The Hopkinson Report - Wired.com's Marketing Guy Jim Hopkinson takes a fresh and funny look at marketing trends in the Wired world.

Dec 28 2011

The Hopkinson Report — Gearing up for 2012!

Hi all!

Just wanted to drop you a line to keep you updated on a few things.

1) Happy New Year!
I hope you had a great 2011 and spent some relaxing time with friends and family over the holidays. I visited my parents in the Boston area, lived Christmas through the wide eyes of my sister’s three kids (6, 4, and 1 1/2), went on a “man date” to the mall with my friend Fitz and his new 7 month old (are strollers allowed on escalators? what if the baby isn’t in it?), and through technology, saw my brother’s 2 year old energized with Christmas spirit via Skype.

2) What WON’T change about The Hopkinson Report in 2012
The blog and podcast will be back in late January, and should follow the same high-energy, deep-dive format that you know and love. Each week I will continue to cover the topics of social media, marketing, and technology. Additionally, I will have a little bit more focus on personal branding and career development, since I am no longer working full-time and am living the “independent lifestyle.” I’m not at a 4-Hour Workweek yet, but maybe some day.

3) What WILL change about The Hopkinson Report in 2012
- Wired. As I mentioned in my final podcast, the show will no longer be associated with Wired or Conde Nast. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, and I’m sure I will be referencing content from the magazine and website from time to time, and maybe interviewing people that I had worked with. But the views of the show will entirely be my own, and I won’t be directly promoting any Wired events or products.

- New look. After several years with the same design, I plan to update the look and feel of the blog, including a new color scheme. I plan on making it easier for new visitors to the site to get started, and for long-time listeners to find their favorite topics.

- New sound. The opening and closing theme song will be updated from a generic, rights-free Garageband song to one of my favorite songs from my 1997 rock-pop band, The Nasties! It actually was a good opportunity to track down my old band mates on social media to make sure they were cool with it, and reconnect a little. No word yet on a reunion tour.

- New technology. My Blue Snowball microphone has been great and I think I will continue to use it, but there has always been the issue of interviewing guests. This might be the year I upgrade to a full mixing board with multiple microphones for interviews. Additionally, I am looking into a handheld digital recorder for remote interviews.

- New video? Let’s face it, I know video is a rabbit-hole. To do it right, you need a good camera, then you want good external microphones, a green screen, editing software, graphic and text overlays, special effects, and then before you know it, you’re spending every night in a pitch-black room till 4am working on the perfect transition effect in Final Cut Pro.

However, there is no question that YouTube continues to explode, and would attract more traffic to the site, as well as give readers a new perspective on my thoughts. I am making it a goal this year to incorporate more video into the blog. To be clear, this is not going to turn into a video podcast show, but rather, I might have “30 second rants” or a “Jim How-To” embedded on the site to supplement the content.

- New hosting. I have to give a huge shoutout to Cliff Ravenscraft aka “The Podcast Answer Man.” As you can imagine, it’s a little complicated trying to figure out how to transfer 175 archived episodes from old servers to new ones, choose a new hosting company, update and redirect XML and RSS feeds, and so on. I heard about Cliff from Pat Flynn and the Smart Passive Income Podcast (he interviewed him here), and we jumped on a consulting call in late December to discuss all the options and get things straight. He was a huge help.

The plan is to move the media files to a site called Libsyn.com, which is the world’s largest podcast network. They host 15,000 podcasts serving over 18,000,000 downloads, so we should be in good hands. They also have improved reporting so I can give special shoutouts to listeners in Luxembourg.

Also good news: As a podcast subscriber, you shouldn’t have to do anything to receive new episodes; you should be redirected automatically.

Want proof that Cliff is the real deal? Check out the podcast studio setup he has in his home [envy]:
Podcast Answer Man Setup

- New Sponsor(s). I am thrilled to announce that The Hopkinson Report will be sponsored by Freshbooks in 2012. You may recall my interview with Saul Colt way back in January 2009. Well, we’ve been friends now for 3 years and he’s been an amazing contact. In Saul’s role as the “Head of Magic” at Freshbooks, his job is to find cool people and events to associate with, and I am honored that he has chosen me.

Furthermore, I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart that this is a relevant sponsor. As you may know, I have a multitude of side projects, including my book Salary Tutor, speaking gigs, consulting work, and so on. I have set up my own entity (Hopkinson Creative Media, LLC), but all of this requires you to maintain separate business records for accounting purposes. While I am great with Excel, Freshbooks takes it to the next level and handles reports, invoicing, expenses, billing, and so on.

Last month I took the time to import everything that I had hacked together in a spreadsheet and uploaded it to Freshbooks. It worked great, and I was instantly able to see my profit/loss for the year. Then I imported my HCM logo and used it to send an invoice to my first consulting client. It was easy and made me look really professional. OK, enough gushing, but it really IS a cool product with an easy to use interface and great customer service.

What’s great about this relationship for you, the listener, isn’t that you will be bombarded with banner ads and 4 minute commercials (that wouldn’t be great at all). Rather, Saul is an innovative word of mouth marketer that a) will allow me to pass on to you cool case studies he comes across and events that he puts on and b) introduce me to amazing people to interview for the show.

Interested in sponsoring The Hopkinson Report and exposing your product or service to a group of tech-savvy, social-media-connected, hyper-influencers? Contact me for a media kit.

So there you have it. Are you as fired up for 2012 as I am? I hope so.

Jim

2 Comments »

Nov 20 2011

Living the Lux Life

Over the weekend of November 11th, I experienced what seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I was fortunate to be chosen as one of several “new media influencers” to try out a new service called “Lux Delux.”

But in reality, treating yourself to an amazing experience filled with top of the line customer service doesn’t have to be once-in-a-lifetime; Lux Delux aims to be the chosen service for anyone that wants this experience throughout the year.

SETTING THE SCENE

Location: Where else but Vegas, baby? When you’re talking over-the-top entertainment and anything goes, Las Vegas has to be one of the top destinations in the world. Our specific destination in the desert? The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. I had never stayed there before and it didn’t disappoint.

The Hosts: Out hosts for the weekend were Lux Delux founder Andy Hsieh, social media guru Helen Todd, and a team of “Luxierges” making sure that everything went according to plan.

The Speakers: Special guest speakers from Facebook, Foursquare, and the co-creator of Farmville.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off

Nov 06 2011

Episode 175: A Special Announcement From Jim

*** UPDATE 11/6/11 ***
Good news, Hopkinson Report fans!

I have been told that I WILL be able to maintain control of past, present and future content for The Hopkinson Report. This is great news for me and I sincerely appreciate Conde Nast understanding the depth of personal commitment I put into this blog and podcast for the last 3+ years.

So what does that mean moving forward?

Well, now that I will be pursuing a freelance career of speaking, teaching, and writing, I am going to take a moment to step back and see where this blog and podcast fits in with my overall goals. I would love to get reader feedback. Here’s where I think I am so far:

Previous Content
- All of the 175 episodes will remain as an archive. One thing that I had wanted to do for some time, which will become a nice project for me, is to create a system both for new users arriving at the site, and for all users to get to past projects.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments »

Nov 04 2011

Episode 174: The three pillars of Facebook engagement

Discover the three best ways to engage with readers on Facebook

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

Facebook continues to be the social media giant. It’s funny to look back at Episode 105 eighteen months ago back in May 2010 when I wondered whether recent privacy events could signal the fall of Facebook, and I went through 7 reasons the mighty giant might fail.

Needless to say, they’ve recovered from some of the issues I posed, including privacy concerns and revenue generation. In fact, the New York Times and Wired ran a stories about a group of students that were taking on Facebook with a new product called Diaspora, and it gained some pretty good buzz.

Where are we 18 months later? Well, Diaspora seems to be in alpha release still and in retrospect, was just a tiny fly on the back of a Rhino. And that Rhino would be Google Plus, which Facebook seems to be going head-to-head with and still winning.

Of course by now if you’re a brand, you have already have a robust Facebook page. You’ve updated some graphics, built up your following, and have widgets on your website to drive people to Like you on Facebook.

But now that you have fans on Facebook, how do you engage with your audience?

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off

Oct 25 2011

Episode 173: 8 Life lessons from a fallen friend

Jim gives 8 lessons in marketing, design, technology, and life

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

Hey everyone. I was struggling all last week for a podcast topic, and nothing was coming to mind. I was looking at Wired stories, items on Mashable.com, thinking about past case studies, and marketing in general.

It was midnight on Thursday 10/20 and I needed a story to post for the week.
(Note: As it turns out, I copied the wrong file to my thumb drive and thus couldn’t post it on Friday, and forgot again on Monday. Thus, the plan is to try and post two this week.)

In the end, my thoughts drifted to my friend Jeffrey Baun, a former co-worker who recently passed away. I figured it would be a nice little tribute to do a show that highlighted some of the things I learned from him.

The quick background is that I hired Jeff at my startup back in 1994, a few years later he got in a terrible car accident and was disabled, went home to live with his parents to rehabilitate, and had worked his way back for the last 13 years before passing away suddenly on September 16.

Here are the eight things I chose to remember and celebrate:

As always, the podcast contains the full story… here are some highlights of what I cover.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off

Oct 13 2011

Episode 172: Interview — Kevin Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite.com

Jim interviews co-founder and CEO Kevin Hartz of Eventbrite.com.

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

This week I had a great interview with with co-founder and CEO Kevin Hartz of Eventbrite.com.

Eventbrite is a simple but powerful tool to manage, promote, and sell out your event. I’ve used it in the past and can attest that it takes the process of planning an event — be it a class, a meetup group, a yoga retreat, or a concert — and makes it simple and professional.

As a user, the interface is clear and easy to understand, and makes it feel like you are buying a ticket from a professional ticket agency.

As an organizer, you can plan the fun things about your event, without having to worry about building an RSVP system, creating tickets, or collecting money at the door.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments »

Oct 06 2011

Episode 171: Interview – Krista Neher, social media and digital trainer and CEO of Bootcamp Digital

Jim has a high-energy interview with author, speaker, and social media pro Krista Neher.

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

This week I had a great interview with with author, speaker, and social media pro Krista Neher.

As usual, for the full interview — and trust me, we had great energy and lots of fun sharing stories — make sure to download and play the podcast. The summary below highlights what we cover:

Krista’s background
- Her start at Proctor and Gamble
- Working on marketing for brands like Tide and Folgers Coffee
- Her transition to a startup
- The founding of Bootcamp Digital, which teaches companies how to use the web and social media to build their business

Her travels from Canada to Cincinnati
- What does that have to do with bowling?

Social engagement
- Not the kind of engagement you like – we’re talking on a train to New Jersey

Boot Camp Digital
- What makes a truly good social media program?
- Huge opportunity to show businesses how to do their own social media
- “You’re doing it wrong” – what is the #1 thing companies are doing incorrectly with social media
- Why “free” social media is a problem

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off

Sep 28 2011

Episode 170: What are you so afraid of? Overcoming fear and uncertainty.

Jim talks about how to overcome fear in your life and Jonathan Fields’ new book Uncertainty.

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

One of the best compliments anyone ever paid to me actually had to do with this podcast. I was walking down the street in New York with my girlfriend at the time, and we were talking about the origins of how I started this show. I was recanting about the things I had gone through, pitching the idea to Wired, setting everything up on the technical side, designing the website, and lining up people to interview and topics to talk about. Now that it is up and running a weekly routine, sometimes I forget how much effort went into the initial setup.

We stopped for a moment and she looked over at me and said,

“You never once thought about what would happen if it failed, did you?”

It was an interesting question… one that caught me by surprise and made me stop and really think about the answer, transporting myself back through time to put myself in that place when I was just starting out. I thought long and hard, did an honest assessment, and then gave her my answer:

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off

Sep 22 2011

Episode 169: Interview – Rey Flemings of Stipple a startup powering the evolution of web images.

Jim interviews Rey Flemings, the cofounder and chief executive of Stipple, a company trying to revolutionize online photos.

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

Photographs. With billions of Facebook photos being tagged, Tumblr, Flickr, Instagram, camera phones, Flip cameras, low-cost high-res DSLRs and more, there’s no doubt there’s huge numbers — and business potential — around this industry.

One of the companies trying to take advantage of this is Stipple. I spoke with cofounder Rey Flemings, and you can listen to the entire podcast for his insights. Highlights include:

What is Stipple?
Imagine this: You tag a photo in Facebook, but your friend grabs it and brings it outside Facebook’s network and puts it on their blog. Thus, you lose all of the tags.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off

Sep 15 2011

Episode 168: What six crappy part-time jobs taught me about life.

People talk a lot about their real-world career, but sometimes it’s the part-time jobs of youth that define you as a person.

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

What do you do for a living?

When you’re asked that question in “real life,” you rarely start with your current job and go all the way back to your very first part time jobs. But in a way, what you did for money as a teen, be it babysitting, lifeguarding, or cleaning out your Dad’s garage, can have a profound effect on your life.

OK, so the jobs I list below aren’t really THAT crappy (it made for a better headline), but they weren’t always glorious either. However, they did teach me some valuable life lessons.

As always, listen to the podcast for the full show. Highlights below:

The Job: Paperboy
Lesson Learned:
- Consistency (If you didn’t deliver every single day, someone was not going to be happy)
- Delayed gratification (Friends want to play baseball? Not till your route is done)
- Value of money (You mean the harder I work, the more money I’ll have for arcade video games? Ah, I get it now)
- Stay away from large German Shepherds (Seriously. I was chased and bitten several times)

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off

- Jim Picks
- Interviews

Categories