Podcast: Interview with Paul Chaney, President of International Blogging and New Media Association

Do bloggers and podcasters need a trade association? Paul Chaney thinks so. I like the idea too, with one caveat. I think it has to be an organization with a deliberate purpose. I've had a great deal of involvement with trade groups and associations in the past and I've seen first hand how quickly they can lose sight of their orignal charter.

The International Blogging and New Media Association was formed about year ago. The concept is to provide a platform and voice to those involved with any aspect of blogging, podcasting, web media and social media. When I heard Paul had been tapped to take over the leadership as the new President, I didn't think twice about joining. Paul is the kind of "go to" guy that works hard to get things done and goes about it with the realization that you have to surround yourself with great people to get it done. With a long list of blogging luminaries at the helm of the executive and advisory boards, the opportunity for IBNMA to become a tremendous resource for training, certification, standards and much more. I had the opportunity to participate in a general membership meeting during BlogWorld last week and I was very impressed with the leadership's candor and passion.

In our interview Paul goes into great detail about the history of the association, plans for the future and his vision for getting things done. If you're involved with blogging or new media in any way, you really should consider becoming a member and adding your voice to the development of IBNMA, at $25 per year, it's kind of a no-brainer. Click here to get started.

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Book Report: Citizen Marketers

Citizen Marketers, When People Are the Message
Ben McConnel & Jackie Huba

The authors of this book have pinpointed an exact date of when they think Web 2.0 actually started. November 2004. That's the month a couple of things happened that turned seemingly ordinary folk into marketing powerhouses with the same reach and effectiveness of a Fortune 500 company.

"November 2004, that the very idea of media itself was evolving into a two-way, three-way and multiple-way ecosystem of gossip, ideas, news and collaboration. Everyday people could be publishers and broadcasters and audience members."

Citizen Marketers was written to explain the phenomena of how the availability of web 2.0 tools is motivating people to become evangelists, sales people, customer service reps, public relations advisers and more to companies that don't even have them on the payroll and in some cases, don't even know they exist. Just reading the introduction is a fascinating portrayal of examples in social media. If you don't do anything else, pick up a copy of the book and read page 10 of the introduction. It gives a very succinct definition of how blogs, podasts, photo/video sharing sites and other social media tools are being used as the "new, new media".

This book is good primer for any agent or broker that wants to have a better understanding of the power of social media and new media marketing tools. I highly recommend it. Click here to visit the Citizen Marketer blog. Next book report, Search, by John Battelle, How Google and its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture.


Previous Book Reports:
The Power of Place
The Long Tail
An Army of Davids
Mavericks At Work
Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?

HAR Paves The Way, Again.

There's a reason Bob Hale, CEO of the Houston Association of Realtors is consistently recognized as one of the most important figures in the industry. I've known Bob for a while now and I think when he says the decisions he makes are for the good of his members, he means it. The Brokers of the Houston area have trusted Bob's leadership and together they have made decisions that defy conventional MLS wisdom. HAR has inked a deal with Google's "Google Base" service to provide a feed of all listings in the HAR database that have an address. It's a progressive move on behalf the members that adds a powerful new point of distribution. For the last several years the Houston real estate market has maintained incredible growth, and continues to do so in defiance of trends in other comparable markets. While Bob and HAR can't take credit for market trends and conditions, they can take pride in the fact that their progressive implementation of technology and listing distribution has helped the broker members grow their businesses at a substantial pace. The folks at HAR understand that aggressive, independent business people will find a way to succeed if they are unencumbered by the debilitating hand wringing that comes along with attitudes of doing things the way they have always been done. Take for instance the fact that discount brokers have had access to include their listings in the HARMLS for some time now. HAR hasn't had to stop the progress train to worry about the Feds. How about the relationship with the Houston Chronicle where listings are included in searches along with non-mls listings?

This MSNBC article regarding the HAR/Google deal does a pretty good job of summing up how different MLS' approach the idea of listing distribution. Personally, I think the associations should do all they can to assist the membership in exposing listings. In a world of free enterprise and an economy that is moving and changing at Internet speed, it doesn't make sense to spend all of your time trying to figure out a way to plug the holes of a system that is no longer viable. There just isn't a magic treasure box with a limited number of keys any more.

Some would say a trade association shouldn't be in the business of marketing properties and I completely agree, however, I would also say associations like HAR are not marketing the listings, they are just exposing them to as many potential consumers as possible. Marketing a property is a different animal entirely and if you take a minute to go through the listings at all price levels in any MLS, the difference in marketing skills and business acumen of the listing holder will become immediately apparent.

Adding value and unique business propositions are the domain of the Broker and/or agent. They will compete on their ability to do business better than the next guy and based upon the same rules of commerce that have existed for centuries. Why is it that every big deal struck with a technology provider is automatically slapped with a label as a back door way for the industry to be disintermediated or a new way to screw the agent out of a piece of their commission? What ever happened to trust? What ever happened to win-win or no deal? I am absolutely certain that if anything were to even come close to being unfair to the industry in the Google Base/HAR deal, the fountain of listings would abruptly run dry and it would go from win/win to no deal in an H-Town second. What should Google reasonably expect for their efforts? I'm not sure, I didn't strike the deal, but whatever it is, it should be fair and reasonable.

When a newspaper nails an agent or broker with out of this world display advertising rates they aren't chastised as someone getting in between the transaction. This despite the fact that for years, most markets have only had one paper and the rates are a "take it or leave it" proposition. It seems the web may always have it's feet held to the fire in a way that sometimes seems unreasonable in comparison to other investments. Just ask most any agent or broker and they almost always expect much higher accountability and return on investment from a technology related marketing endeavor than they have ever had for "traditional" media. The ad agency for a local Houston boutique broker was quoted as saying

"Real estate advertising is multi-layered," she says. "Agencies spend so much time and effort marketing properties and the consumer expects more now than ever."

I agree with this statement, with one big caveat, the positioning of the layers. In the long run, that's where the game will be won or lost.

The HAR membership has good reason to continue putting their trust in the leadership of it's association and can take pride in the fact that being a first mover will help the industry as a whole. It will be interesting to read the blog posts, forum entries and the Real Talk List-Serv over the next few days.

"40 Is The New 30, Baby"

A new client asked me today about the demographics of the average podcast user. Nielsen, Forrester and Pew Internet Life have been doing studies on podcasting since early 2005. For some reason the media continues to act surprised by the fact that mature adults have embraced new media. I've read dozens of articles after each release of new data. You'd think a 90 year old great, great grandmother had just swam the English channel. The article that showed up in my news alerts today from the Eagle-Tribune in Andover Mass. has to be the best example yet. The lead in sets the tone for the article. I cracked up when I read it:

"New media is no longer just the province of the pubescent. A growing share of its audience is old. Ancient. Like, even over 40."

The writer has some fun with the recent Nielsen stats that were released regarding YouTube and other New Media demographics. Of particular interest are the stats regarding podcasting:

"Podcasting consumers: 47 percent are over 35. All told, the digital revolution illustrates a theory heretofore popularized only by pudgy, balding men in too-tight pants: Forty is the new 30, baby."

Another stat released was something I am very familiar with. There are plenty of over 40 women that are classified as casual gamers. Count my lovely wife Laurie amongst them. If you met her you would never guess that she loves to fire up the X-Box and blow the crap out of alien invaders playing HALO with my daughters and their friends. I've yet to play anything but a bad round of golf on a gaming console.

New media marketing activities like blogging and podcasting are no longer fads or the exclusive domain of the early adopter. Given the demographic of the home buying public, they are actually more targeted and, in my opinion, have better ROI opportunity than any other medium. If you're making your media buying decisions based on how and where you consume media yourself, or how people in your sphere of influence interact with it, you could be making some poor choices.

If New Media isn't a category in your budget planning for next year, perhaps it's time to fire up your favorite web 2.0 spreadsheet application, loosen the belt on your "too-tight" pants and give some serious thought to moving a chunk of that old media money to a new column.

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