If you are part of the social media world, and especially the Twitterverse, you know that Twitter recently added a list feature so Twitter users can now organize the people they follow into smaller, more manageable groups and view their timelines together. While this makes Twitter more usable for users who are following a lot of people, it also provides a bit of insight into what people think of you, or in this case me.

As of this moment, I am on 58 lists. That seems like a large number, but not really when it is compared to the 2128 people who follow me. Does that mean that 2070 who follow me and didn’t put me on a list don’t care about my tweets? I wouldn’t go that far, but I am sure some of them don’t. I am more interested in what the people who took the time to put me on a list think of me. I’ve divided the lists into categories below and have examples of the list names.

Professional Lists (34%)
These people are interested in viewing my Twitter stream along with others tweeting about B2B, marketing or social media.
b2b-marketers
b2b-thinkers
social-media
social-media-b2b
marketing-tweeps
marcomm-advertising
industry-professionals

Local Area (34%)
The next category is of people who have grouped me with others in the Triangle region of central North Carolina
nc-neighbors
triangle-nc
raleigh
raleigh-durham
triangle-tweeple

Event Speakers (12%)
I have spoken at several recent events and a few people have categorized me related to those events.
speakers
socialfresh
smbf

A Lonely Category
Only one person has categorized me as a photographer. This is not surprising as I don’t tweet about photography or share my real photos that much. Mobile phones have made everyone an online photographer.
photographers

Huh?
These three people created lists that I don’t understand. I do know all of them, but am a bit boggled by the names. Teneighty? Information? What else are you getting on Twitter? And blinkers? All of this person’s lists rhyme, but I don’t know what it means.
teneighty
information
blinkers

It Could Go to My Head
I am both humbled and jazzed to be on the following lists. They show that I have made a real impact on people and they value my thoughts, opinions, and even friendship. Thanks. You guys are very cool.
smart-people
rockstars
thoughtleaders
smartncooltweeps
top-b2b-influentials
a-list
friends
worlddomination

What is the best list that you are on?

I recently saw a commercial for Kraft American Singles that was shocking to me. Some of the copy in the spot included “This is America and this is our cheese.” Another statement was “Only in America could we make this cheese.” All I could say was wow.

My first thought, and the point of this post, was that American Cheese represents all that is soulless about American food manufacturing. Kraft is touting a highly-mechanized, plastic-looking product that includes wasteful packaging as emblematic of America. Over 230 years of dynamic national history and pride reduced to an orange processed cheese product.

I’ve watched a lot of episodes of Unwrapped on the Food Network, which shows how processed most American food is, but I have never seen a show about American Cheese singles. I don’t think I would want to see a cheese-related liquid rolled out in sheets or poured in molds, or some other manufacturing process to make these singles. As it turns out, “these ‘slices’ are actually individually poured onto each plastic wrapper and then set to emulsify.”

I did an internet search on American Cheese. According to Wikipedia, the first use of the term American Cheese was used by the British as a derogatory term to refer to what they thought of as inferior Cheddar Cheese made in the former colonies. The term took on a new meaning once James L. Kraft patented cheese processing in 1916 to stop the aging and spoiling of cheese. According to American Heritage, “Kraft stormed the consumer market with an advertising barrage that gave cheese one of its first recognizable brand names. By 1930 more than 40 percent of all the cheese consumed in the United States carried the Kraft label.”

Further inquiry into this quintessential American product yields the government regulation surrounding the terms that can be applied to various forms of processed cheese. Again, from Wikipedia:

In the United States processed cheese is defined, categorized, and regulated by the Food & Drug Administration under the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 (Food and Drugs), Section 133 (Cheeses and Cheese Related Products). Pasteurized process cheese can be made from a single cheese or a blend of several cheeses. Cream, milkfat, water, salt, artificial color, and spices may also be added. The mixture is heated with an emulsifier, poured into a mold, and allowed to cool. The definitions include:

• Pasteurized process cheese (100% cheese which includes “American Cheese” and “Pasteurized process American cheese”), (e.g., “Kraft Deli Deluxe American Cheese”, “Land o Lakes American Cheese”, “Laughing Cow”)
• Pasteurized process cheese food, which contains at least 51% cheese
• Pasteurized process cheese product which contain less than 51% cheese and cannot be advertised as cheese by the FDA (e.g. “Velveeta, “Kraft Singles”)
• Pasteurized process cheese spread (e.g. “Cheez Whiz”)

And drilling down into the processed cheese links more, I discover a product called Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC), an unregulated, non-food product imported from overseas that is taking the place of milk in many American singles. Now I’m not going to get into the family farm debate about this, but even the existence of the debate points to more things about this product that confirms Kraft’s statements in the commercial.

Due to a history of food processing, advertising expertise, government regulations and complex trade regulations, it turns out Kraft American Singles could only be made in America.

There is something infectious about this song that makes me want to listen to it over and over. I am not normally a fan of dance music, but I really dig the beat. I am also not a big fan of the message, either, and I can chalk that up to being a parent, or maybe just leading a relatively boring life. But there is one redeeming feature that is actually a product placement. Trojan condoms took the unusual step and paid to be included in this video by Cobra Starship, featuring Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester.

According to an article in the NY Daily News, “even though Trojan is a regular advertiser on cable channels such as MTV, Comedy Central and Spike, Jim Daniels, vice president of marketing for the brand, said he is frustrated with restrictions the major broadcast networks continue to place on condom ads. ‘We have these media barriers, and so we are looking for ways to broaden our reach,’ Daniels said. ‘If this is effective, we will look at doing more of it.’ ”

This is one more instance of the blurring of entertainment and advertising due to the fragmentation and dissolution of mass media. Bands can’t get their music heard, so they license it to advertisers for use in commercials, and now brands are paying musicians to feature products in their videos so they can reach the band’s audience.

(Hat tip to Brand Freak)

I told my son, Peter, that I had a meeting with a friend of mine and we were talking about how he can use social media to grow his business. This is a common topic these days, but especially in my life. Anyway, Peter asked. “Is he paying you money.” I said I don’t know yet. Why. Peter’s response was, “Because money pays for me.”

While some devices are getting smaller, Microsoft table computer raises the ante in size and cost.

BMW has a long history of art cars, but this may be the first time they have commissioned an artist to paint with a car, rather than on a car. South African artist Robin Rhode used a BMW Z4 roadster to apply paint to a 30 by 40 foot canvas that will be on display in NYC’s Grand Central Station. He developed a different style for each color, and each style referenced another contemporary artist. He used remote control jets near the wheels to spray the paint on the canvas. The whole process from conception to artwork was captured for a series of videos on the microsite, Expressions of Joy, and a complete documentary will be on the Discovery Channel. Art patronage still matters.

As part of a work project, we interviewed George Wright, VP of Marketing, and Kels Goodman, Video Producer, of Blendtec. They are the creators of the popular YouTube videos series, Will It Blend?, which has generated over 200 million views. They spoke about the inspiration for the series, the goals behind the campaign, the keys to social media, and how it relates to B2B marketing and corporate culture. They even gave a shout out to Koroberi.

Originally posted at Koroberi.com.

As Thanksgiving is upon us, lots of people are thinking about their Thanksgiving dinner menus. Without seeming too much like a TV soap opera that plods along according to its own timeline, but magically celebrates every holiday on the correct day, I did want to write about the similarities of planning a Thanksgiving dinner to planning a business to business marketing campaign.

The main functions of preparing dinner involve planning, shopping, cooking, serving, eating and cleaning up. Each one of these relates to the steps of a B2B marketing campaign. The most important part of both a meal and a campaign is the planning. You need a goal and a strategy to reach that goal. For a meal, the goal is usually to serve your guests a tasty, well-balanced meal that they enjoy. Developing your strategy to reach that goal is what you do when you create your plan. A B2B marketing goal might be to get sales leads, increase newsletter subscriptions, or to get people to request information. The strategy you develop needs to drive those results.

Continue reading on Koroberi blog

As the month winds down, and I look at the counter on the right, I see that I probably will not make my goal of averaging 1 post per day. I have 2 excuses, and neither of them are very good. One of them is that I have been very busy and haven’t had a chance to post. Last week I took the kids to the fair. I took nearly 300 pictures while we were there, and it was all I could do to go through them and get them up on Flickr. If you follow me on Twitter (or Facebook), you might have seen them already, since I usually post a link to Flickr photo sets.

But the other reason I have fallen behind is that I have started business blogging. Our new company website includes a blog, and I am one of the primary bloggers. This is great to be able to bring a skill to work that I developed on my own. This requires me to spend more time at work fully engage in marketing blogs and the b2b and advertising worlds online. This definitely changes the amount of time I spend doing similar things at home. Before blogging for work, I spent time reading Ad Age and Adweek online, whether through email newsletters, RSS or on the web. Now I do it at work. I used to check Twitter sporadically during the work day. I was a night and weekend Twitterer. Now I watch custom Twitter searches all day long. I am constantly looking for content for my business marketing blog. All this means that what I used to do in my free time, now can get done during work hours. I only need my free time to keep up with friends’ blogs and other personal interests. Think of all the free time I should have. It hasn’t really worked out that way. I’m still getting use to this change in process.

I still need to follow Twitter at night to catch up on politics and funny videos. I still need to dedicate a big chunk of time and a whole section of my brain to content generated by Wayne Sutton. I even generate some of that content.

And finally, what makes all of this a bit odd, is that the new business site where I have been blogging the whole month of October isn’t even live yet. I’ve written posts that nobody has read. It is the ultimate blogging in an echo chamber. The good news is that the site should launch the end of this week, and I can start promoting my new content. Some of it might even get re-posted here. More posts coming soon. Maybe even some back-dated ones to fill in the past couple of weeks.

Last week I attended the ConvergeSouth Blogger Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina. This gathering of technology professionals, personal bloggers and business marketers had a decidedly political tone to it. Many bloggers are charged up over the upcoming election and are using Social Media to get their message out and connect with like-minded people. This is the core of Social Media, but the same principles apply to business marketing.

You start with a goal that you would like to reach, whether it is more sales, more customers, greater brand awareness, and you develop a strategy to reach it. Blogging is a tool that can help you reach your goal. It is just another form of communicating, according to keynote speaker Chris Rabb. The first blogger was Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet Common Sense advocated independence from England. Another form of proto-blogging was the use of quilt patterns to guide people through the Underground Railroad.

As the day progressed, there was lot of talk about the coming revolutions in Social Media. The biggest Social Media sites, MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn, were compared by speaker Anil Dash, to the days of the big three networks (ABC, NBC and CBS for you kids). These companies have too much control over our web experience and how people interact with their own data and information. Revolutions will occur from both the inside and the outside. Technology changes and improvements will allow people to control their information across the web. At the same time, people will demand more control, and get that control by going to other sites.

The lesson for business marketers is to understand your target audience. If you don’t give your customers what they want, they will not be your customers for long. In the early stages of a customer relationship, many things are overlooked, but as time passes, it is critical to provide exactly what customers need. If you can’t do it, your competitor is waiting in the wings.

And finally, internet superstar Robert Scoble spoke about how video can enhance the content of any web site. It is easy to get started with simple tools, but make sure you can record good audio. People will suffer through bad video if they can hear what is being said. And like with any business marketing campaign, the key is to have a plan. If you start a project without knowing where you are going, it is difficult to get there.

Originally posted on Koroberi.com.