Auto Show Tweetup/Meetup January 23rd
January 4, 2009
With a ton of people coming to Detroit for the NAIAS auto show, I thought it in order to have a Tweetup, especially since we’re actually downtown and just a couple people mover stops or blocks from Cobo Hall. Perfect for all of you folks in town who might not have rented a car, or those who want to drop in between festivities.
So here’s the deal - Friday, January 23rd, starting at 8ish, come on down (or over). Food, Wii, etc. as well as live-streaming from our podcast studio. Not sure what we’ll create, but we’ll create something together 
So join us in our HQ located in a 1905 Beaux Arts beauty of a building, steps from the People Mover and right next to Compuware, Greektown and the Stadiums.
Our location is on the contact page - but as we get closer, I’ll be posting easy parking directions, as well as routes from the major hotels downtown.
Effective vs. Trendy
January 2, 2009
As we embark on 2009, a lot of things seem to be falling out of cutting-edge fashion, like Facebook or Podcasting, or a host of other things.
But the reality is that for your business, you need to focus on what works. Both Podcasting and Facebook are “dead” to some because they’re no longer cutting edge. It’s not sexy to talk about them anymore to the digerati - which, by the way, are very much the core composition of Twitter today (but they probably won’t be the vox populi - or voice of the people - next year).
For many folks, their gainful employment is fed by the newest things because their purpose is to be on the cutting edge, not necessarily put the things to practical use. That’s okay, everyone has a role and they’re all worthy… but my job is NOT that. My job is to put butts in seats for events, gain coverage of events and companies, improve the sales of products and services, and help make my client’s customers happy.
As an idea, it’s estimated that 28 million people downloaded podcasts last year, and additional people are listening to podcasts (as much as another 28-35 million, extrapolating from our percentage numbers) on the website and don’t even know it’s a podcast. 140 million accounts are on Facebook.
Yet “everyone” is all a-twitter about Twitter, with only about 3 million accounts and 1.5 million active ones, according to Net@Nite.
Many times, when tools still exist but fall off the “hip” radar, that usually means they’re quickly headed to the mainstream. Pay heed to this gap; success is getting your business active for your product or service right on the cusp; that’s where it makes sense to be a good marketing budget monetary risk to take.
So is betting early wise on something like Twitter? Sure. If you have the resources (time), especially if you enjoy the medium or tool (Twitter) and a business that makes sense for it (and maybe it means experimenting to see if yours is), Twitter can reap rewards, like it did for Dell, apparently selling a million dollars worth of stuff. But remember, Dell is a natural fit with the current tech-savvy community.
Of course, you shouldn’t do everything for work - it’s more than okay, and I think a very good thing, if you use the tools as part of your personal/social life as well. Maybe your first dip into Twitter isn’t focused on your company - but on your personal passions.
Provide Flat Customer Experiences
December 28, 2008
I had a great conversation with a really smart guy from San Francisco last week that I hope to make a colleague for a project. And why? Because “he got it.”
Here’s the crux. Customers don’t care about your hierarchies. It’s all one thing to them.
They don’t care you need to go to your boss for approval, they don’t want to wait for you to find the “right salesperson for your region (I was shared a story where a prospective customer sat on the line, credit card ready to drop thousands of dollars with this software vendor, and they were made to wait 20 minutes for the “right regional sales rep.”
If you want to look under the hood (to use a Detroit analogy) and figure out what makes companies like Zappos and Mosso tick and turn over their industries - it’s their killer customer service.
Make sure your website is customer friendly and not confusing for contacting your organization; and at the very least, externally, all major companies (or those companies with designs on growing their business) need to at least have basic online and social media presences aimed at customer service, and then follow through with it by answering questions and resolving issues.
Welcome to the future, which is now. There are no territories; customer service needs to be a seamless situation. The sooner your company becomes flat when it comes to treating the people who keep the lights on, the longer your lights are going to stay on. And maybe, it means you take a risk and charge an appropriate amount to cover that service cost.
Because if your customer experience stinks, it doesn’t matter how much marketing voodoo you do; you may get a short burst but few long-term effects.
WW1 - Where to Start, Company or Personal Twitter Names, and What’s A Good Sized Blogging Audience?
December 17, 2008
Well, here goes. The first “Web Wednesdays.” Be gentle, it’s our first one in this format.
We took your questions and put together a podcast to answer them, and that’s Web Wednesdays. In our first one, Erik and I talk about where to start in online/social media, whether you should use company or personal names on Twitter, and also, what’s a good sized blogging audience?
If you have comments, your own thoughts, or your own questions for next week, leave them in the comments below, email them to us at getstarted@portagemedia.com or leave a voicemail at 877.883.7389 x99. We can either read your name on the air and link to your site, or answer the question completely privately.
Here’s the link to the podcast RSS feed. I’ll post in the sidebar this link as well as iTunes links (as well as some other services) when they get approved.
WW1 - Where to Start, Company or Personal Twitter Names, and What's A Good Sized Blogging Audience?: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadRecognizing The Social Media Business Model Challenge
December 15, 2008
This post mostly focuses on the individual as opposed to the large business. After all, Dell just made a million dollars off of Twitter. But maybe there’s a lesson in that for us all to take…
This week, there’s been quite a kerfuffle around the Chris Brogan/KMart sponsored post deal. Of course, the Twitterverse and online sites move at the speed of greased lightning, and the blogosphere has lit up with criticisms and praise.
But here’s the crux of the problem; there’s a lot of people trying to create a business where it seems there is unsubstantiated demand. Businesses exist where people have a need for something, and feels like a lot of people are jumping into online because they have no other options. As a businessman, this sets off a lot of alarm bells.
After all, even at a generous CPM (Cost Per Thousand) uniques or impressions, most bloggers have a woefully inadequate audience to be able to monetize it effectively for a living in that model.
So, we’re stuck in a situation with a lot of people who want (or need) to make money blogging and really not necessarily a market demand for their services as professional bloggers (I’ve always been a proponent of blogs as adjunct to product or service; it’s worked very well for me and my clients. Direct monetization of the blog itself is a crap shoot without a huge audience, at best, and apparently, social networks aren’t so hot either).
So I have some thoughts - and I’m probably tinted because I come from “big media” originally (broadcast TV, to be exact).
My first is to stop blogging about social media. There’s enough of you/us. I don’t mean that in a negative way - the market’s got lots of existing, strong players, and there’s only so many people you are going to pull from mainstream audiences talking about this stuff. And it seems everyone with a computer and a social network account of choice is doing it. There is only so much audience for something the mainstream has so little awareness of. Maybe in the future, but by that time, the current players will be even more entrenched.
Your focus needs to be relevant, and scalable to other audiences. One of the keys to the success for one of our client sites, Global Business Perspectives, is that it’s audience is older and not tech-focused; yet, over ten thousand unique visitors (sometimes significantly more) show up every month to learn about global business and listen to the podcast Beverly produces. If you want to make a splash, hit’em where they ain’t and talk about stuff that’s relevant to a niche of the mainstream, and then tie in additional services or products that are relevant. Sell wine. Provide translation services. Teach people viable alternatives to the volatile stock market.
Be a subject matter expert. Urban redevelopment, dogs, furniture - know it well. And have a passion for it.
If you’re a journalist, especially a known or semi-known one who’s looking to expand online independently, play the cards you’re dealt. I wouldn’t go try and experimenting as Chris did with pay-per-post (he’s not a journalist, and never said he was) as part of your unique value is that absolute perception of objectivity. Chris is our large loveable social media canary, and God Bless him for it. Even better, before you get the ax at your paper, start blogging now, even if it’s not public, to get used to the different feel and tone. However, you in fact have a leg up, as you have audience you can bring with you.
So a few thoughts. I look forward to hearing your ideas or success stories of what you’ve done different online to make it work for you and your audiences.
