Building a well-connected network takes time and effort, but if you have fun along the way, it could make your life a lot easier.
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Hey everyone, pull up a chair. In fact, fill out a nametag, introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you, and tell us what you do. This episode is about one of the single most important skills you can learn in life: Networking.
As always, I was out on a run to figure out this week’s topic. I’m usually a morning runner, but this week found me gliding down the edge of Manhattan’s East River at dusk on a summer Sunday. They’ve done a great job landscaping and carving out areas and installing benches and tables for people to relax and take in the view, and I saw two older women sitting and chatting at one of the tables.
Two things struck me. First, they had brought their own bottle of Merlot and were drinking from wine glasses, and second, they had brought their own tablecloth to put over the standard issue, bolted-into-the-sidewalk table.
Today I’m going to be talking about an element of Facebook that most people don’t see, the management of a ‘business page,’ or what they call a Public Profile. I’ll give you my thoughts, and then we’ll hear a bit of an interview I conducted at SXSW with Nick O’Neill of AllFacebook.com, and Helen Todd from TheKBuzz.com.
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When Facebook changed the way its business pages worked this spring, there was the usual outrage that follows any website redesign. But I think it’s changed for the better.
With 200 million people now using the social media service, there are plenty of individual accounts in action. But in addition to my personal Facebook page, I also help maintain the Wired Facebook page, at Facebook.com/wired.
This allows a company such as us to establish a brand presence on the service. The new change means it works much the same way as your personal page, as we are able to upload photos, videos, and update our status, but fans can ‘follow us.’ Actually, it sounds a bit like Twitter.
Hey, it’s the 1 year anniversary of The Hopkinson Report! So what’s my secret? Either delve into a topic that you’re really really into, or meet and interview people doing very cool things. As a car geek, I spent 4 hours at the New York Auto Show. So in a testament to my very first episode, the Porsche vs. the iPhone, I’m going to talk about cars, and marketing.
First let’s set the scene… The New York Auto Show is a massive production, a popular trade show that takes place at the Javits Center in Manhattan for up to 12 hours a day over the course of 10 days. Saturday April 11 brought pouring rain to New York City, making it the perfect day to be inside but do something fun. After sufficient food and caffeination, I descended into the belly of the beast.
The crowd was extremely diverse. There were plenty of 30-something white guys like me ogling the latest Porsches, families of 5 climbing in and out of minivans, and gangly teenagers with newly-minted driver’s licenses in the Fast and Furious demo talking tiptronic transmissions.
I also spotted a few secretly giddy Dads that probably implied to their wives that it would be a big chore to lug the boy to the show. Later on, he would ruin his 8-year-old son for the next 50 years by sitting him in the driver’s seat of a $100,000 Mercedes convertible, not realizing he had planted a seed in the kids brain and that he wouldn’t actually get to OWN that car until he was nearing retirement.
But with a fun, free-for-all atmosphere where everyone there patiently followed the car show etiquette of taking turns getting to sit in most any car they wanted, and without the normal stress of a used car salesman in a bad suit hovering over you, it was bliss for a car geek.
A new breed of web-savvy “infopreneurs” are leveraging their skills to build their own brand and make money on the web. Let’s look at a few ways how they do it.
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Today I’m going to throw out a term that I’ve been hearing a lot lately, even though Wikipedia says it was trademarked back in 1984 – Infopreneur. It’s obviously a combination of the words information and entrepreneur, and the modern use refers to people that are making money using the internet to market, distribute, and sell information. Today we’re going to look at some examples.
As the internet continues to evolve, these web-savvy infopreneurs are leveraging their skills to build their own brand. These “hyperinfluencers” create digital products, and then spread the word of their personal projects through various forms of social media.
While popular names in the media industry include varied personalities such as Gary Vaynerchuk, Julia Allison, Robert Scoble, Kevin Rose and iJustine, with tough economic times, more and more people are looking into starting an online presence and it’s easier and more enticing than ever:
Ah, the Super Bowl. Two teams meet on the field, nearly 100 million friends gather to watch the game at home, and ad agencies are charged with making a breakthrough TV commercial in only 30 seconds.
While those in the online marketing world live and breathe social media, we have to remember that outside our inner circle, there are still millions without Facebook accounts and that many think Twitter is a Looney Tunes character.
In this article, I analyze which companies effectively drove their message home, and which ones fumbled their big opportunity. After all, a TV spot during the big game is expensive; extending that brand to your audience via social media costs far less, and is often free.
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The commercials were judged on the following two criteria:
1) Was the spot effective in driving their marketing message
2) Did the website deliver on that message
SUPER BOWL CALIBER E*Trade - The smart-talking baby commercials are hysterical, and may have just coined a new golf term, “shankopotamus.” You watch the spot, you laugh, and you know what the product is about. Upon arriving at the web site, there are links to view the commercials, including even more hysterical outtakes. Bonus: E*Trade bought the Google keyword shankopotamus.
Sent their users flowers when they’ve had a bad day
Received a 99% positive referral rating
Had an entrepreneurial blog and irreverent newsletter
Had a Twitter following so passionate that users solved problems
Instilled a little bit of “magic” into everyday life?
Well, if you’re a marketer, a manager, or public relations rep trying to improve your company’s image, then my interview with Saul Colt, “Head of Magic” for the online invoicing company “Freshbooks,” is a must-listen.
Our 20-minute conversation is a marketing case study for using social media and “retro marketing” to grow a loyal following. We discuss:
How Freshbooks was born out of frustration that many freelancers face
Why they take their customers — even non-paying ones — to free dinners
What just might happen if you get stood up on a blind date
His title, and what happens when the “Head of Magic” heads to Las Vegas
Why he has a Love-Hate relationship with Zappos.com
The iPhone promotion that differentiated them from every other company
Today I’m going to live up to my tagline and do exactly that, taking a look back at the marketing trends that mattered in 2008, and what’s to come in 2009.
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Hey Everyone… Christmas is just days away for me so I’m going to crank out a quick top 10 list before I head home for the holidays. I’ll give you the marketing trend that mattered this year, how that trend could evolve in 2009, and the podcast episode to go back and listen to that covered the topic. Let’s roll.
Over the past several months I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring two fantastic interns here at Wired. Here are 10 big picture things I tried to teach them.
But first, I’m going to start with a lesson learned when I was an intern. Right after I graduated college, the country was in a recession similar to now, so unable to find a job, I took an internship at a very small independent film group. I was going to learn about multimedia! The group was run by the ego-centric director of these films, who was a bit of a jerk and a dictator.
Jim interviews political reporter Sarah Lai Stirland about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and how social media is changing the 2008 political race.
Last week I had a great interview with political reporter Sarah Lai Stirland. Not only is she a well-respected writer on Wired.com’s political blog, Threat Level, but she has a smashing British accent to make the podcast even more intriguing.
What would it be like if the next President gave updates on Twitter? What if he continually updated his Facebook status and uploaded photos of White House events? The next time our president takes a vacation at Camp David or attends a peacemaking meeting in the Middle East, maybe he could take a video camera and post a few clips on YouTube. And what kind of cell phone does our leader pack in his pocket? Is he in line for an iPhone 3G? Banging out text messages on a Sidekick? Or sticking to a time-tested Razr?
Article by Sarah covering the viral video discussing how John McCain does not use a computer. In it, she asks the Wired audience the question, “Does it matter if a President of the United States is computer illiterate?”
Jim rants about the do’s and don’t’s of job searching in the digital age, including branding yourself and common blunders to avoid.
Your boss is a jerk. You work way too many hours. You just got passed up for a promotion. And you know you should be making more money. It’s time to find a new job.
Before you fire off that resume, make sure you listen to this week’s podcast. I give you plenty of helpful hints in the following areas:
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Ah, the Super Bowl. Two teams meet on the field, nearly 100 million friends gather to watch the game at home, and ad agencies are charged with making a breakthrough TV commercial in only 30 seconds.
“