Social Media | Choosing the Truth

Sensory Overload, CES and Las Vegas Style

Written on January 10, 2011 by Jerry in cool people from around the web, General Interest, social media, transparency

What happens when you combine several hundred thousand square feet of the latest in consumer technology with the most unapologetically over-the-top city on the planet? I’ll tell you what: your brain melts.

Miss Destructo gave me some great advice before I left. She told me not to try to do everything. I’m glad I listened. Trying to cram the entire show into four days would have been like forcing an 80-pound kid to try everything at the Treasure Island buffet: likely to induce bouts of vomiting. It is, quite literally, too much good stuff.

That said, I’ll definitely be back next year. The CES Tweetup was far and away the most fun I’ve had at a Tweetup, the educational tracks were fantastic, and the trade show was pretty incredible to behold. And, of course, it’s in Las Vegas, and I’ll use any excuse to make a trip down there.

And of course I brought back a couple of business lessons. Stay tuned the rest of this week to hear about those, and check out my pictures of the trip on Facebook.

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Making Waves, Business Heretic Style

Written on November 18, 2010 by Jerry in 30-Day Blogging Challenge, beliefs, Blogging, Just Say No To SEO, Small Business Success, social media

I’ve been enjoying the looks on the faces of internet marketing folks I meet when I tell them about the two domain names that I registered this week: JustSayNoToSEO.com and SEOIsUseless.com.

Some stare in wide-eyed horror, failed by words, others gasp and clutch at their hearts, and still others start to hyperventilate. It’s pretty funny, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys upsetting apple carts. Which I am.

The way I see it, many of the SEO practices out there are a lot like the “closing techniques” and other slimy sales practices that so-called sales experts teach; they’re designed to shortcut anything that resembles effort. I learned a long time ago that shortcuts like that don’t work in the long term.

For a sales professional to be truly successful, she needs to know a lot more than a couple of lame closes; she needs to have a great product, to pay attention to her customers, to ask questions, to follow through on her commitments, all of which take effort and hard work.

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Are You Still Branding? – Guest Post by Todd Pillars

Written on August 17, 2010 by Todd Pillars in customer engagement, entrepreneur, passion, social media

I’m part of a discussion over at LinkedIn Groups (I didn’t link to it to protect my their identity) about branding and whether or not it’s still relevant. They’re tossing around terms like media channels and marketing equations. They are confusing brand equity with market share. The marketing insiders just don’t get it. Granted they are talking to other marketing professionals. However, if they are true to their own brand then it is bound to leak through – ask any I.T. marketer about verticals, optimization, and integration.

I’m of the belief that, while the spirit of branding is still applicable (only it’s called promotion), the term branding is WAY over used. And because of the communication platform of the Internet (I tried really, really hard not say Social Media) branding has given way, thankfully, to “having a conversation”.

I used this example:

You have a company of 500 people. 400 people manufacture, package, and ship your super-duper baby spit-up remover. 50 of them are out there selling it. 10 are marketing folks. 40 provide support services and management. What’s the chance of all 500 employees living the brand? A snowball’s survival comes to mind.

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Are You Valuable…Or Interesting?

Written on July 8, 2010 by Jerry in customer engagement, Small Business Success, social media

I’ve been talking to a number of new bloggers the past several weeks, and it seems that they’re all getting the same advice from the experts, namely that they should focus on providing valuable content. This might come as a surprise, but I’ve told all of them to ignore that advice. Why?

Before I tell you why, let me say for the record that I’m all for valuable content. I think valuable content is great. It’s what makes a blog worth reading. It’s what makes the internet…well, valuable. But here’s the thing: whether or not you provide valuable content is entirely secondary to what really matters: whether or not you’re interesting.

That’s why I tell people to ignore the advice about valuable content, at least at the beginning. The directive to “provide valuable content” bogs down a lot of new, and even seasoned, bloggers because they end up spending all their time trying to figure out what readers will find “valuable” instead of actually writing anything. Readers can never be interested in, and never, ever find value in what never gets written.

The same is true in sales. I’ve seen salespeople who are completely obsessed with creating the perfect script to use when they make calls or deliver presentations. In fact, they get so obsessed that they never actually get around to calling, let alone making any presentations. Again, the desire to provide value gets in the way of actually delivering something valuable.

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My Crazy Idea for This Weekend: 20 New Blogs by Monday

Written on June 26, 2010 by Jerry in activity, entrepreneur, Small Business Success, social media

So, I had this crazy idea on Wednesday: why not spend this weekend doing a Blog Building Marathon? After all, I love blogging, I love the setup process, I know people who want to start blogging but don’t know how, and, best of all, it beats doing yard-work. Never one to think small, I immediately set a BHAG I could be proud of: I set the intention to create 20 new blogs between Friday evening and Monday morning. I know, crazy, right?

I told a few friends what I was planning and asked them to spread the word to anyone they knew who wanted to start blogging but needed a little help to get going. There were questions, of course. I also posted my plans on Facebook, which generated a few more questions. I got my first two new bloggers lined up, and they had even more questions. So I thought, why not write a blog post to let everyone know why I’m doing this and to answer some of those questions publicly. Here goes:

Why are you doing this? First and foremost, I’m doing this because I love blogging. I think blogging is a great way to connect with other people who share your passions. I believe that blogging is a fantastic tool for attracting new clients to your business (or new fans for your music, or new readers for your books…you get the point). I’m also doing this because I’m getting tired of hearing stories from people who’ve paid big money to blogging “experts”, waited for months to see their sites, and still been disappointed with the results. I figured that if I could knock out 20 blogs in a weekend for a minimal cost, maybe more people would realize that it’s not as complicated as the “experts” make it sound.

What are you offering? Basically, what you’re going to get is a WordPress blog configured with what I consider to be the essential plugins (if you don’t know what plugins are, don’t worry…I’ll send instructions for using them), including a domain name of your choice and hosting for 12 months. The blog will be built on one of the thousands of available free WordPress themes, with a little bit of customization to make it uniquely your own. Nothing fancy, unless you really want it, in which case we’ll need to work out some details. The blog will also be integrated with your accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn so that when you write a new post, your followers on those sites will know about it automatically.

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What Can Small Businesses Learn From Mobius Technologies?

Written on June 15, 2010 by Jerry in cool people from around the web, entrepreneur, entrepreneurialism, HERO, passion, social media

I love the moxie of a small company in a small town in Northern California who looks at a giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and says “Yeah…we can fix that.”

That’s exactly what Mobius Technologies, of Lincoln, CA, has done, and they didn’t stop there. When Mobius realized that it was going to take too long to get through the bureaucracy and red tape required to get their product approved for use in the cleanup, they set about using social media tools like YouTube and Facebook to recruit a volunteer army and encouraged them to spread the message.

And while I think the powers that be at Mobius Technologies are making a huge mistake by not engaging with bloggers to help them spread their message (it seems they don’t consider bloggers to be “true” media outlets), I can’t argue with the results they’re getting. Have a look at this video from the local ABC affiliate in Sacramento.

Mobius is starting to get some traction, and I applaud the work they’re doing. More than that, though, I applaud the way they’re going about it. Here are some valuable lessons other small business owners and entrepreneurs can learn from the example of Mobius Technologies:

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Can Small Business Solve Huge Problems?

Written on June 9, 2010 by Jerry in cool people from around the web, entrepreneur, HERO, Small Business Success, social media

I wanted to share something I came across last week that I believe demonstrates a lot of the principles that this blog is all about. Have a look at this video, but don’t form an opinion just yet:

The reason I asked you not to form an opinion just yet is that I’d like for you to get a little more information before you get too excited and start demanding that this product be used in the Gulf oil spill. I don’t want you guys and gals to start acting like a “herd”! I do, however, want for this product and Mobius’ claims to get some media attention so that the product can be vetted for use in the cleanup efforts.

So why am I sharing the video, then?

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Meet Some of My Virtual Friends

Written on May 14, 2010 by Jerry in cool people from around the web, social media

No matter what anyone says, the internet is the coolest place in the world, especially since that whole Web 2.0 evolution. Where else can you meet so many fantastic people from around the world (and right in your own backyard) who think like you do?

I’ve been reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau for the third or fourth time, and I can’t imagine what it must have been like for a guy like him; he seemed to be constantly frustrated by the refusal of his fellow townspeople to think about anything other than their crops and the latest gossip. Sure, he could go visit Ralph Waldo Emerson (what was it with these guys and the three names?) and chat about transcendetalism, but what then? No wonder he wandered into the woods for a couple of years to just be alone.

Thoreau would have loved the internet, I think. He would have been able to read everything he ever wanted to, connect with other like minds and discuss or debate ideas until the cows came home. He would have found his tribe, have no doubt. I know I have.

In a little over a year, I’ve met more intelligent, articulate, clear-thinking people than I did in the previous decade. Many, in fact most, I’ve never met in person; our relationships are entirely virtual, but the connections are real, nevertheless. Here are a few of my virtual friends and a taste of what they’re doing to make a difference:

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Does Anybody Good Like You?

Written on April 29, 2010 by Jerry in customer engagement, social media

I’m going nuts trying to track down a video on YouTube, or anywhere for that matter. It’s an MTV commercial from the early 90s; in it, there are two punk rockers, a boy and a girl, sitting on a curb.

The boy complains, “Nobody likes me.”

The girl replies, “I like you Oliver.”

After a long pause, the boy responds, “Nobody good likes me.”

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A Social Media Fable

Written on January 13, 2010 by Jerry in attitude, social media

Hi kids! It’s Social Media Fable time, and you get to pick the moral:

Once upon a time, there was a Facebook fan named Jerry. He was going about his days on Facebook, enjoying his interactions with his virtual friends, and life was good.

One day, he received an invitation form one of his Facebook friends, Mr. G, to become a fan of a bakery in a far-away town. Since Jerry had never been to the bakery or tasted their confectionery delights, he hit the “ignore” button and thought no more of it.

A few days later though, Mr. G repeated his request to become a fan of the bakery. Since he still hadn’t tried the bakery’s cupcakes, Jerry clicked the ‘ignore’ button again, and again thought nothing of it. ”Just an oversight on Mr. G’s part, that’s all,” he thought.

The very next morning, though, the invitation appeared again! Jerry started to get annoyed, but, as always, managed to keep his cool. He simply hit ‘ignore’ again and went about his day. His annoyance grew, however, when later the same day there was another invitation! ”This is madness,” he thought to himself, clicked ‘ignore’ again, and wondered what he should do.

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