chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

frank — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:19:09 -0000

My mom eats peanut butter right out of the Jar ... i always thought it was just wrong :) ...

It goes to show you that there's never one way to do things and people will always push the envelope and break out of the box!

What I'm taking away from this post is that we need to measure what we are doing to know if we are being successful, but those measurement are not the same for all of us or for all businesses.

Question that i have ...

Does anyone out there measure your impact in social media in terms of developing thought leadership & professional development for employees/staff?

I'd LOVE to hear from Chris and/or some of the community here?!

--
http://twitter.com/franswaa

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Karl Hadwen — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:08:32 -0000

Peanut butter hmmm, come to think about it I'm hungry =D, nice blog will be reading more for sure!

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Susan — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:26:53 -0000

How about some nice slices of strategic decision making & tactical adoption support with that?

Well, you can always throw peanutbutter and jelly around the office and see where it sticks, I guess. Good luck with that method. :)

Susan

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Dominick — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:50:44 -0000

Great post Chris. I can have and do have just peanut butter on a regular basis. I know, that makes me a freak of nature!

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

chrisbrogan — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:19:54 -0000

Okay, so a few things:

@Craig - I didn't say measure=quantity. There are great qualitative and sentiment tools. Those are a great measure. Christopher S. Penn measures on dollars, and that's a nice measure. Easy, at least. I don't think the masses are my target. Nope. I just want the right 1000. (Was that Kevin Kelly's line?)

@Laura- I don't entirely agree. I think a site is part of it, but I have a post about outposts in your media strategy that conflicts with that thinking a bit. In my mind, media has atomized, and it's all over the place. Yes, there should be a home base, but the outposts are now just as important because that's where the fish are. (such as it were).

And for all of you "stuck" on the food analogy: I can eat peanut butter plain, and have many times, so there. Have you tried bananas?

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Colin Clark — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:11:33 -0000

I know I'm weird, but I kind of like plain peanut butter sandwiches (no jelly). I also wanted to relay a conversation I had with mike seidle the other day.

He argued that sometimes measurement isn't necessarily as important as some people think. He said that sometimes it's cheaper, for example, to just try many different approaches as opposed to trying one or two and measuring the crap out of them. (at least I think that was his point)

I'm torn between the two. I do think that there is no substitute for metrics, but it is also good to have as much out there in as many different arenas as possible.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Carter — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:23:57 -0000

Hey Chris,

Great post and interesting timing. I was just discussing this yesterday with a friend; she's into SEO, Digg, Stumbleupon and I've been using (primarily) social media to build relationships and all but ignoring SEO.

Thanks for the kick in the butt and great advice-I'm now on the sites mentioned above and plan on learning more.

It's great to point out and remind people that there's no one right way and to touch the most people you need to use multiple (and measurable) avenues. Even if it takes extra time...

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

J. .Paul Duplantis — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:31:08 -0000

I agree with Chris. In the rush to harness the power of social media, the business owner does need to treat the new medium as they had the old which is to measure and adjust.

There are no magic bullets in business we all know that (Don't we?).

Take the time to read his article and make certain you pay attention to the traffic coming in as well as the content that is going out.

I posted this message and linked to Chris' post on www.quired.com/blog.

Chris certainly seems to have the pulse on Social Media.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Toma Bonciu — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:42:18 -0000

@Laura Roeder totally agree. Your website or your blog should be your main concern. It's like your home and when the guests arrive you don't want to be found with the dirt in the middle of the room.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Laura Roeder — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:35:13 -0000

When I read the beginning I thought you were going to say the "jelly" is your website. I agree with metrics, but I think anther overlooked "jelly" is what all that social media is driving people to - your site. Sometimes you will see people who are very active, popular tweeters with ugly, confusing, or poorly-organized sites. I always tell people to focus on the site first, because that’s what all your online marketing is leading to. I dod recognize that this can be a budget issue though, as social media is generally free and websites are generally expensive.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Amy Flynn ~ allaboutenergy — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:15:49 -0000

Chris,

Great meal here! I love (as it appears does everyone else) the PB&J metaphor.

Now I shall go ruminate on my metaphors.. I mean measurements..

Energetically,

Amy

@allaboutenergy

http://allabout-energy.com

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Emily Williams — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:10:12 -0000

Great post, even though I don't like peanut butter :) This is something that I really need to start focusing on. I think I've given myself enough time to get into the flow of the conversation, and now I need to thnk about how to measure what I'm doing. I'm learning that this is the really hard part! Thanks for this reminder.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

larzini — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:33:08 -0000

When Social Media and Peanut Butter Collide.

I'm loving the comments on this post because not only is there an engaging dialogue regarding the meat and potatos of the post, (Why not continue the food metaphor?) but the peanut butter lovers have converged, and "I'm not eating your damn jelly!"

I met someone at Blogworld '08 and had long conversation nwith them, because I overheard her discussing her peanut butter love, and taking tablespoon to the peanut butter jar sometimes constitutes breakfast. I knew I had met a kindred spirit.

The underground peanut butter community has spoken loudly and carried a big spoon in through your comment section. Clearly we need our own social network. What's this say about the jelly folks? Where are they?

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Kara — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:03:07 -0000

Great post Chris! The questions about measurement come up more and more in relation to social media. Yes it is interesting, yes it is fun, yes it is engaging, but how does that persuade companies that their marketing dollars should be spent on social media plans? Great tools are coming out to help us listen, with numbers. I think it is important both to the future of social media and marketing practices that we find a way in order to show how conversations through social media lead to greater brand awareness and therefore profitable.

I did always only like peanut butter sandwiches as a kid though...

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Craig — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:58:54 -0000

Good post but I'm not quite sure if I agree with the metaphor. I don't know if the :jelly" to social media is the measurement. So many times you hear social media a-listers speak about how they hate to judge media in a quantity measured form and how engagements and conversations are better. I understand the metaphor, just think the jelly is off. The measurement is more like the fluffanutter that you put on every now and then, wouldn't consider it the jelly.

Craig
www.budgetpulse.com

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Nate Riggs — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:31:53 -0000

Chris - great post and metaphor!

I tend to lean in the direction of paying attention to metrics that relate to your own objectives. The key in that is admitting that you have objectives on social media and then figuring out what they actually are.

Social media is tool that makes interactions much more effective in terms of speeding up the normal 'social' process, but at the end of the day, how does the number of clicks or SE visibility or press clippings relate to your over all goal? We can track just about everything, but does everything matter?

I see so many people in my own networks get wrapped up (or dare I say addicted) to the technology and the interactions on social media, that they often forget about their 'jelly' all together.

Why are you participating in the first place? Who are your trying to meet? If you're just interested in meeting as many random people as possible, why? How will that benefit you?

Sure, people like to meet people and make new friends, but what's your professional agenda in those relationships? (And I think it's OK to have one, as long as your legit and passionate about your interests, and it comes secondary to your contribution to the community...) And when do those relationships transition offline and become real hand shakes or collaboration? (Social media will never replace eye contact and handshakes - it was never intended too)

I love this post Chris, because you hit the bulls eye - the luster of the technology is starting to wear off, and now it's time for people to dig deeper into how all this cool media and access to all these new relationships will enhance their personal AND professional lives...

(But I still like to eat peanut butter straight out of the jar... :)

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Roundpeg — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:51:47 -0000

I like things simple - Peanut Butter on spoon, measuring overall traffic to specific posts, comments, registrations for my newsletter.

The one thing I have learned recently is I am not offering enough conversion opportunities - things for people to do when they get to my site

This is a circle, the more effective your social media becomes at driving traffic to your website, the more effective your website has to become to make the visit worthwhile.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

John Sheridan — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:06:37 -0000

Funny - I just blogged about this very thing.

The current data and methods are bad, and misleading. We all seek something more reliable, which will inevitably emerge.

For the moment, we can each only trust our own indicators, not the ones others say are important.

john

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

threemer — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:00:02 -0000

Chris, Thanks for the post - I love metaphors.

Social Media and....
...product awareness
...branding
...engagement
...context sensitive conversations
...humanizing a company

I guess that the second part of the duo is wrapped up into the ROI as a package deal - measurement depending on varying definitions.

Billboard and magazine advertising is not measurable, yet still widely used - social media doesn't need to be any different.

So, what's the justification to use social media tools as part of the marketing equation? Simple, it's where the people are - just like billboards on the highway, or people sitting around in waiting rooms reading magazines.

CPC, and PPC will (hopefully) fall to the wayside as new ROI measurement metrics are brought online.

btw, Peanut butter and....crackers.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Ed — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:46:38 -0000

I hope I hear a
How do you measure SM ROI for business:
"Late In'08 Edition" Blog post hatching.

Peanut butter goes best on a fresh Macoun apple
from New England every October

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Sarah — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:39:27 -0000

I totally agree with the need for measurement as many of our clients who have now realised the power and potential of digital are used to a high levels of accountability and detail in what they are getting for their budget.

We are currently trying to develop an ROI model for social media and digital pr that attributes values to certain actions but as these values are arbitrary, the ROI result is more about how much value has been created rather than return on investment.

But I totally agree with Toma in the previous post its really about what you want to achieve from what you are doing.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Toma Bonciu — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:03:30 -0000

Hi,

You hit the spot with this post. I think that the measurements you need, depend on what your goals are and what is your strategy for the long term. I think it's like a new website : first you build general content and in time you start creating more focused articles and you start addressing more specific keyword phrases. And you do this by watching the bounce rates and the number of visitors coming from the searches done for specific keywords and other factors.

It's all about what you want to achieve and what steps you think you need to take in order to get there.

Thank you

PS : good twitts also :)

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Wesley — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:31:28 -0000

Okay, I know this wasn't the point of the post, but on a side note, why can't you just have peanut butter? I like the occasional peanut butter sandwich. And for the cookies, what can't you have those without? I'm curious to know.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

BIG Kahuna — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:21:48 -0000

I emailed you several days ago about hiring you for a great project...You can't get ROI if you don't call back.

Re: You Cant Just Have Peanut Butter

Katybeth — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:55:04 -0000

I am beginning to think misery loves company--you have posted so much for me to think about the last few days...I am now an "insomniac" I would post a longer comment and ask the dozen of questions i have but I am off to update my Linked In Profile....as always THANK YOU.