Five Minutes of Me: Why I Like Plancast

I've decided to start a new podcast series. I don't have a regular schedule but 2-3 times a week I want to start recording five minute blurbs about things I'm thinking about (or follow ups to conversations I've had with folks). The working title of this series is Five Minutes of Me (I'm also testing auto-syndication to this blog, Facebook and Posterous).

Yesterday, I did my second installment (1st was for AdVerve on location-based services: my segment is about 43 minutes in) and it focuses on reasons I like the new "planning" application/service called Plancast. Think of it as FourSquare but in the future. Two reasons why it works for me (Kyle Flaherty take note):

1. I follow the right people -- and they happen to be people that I actually know
2. I've subscribed to the digest which is essentially an itinerary of cool things to do

If you like Plancast or hate it (or fall somewhere in between), let me know why in the comments below.

Back to School Podcast: Talking Future of Advertising with Simon Mainwaring

Simon Mainwaring is an author, blogger and speaker who comes from a big agency background (Wieden Kennedy, Saatchi and Ogilvy). Not too long after we started following one another on Twitter, I began noticing that Simon's updates contained a large dose of valuable links to articles, blog posts and research reports. Many of these reports were on the intersection of social, digital, advertising and marketing -- four areas that are all crucial to day-to-day role as CMO of Powered Inc

After featuring Simon as "Twitterer of the week" on my weekly podcast show with Jennifer Leggio, I decided to invite Simon to do a Back to School podcast with me to talk about the future of advertising. During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:

• Advantages of social over traditional media (as summarized in his recent post on, top 10 advantages of social media over traditional).
• Why Simon thinks social media is easier to measure than traditional media.
  
• Ways traditional and social media “play nice in the sandbox?”
• Why do you think more companies aren’t getting “social?
• Why advertising agencies are having a difficult time "getting" it.
  
• Examples of a few companies that are mixing social and traditional well.
• A few blogs that Simon draws his inspiration from (I like the fact that this isn't your traditional fare):
• Umair Haque's Harvard Business Review blog 
• Maria Popova's Brainpicker blog 
• PSFK
  

To download this podcast, right-mouse click here.

If you want to hear more from Simon on "the Future of Advertising," check out this Blog Out Loud video on Youtube.

Quick’n'Dirty Social Media Podcast Launches Today

The Quick’n'Dirty Social Media Podcast kicks off today at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET. As I wrote a couple weeks ago, this project is a joint one withAaron Strout, and it came about after a dinner debate in San Francisco. We’ll be doing all kinds of fun stuff — point / counterpoint, case studies, highlighting lesser known social networks, spotlighting cool members of the social media community, and we’ll even have regular guests. Our first show is going to be a little less formal since we want a chance to play with the format and get some feedback, so we won’t have a guest this week. But we will have other fun stuff.

Speaking of fun stuff, we’d also hosted a two-week long logo design contest. Well, you see the logo above. We love it! Big thanks to Kenneth Lim who designed the winning logo. He went above and beyond and gave us several options, and the design was so clean and fun that we had to go with it. Kenneth has won the following:

• Seagate: Free Agent Go portable hard drive
• Intel: A coveted Ajay Bhatt t-shirt
• Scate Ignite: Copy of Scate Ignite 4 multi-media presentation and e-learning software
• EuSecWest: Conference ticket -OR- MIMO UM710 mini monitor

I am sure we will do other giveaways and prize incentives in the future, so be sure to listen to the podcast. The BlogTalkRadio link is here. Will you join us?

Cross-posted from http://mediaphyter.com

Quick 'n' Dirty Podcast: Logo Design Contest

The other day, I posted about the fact that my friend, Jennifer Leggio, and I are planning on doing a weekly podcast. Being more organized and forward thinking than me, she realized that we probably needed a logo. To that end, she's put the rules up on her blog. The important stuff that you need to know if you want to enter is below...

[W]e’ve pulled together some fantastic sponsors who have contributed to a prize package for the best Quick’n'Dirty podcast logo:

• Seagate: Free Agent Go portable hard drive
  
• Intel: A coveted Ajay Bhatt t-shirt
  
• Scate Ignite: Copy of Scate Ignite 4 multi-media presentation and e-learning software
  
• EuSecWest: Conference ticket -OR- MIMO UM710 mini monitor

Want to win all of those prizes? Simply enter the contest. Some guidelines:

1. Aaron and I know the name is edgy but this is still a family friendly podcast. He has a wife and kids and I have… well… he has a wife and kids!
   
2. Our tagline is “Because social media doesn’t have to be complicated.”
   
3. Our format includes some head to head point / counterpoint, a weekly challenge to listeners, digging into unknown social networks, and highlighting up and coming social media rockstars
   
4. We’re fun but we’re serious about what we do. So fun but professional would be a good tone.

Submissions should be uploaded to Flickr or a comparable site and the link (not the attachment) should be emailed to mediaphyter gmail com.

Deadline: Friday, May 29. We want to have this up and on our BlogTalkRadio page before we kick off on June 4.

Let’s see what ya got!

New Podcast Show with Jennifer Leggio aka Mediaphyter

What do you get when you combine a year plus Twitter relationship, numerous collaborative efforts including a social media charity auction, guest blog posts and losts of link love with a dinner argument over the merit of celebrities joining Twitter? A weekly podcast show with a good friend and kindred spirit, that's what. Yup, in a couple of weeks (shooting for June 4), Jennifer Leggio aka @Mediaphyter and I are kicking off a weekly podcast show.

The working title of our show is, "Quick 'n Dirty Social Media." Here's the tenative format we've discussed:

• Case study (alternate B2B/B2C)
• Featured guest
• Opposing viewpoints based on the week's hot post/topic
• Review of a social network du jour (think FourSquare, Plurk, Tripit)
• Discuss a new exec that is blogging or twittering
• Challenge

Because we'll be kicking our podcast off in three Thursdays (6:00 PM ET/3:00 PM PT), we still have time for your feedback. Are we missing something important? Are we trying to cover too much? You can either weigh in here or on the show itself (yup, we'll be broadcasting live). I don't know about you but I'm excited!

URL for the BlogTalkRadio page is coming SOON.

Facebook as a Business Tool (Podcast)

Two weeks ago my friend, Mike Sachleben of Blitztime.com invited me to do a quick talk about Facebook and how it could be used for business. I didn't have a ton of time to prep for the call as I was actually subbing in for one of my other friends, Eric Glazer. Knowing a thing or two about the socialsphere, I'm never one to shy away from giving my $.02 on a particular topic and in this particular case, I think I held my own.

Listen in as I talk about:

• Etiquette for doing business on Facebook
  
• The differences between the audience on Facebook and LinkedIn
  
• Why Facebook Connect is going to be the next "killer app"
  
• Recommendations for good marketing/PR blogs for people to read who are just getting into the world of social

As always, I'd love to get your reactions. I know there's a ton more content to be offered up like that in CC Chapman's recent Facebook Fanpage whitepaper. Recent "Experts in the Industry" interviewee, Mari Smith, also knows a thing or two about Facebook for business so you might want to check her out as well.

Image courtesy Widget a Day

Podcast with Zach Braiker of Quiverandquill.com

I recently did a podcast with Twitter friend, Zach Braiker of Quiverandquill.com fame. Not only is Zach a talented writer but a great interviewer. His questions (below) were well thought out and did an excellent job drawing me out:

• Tell us about your background and how that lead you to social media
• You wrote a blog post on October 20th, on your company Mzinga’s blog, announcing you were leaving. Do you feel it’s unusual that your company provided you the forum of its business blog to share that message?
• I imagine, over time, your personal brand become deeply associated with Mzinga’s brand. Will your leaving affect Mzinga more deeply than the loss of a marketer in different type of company?
• Tell us about your new company.
• Now that you work with companies do you still consider yourself a citizen marketer?
• Where can one hire citizen marketers?
• Who is your favorite company using social media right now and why?
• What are some criteria a company should use to decide whether they should be on twitter?
• What’s the best marketing advice you’re received?
• If our listeners want to find more about Aaron Strout online, where should they go?

If you get a chance, head on over to his site and take a listen to our podcast on tying customer conversations into business goals.