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Wow. It’s been a while. TKG has been busy. We’ve turned that corner I was talking about, and things took off…to the point that taking time to blog just wasn’t happening. TKG has been really blessed in that we’ve made it through several economic dips with sustainable growth, never having to lay anyone off, for which I am deeply thankful. Throughout all of this, we’ve been able to not only withstand the recession, but have grown to the point that we needed more hands on deck.

I have a couple of really cool things I’d like to share, so I thought I’d see if there are any readers hanging around in the dusty corners. TKG has been expanding, and has pursued a couple of really great opportunities in the last few months. One having to do with our IT and Data Center, and the other with our Social Business and Content Marketing team. The first was the acquisition of Sites Now, which happened back in July – you can read all about it, but basically, we were fortunate to be able to add a lot to our Data Center capabilities. We were also happy to welcome two very talented guys, Bryan Sears and Greg Skouby, who created and maintained Sites Now, and are now part of TKG.

The second announcement is a little more recent, as in…happening now. TKG has been growing so much in the last few months, in no small part due to our Web Marketing department. We recognized an opportunity to add to what we are already doing for our clients by enhancing our social media and social business strategies. We love helping our clients with email and content marketing, and other social business needs. As the market evolves beyond just search, we believed we needed even more to meet the demands of our clients, whether they are in our backyard or a new region for us like Columbus.

Columbus is a greatly underserved market, especially for those small to mid-size companies that really benefit from the more cost effective social business and content marketing strategies. (We like the big companies too.) So, we decided to bring on some remarkable Columbus-grown talent to add to our Web Marketing department, enhancing TKG’s offering by transitioning from execution and results mode to thought leadership and market-pacing mode. Which is fancy talk for we got some really cool folks from down in Columbus, took them out for a couple of beers and talked them into joining TKG.

So, I guess I dragged all that out long enough just to tell you that TKG has acquired Social Business Strategies
headed up by Nate Riggs with the help of Sarah Storer. (Uh, you’ve probably heard of them, if you live and breathe social business and search marketing like we do.) We’re really excited about what this means for the future of TKG. Social Business Strategies provides experience in terms of skill set and some strategic geography that lines up with TKG’s vision. We’re thrilled to welcome Nate and Sarah aboard – See you in Columbus!

Everyday there is a new way to use or abuse social media. I have one that I think will probably need to result in some new laws concerning aiding and abetting. Or maybe the ones on the books are far reaching enough – I don’t know – luckily never had cause to find out. However it is something that needs to be considered.

There was a case a few days ago in Utah where some guy decided to take a woman hostage and hold a police stand off, during which he updated Facebook. His updates included messages to friends and family, and replies to comments of support as well as others trying to get him to turn himself in and do the right thing. In yet another societal break, the guy even made new friends on Facebook during the standoff. (Seems like every time I post something on here, it has some kind of bad societal implication – I don’t wanna think too much on that one.) Some of his existing friends were able to go to the location, see what the police were doing, and comment on Facebook, warning him as to their strategy and position.

All this doesn’t really surprise me, though the more tech savvy these folks become, the more savvy the rest of us need to also become. What I am wondering is how much of this is going to make it’s way into legislation? I mean, I am sure there are some laws on the books that can be applied to these circumstances, but the probability of news laws pertaining to the use of social media to aid and abet criminals will probably be written.

Social media has done many good things. It has also been used to do some not so great things. When you are using social media yourself, be mindful of what information you are putting out there, and who can see it. Don’t give the bad guys any more tools than they already have. If you’d like more information on web security, check out http://noodleonthis.com . This blog, written by my brother in law, is chock full of security warnings and other need to know items to keep you and your information safe online. Check it out.

As someone who spends a good deal of my time figuring out what the web is going to do/be/have next, I have been waiting for the day when book publishing will be a thing of the past – i.e. – when a person creates content that he would normally go to a publisher to have published into a book, but now just posts it (for a price) on the web to be consumed by the interested. He can publish it himself, market it himself using social media as well as traditional SEO.

Of course, this has been happening in bits and pieces for as long as the web has existed but I have been waiting to see the TREND. It’s starting to happen. There are many bloggers who create e-books, lots of how-to ebooks, etc. But it’s just starting to become a phenomenon when a whole book goes viral. Case in point, the rather disturbing/funny book written for adults, but looks and almost sounds like it was written for children “Go the **** to Sleep”. Sorry, not going to be typing out the “f” bomb on my blog. Call me old fashioned or whatever. This book, posted online last year, has gone so viral that people are actually now requesting hard copies of it. (I’m not sure what this says about our society in general, and I don’t really want to spend a lot of time pondering it.) This book has now been read aloud and recorded by the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and some other dude I don’t know, but others seem to think he’s something. Werner Herzog, or something. These video recordings of the book being read aloud are expected to go viral as well.

But this whole business of the book going viral on the web first, and then being published brings up a whole new question. And not “Why would people want a hard copy of this book?” Though that question does come to mind. (It’s one thing to laugh at it online, even commiserate a little with the thinking behind the book, but to want a hard copy lying around that looks like a real childrens book? Nah.) The real question here is: is the web going to change the way books are published? Will the trend in book publishing become such that you have to release it online first, maybe in chunks, to see if there is interest before you can get it published? I recently downloaded a “sample” of Steven Tyler’s book “Does the Noise Inside My Head Bother You?”. Curious, and it was a free sample.

I am sure publishing houses have folks trolling the web as we speak looking for great material to turn into a book. There are plenty of bloggers who have been approached about writing a book, to the point that bloggers often mistakenly think that perhaps they will be asked to write a book. But is this going to be the trend in publishing from here on out? Publish it on the web, and then it may go to hard copy (at least for as long as hard copies exist), or will it be more of a trial on the web before publishing?

What do you think, do you see a trend in publishing happening in your industry, or on the web in general? Have you read books on the web, and then felt compelled to buy the hard copy? Have you considered publishing a work on the web – bypassing a publishing house altogether?

All the buzz about Groupon.com, Living Social.com, and more has created yet another avenue for online marketing. Facebook uses a news feed, Social Deals to send coupons and promote coupon sites, currently serving only Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco. Google is turning to email to promote it’s coupon and discount site, Google Offers. Zulily is a niche discount site aimed at mothers with babies and young children. The thing going forward with these sites is that there is so much room in the market, that some of these more niche sites will thrive. Rather than sifting through barbers and eateries as in Groupon, that cater to certain localities (which is great too, just different focus), these sites will cater to a more specific, non-local audience.

One such niche site is Markdown.com, recently launched by Glenn Beck. This site is different in that it will only offer deals from companies with values that are near and dear to Beck’s heart. For example, today’s deal is from Chocolate.com. Chocolate.com offers products not from a mass wholesaler, but rather from small business owners all over the country. Beck’s vision for the site is much like his usual dogma “Value and Values”. He willonly promote sites on his Markdown.com that have the values he thinks are worthwhile. Therefore, he is able to reach a very niche audience who will appreciate his efforts, and will in many cases want to support his causes. In this particular case, it happens to be small chocolatiers from all over the country. Not a bad first choice – everyone loves chocolate, and most people in the country want to do all they can to help bolster small businesses. This site is different, enough so that WebProNews contributor Chris Crum posted the About Us page. I think it’s worth reading, so I would suggest you hope over to read all of it, but I’ll post part of it here just so you can see what I am talking about:

“To put it simply, we believe that we can only be a great company if we are a good one. That means being good to our employees, our partners and our customers. It means making the right decisions, not just the easy or profitable ones. But, most of all, it means being the kind of place that we’re proud to say we work at; the kind of business that we’d want to do business with ourselves; and the kind of company that we’d be excited to send our own family and friends to.”

That’s valuable. I think it’s important to do business this way, and honestly, I will look to support this kind of site more than any other – it’s the way business should be done, and it’s the way we do business here.

Marketing on discount sites such as these will continue to be a trend. Since women are the main shoppers, and so many have started shopping online in the last 10 years or so, they are going to expect coupons and discounts. Whenever we go to buy something online, I know I search for a coupon code or wait for some discount first. The ability to target your audience, through niche or location, or a combination of the two, is going to become more and more important, and a great way to drive traffic to your site.

So, have you used a discount site to market your product or service? How’d you do? Would you do it again?

Since the end of the world is near, I thought I’d take a moment to congratulate LinkedIn for their phenomenal success this week, since after tomorrow, apparently, it won’t mean squat. Or, well, if only some people get beamed up into heaven, it will still matter to the rest left here until the physical world actually ends in October. (Can you believe people are really buying into this stuff? I mean, c’mon, the guy thought the same thing in like, 1994, BUT he’s totally sure he’s right this time. Gimme a break. – However finding out that the CDC has an actual page up with tips for surviving a Zombie Apocalypse made me so relieved, I hardly knew what to do with myself. Any self respecting American male has a Zombie Apocalypse survival plan all laid out, right? Yeah, glad I’m not alone.)

Anyway, LinkedIn went Public yesterday, selling shares at the start for around $45. I think WebProNews reported that they are now somewhere around $105. Pretty sweet, and fairly amazing, considering that LinkedIn not as popular as Twitter or Facebook – yet. Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, and his cohorts are probably pretty darn happy today. I hope that the company continues to grow – they’ve been doing some pretty interesting things over at LinkedIn lately, and this will give them the opportunity to expand their products even further (assuming we’re not looking at some sort of social media bubble like the tech bubble of the mid nineties to 2000). Looking forward to seeing what the come up with, I mean, if I’m still here Monday – or Zombies haven’t invaded or anything. I think I’ll go leave a set of my clothes draped over my office chair. Come Monday morning, most of the Group will think I’ve been “raptured” and I can go play golf – who’s with me?