At the Social Media Summit today, I was really struck by what Craig Goodwill had to say about social media. So much so, I’ve turned it into an image. Though the wording isn’t an exact quote, it certainly sums up the thought as Craig intended.

Why do I think that this idea is so key? Because Craig is working the Mobile Jam Fest to its full potential, using social media in the most important way, driving action both offline and online. Secondly, you need sand (okay, earth) to plant seeds.

To learn more about the Mobile Jam Fest, check ‘em out online.

Tags: SocialMedia Summit, Mobile Jam Fest, Craig Goodwill, Social Media Sand, PlantingSeeds Online, Planting Seeds, PlantingSeeds.ca

We’re off to a great start at the Social Media Summit. Listened to Saul Colt (blog, Twitter) explain how to make sweet love to your customers. Barnaby Jeans (blog, Twitter) is letting us know what Microsoft is doing with social media up here in Canada. And, over the next two days, we’ll also hear from Dave Fleet from Thornley Fallis (blog, Twitter), David Alston (blog, Twitter) from Radian6, Lisa Dilg (blog, Twitter) from PerkettPR, Alan Lepofsky (blog, Twitter) from SocialText and many other great case study presenters.

To follow along, follow along through Twitter Search using #ALI or Twazzup.

Some other highlights over the next two days:

• I’ve been invited to discuss the importance of extending your web presence on CP24’s Homepage tomorrow at 5:15

• Parker Mason (blog, Twitter) and I are meeting up on Wednesday at the Elephant + Castle on King at 6 pm. Join us if you can!

• Plus, I’ll be leading a workshop here on Thursday afternoon - hope to see you there!

Will try to update as the conference goes along. Let me know if you’re here or if you have questions for the presenters by sending me a message on Twitter (@MarkGoren).

Terrence Paquet, AKA Wordboy, is a friend of mine, a copywriter I used to work with at BCP in Montreal. As you can tell by this interview, he’s a good guy - and he thinks he’s pretty funny too. Terrence has been Planting Seeds online for a little while and, like a lot of people, his activity goes in spurts. He’ll be on the networks for a bit and then off writing a children’s book or screenplay or a series of short stories or something else.

In this interview, Terrence explains what’s he’s gotten out of his social networking, which networks he likes and where it’s all leading. I think you’ll be rooting for him by the end of the interview.

• So, what got you into social networking?
The original lure of social networking for me was the ease with which I could connect with all kinds of different people around the world without worrying about things like hygiene, pants and the complications of local indecent exposure laws. But as I got deeper into it, I recognized it as an unparalleled method of getting people to discover my writing without having to actually go through the trouble of forcibly confining them to a cage in my basement while I read my stories to them over and over again.

• How did you get started?
When I finished writing the book, I went the usual route of trying to find a publisher but that entire industry is going through some major changes. I realized that I would need to find other avenues to explore. I fired off an email to Joe Wikert of Wiley Publishing who read what I had and came back with two suggestions: the first was psychiatric counseling which, as we all know, ain’t gonna happen. Not after that last ‘incident’. His second idea was a blog. This was right around the time that Christian Lander from Stuff White People Like hit the big time with a book deal so I guess he thought this was a similar style of writing. Although, truth be told, I use more intelligenter words than Christian does. Once I decided that was the best way to go, it was just a matter of working on the content and getting the word out.

• What were your goals for the blog when you began?
The goal was, and still is, to have people discover my particular brand of genius, or as my doctor calls it “delusion”. I was hoping that my daily postings would serve as a platform for my wit, my je ne sais quoi and my talent for playing the pan flute with my ass. But most of all, I wanted visitors to read my stories, buy my book (even though it’s not for sale yet) and see that someone just like them could make the American dream come true (even though I am Canadian). To do that, I knew I had to reach millions. And not just those who are incarcerated or learning English as a second language. Every day people. Tax paying citizens. Oh hell, tax evaders could read my tales too and I’d be okay with that. Because more than a writer, I am a whore. Willing to do whatever it takes to make enough cash so that I can finally live a life of gross excess and reckless abandon.

• When you started blogging, how quickly did you start to see its effectiveness?
I must say I was pleasantly surprised because the response came almost right away in the form of encouraging comments from readers, emails from fawning teenage girls and subpoenas from angry lawyers. I was tracking with Google Analytics so I could see who was reading, where, when and for how long. Although I couldn’t tell what they were wearing when they were reading my blog, I always imagined it was something lacy. The daily tracking of readers became an addiction that was hard to shake. It was kind of like stalking without leaving the confines of your court-ordered area. Even better was the fact that I am able to write back right away to thank people for talking the time to read and to ask if they can lend me $20.

• What other social networks do you actively participate in? Which is your favourite and why?
When I began this I looked high and low for different ways to get my name out there so I joined the Humor Writers group at Ning, I set up a Facebook account, Twitter, Plurk, MySpace, etc. All of them in their own right had generated considerable page views for me, particularly Facebook, and helped to build the base I was looking for. But by far, the biggest response I received was when I started posting on Webceleb. Although it isn’t technically a social networking site, for some reason my “style” clicked right away with those people. I suspect this is either because most of them are on drugs OR I am the only one on that site with a third nipple. For the record, I have no way of backing either assumption up in a court of law.

• Do you have thoughts on how you’ll continue to extend your web presence?
Once, when I first started, I wrapped my torso in aluminum foil and barricaded myself in the house in the hopes of attracting some much-needed media attention. Unfortunately, no one came or even called to see how I was doing. I gave up after four hours when I developed a rash from the tin foil. Today, I think the game plan is to just keep writing and getting the word out through interviews like this one. I’m currently on a self-imposed hiatus while I redesign my webpage because right now it’s a simple blogger account using their templates, typeface, etc. Lets just say it doesn’t scream “professional.” Once that’s completed, the idea will be to resume regular postings and kick my brand up a notch. But I want to do it right because if you’ve ever been kicked up the notch, you know how difficult it can be to walk normal the next week.

• Do you have any tips for people, individuals who are looking to draw opportunities from their social web efforts?
Firstly, I would say that the only way to do this right is to do it often. Spend as much time as you can every day networking with people who share the same interests as you do. In other words, plant your seed. And I mean that in a non-sexual way (although you can network that way too). I would also stress the importance of defining who you are, what YOUR brand is and how you want people to see you BEFORE you start. When you decide on that, stick to it and make sure that everything you say or do, in all the networks you participate in, works toward building your brand. Finally, I would counsel people to stay away from crotchless panties. I have it on good authority that the rashes are especially bothersome during the warm months. (For those keeping score that’s two rash references and counting.)

• Tell us a little bit about some of the projects and opportunities you’ve gained as a direct result of your online networking.
About 4 months into it, I was contacted by Billiam Coronel, a writer in L.A., who found the blog through my postings on Facebook. Billiam did stand-up for 15 years, appeared on the Tonight Show, wrote for Family Guy and has a few feature length movies under his belt*. He has credentials I can only dream of. He wanted to know if I’d be interested in writing for his website AnimalInternet.com, which I was all to happy to do for him - on a few occasions. To make a long story short, we are currently writing a screenplay together that I hope will take me from squalid poverty and worldwide obscurity to extreme wealth and celebrity rehab as fast as possible. The point is, without social networking none of this would have been possible.

*Note: He didn’t write the movies, he just keeps them under his belt for some reason (insert third rash joke here).

There are two kinds of seeds out there on the web:

1. Seeds you plant on your own behalf

2. Seeds others plant for you

In many cases, the seeds planted for you are positive, reafirming or just neutral in tone. Other times, though, they’re awful. Negative. Even disgusting. That’s the situation Domino’s Pizza faced this week when two store-level employees posted this video to YouTube. (RSS readers, please click through. I warn you, though, that this video isn’t for everyone.)

So how did Domino’s handle the bad seeds? They went through the same channel and posted this apology to YouTube. (RSS readers, please click through.)

If we are to take some lessons from Domino’s response, here are some to consider:

• Decide which “bad seeds” are worth responding to. Over the course of your brand’s online lifecycle, there will be a lot of negative stuff said or done. You have to know when to bite and when not to. Obviously, this was a case where they had no choice but address the concerns raised by the video.

• Act fast. Conversations move fast from one site to another to another. By quickly posting this video to YouTube, Domino’s not only helps heal the wound, but also is seen as a decisive and quick-thinking brand interested in fighting for themselves.

• Use the same channel to respond. By posting a response to YouTube, Domino’s is taking the fight to the street where it all began. Plus, through the network’s search, viewers will find the rebuttal in the same place where the original was posted. So if their video turns up as a “related” video to the original, viewers will be able to see the company’s response in context.

• Monitor, monitor, monitor. Not only is Domino’s responding to comments to their video, they also mention that they are “reading each and every response on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.” I would say, though, that they should be participating in the different comment threads for the original video (it’s been reposted many times to YouTube.) For example, I just went through over 300 comments to one of the postings and Domino’s wasn’t present at all. It would be a good idea for them to join the discussion over there and lead people over to their own video response.

This situation is an excellent reminder that your web presence doesn’t just belong to you; brand perceptions can be changed by anyone with an internet connection. If you’re responsible, though, you’ve got to be aware of what’s happening. Because if you don’t, you’re powerless to act.

Overall, I’d say that this was a good response by Domino’s. What do you think?

Over on the Marketing Profs’ Daily Fix Blog today, I’ve explained my decision to change the way I use my newsreader to collect information and how, by Planting Seeds throughout different networks, I’m able have the top online content come to me.

For a little context and background, though, you can start with this post:

The Old Set Up
Previously, I had pulled in feeds and assigned them to folders. I have a Tech + Tips folder (includes Mashable, Lifehacker, Venture Beat and others), a Must-Read folder (included: Steve Rubel, Armano, Saul Colt, Andy Nulman and many others), a Search Folder (Search Engine Guide, Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Journal), plus Healthcare and Government folders as well.

After that, I subscribed to a whack of other blogs and would read them, generally, only after I was five posts behind or more.

The result of this set up? I’d always be behind. I got stuck listening to the same voices over and over. And it became uninteresting to keep up.

First, the clean up
Recognizing that my reader had become stale, I purged many subscriptions. I’d say I probably killed about 30 to 40 subscriptions that I just hadn’t been keeping up with. Then, I completely changed up my “Must-Read” folder. Some stayed, others got booted or relegated to the “whack of other blogs” list.

Finding “Community Identified” content
Next, I decided to rely more on what I’m calling “Community Identified” content. Using social bookmarking sites and other types of aggregators, I’m allowing you and a whole lot of other people connected to me to point me to important content.

Which tools am I using? Without giving too much away from my post over at Marketing Profs Daily Fix, I’m using Delicious, Google Shared Items, Social Reader, Micro Plaza and BackType to find important posts and meet new people.

Head on over to the MPDailyFix post to learn more about each of these networks and how I’m having all this new content delivered to me through RSS. It’s a lesson in Planting Seeds through a different perspective.

Feel free to leave tips here or there, but make sure to let me know what you think!