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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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)
A funny thing happened after HP killed the touchpad.
- They offered them at a fire sale price of $99
- This created huge demand
- It become a “must-have” item for geeks
- People were waiting in line, with even stories of suburban “stampeding”
- They got huge buzz on the internet
- Great story by Wired’s Tim Carmody
- The Kindle has competed against the iPad. And the Book. But not much else.
- Leading to the quote: “There is no tablet market, just an iPad market”
“Gizmodo published the stats yesterday to illustrate the fact. The iPad totally eclipses all other tablets in sales. Apple has made 281 times more profit from the iPad 1 alone—in just three market quarters—than all other “tablet” manufacturers have made from all their models, across all their brands, combined.”
When it comes to working out, there are questions that come up time and time again:
- We all know we SHOULD work out, what can be done to make sure I DO work out?
- How can I find the time to work out on a crazy schedule?
- How do I keep from getting bored with my workouts?
- How can I keep better track of my results?
- Why do personal trainers cost so much?
- How do I see results once I’ve reached a plateau?
And for the Apple fans out there…
- My iPhone can do just about everything, but can it make me look better naked?
On this week’s podcast, I spoke with Nick Gammell, the CEO and Founder of Gain Fitness in his attempt to answer all of those questions.
He comes from a good pedigree of brains and brawn… a lifelong athlete and former college football player to address the workout side of things, and an analytical brain with experience at Deloitte consulting and a little tech company named Google to fuel the technology side.
After chatting for just a few minutes, it became clear that I was the perfect demographic for his product.
- I enjoy working out but don’t have a lot of time
- I generally do the same workouts so need variety to get out of a rut
- I like to track my progress and see results
For those that know me or have been listening for awhile, you know that I always have multiple projects going on, whether it be this podcast, my work at Wired, my teaching at NYU, or my book. I’ve decided I want one central hub for all these projects to live.
And while some “social media experts” just “talk the talk,” I prefer to “walk the walk” with the podcast and take my readers/listeners through actual new media events that I am doing myself. So since building this website is on my radar, and I always preach about controlling your own brand presence, I thought this would be a great opportunity to walk people through what goes into setting it up.
As always, listening to the full podcast is the best way to get all the info, but here is a summary of what I cover.
Questions you need to ask when creating your own personal website.
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On this week’s podcast, I spoke with Nick Gammell, the CEO and Founder of 
