Tech Forward:

OK, OK. I’ve been promising the results from the Communitelligence Social Media Resistance survey, which were released at the Executing Social Media Conference in Pasadena, California, with the help of USC’s Marshall School of Business.

Here they are. Don’t say I never gave you anything (opens in PPT)

I think the results are interesting and telling. I love how the larger a company is, the more it thinks podcasting isn’t useful for its branding. Nope, bigger companies think RSS feeds are all the rage for branding. (Are they serious?)

However, the scrappy small businesses know that online video is where it’s at. For all the small business owners reading this, don’t feel bad–you “get it” more than corporate at this point. Good on ya’!

And of all the respondents, a full 89 percent of companies think their social media adoption is below average or average. Whooty whoot! That means more business for my company!

What are your thoughts about the results?

Well, two possibly new clients and two new speaking invites later, I made it home from the Executing Social Media conference in lovely Pasadena. (I could so totally live there!)

We all had a great time, and what was most important to me, I think, was that all the attendees finally realized that they’re not “losers” for not being fully engaged with social media. There are multibillion-dollar brands that can’t yet use social media effectively, so no one should feel bad.

Social media has such a “keep up with the Joneses” element to it that companies with perfectly good marketing strategies and strong brands sometimes feel like they’re doing a horrible job.

Take that energy and put it into getting started. If you don’t have the resources or interest (or are just too leery) to launch your own social media initiative, use what I call O.P.S. (Other People’s Social) to dip your toe in the water . . . comment on other blogs and connect with people through offering advice and guidance in online communities. Never forget that you have to give to get.

And if you don’t want to be that active, just listen. Set up a Google Alert for your name, the name of your company, products, services and other phrases or unique words associated with your brand. You might even set up a Google Alert for the name of your industry–commercial construction, for example–to find out what’s being said about your industry overall.

The point is to start.

P.S. I’m still trying to get my hands on the social media resistance survey results from the Executing Social Media conference. When they’re uploaded, I’ll link to them. Thanks for your patience.

We’re doing the wrap up for Day One, and we’re all holding hands and singing “Kumbaya.“

No seriously, we are talking about what we all got out of the day; and Chris Heuer made the good point that 10 years later, we’re seeing the predictions in Cluetrain Manifesto come to life.

Heuer also shared a particularly poignant Shel Israel quote, “People usually overestimate the ability to create change in the short term and underestimate their ability to create change in the long term.” Amen to that.

George Wright from Blendtec just said, “Either you’re going to be a big boy and hike your skirt up and do something or you’re not.” Amen to that, too.

And I added to that: “As of now, everyone in this room has the potential to be a leader, and what you do with all this information that you get from this conference is going to separate the true leaders from people who can’t step up and effect change. And as of right now, you can’t say you don’t know about social media. Ignorance is no longer an excuse.”

We also spent a good deal of time talking about risk aversion and managing the legal department and its objections. To which, Jake McKee says, “Legal doesn’t own and operate your company. You do.” You tell ‘em, Jake.

Well, we’re just about to wrap up our last roundtable session, and then we’ll move into the evening cocktail hour–and that means drinks!

I also like the fact that there are some fresh faces speaking at this conference. There are some of the “usual suspects,” but there are also many new people leading roundtables and, as usual, many of the “usual suspects” are trying to take over the conversation from the new leaders. Ahhh, men in social media

Once the social media resistance survey results are released, I’ll let you know. Apparently, there is much interest about the results. I’ve been speaking and live blogging so I haven’t had much time to really look at the results, but when I post them, I’ll be sure to give you my two cents’ worth.

Oh, and did I mention that Jake McKee of Ant’s Eye View is here? The funny thing is, I didn’t know who he was until I went to his website. Then I put two and two together. Jake is a cool guy with a lot of insights about social media. (Isn’t it funny how I know people based on their websites and e-mail addresses? That says a lot about how times have changed.)

Oh, and if you want to check out photos from the conference, visit Flickr.

Well, I arrived safely here in Los Angeles to speak at the Executing Social Media conference tomorrow. I could have done without the toddler who screamed all the way from Kansas to Los Angeles, though. Someone should have told her that’s not the kind of social media we mean.

I read on Peter Shankman’s Twitter feed that he’s arrived here, as well. If you don’t know who Peter Shankman is, find out by subscribing to his Help A Reporter Out (HARO) service. It’s real, legitimate, free leads for media coverage. My company has received some great coverage by responding to some of the queries that come through his mailing list–and no, it’s not just tech stuff.

I took a nice walk around Old Town Pasadena today and I really like it. I can live here, but lately I’ve been saying that a lot about everyplace but New York. Hmmm . . . maybe there’s a small change brewing?

Pasadena is great, relaxed and the peeps are really friendly. You can wear flip-flops in just about every fancy restaurant. I collect art and I try to pick up pieces from my travels, so I asked a few local Pasadenans what Pasadena is famous for and they all said the Rose Parade. Soooooo . . . since I missed that, I’ll take a few pictures of the gorgeous architecture and leave it at that. Maybe I’ll have a fewshots framed.

Anyway . . . the conference starts tomorrow. I’ll try to do some live blogging, but I have a session to lead and a roundtable to orchestrate, so I’ll do what I can to keep you informed of what’s going on here.

Stay tuned…

Sometimes you just gotta go with counterculture brands.

And in the game of social media, the counterculture brand du jour would be NOSO. Although not for long. This anti-social social media movement is quietly becoming all the rage.

The intro video, in a Hal-ish voiceover, explains NOSO as a “. . . real-world platform for temporary disengagement from your social networking environment . . .”

And, though I love social media and all that it offers, I must admit that the whole concept is very attractive. No agenda, no texting, no Twit’ing . . . just existing and navel gazing. What’s not to like about that?

However, I’m one of the fortunate ones. Although I write for several blogs and have a monthly column at WomenEntrepreneur.com, blogging and social networking activities have not taken over my life. That is due, in large part, to how I manage my schedule. I really do like writing, so it would be pretty easy for me to get caught up in the rapture of needing to post pithy blog post after pithy blog post. I avoid that by dedicating one day for writing blog content and a portion of two other days to blog management and social media/networking activities (i.e. reviewing friend requests on Facebook, responding to LinkedIn requests, making sure my blog has my most recent speaking schedule, etc.)

I know that not everyone has the same work style or approach that I do. Many people don’t know when enough is enough. They blog and blog and blog until they have nothing left–their content is all spent, then they suffer from burnout and die. Those types need a virtual chill pill. Permission and a means to disconnect momentarily–and NOSO offers that.

NOSO is not right for everyone. Ask your doctor if NOSO is right for you.

My blogosphere buddy and internet marketer supreme, Jim Kukral, is doing a really nice thing for everyone who wants to experiment with web video but really doesn’t know where to start.

He’s just launched a website, Online Video Toolkit, that tells you all the things you need to know to make professional-quality videos on a shoestring–and how to use them to market your business.

Here’s why I say Jim’s nice (other than that I know him and know he really is a good guy): It’s all free. No cost. Nada. Zilchorina. There’s no catch, and you can win a FlipVideo camera.

I’ve gotten an advance peek at all the goodies he’s going to be giving away, and he really does go into the nitty gritty details, from lighting (which lights you need and where to buy them–he actually videos himself in the store making selections) to apparel (types of clothes to wear and which to avoid). Jim, where do you find the time?

My pals over at WME Books are thinking about creating a conference called Publishing 3.0: Books, Blogs and Beyond, but they want to make sure they develop a conference that people really want to attend.

If you’ve ever wanted to write a book, publish a book you’ve already written, write a blog or use a blog to market your book, then this is the conference for you.

To weigh in on exactly what you want to see, whom you want to speak and when you think the conference should be held, take two minutes and let them know.

Question: How many other conferences ask the participants before they schedule one single session?

Answer: Not many.

So, hop to it.

The folks at Communitelligence want to know.

As part of its Executing Social Media conference series (where yours truly will be speaking), Communitelligence, in partnership with the USC Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM), is conducting the first ongoing research to determine the degree, key sources and trends in resistance to new/social media technologies beginning to penetrate the business world.

Click here to participate…

If you couldn’t make it out to the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Excecutives’ Business Applications of Social Networking event in California, the videos and presentations from the event are available online.

Here’s some of what you’ll see:

• Wendy Beecham’s “Intro to Business Applications of Social Networking”;
• Ross Mayfield on “Leveraging Social Software for Business Value”;
• Jeremiah Owyang’s “Best Practices for Online Communities as a Marketing Tool”;
• The panel discussion, “Strategic & Tactical Implementation of Social Networks in Business,” featuring moderator Erika Brown and panelists Karen Appleton, Katie Jacobs Stanton, and Teresa Valdez Klein;
• Robin Wolaner on “Purposeful Networking”;
• Gina Bianchini’s “Launching and Growing Your Online Community.”

Happy watching! Enjoy!

If you’ve ever wondered how you can get your website to yield better results, you need to know about SitePal.

If you think you already know about SitePal, you seriously need to take another look.

As an expert about these matters, even I was able to get a good, old-fashioned schooling about SitePal’s capabilities from Yujin Sohn at the Small Business Technology Summit.

I’m amazed at what SitePal is up to right now. And the future? Fuggedaboudit! Break out your shades.

Over the past few weeks, I have been listening to the podcast of a woman who bills herself as a business coach and internet marketing pro. I kept listening to her show, hoping that it wouldn’t be the same train wreck week after week. Hoping that someone who calls herself an internet marketing expert would consult with someone for an hour or two on how to deliver a top-notch podcast. Good thing I didn’t hold my breath.

She violated the following five cardinal rules of podcasting…

1) Don’t be chatty Cathy (or Carl). If you have this tendency…curb it. The ideal length for a podcast is 12 to 15 minutes. If you are using the podcast format for an internet radio show, you can go as long as 50 minutes. But whatever you do, don’t call it a podcast and offer 50 minutes of content. That’s a tell-tale sign of an amateur!

2) Be relevant. This is BUSINESS! It’s OK to interject with a personal note or two, if that’s your style, but resist the temptation to share your personal business with your audience…unless, of course, that’s the theme of your show. In short: Keep it professional.

3) Bookend the podcast audio with a male (or female) voice. There’s a reason that the nightly news is one male and one female anchor (usually). I cannot tell you how absolutely boring it is to listen to one person’s voice for 15 to 50 minutes straight. Have a male/female introduce your podcast (the intro), its “segments” and the closing (the outro). And, for goodness sakes, pay the $40/hour and get voice-over talent.

4) Let guests be guests. Don’t have the guest segment take up the entire podcast. Don’t have a guest on more than once per month. That’s not a guest, that’s a co-host! People tune in to hear YOU: YOUR opinions and YOUR recommendations. If they wanted to hear someone else, they’d tune in to a different show. Now, if the format of your show is guest interviews, that’s great, but if you started the podcast to build your platform or to showcase your expertise, you’re certainly not achieving those goals by having guests on every week! Ya think?

5) Drop the expense excuse. A good podcast doesn’t have to be professionally mixed and remastered. This is not Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”–just make it professional. As my Aunt Lucy used to say, “You might not have a lot of dresses, but if the ones you have are cleaned and pressed, no one will notice.”

And, don’t worry…I’ve already contacted Ms. Biz Coach to give her some feedback.