The ThirdWay Advertising Blog interviews World Wide Rave and New Rules of Marketing & PR author and social media expert David Meerman Scott:

So what are you doing six stories tall on the side of the NASDAQ building in Times Square in New York?
I was invited by GlobeNewswire as part of my World Wide Rave book launch to open the NASDAQ stock market in the first ever tweetup at a stock market opening. A tweetup is when people who know each other on Twitter meet in the real world.

Thirty people joined me on Monday morning March 30, 2009 at the NASDAQ MarketSite is located in Times Square, New York City. It was covered live on FOX Business News, CNBC, and other networks. I really appreciate everyone who took the time to participate with me. What a special morning.

In 140 characters or less –  Is Twitter actually useful for serious businesspeople?
Twitter is online conversation. Is conversation useful to businesspeople? Of course!

What social media tool do you see on the horizon as the potential Twitter of 2011?

The new social media tools that take off are those that provide a new and valuable way to communicate. LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are all examples of new ways for people to interact online. The next popular tool will not be a “me too” – it will be another service that allows us to communicate in a new way.

What are the simplest things that a brand manager can do to make his budget go further during a recession?

Realize that you can create valuable information online that people are eager to share for free. There is no cost to post a YouTube video, to distribute an ebook, to make a Twitter stream, to comment on a blog.

What was the most surprising story you heard while writing “World Wide Rave?”

I love the story of Lisa Genova. She’s the author of Still Alice and her manuscript was rejected by all the New York publishers so she self-published. As a result of her excellent blog and other social media initiatives, her book became a success and was acquired by a major publisher for a huge advance and the new edition debuted on the New York TImes bestseller list has been an international bestseller.

I love it. From rejection to bestseller all because of social media.

Tell us the best piece of marketing advice you’ve gotten from a non-marketer.

My father, a vice president of sales for technology companies, told me that if you are excellent public speaking, then you will always have a job.

If you became CMO of General Motors tomorrow what would you do differently?

I would immediately fire myself and name myself to a new position of “GM evangelist” and spend 100% of my time on social media and the speaking circuit.

What is one of your favorite small brands?

I really like GoPro – it’s a company that makes a camera that I use when I go surfing. http://www.goprocamera.com/

Your best travel tip?

Don’t stress. Relax. Read for pleasure. Chill.

What will the recession change permanently about branding?

There are better ways to get attention than buying it with advertising. You can earn it by creating valuable information that people want to share.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 11:17 am and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.