Power Profile: Techno//Marketer

July 18, 2007

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This is Matt. Matt runs a Mac at home, keeps a Q by his side and will soon own a 40-inch HD TV. He kinda looks like Prince William, doesn’t he? If you missed his blog, you may have run into Matt on Facebook, Flickr, MyBlogLog, ziki, Skype, ICQ, AIM, Second Life, del.icio.us, twitter or LinkedIn. You may have also caught him as one of 100+ authors in the brand new book called Age of Conversation. Matt’s chapter talked about how “technology is the thread that binds conversation.” He wrote that the collective voice bloggers form is re-defining publishing. “This is not publishing as usual. This is not business as usual. It’s time to redefine usual.”

According to Matt’s blog, Techno//Marketer, Matt is an interactive marketing strategist, speaker and technology evangelist working at DigiKnow, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio. What he doesn’t tell you is that he eats, sleeps and drinks social media. He even recommends it to clients.

Although he doesn’t come right out and say it, Matt places marketing professionals into one of two categories – those who are old-school, sleazy marketers who are unable or unwilling to change and those who aren’t. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re in the latter. I’m a big fan of Matt – he takes the time to integrate a ton of video with his site and I appreciate that. Here is what Matt said when I cornered him with a ton of questions:

How would you describe your blog to your mom?
Ironically I just did this a couple of weeks ago when I was home for my sister’s graduation. Really, my explanation to her is no different than what I tell clients. It’s a website where I am the author and editor. I post my thoughts on marketing five days a week and interact with other bloggers. She got it right away once I showed it to her. I find that seeing is believing. The same is true with clients. When you show them the comment threads, photos of gatherings where I met other bloggers and also show them the level of people who are engaged in this space they get it.

What blog post (of your own) are you most proud of and why?
The post I am most proud of has to be my Google is stalking me piece. It was the post that I realized that going outside the norm pays off not only in traffic, but in the interest level of others. I got a lot of good feedback on that and it led to my becoming an editor at The Madison Avenue Journal. The lesson for me was to take advantage of all of the options available and constantly evolve the format. Looking back now I would have done it in video, but I wasn’t comfortable with it at the time.

What two podcasts do you listen to most often?
I listen to Joseph Jaffe’s Across the Sound and Anna Farmery’s Engaging Brand podcast. They both have very unique perspectives, they invite great people on to participate and they really try to reach out to their audience to steer the episodes.

How many hours a week do you spend blogging?
I spend probably 20+ hours a week between writing, reading, commenting, posting photos and editing and shooting video. It’s a real labor of love for me. Sometimes I can’t sleep at night because I’ve thought of something new to post. I love it!

How long do you expect to continue blogging? What’s your end game?
That’s a really hard question to answer. I honestly don’t see an end for me. I love thinking and writing and this is a natural extension of what I love to do. Some people have asked me why I blog about what I do for a living and the answer is simple. I really do love this stuff. I’ve known I wanted to be in marketing since I was very young and this medium has opened and continues to open doors for me every single day. I also love helping and teaching people who are new and have a desire to change the world.

What one thing would you change about your blog if you had the time?
I’ve been working on a custom skin for my blog for quite some time, but have been too busy to give it the attention it needs. Look for the new look and feel later this year.

What is your favorite blog plugin?
Honestly I like MyBlogLog the most. I can see when friends are checking me out and it lets me connect with new visitors when they first land on my site.

Favorite beverage to drink while you blog?
For me, coffee is the staple of blogging. I usually read and write for the blog in the morning or evening so I really need to wake up/stay awake.

Ok, so you love blogging. How about non-blog sites and publications. Do you read any?
I read AdAge, the Wall Street Journal, items that come across my Twitter feed, the NY Times, National Geographic, Popular Photography and lots more that I can’t think of right now.

Aside from blogging, what’s your full time job?
I am a marketing strategist and technology evangelist at a web marketing shop called DigiKnow in Cleveland, OH.

Worked with any cool/interesting clients?
Some of my best learning experiences so far have come through my work with professional sports teams. It’s fast paced, innovative and they’ve been using social media successfully for years. It’s great when you can combine something you’re passionate about with what you do for a living.

I know this will be hard for you considering you’re an internet marketing ’strategist,’ but forget about strategy for a minute and tell us what specific online marketing tactics you prefer or recommend most.
I think the best way to get in to social media specifically is blogging. The barrier to entry is pretty low (minus your time) and the results can be huge. I’ve see success in B2B clients who have really leveraged the medium to position themselves as a thought leader and resource. It’s a nice thing to sell, because I do it and love it. My passion comes through loud and clear. From the central blog I advise clients to use their network on LinkedIn, create a profile on Facebook, Flickr, MyBlogLog, del.icio.us, twitter, etc. and really just start using them on a regular basis. Once people get into the flow of things they keep pace well.

What is your greatest piece of interactive marketing advice?
My greatest piece of advice for anybody working in the space or with a company in the space is TRY THINGS. Digital is so cheap and development cycles short that it’s very easy to try things. If you’re thinking about a blog, start one. Post to it for a couple weeks. Set up a Flickr account. Build your own network with Ning. The tools are there and they’ve never been easier or more affordable than they are right now. I think agencies tend to over-plan things and they just need to start doing things. Fail quick, adapt and relaunch.

Let’s talk SEO. You start.
Personally I think that beyond the basic tenets of site structuring and navigation, additional SEO is just gravy and won’t return on the investment companies make on it. Just take care of the basics, make sure the site is set up right and definitely use social media to improve rankings. It’s amazing how much social content is filtered and indexed now.

Quick client counseling simulation: A client calls to ask about “tags?!?” What the heck are they and why are they important, Matt?
I usually explain tags as categories. You basically put content into a category by tagging it and you can go back later and look it up. Then you extend that across the network and look at what other people put in that category. I use a real-world example in my presentations. I talk about booking a trip online. Let’s say you find a great deal on a flight to Spain. You tag that web page with the words “Spain”, “flight” and “deal”. Later when you go back to look up the information you can see what other people have tagged with the word “Spain” to find hotels and restaurants. It’s a simple example, but it usually focuses people and they get it.

Ok, phew, now let’s talk technology. First, the cell phone.
I use a Motorola Q with Verizon service. I love the service, broadband access and always-on email. I am up in the air with the phone itself and I’m thinking about switching to a Blackberry at some point. If I had my way I’d switch phones every month just to keep on top of what’s out there.

How about the desktop. What kind of rig are you running?
I work at home and at work on an Apple MacBook Pro. I love the machine, have had really great experiences with it and it’s absolutely awesome for blogging. Built-in camera, mic, all the apps you need to podcast and produce video. It’s a bit more pricey than a PC, but the total package is cheaper once you account for the software you’d have to purchase for a similar PC.

What’s the next big technology purchase going to be?
I’ve been eyeing a nice 40 inch HD TV actually. I can’t believe I’ve held off on HD for this long and I think it’s about time to jump in.

Alright, time to declare. What are your thoughts on Second Life?
I think that for the right audience SL is great. It’s ONE tactic to reach the audience. I think a lot of people in the media start looking at companies in the space and over-hype it. Companies should formulate a strategy around hte community in SL. The more value the users receive the more the company will. Right now we’re in the wild west of virtual worlds. Equate this to the Web back in 96-97. Anything goes and business models are still in process. We’ll see where this is in a couple of years, but if you’re trying to reach 16-25 year-old, tech savvy men you may want to think about giving it a shot.

Have you posted any videos on YouTube, Google, etc.? Can we see?
Absolutely! Video has become a huge part of my blog and will continue to play a larger role in the content I create.
[http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mattanium]
[http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=958567846]

Since you utilize video on your blog so much and you appear to have your videos spread across multiple sites, which video site are you most fond of and why?
That’s a very interesting question. When I first started out, I planned on posting everything on YouTube. They have 60%+ of the video network traffic and organic results are big there. When I posted my first video that ran over 10 minutes, I had to reconsider. For some reason they limit the time per clip to 10 mins (probably to prevent piracy). I looked around and I started loading everything on BrightCove. The quality is tops and it’s used by some big names like the Wall Street Journal. The length allowance is better and the encoding time is quicker.

In the end, I load each video to BrightCove, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Revver and to my podcast feed at LibSyn. It makes the entire process more lengthy, but it reaches the maximum amount of people possible.

Please rank Second Life, Twitter, del.icio.us, Facebook and LinkedIn from least important internet marketing tool to most important (5 to 1):

I would rank them as follows:
1. twitter (most important)
2. del.icio.us
3. facebook
4. linkedin
5. second life (least important)

Why did you rank them that way?
I ranked them in the order that I use them most and get value. Twitter has been a darkhorse for me. I didn’t know what to expect going in, but it’s turned out to be fantastic. del.icio.us is my default tagging system and it feeds in to my blog as well. Facebook is coming along and has bumped out LinkedIn, which keeps getting less valuable for me personally. Second Life is more like a hobby for me at this point. I use it in waves and to do research for work.

Aside from the five internet marketing tools/applications mentioned above, what others do you swear by or think deserve more attention than they’re currently receiving?
Other apps that I use are Google Reader (hands down the best feed reader around), Google docs and analytics and Flickr (for image hosting and sharing). Those are my stape applications that I use daily.

What other hobbies do you have?
I am an amateur photographer [http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattanium], golfer, tennis player on top of spending time with my wife and two golden retrievers.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that your readers don’t already know.
One thing that most people don’t know about me is that I was born and raised in Louisville, KY. If you talk to me now you won’t sense an accent, but when I first moved I was teased a lot for it. Nothing makes you drop something like that faster than some peer pressure.

What famous person do you most look like?
A lot of people (mostly family) tell me that I look like Prince William of England. Take that for what it’s worth.

How do you think newspapers will evolve over the next 15 years?
I think newspapers will stick around as long as they can find a way to stay local, relevant and timely. Some papers may move to digital-only distribution if and when broadband penetration reaches 90+% of Americans. For now, it’s too easy to pick up a copy, flip through it and drop it in the trash. Net reading takes getting used to and has its drawbacks for sure. Papers that don’t stay local will start to die off.

What is the greatest threat facing the marketing industry?
I think the greatest threat facing the marketing industry is marketers. Ironic, yes. More accurately I think that old-school, sleazy marketers who are unable or unwilling to change are going to cause trouble for the rest of us.

How has the Power 150 helped you/your blog?
The Power 150 has really helped me to gauge the success of my blog and explore new blogs, help me set goals for my own blogging and reach out to people who I wouldn’t have found otherwise to make lasting connections. My personal goal is to be in the top 150 by the end of this year.

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Comments

7 Responses to “Power Profile: Techno//Marketer”

  1. University Update - YouTube - Power Profile: Techno//Marketer on July 18th, 2007 6:53 am

    [...] Yahoo Link to Article youtube Power Profile: Techno//Marketer » Posted at Todd And - The Power To Connect on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 Power Profile: Techno//Marketer 18-Jul-07 [ tmpostheader.jpg] This is Matt. Matt runs a Mac at home, keeps a Q by his side and will soon own a 40-inch HD TV. He kinda looks like Prince William, doesn’t he? If you missed his blog, you may have run into Matt on Facebook, Flickr, MyBlogLog, ziki, Skype, ICQ, AIM, Second Life, del.icio View Entire Article » [...]

  2. ProductivityGoal on July 18th, 2007 3:04 pm

    103 Authors Make Conversation…

    The Age of Conversation officially goes on sale today at Lulu.com and is available in hardback for $29.99, paperback for $16.95, and e-book for $9.99….

  3. Mark Goren on July 19th, 2007 11:28 am

    Great interview, guys! Really enjoyed it.

  4. C.B. Whittemore on July 26th, 2007 6:22 am

    Terrific series! Thanks for sharing. I have a new appreciation for Matt and Marc and Kami. Very cool.

  5. Anna Farmery on July 27th, 2007 2:08 pm

    Wow - Matt I am honoured that you have my podcast up there….My mum has just come over to stay and I have to thank you for making me look good, she is now impressed with me - !

    Great interview and insight.

    Anna

  6. Want a Power Profile? : Todd And = Marketing + Media on August 27th, 2007 1:25 pm

    [...] Matt Dickman of Techno//Marketer (P150 = 160) [...]

  7. Advertisement Methods » Blog Archive » Power Profile: Techno//Marketer on January 31st, 2008 10:58 pm

    [...] Power Profile: Techno//Marketer 18-Jul-07 This is Matt. Matt runs a Mac at home, keeps a Q by his side and will soon own a 40-inch HD TV. He kinda looks like Prince William, doesnt he? If you missed his blog, you may have run into Matt on Facebook, Flickr, MyBlogLog, ziki, Skype, ICQ, AIM, Second Life, del.icio source: Power Profile: Techno//Marketer, Todd And - The Power To Connect [...]

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