As brand evangelism is what my agency does, I felt it so important to pay attention and see if there were any brilliant insights in the presentation, that I blew off a chance to talk Dave McClureâ€s ear off enough that one of his 500 hats fell off. Fortunately, heâ€s a fellow Mountaineer, so heâ€ll forgive me.

And listening to Rob was worth the sacrifice. (No offense Dave.) He approached the topic of brand evangelism by saying social media marketers actually need to be cultural anthropologists, understanding and assimilating into the communities we target in order to gain credible standing and subsequent influence.

That brought to mind a Twitter conversation I had with Todd Defren earlier this week. He responded to my question of how to insert influence into PRâ€s role of creating content, monitoring and participating in the conversation with this:

“Influence stems from Participation, imho. Participate meaningfully = credibility = influence.”

Robâ€s presentation not only stuck to the topic, which I canâ€t say for all the presentations I saw at SMX Social Media, but never strayed from the point. The best part of it, in my opinion, was his list of 8 Principles of Karmic Communication, or a step-by-step guide to assimilation, participation, conversation and influence.

8 principles of Karmic Communication

1. Participate and learn
2. Make friends with community elders
3. Understand and respect community mores
4. Lead with altruism, come bearing gifts
5. Discover a community need
6. Learn the linguistics
7. Value and cultivate relationships
8. Leverage appropriately … over time

Fortunately, this is the essence of what Iâ€ve been telling my clients and my colleagues about social media, though certainly not in as eloquent fashion. But what it also means is that Iâ€m now tempted to recommend those working on social media strategy and planning with Doe Anderson start taking some night classes.

SMX Social Media Day Two Live Blogging Transcripts
(Start at the linked post and navigate to each siteâ€s “next post” features to navigate through the sessions.)

1. From Vanessa Fox and Rebecca Kelley on SearchEngineLand.com
2. From Kim Krause Berg at SEORoundtable.com
3. From my man Marty Weinberg at aimClear Blog
4. From Eric Lander at SearchEngineJournal.com
5. From Dana Larson at TopRankBlog.com
6. From Helen Overland of the NLC Internet Marketing Blog (who didnâ€t live blog the first session as she was a speaker)
7. From Brendan Picha at Squareoak.com

And the images from the Flickr SMXsocial tag slideshow. (New window)

IMAGE: Something I can identify with when thinking of karma from Beshreibunk on wikimedia.

[tags]karma, communication, smxsocial, smx social media, social media, marketing, smm, social media marketing[/tags]

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The comments and the vibes I got from the discussion, mostly the “Extra! Extra! The Social News Sites” panel featuring Winfield, Neil Patel and Tamar Weinberg, were, however, a little contradicting to what I consider the generally agreed upon appropriate approach to social media.

I was bothered a bit by the general tone that Digg is something everyone seems to be beholden to. While there is no argument that a successful Digg post can drive thousands of people to your site — Brent Csutoras, Rebecca Kelley and Cameron Olthuis actually emphasized making sure your servers were ready for a Digg onslaught in the Linkbaiting session — Chris’s comment seemed to be the rule of thumb.

During the discussion, Patel said that Digg users donâ’t actually read the posts. They just Digg or bury the stories and move on. He also actually advocated having fake profiles, behaving in accordance with the community — he mentioned reporting people trying to buy Diggs — but then using the profiles to become power users implementing Social Media Optimization techniques and getting lots of front page placement.

I tried to ask a question at the end of the session but wasn’t close enough to the microphone steward, so I’m here blogging it instead:

Why should we beholden to such a website or community if A) It’s users are disingenuous to the process and B) SEO and SEM folks are openly lying, tricking and duping the community to suit their or their client’s needs? Will this model not run its course and become a farce because the collective online community is smarter than even the most brilliant Digg hack?

SMX Social Media Day One Links, Live Blogs and Posts

Live Blog Transcripts
(Start with this entry and navigate your way through the sessions using their “next post” links.)

1. From Vanessa Fox at SearchEngineLand.com
2. From Kim Krause Berg at SearchEngineRoundtable.com
3. From Eric Lander at SearchEngineJournal.com
4. From Marty Weintraub at aimClear.com

Flickr Photos

1. Mine
2. TopRankBlog’s (Lee Oden, I assume)
3. StorySpinn’s
4. Rustybrick’s

Sorry if I missed anyone. Make sure I have them for tomorrow!

[tags]SMXsocial, SMX Social Media, Digg, social news, social media ethics[/tags]

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Chris Winfield invited me and he and his 10e20.com cohorts, specifically Danielle, Jake and Victor, were fantastic hosts, introducing me to folks and making a Manhattan oustider feel welcome. My man Brian Wallace and I may have been the farthest travellers for the event, though Brian hails from the NYC area he currently lives and works in Louisville with NowSourcing.com.

To list and link all the people I met and chatted with would be gratuitous, but SMX Social Media hosts Danny Sullivan and Neil Patel both made it and at least acted like they’d heard of me (Thanks, guys.).

And after spending a couple hours in an afternoon meeting with her, I was pleasantly surprised to see Evyan Mischke from Evins Communications there. She lives around the corner from Town & Tavern and stopped by to network and support the cause. Little did she know, she’d be hanging with a fellow Southerner all night … probably not what she hand in mind.

The event was sponsored by Best of the Web. I thanked Jared Del Prete, their COO, profusely for the generosity. With a little eye makeup and if you squint, he looks like Billy Joe from Green Day, but don’t tell anyone I said so.

And while there are some Flickr images imbedded here, please know that I didn’t whip out the camera and take a ton of pictures because I was too busy actually networking with people. That, and I didn’t want to look the like the tourist in the room, just browsing the SEO/SMO elite and not really belonging … even though I was.

[tags]SMX Social Media, IMNY Charity Event, IMNY[/tags]

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When I made that first post, Chris Winfield of 10e20 and the Internet Marketers of New York, commented. Winfield is presenting at the conference and (Iâ€m assuming) one of the organizers of the IMNYâ€s Charity Party Monday night to kick off the event. The event, sponsored by Best of the Web, raises money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

If youâ€re going to be in Manhattan on Monday night, come join us at Town Tavern Bar & Grill at 134 W. 3rd Street and 6th Avenue, bring $40 for a donation to The L&L Society and have a good time networking with a roster of social media stars and studs, me notwithstanding.

Hereâ€s what I know about Leukemia:

A young girl in my hometown was diagnosed with leukemia when I was in college. She was several years younger than me, but I knew her because our families went to the same church. My mother implored me to visit her when she was in the hospital in Lexington, Ky., receiving treatments. Despite my college-aged selfishness, I did.  And Iâ€m glad I did.

Leslie was pale. Her hair was falling out. She looked terrible.

Her mother and I talked briefly. I stuttered around and forced a five-minute conversation with Leslie to try and lift her spirits. My approach was to just carry on as if she wasnâ€t sick. Iâ€m not sure if it worked to distract her from what she was going through, but she seemed responsive and humored I was there.

Oddly enough, because of our age differences, that might have been the longest conversation I ever had with her.

Months passed and Leslieâ€s condition fluctuated. I prayed for her, as did thousands of people in my little town of about as many.

This story would have to take a sad turn if it werenâ€t for the generosity of people who gave then to organizations fighting cancer like The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Leslie is in her late 20s now, has been cancer-free for years and is doing well.

And while I still havenâ€t had a conversation longer than that hospital visit with her, Iâ€ve run into her brother and sister online and still see her parents when I visit my motherâ€s church. They didnâ€t have to lose their daughter or sister. It might have been science supported by funding from the L&L Society. It might have been prayer. It might have been a combination of both.

Whatever it was, Iâ€m glad I paid a visit then. Monday night, Iâ€ll gladly do it again.

[tags]SMX Social Media, social media, IMNY, leukemia, lymphoma, charity, Internet Marketers of New York, fundraiser[/tags]

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What’s almost more exciting is finally getting to put faces with names … er, better put, blogs. Not only will I get to meet Sullivan, a pioneer in the field of what we do, but others I’ve found that are scheduled to present include Rand Fishkin and Neil Patel, who will present the opener, a seminar entitled, “Social Media Marketing Essentials.”

Then I’ll get the Linkbait treatment from Sullivan with panelists Brent Csutoras, Rebecca Kelly and Cameron Olthuis.

After lunch there’s Sullivan moderating Patel, Chris Winfield and Rusty Brick’s Tamar Weinberg on a Social News Sites panel. The late afternoon session on the Marketer’s Guide to Social Bookmarking and Tagging will feature Patel and Michael Gray of Atlas Web Service, then we’ll bow down and worship Garret Camp and Joshua Schachter, founders of StumbleUpon and del.icio.us, respectively.

And that’s day one.

Day two in a nutshell? I’ll get to absorb knowledge from the likes of Cindy Krum, Dave McClure, Helen Overland, Sarah Hofstetter, Rob Key, Adam Sherk, Liana Evans, Lise Broer, Jonathan Hochman, Matt McGee, Stephan Spencer and Don Steele of Comedy Central, among others. The last six and Patel will make up the Wikipedia Clinic Sullvan blogs about.

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about going. The opportunity to learn and share is enough. The fact I’ll actually put down my laptop (and Blackberry) and do some real, live networking is icing on the cake.

If you haven’t registered, you should. If you’re going, drop me a line. Let’s meet up and compare notes.

And while we’re at it, what the most fun you’ve had in the Big Apple? I lived there for two years but haven’t returned since I left in 1998. Tell me what I should take in during my return visit, besides the obligatory tribute-paying at Ground Zero (that’s a given since my Jersey City-to-PATH-to-subway route took me through the WTC each day).

Where should I go?

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