When it comes time to developing a social strategy, revolving around tweets and focusing on short, quick replies to discussion questions or any mechanism that doesn’t require significant effort or input is like seeking to make crumbs when you should really be thinking about baking a cake for your customers. Yet most companies at least at first, try to go the quick and dirty route to social success, leaving crumbs everywhere across the web. Show me a pile of crumbs and I’ll show you a dirty table. So whether you are a big enterprise or a small mom and pop shop, focus on baking a cake and let the crumbs come out naturally.
Time and time again, regardless of a company’s size, businesses agree that they want to genuinely engage with their customers, but then 95% of them want to aim for the floor of engagement. Trying to figure out just how little has to be done to meet the litmus test for engagement is counter-productive and ultimately results in failure. To illustrate the folly of this thinking, consider this question. If being a supportive spouse means at least saying “good job honey,” twice a day, would that be enough to nourish a healthy relationship? Of course not. You’d end up sleeping on the couch or left on the curb. Read More
What the Tweet? from GOOD.is on Vimeo.
It turns out that most blogs and tweets come from good ole fashion media sources like printed magazines and newspapers. Most blogs link to articles from newspapers, magazines and TV broadcasts. Most tweets link to old media as well and other US Sites. Read More
What was I up to over the weekend? Saving the World of Course.
I took the Bio-Dome mentality to global problem solving. I created a practical, easily executable plan to stimulate the economy, solve the obesity and hunger epidemics, encourage kids to eat fresh foods, bring families together, get groups eating healthier, and help everyone have fun.
I donated some time to OpenIDEO, a collaborative problem solving platform. Doing Ideo’s brainstorming design job for them doesn’t exactly motivate me to participate, but I got over that because doing something good that could benefit many people will do. Read More
After years of external and personal pressures, I’ve finally taken on a traditional 9 to 5 gig. I have taken the position of Community Czar for Stone Cobra, an enterprise software company and solutions provider specializing in service and support. My role involves nurturing internal and external communities, contributing to development and rolling out new content and marketing strategies.
I’ve been self employed for almost a decade and I think that friends and fam ily want to see if I can thrive in a normal office environment. I think they are hoping to get off on the shadenfreude as they watch me squirm, suffer and adjust. It’s funny, interesting, and sad that even close loved ones wish and hope for you to suffer as they suffer, so you will “know” their pain. I will enjoy disappointing them, which will probably make them more unhappy.
Many designers and WordPress pros attempt to keep plug-in collections as trade secrets from the DIY crowd. I think if a person is so inclined to build his own blog, and I am not going to build it, I can at least make a good impression by giving you the best possible start with a little cheat sheet from my years of experience. Worst case scenario, if you get stuck, or would rather have someone else build your blog for you, you will contact me first. Please enjoy the list below of 45 plug-ins and ingredients for an awesome blog.
I have been using WordPress to create, manage and support blogs for almost 3 years. I have experienced all sorts of errors, bugs and crashes associated with plug-ins and had to get through them all. This is my quintessential list of plug-ins for any WordPress self hosted installation. Read More
Summary
Your goals beyond finding a new more fulfilling job should be to learn and to grow. After all, this is often a main subject of an interview, so you should have plenty to talk about. While you are unemployed it is important to: be productive, stay healthy, keep a light-hearted Attitude and stay connected with actual people. Combat stress with optimism, humor, free entertainment and actual, human contact in a social setting. Last but not least keep trying everything. Put your effort into your career search, portfolio, resume, cover letters, networking, writing, monetizing your blog, going on adventures, personal development: all of the above. Read More
Introduction
As a working student, I’ve had to find a way to make decent living from part time work. I’ve done this as an IT Consultant and then shifted my focus to re-align it with my passions in the more creative realms of new media. I’ve been through a lot, and had to make tough choices. The economy, and my client base shrank, and I adjusted. It shrank again and I adjusted, and then it really got bad and in order to step forward I had to face the challenge of finding immediate work and gainful employment. The quest has been a long one and is ongoing but I wanted to share what I’ve accomplished, what I’ve done wrong and present a guide for others to smoothly navigate their own personal quests for financial stability and meaningful employment.
I put the fun in funderemployment.
1. I took time to rethink my career choice. I new I wasn’t totally fulfilled by the work I had been doing and I wanted a plan to incorporate more creative, social and human elements into my work.
2. I reconnected with my writing. Before the big economic crunch, I wrote regularly, creatively, personally and professionally. I used to write songs with friends and enjoyed every moment of it. I made it a goal to reconnect with my writing to explore myself and re-affirm my identity and direction.
3. I started several ventures and blogs while I hunted for jobs. I am a workaholic and had to feel productive by writing about aspects of my profession. This was a very fruitful, career changing experience. Read More
I scoured the web and pooled my own thoughts on the absolute best reasons to blog. To sum it up, blogging is a great way to pursue personal and professional growth and development.
1. Blogging is cheap and easy to setup.
It doesn’t take long to learn the Tao of blogging. The writing styles and content systems can be as simple and casual or as refined and complex as you wish them to be, depending on your focus. All you need is an internet connection and a web host ($6-$10 a month) and a domain name ($4-$6 per year). You can also sign up for an account on blogger, WordPress and other blogging sites for free. I recommend learning how to work with a WordPress self-hosted installation if you wish to take the effort seriously. It is easy to get started and there is always more to be learned and added. Read More
1. Know yourself. Using a blog as a journal is a great way to get in touch with the real you and understand why you are the way you are. You don’t have to publish your writing on a blog; you can let it sit as a draft. Personal exploration through writing provides super-food for the brain and opens it up to new possibilities.
2. Organize and focus your mind by emptying your mental RAM. Mental blocks prevent us from getting work done. They are usually caused by or made worse by heavy, lingering thoughts we are trying desperately to ignore. Get them out of the way and clear your head by writing them down. It can be a bit of a chore, jotting down a few notes can help you stay organized and get focused on your original task at hand. Read More
Perhaps the biggest time bottleneck on the web is how long it takes us to find interesting/relevant content. How long do you spend looking for things on the web? Whether to solve a technical issue or do research, searching for things online is quite the chore. There are over 238 million websites out there to rifle through as of December 2009. And a good chunk of those are optimized spam-sites full of useless content. Often times these sites are on the first few pages of results on Google and other search engine making harder to find what we are looking for Online. Read More
I have worked with many companies as a consultant in various capacities, taking the roles of marketing, support and customer service departments. In the age of social media, how you respond to your critics can have a major impact on your business. Most companies prefer to use to tools to water down the message, wear down the crowd, and claim victory when no one is left commenting or complaining; only to later discover they have lost large portions of their following and customers. The big lesson here is quite simple; address the persistent questions and clever criticisms and never let them linger or go unanswered. I have witnessed several start-ups go under by taking an attitude of ignoring their users and especially the negative feedback. Caught up in the other aspects of your work, you not likely as familiar with the user experience as your following of customers and readers. Their feedback is incredibly useful and important. In order to succeed, at some point, you’ll have to deal with negative feedback and find a way to make it work for you.
Social media and the Internet provide an environment of immediate response, obligation and opportunity for the entrepreneur. It is unrealistic to address every comment and comprehensively respond to all the feedback you receive on your blog or website, but your goals should not be to avoid or block negative feedback from appearing on your site. You want to welcome all dissent and criticism in an environment that you can control, manage and manipulate. Your goals should be to efficiently manage negative feedback and prevent it by maintaining an image of acknowledgment, embrace and resolution. If faced with an issue where your job and reputation were on the line, would you rather have a conversation with the opposing party over a nice meal in your home, or at a press conference? The choice is clear, as are the consequences of ignoring conflict. You can embrace conflict, disagreement and dissent on your terms or ignore it and face it in a much more public forum where the stakes are greater. In this post, I’ll discuss strategies and tips to help you manage negative feedback on your blog.
We love the idea of easy money but there is this ridiculous notion that it must simply fall in our laps without any effort. Easy money is not initially effortless. There is a difference between easy money and taking the easy route. The easy money is not in taking the easiest approach. The easiest approach by its very nature is going to have the least risk, least rewards be the most common path taken.
3 Myths About Easy Money
1. Easy money immediately and spontaneously falls in your lap.
2. Easy money involves taking the easiest route.
3. Easy money is a large amount of money.
After watching a few of the videos for Microsoft’s Courier Project, I wanted to share my thoughts and my joy.
1. The Natural & Intuitive Design of the Courier Concept
This is the closest I’ve seen to a paper replacement that actually adds features (maybe minus 3d origami-although I’m sure there will be an app for that-Sketch-up Origami Edition?). To the Apple fanboys who say Microsoft stopped innovating I give you the Courier project and Windows Phone 7. I mention user interface so as not to be confused with an application interface that we are still dealing with now. User interface design implies catering to the users and what we have now seems to be more app centric and disposable. We are now witnessing the epic battle between design mindsets of interface design. It comes down to that which is designed to be used versus designed to be bought, clicked, consumed and thrown away. Courier seems like child’s play. Whether you’re 4 or 40, you’ll find it fun and interesting.
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What is Phonebooth Free? from Bandwidth.com on Vimeo.
Info: Phonebooth is a VOIP phone service like Google Voice but with a feature set ideal for growing businesses . Phonebooth has similar features to Google Voice: visual voicemail, redundant data centers, call routing and a slick interface. Phonebooth pushes the solution a few steps ahead of Google by offering HD voice qaulity, conference calling and an auto-attendant “Press 1 to annoy your customer” menus.
Price: Phonebooth offers a free service (Update 3/31/2010 Free accounts are being sent out daily again.) and has a pro plan that costs $20 per month per user
My Thoughts on Phonebooth Pro
I think for a growing company, Phonebooth would be a great tool. They take out a lot of competition and cost with their simplicity and consumers love simplicity when it comes to technology. (Insert Fisher-Price to Mac reference- on 2nd thought Win 7 is pretty user friendly and awesome as well.) Read More
