I had lunch at the GooglePlex today – see Lunch with Avinash Kaushik at the GooglePlex – 8/21/08

Had some thoughts about some of the points Avinash brought up as a response to some questions that I asked him – he mentioned that he seeks a wider audience beyond Web Analytics Conferences (which may already be fairly saturated) – and this, plus the work he did on his blog for the first two years, has a lot to do with his popularity.

Interesting thought – because, in a way, it ties into the presentation I moderated yesterday (see My goals and intentions with the Social Media Analysis and Tracking Session at SES San Jose today).

We addressed, in that session, that Military.com pretty much owned the vertical of vertrens who were seeking the most that military benefits could offer them, due to effective marketing – and so, using Social Media to bring in new visitors – people who were never at the Military.com site, was very valuable to them – and the Buzzlogic campaign which was the basis of our case study – demonstrated a 90% new visitor rate.

Yes, the acquisitons were more expensive than typical paid search campaign – BUT … it you’ve saturated a vertical, it may make sense.

In an offbeat way, what Avinash has done – not so much with Social Media, as with his presence on the speaking engagements, is acknowledge that he’d reached most everyone in WEb Analytics audience already – and that, to grow, meant to seeker a wider audience(s).

Interesting …  food for thought.