At the SXSW Interactive festival in mid-March, I interviewed several fantastic, interesting individuals and small companies that are on the leading edge of using social media and marketing on the web.
This podcast interviews entrepreneurJoshua Baer from Other Inbox, and he has the key for curing email overload, and for a Tesla Roadster.
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Here are some of the topics we covered:
What is Other Inbox and what does it do?
Take a look at your inbox. How many items in there? 10? 40? 100? Over 500?
Face it, everyone has a problem with too much email, so it’s going to be up to innovators in the space to help us manage it. Josh talks about his company and the widespread problem of e-mail overload.
Other Inbox not only makes it faster to isolate and focus on the important items in your inbox, but it can help you clear through the less important mails quicker as well.
How he got involved
Josh reveals that his background was actually on the opposite end of the spectrum. As an young entrepreneur running a “dorm room dot-com,” he founded a company that helps corporations SEND billions of e-mails per month.
But like a CEO at Krispy Kreme taking a job at Weight Watchers, he appreciated both sides of the email coin, from the consumer and the marketing perspective. And that’s how Other Inbox came to life.
At the SXSW Interactive festival in mid-March, I interviewed several fantastic, interesting individuals and small companies that are on the leading edge of using social media and marketing on the web.
This podcast interviews Helen Todd at the Kbuzz, a Word of Mouth and Social Media Marketing firm that creates and sustains buzz through innovative marketing concepts, communities, and conversations.
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Here are my quick thoughts on some of the topics we covered.
TweetsGiving, the first project to use Twitter for social change
Jim gives his thoughts on VIP parties, finding balance, and other marketing lessons learned from SXSW.
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The SXSW Interactive conference brought the new media community together from all parts of the country to share ideas. What were my key takeaways? Here are my thoughts from a personal and Wired marketing perspective. Lets get right to it.
Twitter is here
Yes, I know that Twitter has been here since SXSW 2007, when a cute little bluebird floated down and landed on a windowsill like a Disney movie. But now Twitter is HERE, demanding to be fed like a drunken Big Bird stumbling through a house party and spilling beer on your laptop.
I really think people should care a lot less about how Twitter is going to make money, and more about how their business is going to utilize the service – although it made for a great opening question for the Chris Anderson – Guy Kawasaki keynote conversation.
In fact, I predict that the “how your company should be using Twitter” service market is going to expand exponentially, much like search engine optimization advice. There are so many companies where the geeky marketing manager or the PR department will utter the phrase to the CEO ‘we need to be on twitter’ that not only will it be a key component of ad agencies, but individuals will start businesses to start this service.
As The Hopkinson Report marches toward its 50th episode, I take a moment to reflect on a few quick topics: SXSW, defining your niche, Twitter, and 2 podcasters that have influenced me.
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WHAT TO EXPECT AT SXSW
Ironically, I wanted to go to SXSW – the music festival – a few years ago when I was in a band. But that side passion for music was overridden by my primary passion at the time, sports, which also happened to be my career. And for those sports fans out there, you know a little thing called ESPN’s Tourney Challenge, or March Madness pool, that was taking up my time the same week. Aw, who am I kidding, there was also an industry conference in Vegas that time of year that I had to attend.
And so now I’ve traded in the Vegas strip for what has been called Spring Break for the Internet, SXSW Interactive. This is my first time going, and from what I’ve heard and read, I think I have a pretty good bead on what’s in store.
Here’s what I’m expecting. 1. Lots of networking. My re-order of business cards is in the mail. 2. Lots of panels. Some good, some bad. 3. Lots of parties. Very crowded parties.
Here are my goals.
1. First and foremost, I am there to absorb as much information as possible that will help me do my job at Wired. Sending people to conferences in sunny locations is not priority 1 when budgets are being cut, but I feel this is a ‘must attend’ event.
I always approach conferences not with the aim of changing the world, but taking that 1 or 2 key ideas from each panel I attend or person I meet that can make a difference. It’s also is a chance to get me out of the microcosm of Wired New York City, and get a bigger picture view of companies and trends across the country.
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.
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?”
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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.
“