Let it go
Surrender
Dislocate

Here’s the biggest reason why social media marketing efforts and other new media campaigns fail.

They don’t let go.

They’re too afraid of that horrible blog post.

They try too hard to steer the conversation their way.

Falling Asleep at the Wheel: When Social Media and Blog Campaigns Forget to Forget Themselves

August 29, 2005.

Where were you on that day – the day Hurricane Katrina blew through The Big Easy?

I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the past three months on Internet projects at various stages of development.

Nothing has impressed me more in that time than the concept of momentum.

What is momentum?

My concept of momentum as it applies to the ever-emerging social Web is not unlike one of its textbook definitions, which identifies it as the product of the mass and velocity of an object.

In other words:

(how big you are) x (how fast you’re going) = momentum

example: (a really big dude) x (doing a belly flop) = mucho momentum

I’m delighted to announce a new Visionary Blogging course: Advanced Social Media Strategy and Tactics.

In this unique, intensive course, I’ll teach you what I’ve learned from over four years and 8,000 hours helping entrepreneurs, companies and organizations understand how to use social media effectively.

Update: I’ve moved the information for this course to its own special page in my Courses area. Learn more about this course.

I recently asked Richard Becker, a consultant for Bloggers Unite, to share some insights on how he and the BU team have used social media to recruit members and encourage participation in their efforts. Here’s what he had to say.

What was your strategy for spreading the word online about Bloggers Unite when you first launched it?

The initial Bloggers Unite challenge was distributed in the discussion section of BlogCatalog, which is how my company was first introduced to Antony Berkman’s idea.

Since I was managing an experimental nonprofit blog, which highlighted business giving, I thought the initial BlogCatalog challenge — for bloggers to all post about the same social awareness issue on the same day and raise money for DonorsChoose.org — fit in well as a best practice. (The purpose of the blog is to stimulate business giving by providing examples from companies of different sizes.)

I contacted Tony to see if he had a news release about the event, but he didn’t.

Facebook, the world’s most popular social networking website, can combine with your blog to produce powerful results. I’ve been able to help clients such as Kapalua Resort to mix their blog and Facebook worlds. Here are 25 ways to help your Facebook presence and your blog work together to help your business or organization be more successful.

1. Import your blog into Facebook.
2. Start or join a Facebook group that is about the same topic as your blog (but that is not necessarily about your blog).
3. Create or become a fan of a Facebook page that is relevant to your blog.
4. Make sure your Facebook profile includes a link to your blog.
5. On your Facebook Wall, make an update that mentions an article at your blog and invites people to discuss and share it via Facebook and other media.

Yesterday I answered the question, “Where is your blog community?”

It’s in the mind.

But minds scatter online attention across vast fields of URLs.

Which is why, for example, it’s not uncommon for your Twitter account to sparkle while your blog gathers dust or vice versa.

It’s not enough to just get more “friends” or “followers” or commenters in a dozen different places.

You’ve gotta unify the fragments and make each community member aware of each of them. You’ve gotta bring together the logs so your bonfire can be much bigger and brighter and hotter than any smaller fire could be.

With that in mind, here are 8 ways to unify your blog community so that your blog and social media profiles work together (not just apart) for your business.