Archive for the Promotion category
How Does the Internet Impact Consumer Behavior
My friend, Rachelle, from Fleishmann-Hillard sent me this release about her European offices’ recent work on understanding how the Internet affects consumer behavior in Europe.
Key findings:
- The Internet beats TV two to one on influence, and eight to one over print.
- People ask other people for personal purchase advice, but for airline tickets and stuff, they prefer the corporate sites.
- Only 28% of people trust the information they read online, and yet 66% say the web helps them make better decisions. Huh?
- No surprise: different parts of Europe use the web differently: Germany uses more search; the UK has more social networking interest.
The full paper is free to download here.
Photo credit, Paull Young
Using Social Media for Social Good
I don’t have a lot to add here. Patrick Byers has blogged his presentation from PodCamp Seattle on how to use social media tools to create social good. It’s definitely worth flipping through and considering. I know that there’s quite a number of people in this community who help with nonprofits and other social responsibility projects.
Check out Patrick’s presentation here.
Why Pirates are Necessary
Superstar pirate chronicler Matt Mason has released a video bit to go with his nifty book. Check it out here.
If you’ve yet to read it, I strongly recommend picking up The Pirate’s Dilemma. Thank goodness for Whitney Hoffman, else I wouldn’t have read this book. She’s a great book recommender.
Roasting Scott Monty
Boston area folks know Scott Monty as that great guy who participates in stuff all the time, no matter what else is going on. Others all over the globe know him as that lucky bastard who got a new job as social media god of Ford. As it turns out, John Wall and I (mostly John because he set up the eventbrite site and picked the restaurant) are setting up a roast for Mr. Monty.
What’s a roast? John Wall answers that here with a video at the end of the post. But you’ll want in.
Essentially:
- Friday, July 11th at 7PM
- Ken’s Steakhouse in Framingham, MA
- Your $50 gets you dinner, two drink tickets, and a chance to beat down Scott on a microphone.
What’s not to love?
To be part of the mayhem, purchase a ticket today!
Zoho Show 2.0 Launches Today
Zoho, everybody’s favorite cloud software developer, released a new 2.0 version of Zoho Show today. It’s presentation software that includes slide making features as well as chatting, remote sharing, and desktop sharing, making it a little more powerful than your typical Powerpoint or Keynote, insofar as features goes. That’s one of the tricks with Zoho. They’ve built such a suite of apps that they can mix and match.
Some of the changes in 2.0 target ease of use, and this is probably where I’ve complained a bit about certain Zoho apps in the past. I’ll tell you that I used it while on a conference call to doodle out what you see below, and it worked super easy and intuitively.
Zoho also allows you to embed the presentation on another site after you publish it (like SlideShare), and has about a dozen features that I didn’t cover here. If you’re in the world of presentations, this might be worth considering as a free, flexible offering. The closest similar product online is Google Docs and their presentation software, but I tell you, Zoho’s product works, looks, and feels better.
Good job, Zoho.
See a bigger picture here:
Business School for Bloggers
Liz Strauss is a superstar. She has helped more bloggers and businesses understand what each other needs (she helps bloggers understand business, and she helps businesses better understand how to use blogs to their advantage), and I’m particularly amazed at her ability to synthesize information using both her passion for the topic as well as her background as an educator and publisher of education materials.
A few months back, I flew to Chicago and participated in her SOBCon event, which was subtitled Business School for Bloggers, and ever since, I’ve been taking her advice there (and the advice of others I spent time with) and running with it. I’m thinking you should, too. I know that Liz is working on several projects, including some useful information for bloggers to consider in bringing their game up, especially if they’re considering business blogging, or blogging as part of their business. I can’t wait for that.
And in the mean time, I want you to start thinking about the skillsets you have on board, and the ones you need to add. For instance, I’m a great writer. I’m a great thinker. I’m great at relationship building and maintaining. I’m a pretty decent marketer. I’m not great at sales. I’m not great at negotiation. I have nothing with regards to legal or financial issues, except the understanding that I don’t know much about them.
If you were to need business skills as a media maker, what would they be? And if you were to be a business type looking at how blogging and other media might impact your business, what are some of the tools you would want to better understand? I’m sure Liz will be able to help you out a great deal, and in the mean time, I just wanted to start a conversation and understand what matters to you.
Are you already subscribed to Liz’s blog? It’s worth spending some time and getting to know her. She’s done a lot for me, and she’s where I look for advice and inspiration lots of times. And, if you are a decent sized corporation looking for some help in understanding the landscape, the educational requirements, and the business impact of blogging, Liz is a great resource to consider.
What do you need to know about business and blogs and vice versa?
Social Media Speaks Up- Are You Listening?
Disclosure, this is work-related
It’s really cool when you can take an idea and make it more interesting. I proposed shooting a webinar series with David Alston from Radian6. I’ve been such a fan of the app that I wanted to introduce it to more folks via my company’s webinar offerings. He said that he was up for it, and we went out to the SNCR New Comm Forum, and also O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 Expo, and interviewed dozens of folks (over 30!).
Where it became cool was this: David says, “You know what would be cool? What if we could integrate Twitter into the webinar? Like, you know, have everyone be able to talk with the speakers, before, during, and after the webinars? It’d be like a relationship.” He pauses, cocks his head like a smart man, and says, “Twebinar.”
I said, “Register the domain!”
And so, here it is.
But the idea isn’t the steak; it’s the sizzle.
The Twebinar covers Game Changing Moves: Doing Business With Social Media and takes place Thursday the 26th of June at 2PM ET. It’s free to attend, and might be of value to your organization, should you be considering using social media tools. Also, it’s the first of three.
But remember, we’re going to encourage you to join Twitter and be part of the conversation. You’ll make 35 or so new friends almost instantly, and be able to follow the back channel conversation while watching the interviews. Read more about that here.
I think it’s a fun way to integrate webinars and Twitter, mixing a presentation technology with a conversation tool. I’m excited to be part of it, and I think it relates to what we’re doing in general with helping people understand social media tools and technologies.
What do you think? Interesting?
Enterprise Technology Reborn
Sam Lawrence has quite a powerful post today about enterprise technology. He’s writing about the way collaboration inside the enterprise used to be file-centric, but with tools like Jive’s Clearspace, collaboration has become people-centric.
I’m a big believer in how Jive sees the enterprise collaboration space. From my perspective, Jive has their passions in common with Mzinga, another favorite collaboration/community platform. There are differences between the two companies (I know - I attended the shoot out at Enterprise 2.0), but in both cases, I see their efforts as being about making people the center of the process.
To that end, read Sam’s article here. I think it explains the space VERY well.
If Youre New Here
Today was a good day for me. If you’re new here, thanks for stopping by. I’ve got lots of stuff to read. Years of it. If you want a quick cheat sheet, here’s the rest of the Social Media 100 series to date. If you want to get the new stuff, please consider subscribing for free to get the posts sent to your reader of choice.
Prefer to get my posts in email?
(There’s not a chance of spam. I don’t even get your email address when you subscribe that way. I’ll spam you other ways. :) )
Finally, if you want even MORE information (completely different than what you find here), there’s also a free newsletter. It comes out twice a month.
I’m glad you’re here, and thanks for your support. The people who comment and spend time at [chrisbrogan.com] are some of the best, most engaged people in social media that you’ll meet on your journey. Believe me, the folks leaving comments could give keynotes on social media and hold there own (heck, some do!).
Thank you. I’m so glad you’ve given me your time and attention. More to come.
Photo credit, alosh bennett
Whats Your Take on Word of Mouth
The folks at BzzAgent sent me a nifty book, The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II. Dave Balter writes and Seth Minkin illustrates (some fun stuff, by the way). What’s different about this book than some others, however, is that Dave LIVES this stuff. He’s in the word of mouth business.
Not BzzAgent specifically, but when it comes to “managed word of mouth,” as Dave calls it, I consider some of these plays to be something like when a liquor vendor pays someone to sit at a bar an talk about how much they love new Zima Black. And yet, that’s some of what’s taking place on the web. I’ve been circling these waters at different points over the last few years and have yet to make up my mind completely.
Balter’s point is that very few companies make a product that speaks for itself, and that guided word of mouth is just a way of helping something take root. I get that, and I think I endorse it, but here’s where I stick (and I haven’t read the whole book in detail, so maybe this is covered very well). I need to know that you’re endorsing something. I need to know that someone sent it to you. And then, I’m quite okay.
That’s how I’m handling the few things people have sent me of late:
- Nikon D60 camera. (They want it back, but I guess I can buy it off them).
- Flip Ultra.
- Garmin Nuvi 200 (this is a loaner).
When I meet someone at a conference and I pull out the camera, someone immediately comments. I then immediately reply that Nikon USA sent it to me to check it out and play with. You might notice that I’ve never blogged about the camera. But EVERY single time someone sees it, I talk about the fact it was sent to me. Ditto the Flip, the Nuvi, etc. (In context. I don’t blurt out confessions).
So, if there’s disclosure, I’m really cool with it. If not, it’s lying. (Oddly, I just searched my PDF version of the book for “disclosure” and found zero hits; searched for “lying” and got about a dozen.)
By the way, if you want a FREE copy of the book for yourself, just click that link.
So what’s your take on it? What do YOU think about Word of Mouth and how this all works?
I don’t think you should discount the book. It’s a decent read, full of ideas and arguments. I think it’s worth considering, if only to further your impressions and opinions on the matter. Me? I’m still out. Why don’t you tell me your take?
