Internet Geek Girl

Larry Bailin, my good friend, colleague and fellow Jersey-ite, is launching his new book tomorrow - “Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?” I was lucky enough to secure a (signed) advance copy at BlogWorld Expo and I wanted to share a few thoughts on this compelling read. First off, one of Larry’s greatest differentiators in business comes from his view that marketing and sales are one in the same. So often marketers forget the basics of the sales process and focus on specific techniques and “campaigns.” Larry sees the bigger picture in a big way (and this comes through in the book). Don’t get me wrong - the book is chock full of strategies and straight-forward advice (which is helpful, even for an old Internet pro like me). I just so appreciate Larry’s ability to skip the “trendy lingo” and cut right to the chase of the challenge for the marketer and for the consumer. As many of us know, it is a new world and “connected customers” provide marketers with new opportunities to interact. If you looking to understand this paradigm shift and responses to it - check in with “Billy” (pictured above) and Larry of course.

BTW - The launch also includes a great charity fund raiser, “Billy Gives Back!”

Buy the book at Amazon.com on November 15th (tomorrow) and all proceeds go to The American Heart Association.

Big congratulations to Larry and his colleagues at SingleThrow! Catch up with ya back in Jersey - exit 109 (since I know you were gonna ask anyway!)

By Jay Levan (www.JayLevan.com). Left to Right: Jim Kukral, George Nemeth (holding the sign Jim made) and Thomas Mulready. Not pictured: Eric Olsen of BlogCritics.org

I am at the convention center here in Vegas, listening to the insightful Shel Israel and Mike Prosceno. It is fascinating to think about how SAP has incorporated social media into “the conversation.” Their company has seen the power of blogging and social media. It may be early in the game, but I can tell you this - it will make all the difference in the marketing mix!

Lots more to come this week. Just wanted to let you know that I too will blog for attention!!

Twitter me @stephagresta if you are here.

I am sitting here at BlogWorld Expo with Chris Brogan, Liz Strauss and Chris Heuer. We’re goin’ over our “friending” policies. These guys are so cool and all great examples of my theory: Friend and Let Friend! Let me ’splain…

First off - I believe in friends. I like friends, I am a social person. Always have been (my third grade teacher said: “Stephanie is a Social Butterfly!) Online social networking is a natural fit for me. Much has been written about what is appropriate behavior on Facebook and other social networks with regards to friending. The bottom line is - this is one area of social media that YOU CONTROL.

Everyone has a right to define their own level of comfort with regard to friend lists. Do not assume that everyone operates under the same rules. And don’t assume that the rules apply equally to every social network (my Facebook “policies” are quite different than my Flickr rules).

For me, my Facebook list is a marketing list. I seek to keep it very business / cool person focused. I review work history, and mutual connections. I must say, lately, perhaps a few others have gotten in. I will do a purge if necessary, and especially will purge anyone I think is acting inappropriately (meaning not cool). You need to create your own criteria for what works for you.

Someone recently contacted me and said that someone that was my friend, asked to friend her (she accepted) and then he friended her sister. OK - for me, that’s weird. But for others it may not be. I will tell you that I respond to any inquiries regarding inappropriate behavior. I take it seriously, and I will take action! In general - here’s what matters most to me:

#1 You must include your picture and your work history. It is very unlikely I will friend you without this, unless you are my sister. Also - If you made it through without either of these, I will be purging soon.

#2 I care about who we have in common. The more the merrier.

#3 If I reach out to you, it’s because I am seeking business synergy or general good karma. If I am reaching out to you for “friendship” – It is because we have someone in common and I think there is a BUSINESS reason for us to be on each other’s networks. Or I want you on my network so I can invite you to events and cool things that you will want to be invited to. If you don’t use Facebook that way - no problem. My intentions are always focused on value.

But what’s right for me is not necessarily right for you. Live and let live.. friend and let friend! You are in control!

(photo credit: Howard Greenstein)

Those of you that know me know how much I believe in the power of Social Media, Conversational Marketing, and the Relationship Economy. This past Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007, I saw that power in action at my Birthday 2.0 event.

People make a party (and a social network for that matter). We had a great crowd. It would be too hard to mention everyone, but big thanks to the following colleagues for joining in: Ted Shelton (my partner at The Conversation Group), Brian Shaler, Howard Greenstein, Steve Rosenbaum, Courtney Darling, Karen Jackie and Dana Rockel, Adam Broitman, David Berkowitz, David Blumstein, Allison Keisman, Bonnie Halper, Jay Bryant, Vidar Brekke, Marty Secada, and those that I can’t find URLs for: Sondra Stewart, Gerry Beyer, Cathy Campbell, Polly Lieberman, Swetal Petal, Yana Lyubovitsky, Keith Knight, Roma Sachar, Carrie Kaufman, Tim Keelan, and EVERYONE ELSE!

The early bird “unconference” discussion focused on usage patters on Facebook. Brian Shaler did a great job summarizing some key points. Read his blog here. I’ll be expounding on this topic in another post soon!

In addition to my party, I felt the web2.0 birthday love with almost 50 wall posts on my Facebook, many skypes, text messages and of course, the Twitter messages wishing me birthday greetings in under 140 characters. I also have to give a big shout out to all those that donated to my fund raising efforts for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and to Chris Brewer at LiveStrong for all his support. I am grateful for all my amazing friends, family and colleagues. Social media birthdays show us the power of this medium and ultimately the true power that comes from people connecting!

Featured Flickr pics are here: InternetGeekGirl and HowardGr!

One last post script. Julia Allison unfortunately did not make the party. She went wasted two hours at the Google event in NYC instead. I don’t know Julia personally. If I had known she was going to have such a bad time, I would have made sure she knew about Birthday 2.0! Julia - you have an open invitation to all future events with Stephanie Agresta and The Conversation Group!

Every week Lisa Picarille, the Editor-in Chief of Revenue Magazine and Shawn Collins, the Co-founder of Affiliate Summit host the leading affiliate industry podcast, Affiliate Thing . Last Wednesday, while Shawn was at Affiliate Summit London, I served as substitute co-host. Our guest was Heather Paulson, long-time affiliate marketing veteran, who recently launched her own company, Paulson Management Group. The Affiliate Thing Ladies Show was a blast to do. Please click here for a listen.

BTW - when deciding to pay homage to my favorite childhood show, Charlie’s Angels, I specifically went old-school. (A dedcication to my cute little twin sisters who spent years running around the house with me, dressed up in our mom’s cloths, with water guns in our little black purses. Yes, I ALWAYS had to be Sabrina). FREEZE!

I could start this post musing about the fact that some people I know are still not on Facebook. Can you imagine that? But I’ll save that rant for my next “state of the Face.”

The beauty of a blog is that it’s a quick and easy way to publish information - whether you’re planning your wedding, communicating with your top customers and stake holders or having a web2.0 birthday party (and unconference) in NYC next week. Here you go…..

**********************

Stephanie Agresta is celebrating another year with a new partnership and a new networking event. You are cordially invited to join with business leaders in technology, media, and marketing to explore the latest developments in web2.0 and connect with “influencers” and passionate members of this exciting online community. Be part of the relationship economy and celebrate new beginnings.

You are cordially invited to attend the party on Wednesday, October 3rd at one of NYC’s hottest venues, 230-Fifth.

The cocktail party begins at 6 pm! Weather permitting, we will be up on the rooftop bar. With palm trees and fountains setting the scene at the 22,000-square-foot 230-Fifth, you’ll enjoy the view and the conversation. Otherwise we will be in the Penthouse.

Bring your geek stuff…as attendees will be pod-casting, video-casting and live blogging the event.

The Birthday 2.0 “unconference” begins @ 4:30 pm. Topics will be selected by members and small group discussions will be held in the luxurious and sexy 8000 square foot fully enclosed Penthouse Lounge. Come early and discuss the state of Web2.0 with cool “influencers,” like Chris Brogan, Howard Greenstein, Sanford Dickert and Brian Shaler.

About The Conversation Group:
(Stephanie Agresta, Partner)

The Conversation Group is a new global communications consultancy dedicated to the art and science of participatory media. We work with a broad range of business leaders to dramatically scale their ability to discover, engage and interact with their constituents, wherever they may be — online, offline, and mobile.

In lieu of gifts:
We will be collecting good-will donations for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Unite and fight cancer!

I am very excited to announce my participation in the founding of The Conversation Group, a new global communications agency devoted to the art and science of participatory media - blogs, social networks, and other environments where people openly converse. Be sure to also check out Ted Shelton’s post (Managing Partner) and the full press release here.

I am writing this from Santa Barbara, CA where Commission Junction is hosting CJU 2007. At all of the affiliate marketing events I have attended this year, there has been a strong emphasis on understanding how new marketing channels like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter can increase sales and exposure for advertisers. Monetization of niche traffic sources has long been a focus in affiliate marketing. The Conversation Group will provide clients with products and services that help advertisers scale their ability to discover, engage and interact with their constituents, wherever they may be.

In other affiliate marketing news - CJU 2007 is off to a great start. As Shawn Collins reports, Commission Junction is breaking records for 2007! I’ll blog more later on the advertisers and publishers I”m meeting here in Santa Barbara. In a “relationship economy,” events like this are vital for enhancing all of our marketing efforts.

Why is it that CJ is winning business? What is it that makes this organization #1 right now in the space? What should an advertiser think about when evaluating the value of CJ, Performics and LinkShare? How will social media trends impact online sales and relationships with customers?

Stay tuned. Answers to those questions and many more, coming soon!

This week proved to be quite exciting at the DoubleClick Performics Client Summit, hosted at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago. For two days, an intriguing mix of multi-channel retailers, emerging technology companies, affiliate publishers, search gurus, Performics staffers and industry leaders gathered to discuss the “Age of Ingenuity.” Regardless what you may think about web2.0, there is no denying that there is an abundance of ingenuity driving our industry right now. Kudos to DoubleClick Performics for leading by example, not just words.

David Rosenblatt, CEO of DoubleClick, and Stuart Frankel, President of DoubleClick Performics, both provided road maps and inspiration for the audience and emphasized their dedication to staying on the cutting edge. [Check out the DoubleClick Nerve Center to learn more about their year ahead and see some groovy video!]

In addition to panels on affiliate marketing, search optimization and mobile marketing, DoubleClick Performics had presentations from motivational speakers, academics, and authors, such as Lisa Fortini-Campbell, Steven Levitt of Freakonomics, and Robert Spector. The Second City troupe also stopped in to provide some comic relief. On a personal note, I really appreciated the 6:30 AM yoga session on Tuesday morning which I attended with a handful of other brave attendees. You know who you are.

One small note on being green. Those of you that know me know I care about our environment and do my best to live green (could be better, but I’m trying…). The Tuesday afternoon mid-day snack / networking break delighted both my environmental and aesthetic sensibilities — green food — ranging from melon and apples, edamame and broccoli, guacamole and spinach dip. A clever hat tip to the new performics logo.

In a recent Facebook Note, Dave McClure of 500 hats, reflected on his Gnomedex experience last week:

just reflecting on the past week & pleasantly realizing how much i’m impressed by technology & the people who make it happen, all the wonderful HUMAN things we have the potential to do with it. simply amazing. and, reassuring

really love the people & the world i’m living in. it’s a blast.

I couldn’t agree more. I love being in this industry and working with such cool, smart people. Last night in the President’s Club at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, surrounded by business travelers waiting for delayed flights, I reflected on the effort we put in to travel and meeting up with our colleagues across the country and the globe. Social media and online networking will never replace the knowledge, connection, and synergy that comes from real life conferences and events. Personally, I’m a big fan of both!

Big thanks to Chris Henger, Kristin Hall and their fine staff for the hospitality, inspiration, and for bringing us all together. Don’t forget to check out the “flicka” pics!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - It is all about who you know. Since I was a young child, I understood that intrinsically. I came out of the womb networking. My report cards in grammar school often included comments such as, “Stephanie is a social butterfly.” I was voted most-talkative at my 8th grade and high school graduations. So, needless to say, I’m no stranger to community development… a/k/a business development!

These days however, there is a lot of talk about which communities we should belong too, who we should “friend” and what happens when our personal and business lives blur in online social networks.

I wanted to go on record with my general philosophies on the issues and let you all know about my Fab 4, (of the moment), so you can “friend” me. You’d have to live in a cave with no wi-fi to miss the growth and importance of online social networks. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and LinkedIn are currently my “Fav 4.” That means – I truly love them. I groove on updating them and my friends are people that I communicate with all day long. I even talk on the phone with some of these people, and – hold onto your hat – even DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. I truly believe that these communities are an important part of marketing, branding and sales.

I’ve heard some people say, “I’m using Facebook exclusively now.” That’s cool. These communities take time and we live in a busy world and especially in this industry, there is never enough time in the day. Not everyone is in every community. I like that it’s like a Venn diagram – some people in one community, some in another, some overlap. Kind of like in real life.

Chris Brogan, a master of social media and community development, argues that online social networking is an investment. I couldn’t agree more. (BTW, he also gets credit for the nifty graphic). Chris points out that:

“I think that part of it is just general kissing-and-baby-hugging of the people you consider your community, and some of it is developing potential future business and personal relationships. We do business with friends. There’s a professional potential to some of this. I don’t apologize for that. We have to eat, right? But there’s also some personal aspects, and some element of favor-trading outside of traditional business.”

I personally enjoy taking the time to build these networks and the great relationships that result from participation. I believe in being authentic and non-judgmental and welcoming all in. At my parties, “all are welcome.” The more the merrier I say (unless you act up and get kicked out). To the skeptics, and there are many, I say no problem – you can always call my cell if you want to talk to me.

Speaking of which – I also believe strongly that these networks don’t replace live and in-person contact and networking. I am here in Miami at Affiliate Summit and I bumped into a colleague that I’d like to connect with later this week. Despite the fact that we are on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, I realized, “hey, I need your cell phone number.” After all, if it’s important, you pick up the phone.

Well friends (and soon to be friends), I have to get ready and head out to the Share-A-Sale party. I promise to post pictures on Flickr as soon as possible.

As I said – human contact is good too. Thanks to Shawn and Missy for putting on a great event twice a year that allows me to network in person with some of the finest entrepreneurs and minds in this industry. I’ll leave you with my recent video on AffiliateTip.tv.

Now you know me.

Today marks the Fourth Annual LinkShare Golden Links Awards and my Third Annual Pre-Party to the Golden Links (I don’t know why I missed that first year).

This is a week powered by LinkShare! Tomorrow is the “X” Annual LinkShare Symposium in NYC. I can’t recall exactly how many years ago I began attending, but it was a very long time ago. As LinkShare describes:

For more than ten years, LinkShare merchants and affiliates have convened at the LinkShare Symposium to forge new business relationships and discuss issues facing the industry at large. Experience the power of the LinkShare Network to learn from industry veterans and network with the who’s who of the Internet community. This is the must-attend event for performance marketing professionals!

I couldn’t agree more. I have been part of this community for over 10 years and I value the opportunity to spend time with friends, partners, clients and colleagues. LinkShare has been a catalyst for supporting these connections, and they do so with a huge sense of style and elegance, making this one of the best events I attend each year.

Deb Schultz, my good friend and social media maven, speaks often about the Relationship Economy. We all attend so many conferences every year that it’s easy to forget the important role these events play in fueling our relationships. As Deb points out, it’s important for us to question how we weave in and out of these worlds:

* What is our intention with all these communities?
* How do we interact in a meaningful way with all of these connections?
* What is “meaningful” in this landscape?
* What is the definition of Community when affiliations are so loose and easily coupled/uncoupled?
* How do we build applications to maintain a good flow between clusters?
* What is the role of attention in the Relationship Economy?

I’ll be sure to chew on all this while networking and attending the excellent panels that will address the key issues facing performance marketing today.

I am sorry to be missing SuperNova this week. I still haven’t figured out how to be at two community events at exactly the same time. Big shout out to all my friends on the Left Coast! I’m sure we will be Twittering back and forth all week.

At the next event you attend, think about how you can maximize your time building better relationships and enhancing the quality of how we interact within our communities!