Our guest on this week’s edition of the Bella Buzz podcast is Chad Elkins. You may remember Chad from the conversation we had about regarding the excellent social media efforts he is conducting on behalf of The Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. We are happy to have Chad back on the podcast with us to discuss Foursquare Day in Atlanta.

We invited Chad back to The Bella Buzz to tell us all about the hottest networking app Foursquare, and the grassroots event that took place on April 16th called Foursquare Day.

Foursquare is a location based application, which takes advantage of the social gaming excitement that has been most prevalent on Facebook. However in this case, Foursquare provides opportunities for real life customer acquisition and retention strategies for business. By checking in (identifying yourself as being present) at various locations, users can earn badges, points and even a classification as “Mayor.” If it ended right there, it would be a fun game that did not have much relevancy. With a back end built for business, it provides opportunities for incentives to users for checking in, privileges for Mayors, and at even more sophisticated levels, deep analysis and actionable user data.

Foursquare users can see others who are in a location where they have checked in, or simply just the Tips (reviews) they have written about the place. Since this is a location based application, it may push specials and offers from nearby locales as well.

Chad was putting together a group of venues who would participate with offers during Foursquare Day in Atlanta and for many this was their first foray into the service, so this application is still in its very early adopter stage.

In celebration of the “global social media holiday”, there were swarm parties hosted around the world where Foursquare users would gather to celebrate the event.  The founders of Foursquare were gathered in New York City, while Atlanta guests attended an event at The Cheyenne Grille as seen in this coverage from MetroMix.

Rumors appeared recently that Yahoo was making a bid to purchase Foursquare, however these are the founders of the previous location based service DodgeBall that was purchased by Google but ultimately was discontinued.

There are some serious branding campaigns that are using the badge features of Foursquare including Starbucks, Bravo and The History Channel. Chad has a great story about using the History Channel tips on a pilgrimage to the famous magnolia tree from the home of the Atlanta Crackers, Ponce de Leon Ballpark.

For more information about Foursquare, you can watch their blog and for Atlanta based activities watch Chad’s site at Foursquare Atlanta.

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

The Overflow podcast is a perfect example of a way to generate content for a particular topic of interest.  We determined early on that we were going to need a way to consistently come up with ideas to include in blog posts, and since we have these types of conversations on a regular basis anyway, why not turn it into audio content and then take the transcripts and turn into something to be indexed.

We have sort of come to a point where there is a fine balance between entertainment, quality and brand message.  We are now more open to accepting content that in the past would have been deemed amateurish, whereas now it comes across as “real”, “grassroots”, or “authentic”. This also bodes well for brands that are able to incorporate user generated content into their communications package.

Social media and the ability to listen to the intended audience is driving content creation, as corporate communications people can test various approaches and let the audience dictate what works and create based upon that feedback.

One of the things that we do not do as an agency is create link bait by posting controversial articles.  Those content developers are the online version of talk radio hosts who are trying to fire up an audience even though they may not necessarily fully believe the statements they are making.

With all the excitement about the ability to produce video and audio podcasts, we should not forget that quality photography is an excellent way to ensure that your brand message is being communicated properly. It has always been a heavily weighted component of the print production world and should not be diminished in the online realm.

It is an exciting time to be in the content development business because the tools are available at reasonable prices, so even some extreme content such as animation can be considered when it never could have in the past.

How do you feel about going way out there with your brand with the only intention of simply trying to attract attention? For example, in Atlanta the Great Southern Wood company has gone with the Yella Fella as a memorable character to reach consumers.  Could you see doing something along these lines or do you prefer to stay more literal in the messaging platform that you use?

The opening and closing theme for the Overflow Podcast is called The Information Age, by Anthony Fiumano and you can find it at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Overflow Podcast directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

It has been a fun component of the post production process, finding the perfect song to compliment the topic whether it be from a lyric, the artist or simply the tone of the composition.

However, since we are trying to set a positive example for the rest of the podcasting community we want to respect the ownership rights of the artists who created the music, so it is time to tap the well of the Podsafe Music Network to find our Overflow theme music.

We come from an creative background and would not be happy if someone else was using our output without any form of credit, so we want to abide by the Creative Commons attribution standards that have been set.

The opening and closing theme for the Overflow Podcast is called Showdown at the Bridge, by Eric Dietrich.
The topic for this week revolves around the ability of social networks, and Twitter in particular to spread unsubstantiated rumors simply due to the ease of distribution.  Recent examples of these rumors include a Twitter sactioned TV series that caused quite a stir among the “celebrities” on line until it was denied by Twitter directly.  There was also a rumor that Patrick Swayze had succumbed to his illnesses that was even picked up by the mainstream media, a denial from his publicist was required.

Cameron and I had recently been having conversations with marketing directors for tourist destinations, and we both made sure to point out that an initial step to using social media effectively as a marketing tool would be to listen for any mentions online.  The tools such as search.twitter.com and Google Alerts allow for instantaneous identification of conversations … including unsubstantiated rumors … that require some form of response.

By not listening, a negative comment or rumor might get away from a brand where a quick initial response would have quelled the rumor and put the fire out immediately.

The mainstream media now has added pressures to get stories out quickly generated by the ability of online communication to spread so rapidly, so we have to question their ability to fully source a story before they run with it.

There is alot of tremendous value in the ability of the Live Web to deliver messages on behalf of brands, however it does warrant having strong listening tools and plans in place about how to respond to communication issues.

Some brands / destinations may require a 24/7 monitoring and alert system that will ensure that adequate responses happen in a timely fashion.  It will all be based upon the potential exposure as to how closely the monitoring needs to take place and how that monitoring will be staffed. A destination such as DisneyLand should have community managers who are on duty at all times to ensure messages are handled.

EDITOR NOTE: As we talked about the ability for an app to generate messages automatically based upon Alerts, I was considering that there is a possibility of subscribing to an RSS feed via SMS messaging that might do the trick.  I have found where Google is testing a Labs application called SMS Channels in India which performs the exact function I am looking for.  Here is an article that describes the process.

How do you watch for rumors spreading? Has anything happened to you that you became aware of and needed to quickly respond to? Let us know what the situation was and how you responded in the comments below.

The opening and closing theme for the Overflow Podcast is called Showdown at the Bridge, by Eric Dietrich.

You can subscribe to The Overflow Podcast directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

The overall theme of this post is .. Are you where you thought you would end up? Our agency, Fluid Media has certainly undergone some changes over the years. We have tested alternative strategies flowing us into pools and eddies but we have continued to move in a singular direction downstream.

Before we get into that part of the podcast though, I try to speak to the inspiration that I received from listening to Sam Harrelson ’s Affiliate Fortune Cookies (which is now Thinking.fm) podcast during it’s great run.  Sam was able to make me recognize the many signs over the course of my life that pointed me towards producing audio content.

The tools,  and most importantly the distribution models are now at all of our disposal to record our authentic voices and to tell our stories. It is time to take advantage of the opportunities and not let the signs go unheeded.

I get into a ramble about the transition that the agency made as we looked at offering SEO services, and purchasing the site called CoastalBean.com so that we could practice keyword targeting and PPC practices before offering them to clients.

Next I discuss our concept about Baseballisms.com and the use of affiliate marketing, pay for performance as a way to monetize rich media content like videos and podcasts.

Ultimately, the service that we can bring to the table is creating rich media content for clients that have long lasting value and make some form of contribution.

One thing we will be doing in the near future is working towards clarifying our own brand by migrating from the BeFluid.com domain to a more accurate domain at FluidMedia.fm.  This hopefully will represent the business that we do and will help anyone find us on the web.

Who are you? Tell us what you do and how you have made it to this point.  We want to make sure that we are speaking to you in a relevant way, and please share so that we can collaborate on ways to contribute great content on the web.

Of course, these notions are easy to understand in the general population because for years anyone who was building a web presence heard about the importance of Keywords.

Well as times and algorithms changed, and the tactic of keyword stuffing became a worn out practice, alternative ways of working up the SERPs became more important.  With the changes taking place during 2009, site development must be geared towards the development of quality content.

There is no one better than Bruce Clay of Bruce Clay Inc. to explain where the algorithms are headed and what will rise up as the best practices for a web site  owner, so here is a conversation with Mike McDonald of WebPro News: 

For a site owner intending to develop their site with an eye toward the new paradigm for ranking and more importantly, converting traffic, what should they be concerned about if not Keywords (and inbound links by the way)?

Sites that are developed with rich media content incorporated as part of the overall strategy, with a complimentary social media campaign to assist with generating traffic, will lead towards better rankings and higher conversion rates.

The content is geared towards appearing where Universal Search is pulling in results for queries from numerous sources.  Video, audio, photos, and other forms of content will deliver better results for a web site than a static model.  Simultaneous to helping to get discovered via search results, this type of content has been proven to help convert site visitors once they have arrived at the site.

In the old days, traffic to a site was considered to be the best measure of success for search marketing, now the metrics are much more elaborate but give a clearer picture of site interaction.  Things such as Bounce Rate, Time on Site, and Number of Pages viewed are more critical to getting conversions.  With rich media and social networking campaigns you will see visitors spend much more time on the site, interacting with the content that is created and ultimately responding to the call to action.

Make sure to take advantage of alternative methods of distributing your rich media content such as TubeMogul versus just a singular location of YouTube.  Seek out Blog Networks that have sites that are related to your topic so that their traffic can discover your content.

As we have mentioned in the past, this all leads to a quality discussion about creative content.  Once rich media content has leveled out across most web sites and no longer acts as a differentiator for being discovered and converting, the next level revolves around producing better quality content that is more likely to achieve the intended results.

One company called Holophone has taken the approach of producing better quality audio on the web and has released 5.1 surround sound enabled video podcasts.  This is the type of advancement and initiative that we will continue to see as convergence takes place throughout our surfing experience.

Are you focused on developing content that will help you appear in the search results ahead of your competitors? Have you put the keyword concerns on the back burner in your overall strategy?

The author Marc Brownstein with that provocative title actually turns on the question itself and admits that most of the conceptual thinking, art direction and execution that he has seen has been lacking lately, and postulates that it might be due to a current emphasis on navigation and architecture skills.

Although the skills may be lacking in creatives he has encountered, it is most definitely still relevant. It is important to study and learn the basic concepts of what defines great creative, and then adapt those concepts to the medium in which they will be executed.

It is possible to believe that there was not a whole lot of late nights spent over the graphic presentation of sites such as Craigslist, Ebay or Google .. and the entire effort was placed on the user interface functionality.  However, each of these sites are the market leaders in their space. Does this reflect the fact that creativity is no longer relevant?

On the contrary, it is our belief that there needs to be a re-definition of what it means to be creative, and that there is as much a level of creativity in lines of code as there is in a graphics standards manual defining proper use of fonts, colors and logo treatments.

The creative foundation needs to be established in order to build upon it with great UI, interactive elements, applications and other technologies which will raise the creative to another level.

So to address the article, let’s look to have the creative artists today learn the basics of the skill set so that they do not erode in this new environment, and then apply them to further areas of creativity such as coding and development.  Future applications will continue to reflect relevant creative output.