You know what’s ridiculous? Creating equity and funneling it into something you don’t really own. I’m not talking about working for the man (although that’s true too). I’m talking about the way we split our souls among 3rd party social platforms. We spend all the time and creative energy on Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Flickr, etc., and from a link perspective, the platforms and profiles get all of the credit. We should be more concerned than we are about this.

As my own small contribution to fighting the system, I want to look specifically at how to exploit Twitter for SEO and link building purposes. Up until now, most of what you’ll read on the subject talks about promotion of content and indirect payoff. Things like:

- Tweet links to your content to get more exposure and increase the chances that someone will link to your content
- Use Twitter to get your content into the hands of influencers who can help promote it and get more exposure resulting in natural backlinks
- Tweet links to your content because Google will view this as a social signal of relevancy

Evidently, we’re just not thinking creatively enough about this. Getting links using Twitter is all about understanding the constraints of the platform and how conversations on Twitter become content with links. Here are several link building tactics I’ve been using and seen used effectively to build links with Twitter.

1. Reclaim Links Going To Your Twitter Profile

When people find something valuable online, they link to it. Since many people get personal value from individuals on Twitter, they often mention these people and link to their Twitter profiles instead of their websites.

A quick look at the backlink portfolio of my Twitter profile page shows that I have a lot of misdirected link opportunities.

You can always request that these people link to your website instead of your Twitter profile, but remember that they may not see the same value in your site as they saw in your Twitter engagement. Here’s how you fix that.

Twitter has a seldom-used feature that allows you to embed your Twitter stream on a web page. I created a page on my site called “Twitter” and embedded my stream into it. (Make sure it looks like a full page instead of widget-size). Now, you have a perfect page of content that replicates your Twitter.com stream and it makes getting people to change their links to point to your site much easier. I’ve already had success doing this.

You can make the process even easier by adding more helpful content on this page, including resources about Twitter, your personal Twitter use guidelines, etc. This is called future-proofing your link portfolio. Twitter may die, but you can retain some of the link equity.

With this foundational addition to your website, you can start targeting links in other creative ways.

2. Push Bloggers To Turn Twitter Conversations Into Blog Posts

This is a fun one. First, create a big private Twitter list of semi-frequent bloggers (Semi-frequent meaning at least once a month) and add that as a column to Tweetdeck.

Tweetdeck has a tasty feature for in-column filtering. You can only filter by one search term, but that’s all we need. Filter the column by “?” and you’re left with instances where those bloggers are tweeting questions. (Thanks to Richard Barley at Tweetdeck for showing me how this is done and providing the screenshot)

The secret is to watch for instances where they ask good questions that would be blog post-worthy. These kinds of questions are usually open-ended. Help them out by retweeting the question and providing your own answer. Use Twitter search again to see what kind of other responses the person is getting.

When responses hit “critical mass” (I’d say at least 4-5 responses), encourage them to write a blog post and share everybody’s insights. The power of suggestion works well on bloggers who are constantly trying to find original things to write about. Let them know what a good question it was and that you would love to see the responses compiled and their own thoughts added. You may even consider following up in a couple of days.

When this works, your Twitter profile will probably get linked to from the post, following which you can revert to Tactic #1 above and get that link pointed to your site instead of your profile.

3. Use Twitter Search To Find Blogging Crowdsourcers

Many people use Twitter while writing blog posts to crowdsource their content and give link attribution to the people who help. The easiest way to identify these is with Twitter search.

Search from the perspective of a crowdsourcer. Try some of these queries:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=writing+a+blog+post+%3F
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=input+blog+post+%3F
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=help+blog+post+%3F

4. Find Bloggers Who Use Tweeps For Inspiration

In the same vein as Tactic #2, start by identifying people on Twitter you are similar to, in terms of industry, reputability, and Twitter usage. You could always use something like Formulists to do this, or start with who you know.

Look at the backlink portfolios of their Twitter profiles. Find out which bloggers are linking to these profiles. Create a custom private Twitter list to keep these bloggers on your radar. Make special effort to help answer their questions and encourage them to write.

5. Find and Win Blog Contests

How could I not throw this one in there? Often, if you win someone’s blog contest, they’ll write a special post to announce winners, and even link to the winner’s profile or website.

You can actually use Twitter search to find these types of contests, but remember that they have to be blog comment-based.

You can always search for terms like “blog contest” or “blog giveaway” to start. A very nice feature about Twitter search is that you can put terms like “wordpress.com” or “blogspot.com” into your query and not only will it return results of tweets that mention “wordpress.com,” but it will also return results of tweets with shortened links pointing to sites hosted on WordPress. Very handy.

Will Twitter Be Around In 5 Years?

Good question. If it won’t be, shouldn’t we be exploiting it while we can?

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A couple of weeks ago, after a lot of time and energy spent mobilizing, I lost a contest. It was a close race and I learned a lot about organization, timing, and strategy, even though I botched all three. Someday, I’ll do a write-up (just don’t expect to see me enter another voting contest like that).

In the meantime, I said that if I won, I was going to give away 5 books. Seeing as the contest organizers gave me a consolation prize for our team’s efforts, it only makes sense that I say thank you with my own consolation prize. I really do appreciate all of the help and encouragement and passion you guys exhibited.

I’m giving away 3 new hardcover books. I’ve included some descriptions and contest details.

Book #1 Guitar Lessons: A Life’s Journey Turning Passion Into Business by Bob Taylor (link)

Wiley Books is responsible for some of the best books on internet marketing and social media. I love their publishing focus. They were kind enough to provide me with an extra copy of this newly released book a couple of weeks ago and invited me to give one away. How nice is that? Follow @WileyBiz on Twitter to hear about new books (and maybe win some).

This is the backstory and business lessons from one of the world’s most successful acoustic and electric guitar manufacturers. In my experience, you can often get more inspiration and creative ideas from reading someone else’s story rather than reading about what to do.

Book #2 World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers That Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories by David Meerman Scott (link)

This is another awesome book from Wiley with some beautiful formatting, full of facts, case studies, and ideas for viral marketing. David Meerman Scott has published several books on marketing and I love the way he approaches content. The man is in his prime right now (but be forewarned – I don’t think the book says anything about hosting a real rave).

Book #3 The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (And When To Stick) by Seth Godin (link)

This cute little bundle of joy is one of Seth’s well-designed treatises on thinking differently about common problems. Like that of other smart marketers, Seth’s writing is full of fun and engaging rhetoric coupled with relevant examples. As a bonus, the book is illustrated by Hugh Macleod. Can’t go wrong there!

So what does it take to get one of these?

Super Easy Contest Guidelines: Just Tell Me What You Want

You have between now and 12 pm MST on Friday, February 4^th, to leave a comment here, telling me which of these three books you want (pick one).

At the end of the contest, the winner of Book #1 will be drawn (Random.org-style) only from among those who said they wanted Book #1. Book #2 and #3 winners will be selected similarly. Chances of winning depend entirely on the number of entrants (but this isn’t a mommy blog – you’ve got a decent shot).

Here’s the one catch: I’m not going to publish any of the comments until the contest is over. So if you’re trying to improve your odds by going for the book with the least competition, good luck with that. I like to keep it interesting.

U.S. Shipping Only (or Canada if you ask nicely).

Thanks again. You guys rock my world!

Contest Results!

The winners of the books, by complete randonimity:

Daniel Sellers

Chris Kirkham

Jon Sheppard

Congratulations!! If you folks are cool with it, I might have to do one of these again.

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It’s Time To Blow The Roof Off This One, Take Off The Gloves, Guns Blazing, Etc.

The Facebook contest ends today at 2 pm MST. My wife’s birthday is at the end of this month and I’m trying to win an iPod Touch to give to her. I finally told my wife about the contest, so we can go no-holds-barred. To win, I just have to have the most “likes” for the AMAZING cow-riding picture. As of 10 am, I am behind by 35 votes. We need to tear this up!

I need you to do two things, in order:

1. Go to http://www.facebook.com/milkdrinkingcow and “Like” the page. (Milk Drinking Cow makes iPhone photo apps)

2. Then go to http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8351482&l=4ab8ce0101&id=577001351 and “Like” the picture.

And you’re done! Please share the photo and instructions, a link to this post, or get your friends or family to vote.

By the way, don’t feel obligated to remain a fan after the contest ends.

I don’t usually ask publicly for help with something like this without offering incentive. If I do end up winning and can give this gift to Kathy, I’ll follow it up with 5 marketing book giveaways on this blog in the next month and I’d love for you to enter and win. If it matters to you, the books are the following, in new condition:

1. The Dragonfly Effect by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith (hardcover)
2. The Dip by Seth Godin (hardcover)
3. Social Media Marketing by Liana Evans (softcover, signed by author)
4. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (softcover, ARC)
5. World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott (hardcover)

Thanks again for your help! I’m gunning for some serious wife points here.

January 13 Update – Insults & Deleted Posts

Contests are supposed to be fun and competitive, especially when the prize is good like this. But they can turn ugly in a flash, as I found out today.

Since shortly after entering the contest and starting the promotion, I’ve been neck-and-neck with another competitor named Anita. We’ve traded leads several times today. While her style of filling up the whole Facebook wall with her messages isn’t the way I do things, I can handle it. It’s competition.

But after I posted a wall message in Spanish early in the morning on Friday (1 am my time, 4 am Anita’s time), she didn’t take too kindly to it and started posting her own replies to my message calling me unethical (because she has a lot of Puerto Rican friends), followed by more of her own posts on the wall with similar insinuations. See the exchange below:

Not more than 10 minutes later, I checked back and saw that this entire thread had been deleted. I couldn’t believe it at first, but sure enough, it was gone. Luckily, one of my tabs still had everything up so I took the screenshot.

The rest of Anita’s follow-up wall posts were still there, calling me unethical, so it was obvious without the above conversation thread that there was a gap somewhere – that something had been removed. I didn’t think to screenshot that. I wish I would have, because a few minutes later, all of her follow-up posts were gone too (including those you see above and below the conversation in the screenshot)!

Now obviously I have my suspicions about who deleted all of these threads. Under normal circumstances, if I were Anita, I’d be livid that many of my postings were gone and I would suspect foul play. I’m certainly ticked that stuff I took time to write in my own creative attempt-at-humor way was erased. What you see is very telling about the kind of attitude that Anita has.

So the question now becomes what the heck am I supposed to do?

I certainly haven’t solicited help from many friends and friends of friends just so I can walk away from this because it feels like a dirty contest now. After all, I was leading at several points today. I’ll contact the organizers, but I don’t know what they can do.

What do you think? Should I back out now or should we just blitz and get a ton of votes and win this thing?

January 14 Update – Even More Insane!

It was very quiet online for most of the day. I messaged the contest organizers. Got some more votes and took a small lead. No more wall posts from Anita. Kind of unusual.

This afternoon, a strange sequence occurred.

1. Anita messaged me, apologizing for the remarks, affirming that Milk Drinking Cow (the company) had removed all of her posts for being inappropriate. She said she admired my persistence and wished me luck. I figured we were cool.
2. Milk Drinking Cow posted a message on its own wall reminding contestants to keep the messaging positive.
3. A MDC contest moderator messaged me, saying they had accidentally removed my wall posting while removing Anita’s inappropriate comments and that I was welcome to repost them. Viva la vaca!
4. The kicker: Anita manually BLOCKED me on Facebook. Because of this, I can’t see her image or how many votes she has, what she’s posting, etc. This is seriously messed up and should get her disqualified.

We’re blitzing! We are going to take it to her and any other challenger who tries to get away with crap like this.

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Dear friends,

As a kindred bacon-loving spirit, I know how much you wanted this bacon and how hard you worked to get it. I’m amazed by all of the support, the number of entries (100+), the promotion help, and the good humor over being considered “cool enough to share bacon with.”

But there can only be one who takes home the bacon…

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I’m giving away bacon this Christmas. That’s right. This bacon:

Entry Requirements

Please do the following for a chance to win this package of thick-cut Cloverdale Meats Applewood Bacon:

1. Follow @scottcowley on Twitter
2. Tweet the following message:

All I want for Christmas is this bacon: http://bit.ly/baconcontest The @scottcowley Christmas Bacon Contest is on!

Extra Entry

For one additional entry, leave a comment on this post naming 2 people you like enough to share your bacon with, who you’ve met because of social media. (This is completely hypothetical. No one expects you to actually share bacon.)

Contest Details

The contest runs from Monday, December 12, 2010 and ends at 1 pm MST on Wednesday, December 14, 2010. You only need to tweet the message once to enter. Multiple tweets about the contest are appreciated, but will only be counted as one entry. At the end of the contest, the winner will be selected using Random.org.

If the winner lives in Greater Salt Lake City or Utah Valley, I will  personally deliver the bacon to him/her. If the winner lives elsewhere, I will personally eat the prize bacon and mail $5 USD to be spent on a bacon variety of the winner’s choice  (this amount equals the purchase price of the original contest bacon).

The Backstory

More than anything, the contest is a simple way for me to show appreciation to the social media community for what has been a remarkable year. Social media has introduced me to many kind and intelligent new friends. Social media has taught me things that have helped me do my job better and get closer to reaching my personal goals. After all of the many SEO tips, gift ideas, words of encouragement, etc. that I’ve received this year, I feel like I owe something to the social community that has generously helped me in many ways.

I don’t need to explain the bacon part. Bacon is bacon and its awesomeness speaks for itself. I also know a lot of people who like bacon and this bacon is higher-than-average quality.

And thank you to all of those who gave creative input on the bacon: Ted Ulle, Dixon Jones, Alan K’necht, AJ Wilcox, Vince Blackham, Lynn Parsons, and Kiley Newbold.

Even if you don’t take home the bacon, I hope you take time to remember all of the people who have helped get you where you are today and consider ways to better show your appreciation. Nothing would make me happier than seeing a whole ton of weird “appreciation contests” like this one, but I suspect you’re all more normal than that.

Thanks again and Merry Christmas. Now go win some bacon!

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SHAZAM!  Justin Bieber has the highest Klout score. On Klout.com‘s 100 point scale, the teenage popstar (whose name I recently learned to pronounce) scores 100/100. With more than 10 million fans and placement on nearly 500K Twitter lists, I don’t think you’re going to get much higher than that. (Note: scores are current as of June 24, 2011.)

If you’re looking for other high Klout scores:

• Lady Gaga (@ladygaga): 93
• Reverend Run (@revrunwisdom): 92
• Rihanna (@rihanna): 90
• Katy Perry (@katyperry): 89
• Pete Cashmore (@mashable): 88
• Barack Obama (@barackobama): 85

Like many of you, I’ve been thinking more about social measurement lately and its many drawbacks. Even in the academic world, this is troubling. Last night, I read “The Impact of New Media on Customer Relationships” which provides a solid breakdown of the current challenge:

“A major limitation of existing research on EWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) is the lack of consistent measurement approaches, with existing measures coming from different platforms (e.g., blogs, Yahoo, Barnes & Noble, Usenet), industries, (e.g., movies, books, software), and—for EWOM valence—coding approaches (e.g., stars, text analysis). So, more work on the measurement of EWOM is needed. The same is true for modeling approaches…”

Klout is part of the first wave of solutions taking social measurement seriously and subsequent waves will improve upon the existing ones. The aggregation of reach, amplification, network size, etc. (like Klout provides) is a good step toward finding some common ground (although there’s still tremendous value in dissecting influence on a per social network basis). While there are a lot of people voicing out against Klout because the scoring system perpetuates the age-old popularity contest, runs the risk of gaming, forces people into a caste, etc., I think it’s fantastic for the industry. With these types of scoring systems and the ultra-fascinating approaches companies are taking in rewarding online influencers by Klout, like Disney has recently done, we’re only going to see the advancement of solid marketing theory in this area. Even if it feels like high school all over again.

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Scott Stratten (@unmarketing) and me, Day 1

PubCon is the biggest, baddest search marketing conference of the year. It means that for a conference rookie like me, it’s also the most intimidating. Since I started doing SEO early last year, I’ve grown familiar with many of the names and faces and blogs of people who frequently speak at PubCon, but it’s a little like reading People magazine before going to the Oscar After-Party. Witnesses will testify that I freaked out a little when I saw people like Brett Tabke stroll by.

The Verdict

PubCon seriously rocked my world! It brought new, awesome people into my world. It got me thinking differently about things. I often wondered how people go from being “locally recognized” to being “national players” in their industries. In the search industry, it seems that half of it is about going to national events. PubCon is just as much a reunion as it is a conference, only this reunion is open enrollment. Not only would I go to PubCon again, but I would pay my own way if my company didn’t send me. Those three days in Vegas were unreal! I feel like a new marketer.

5 Things I Did Right

For someone who had never been to a conference before and really had no idea what to expect or how to “do it,” many of the things I tried worked out well and would apply just as much to other conferences as to PubCon.

• I started being braver in interacting with speakers and attendees on Twitter in the month leading up to the conference. I told some of them I wanted to meet them and they were cool with it.
• I started following the #PubCon hash tag on Twitter about 3 weeks before the conference. It put new attendees on my radar. It helped me win some cool business cards and 2nd row tickets to Blue Man Group. It also helped me hear about schedule changes, events like the Raven Tools Party, and great opportunities like dinner with some of the SEO industry’s best – all things I would have missed otherwise.
• I went through the session schedule a week early and picked out 2-3 of my top session choices at each time slot. As two guys (David and I) representing our agency at PubCon we wanted to maximize our “content exposure,” knowing we’d have to report to the rest of the group when we got back. So if there was a session he wanted to attend, I had alternatives to choose from. Plus, it gave me a backup plan the couple of times I felt like I wasn’t getting what I expected from a session.
• I made specific efforts to find people I wanted to meet. Even though we were all in the same general area, I sent messages to find out which sessions specific people were attending so I could say hello. With so many sessions, there’s a very good chance I would have missed some great introductions and new friends.
• I had fun. I let myself get caught up in the novelty of my first conference. I got excited about small things that would seem really stupid to other people (like eating my first Philly cheesesteak, watching my first live Poker tournament, etc.). It made the time that much more memorable and helped take the edge off the nervousness.

(Extra #6: I stayed at the Hilton. It was SO nice being able to walk to the convention center in the morning, listening to music, versus having to take a shuttle or a cab. It wasn’t a short walk, but it was good exercise. I actually lost a little weight on the trip. Bonus!)

3 Things I Would Do Differently

• I would read more content written by people before meeting them. I’ll admit, I had awkward introductions with a couple of people. People may have recognized me from Twitter, but that’s not enough to hold a conversation together. I could have made things a lot more comfortable if I had been able to talk about posts they had recently written or had done more blog commenting leading up to the show.
• I would bring a spare battery. I now have hand-written notes from a few sessions because I overestimated the availability of power plugs in the rooms and killed my battery prematurely on 2 of the 3 days. Having to digitize those notes is going to be a pain. A few posts I read recommended bringing a power strip. I did, but it was pointless, because sitting on the floor at someone’s feet just so you can use a power cord is more than a little awkward.
• I would take notes differently. I tried to live blog as a way to take notes throughout PubCon, but there are problems with this approach. Speakers often put junk on PowerPoint slides that they don’t actually talk about, but I still caught myself scrambling to copy down useless bullet points without context. Also, scrambling to capture everything for a blog post often means that the best, most actionable stuff gets lost among the weeds. Next time I’d focus more on capturing what was said that I wouldn’t be able to get from looking at the slides later.

(Extra #4: Take more pictures. My PubCon 2010 photos on Flickr are pretty weak.)

Post-PubCon Plans

Several days after PubCon and I’m still in recovery mode. I really want to take advantage of the trip and stay connected to the people I met so I can learn even more and build these friendships, so here’s my game plan:

• I set up a private Twitter list to keep them on my radar within TweetDeck. I also used a handy site called xFruits.com to create an aggregated RSS feed of all these peoples’ individual blogs so I can do a better job reading content and having real exchanges about SEO, social media, etc. (On a side note, a lot fewer PubCon people have current blogs than I expected, and some of them don’t even have RSS feeds.)
• I’m putting together a PPT presentation for the rest of the SEO.com crew with the most important take-aways. I’m also going to make a list of all the clients I manage SEO strategy for. As I go through my PubCon notes, I’ll make line items next to each client as I find something that can be implemented now or ideas for testing later. I’m guessing that I’ll find things to help every client move the needle.

That’s it. If you haven’t been to PubCon, put it at the top of your list next year. Hitchhike. Couch surf. Barter. Blackmail. Whatever it takes, just get there! (And don’t forget to say hello)

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If you weren’t looking for it, you may have missed Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution television premiere a few weeks ago. By now, you’ve probably heard of the show and its reality TV look inside changing public school food in Huntington, West Virginia and beyond.

Jamie has a lot of creative tactics to teach kids about food – from dumping massive quantities of junk food consumed by the kids onto a giant tarp for all to see, to blending up the gristly remains of a chicken then reconstructing it into a fast food-worthy patty. My favorite tactic, so far, are the stickers he gives kids in the cafeteria when they try a new (healthy) food.

I love this!

I love it because it embodies a basic human drive for personal development. Saying “I tried something new” is the same as “I will not be complacent” and “I have goals” and “I care about my future” and “I am becoming something better than I was.” We do the same thing at the voting booths with “I VOTED” stickers to an extent.

If you can provide products or experiences that conspicuously allow your customers to transmit these positive messages about themselves (without alluding to the flaw, like a nicotine patch), then you’ll have a perpetual marketing machine that everyone will want to buy.

P.S. Sign the petition.

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(The following is in response to a survey MENSA e-mailed me, asking why I haven’t joined. I promise I don’t write a blog post like this for every survey I get. As a preface, I qualify for MENSA because of a standardized test I studied my butt off for and not because of an innately high IQ).

The only unifying factor between MENSA members is a score in the top 2 percent on an IQ or other qualifying test, so you can guess what stigma comes with MENSA membership: elitism, social awkwardness, etc. From a marketing standpoint, MENSA poses a unique challenge: how to brand the organization in a way that cultivates respect instead of ridicule and contempt.

I’m not making the whole “ridicule and contempt” thing up. Just Google whether to put MENSA on a résumé and you’ll see what I mean. Fiery people come out of the woodwork. Maybe the only reason I don’t feel the same as the detractors is that my high school calculus teacher was a Mensan. I have a great deal of respect for the man and his genius. He was a great ambassador for the org, from my perspective.

More than anything, MENSA has a problem with messaging. A few examples:

1. The first letter you get after qualifying reads:

“CONGRATULATIONS! … It is with great pleasure that we extend you an offer of membership in the society. Your membership card will be forwarded within ten days of the receipt of your dues payment…”

2. Follow-up e-mail #1 from Admissions Manager:

“I noticed that you qualified but hadn’t joined. If you call and pay your dues ($59) with a credit card, your membership packet will print tonight and mail tomorrow.”

3. Follow-up e-mail #2 from Membership Director:

“In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Mensa in North America, I’ve been reviewing lists of members who’ve qualified but haven’t yet joined. I noticed your name on the list, and while you may not have made the decision to become a member before this, I hope that you’ll accept my personal invitation to join at this time.  You can join online…”

Do you notice a trend? Their focus on membership and dues is front and center in every message. Any mention of purpose or value in their proposition is subverted by the focus on money or membership for qualification’s sake. They certainly may not have intended this, but you can’t argue with what’s written. This approach may have been acceptable a decade ago when networking was less organized and less fluid than it is today, but I don’t feel like MENSA poses much competition to today’s free business/interest networking groups facilitated by social media.

They need to start viewing it as a competition or risk being marginalized in the networking space. Smart people have jobs, are busier than ever, and have plenty of people, events, etc. jostling for their time. MENSA needs to do more and BE more than it currently is. What is it exactly? Check out this very interesting Q & A with Pam Donahoo, executive director of MENSA. A few selections:

How do you keep younger members involved, and interested?
Our Gen-X SIG [Special Interest Group for members in their mid-30s to mid-40s] wanted to plan the convention. These younger folks are planning it for the first time, but I’ve gotten great attendance. There’s really a young spin on things.

With members like yours, do you use a lot of technology at your meetings?
If we’re behind the curve, that’s where it is. It’s mainly because our price-points are low. There’s not as much technology used mainly because of the cost of it. We certainly have our own community. We have fan pages on Facebook. We have a Twitter account. Like everyone else, we’re realizing there are lots of opportunities that are there. We considered using handheld technology for a media event: an ask-the-geniuses session. But it was too expensive.

Does Mensa have a broader message or mission?
To the general public, we’re saying, it’s OK to be smart. Today you see movies that depict the smart person as the protagonist instead of the antagonist, the hero instead of the nerd that gets beaten up. We promote intelligence as a valuable asset.

Wow! Since when did a “young spin” mean mid-30′s? And when was basic technology cost-prohibitive? That’s so sad to me.

MENSA really needs to re-brand, re-position, and re-invent itself if it hopes to have a credible, growing, vibrant organization that does more than rest on its own laurels.

I don’t want to be pegged as a sideline critic here. I’d greatly desire to see MENSA succeed. But I want the group’s collective genius to be leveraged for more than just board game development (also just the impression I get). I want to join MENSA when it makes more sense than the other free groups competing for my time that appear to offer more value.

Here are 5 of my many ideas on what they should do:

1. Inclusivity through partnerships. Right now, MENSA feels too exclusive. They should be trying to get as many qualifying people in as possible. They should be partnering with test-administering organizations like GMAT, LSAT, etc. to automatically notify people when their scores qualify them for admission.

2. Open and social web presence. The American MENSA website puts some of the most interesting content like “Meet A Member” or “Member Primer” that could be critical to the “member conversion funnel” behind a members-only login! Why? (The website could also do with a makeover) In social media, while they’ve gotten better with Facebook recently, their Twitter account has been used twice this year. Missed opportunities for engagement.

3. Message and purpose refinement. I mentioned this at the beginning. They need to know what they represent and what they’re trying to achieve before they know what the membership benefits are, and before they can communicate those externally. If they focus on qualification being a core reason for membership, then they’re playing right into the elitist label they’d hopefully like to avoid. I envision MENSA potentially being more like LaunchUp, where the collective knowledge of the crowd is leveraged to benefit a cause, solve a problem, enrich a community, etc.

4. Technology integration. The smartest people aren’t going to MENSA. They’re flocking to TED and Fora.tv communities, rallying around very basic technology that allows them to learn together, collaborate, and make change in the world. Without technology as a facilitator, MENSA, or any other group for that matter, will always be two steps behind the curve. Using basic technology for presentations/discussion at meetings isn’t costly. Ask anyone.

5. Local empowerment & promotion. I’m getting e-mails from the national people that run MENSA, not the local “rubber-meets-the-road” leadership that would really be responsible for providing the bulk of the group’s value. Talking to the person who is technically the local chapter leader here, he confided, “I’m still not sure why I joined, but it wasn’t for the socializing.” Leaders need to get excited about what they’re leading, right? In this case, it’s hard to get excited when (1) the leader doesn’t have any training, guidance on running a meeting, direction on the contents of the meetings or best practices and (2) the leader doesn’t have a list of members/potential members in the area that could be contacted to get the chapter off the ground. That’s the case, from what I understand.

So to conclude what will be my longest blog post to date: get it in gear, MENSA! Be something amazing, then give me a call.

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