12 Minute Marketing – one of the products we’ve been tweaking here at HQ – is a robust marketing training program.

When Rick Strater and I set down the path of creating 12 Minute Marketing, I remarked that it was going to be quite like writing a book. And any book has to make sure it tells a story before you make the decision to open it up at the bookstore, look inside when you’re online, or, heck, even check it out at the library.

So we created a whole bunch of marketing materials, we have an Affiliate Program, and we’re on all of the channels you’d expect (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Still, we have to condense the story from 60 lessons – 12 hours of content – down to 4 minutes. And we do so to help you figure out if this course is right for you.

Take a look at the video and let us know what you think!

We love Social Media Gurus almost as much as we love Social Media Ninjas. But do you need one of either?

When we launched 12 Minute Marketing earlier this week, we knew that it might be a little controversial. 12 Minutes a Day and you can become a better marketer? Really?

Well, we think we have created a pretty dynamic program that can help small businesses do just that.

But the question that comes up quite a bit – what about the Poor Social Media Guru?

Really – they’ll get you 200,000 Facebook Fans, but what happens after that? Do you have something to talk to them about? Do you have something valuable to share with them?

So, if you spin through this video from 12 Minute Marketing, you’ll see that…well, while we’re not saying to fire the Guru, you should come armed with some pretty pointed questions.

At some point, you’ll start to figure out what exactly defines you. Then you become the target customer, and you want to discover more stuff like what defines you. Like this, from Constantines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30yEWwQEYIk

So this video got us thinking: why them? How did we “discover” them?

Well, it actually goes back to these guys: Arkells.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFrTZe-wQPI

Who we discovered when we saw them, in Chicago, opening for these guys: Tokyo Police Club.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1yS7Jnq7qw

Which leads us back to our Holistic Social Media concept.

Here’s that photo again – my, this is a rather visual post, no?

(c) 2010, Area 224

See how “your business” is in the middle? Well, in the case of these three bands, replace the word “music” in the middle circle.

Then make it bigger, and tilt the other circles around…

Inbound Marketing FTW.

These guys have a presence on the social networks, there are blogs from their record labels, and there is a tiny bit of concert-oriented geo-sharing going on.

And, since we link above to the Twitter accounts of all three, you can see that there’s SOME Twitter activity.

But the winner, here, is video. AND the keywords associated with the videos – specifically on YouTube.

And the recommendations attached TO the videos – of other songs to check out.

AND THE COMMENTS.

In-between the obligatory “Justin Bieber” comments (positive and negative), you can find other recommendations. “I heard these guys live, but you should also check out Constantines.”

So, is there a “Right Way” to do Holistic Social Media?

The Canadian Indie Rock acts we’ve mentioned today are there on all the platforms – but the product seals the deal. There’s no right way – but having something that people like as the core of your business – That. Is. Vital.

That video was in Portuguese – and, since that’s what Brazilians speak, and Brazilians love their Twitter. Well, as of Monday, there’s an English version. (250,000 views since then. Probably one Today Show or Mashable mention away from explosion.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHNNPM7pJA

While, IMHO, Portuguese looks so amazingly cool on the web, the group behind it scores serious points for whipping one up in English, too. They’re called Excentric and they’re in Lisbon.

Community. Welcome to the buzzword that won’t die. Are you building community? How are you nurturing your community? What kind of community do you have?

We think this word will take over for the word “engagement.”

BUT…Community will continue – and continue to make sense for marketers and communicators who have to sell this social stuff to the board room.

Want to engage your customers? Meh.

Turning your customers into a community, though, makes a heck of a lot more sense. Community is something you build. People want to join a community that makes them feel welcome. Look for this buzzword to have some meat to it in 2011.

Accountability. Marketers have struggled with this for ages – and, if you’re in the social media industry (there is one), you’re probably smack dab in-between ad people and PR people. And both sides have all the answers. And neither side wants to relinquish control. And…

The web, the social media revolution, internet marketing, holistic social media – all that stuff rolled into one gives marketers the ability to measure almost infinite amounts of stuff. Which means accountability moves to the forefront.

The key on this Accountability movement – getting internal silos to talk to each other. Analytics people – meet the PR team. Ad guys – here are the sales gals.

Spend $10,000 on social? Quantify it to $50,000 in sales. Or move on. Soft sciences – like “brand value” and “sentiment” – those will start to disappear.

Wikipedia QR Code

QR Madness. Last year, you probably could have said that “every brand will have a Twitter account” and been correct. This year, the prediction is that every brand will jump into the QR pool with both feet.

They have to – these little code thingies are becoming vital because so many people don’t use the web on their computer. They use it on their phone. (An estimated 40% of Facebook users are accessing Facebook from a mobile device.)

These codes will give rise to scavenger hunts, brand marketing pieces, interactive content, the list goes on.

TV goes live, again. Awesome article in the most recent issue of Fast Company that talks about TV’s use of Twitter. Here’s a link to it, we suggest you read it immediately.

Gist: Shared experiences are back.

If you think about Twitter as a real-time conversation engine, then you can see the potential. People start talking about Justin Beaver (what one of the #224lings calls him), then there’s a rush to see what is happening with the Biebs. Next, you find out that he’s on some show right now. It’s a shared experience.

Time-shifting Glee is okay. Watching Glee while millions of others watch Glee AND commenting with them on whether or not Gwyneth can actually sing: the water cooler isn’t waiting for you in the office the next morning, it is happening right now as you watch the program.

And Brand Marketers can glean lots from what is said.

Your turn: what are the trends you see coming down the 2011 pike?

Thanks, Google. Really, Thanks!

It’s seriously cool – everybody loves to see their name in lights. In this case, name in lights in a personalized video.

It’s clever as heck – you can download your name on the moon, and they are very tongue-in-cheek on the use of technology – and the perils of the “project.”

Here’s a link to our version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgtnNc1Zplc

We’ve talked about viral videos before – how you really can’t plan for something to go viral, but you can create killer content and hope for the best.

However, since “Hope is not a Strategy,” it helps to have a few elements that can put the possibility of success in your corner. And, this Meme-worthy video has all of the elements of Holistic Social Media. For instance:

Influencers. Real influencers, like Paulo Coelho. I don’t know what his Klout score is and I’m not sure I really care. I do know that I have read at least one of his books.

A Good Story. Want action, adventure, international intrigue? Hey, the Nativity has it for you.

The Whipsaw Effect. Would Mary really email Joseph to say she needed help during the first Christmas season? Huh? Yup, that’s whipsaw for you.

Brazilians. Some wacky number of Brazilians use Twitter. And 47% of users of Orkut are Brazilian. Wanna go viral? Fala Portuguese.

Enjoy this really cool Natal Digital.

5 Categories. Holistic Social Media.

Not too too difficult if you think about it. There are new sites, new tools, new ways of looking at the same old stuff launching seemingly every day. But, as we shared – and learned – during BOOM Camp 2010, big charts and graphs are great if you’re knee-deep in analytics all day. Most people aren’t.

So, to borrow from Lloyd Bridges’ Admiral Benson character in Hot Shots:

“Give it to me straight, Ted. Dot every comma.”

(c) 2010, Area 224

So, behold. The 5 Categories of Holistic Social Media.

You can argue with the categories if you’d like – for instance, we expect to have a few darts thrown our way when we talk about “Microblogging,” as that category also includes “Sharing” and “Bookmarking.”

Oh, and we think that Geo-Sharing – the Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Facebook Places landgrab that’s going on – well, it deserves a category of its own.

A couple other things to let y’all know about before we begin our javelin-catching exercise:

1. YOUR BUSINESS is at the center. Duh.

That does mean, though, that the whole thing may not make sense for you – maybe you’re B2B and Geo-Sharing seems like a wasted exercise. Fine. You don’t need to do it. Because…

2. It sorta kinda resembles a body for a reason.

Blogging is the head, the nerve center. Your business is the heart.

If the Video leg or Micro-blogging hand don’t add up to that much for you – well, these are not the most critical components.

Happy to take any darts or comments from the peanut gallery.

Do what this thing does:

We watched the infomercial for this bad boy, and we couldn’t help but think about Social Media Ninjas – and how they are often self-appointed and can rarely back up their claims of Ninjahood.

Let’s go to the Tale of the Tape.

The Base Unit – Ninja 1100.

The Ninja 1100′s base unit is the kind of blender your puny blender wants to be when it grows up. Armed with blades that aren’t just at the bottom, this keeps the flow of all the creamy goodness of your smoothie moving up and down while blending.

Imagine an army of little ninja warriors chopping blueberries into bits of antioxidants while barely breaking a sweat.

Pitcher, blades, etc. are all dishwasher-safe.

“More than just a food processor. More than just a blender.”

We could go on and on. We officially want one.

The Base Unit – Social Media Ninja.

Will use a bot-focused approach to get your Twitter account to 2000 followers, and will also use a bot-focused approach to get you a few hundred “Likes” on Facebook. Both of which you can choose to ignore when you realize there’s no real reason for doing this.

The Extra Pitcher – Ninja 1100.

You have GOT to be joking. There’s another pitcher? It’s bigger – like 70, no 72 ounces!

What isn’t even mentioned on the website – but is mentioned on the infomercial to a point where you won’t forget it – is that this machine turns “ice” into “snow.”

This is the key for restaurant-quality frozen drinks.

SNOW.

You can make 72 ounces of snow.

They even demonstrated a mocha drink that was nothing more than chocolate syrup and ice, maybe milk or coffee or something. 50 calories per serving.

The Extra Pitcher – Social Media Ninja.

What, you want more? We’ll give you more.

Except, as a “Ninja” of the Social Media type, we can’t totally tell you what exactly that “more” is.

We didn’t know you needed something like “snow” to differentiate your product from other products.

We were too busy focusing on the fact that we’re Ninjas.

The Dough Hook – Ninja 1100.

You need bread dough. Cookie dough. Dough for that Ninja Pizza you’re gonna make.

Enter the 1100′s Dough Hook.

So you don’t just have a blender, or a “snow maker,” but you also have a food processor that makes dough.

Awesome. Totally awesome. This might be the only kitchen gadget you will ever need – and you didn’t know you needed all of this.

The Dough Hook – Social Media Ninja.

What now? We have to make bread dough, too?

Our bots can’t handle that.

We give up. This is not fair.

Final Tally: Ninja 1100 – 3, Social Media Ninja – 0.

And what does this mean for your marketing – no matter what your industry?

Well, while the Ninja 1100 might seem to be positioning itself based on “Features” vs. “Benefits,” a closer look tells us that, in this case, a masterfully designed product can have “Features AS Benefits.”

Feature: great base unit with different blades and stuff.

Benefit: the only kitchen product you’ll need. (You benefit by clearing out your cupboard.)

Feature: additional pitcher is huge and makes snow.

Benefit: snow makes better drinks, you can please a crowd.

Feature: dough hooks.

Benefit: see the part about needing less contraptions in your cupboard.

The Social Media Ninja is likely to focus on “numbers” as your feature. And “leads” as your benefit. And maybe that can all be quantified. But still…give me a Kitchen Ninja over a Social Media Ninja any day.

Disclosure: Area 224 has no relationship with this product. If you buy one, you are free to invite us over for a smoothie.

Amplifier, thanks techfuels.com

Bad thing about social media: you can amplify bad business.

If you watched any of the Amazon imbroglio on November 10, 2010, you’ll know what we’re talking about.

One bad decision – or one lack of a good decision – can be put under a magnifying glass and go viral in a heartbeat.

The problem for business people is that often the good doesn’t get amplified as quickly as the bad.

Search, for instance, for happy stories about United Airlines. Where do you start? What are the terms you look for?

On the other hand, search for United Breaks Guitars and you’ll find the now-famous video. And its 9 million views. And the two follow-ups from the guy. And on, and on.

Goodwill, brand reputation, loyalty – gone in 60 seconds.

Amp – li – fi – ca – tion.

How do you prepare for this reality? The reality that, at some point, your business will screw up and you will face amplification to the nth degree? SOME steps to follow:

Delegation.

If you’re a one-person shop, this could seem impossible – but you have to have a delegate, an aide de camp, someone you can bounce stuff off of. Work on building this network now.

Simplification.

Not only do you need to do scenario planning – what could possibly go wrong? – but you need to break problems – real and perceived – down into their simplest chunks. Be prepared to do that as quickly as you possibly can.

Amazon’s issue, which will be discussed ad nauseum, was not broken down into simple chunks quickly enough. “(1)We’re a free enterprise that can (2) decide not to sell something that (3) puts innocent lives at grave risk.” Three chunks. 30-second decision. Done.

Gut.

Should we really be doing this? Is this the type of thing that will come back to haunt us? Are we associating ourselves with unsavory characters?

Lots of people sell lots of books. Lots of people claim to be influential and want special treatment. Etc., etc.

In the go-go “the customer is always right” universe we’re in, big brands are often afraid of who to kowtow to, or of not being PC enough, or of rustling the wrong feathers.

Amazon’s decision to publish and sell a book they should not have sold, if shared with a focus group or beta-tested with a user group, would have been resoundly panned.

Plan for the Amplification now.