Archive for June, 2009

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The Trouble with Crowdsourcing

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

Flyte-stickers Recently we decided to have some flyte bumper stickers made up. Ryan Goan, our creative director, created a bunch of variations (click on the image to the right for a detailed look) for me to review.

I decided to get some additional feedback, so I crowdsourced the review process. According to wikipedia (aka the Word of God according to many geeks):

Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing
it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the
form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop
a new technology, carry out a design task (also known as community-based design[1] and distributed participatory design), refine or carry out the steps of an algorithm (see Human-based computation), or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data (see also citizen science).

The term has become popular with business authors and journalists as
shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by
Web 2.0
technologies to achieve business goals. However, both the term and its
underlying business models have attracted controversy and criticism.

So I threw it open to my followers on Twitter and my friends on Facebook. When people gave two answers I split the vote. Here are the results:

  • 1: 14.5
  • 2: 6.0
  • 3: 5.0
  • 4: 6.0
  • 5: 1.5
  • 6: 10 

Well, 1, then 6 seems to be the big winners, but there's certainly some variables in there. Personally, I'm not a fan of 6 because the traditional oval bumper stickers have a border. There was also a lot of discussion around whether we could "pull off" a bumper sticker that didn't include our name and had our URL so tiny.

However, I don't think a lot of people make a buying decision based on bumper stickers.

"You know, I was going to vote for Obama, but that 'McCain/Palin 2008' bumper sticker makes a lot of sense. I think I'm voting for them."

I've always felt the plane was a pretty cool icon, and people who see it might be intrested to learn more about the story behind it, a.k.a. flyte.biz.

So, at the end of the day I'm no closer to a decision. I do like #1, although I'm thinking of dropping the www off the URL for additional white space, or even perhaps just leaving ".biz" in small letters below. I also like #3, perhaps with the www-less URL.

Anyway, if you'd like to confuse me further, please feel free to add your own thoughts below. It still hasn't gone to the printer.

Rich Brooks
Consensusless

Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, flyte news | 8 Comments »


How to Subscribe to an RSS Feed

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Lately I've been doing a number of presentations on blogging and social media, and in these presentations I talk about the power of RSS. You can use RSS to stay on top of your industry, your competition, your clients or simply your interests in a time efficient manner.

However, the idea of RSS is confusing to a lot of people, judging by the number of hands that go up during that part of my presentation.

It's a shame that something that has Simple as its middle name should be so complicated.

To that end I put together this short video to show you the benefits of using RSS and how to subscribe to an RSS feed. Enjoy it here or at YouTube: How to Subscribe to an RSS Feed…the Video!

Rich Brooks
Syndicate Me

Update: Completely forgot to include a great RSS video that came before from the good folks over at Common Craft:

Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, How-To Web Marketing Videos, Social Media, Web Marketing | No Comments »


Twitter Webinar: How to Use Twitter for Business

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Twitter_logo_header There's no doubt that Twitter is a phenomenon: almost every news and sports program seems to have a Twitter account, and celebrities as diverse as Oprah, Shaquille O'Neal and that guy married to Demi Moore all have accounts.

But how do you use Twitter for business? How do you get started? How do you build an audience? How can create a network that will help you grow your business?

Whether you're new to Twitter or have been using it for a while, this Webinar led by Twitter expert addict Rich Brooks will provide you step-by-step instructions on:

  • How to setup your Twitter account for maximum impact
  • How to find and follow interesting people
  • How to build an audience
  • How to engage people for networking and marketing opportunities
  • How
    to use 3rd party applications to connect with local people on Twitter,
    learn what people are talking about in real time, and become a Twitter
    power user
  • How to integrate Twitter into your overall marketing plan

Plus, the last 30 minutes or so will be question and answer.

Date: 6/18/09
Time: 3pm – 4:30 ET
Place: Your desktop! (Do you need directions?)
Cost: Special Low Price! $15 (That's only 16 cents a minute!)

"Space" is limited, so register now!

Rich Brooks
Now I Gotta Go Tweet This

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, flyte news, Social Media, Web Marketing | 5 Comments »


How to Rank Higher in Local Search

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Local search is already important to most every business, especially those who are geographically challenged (read: your customers share an area code with you) or who have set up shop in a tourist destination.

Local search results often appear above organic results, giving you another chance to increase your online visibility.

Local-search

Further, as more of us carry smart phones and other mobile devices, performing searches as we're on-the-go, local search will only gain in importance.

Don't be caught playing catch up: learn the techniques to improve your rankings in local search. Or, as we say in this month's flyte log, Local Search: Get Listed, Get Business.

Rich Brooks
Local is the New Organic

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, flyte news, Search Engine Marketing | No Comments »


Social Media FTW: Call for Speakers & Presenters

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Save the Date! On Wednesday, 9/23/2009, we'll be hosting an all-day, roll-up-your-sleeves social media conference at the University of Southern Maine. (For more on who "we" are, see below.)

If
you've been looking to move past the hype and learn how to integrate
social media activities into your sales and marketing and to put social
media to work for your business, then this is the event for you.

  • There will be strategic workshops led by some of the most
    experienced, well-known social media marketers around, targeting both
    beginners and advanced users.
  • There will be panels that focus on small business, large corporations, non-profits and traditional media.
  • There will be "social media kiosks" open throughout the
    conference with volunteers who will help you setup or improve accounts
    on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and others.
  • There will be plenty of networking opportunities, both at the event and afterwards.

In the next two weeks we'll be launching the Web site and
announcing more details and pricing as well as opportunities for
exhibiting and sponsors.

However, right now we're announcing a call for presenters. If you have experience in social media to market your business we're interested in hearing from you.

While we're looking for ideas on what you'd like to speak on, here are some suggested topics to get you started:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • MySpace
  • YouTube/video sharing
  • Flickr/photo sharing
  • Blogging
  • Podcasting
  • Social Media for small business/large companies/non-profits/traditional media
  • Social media and time management
  • Social media and ROI (return on investment)

Remember: the purpose of this event is for attendees to go home
with specific actions they can take to grow their business, engage
their membership, network more effectively, and integrate social media
into their sales and marketing activities.

No hype, no pitches, no B.S. If it's not going to help attendees
we're not interested. If you would like to exhibit at or sponsor the
conference to be able to reach an audience of experienced marketers and
business people, please send inquiries to socialmediaftw@gmail.com.

Speakers will receive full access to the conference, promotion at the Web site and access to an affiliate program.

We're accepting submissions through June 19th, 2009.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Who "We" Are:

Social Media FTW is the brain child of Jaica Kinsman (http://twitter.com/jakks), Chrystie Corns (http://twitter.com/ccmaine) and Rich Brooks (http://twitter.com/therichbrooks). Our goal is to get businesses, non-profits and traditional media professionals in Maine and beyond to understand and leverage the power of social media.

Posted in Business Philosophy, flyte news, Social Media, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »

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