Simon Salt's Blog, page 4

As Social Networks contract measuring online influence becomes harder

When it comes to measuring online influence sites like Klout and PeerIndex tend to polarize opinion, people either love them or hate them. Often the reason for hating them has more to do with the persons on insecurities than anything scientific and for some the reason to love them is much the same.

Measuring Online Influence: It's A Small World

Love them or hate them, sites like Klout and PeerIndex have had a significant impact on the social media world. Marketers have been persuaded that they are the way to triage their outreach programs, individuals building personal brands have been convinced that the score matters.

However, in the next twelve to eighteen months all indications are that the backbone of the algorithm these sites use is going to change dramatically. Online influence is primarily a function of two factors, the size of the network a user has and their ability to affect change within that network. Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project reports that an increasing number of online users of social networks are changing their habits. In 2011 63% of users "unfriended" connections, up from 56%, 44% deleted comments and 37% untagged themselves from photos. Add to that the number of users who are now setting their privacy settings to the most restrictive provided and you have a landscape that is becoming increasingly more private in nature.

How Do You Measure Online Influence In A Private Network?

Sites like Klout and PeerIndex require users to be active and open on social networks to be able to produce their numbers. Both systems offer marketers the ability to reach out to users with offers, often referred to as "perks", these perks are awarded based on scores. The sites need a critical mass of online users in their database, in the same way market researchers need large sample databases, because otherwise they have nothing to leverage.

If users continue to follow this trend and become more selective about who they connect with and what they share with those connections then the task of identifying significant numbers of users with online influence is going to get much harder. Marketers need to start now in their efforts to identify alternative methods for identifying the customers and potential customers that they want to connect with based on something other than an arbitrary score.

Measuring Online Influence: Invite Only

Women are especially likely to increasingly exercise more control over their privacy settings on social networks than men and younger users are more likely to "unfriend" than older users. Until very recently Women were consider the easy mark by brands on sites as they were more open to sharing the brands they "liked".

However, if, as the trend data shows, we are moving to an environment where the users are focusing more on real relationships and less on numbers and power networks then brands may well lose their invite to the party. Facebook currently estimates that the average user has 130 connections in their network. If that shrinks to a much smaller number then are brands going to be able to afford the expense of trying to get their message out through, what will become, an increasing number of users?

Are you unfriending this year?

Why Your Smartphone will kill the Shopping Mall

That smartphone that you are so attached to, the one on your desk, in your pocket or bag right now will kill the shopping mall. That seems like hyperbole but it is happening right now.

The rise of the connected shopper is changing the way brick and mortar stores do business. An increasing number of smartphone users are pulling out their phones while instore to do comparison shopping.

The Death of the Shopping Mall

Here is the scenario that stores are facing. A potential customer comes into the store, they look at a product, they engage with the sales staff, they are provided with information, maybe taking up anywhere between five and fifteen minutes of that staff members time and then just before the purchase they take out their smartphone and do an online search for the same product to compare prices, worse still they simply scan the barcode and services like Google will show them the comparable prices online and at other physical stores nearby.

This is great for the consumer and horrifying for the retailer. The retailer is now faced with two choices, they can compete on price – eating into their margins, or they can lose the sale. Those are very tough choices. This practice is not only on the rise but is actively being encouraged by online retailers like Amazon.

The new Shopping Mall

So what does the future shopping mall look like? Many retailers will start to realize that if their stores are becoming little more than product display areas then why do they need to use expensive in town mall properties, when they could build smaller stores in lower cost areas. After all if they don't need stock in the store then they only need display space which greatly reduces the square footage needed, it also reduces the number of staff needed to operate the store.

Purchases can be made by customers who simply scan their own product and fulfillment can be carried out by regional distribution centers in even lower cost areas. After all if the customer wants to save money and shop online they are already giving up taking the product with them, so having it delivered from the physical store the next day is not a burden.

Smartphones kill the Shopping Mall

Currently one in five smartphone users in the US scan barcodes in store to compare prices (according to a 2011 study by comScore). That number will rise proportionately with the increase in smartphone adoption. As users start to discover that the smartphone that cost them so much can actually be used to save them money, it becomes a device that pays for itself.

So your trips to the mall of the future may be more of a browsing experience and less of a buying experience than it is today. Think more like museums with products artfully displayed than the stack 'em high sell 'em cheap of the big box stores of today.

Do you use your smartphone to comparison shop?

 image used under CC license by jeffcapeshop's


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Content Curation In Ten Minutes A Day

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Three C's of Social Content - Creation, Curation and Cultivation, today I'm going to focus on content curation. A lot of people seem to be interested in the curation piece but don't know how to do it consistently or feel that it is just too big a job, one that they don't have time for.

I want to dispel that fear for you. Here is how you can achieve good content curation in just ten minutes a day.

Content Curation – Finding the Content

Of course the first component in a Content Curation strategy is deciding where the content is going. Are you curating for a blog, for Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Chime.In? Knowing where your content is going is part of the battle.  Twitter for example lends itself more to headlines than images. Pinterest is totally visual. Facebook and Google Plus work better with images but can cope without them.

How do you go about finding the content? There are several ways of doing this, but I am going to cut to the easiest and quickest, use a tool. There are so many different content tools available now that it seems ridiculous to me that more people aren't using them.

Pulse
Taptu
Google Currents
Feedly
Alltop

These are all great sources of content for your audience. I personally use all of these on a regular basis.

Content Curation – Get Organized

So now you have found some content how do you keep track of it and organize it for publishing? Again the simple answer is tools. You can use anything from the bookmarks button on your browser to online tools that allow you to access the content from anywhere you can access the web. The latter is my preference. Some of the tools that allow you to do this are:

Instapaper
Evernote
Readitlater

Of course there are a lot more of these and other "Social" bookmarking sites.

Content Curation – The Workflow

Now we have our content, we have somewhere to save the content to for later, how does it all fit together in a ten minute activity?

The setup as with most activities is what will take the longest – this is a one off activity (though it is good to fine tune as you go along). Firstly decide on your favorite content sources, but avoid the big producers. For example if you are curating Social Media content don't use Mashable – nothing against Mashable I read their content most days, however so does everyone else. Resharing their content just adds to the noise. Find more original sources. Also don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and use different sources.

Remember the content you are curating is not just for your consumption its for your audience. I have 22 boards on Pinterest that all need content if people are to keep following them, they are all on different topics so I am constantly refining the sources I use for them.

Use your content aggregation tool everyday, select your stories and save them to your bookmark tool. Then decide which platform the content pieces are best suited to and publish them.

With a little practice and persistance I promise you can achieve content curation that produces a steady flow of interesting content that will not only entertain your existing network but help you build a bigger one in just ten minutes a day.

I'm glad you took the time to read this post.


If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read

 

 

Huge Giveaway & a Twofer for Dallas Marketers

Jason Falls is bringing his Explore experience to Dallas on Friday February 17th. The one day conference presents a dozen or more of the smartest people in Social Marketing all in one space. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or still trying to wrap your head around the priorities this is a conference you do not want to miss.

Explore Dallas- Fort Worth

Take a look at the topics -

Developing an ROI framework for your business
How to operationalize social media across the enterprise
How research and data fuel more effective marketing campaigns
Incorporating location-based marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing and video marketing into your strategies
Content marketing to wow your audience
How to turn mobile customers into passionate fans
Digital marketing strategies for small and medium businesses
Managing social content
The one secret to driving action through social media

and many more.

So who is presenting? Here is the current list:

Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer
Brian Clark - Copyblogger.com
Tom Webster of Edison Research
Aaron Strout from WCG and co-author of Location-Based Marketing for Dummies
Zena Weist of Edleman Digital
Kevin Magee from Expion
Arienne Holland from Raven Tools
Tim Hayden of 44Doors
Nichole Kelly from Full Frontal ROI
Giovanni Gallucci – Live.Loud.Texas
DJ Waldow from Waldow Social
Mike Merrill from ReachLocal.com

Can you honestly tell me you don't need this information? Exactly that is what I thought. So here is the deal. One lucky reader of this blog will win a pair of tickets to the conference worth a total of $800! You know what you get for that money, apart from all this magnificent content – you get breakfast, lunch, a cocktail reception, networking time and a one-month free trial of Social Media Explorer's on-call consultancy and question-answer site, ExploringSocialMedia.com. All that for FREE!

How do you win that Pair of Tickets?

It's really simple – leave a comment in the comments section below, make sure you leave your Full Name, Email  Address and simply tell me who you are going to bring and what the pair of you want to take away from the conference. I'll select the winner on Monday Feb 13th.

There's More

That's great for the winner but what if you don't win – don't despair because Jason Falls has very kindly extended a discount to my readers. Yes you lucky individuals are getting not 10% off, not 20% not even 30% off. No you are getting 50% off the normal price for a ticket. That's right basically its a "twofer" (two for the price of one).

Register on the Explore Dallas-Fort Worth site and in the check out enter INCSLINGERS where it says Enter Promotional Code.

Do me a favor and spread the word about this competition. I'll see you at the event.

I'm glad you took the time to read this post.


If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read

 

 

Check Your Hair, Make Sure Your Mic Is On – Houston, We Have A Speaker!

This is a continuing series of posts by Speakers for speakers. If you are currently a speaker and looking to improve, if you are an aspiring speaker and worried about the mistakes that others make this is the series for you. Each Wednesday a speaker who I value will share their thoughts on how speakers can be better, their experiences as a speaker and generally tell you the insider secrets that make it look so easy when they take the stage.

 

This week the post is by Dayna Steele, I first met Dayna a few years ago at a dinner organized by a friend we had in common during SXSW. I've seen Dayna speak and if ever there was a speaker who can command an audience, who can entertain and inform at the same time, Dayna is it. She is dynamic, charismatic and at the same time extremely professional and polished. Her audiences love her and leave her sessions well informed. Dayna is a serial entrepreneur, author and business speaker, Dayna Steele travels the world to improve performance, create strong teams, increase company sales and grow businesses with her Rock Star Principles of Success.  Dayna is the author of Rock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World's Greatest Rock Stars and her forthcoming book is 101 Ways to Rock Your World: Everyday Activities for Success Every Day.

 

Houston, We Have a Speaker

What do you do when the fourth person to walk on the Moon calls you and says, "Love your book, love your website, hate your video, call me and I'll tell you why."

Well, first you stare at the phone and then listen to the message a few more times.

Then, you work up the nerve to call Alan Bean back and hear what he has to say.

Captain Alan Bean (US Navy, Ret.) is a former NASA astronaut. He took his first flight into space aboard Apollo 12 and became the fourth human to walk on the surface of the Moon.  Long retired from NASA and the space race, Bean is now a highly regarded artist and a sought after speaker.

Come to find out, Bean actually liked my video and was impressed with my comfort level on a stage.  What he did want to see me change was so simple, yet so brilliant.  In fact, it was what I have always said made me a more successful radio personality than most of my peers. Simply put…..

Always speak as if you are speaking to one person, your best friend.  Never speak in plurals or locations – such as 'all of you' and 'up here'.  Use the word 'you' much more than you use the word 'I'. Create a personal bond with each and every person in your audience.

As Alan Bean put it, "As soon as I figured out how to make my Moon stories their Moon stories, the speech clicked and resonated with the audience.  And, in the end, they are the only ones who matter aren't they?"

Yes sir Captain!

I'm glad you took the time to read this post.


If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read

 

 

Buyosphere:Why It’s Better Than Pinterest

I can already hear you screaming at the screen, this had better be good, how can he say that Buyosphere is better than Pinterest? Pinterest is on the lips of everyone at the moment. Less than two years old and benefiting from a $27m funding round, it is the current darling of the social media world – well some of the social media world. There has been considerable conversation online lately about just how useful it really is, especially as a lot of people are convinced it is aimed solely at women. This assertion is unfounded but nonetheless widely believed – you can join in a discussion on Google plus on Wednesday 8th February at 2pm EST hosted by Lynette Young to learn more.

Buyosphere – Where the buyers are

A lesser known but arguably easier to grasp and more immediately usable platform for retailers especially is Buyosphere. Buyosphere is the brain child of Tara Hunt, who is well known to anyone in the digital space as MissRogue, author of the Whuffie Factor:Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business, along with co-founders Jerome Paradis and Cassandra Girard. Originally Buyosphere and Pinterest shared some commonality, however, Buyosphere recently pivoted slightly to become more of a Quora for shoppers.

This is a much easier concept for both users and marketers to grasp. As their tagline puts it Ask. Answer. Discover. What makes this site so attract to me and I would think other marketers is that the people using the site are in the funnel already. You know that they are looking to make a purchase, ok you don’t necessarily know their timeframe but you do at least know that they are looking and you know what they are looking for and how much they want to pay.

As you can see from this header image, the site is very easy to use. Simply type in what it is you are looking for. Doing so pops up a more detailed form for you to complete so that the community can help you find what it is you are looking for. As you can see from the image below it’s not hard to complete. Tell the community what you are looking for, add details about the thing you are looking for, e.g. sizes, colors etc. categorize the item, how much you want to pay and where it needs to be shipped to, add some meta tags to make it easy to search on and you are done.

Ok so if you are a marketer or retailer why on earth would you not be on this site? Here you are being handed a community of people looking to buy stuff and if you are someone who can provide that item or items why would you not recommend your stuff?

You can opt into categories and Buyosphere will send you a daily email of the questions and answers from that day – just how easy do you want this to get? So if you are finding it hard to wrap your head around Pinterest and how your retail organization could best use it might I suggest you are on the wrong site and that the site you are looking for is Buyosphere.

 

I'm glad you took the time to read this post.


If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read

 

 

Buyosphere:Why It's Better Than Pinterest

I can already hear you screaming at the screen, this had better be good, how can he say that Buyosphere is better than Pinterest? Pinterest is on the lips of everyone at the moment. Less than two years old and benefiting from a $27m funding round, it is the current darling of the social media world – well some of the social media world. There has been considerable conversation online lately about just how useful it really is, especially as a lot of people are convinced it is aimed solely at women. This assertion is unfounded but nonetheless widely believed – you can join in a discussion on Google plus on Wednesday 8th February at 2pm EST hosted by Lynette Young to learn more.

Buyosphere – Where the buyers are

A lesser known but arguably easier to grasp and more immediately usable platform for retailers especially is Buyosphere. Buyosphere is the brain child of Tara Hunt, who is well known to anyone in the digital space as MissRogue, author of the Whuffie Factor:Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business, along with co-founders Jerome Paradis and Cassandra Girard. Originally Buyosphere and Pinterest shared some commonality, however, Buyosphere recently pivoted slightly to become more of a Quora for shoppers.

This is a much easier concept for both users and marketers to grasp. As their tagline puts it Ask. Answer. Discover. What makes this site so attract to me and I would think other marketers is that the people using the site are in the funnel already. You know that they are looking to make a purchase, ok you don't necessarily know their timeframe but you do at least know that they are looking and you know what they are looking for and how much they want to pay.

As you can see from this header image, the site is very easy to use. Simply type in what it is you are looking for. Doing so pops up a more detailed form for you to complete so that the community can help you find what it is you are looking for. As you can see from the image below it's not hard to complete. Tell the community what you are looking for, add details about the thing you are looking for, e.g. sizes, colors etc. categorize the item, how much you want to pay and where it needs to be shipped to, add some meta tags to make it easy to search on and you are done.

Ok so if you are a marketer or retailer why on earth would you not be on this site? Here you are being handed a community of people looking to buy stuff and if you are someone who can provide that item or items why would you not recommend your stuff?

You can opt into categories and Buyosphere will send you a daily email of the questions and answers from that day – just how easy do you want this to get? So if you are finding it hard to wrap your head around Pinterest and how your retail organization could best use it might I suggest you are on the wrong site and that the site you are looking for is Buyosphere.

 

I'm glad you took the time to read this post.


If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read

 

 

The Fall of The Roman Empire & The Collapse of The Social Media Outpost

What has the Fall of The Roman Empire got to do with Social Media? Is this another of those weird analogies that "guru's" like to throw around? Possibly, though I hope you will see the connection in the way I do. Over the past few years those of us who advise others on how to get the most from marketing through social media channels have agreed that the model which works best for all size businesses is the outpost model. I referred to it as the hub and spoke model others use different terms but we all mean the same thing.

The Collapse of The Social Media Outpost

One of the major contributing factors to the fall of the Roman Empire was its size. It became too big to be sustainable. The Roman's had outposts at every point of the known world. Communication became harder and harder, supply become harder and the trade that was supposed to flow back to Rome started to diminish. So focused on their outposts were they that they ignored what was going on in their own Capital. In the end the model collapsed. Roman was over-run by hoardes that didn't rely on developing large empires but instead existed in small groups that were more sustainable.

So how does this affect Social Media? The truth is that the model that so many of us have been promoting is about to collapse. There are just too many outposts. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Google Plus, Pinterest, Tumblr, WordPress, Forums, Email, and endless other places to establish an outpost, all with the same end to drive traffic back to our Capital.

Retreating From Your Social Media Outpost

Look at your own statistics, how many of the various sites that you have established as an outpost is actually generating significant traffic? Why are you still there? The low numbers tell you that the people interested in you aren't there, you are either doing a poor job of maintaining your outpost or you just aren't providing the locals with what they want. Either way you need to get out before it becomes obvious that you can't sustain that outpost.   In a recent post Chris Brogan says:

2012 is the year where social media oversaturation hits hard. We will scale back on our participation in social networks, and we will most certainly scale back who we choose to follow as sources.

He is right (he usually is), and if that is the case then that scaling back by users means that your content is going to get even less eyeballs at your outposts. Your empire is about to be over-run by hit and run hoardes who are better able to leverage those particular outposts than you are. So why wait for that to happen?

Deciding Which Social Media Outpost To Keep

I am not suggesting you abandon all your outposts, but take a good long hard look at all those outposts you have established and see how often you are posting – not automatically cross-posting from other places, but actually generating original content targeted at that particular audience. If the answer is "not much" then that outpost probably needs to be abandoned.

Just because new sites appear doesn't mean you should immediately establish an outpost – try instead to see if there is a real fit for your business. Currently lots of people are trying to shoe-horn Pinterest into their marketing mix – for some this will become another cross-posting, under-supplied outpost that will die off in a few months. For others it will become a major driver of traffic, allowing them to remove other outposts that are not performing as well. But simply building an outpost for the sake of it is not a strategy for success.

Which Social Media Outposts can you let go of?

I'm glad you took the time to read this post.


If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read

 

 

Check Your Hair, Make Sure Your Mic Is On – Know The Lingo

This is a continuing series of posts by Speakers for speakers. If you are currently a speaker and looking to improve, if you are an aspiring speaker and worried about the mistakes that others make this is the series for you. Each Wednesday a speaker who I value will share their thoughts on how speakers can be better, their experiences as a speaker and generally tell you the insider secrets that make it look so easy when they take the stage.

 

 

 

This weeks post is by Lynette Young. Lynette is CEO of Purple Stripe Productions, Lynette Young is one of the first podcasters to have received a six-figure sponsorship just to chat (and that was her first year).  Since then, she has been helping others put their dreams into action as a social media coach, social technology specialist, and a strategist for businesses regarding implementation services.  Her love (besides her family) is Google+.  Ms. Young believes that Google+ is the future for business and, as such, is the founder and curator of The Women of Google+.

Know The Lingo

As a professional speaker, I present within my own industries of social media, women entrepreneurs and technology, but most of the time I speak at events in other industries. While I know the lingo we throw around, I am not always privy to the terminology of other industries. It is imperative that to be a professional speaker you do some research to find out about the people warming the seats. If you don't what matters in their industry or day to day jobs, you will never connect with them with your content from the podium.

I have witnessed probably a hundred spectacular train wreck talks over my twenty years as a speaker (yes, a few were mine). I will give an example to show a point, and to hopefully learn a lesson. I attended a conference for the insurance industry and was waiting in the wings as the speaker before me was on stage. The speaker was from the real estate world, which was a good fit for the content presented that day. Problem? It was obvious that the speaker assumed everyone in the audience understood what he was talking about when he threw around industry-specific terms like CRV (certificate of reasonable value) and PITI (principal, interest, tax, and insurance). Do you know what a cricket sounds like in a room of five hundred people? I do now.

It was obvious to me the speaker had not taken the time to know that the people filling the seats. The attendees had no real understanding of the inner workings of the real estate world. Had the speaker thought to rework his talk a bit to be more 'plain English' the audience could understand and not use his talk as a sleeping aid. The audience wasn't only lost, but made to feel stupid and uninformed. Not one person left their seats when he was finished to get his business card. (Truth be told, he may have just walked straight to the exit door when he was done, but that's an entirely different article.) By taking a glance at the conference agenda and sales sheet it would have been very easy to know that these were not attendees that understood real estate financing. Lesson? Talk to your audience as if they were actual people, and do a bit of research to find out who they are and where they come from.

"Lingo-vomit" is probably the most common screw-up I see along with assuming the audience knows all the things you do, or talking to them like they are idiots. There are the rare gems where I get to see a speaker set themselves on fire by jumping into a talk written for authors when the are really in a crowd of nurses. The location slip-up is the all time personal favorite of mine. A battle cry of 'Go Pats!' when they are really in New York Giants territory is always fun to watch. How a speaker recovers from that is a good judge of their abilities outside the slip up. The correct comeback for that faux pas is "just keeping you on your toes – GO GIANTS!"

"GO EAGLES!" is not.

See last weeks post – Speaking Is About More Than Speaking by Thom Singer

I'm glad you took the time to read this post.


If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read

 

 

Buddy Can You Spare A Dime? The Rise of Micro-Investing

Micro-Investing is providing those of us without the funds to become Venture Capitalists or Angel investors the opportunity to experience the thrill of investing without the risks. The model is somewhat similar to that employed by charities for years. A small amount multiplied many times equals a much larger amount. So instead of seeking thousands of dollars, asking for only a few, but asking thousands of people can equal the same amount.

Micro-Investing: What's In It For You?

While the rewards of micro-investing are never going to match that of being a VC or an Angel, the amount invested and the risk associated with that amount is much lower as well. What you mainly get from micro-investing is the sense of helping someone get to a goal and a thrill of having backed the right horse.

Sites like KickStarter, Appbackr and newly launched Apptopia provide platforms for would be investors to find ideas that they like and make small investments in them. Kickstarter focuses more on arts based projects, Appbackr and Apptopia are focused on providing funds for mobile app development and the sale of the rights to apps respectively.

Micro-Investing:What's In It For Them?

In a word, money. Depending on which platform you are using what they have to provide you, the investor with, varies greatly. Kickstarter projects might involve a product, a picture, a song or something similar, but it might just be a thank you card – depending on your level of investment. Appbackr investors get a small revenue share based on the sale of apps and the amount of their investment. Apptopia is a wholesale clearing house for the rights to an app – you are basically taking over the ownership of that app, code, IP the whole package.

For "starving artists" Kickstarter can mean the launch of a project that would otherwise wither in the wasteland of "good ideas". Appbackr means that app developers can realize some money early on so that they can continue development and marketing of their app and go on to realize a full revenue stream.

Micro-Investing: My Experience

I've been playing with these platforms for about 9 months now and have invested in several projects.

One of the early successes was Cliff Roth's "Google Plus Speedpaint Hangout Project" – Cliff was looking to raise $2000. I noticed this project just before it's deadline, he was $33 short of his goal. If a goal isn't met then none of the investors are required to part with their money, also the project goes unfunded – in other words there is no "part funding" it is all or nothing. I chipped in the $33 and his project was funded. For that investment I was added to a Special Google Plus Circle and invited to Backers-Only Speedpaint Hangout Sessions, in addition I will also receive a pencil drawing of myself signed by Cliff. I felt that was a very fair exchange.

Another huge success was Creatures. This  is a card game and I actually invested in this to get the game as a gift for the holidays. I've had a lot of fun playing the game. But the real story here is that they were seeking $2,500 they actually raised over $56,000 in funding. People like me invested anywhere between $1 and $750 to receive various rewards from the creators of Creatures. This game is now available on Amazon.

My latest investment appealed to the geek in me. Twine is a device that allows you to interact with other devices and platforms like Text, Email, Web etc based on certain conditions. The interesting part about it is that it requires no coding. The interactions are all controlled by a very simple web interface. Again this project really appealed to the Kickstarter community. The Twine project was seeking $35,000 in funding, they raised over $500,000.

I have also backed a couple of apps on Appbackr but to date those have not made it into production and therefore I have not actually been charged any money. I'm hopeful that I will pick a winner soon.

If you haven't tried micro-investing yet I definitely recommend it. Don't expect to retire on the returns but you will have a lot of fun being part of the micro-investing community.

I'm glad you took the time to read this post.


If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read