This Site Has Moved: DBMEi becomes Digital Ethos

You may have noticed that this site stopped updating this month, wondering why?

We re-branded and re-launched on WordPress.org and in a big way! The Magazine, Education Portal, Events Calendar and Digital Media Week have all been integrated into the evolving mission of Digital Brand Marketing Education & Interactives. We spent months preparing for this, we looked at our mission, our goals, our passions and then thought about our brand. It was decided that the organization needed something shorter, purposeful and memorable, the final decision was found when we were introduced to the word Ethos.

Ethos is a Greek word meaning “character” that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology.

Ethos forms the root of ethikos, meaning “moral, showing moral character”. It is the origin of the modern English word ethics.

While we started the organization as a tool to look at Marketing in the digital space, we believe that at the core the focus should be on communications. Digital Marketing does more then sell products, it creates awareness. While we will continue to place an emphasis on how business, organizations and individuals can use these tools for marketing their brand, be it for personal or business, we see a bigger needs.

  • The need to bring high speed internet and access to digital communications to everyone, everywhere.
  • The need to keep this communication tool free of censorship or limitation for all of humanity.
  • The ultimate need of not only being able to consume information, but the need to provide education and training to empower society (humanity) with the ability to contribute to it.

So we have outlined the next stage of our development below.

What Digital Ethos hopes to accomplish.

Core Initiatives:

  • Demystify how digital media works in order for the public to gain access to information and publically available resources
  • Educate the public to participate in digital communication streams both as consumers and contributors to become savvy digital media communicators
  • Develop outreach programs that bring digital media resources to underrepresented geographic and demographic areas.
  • Generate awareness about the need for high speed internet access in every home, school and business in the world.
  • Provide information and support to keep digital media communications open and free to all without unwarranted censorship or limitation by governments.
  • Provide feedback to digital media agencies, organizations, solution providers as it retains to the access to information and/or dissemination of information that is accurate to the public.

How Digital Ethos will accomplish this.

The Organization uses the following Interactives (programs) to accomplish its mission:

  • Digital Media Daily – Blog
  • Digital Media Monthly – Newsletter
  • Digital Media Quarterly – Print Magazine
  • Digital Media Education – Distance Learning Portal
  • Digital Media Events – Live Conferences, Summits & Workshops
  • Digital Media Society – Organized Campaign of Influencers and Supporters

The content of the publications center around digital communications and tools to provide businesses, organizations and individuals information and support for; Design, Multimedia, Web Development, Search, Social, Mobile, Technology and more. The Organization will use the publications and events to generate awareness in underrepresented areas about digital communications as a tool for learning, economic development and the need to keep them uncensored and without limitations.

What will the benefit be and to whom?

The benefit of the organizations existence is to provide a center (unbiased) approach to communications and information. The organization must balance humanities basic needs for communication. Facilitating content and initiatives that are open and empowered by volunteers, not directed by financial or political needs, provides our society and humanity a voice to preserve the freedoms created by digital media technology for communications & information.

This will benefit business, organizations and individuals by granting them access to resources traditionally limited to those endless means or larger financial resources. Bringing such technology, practices and tools serves as a way to preserve a global economy and a productive and peaceful society.

Digital Ethos’ Digital Media Education Initiative:

Digital Ethos’ Digital Media Education provides Digital Media Communications and Culture support for the development of businesses, organizations and individuals. The understanding of such tools and culture is the key to economic development that creates opportunity and reduces misunderstandings, inefficiency or conflict.

The Digital Media Education program uses two processes to accomplish this goal, Publications and Interactives. The publications follow a “Read, Write & Share” philosophy, while the Interactives use a “Experience, Execute & Interact” philosophy covering subject matter in Social Media, Search Engines, Mobile Technology, Conferences, Networking and Brand Marketing. The Interactives are social experiences that help foster networking and learning. The Interactives are based on communication and can be digital or conducted in real life.

Thos who enter into the Digital Media Education program participate in an experiential learning process that involves content creation, networking and facilitation to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities. The Digital Media Education initiative provides activities and information for society to become empowered and proficient for all individuals and their organizations.

The Digital Media Education program provides professional development support and unbiased content for society to foster better use of digital communication technology and strategies. In doing so, Digital Ethos’ Digital Media Education fosters a climate for successful business development, outreach and personal communications that create a safer and more productive workforce.

Will Airtime Re-Humanize the Internet?

The internet has left some parts of humanity more isolated from one another while simultaneously connecting them in ways we never had in the not-so-distant past. While it has certainly done far more good on the connection end than it has done bad on the isolation side, there are still many things that we are losing in communications with one another when we converse, relate, and communicate through social channels that are limited to text based chat or platforms. Many people who communicate for fun, as well as many others who use internet communication options for business are simply not finding themselves satisfied with the amount of human interaction in their digital communications.

In the Beginning

Long ago now when the internet arrived for public use, IRC, or internet relay chat was the usual medium of choice for those who desired interaction with others in the digital world. It was very basic, but users were able to chat, trade files through DCC sends and connects, and keep in touch, in real time, with users from all over the world. What an amazing experience it was. It still is, however, many vital elements important to human communications are lost in these digital transmissions.

  • Gestures
  • Body Language
  • “Eye- to – Eye” Contact
  • Attitude
  • Character

In general face-to-face conversations with the people in our lives we can see all of these things. Dig a little deeper into the real person they are, grow to understand their gestures and body language to gauge their reaction to the world-at-large.

Now and In the Future

Airtime’s founders, who also met over an IRC in those early days of the Internet, have created an incredible alternative to those stale, distant, disconnected textual conversations online. One-click Facebook integration on Airtime means there is nothing more than the one required click to get users started. Users need only make sure they have a web cam connected to get started.

With Airtime, users are both the audience and the performer. You can chat up your Facebook friends, or pair up with a stranger by selecting filters such as nearby in your city, common friends, or even friends of friends.

Airtime allows users to video chat with one another or drag their own videos in from sites around the web like YouTube, and watch them together. Rumor has it that Airtime is also considering incorporating synchronous music listening and a platform for group chat with mobile apps on the way ‘very soon’ according to Airtime developers.

Although there are plenty of other ways to communicate through video, most of those platforms are tethered to desktop applications such as Skype, that still lacks some of the sharing options Airtime provides. Inspired by his own plight during a distance separation from his own girlfriend,  Sean Parker, co-founder of Airtime, decided it felt pretty distant to have to share a video with his girlfriend and then sit back, wait, and listen to or watch her reaction to it. He wanted them both to be able to watch it together, enjoy it simultaneous. A real-time human connection on a digital format.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

Free Twitter and Facebook Tools for Social Media Management

In a previous blog post titled Twitter Tools You May Not Be Able to Live Without, we covered several tools that could quickly become vital management elements in your social sharing toolbox. However, that post was just a month short of a full year ago and in the digital world, we know things progress quickly. There have been some new tools presented that may offer management options that simply were not available a year ago. Here are a few tools you may want to add, rearrange, or organize your social media management toolbox around.

Commun.it

Commun.it is a revolutionary tool that was designed for individuals or businesses that have a need to connect with their fans, followers, or consumers with a more efficient user interface than previously similar tools.

c/o successshowto.com

Manage Twitter Accounts Easily

Commun.it handles the ominous task that diving your followers into appropriate categories can be when your account begins to amass a larger following than is easily handled manually. It can divide them into helpful categories that can help users be more direct with their specific messages for different types of followers.

New Leads – Commun.it’s system can help users find new leads to follow by locating any who mention your site or retweet one of your messages through a currently disconnected fan or follower. Anyone not in your current network who shares your content should show up on Commun.it’s user-friendly dashboard with one-click options to follow, retweet, reply, or favorite their posts.

Engaged Fans – These are the followers you will already have a fairly high level of connectivity with based on the number of direct messages between you, replies to your posts, mentions or retweets.

Influencers – Although you are unlikely to know it without the help of Commun.it, your list of influencers will have shown some previous level of communication with you in the past. Gaining allies in those who have already been supportive of your shared media in the past is quite the easy task with Commun.it’s helpful and suggestive dashboard features.

Supporters – Those who are already among your followers and have the tendency to happily retweet or otherwise share your messages or content via linking. Although supporters do not often engage directly with you, they are a highly valuable commodity on any Twitter account.

Commun.it also shows users the level of engagement with any given follower. The dashboard features will display how many replies, retweets or direct messages have been exchanged between the followers account and your own. In many cases, users can miss out on those highly valuable exchanges and fail to follow those who engage them directly by sharing content. Commun.it will even show you those who have shared your posts without mentioning you by name or @mention.

Check out how BuildMeAnEmpire is utilizing Commun.it as a Twitter tool to help find leads for your business.

Crowdbooster

Crowdbooster can make managing your social media accounts incredibly easy. Easy to integrate with Twitter and Facebook, Crowdbooster allows users

to really get in tune with how social media and sharing is working for them or their businesses. Using Crowdbooster will help users understand how effective Tweets or Facebook shares are faring on the world wide web. Crowdbooster has a user-friendly graphical interface that displays graphs that allow even the business owner with little knowledge of analytics a basic understanding of how their content is being accepted, shared, and otherwise promoted.

Take a look at this video below to get a closer look at Crowdbooster.

c/o forbes.com

Crowdbooster allows users to:

  • Manage multiple accounts on Facebook and Twitter to gain a more robust view of marketing efforts on one centralized tool.
  • Gain deep insight into their audience by engaging and interacting with those who have the most influence in your sphere. Using these insights will allow users to build on and maintain brand awareness for their products or services.
  • Understand and gain follower and fan growth. Learn how tracking long-term engagement on your social media platforms can give you the knowledge and experience you need to learn to drive more growth to your current community.

Crowdbooster does so much more, so if you are looking for a great user-friendly system that manages social media smoothly, it is definitely an option worth looking into.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

What is Tout?

We have had many Pinterest and Instagram-a-holics since those two stormed their way onto the social scene. However, short of YouTube we have had very few platforms that have provided us with a quick and easy method for uploading videos. Until now. Tout is a social media platform that enables users to take their own videos, up to 15 seconds long, and shoot them to their Facebook, Twitter, email contacts, or even SMS. With an engaging reply feature, Tout users can enjoy “Tout conversations.”

Combining social networking with the true power that video has to increase conversation and engagement can be a powerful force to be reckoned with when it comes to getting a social buzz going.

Tout Experiences

  • Some brands like USA Today, Access Hollywood, The Weather Channel, and CBS are already using Tout to interact directly with their audiences resulting in comments, questions and conversations that help extend the reach of their presence on the internet as well as traditional television.
  • Users can view video updates from their friends as well as some big celebrities or record their own Touts that can be shared with both family and friends. With real-time updates, high-quality video and “video everywhere” features, Touters can stay in-the-know about the events in the lives of those who are important to them.
  • Many celebrities such as Katie Couric, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Greta van Susteren, and Jeff Probst have begun using Tout to get connected personally with their fans. Big name stars like Stephen Spielberg and Madonna have actually answered Touted questions from fans from the red carpet.

Tout is beginning to change how people interact on social platforms. With more direct interaction in real-time, distance and disconnections are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Social sharing with a more vibrant experience in sound, motion and high-definition color and quality means that for many in the business of social, those things that cannot be shared fully in a still photo have become more up-close-and-personal in rich video media.

Get Touting!

Anyone can sign up at Tout.com and get started creating their own 15 second videos. Do not underestimate how powerful a message you can convey in those few short moments. Users can log in through the site, integrate with their Facebook account, or head to the Android store to grab the app. Check out this fantastic introduction video for Tout.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

What Digital & Social Media Marketers Can Learn from Business Consultants [Opinion]

In the last five years I have heard some wild claims about who makes the best marketer – those claims have ranged from PR professionals, who ‘should be the only people to do it’, to Social Media, to ‘it takes a Sales Professional to provide the best internet marketing.’

I’d like you to think of Digital Assets in the form of a building:

  • The windows are Social Media – transparency of course
  • The walls are the advertising efforts – the place to display and show
  • The doors are the PR – as media attention helps get people to walk through the door
  • The shelves, displays and racks are the event planners – presentation and onsite execution
  • The Roof is the website – it covers everything else

However, the missing element is the foundation or the business itself. The digital and social media industry has gotten a lot of bad heat on not being effective and I would argue that has happened because the keystone has been missing, the Business Consultant.

I warn almost everyone that I interact with to look for the red flags when meeting a PR, Web, SEO, Social Media, Event Professional, etc. The best way to know if that have any clue what they are talking about will come with the first interaction. Do they start talking to you about their business and products, or do they ask you about yours?

The world is filled with overnight talent and businesses that offer these services and I say talent because most are very good at their niche, unfortunately it seems to end there. Think of it like a great marksman sent off to war to be a sniper without any military training. The ability to hit a target does not translate to being an effect solider, especially in terms of the bigger picture.

The transformed business consultants that are working as project managers and on the rare occasion can provide Web Development, SEO, Social Media and more are carrying with them the greatest lesson the marketing industry can learn, success goes beyond the view, comment and call!

Traditional marketing and advertising was all about visibility and the connection point, the advertising was a success when the consumer connected with your name, product or service.( i.e. someone visited the website, opened the email, opened the text message or called your phone, that is marketing success in the traditional context). The ability to convert that experience into a sale was the business owners problem. This is the reason businesses fail continuously and why corporate leadership is completely in the dark with the digital environment.

How Can We do Better or Demand Better?

Take the Business Consultant approach, inquire about the business model, the products or services, why the target market is the target market. Take the campaign backwards, go from the conversion or sale to the campaigns and tools to reach consumers. Build the model on the business and remember the best in any industry become the best from exploring. Sometimes it’s easier to create new then fix broken.

Why “NO” is so important to the Profession of Digital & Social Media Marketing [Opinion]

The overnight rush of Web developers lead to overnight SEO providers and then the flood of Social Media Marketers. Which in turn lead to every PR, advertising and marketing agency claiming to offer services they knew nothing about to save their revenue streams. The industry changed so fast that quantity quickly overtook quality.

“NO” is crucial to not just the digital and social industry but the recovery of our economy! I was sitting in a session at BlogWorld, it was about monetization, each of the three presenters had the same story the “advertisers found us” and “I spent nothing on advertising”.

I had to go to the mic, this is such a common carless comment that I had an ethical obligation to set straight.

The question: “You said that advertisers found you and that you spent nothing on advertising, but I want you to think of what the cost was… you might not have purchased advertising but clearly you spent time and money to build your…”

All three faces quickly had a look that you couldn’t quite place, perhaps it was horror? Then Lou Mongello of Walt Disney World Radio jumped to answer, “Oh it was so expensive, it cost me time, I had to sell my house and I spent money on all sorts of things”.

Lou Mongello then went on to explain that part of his success came from having his families support and the understanding of sacrifice to accomplish the long term goal.

Don’t Go In Unprepared

Here is the crucial point of this article, because so many enter into digital and social media services unprepared with misrepresentation of their own business model, they are ill equipped to help their clients with the same problem. In the need to create profits they become like AOL, they leap into every adventure without any thought of their clients business model or worse their own long term business model.

Learning to say “NO” allows you to take on clients that will be successful with your talent or service, it garnishes long term revenue for your business and a reputation for growth. It’s not easy being picky in the beginning, or when times are tough, but it is successful! Even more importantly, it keeps others from wasting their life savings on an idea or business that they are underfunded, underequipped or worse ignorant about from losing their time and money. It also prevents the overwhelming false, false from becoming the digital and social media industry. The Social Media Marketer did not intentionally fail you, the web developer did not build a crappy website or fail to generate valuable SEO, the business was flawed and directed to fail from the beginning and the digital and social industry should not take the blame for that.

Pick your clients carefully, for the benefit of them, yourself and our industry.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources: