Race Cars and Rock Stars

When I was a kid, I could entertain myself for hours; sometimes entire days, with my books, music, and toys. I had a good childhood. Then I met my first love which was hockey. I was hooked for the next decade and a half reading books about it, playing whenever and wherever I could. And despite my mother's disappointment, I was never going to be the starting goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

We were middle middle-class. My folks probably lived paycheck to paycheck most of the time. But they always found a way to put food on the table, pay the bills, and get my sister and I cool gifts at Christmas. Nothing about my life is a story for the ages.

Fender Telecaster and a set of Pilot Sport Cup 2s

There is something strange that humans possess which no other beings experience and that is a yearning for more. Our cat doesn't spend her days wishing she was a panther. She is a content companion who thinks we are awesome because we give her food a few times a day and a comfy place to nap all afternoon.

Sometimes I watch super car channels on YouTube and imagine owning a Bugatti Chiron, but I don't then spend the next two hours being depressed I will never have one. I don't listen to music wishing I was the rock star either. If we're unhappy, money in the bank, adoring fans, and a $3 million hyper car in the garage won't help.

The reason for our unhappiness is often because we can't define what will make us happy instead of looking at what is good in our lives that already brings happiness.

But I will take the Chiron in navy blue, thanks.

_________________________________________________________________

Humble Brags and Gladrags

I've been doing it for over a decade. Each day on the social web, I post a quip, quote, birthday, or historic event. It's not meant to change the world; it's just something fun. You can read it then move on with your day.

For instance, September 24th was the 267th day of 2022. The post was about Muppets' founder Jim Henson who was born on that date. The full content read; Day 267 - “Life’s like a movie, write your own ending; keep believing, keep pretending.” Jim Henson (Sept 24/36 - May 16/90).  

Your poor old granddad had to sweat to buy you.

The idea of social networks was to connect and share. I don't know about you but I've grown tired of people trying to portray that their lives are an endless pool party, hot spot vacation, and joyride of awesomeness. The thinly veiled humble brag really needs to go. 

I know we probably wouldn't find a book or movie about some random dude who is born, goes to school, gets a job, works for forty years, has two weeks off every year to go camping, retires, and dies, all that interesting so I get it. But can't we strike a balance somehow? We want to consume interesting content, but we can do better than trying to out do each other, can't we? 

I suggest you just throw them all away.

The Kardashians, Real Housewives, and Paris Hilton share a trait - they are all famous for being famous. The term was coined for someone who attains celebrity status for no clearly identifiable reason as opposed to having actual talent or skill. 

One of the first famous for being famous was Zsa Zsa Gabor. She was an actress for a few years, married nine times, and a celebrity for over six decades. 

All I thought I had to do was smile.

The sad reality is thousands think they can rise to stardom and riches by aiming to become a YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok star. The sadder - some succeed.

My hope is rekindled, however, when I see a post about someone overcoming adversity or helping others. It's nice to see the humanness and selflessness we are all capable of possessing. So maybe one of my daily posts will make you smile or think or pause, and perhaps something you post will make someone feel better. 

It's worth a try, don't ya think?

__________________________________________________________________

Your Answer Might be Steps Away

I shared this in a presentation recently and shared it here previously. It gets a reaction every time so I thought I’d share it again. Yes it's a clever commercial but the message is what’s important.

As most wind down the year and enjoy some needed rest and family time, the work and stress will be waiting for them when they return to work in January. The pressures of making revenue numbers are often the very catalysts to crush creativity. But if you open your mind, the solution might be closer that you think.

Will you make the next step?

Kneale Mann

volkswagen

Data Are Worthless

If you own a company, manage a business, run a department or contribute to a team, you are intimately aware of the time constraints you face every day. You have deadlines and meetings, emails and projects as well as constant reminders of the bottom line. And what should you do about all this online stuff?

There are close to two billion of us online reading, digesting, publishing, sharing, tweeting and conversing. The amount of content published in a day is unrelenting and new spaces are being built constantly.

Our Insatiable Appetite

The choices can overwhelm you, the so-called experts can hound you and the decision remains how to improve the organization. And unless your company is called “campaign”, you need a strategy and long term solutions.

It’s not difficult to find someone who will lay claim to their vast knowledge of all things digital through blog webinars, Facebook symposiums and how-to LinkedIn seminars. Yet with a click of your mouse, you will be falling over self-proclaimed experts who can give you link bait and search juice for a handsome fee.

Under The Hood

Perhaps the not so sexy but valuable aspect of the social web that few talk about is research. Over and above any activity you partake through the myriad digital spaces, you can unearth rich useful information about your company, what people are saying about you, topics that are important to you and what your competitors are doing through regular digital audits.

With over 600 million daily search inquires on Twitter, someone seems to be digging around for information. And over a third of us online have presence on Facebook where we share more than 30 billion pieces of content every month.

And There's More

YouTube is the second largest search engine, next to parent company Google and fifth most visited website on the planet. It served more than 75 billion video streams to over 375 million unique visitors last year. And if you're looking for even more research, you can check out SlideShare which features hundreds of presentations in your industry. And there are hundreds of other spaces available.

The data are only worth something if you do something with it. The information needs to be gathered, analyzed and implemented. And constant research on the web can positively effect the bottom line. The decision is whether you want to do the work and put in the time.

Kneale Mann

image credit: cloudcentrics
original posted Feb 2011

Media are in the Hands of the Beholder

Stay Tuned. News at 11. Coming Up Next.

I was at a dinner recently with some friends in media I’ve known for years. As it often happens at one of these types of events, we talked shop. The landscape is changing, what traditional media outlets are doing and could do better, the continued infiltration of the social web, mobile and more. If this had been twenty years ago, one may claim it was conversation filled with opinion. But now many of us have actually been working in marketing and media for that long and those opinions have become rather educated.

During the dinner, I recounted a meeting I had a few months ago with someone in the mobile space. He is a bright guy with a growing company but it struck me how much he felt his world was the world. He couldn’t fathom the fact that some people actually aren’t on the cutting edge of technology or living on every word coming from the mind of Steve Jobs. As astonishing as it may be to believe, there are people who actually don’t have a LinkedIn profile. And get this, some don’t blog or listen to podcasts either.

Forecast after this. Stick around for more details. 

As much as we instinctively know it’s not the case, we tend to still think others think like we think and others grasp what we have experienced. Proof of this happens every minute of the day. An event will happen and some will go to YouTube for more information while others will check the Twitter stream. Yet the news agencies will hope we wait for the 11 O’clock news. And millions still do wait for the news report. Those who don't hop on social media claim they may not "get it" while others who are constantly wired up can't grasp why anyone would do it any other way.

Information is fragmented and live. It is inaccurate and opinionated. The speed of content being shared will only increase. While the challenge for anyone creating content is to understand that the audience isn’t waiting by their device to receive it.

Desire and Technology Converge

Mitch Joel once pondered how the world would be without traditional media – television, radio, outdoor and print. I would add mobile devices and the Internet to that list because each is getting as big as the big four. So I think it's a more complex question. As millions flock to the social channels, traditional channels remain alive. There is no one way of navigating all this stuff.

We reside on both sides of the counter - we are both providers and clients - and the noise can often be deafening as we attempt to resonate with others while we try to decipher what we need from each other. I have clients who have found great success with a radio component or print imitative. Television, though expensive, still receives billions in annual ad revenue and they haven't stopped the printing presses just yet.

How do you reach your customer who has so many choices?

Kneale Mann

image credit: lifeonpurpose

The Social Media Revolution Continues

The digital landscape is a moving target. Online social networking is exploding. And the levels inside small, medium and large organizations are trying to get a handle on all the stuff going on. Those blazing a path say we should keep blazing, those beginning to realize the value of this work is a growing number and progress is happening among the money people who want proof and metrics that all the time spent has a compelling enough business reason to continue.

Erik Qualman wrote a #1 best selling book entitled Socialnomics in 2009. He also produced subsequent videos and a powerful infographic packed with actual statistics that excited the evangelists, increased the interest of the advocates and made some naysayers and decision makers a bit nervous while others began to understand the importance of this data. Erik is back with an updated version of the video.

This is the Social Media Revolution 2011. Enjoy!


Kneale Mann

visual credit: Erik Qualman

The Web in Sixty Seconds

Lovin' Every Minute of It


A fun infographic that has been making the rounds is one that shows the multitude of things that happen online every minute. It was developed by the web design company Go-Globe and when I first saw it, like most, I was impressed. But then it reminded me how overwhelmed business owners and managers feel on a daily basis. How do you keep up? What channels do you choose? Where do you focus your efforts? How can you digest the never ending amount of content?

Some highlights of what happens on the Internet every minute along with some additional items you may experience today.

• There are almost 700,000 Google search inquiries
• Flickr receives more than 6,000 photo uploads
• You surfed that car site instead of making another sales call
• Over 70 new domains are registered
• Twitter gains 320 new members and almost a hundred thousand tweets are sent
• More than 22 million meetings ended with no definitive decisions
• In excess of 168 million emails are sent
• iPhone customers download 13,000 applications
• You read this post
• Over 350,000 minutes of voice calls are done by Skype users
• LinkedIn gains another 100 members
• You started another game of Angry Birds at your desk
• Over 25 hours of videos are uploaded onto YouTube
• 700,000 status updates, 80,000 wall posts and 500,000 comments on Facebook
• More than a hundred questions are asked on answers.com
• Scribd receives another 1,600 reads
• You checked your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles
• Over 1,200 new ads are created on Craigslist
• Pandora streams more than 13,000 hours of music to users

How will you spend the next sixty seconds?

Kneale Mann

image credit: goglobe

Finding Inspiration

It was the end of a long day. Anyone who owns their own business knows the feeling. You’re being torn in a hundred different directions and half of them are created by you. So I was looking for some inspiration.

I found some.

Brad Koepenick is an actor, director and producer. He along with a group of very special people created Kids with Cameras which came out a few years ago. The work continues. Find a few minutes and watch this video.

Then go inspire someone.



Kneale Mann

video credit: Kids with Cameras

Follow Us. Like Us. Connect Us. Now What?

It Begins With a Click

There is non-stop noise and chatter online from people, companies and computer generated bots asking for our attention, time, money and business. Follow us on Twitter. Like my Facebook group. Visit our YouTube channel. Download my e-book. Attend our webinar. Buy my stuff. Read our blog.

If It Was Only That Easy

I’m often in conversations with business owners and managers about improving their digital footprint and web presence. We want business and revenue to move quickly so there is often little patience to give the process the time it needs to develop. Within the digital landscape, here are five types of people that often reside inside an organization.

All Over it

These are early adopters who have immersed themselves in online social networks. They use their mobile device for both business and pleasure. And they don’t understand why the entire organization hasn’t jumped in with both feet. They may be viewed as renegades void of business acumen who don’t recognize the importance of company privacy. They can be the scary ones with the new ideas.

Don’t Understand it

They don’t usually articulate it this clearly, it is manifested by their behavior. The quick subject change or dismissive claim it’s just a big waste of time is rarely too far away. Status quo is their friend. They don't realize their own use of digital is often a reflection of customers' activity.

Think They're On it

Most companies today are somewhat involved in digital content. They have a website, they may have created a few additional online profiles but haven't begun participating in any conversations with customers. But they do have a "Follow Us on Twitter" button, so they think they're covered.

Unsure About it

This can be a tough place to be because you know you should know this stuff, you know your organization would benefit from all this stuff but you are not clear on how and where to start. The good news is the social web gives us a plethora of information about our customers, our industry and our competitors. It just takes a leap and some time. And like a good work out regime, it then takes consistency.

Actually Doing it

These are the trail blazers who are simply doing what they need to do to find customers where customers are and they don’t make a big deal about it. They grasp that the time needs to be invested and that there is a tremendous amount of business intelligence to be found if patience and research is a priority. They aren't boasting about it, they're getting on with it.

And since most organizations have a mix of all these types of people, understanding each other is the key to moving ideas along. Working in idea cubicles will only continue to separate instead of integrate.

Where are you and your company on this list?

Kneale Mann

image credit: wgalnightkids

The Information Super Saturated Highway

Check The Lane Before Merging

If you own a company, manage a business, run a department or contribute to a team, you are frightfully aware of the time constraints that face you every day. You have deadlines and meetings, emails and projects as well as constant reminders of the bottom line. And what should you do about all this online stuff?

There are close to two billion of us online reading, digesting, publishing, sharing, tweeting and conversing. The amount of content published in a day is unrelenting and new spaces are being built constantly.

Our Insatiable Appetite

The choices can overwhelm you, the so-called experts can hound you and the decision remains how to improve the organization. And unless your company is called “campaign”, you need a strategy and long term solutions.

It’s not difficult to find someone who will lay claim to their vast knowledge of all things digital through blog webinars, Facebook symposiums and how-to LinkedIn seminars. Black hat or white hat, the recent JC Penny story blew a hole through the SEO world. Yet with a click of your mouse, you will be falling over self-proclaimed experts who can give you link bait and search juice for a handsome fee.

Under The Hood

Perhaps the not so sexy but valuable aspect of the social web that few talk about is research. Over and above any activity you partake through the myriad digital spaces, you can unearth rich useful information about your company, what people are saying about you, topics that are important to you and what your competitors are doing through regular digital audits.

With over 600 million daily search inquires on Twitter, someone seems to be digging around for information. And over a third of us online have presence on Facebook where we share more than 30 billion pieces of content every month.

And There's More

YouTube is the second largest search engine, next to parent company Google and fifth most visited website on the planet. It served more than 75 billion video streams to over 375 million unique visitors last year. And if you're looking for even more research, you can check out SlideShare which features hundreds of presentations in your industry. And there are hundreds of other spaces available.

The information out there can be gathered, analyzed and implemented. And constant research of the social web can positively effect the bottom line.

Is that a valuable use of your resources?

kneale mann

image credit: istock

The Evolution Will Be Digitized

I meet people all the time who are overwhelmed by the online choices, don’t think they can find the time or see the results of more online activity, while the so-called experts claim everyone is doing this stuff. That is simply not the case.

People usually fall into several categories, those who...

• Don’t get it
• Think everyone gets it
• Are overwhelmed by choices
• Want instant results
• View what they are currently doing is enough
• Don’t think they should invest time or money

Social media are the mediums in which we socialize. This includes face-to-face meetings, email, relationships in and out of your organization, mobile, web and any other time two or more humans are connecting.

But I thought it was time to review some numbers on the world’s largest aggregate social networking sites and perhaps this can educated you, inform you and excite you.

Twitter

There are over 190 million users worldwide who have sent more than 4 billion tweets since 2006. It is the 12th largest website in the world and over 600 million searches occur daily. The heaviest demographic using Twitter is 35-49, 62% access the site at work and 35% from home. The gender split is close to even with 54% female 46% male.

Facebook

Almost one third of all humans on earth with an Internet connection also have a Facebook profile, group or page. There are over 600 million users with an average of 130 friends. Over a third of all users accesses the site via their mobile device and are twice as active on the site than non mobile users. Close to half of all users log on to the site every day and over 10,000 new websites integrate with the environment daily.

LinkedIn

There are over 80 million users in over 200 countries and a new member joins the site every second. Over half users have attended post-secondary educational institutions and executives from all Fortune 500 companies are represented on the site.

YouTube

It remains the world’s second largest search engine next to its owner, Google. It is also the 5th most popular website in the world. Every age is represented in users of the site but the heaviest users fall in the wide demographic 18-55 and the gender breakdown is almost even. More than half of all YouTube users visit the site at least one per week.

Choices

We also could review the over 300 million blogs, the percentage of companies now embracing the use of wiki pages and the increased interest in podcasting and webinars for the purpose of training and education as well. Social media are not limited to these four websites, they are channels you can create with your customers and clients, colleagues and coworkers to educate, inform and advance business.

And it all reminds me of the quote from the first Cluetrain Manifesto published twelve years ago. "We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings - and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it."

How are you embracing digital now more than ever?

knealemann | email

image credit: istock

ROSI | Return on Social Investment

Imagine – if you don’t already – that have your own company.
Let’s focus on the social aspect of your business – your people.

They work 1,800-2,000 hours a year. They have bills, families, dreams and career aspirations. They want to contribute to your company but they also want to reach their own goals. Your team wants a reason beyond compensation that inspires them to show up every day.

As company owner, you have identified that career advancement is essential to ensure your team is well equipped to deliver results. You allot budget for things like external consultants and seminars as well as internal collaborative sessions and conferences all to arm your people with the best tools possible. Call it your social investment.

Dollars and sense

How often does a company owner or manager perform an audit of social investment? Some may be able to get the metrics close but these are estimates at best. It's tough to say if you spend $X on your people, you will get $Y in return. But it's not something most measure on those terms.

You can make the same claim with regards to any outbound marketing initiatives. You figure out a percentage of revenue to spend on telling people about you but it's not an exact science. It is not automatic that you spend more and make more. Buying wisely and choosing the right channels are as imperative as choosing your team.

Social investment needs same care as external investment.

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague last week about a prominent company's dissatisfaction of the results from a recent initiative. In base terms, they were not happy that the millions spent didn't move the needle much. It happens to companies small, medium and large.

So you invest in social improvement aka your people. You spend money on letting the public know about your offering. Yet you are unable to measure the actual return on these investments to scientific certainty. But you know you need to do both.

Then there is the onslaught of online and mobile channels that aren't so easy to measure. Time spent building trust channels seem insurmountable.

Social media: return on commitment

Before you can expect a return, you need to make an investment. Time, patience, focus and most importantly your willingness to participate in the process will be of great benefit to the growth of your company.

Having a YouTube channel and starting a Facebook group is not the investment. Neither is tossing a binder at the new guy and hoping he makes his numbers.

What is your ROSI?

knealemann | email


image credit: flickr

Return on What Investment?

Measurement is tricky business.

There seems to be more discussion about ROI in the last few years than in any time in history. Some may point to the economic reality, others may suggest it’s because social media are still as confusing as calculus.

Perhaps the issue for some business owners is that the social web requires sweat equity while the work on other media ends after the creative stage and once it's 'placed' it does the work for you.

How often do you or your manager measure the return on investment of mainstream channels? The issue is often tied to money and time.

We use the phrase “buying media” when discussing the big four traditional channels and things get pear-shaped when someone suggests that a LinkedIn group and a YouTube channel with a couple of videos do not a social media commitment make.

So you figure out your advertising budget and then go shopping.

You try and cut the best deal and cover as many bases as you can. Then you go on with running your business. Media does its job for you (or so you think). You are no longer necessary for the process to see itself through until perhaps a creative freshen or new schedule change need to be examined.

I would caution that hiring the least experienced person in the building or worst yet asking an intern to do it for free may be unwise. Ask yourself if you would trust this person with your next bank deposit before you hand over the keys of your brand to the new kid.

Anyone demanding ROI on social media requires a long honest look at what they are prepared to invest in order to get a measurable return. And we both know that investment is much more than what’s in your wallet.

What says you?

knealemann | email

Join me for Movember.

image credit: mrecafe

What is Success?

You could spend the rest of your life reading about the secrets of success and Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey sums it up in a minute and 52 seconds.

The audio and video aren't well synced and it doesn't matter. Watch this several times then see how you can apply it to your life, business, career and relationships.



knealemann | email

Join me for Movember.

image credit: youtube | the actor's studio

What Drives You?

What motivates you? What motivates them? What motivates your team to do the things you need them to do to move things forward in however you measure that?

Daniel Pink is an author, consultant and engaging speaker who has written two books A Whole New Mind and Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us which (as it says on his website) uses 50 years of behavioral science to overturn the conventional wisdom about human motivation and offer a more effective path to high performance.

Dan explains in this eleven minute thought provoking and clever presentation which has had almost 2.5 million views since it was posted in April.

If you have not seen this, it's worth your time.



knealemann
Create experiences not campaigns.

Imagine. Invent. Integrate.

We all love clever stuff. But something happens when clever meets ingenuity. Like this piece entitled "The Dreaded Stairs" which was released last year.

This is not posted here to endorse any site or product, it's here to make you think.

I hope it does.



Does this give you any ideas for a different way around a current challenge?

@knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

Awareness Is Not Enough

The noise is deafening.

Content is produced every minute of every day. The pile grows; there is no end in sight and we all try to find customers and make a living.

What do you offer?

Where can you compete?

How will you tell your story?

Assuming your offer has value – to them, not you – it is time to ensure more people hear about it and in turn buy some of it. This is the toughest part of the gig. You could spend millions to get as many eyes and ears and minds to discover your awesome product as possible.

You can buy email lists and cram complete strangers with messages they didn’t ask for and even get a bunch of people in a cube farm to randomly call people and ask for their money. You could produce a bright shiny pamphlet to put in everyone’s mail box.

Wait! There's More!

Then you can start a Twitter page where you bark out your daily specials while disregarding what others may have to offer. Thousands will follow you and there will be no need for you to follow them back. The same is true with your Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Thousands will love the Flickr pics of all your fabulous products while you will become the biggest viral video in the history of YouTube.

Once in a while, a wave can hit or go viral but that’s not our call, it’s theirs and they will leave us as fast and love us. Possessing awareness means nothing on its own.

Before you want others to be aware of you, make sure you know what you want them to do. What's in it for them?

I am aware of you. Now what?

@knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

photo credit: rlv.zcache

The Lemonade Movement

I talk and write about social media, marketing and business strategy. I consult clients on these things, I drive my friends crazy with these things. But without us humans, none of it has a stitch of relevance.

These are strange economic, political and emotional times and at the core is how each of us deals with our specific situation.

Reality: Many have lost their job.
Good News: Many have found their calling.

The Lemonade Movement is a brilliant project.

Watch the video and share it.



@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy

This Sunday: TEDxOttawa
Watch the live stream

video credit: lemonademovie.com

Social Media | Beyond Pictures and Profiles

Mediums Socialized.

Three quarters of North Americans have Internet access. Six hundred million are online in Asia. The Internet is growing 18% annually.

Social Media has become a viable opportunity in which to weave business and careers.


Big stinkin' deal. What does that mean to you?

If you're a business owner, there are measurable statistics about your industry, offering, products, company and the conversations people are having right now that are worthy of paying attention to or you could be leaving opportunities on the keyboard.

Payoff NOW!

The concern that social media may be a waste of your time, energy, resources and sweat equity seems to be a common one. However, if you could have a better sense of the landscape, wouldn't you want to know about it?

As return on investment and metrics are tossed around like chips at the blackjack table, the finesse and care needed to understand behavior is even more important.

It's a buyer's market.

You are a customer and a facilitator. You are in charge of your own online environment. You are not in charge of mine or your customers' experience.

This is not a niche or a boutique.

Social Media has been around since we began carving images on cave walls.


With our technological advancements, these actions have given us the ability to share instantaneously with any one of the 1.6 billion other humans online.


User experience is not just a slick phrase developed by the ICT community. These are the creature comforts we want in order to create the atmosphere best suited for our personal or business needs. We want to be able to create our own surroundings. We can and we do.

Social media is not a campaign or an add-on to your existing business plan, it must be part of it. It is also not simply a collection of websites.

Patience and commitment are required or there is no need to bother. If you are in search of an absolute sure thing that will raise your bottom line with minimal effort, buy a lottery ticket and cross your fingers.

How you can better connect with your customers on their terms on a human level? How have your competitors already done so?

@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy

image credits: cjonline | wikipedia

Alternative and Mainstream Converge

I spent many happy years working with musicians and their music. I loved it. Some still know me as a former radio guy but there is a much deeper story.

Below The Surface

Radio – like every industry – has much more under the surface than those outside comprehend.

Overseeing a radio station requires regular business stuff like budgets and talent development; promotional duties such as website management and database marketing; and external oversight on such items as advertising and event management.


Turn It Up

As part of my radio career, I worked in what is called the alternative rock format at two stations. Alternative is a distinction that carries as much negative connotation as positive reinforcement.

The core of alternative music fans are rarely happy once a band gains even a modicum of success while those unfamiliar with the genre think it’s full of strange people with purple hair.

It's important to note that both alternative radio stations continue to be successful measured against mainstream metrics. And perhaps with the exception of one year at Hallowe'en, I've never found the need to dye my hair purple. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I like purple and I digress.

Can you be cutting edge and mainstream at the same time?

In 1988, Michael Trent Reznor formed an industrial rock band called Nine Inch Nails - no doubt you’ve heard of them. Twenty-one years later they have sold millions of albums, CDs and downloads, played in front of massive festival and stadium crowds and won Grammy Awards.

Despite this worldwide success, Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor remain categorized as alternative not mainstream.

When NiN formed, there wasn’t the long list of social networking channels we have now. Today, Reznor has over 600,000 followers to his personal Twitter account and his band is well represented through their YouTube and Flickr spaces.

Imagine. Create. Share.

In 2006, Jack Dorsey was looking for something that would kick start a creative slump for his company Odeo. His original idea was to create a conversation space through sms called my.stat.us.

Today, Jack and his partners Biz Stone and Evan Williams, seventy-five employees in a modest San Francisco building and millions in venture capital have grown Twitter to one of the fastest growing web portals in the world with millions of regular users.

From 1975 to 2009, Microsoft has grown from an idea Paul Allen and William Gates had to develop software for the microcomputer to over 90,000 employees in 100 countries and over $58 Billion in annual revenue.

So is Twitter the alternative and Microsoft the mainstream?

Whether you a musician and producer of industrial music, three geeks from Silicon Valley or the world’s largest software manufacturer, you have to start with an idea.

It may be a concept yet to be adopted by anyone else, it could be quite different than the current mainstream thought, but if it’s a good one the audience will discover it.

At that point, will it really matter what label we put on it?

@knealemann
Helping you create your best business,
marketing and social media strategy.

image credit: colourlovers.com