On Twitter and Listening
Several months ago, Christopher S. Penn told me that I should use SpinVox to convert my voicemail into text. I thought it was a good idea, but I was using another product entirely for another different reason. But the other day, I tweeted something on Twitter about deleting hundreds un-listened-to (what’s the right way to say that?) voice mails. It was just me blabbing into the wind that I had too many voicemails and had decided to throw them away.
Except that James Whatley was listening. It turns out that the @whatleydude is also the “social media chap” for SpinVox, and while other people offered me a kind and understanding, “Dude, that’s a lot of voice mail,” James heard opportunity. (There’s word that Pat Phelan had something to do with this, too, but that’s unsubstantiated).
James set me up with a trial SpinVox account, sent me the information (customized for me) on how to configure my account for my specific carrier, and got me on my way. I set the service up in a few minutes, and then had my wife make a few test calls. It’s pretty cool.
As a review, this is like, months and months (years?) late. The product has been out for a while. But whatever. If you want to try something interesting, SpinVox is a speech-to-text voicemail translator, and it worked pretty darned good for me. I plan to keep using it for a while and see how it changes the way I do business. (Thanks for that, James!)
If You Are a Business
Are your customers online? Well, I say yes to most folks. If so, are you listening to blogs, to Twitter, to other sources of information? HOW are you listening?
I use a lot of free tools to scan the web and pay attention. I use Technorati, Google Blogsearch, and Twitter Search to name a few.
There are other tools. One is Radian6. I worked with them on a series of Twebinars (twitter meets webinar), and the last of these comes up Tuesday the 19th at 2PM (tomorrow as I’m writing this). The details are here. I’m doubly thrilled because CEO Marcel Lebrun is going to join me live in the studio to talk with folks about the importance of listening.
If you’re a business, do what James Whatley did with SpinVox did and listen. Do what Marcel Lebrun calls “listening at the point of need.” And build your business around your customers’ needs and not the other way around.
What do you think? Have you seen examples of this?
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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?
