#sixpixelsofseparation

Mitch Joel has been classified as one of the top 100 Marketers in the world, he has also made the highly regarded top 40 under 40 list. As the president of Mirum (Twist image) a global digital marketing agency, he steers the company to specialize in driving change within the digital marketing realm at a brand level.

Playing on the notion, Six degrees of Separation, which indicates we’re all connected by 6 or few steps. Joel insinuates the connection is much more noteworthy to the point of only Six pixels of Separation. With a quick google search we have the world at our finger tips. It’s a dwelling ground of real people looking for real interactions, where we can connect with communities, individuals and groups to form a voice.

In the B2C world, we’re now part of an era where consumers have the same voice as corporate companies. Feedback and reviewing platforms encourage people to be transparent, allowing the opportunity for communication, in turn encouraging the thoughts and ideas of both business’ and consumers to flow.

This book endorses the tactics, insights and tools to empower entrepreneurs to create an online experience, and be engaged with the online community.

There will be 5 posts summarizing some key points throughout the book:

1) I Google you..Just like you Google me

2) The channels, the opportunities

3) Entrepreneurship 2.0

4) Viral Expansion

So far Im intrigued by Joel’s writing style. He starts by tells a storey to set the context of his examples. In the first chapter he tells a story of a man by the name of Juan Mann (Pseudonym form “One Man”), he was a man who was feeling down and depressed, so he decided to make a sign that read “Free Hugs”, and walk around in a busy public area. At first he would get stares and snickers, but eventually one patron came forward and offered Juan a hug. Immediately after, a trend developed and others followed by giving hugs, and making signs of their own. While all this was happening, it was all being recorded. A local band connected with Juan and they decided to put music over the video and upload it to YouTube. Today this video has more than 40 million views, which has sparked the free hug movement in many places all over the world.

Mitch Joel insinuates that Juan Mann’s situation is in fact inline with “your business”. The core values of a business is about connecting with real people, and once your products and services get through to the intended audience. the next step is to spread the message as far as possible.

The traditional channels of advertising and marketing are generally costly, a large chunk of a budget can go into advertising with little ROI. This is why it’s beneficial to leverage these free online tools like Youtube to get your name out there, and maximize your resources.

What do people do when they hear about something new for the first time? They go to the Google machine and do a search! So if you open a new business, update your LinkedIn profile, or even create a profile on Facebook. Chances are you’ll surely show up in the google search results. Joel says in the book “Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what Google says it is.” 

As business owners you have to think of the most effective way to reach your customers, and maximize your efforts and resources. Let’s say you had the bright idea to open up a retail store at a prime location, in the middle of Time Square, NYC for instance. Would you simply set up shop, and open a basic website to let people know about store hours, sales, events, and contact. NO! I would imagine the savvy way to go about it, would be to penetrate the e-commerce market, and put your product out there for the world to access! Joel put it this way – “As an entrepreneur you don’t need to be a pure-play on-line business, BUT you need to be better as creating an online experience.”

It is no longer feasible to be hesitant about putting your business online. Mainly because the tier-one companies are already on the web. In the book Joel mentions that the tier-two companies are not even next inline as competition, but in fact, it’s the small hungry entrepreneurs who are the market leaders. They’re the ones who have taken advantage of SEM (Search Engine Marketing), purchased the keywords and engaged with the community.

Define your strategy!  Everyone is always busy worrying about which channels to use, and they completely ignore the strategy and brand. The most important questions to ask is “Why?”

• Why should you be on Facebook?

• Why should you make videos on YouTube?

• Why should you do a blog, and why would anyone care?

• Why should you try Twitter?

When you understand why, you’ll understand the love people have for your brand, why people buy from you, why people spread the word about who you are as a business, and why they should stay loyal. Having a brand strategy will enable you to decided which tools and tactics to use to aid in the growth of you business.

Word of mouth is an effective method for information to reach people about your business. When it comes to Viral Marketing people can pass on the word about your business because they’re enthusiastic about it. When it comes to a Viral Expansion Loop, it involves the engagement of an entire personal or professional community. In which case, the growth is enormous because your community is expanding through large networks of people. Facebook Twitter, eBay and google are examples of the viral expansion loop.

In the book Joel explains that the ideas behind viral expansion loops are very social media and Web 2.0 . The core rules of new marketing are established by embracing the power of individuals, and their online communities to create a united experience. As more and more individuals enter, they expand their networks even further, when they bring others to connect.