Spend anytime on the Internet and you have to quickly stay on top of acronym after acronym.  SEO, SEM, PPC, LOL, SMM, Y2K, TTL, OMG….and now, Meme.  What the heck?  That is what my kid calls my wife’s mom ( his Granny ).  Well, that aint the kind of Meme I’m talking about. 

A Meme ( sound it out like Mem e ) has a couple of boring and confusing definitions:

1. An idea that can replicate and evolve.
2. A unit of cultural information that is a basic idea posted by one person that can then be transferred from one person to another and then subjected to mutation, crossover and adaptation.
3. The cultural counterpart of genes - a value or pattern of behavior that is passed from one generation to another.

 Huh?

An Internet meme is any kind of viral information ( such as a funny video or blog post ) that prompt inspiration from other bloggers.  Meme’s can be questions like: “What is your favorite Movie?” or “Tuna fish. Water or oil? What do you add to make yours?”  They are quick inserts that prompt people to react and expand on the submissions and thoughts of others.

If you are looking for a collection of meme’s to get you going, check out The Daily Meme.

I guess the next obvious “big, hip thang” will be the Papa.

Cigarrest explains the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

There in the dentist waiting room sat Entrepreneur Magazine. I had forgotten about that magazine and flipped to a page where the subscription card would most likely be. ( yeah, last minute Christmas gift to myself … I let that magazine lapse about 2 years ago ).  And there it is: “The Truth About Truemors - An interview with Guy Kawasaki.”  Guy and I go way back…..ok, he doesn’t even know that I am alive but I’ve been a big fan of his.  Anyway, the piece is a nice read.  It is a glimpse into the mind of Guy Kawasaki and his new venture, Truemors.  The site www.truemors.com let’s ‘citizen journalists’ express themselves and “tell the world something without having to run a website or a blog.” 

Truemors is another one of those “Social Communities” where the content is created solely by the site’s visitors.  The community fuels the site, its path, and even its online personality.  The online masses can choose to embrace or bash a site within a very short amount of time. 

“The blogosphere is full of angry nay-sayers who are good at tearing things down but not at innovating. They should move out of their mothers’ houses and start dating.” - Guy Kawasaki

Truemors makes money with Advertising and Sponsorship - a common method for funding such communities.  So, does this mean that companies are spending ad dollars with Social Media websites?  Do they even know the difference?  The opportunites to market a company online is quickly moving beyond just PPC and SEM/SEO ( Search Engine Marketing/Search Engine Optimization ). 

Take for example www.fthebigthree.com.  The site was created to illustrate the opportunities available to find products and services through communities rather than search engines.  For example, if you respect my opinion then maybe you will check out Truemors.com.  If you don’t….well, I guess you won’t.  But, a search engine doesn’t give you that same two-way, push/pull feel.  It pretty much just does the pushing - hoping to serve up the best match to your keyword search. 

A buzz can run through a community very quickly ( positively or negatively ) leading to the success or failure of a campaign ( even if their wasn’t a campaign to start with )…..

OK, I’m getting off track here…

Guy was asked: “What advice would you share with other entrepreneurs about this startup exercise?” 

Guy Kawasaki: The most important lessons are: Do things quick, dirty and fast; don’t wait for the perfect time/market/product; ignore the naysayers–odds are they are right, but you’ll never know unless you try; and keep things cheap so you can make a lot of mistakes.

Wow, how the Internet makes starting a business a much different process than just a few years ago.  Where is the planning and planning and the endless business plan wrapped around 100 pages of double-speak? 

Well, I have to admit that when I first started seeing “Firefox” listed in my website logs that I put it in the same category as Netscape and a host of others that have tried to garner market share from Microsoft.  As the percentage of my site visitors with Firefox continued to increase each month ( now 30% ) I had to take notice.  Developers don’t like “new” ways introduced to the viewing and interacting process.  It creates doubt that the outcome will look like it was originally planned out to be.  The graph below shows thecounter.com’s December 2007 breakdown.  I like to use thecounter.com’s stats because it’s a pretty good breakdown of the “real” Internet world stats from a collection of diverse industries and targets.

OK, so back to the original reason for the post…

I was on ComputerWorld yesterday and noticed a pretty nice article that showcases of the the tweaks for Firefox.  Check it out.

They promised, “Groceries and more, delivered straight to your door!” A few online grocery operations seem content on making a go of it.  GroceryWorks.com was created for shoppers who want to order groceries online for convenient home delivery. Status: Out of Business. 

What a great concept.  While pretending to work I can order my groceries and have them delivered.  Maybe it was just ahead of its time.  The site was clunky and slow and seemed very difficult to navigate.  Now, I must admit that when GroceryWorks.com went “away” I didn’t switch over to any of the others to give it a try…but maybe that time is here again?

A quick look at Netgrocer.com finds the “clunk” has not dimenished.  Where is the F.A.Q. so I know how much this convenience is going to cost me?  Is there a shipping charge?…oh wait, I found it buried in some help pages.  How do I find out the shipping charges? “Click on the “Shipping Info” Link on the bottom of every page to see our latest rates, estimated delivery schedule, and special restrictions for APO/FPO and Alaska or Hawaii orders.”

Another online grocer, Peapod, looks like they have drastically cut their delivery area: Chicago, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ( South East Only )…you are in luck.

So, I am reserved to the fact that I am going to have to go OFFLINE to get my groceries.  I really should make the most of coupons so I can offset the inconvenience with some money saving.  But, again…who has time to dig through the Sunday paper for coupons.  I don’t.  So, I found this site called MySavings.com. Here you can get Grocery Coupons that you just print and take up to the store.  What a great idea.  They do the searching for you and find all the deals. 

MySavings.com was developed to bring brand name coupons to interested consumers in a free and organized manner. By compiling an extensive online directory of free grocery coupons, online coupon codes and free product samples, consumers have a complete and easy portal to find grocery coupons and samples for virtually any type of product they are interested in trying.

Now, although I gotta make the trip OFFLINE in an ONLINE world…at least I’ll save some OFFLINE money.

Yeah, that is 1 BILLION ( say in your best Dr. Evil voice ).  By 2012, Social Media sites and applications such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr, will garner over one billion users.  This reported by Strategy Analytics in a report entitled “The People’s Revolution: Implications of Web 2.0 and Social Applications.”  The report notes that media companies must view social media as both an enormous opportunity and a competitive threat.  The report concludes that “the ability to develop successful targeted advertising techniques will be the key to long term financial viability for social media sites.”

User generated media will continue to compete with professional media when it comes to the attention and free time of users commented Martin Olausson of Digital Media Research at Strategy Analytics.  “If professional media companies choose to embrace social media applications it will enable a more direct and positive relationship with consumers, which will in turn drive increased engagement and loyalty.”

Read the Executive Summary:

Clipped: As a direct consequence of continued consumer take-up of broadband Internet access all over the world, the Internet and the World Wide Web are rapidly transforming into the key platform for mass communication and social interactions. For some pioneering segments, social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook have already replaced email as the primary way to communicate with peers. People all over the world are also continuing to upload pictures and video clips and are expressing themselves via blogs and in chat rooms. It is becoming increasingly clear that the established media companies will have to compete for eyeballs not only with traditional competitors but also with an ever-increasing amount of user generated content (UGC). But in spite of an estimated 373 million users worldwide in 2007, the long-term financial viability of even the largest social network sites depends heavily on the ability to develop targeted advertising techniques that as yet are largely unproven, or may ultimately be thwarted by privacy regulations. This report examines the current state of play in Social Media and assesses its future impact.

Research from credit card company Mastercard indicates more customers than ever are embracing online shopping this holiday season.  Consumers are spending more time and money than ever before online and now the popular items are expanding beyond electronics to speciality products.

MasterCard’s Online Shopping report shows that 1/3 plan to do their shopping online.  Clothing and accessories, food and liquor, and toys, games and sporting goods top the list of planned in-store purchases while books, CDs and DVDs have emerged top on the list of online spending. 

Of those who shopped last year on the Internet, 1/4 are looking to spend more online this holiday season.  The survey found most shoppers plan to have their gift-buying complete by mid December. 

Personalized Gifts and Home Decor Retailer, VisionBedding.com, offers unique gifts that are often difficult to locate online.  This new specialized market helps bridge the gap between gifts typically only found through custom, localized, brick and mortar storefronts.  VisionBedding, offers such items as photographic girls bedding, Sports Bedding, photographic blankets, and even photographic dog beds.  It’s truely a customized yet localized experience. “All our girl bedding products are top quality and made one at a time here in the USA.” notes the website.  “Each individual item can be personalized or customized by YOU! We use new technology that allows us to specially dye any photo, image, or design into all our bedding products.”

DANG IT!  Why didn’t I think of that.  OfficeMax created a very addicting, viral marketing piece where you can insert your head into a dancing elf.  I didn’t spend as much time as I should have outlining the “heads” but you get the point.  This is the best I’ve seen since the “beat the Penguin” or whatever that was.  Maybe someone can point me back at that. 

Anyway, check it out for yourself at www.elfyourself.com.  You can see mine here.  I had some difficulty hitting the site from anything other than IE7 with FlashPlayer 9.  Strange they didn’t prompt me to update my flash version…oh well…very funny indeed.

A recent article in the Rochest Democrat and Chronicle interviewed Luke Wroblewski, a former YAHOO designer and now founder of LukeW Interface Designs, a consulting firm.  Wroblewski had some interesting things to say about the role “design” takes in an increasingly focused functionality-centered Internet.  “It’s a combination. I’m not going to say technology isn’t a key driver of using Web sites. But there are more things than that. There’s the actual consumer experience. People go to things that resonate with them emotionally.” - Wroblewski

We totally agree with Wroblewski and have for years.  A website can set the stage for the entire website visit….positively or negatively.  If the user doesn’t get the “warm and fuzzy” then your technology better be through the roof.  The design helps sell what you are selling.  The design helps you lay the foundation.  The functionality ties it all in and gives it substance and the visitor a reason to return. 

“The whole 2.0 thing has this marketing buzzword context with it. But there are fundamental transitions in the technology that influence how you do design. In the initial stages of the Web, it was about moving from place to place. Now we’re seeing a lot of different ways of interacting with the world - manipulation, you can create access, you can upload videos, you can put your feedback within pages, you’re no longer just a passive consumer jumping from place to place. There’s this new capability you need to figure out how to take advantage of.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Are the days of search engine marketing dead…..or on life support? Probably not, but there are new opportunities for companies to reach their audiences that are beyond the traditional methods of organic search optimization and pay-per-click advertising.  

These aren’t the old days anymore. The search boom was fun, but the Internet is huge and search isn’t the only game in town. There are an endless number of methods and places to spend your money besides Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Quit thinking about ranking #1 and start focusing on where your audience is.

Whether you are selling products or services, a well planned and executed social media campaign is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention, conversions and traffic.

Learn more at FtheBigThree.com