Digital Marketing And Social Media PR – The Future Buzz

The Future Buzz is a place where I help more than just communications professionals and businesses with their internet marketing. I also try to create content and conduct experiments that photographers, musicians and creatives who produce digital media of any sort can learn from.

I write frequently that social media and artists are a natural fit. I’m not just pontificating, as an artist who personally embraces creative commons as a promotional tool, I have firsthand experienced the positive effects the web has had helping my music spread. In fact, without the web I would have a total of zero listeners.

The social web and search results support each other and are inexorably linked. It goes beyond a mere passive connection, the two create an active, virtuous cycle growing more powerful daily. I mocked up a quick version of what I view the cycle as:

Psyblog recently shared 10 rules that govern groups in the physical world. Interesting stuff for sure and raises the question – how many of these 10 are true on the web? My sense is all of them, as the way we function online in collaborative settings is not all that different from how real-world groups interact.

A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to focus attention on a specific location.

Visualize what image the word beacon conjures in your mind: perhaps a lighthouse casting light onto an otherwise dark horizon, or a signal fire atop a hill illuminating the night sky. In the physical world, a beacon is used to draw attention, act as a guide, or call to action. Civilizations have long used beacons to rally citizens together, protect ships from coastlines, and act as signal points.

In epistemology, the theory of knowledge, the prefix meta is used to describe about (its own category). For example, a metablogger would be a blogger who writes about blogging.

As someone who spends a great deal of time as contributor, participant and observer of a pretty diverse array of web communities, I find the meta aspect fascinating. What I mean by this is without fail, every community enjoys having discussions about itself. It’s something not usually stated directly within the communities, but it’s a reality.

As part of my ongoing series documenting and analyzing social media power users and influencers, I thought it would be interesting to learn from industry-current professionals making a difference in the space.

John Boitnott, Social Media Strategist at Village Voice Media was kind enough to answer some of my questions. Village Voice Media owns and operates 15 of the largest weekly newspapers across the US. John has more than 15 years experience in both traditional and new media, is a top Digg user, and is skilled at developing ultra-popular web content.