonderful world of 2.0.

Coming soon!

Media Awaken will have blog posts soon!