If you're not aware of the digital social revolution taking place; welcome to the planet...
You may want to select a name, gender take a picture and get yourself a Facebook profile. While you're about it you'd better check out Twitter and Google+ and probably get Facebook & Google+ Pages for your business here on Earth; and perhaps a LinkedIn account and BranchOut, and Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious; and a YouTube account, etc etc.

While you are racing to get your profiles established you may be wondering, with the rest of humanity, why, on earth, this phenomenon is so transformational and so global, how we lived so long without it and how you can use it in marketing and still retain some or your sanity.

Well I think I can answer one of those questions and perhaps another one also.

Read more: Finally, A Human Media

"If you have 30 minutes a day, I can show you how to best use it in social media."

We don't have any Simple Social sessions planned. Please let us know if you would like to see another one sometime soon (see comment box below).

I'm not aiming at social gurus. If you, like me, are involved with marketing a business and you are wondering where to squeeze the time to tweet, post and blog into your already over-committed schedule then login to the Simple Social webinar from the comfort of your own home. 

- PDF download included. 
- Limit to 25 attendees per session. 
- $50 per session.

November Dates:
10th and 17th - 8:30 to 9:30am  
16th - 7:30 to 8:30pm
21st - 7:00 to 8:00pm
22nd - 4:30 to 5:30pm
29th - 7:00 to 8:00am 

Topics: 
• Picking and using the right browser 
• Google and other Free tools 
• Using Blogs without blogging 
• Blogging anyway 
• Followers and Numbers 
• Facebook (Pages & Branchout) 
• LinkedIn 
• Twitter 
• A few other sites

We don't have any Simple Social sessions planned. Please let us know if you would like to see another one sometime soon:

If necessity is the mother of invention then reinvention is the mother of progress.

In this great article by Inc. magazine they explore the reinvention of seven brand Icons:
Apple, BP, Ford, IBM, Shell, UPS and Walmart

• Shell, for example was started by a shopkeeper who sold antiques and decorative shells!
• IBM was first known as "International Time Recording" before merging with The "Computing Tabulating Recording Company"
  in 1911.
• In 1907 19 year old Jim Casey borrowed $100 to start The "American Messenger Company" which we now know as UPS.
• Apple's first logo featured Sir Isaac Newton under the fabled apple tree.

If you look closely at the logo development you will notice a few things:

1. Successful brands simplify their logos over time. 
   There are many reasons for this; some of it has to do with refining vision, some has to do with simplifying their message. But logos that say too much seldom reflect a business that is able to adapt to changing circumstances.
2. Logos become more stylistic over time. 
   Most logos start very ornate and very detailed. I always think this is a mistake. Ford and IBM got away with it 100 years ago, and Steve Jobs was wise enough to hire Rob Janoff to design the Apple logo, he would not have got very far with Sir Isaac under the tree. People are always a lot smarter and visually aware than most brand owners believe.
   If you are working with a designer on a logo you really don't have to symbolize every aspect of your business in your logo.
   Today consumers and B2B buyers are extremely brand aware. Packaging, logo and branding are vital components to a company's success. Your clients assess your business before your website has even finished loading. If your logo is going to be symbolic then make sure it is well stylized and simple.  
3. Logos are now buttons.
   Part of the Apple revolution has been to "buttonize" logos. It needs to be click-able, scalable reflective and shiny. This is just another trend, already Google Chrome is moving away from the highly shiny logo, but the logo is still a button. The function of a logo has changed somewhat, and when you are developing a business you need to bear that in mind. How easy is this logo to click on, especially when it's small? How will it look as a favicon on my website?

Most company owners consider economic pressure as a time to consolidate, especially in marketing. But that is not thinking like a survivor. Brands that survive are the ones that use suppressed economies as opportunities to grow their market, precisely because their competitors are not investing in marketing.

So, if you'd like a brand evaluation contact me you can download our free logo development guide here without filling out any form.

Alan

Online communities are the stock of trade in the social media age.
 Facebook is approaching 700 million,
 Twitter 175 million,
 LinkedIn about 100 million.
In China qq.com has 380 million and video.baidu.com, soso.com and image.baidu.com each have over 200 million! We tend to think of these people as "users" like we think of drug addicts, but actually they are a willing and captive audience; they are our stock stock, individual shares in the human company, and owning their profile information is going to probe to be more valuable than gold and Apple shares.

The fact is that almost all of these "users" have many social media accounts, and if someone have a social-site profile already they are much more likely to have a branded community site profile also.

This is a target of a trillion potential customers!

Read more: Creating an On-line Community