Stop trying to make the perfect viral video, just jump on someone else’s bandwagon

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“We want this to go viral!”

It’s a sentence that anyone that has spent time in internet marketing has heard 1,000 times. Mostly, it’s from an advertiser that doesn’t realize the cold, hard truth. It’s damn near impossible to purposely create something and make it go viral.

Sure, you can add all the elements that the internet lusts for, such as:
- Cats
- Kids
- Boobs
- Celebrities
- Getting hit in the groin

You can “seed it on Twitter.”
You can “post it on Facebook.”
You can “distribute it on YouTube.”
You can “submit it to Digg and reddit.”

But in the end, it seems the harder you try to make something go viral, the less likely that is to happen. Go ahead, throw MORE money at your viral project. That will even doom it MORE.

Which means the flip side, is that you never know when something is going to capture the imagination of the world wide web. You’re at their mercy.

What’s a smart marketer to do?

Here is a summary of what I talk about in the podcast:

It’s a lot like surfing. Forget about creating a wave, just put yourself in the position so that you’re ready when the perfect wave does come along, and then ride as far as you can until the next one shows up.

Here are the four steps to ride the viral video wave:
Recognize, Hypothesize, Capitalize, Monetize

1) Recognize
In order to ride that wave, you need to be in the right water. Sitting in a pond in Aiken County, South Carolina isn’t going to cut it. You have to head to California or Hawaii to be where the waves are.

In internet speak, some of the places where I find viral content is:
- Reddit
- Digg
- Youtube
- Twitter
- Wired
- Mashable
- Facebook
- Email

Although lets face it, if you wait until someone sends YOU something via email, it’s probably too late.

Next, you’ve got to know it when you see it.
A small list of recent internet meme examples are:
- I’m on a boat
- Epic beard man
- Kanye interrupts Taylor Swift
- Balloon boy
- Rick Roll
- Double Rainbow
- Keanu Reeves sitting on a bench
- Old Spice guy

2) Hypothesize
You can do
1. Parody video
Musicians build audience
Hitler redub

2. Photoshop
Keanu with Forrest Gump

Bonus: Combine 2 memes
Example: Balloon boy with Kanye

3) Capitalize
Check out this amazing rendition of someone that combined “I’m on a boat” meme with the “I’m in a box” balloon boy.

- Another angle is to focus on a single word or sentence from the meme and exploit that as much as possible. For example, “Amber Lamps” / Black betty from the Epic Bear Man meme:

4) Monetize

Doesn’t have to be money; can be branding
- Build your twitter or facebook list

What do you do? How do you normally make money?
- If designer, let people know how to hire you
- If musician, have your band’s website and mailing list
- If writer, it drives people to your blog
- If major website, get traffic

- YouTube – allow people to buy the song
- Create a quick tshirt store

Example 1: JK Wedding video

- 3.5 million views in first 48 hours
- Chris Brown capitalizes… his 2008 song “Forever” reached number 4 on iTunes and number 3 on Amazon.com a year later as a result of the post.
- The couple capitalizes… Today show appearance, 15 minutes of fame, $16,000 fund to end domestic violence

Example 2: Old Spice guy

Mike Relm remix
- Worked until 7AM – all nighter – to get done
- 300,000 views
- Good social media: ask fans what to remix next
- Subscribe to his channel
- You need a DJ or someone to remix something? He’s your man

BYU spoof
- 10 film students and 2 full time employees spent a month on a 54 second remix
- About the BYU library?
- Film project

Example 3: Bed Intruder

Starts off with a scary topic. News report that an intruder came in through a window and broke into a woman’s apartment in the projects and tried to rape her. She managed to fight him off, then her brother came in and defended her.

This was the top story on reddit, and for the first 30 seconds, I couldn’t figure out why. Then Antoine Dodson started to talk. It would be easy to say, oh, this is just a poor African-American from the projects in Alabama, he’s going talk in ebonics and say something stupid we can all laugh at. But it was more than that. He was animated, passionate, and dare I say, funny?

Original video:

The comments on the reddit post were great, and then someone said the immortal words, “Someone should AutoTune this.”

Acting fast, the kings of Auto-Tune, The Gregory Brothers, produced not just one of the best parody videos of all time, but I honestly can say one of the best produced and catchiest songs I’ve heard since Justin Timberlake’s “Blank in a box.”

Go ahead and make fun of me, but I have that song on my iPod (if you replaced the lyrics with anything else, it still be a great song), and jumping right to the monetize portion, I also bought the “Bed Intruder” Auto-Tune song from iTunes for $1.29.

The Gregory Brothers hit a grand slam
- They acted fast, turning around the video in hours
- They produced something that was incredibly high quality
- They persistently, but no obnoxiously, inserted links to the original video, their YouTube page, and links to buy, updating it frequently as things changed
- They monetized through iTunes
- 2.5 million views and accounting

But I shouldn’t be surprised. I interviewed The Gregory Brothers on The Hopkinson Report Episode 80, and they were funny, talented, and super smart.

Here is the video.  Wait until you hear the piano solo at the end.

But then something even greater happened. Everyone ELSE got on the wave.

Aspiring musicians around the world gave their rendition of the song. I collected the best ones for you. I present you:

The Best Antoine Dodson / Bed Intruder / Gregory Brothers Parody Videos

1 acoustic blues

2 backup vocal remix

3 funky acoustic

4 young girl a capella

5 rocker dude acoustic

6 beatbox

7 accordion

8 rocker dude lipsync

What did I do with them? I posted the list on reddit.

You know, in hopes that my link would go viral… (no such luck so far)

—-
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While I think that I bring lots of energy and passion to my podcast, and am usually pretty articulate, I’ve never pretended that I have a great “radio voice.” Well, that distinction is made even clearer when you listen to my guest Matt Walters, a professional voiceover actor.

This podcast is truly a “must listen.”

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

Everyone likes to quote the opening movie line with the gravel-voiced actor belting out “In a world…” but in reality, the people behind the success of movie trailers, commercial reads, and cartoon voices don’t get the recognition that they deserve.

This week I speak with Matt Walters, and he gives some great tips for getting into the business, how he got his start, and some hysterical examples of how my tagline could be read.

Topics we discuss:
- The interesting (and somewhat deceptive) way Matt got his start by defying stereotypes and pulling a “Karate Kid” move
- The process of getting an agent and breaking into the business
- Techniques for getting ready and warming up
- What happens when you get a nasal cold
- The different way a voiceover actor watches TV

Check out Matt’s voiceover reel:

We then talk about the godfather of voiceover, Don LaFontaine. Reading his wikipedia page, and watching a video tribute to him, you realize how amazing this guy was. Can you believe he’s done more than 5,000 movie trailers and hundreds of thousands of TV ads and promotions?

We also talk about whether it’s better to have a big part in a small movie, or in his case, a small part in a big movie. Matt played Owen Wilson’s work friend in Marley and Me (also starring Jennifer Aniston).

Additionally, he achieved the rite of passage for every New York-based actor, landing a role on Law and Order.

Lastly, he played a mop-topped Paul McCartney for a Comedy Central promotion for Beatles Rock Band.

See Matt’s appearances:

But we weren’t done there. Matt was kind enough to indulge me and say “You’re listening to the Hopkinson Report podcast” in the following accents:
- British
- Irish
- Boston
- New York

It was quite entertaining. So if you’re looking for advice about getting into the business, looking to improve your podcasting skills and pick up a few tricks, check out the podcast.

Learn more about Matt Walters on his website.

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This podcast was recorded on Tuesday July 6, 2010, and it was a historic day for Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Superstar LeBron James. No, it was not the day that he announced which team he was going to via free agency. It was the day that LeBron joined Twitter.

Let’s look at the lessons learned from LeBron James’ first day on Twitter.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

1) Major brands need to engage in social media

Let’s face it, LeBron James is a brand. He is worth millions, is recognized worldwide, and generates revenue and profits on everything from ticket sales to merchandise. Until now, he has poked fun at Twitter, but he has finally broken down and signed up. Any major brand looking to engage with fans that does not have a social media presence does so at their own peril.

2) Your social circle strongly influences your decisions

What is the goal of nearly every company’s marketing department? To build a product with strong word-of-mouth marketing. Did you start using Google or Facebook because you saw a TV commercial about them? No. You found out about them because someone you know said “Hey, you need to check this out.”

A person that does this consistently, finding the newest products and spreading the word to multiple people is called an early adopter and a hyper-influencer. If you don’t follow basketball, you might not know who Chris Paul is. Well, he’s another NBA superstar and good friend of LeBron, and it was he that finally convinced LeBron to create an account. It’s this kind of marketing – trusted, and free – that helps spread the word.

3) If you build it, they will come

If you build a strong user base and have a brand that people love, true fans will want to associate with you. Once word of LeBron’s Twitter account surfaced, the followers came rolling in. He became a trending topic, and went from 0 to roughly 200,000 followers in less than 24 hours.

4) If the content is there, design can wait

The reason I believe this was a spur-of-the-moment decision by James, and not something entirely crafted by his PR team – despite the fact that the NBA is advertising on Twitter – is that he didn’t immediately add a “corporate friendly” Twitter background. Personally, I feel this would have been quite easy to do, as I’m sure he has hundreds of graphics and backgrounds to select from various marketing campaigns. It also would have added a better first impression to the tens of thousands of people signing up today. But there it was, his brand new account with the vanilla, generic, baby-blue, default background. Just like anyone else’s first day.

5) Have something to say

The timing couldn’t be better for LeBron, as this is the most anticipated NBA announcement of the last few years. Even the most casual fan of the league probably clicked the follow button today. Additionally, the link on his twitter page goes to his LeBronJames.com website, which is also in the early stages and appears to be yet another way for users to get LeBron information.

On the other hand, this doesn’t mean that if you’re a company you should wait until you have a product to announce to create a social media presence. In fact, if you create a Twitter account and then immediately jump on and start talking about how people can buy your products, without providing value first, your new media efforts will most likely fail.

6) Be authentic

While reading articles when the story first broke but before the account was verified (great job by Twitter for acting quickly and verifying the account), I came across a sentence that made me grimace. It said something to the effect of “It is unclear whether LeBron will be tweeting for himself or if he will have a team tweeting for him.”

Perhaps it’s that it has been drilled into our heads as a best practice in my 3+ years enveloped in all things social media, but it’s amazing that this is even a question anymore. I think Shaquille O’Neal said it best when talking about rapper 50 Cent being outed for not writing his own tweets, “It’s 140 characters. If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you.”

So it was refreshing to see LeBron’s first tweet, which was clearly written by him.  As a stickler for grammar and punctuation, I would point out inconsistent capitalization, incorrect use of quotations, and both a misplaced and missing period.  But at least he did a lot better than Oprah’s first tweet, in which she basically made up the word “Twitters” and effectively YELLED AT ALL HER FOLLOWERS by using ALL CAPS, a gross violation of internet etiquette (and also misplaced 2 periods, what’s up with that?).

However, I’m willing to forgive the typos because a) he only has a high school education, and b) because it’s his voice. For example, although I understood the context of the term “gas’d,” I jumped over to the Urban Dictionary to try and get some more insight (not very helpful).

Also impressive was his @ reference to his friend Chris Paul. Maybe he had someone looking over his shoulder and helping, but including Paul’s twitter handle (@oneandonlycp3) in the message equates to a public “thank you” for helping him trying something new, and I’m sure garnered Paul several thousand new fans as well.

7) Control your message

LeBron has been surrounded by a constant media frenzy from his high school years until today. Every move has been documented and every TV and radio station, newspaper, and website has taken his words and actions and interpreted them to the world. Creating his own Twitter account allows LeBron to speak directly 1:1 with his fans.

However, like Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility.
- A tweet sent near gametime will get him in trouble with the NBA [policy]
- A message sent in anger criticizing the refs will get him fined [Dallas owner Mark Cuban was fined $25,000 in 2009]
- A piece of information released too early could cause trust issues [Player Kevin Love tweeted that coach Kevin McHale was out as coach before the team announced it publicly]
- Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of internet public opinion

Day 2 and beyond

I have no doubt that LeBron will try out this new social media toy for the next few days, including announcing which team he will be going to. I’m sure the league will remind him of the rules, his PR team will snazzy up the page like his buddy Chris Paul (below), his Nike reps will make sure the brand is represented jusssst right, and he’ll learn a little etiquette from Shaq and his other pals. That’s the easy part.

But the true test will be the weeks and months to come. Will he embrace this new communication platform and provide the consistency and content that his fans crave once the shine has worn off?

Just like his NBA plans, we’ll have to wait and see.

Game on.

[I've had a Twitter account for quite awhile now, with more than 2,200 followers and 1,500 tweets sent. I talk about marketing trends, tweet when there’s a new podcast that goes live each week, but also provides value by sharing links I think you’ll like and insights into my personal life. Check it out at twitter.com/hopkinsonreport.]

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Jim’s guest is Deanna Zandt, author of a social media book. They talk about how she got a book deal, raised money to fund it, and how she got free pizza.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

Deanna Zandt is the author of the new book, “Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking” which you can find out more about at her website, DeannaZandt.com.

During our interview, we talk about the following topics:
- How the former corporate employee and self-proclaimed ‘webmonkey’ went from independent consultant to author
- The process she took to turn her training seminars into a book idea
- The “Jedi Mind Trick” philosophy her publisher uses, and how she used “the force” of social media to raise funds in order to work on her book
- How she used crowdsourcing on everything from the title to the cover — and how people reacted to it
- The free software program she used to dramatically ramp up her productivity during the writing process

And yes, she explains how she scored a free eye exam and free pizza along the way.

Give a listen.

Twitter: Deanna | HopkinsonReport

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Jim interviews the guys from Whiteyboard.com, a simple product with a unique marketing spin.

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I love me a good whiteboard.

And why not? I’m a marketer, a creator, a speaker, an idea guy, and a project manager. I like mockups. I like sketches. I like seeing how a process could flow, and then erasing it with a napkin (can never seem to find that damn eraser) and then sketching it out again. That is what whiteboards are born to do.

The issue is that they are big, they are heavy, and they are expensive. Are those three things contributing to the downfall of creativity as we know it? Well, movies like Fear Dot Com, Year 1, Be Kind Rewind, and Who’s Your Caddy keep getting green lit. Maybe if Hollywood had more whiteboards, people would come to their senses.

Enter Jason Wilk and Sherwin Kim. The two entrepreneurs have founded Whiteyboard.com, a company that does one thing really really well: offer a low-cost whiteboard that can be put on (and removed from) any wall much like a piece of wallpaper. How low-cost? The largest 4′x6′ model tops out at just $30, and two smaller sizes are available for under $15.

In an age where I get pitches from lots of companies with complicated APIs, multilevel social network integration, and sparse business plans, it’s refreshing to see a concept that I understand right out of the box. Or poster tube if you will. What that does is then let me focus on the company’s marketing angle.

As background, Jason has gone through the famous Y Combinator program with another business idea. Y Combinator gives seed money at the earliest stage of venture funding to pay for expenses while companies are getting started. The company that I am most familiar with to have gone through the program is reddit.com, a social news site owned by Conde Nast.

The path for a new internet company is starting to fall into a template:
- A few geeks come up with a great idea (usually there is one CEO-type idea person and one behind the scenes programmer guy)
- Throw up a website and iterate your idea as quickly as possible
- Keep costs low and try to get some money wherever you can
- Use free social media and word of mouth to market and spread the news
- Try to get a story on Tech Crunch
- Drive people to the site, get them to register, try to get to a tipping point of users
- Hope to be the next Twitter or Foursquare, or get bought out by a major media company
- Profit!

The interesting thing about Whiteyboard, is that they did all of the above, but with a physical product.

The downside of this, as Sherwin explains, is that they went through a lot of pain on the product side. You’re dealing with prototypes, shipping costs, storage fees, and a lot of back and forth with overseas manufacturing companies, spanning multiple timezones and throwing in a language barrier.

But once they had their product down, the huge advantage is that when their media coverage hit, and thousands of people were sent to their website, what was waiting for the users wasn’t a quick sign-up form, an email or a video tour, but an offer to buy a product.

And since they were featured in such entrepreneurial, tech-focused, startup-savvy sites such as Think Geek, Lifehacker, and Tech Crunch, they were automatically focusing on their target audience.

Lastly, they are even viewing their office space in a non-traditional way. Is Whiteyboard going to be based in a sprawling industrial park in Newark, New Jersey? Um, no.

Their plan is to have an office on Hollywood Boulevard. But not only will it be an office, but rather an open-to-the-public workspace covered entirely in whiteyboards. Doing so allows the company to almost view this as a marketing expense, rather than a “facilities” expense. And for the people that come in off the street, it becomes a branding experience, allowing them to play some tic tac toe, or who knows, sketch out the screenplay for Who’s Your Caddy 2.

Listen to the full podcast interview here:

iTunes

Play it below:

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Apple’s iPad is flying off the shelves. Jim gives his real-world results after 30 days with it, reviews the Wired Magazine app, analyzes market share trends and asks, can it be beat?

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

iPad iPad iPad.
Everyone is talking about the iPad, and so am I. Lets take a look at three things today:

1) My experience with the iPad 3G after one month with the iPad
2) My thoughts on the Wired Magazine iPad app
3) Analyze Apple’s historic marketshare and drill down to see the future of tablet computing and if the iPad can be beat

Note: All thoughts are my own opinion and not that of Wired or Apple. I have no affiliation with Apple and was not compensated.

Summary of the podcast below. Listen to the entire show for the full experience.

OK, so I’ve had the iPad for 30 days of real world testing.

I’ve installed various apps: the Entertainment Weekly Must List and Weather Channel (good, but could use some work), ones with solid functionality (Kayak, Pandora, MLB at Bat), ones that I normally wouldn’t use (Marvel’s comic book reader and games such as Asphalt 5 and Labyrinth), and Conde Nast’s own (Epicurious, GQ, and Wired).

The best part about these apps, is the ease that you can simply install them, check them out, and delete them if you don’t like it. While it does add to this constant ADD, “try it and forget it” world, it really puts the pressure on developers to create visually-appealing, easy to use apps right out of the box. You might only have 5 minutes to hook someone, or it’s delete and move on to the next program. That’s why I think the “Lite for free, pay for upgrade” model works so well here.

People are going to continue to find new and inventive ways to use the iPad. For example, check out uber-designer Brandon Werner’s “iPadfolio” (best viewed on an iPad). He used it in an interview and blew them away.

Things that I’m looking to do more of in the coming months are:
- Download and read more iBooks
- See a Facebook app for the iPad (they have to be working on one, right?)
- Get Apple’s SD card attachment so I can transfer photos from my DSLR right to the iPad

Real life use
As many others have probably noted, the iPad is the king of the couch surfer. It is fantastic around the house, especially for the short time each day that I finally relax (when I’m not out or working on 3 blogs) and turn on the TV. As I predicted, it’s such a better device to do the following:
- Check and respond to quick emails
- Surf the web
- Check Twitter
- View photos

Yes, you can do all this on a bigger, heavier, hotter laptop, but it’s a faster, quicker, more focused experience.

Road test: Family trip
I went to visit my brother’s family in Austin, TX, traveling there with my parents. Results were:
- First and foremost, I did not have to take out the iPad when going through security
- It was great on the plane… it’s instant-on, I didn’t worry about battery life, I watched video, read the GQ magazine app, and easily tucked it into the seatback during meals
- I let a 5-year old play with it at one point, and she instantly bonded (apologies to her parents, who will probably need to spend $500 to get her to stop talking about it at some point). We downloaded Tic Tac Toe and iSpy and had a few spirited matches, and it was amazing how kick-ass she was at the driving video game. Although it was tough for me to tell a white lie and console her when the game yells “YOU LOSE!” if you don’t finish in the top 3.
- I also let my parents (both over 65) use it. They approached it like a cat sneaking up on something new in the yard, and pretty much got the hang of it using maps and music. I did run into one issue, as my mom was trying to check her email in Safari (my email is set up as the default in the app). She was using the updated, flash-based version of Yahoo mail, and it wasn’t rendering correctly. It was just weird enough looking that she NEVER would have figured it out (most people wouldn’t), it was only because I noticed it and changed here to “Yahoo Classic” email that we were able to move on.

Camping trip
First, let me lay out my street cred. I’ve done my fair share of camping and consider myself a pretty good outdoorsman. Yes, I’m an actual Eagle Scout, something that 95% of scouts never attain.

Now let me destroy that street cred. Mostly as a fun test, a friend and I went camping in upstate New York (I did my first trail running race). Not only did we use Google maps on the iPad to locate a diner 2 exits away for dinner instead of cooking, but that night we hunkered down in the tent and watched a movie. Yes, I brought along a $639 iPad camping. And yes, it was awesome.

Road trip
I’m putting this to the test this week, bringing the iPad on a long road trip. As a combo GPS device, movie player, musical jukebox, e-mail checker, and with the “Gas Log” app, it should come in handy.

Thoughts on Wired Magazine’s iPad app
It was really interesting working on such a cool project, and seeing the initial success of 24,000 downloads in 24 hours.

Let’s get the two big questions out of the way:

- 500 MB in size
Yes, that is a very large size, especially for those with the 16GB model. Wired feels that the technology will evolve and the app will get smaller in future versions. The tradeoff was video. By including the video within the app, that allowed for a more seamless process and users could read the entire magazine without being connected to the web. I’m sure if we did NOT include it, people would be complaining that every time they got to a video they had to wait longer for it to play. Perhaps there’s a middle ground where users are asked to download or stream upon install (not sure if that’s technically feasible).

- $5 per issue cost
It’s really quite simple.
- When viewed against the cost of a year-long print subscription ($10 per year), the cost of the app seems six times higher. People make the analogy that they pay $10 per year for the Wired Magazine paper subscription, so why should they pay $60 per year for the electronic version.
- When viewed against the newsstand price of $5 (which 80,000-100,000 non-subscribing Wired fans pay every single month), it’s exactly the same.

At it’s core, this is a slice of media entertainment.
- Millions of people pay $5 a pop for magazines at newsstands, airports, and in supermarket checkout lines every month
- The Wall Street Journal charges $4 per week for their iPad application
- Netflix customers pay a monthly fee for video entertainment
- The latest blockbuster movie is $12.50 a ticket here in NYC for 2 hours of entertainment last time I checked
- And don’t get me started on what I pay for cable each month

Bottom line, the Wired Magazine iPad app gives you several hours of media entertainment for $5. And yes, Conde Nast is “exploring many ways of making it easier for users to enjoy our content.” IE, they’re looking at the best way to make some kind of subscription program work.

Areas for improvement
Just so you don’t think I’m a total homer, here are things that I think can be improved with the app
- Better navigation indicators. Because this is such a new device, I think it’s ok to treat users a little bit more dumbed down to start. My guess is that it was partially done on purpose, as it makes the user explore the app and find new features. I’m not asking for giant blinking “click here” buttons, but there were a few small areas where it could have guided me better. That being said, I was a pro by the time I finished the entire issue.
- Navigating the fun stuff. The great part about the app is the interactive features… swirling, twirling hearts and planets, and stop motion legos. But I sometimes had trouble when I wanted to swipe to the next page, but the app still thought I wanted to swirl.
- Pinch and zoom. Once you get used to pinching and zooming all over the iPad, you miss it if you come across something and are not allowed to do so. This was the case for most of the app, except for some sections that let you do this.
- As others have pointed out, there is a slight disconnect when say, playing a movie clip and it brings you outside the app, plays it, and then returns, vs. keeping you right where you are. I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that it will continue to be more streamlined.

What I loved
- The app, taking advantage of the hardware itself, is crazy bright and easy to read. Vibrant. Glowing.
- I loved the interactive touch buttons to flip multiple views. Swiping from page to page is — let’s say it — fun, but it’s also a great experience to stay on one page, and view multiple views or photos by tapping numbered dots
- The fun stuff. The ultimate goal of the app is to combine the best of print and the web in an engaging environment. This was best seen in the “Most Dangerous Object in the Office” section. This month it was a flaming hacky sack. Reading about it in print? Interesting. Actually SEEING two employees flailing around with a fiery footbag of flames in the bathroom at the Wired office in SF? Amazing.
- The extras. Ironman spining around, lego Lamborghinis, Toy Story clips, exclusive Trent Reznor songs… all of this adds to the experience.

The Ads
Call me crazy, but sometimes I LIKE looking at ads. I like seeing cool companies launch cool products that I might want to get. And stop groaning, this is a marketing podcast and blog, you knew it was coming.

But here’s the thing. You get to experience it under YOUR terms. Watching live TV? Sorry, sit through the ads. On DVR? get that fast forward button ready. In a magazine? It’s an easy page turn. On the web? Better hope that peripheral vision is working to block out things if you don’t want to see it.

But on the iPad? If you don’t like the ad — swipe — it’s gone. Instantly. If you DO choose to learn more, you can take it to the next level. My favorites were as follows.

For simply clean, crisp, uncluttered product messages:
- Dyson Fans
- Intel
- Mercedes (with great commercial embedded)
- GMC

For excellent photos that looking practically 3D on the iPad:
- True Blood
- Jack Daniels
- Volkswagen
- Infiniti

And remember, THIS IS VERSION 1! Developers, writers, editors, programmers, and advertisers are only going to get better at this.

Can it be beat?

Lets look at four categories that Apple is in, and what kind of market share they command.

First, where am I coming from? I am a computer guy. I Love all technology. Love good technology. I’ve been literally using computers for more than 25 years.
First 21 on a PC, last 4 on a Mac.
- Macbook pro at home, Dell laptop at work
- iPhone for personal use, Treo for work email
- iPod touch and Nano
- 1 iPad

Computers
I think that Macs are beautifully designed, easier to use, easier to get tech support, don’t get viruses, are more expensive, and are definitely the computer system that I’ve switched over to, that I see myself using moving forward, and that I would recommend to a friend. However, there is absolutely no denying the market share numbers.

Apple owns just 10% of the personal computer market. That means 9 out of every 10 computers out there are not made by Apple.

But in doing my research I came across this amazing article on Techcrunch from July 2009, that said Apple owns 91% market share on computers above $1000.

So is Apple winning in the computer department? In the big picture, no. There are countless millions of PCs around the world running Windows, the vast majority of businesses and IT departments are locked in with the PC/Windows platform, and will be for some time. It’s a tough process to switch. This is business device in a mature market.

But can Apple win the upper end of the market where profits are greater? Looks like they already are.

MP3 Players
What is the market share of the iPod vs other MP3 players? It tough for me to find the latest and greatest stats, but one blog from Sep 2009 said that iPods had a 74% market share. I’d call that dominant. Lets put it this way, do YOU have any friends that have a non-Apple MP3 player? If you were out to buy a new device, would YOU consider something else? I thought so.

My point is this… this is a non-business device, in a relatively new market. And Apple dominates it.

Phones
What I am about to say might sound familiar. I think that the iPhone is beautifully designed, easier to use, easier to get tech support, is more expensive, and is definitely the phone that I’ve switched over to, that I see myself using moving forward, and that I would recommend to a friend. Kind of like the Mac.

But in terms of marketshare, it’s also like the Mac. A recent report just found that Android phones outsold the iPhone in the first quarter of 2010. What was Apple’s share of the smartphone market? Just 21%. Again, the stats show that it is hardly dominant.

A cell phone is a mix of business and pleasure, and is definitely a mature market. The iPhone will continue to do well, but won’t necessarily dominate.

But here are the numbers that astound:
- 50 million iPhones sold to date
- App Store carries 200,000 apps
- 3 billion app downloads

Even more telling, Ars Technica reported: Apple responsible for 99.4% of mobile app sales in 2009

Tablet computers
What is Apple’s market share in tablets? Let’s not include the Kindle since that is primarily a dedicated e-reader and not a computer. So who is their competition? The Archos 5 Tablet? The Samsung NP-Q1u? Let me know when you find someone that owns one of those. All I know is that they’ve sold 2 million iPads in under 60 days. I’d say that puts them at 99% market share.

So, where does that leave us? Is the iPad like the iPhone and Mac, where it will face stiff competition from it’s known enemies, Dell, HP, and Google?

I’m going to say no. My gut tells me it’s going to play out a lot like the iPod. This is a new device, and an entertainment device. Yes, there will be competition at the lower levels, but the great equalizer is the App Store.

If someone came up to me and said “Should I get an iPad or should I wait for one by Google or HP? I hear they might have more storage, be cheaper, have USB ports, play flash, and so on.” I totally agree.

But again, it’s the App Store. That’s the killer product that will prevent me from recommending other devices.

So if someone asks me, should I get the iPad? I would say can you afford it and when would you use it? It’s best as a companion device, is great for light travel, and is king of the couch.

If they ask if they should wait to get next year’s iPad, I say no. Of course it will be better, and if you’re very patient, then go ahead and wait an entire year. But remember that there will be software updates before then that will raise the bar a bit.

If they ask if they should wait for another company’s tablet, I say they are coming, they will be cheaper, and have some better features, but ask yourself this:

- How long till there is a similar app store that has all the games you want to play?
- Do you sync your music with your iPod?
- Where are you going to download movies from?
- Do they have a better way to read books?

So do you agree with me?

Apple has sold 2 million devices.
They have a huge lead on the competition.
Almost every developer right now is working on iPad apps, not other apps
And when new tablets appear in six months to a year, remember that Apple will have been working on their new version for a year as well.

So I ask you. Can the iPad be beat?

Email: MarketingGuy [at] wired.com
Twitter: @hopkinsonreport

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In this episode, I interview entrepreneurs Michael Lewis and Tim Kress-Spatz from Suite Arrival, a new business that lets you be discreet, get a treat to eat, and keep your travel plans neat.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

We’ve all been there
Admit it, the TSA and the terrorists have combined to make it much more difficult to travel. Long gone are the days of rolling up to the airport for that 10:15 flight at 9:45.

Oh no… you’ve got to get there early, have all your IDs ready, make sure your bags are not too plentiful (the fees! the fees!) or too heavy, watch out for metal belt buckles, take off those shoes, remove those jackets, and take out your laptops (which can only add to the fact that 10,000 laptops are stolen from airports PER WEEK).

In my blog post about packing for a business trip, (What’s in the bag? How to pack for business travel plus Jim’s 5 MVP travel picks) I give several ways you can ease the travel burden.

But a new site called Suite Arrival (website | Twitter) has an idea so simple and so useful, that even a bumbling shoebomber can see the appeal.

If you hate the following…
- Having to pack mini-toiletries every trip
- Squeezing them into a baggie and running them through security
- Taking your favorite products that only come in 12oz containers and transferring them to smaller ones
- Shopping for your products once you arrive in a new city
- Arriving to your hotel tired and hungry, and getting charged $6 for a Snickers from the mini-bar
- When your wife or girlfriend finds “personal protection” in your travel case right before your trip to Vegas*

Well, then you might want to take a look at Suite Arrival.

* I joke! I joke! All of my readers are upstanding citizens and would never stray… this is just so the maid or your roommate won’t find these items stashed under your sink.

They offer a bunch of products for you to choose from, and have even packaged several ‘kits’, including ones for him, ones for her, an organic kit, an action kit, and a wanderlust kit.

If this is starting to sound like a commercial, it’s not.

Disclosure that I was not compensated in any way, and in fact, they want to give discounts to YOU. Just enter code “WIREDJIM.”

I just like covering cool people with cool ideas that solve real problems.

Once we cover what they do, we get into the conversation and discuss:
- How did Mike and Tim get started?
- How are they marketing their company?
- What are the biggest challenges facing them as entrepreneurs?
- What travel-based trends have they seen emerge from their service?
- How are travel needs different for a woman? (our third guest, Autumn, chimes in)
- What types of things they add on their 2nd and 3rd iteration of the website?
- What are the alternate streams of revenue they are pursuing?

So if you like to travel, but hate the airport experience, have a listen:
Download the podcast from iTunes

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This episode is an interview I did at SXSW with Matthew Inman, the author of the popular web comic called The Oatmeal. Find out how he went from social media favorite to a book deal.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

Background
Matt got his start at online marketing and SEO firm SEOMoz. He went from there to coding an online dating site completely by himself in just 66 hours, and then turning around and selling it in only six months. The key discovery while he was there? The comics, quizzes and viral content he used to market the site were even more popular than the site itself. And thus while concentrating on just the viral comics themselves, The Oatmeal was born.

Topics covered:
- “From brain to page” … Who can build a company faster, a small company or a one-mail operation?
- What was the transition like moving from Idaho to Seattle during the dotcom boom and bust
- What is the current state of SEO?
- In the end, Matt feels that all search engine optimization comes down to two major things. Find out what they are.

How to use social media to build traffic to your website.
- To generate links to his bunkbed site, he created a funny 10 question comic-style quiz titled “How long could you survive chained to a Bunk Bed with a Velociraptor?”
- The quiz got popular and people shared it around the internet, were linking to the site and talking about bunkbeds, so the site was able to rank first for that keyword.
- Put it this way… I only made it one minute and 6 seconds.

How does Matt come up with some of his most creative titles?
- 5 very good reasons to punch a dolphin in the mouth
- 10 reasons to avoid talking on the phone
- How to use a semicolon, the most feared punctuation on earth
- How a web design goes straight to hell
- How to suck at Facebook

What is the best way to get on reddit and Digg?
Social news sites reddit.com (owned by the company I work for, Conde Nast) and Digg.com have notoriously fickle audiences. Companies know that getting to the frontpage can mean an avalanche of traffic to their website, but their communities also have the power to bury a story or give it a life of its own. While you might not like the straightforward answer Matt gives, it makes a lot of sense and he goes on to tell a few helpful ways to phrase your post to help things along.

How do you turn a web comic into a book deal?
Matthew is working on a book with publisher Andrews McMeel, who also did Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and Dilbert. He took an odd route when approached by several publishers and an agent, and gives his advice to people doing web comics and wanting to get published. He feels the community ‘rewards’ him for being just an independent guy trying to succeed.

What’s next for the Oatmeal?
- Stand up comedy?
- Animated shorts?
- How are porta-pottys involved?

Check out a 3 minute documentary about Matthew on Carson Daly:

Twitter.com/HopkinsonReport
Twitter.com/Oatmeal
Theoatmeal.com
Book – Coming this Spring

Also see: Hopkinson Report interview with Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman, cofounders of reddit.com

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We made it everyone! 100 episodes! I’ll cover 10 lessons learned, the big party, and give some shoutouts.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

Wow, 100 episodes – pretty amazing. I’ve been at this for more than 2 years, week in, week out, whether I was tired or sick or excited, I carved out a little time to try and share some thoughts with you.

Listen, I’m an oldest child, I’m a Leo, and obviously I like to hear myself talk. But I try to be aware of that and not get TOO full of myself. I realize this isn’t 21 seasons of the Simpsons or some of the other social media guys with millions of followers. It’s not the frontpage of the NY Times, the cover of Wired, and it’s not even a video podcast. Even 2010, some people don’t even know what a podcast IS.

Still, it’s a fun accomplishment, and more importantly, I think it is symbolic of the time we live in. It might well be the defining characteristic of the last 10 years.
A shift in media where:
- You didn’t need a TV studio or Hollywood budget to reach people with video, you used a flipcam and YouTube
- You didn’t need to be a newspaper journalist, a magazine writer, or an author with an agent to express your thoughts, you could start a blog
- And as we’ve seen, you don’t need a radio tower if you want to rant about anything from marketing trends to the iPhone

You could create a podcast, and if you had some good ideas and strung them all together, you could build a little community for yourself.

10 Lessons Learned

1. Strive for perfection
When I first started out, I wanted everything perfect. In fact, I probably waited an extra 3 months preparing, making sure every topic, icon, and piece of the website was working. What I’ve learned now is that it’s ok to let things go a little and publish, even if it’s at 90%. How important is it for me to stay up another 25 minutes on a Monday night removing every single “um” and “ah” from the show? Does that improve the show 5%? 20%? Do people notice? So do I still strive for perfection every week? Absolutely. That has to be the ultimate goal. I just don’t beat myself up if I don’t always hit it.

2. Networking and relationships
This became a common theme. The more hours you spend at your desk, the more hours you spend online, the more hours you spend cuddling with your iPhone, the more important it is to truly connect with people IN REAL LIFE. The relationships come back around to you many times over.

3. Running and energy
People often ask, how do I keep this going? Tuesday April 13 was a rare day, but I was up at 7am and went to the gym, went to a entrepreneurial breakfast event, worked for several hours, had lunch with a college friend, worked another 5 hours, went home and edited the podcast from 7-10pm, took a break and ate dinner, then worked on a side project from 10pm-3am. Crazy? Yes. But as long as you know when to roll with your energy, and when to let your body recover, you should do ok. I credit a lot of the energy I get to working out a 2-3 days per week, and running 2-3 days per week. Makes all the difference in the world. (see my podcast #89 on running).

4. Consistency
Anyone can start a blog, a podcast, a project, or a relationship. It’s being consistent once the initial fun part wears off. It’s not easy, but that’s when you can tell someone’s true dedication. (That being said, I’ll be honest in that it crossed my mind that #100 would be a good place to STOP for a little break).

5. Passion
Face it, if you’re not doing something you’re passionate about, you might as well go home. This could not be a boring podcast about something I was marginally interested in. It had to be high energy and only about topics that got me fired up.

6. Free at one thing, paid at another
This was harder to explain than I thought, but the analogy is across other areas. Musicians might not make money through music sales, but rather through concerts or touring. Authors might not get rich selling books, but can be paid doing speaking. And while I’m not getting paid specifically to podcast, I do it because I feel it’s a long-term commitment (personal branding, meeting new people, adding value to my day job, etc).

7. Speak your mind
Isn’t it great that blogs and podcasts and twitter let you vent? Be careful what you say, but don’t be afraid to say it.

8. Leave your mark
When you look back at your current job in 5 years, is there something you’ll be able to point to that will have stood the test of time? That you can be proud of?

9. Celebrate success
Getting to 100 episodes is less of a monumental accomplishment, and more about picking a date to kick off summer, pause and reflect, and spend time with friends. Take a moment to celebrate the little (and big) things in life.

10. Say thank you and give back
At this point in the post and podcast, if you want to jump off, fine. But Gary Vee talks about going above and beyond with customer service. So I’m taking the time to honestly say thank you to the people that have been along for the ride. That’s why I personally emailed each and every person that came to my 100th episode party the very next morning. So check out the people below, and I’ll comment what special thing they brought to the show, or a funny story, who knows Jim best, what’s to come for 100+.

[Full disclosure: I received forms of compensation from some of the parties listed below]

Wired – Thanks to Wired for giving me the opportunity to do this, specifically Evan Hansen and Annaliza Savage. They’ve given me the freedom to conduct the show as I’ve seen fit.

Rhonda Zapatka (left) – My friend Rhonda was one our party sponsors, and works at TrickleUp.org. Trickle Up helps ultra-poor people living in remote parts of India, West Africa and Central America to start or expand their own small businesses to improve their quality of life. Each year, Trickle Up helps start or expand 10,000 businesses around the world, over 90% of which are women-run. They are hosting two events in Manhattan: a gala affair at Cipriani Wall Street on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 and a Young Professionals Council event on May 5, 2010. More info at TrickleUp.org.

John Murch – My friend Johnny was our second sponsor, and runs a cool site called ublanket.com. Ublanket is a way to take old shirts, put them together online, and “upcycle” them – take one item and make it into something new. Renew, Reuse, and Rethread those meaningful shirts into a useful product.

Jia and Federico – Sponsor #3 was Roomorama, an online marketplace for short term rentals. Use the service the next time you’re looking for a room for a few days while traveling, or if you have a spare room and are looking for an easy way to earn some cash. I profiled them on episode 26.

Diana Levine (center) – Diana was gracious enough to be on hand to document the event. If you appreciate her photos and want to give a shoutout, go to dianalevine.com, or better yet, help support her walk for Parkinsons. She was on episode 95 and 96. Also thanks to good friends (l-r) Helen Todd, Brendan McManus, and Chris McCann (far right).

Dave Delaney (Griffin Technology) – Dave was kind enough to donate several items from Griffin, including the Griffin Simplifi and Griffin Power Block Reserve. See GriffinTechnology.com

Mark Venezia and Jana Eggers (Spreadshirt) – Mark is VP of Marketing and you might remember CEO Jana from episode 78. You can see the 100th Episode episode shirt at condenast.spreadshirt.com (look at the first two items, then the back of the shirt). Use Spreadshirt coupon code WIRED100, and receive free shipping (first 100 orders only).

Adam Wallace and Brian Simpson (Roger Smith Hotel) – Adam and Brian are two of the coolest people you’ll meet, and allowed me to host the party on their amazing rooftop. Read more about the Roger Smith Hotel and their take on social media in episode 79.

Thanks to Naomi Less (the intro voice on the podcast), Bobby Shanes (episode 6), David FitzGerald (episode 7), Sarah Prevette (episode 59 and 99), Saul Colt (episode 41), Adam Carolla, and Bill Simmons (I call them podcast pioneers in episode 47).

Elizabeth King – You’ll remember her as the Outsmarting the SAT author from episode 77.

Brandon Werner – Brandon was proud to be intern 1.0, calling himself the buggy one that the early adopters got, before future interns Anuja, Juliann, Susi, and Kevin were upgraded. Brandon designed this blog, my business card, tshirt, and even a poster! His musings on design and geekdom can be found at Guns And Robots.com and The Modern Day Pirates.com.

At this point, there are just so many more people to thank, but you’ll have to listen to the podcast, so I’ll just do the ‘thank you to everyone I missed.’

What’s up for Episode 101 and beyond?

- More social media
- More geolocation
- More iPad and gadgets
- More interviews
- And interestingly enough, I’m writing a book and hope to take you through how I did it, from the design, to the website, and getting it for sale on the iPad

Most importantly, thank YOU, the reader and listener.

Jim

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In this episode of The Hopkinson Report, Jim talks with Brendan McManus of Wildfire. The Wildfire guys have developed a streamlined, cost-efficient, and user-friendly way of integrating promotions into Facebook fan pages.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

The numbers are overwhelming…
- Facebook has 400 million users and just keeps growing
- Users are joining at least 4 fan pages every month
- Traffic from Facebook to websites is increasing

So wisely, a lot of marketers and businesses are saying
“We need to get more Facebook fans!”

But they’re not yet answering the next question… Why?

So if you’re a brand, and you have all these fans, now what do you do?

The answer is interaction, engagement, and providing some value back to the users that ‘fan’ your brand.

Companies can build brand loyalty by interacting with their fans in new and original ways, such as contests and sweepstakes. Historically, many companies have turned to online agencies to build interactive microsites. It wouldn’t be uncommon to spend 6 weeks and $50,000 to put a program together.

But a new generation of companies such as Wildfire (2 time winner of the “fbFund,” Facebook’s start-up incubator), allows you to build a simple contest for just a few hundred dollars, in only a few hours time.

In this episode of the podcast, Jim and Brendan cover the following topics:

- Why so many company “higher-ups” tend to misconstrue the potential of a Facebook fan page as merely a tool for talking to their customers

- Ways brands like Edible Arrangements (hint: it involves LOTS of chocolate) and Axe are able to effectively utilize the ‘principle of reciprocity’ through Facebook fan pages

- Why Brandon has vowed never to buy another Proctor & Gamble product again

- Listen as Jim’s marketing coordinator, Susi, slowly succumbs to the “Axe effect”

- Why video contests may not be worth the effort and the efficacy of a Facebook photo contest

- How the designers of the Wildfire App were able to successfully capitalize on emerging trends in social media networking

If you’re on Facebook – and let’s face it, who isn’t – you’ll gain valuable insight into this process.

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