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May 29, 2009

Four For Friday

Image via Wikipedia

Q1 - Free Time: How much time do you have on a daily or weekly basis that you would classify as "free time," and what do you tend to do most during that time?

Q2 - Campus Clubs: Liberty University, the evangelical college founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell (and now run by his son), recently revoked its recognition of the campus' Democratic Party club, saying "we are unable to lend support to a club whose parent organization stands against the moral principles held by" the university. According to an e-mail message the club said it received from the University's VP of Student Affairs on May 15, the club was told to stop using the university's name, holding meetings on campus, or advertising events. Violators, according to published reports, could incur one or more reprimands under the University's conduct code, and anyone who accumulates 30 reprimands is subject to expulsion. Do you feel it's okay for private colleges and universities to restrict free speech / prohibit students from organizing and engaging with one of the nation's two major political parties?

Q3 - Sales Tax Holiday: In recognition of National Hurricane Preparedness Week, the State of Virginia now offers its residents a tax break on the purchase of items considered useful during and after a hurricane. (Background: A sales tax holiday, according to the State of Virginia, is a temporary period during which purchases of certain items are exempt from the sales and use taxes.) Following legislation enacted by the 2007 Session of the Virginia General Assembly, Virginia now has three annual sales tax holidays (in addition to the one mentioned above, there's a School Supplies and Clothing Tax Holiday in August and a Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday in October. Would you be compelled to shop during such a tax holiday, or is a 5%-7% saving just not worth it to you?

Q4 - Summer Blockbusters: Star Trek, Angels and Demons, The Brothers Bloom, Terminator Salvation, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Up, The Hangover, Land of the Lost, My Life in Ruins, Away We Go, Tetro, Imagine That, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Proposal, Year One, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, My Sister's Keeper, Cheri, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Public Enemies, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, All Good Things, G-Force, Funny People, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Julie and Julia, Shorts, When In Rome, The Time Traveler's Wife, Inglourious Basterds, Post Grad, The Boat That Rocked, and All About Steve... which Summer 2009 movies are you most excited about and planning to see?

Posted by Mikal at 2:18 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack

May 22, 2009

Four For Friday Q1 - Pillow Talk: Over a quarter of UK employees are so work obsessed they can't resist using a mobile device such as a laptop in bed before they go to sleep, according to a survey released this week by CREDANT Technologies. The survey discovered that of those people who do work in bed, 57% do so for between 2 and 6 hours every week, while nearly 10% admitted they spend more time on their mobile devices during the evening than talking to their loved ones (i.e., husbands or wives). Do you work at night while in bed (hey, it's a serious question... get your mind out of the gutter)?

Q2 - Staying Home: Nearly 350 Boulder, Colo. teachers played hooky this week in protest of that town's school district's latest teacher contract offer. Last week, contract negotiations broke down between the Boulder Valley School District and the local teachers' union, the Boulder Valley Education Association. The union wants a permanent cost-of-living increase to the pay scale, but the school district says it does not have the guaranteed revenue to make that change. Do you think certain 'essential' professionals -- such as teachers, firemen, doctors & nurses -- should be barred by law from walking out and striking, or is going on strike as American as musicals, college football, and apple pie, and therefore should never be viewed as illegal?

Q3 - Turning Around and Going Back: Everyone's done it at some point in their lives... forgotten something at home or work and had no choice but to turn around, go back and retrieve what was forgotten or left behind. When was the last time you had to do this, how long did it take, and what was it that you forgot in the first place?

Q4 - Different Path: Assuming you had never gone into the career you are currently in, what would be doing now professionally?

Posted by Mikal at 12:25 PM | Comments (23) | TrackBack

May 21, 2009

Feedback I just provided to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA):

Dear Word of Mouth Marketing Association,

Thank you for sponsoring yesterday's webinar, "Best Practices on Facebook: How & Why All Companies, Brands & Non-Profits Should be Engaging with Customers & Fans via Facebook." I thought the information was good and timely, and I really appreciated the presenters' sharing so much of their intellectual capital.

Word of mouth to the wise though... advise your webinar presenters to hang up their telephones immediately after their presentation is over. Yesterday's presenters did not, so anyone who did not hang up their phone immediately after the presentation ended was treated to the presenters' debrief, which included choice and sometimes nasty words and speculative comments about some of the questions logged by attendees, as well as what could be considered inappropriate editorializing about whom some of those questions came from and with what intent they were asked.

While I was not personally offended by what I heard ("shockingly amused" is more like it), I imagine others could have been highly offended by the broadcasted dialogue which ensued unbeknownst to the presenters themselves. Kind of ironic, isn't it, that a presentation focused on the benefits of creating positive buzz and engagement on the world's leading social networking platform, could lead to the type of buzz no one ever wants.

Sincerely,

Mikal E. Belicove

Seriously, what were these people thinking? Rule #1 in webinar presentation... make sure the platform works and your presentation is fully loaded. Rule #2... hang up the phone when you're done presenting!

May 19, 2009

For someone like me who uses an area code different from the ones in Southern California Edison's coverage area, I recently found out that I have no choice but to call the utility--which serves 11,000,000 people in southern California with electricity--from a telephone line that deploys a local area code. And, if you're one of the estimated 22 percent of households who had only cell phones during the last half of 2008 (that figure, by the way, comes from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released earlier this month), and you're a mobile worker like I am, chances are becoming greater that your cell's area code might be different from the area code in which you reside.

All of this of course would be avoidable if Southern California Edison, and others like them, did one of two things:

1. Printed local--in addition to toll-free--numbers on their statements, which they do not; or
2. Wake up and smell the coffee that their electricity allows people to brew in the first place, and open the system to accept calls from all area codes (trust me, it's not like people in other states are sitting around thinking up ways to stick it to Southern California Edison, with calling their toll-free line in an attempt to increase the company's telephone bill being chief among them!).

Of the 15 or so different telephone numbers listed on Southern California Edison billing statements, all are toll-free, including those dedicated exclusively to the company's Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Spanish speaking customers.

My hope is that enough people say something about this to Southern California Edison and they change their approach to be inclusive of all of their customers, despite which area code they may be calling in from.

May 15, 2009

Image via Wikipedia

Q2 - Shutter the Impact: General Motors announced today it will shutter more than 1,500 of its U.S. auto dealerships as it continues to struggle in an attempt to slash billions of dollars in debt and operating costs before an anticipated bankruptcy filing by the end of May. When combined with a similar announcement by Chrysler just yesterday, nearly 2,400 U.S. auto retailers have been put on notice that they are being eliminated by the two struggling automakers. Will the closing of so many car dealerships create difficulties for you and your family?

Q3 - Giving Trends: The former CEO of Trammell Crow Residential Company -- J. Ronald Terwilliger of Atlanta, Georgia -- yesterday donated $100,000,000 to Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit organization that coordinates the building of simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with people in need. According to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Terwilliger's gift, which comes at a time when philanthropic giving in the U.S. is expected to drop, is by far one of the largest in recent years to a group devoted to social services. How has your giving been impacted by the presented economy? Do you give more than you normally do, about the same, a little less than normal, or a lot less than normal?

Q4 - Singalong: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most well recognized song in the English language, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and "Auld Lang Syne." When you hear the Happy Birthday song being sung in a restaurant to someone who is not sitting at your table, do you sing along?

May 13, 2009

Image by HubSpot via Flickr

We all belong to communities already -- our family and friends, your neighborhood, perhaps a school or church or a professional organization. All of these communities can help you research popular products and services and spread the word about what you do and the products and services you sell.

You can tap the full potential of these communities, extend them, access different communities, and even create new communities online via social networking sites and services, including two of the most popular: Facebook and Twitter.

Getting Connected on Facebook

Facebook was created for college students to keep in touch but has expanded to serve a variety of communities - from extended families to alumni groups, fan clubs, advocacy organizations, and everything in between.

After you join Facebook (membership is free) and create a personal profile, you can then invite people to become your "friends." Other members can invite you to become their friends or request to be your friend, but both members must consent. Only friends have access to one another's profiles and other content they choose to share (unless you change your settings to allow everyone to see you and your activity). As soon as you have a few friends, you can communicate with them in the following ways:

• Post a message on your "wall" for all your friends to see. Messages can include text, photos, links, video clips, or birthday wish lists.
• Join or create a "group" and share content with members of that group. Groups may include thousands of members.
• Email friends for more private discussions.

Tip: If you must sell, soft-sell. Facebook is a social site, not a sales site. Posting a short message about a product or service you like (and perhaps have for sale) is acceptable, as long as you don't abuse the privilege. If you wouldn't do it at a family or class reunion, don't do it on Facebook.

Facebook is good for:

• Getting a better feel for popular trends


• Identifying potential opportunities


• Promoting items for sale (soft-sell only)


• Letting friends know about your website or blog


• Notifying your friends of a new post on your blog


• Connecting with people who share your interests

Facebook is not good for:

• Hard-sell advertising
• Sales pitches

Keeping in Touch with Twitter

On Twitter, the question of the day, every day, 24 hours a day is this: What are you doing? And on Twitter, millions of members are constantly in the process of updating that question and reading other people's answers.

Each Twitter update is considered a "tweet" and is limited to 140 characters. Members (membership is free, by the way) can post messages using an Internet-enabled computer or via cell phone or a third-party application like Seesmic. Messages tend to be simple and direct, and conversations move along quickly.

You can also send private, "direct" messages when you don't want to share with the entire Twitter community. For example, if a person has a public question about a business, and you did not want to share your answer with the whole world, you can reply directly so that it would be seen only by that individual.

Spotting Popular Topics and Trends

Tweets are archived, and you can search them at www.search.twitter.com. This is a great way to identify popular topics, market trends, and individuals who are most actively involved in various topics of interest.

Attracting Your Own Following

When people find someone interesting on Twitter, they "follow" the individual. Typically, your "followers" can see all the tweets you create instantly - if they are either at their computer or they have their cell phones or third-party Web applications like Seesmic set to receive your messages. If not, your messages get buried by newer tweets.

By looking at a Twitter user's profile, you can see all the people they follow and all of their followers. If you are interested in following people who discuss eBay, you can choose to follow Richard Brewer-Hay of the eBay Ink blog. Then, just look at who follows him, and you'll find lots of other people to follow who are also interested in eBay. Similarly, if you sell American Doll apparel and have followers who buy what you sell, chances are good that the people who follow your followers may also be inclined to purchase American Doll apparel.

You can tag your account with up to three terms that describe your interests. To tag your account and find others who share your interests, visit www.wefollow.com.

Tip: One way to grow your list of followers is to put a Twitter badge on your website. Twitter supplies the code, so you can install it yourself. The badge shows visitors your latest messages and lets them see you are involved and current. It also gives them a way to follow you in the future.

Many Twitter users feel it's polite to follow anyone who follows them. Some automate the process -- which I do not recommend doing -- by using a free service such as TweetLater (www.tweetlater.com). If you follow a large number of people, a large percentage of them will auto-follow you, increasing your list of followers, but the numbers can be deceiving and misleading if generated automatically.

Recognizing Tweeter's Marketing Limitations

Marketers have yet to truly figure out a way to successfully monetize Twitter. Some say if you have a huge list of followers, you can tweet about your business and drive sales. While there are some success stories, they are the exception. Consider using Twitter more for eavesdropping on discussions to find out what's hot and what's not, as well as a permission-based marketing tool to promote sales and events related to what you sell.

Twitter is good for:

• Spotting trends


• Connecting with trendsetters and keeping up with their latest activities


• Notifying people of a new item for sale or post on your blog


• Getting quick answers to questions through informal polls


• Maintaining contact with people in your field of interest

Twitter is not good for:

• Driving substantial sales


• Replacing a website or blog


• Developing loyal customers and solid business relationships


• Creating deep or lasting content that people will read in the future

Supplements, Not Replacements

Both Facebook and Twitter should be considered helpful tools to supplement your current business. Neither of them can replace your website or blog. They can however, increase awareness, drive traffic to your website or blog, and establish you as a credible source of information in a particular subject area (if what you're sharing is credible).

Facebook and Twitter are free and relatively easy to use. Take some time to sign up, create your profile, and get connected. In time, you too will gather many friends and followers and have a community in place to clue you in on what's popular and do some of your sales and marketing for you.

May 12, 2009

Recently, Entrepreneur received the Western Publishing Association's prestigious 2009 Maggie award for Best Business, Finance, Management & Retail title. To be associated with a magazine on this level is truly an honor and blessing, as is the opportunity to share my insights and ideas with our engineers of ingenuity (i.e., Entrepreneurs).

For more information about Entrepreneur magazine, pick up a copy at your local newsstand (but not the newsstand in Laguna Beach because I already bought out their entire inventory for May... sorry, couldn't help myself), or visit Entrepreneur online, where you can subscribe to the magazine and access many interesting and information-packed articles, columns, resources, and more.

May 8, 2009

Image via Wikipedia - Baggage Claim

Q2 - Foreign Affairs: If you found yourself in a foreign country, would you rather speak the language or have a pocket full of the local currency?

Q3 - Thievery: Sans money, if you could steal any one thing and not get caught, what would you take and what would you do with it?

Q4 - Delivery: If you could have one thing delivered to your home on a consistent basis that just isn't available for delivery, what would you have delivered?

May 1, 2009

Image via Wikipedia

Q2 - Expeditions: This past Tuesday marked the 61st anniversary of a six-person expedition that sailed from Peru aboard a wooden raft on a 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia. If you could go back in time and participate in any previous expedition, in what expedition would you like to participate? If nothing from the past interests you, how about something in the future?

Q3 - Calming Influence: When it comes to testifying in court there can be a lot of stress and anxiety in getting up on the witness stand. However, imagine how difficult it is for kids. Now, thanks to a trained facility dog named Dory, children testifying in sexual abuse and physical assault cases in San Diego, Calif., have a friendly advocate by their sides when taking the witness stand. According to court judges and prosecutors, having Dory the dog available to children before, during, and after testifying in open court is a calming influence in a traumatic time. If you were facing a difficult situation, do you think having a dog by your side would help? If not a dog, what would you like to have with you?

Q4 - Social Distancing: News this week of a human-borne "swine" flu outbreak has given rise to targeted social distancing. Never heard of "social distancing" before? Me either. Apparently, it refers to deliberate steps taken by governments, communities, or businesses to mitigate the spread of potentially pandemic influenza (think high schools canceling athletic competitions or companies postponing annual user conferences). Have you experienced social distancing due to the oink-oink flu outbreak?