Not quite as good as Aveaword. But this is a reasonably engaging way to advertise on the net:
See what you look like Circa 1957 – and the advertising to the right is clothing/ style related. Nice fit. Kudos.
Startup blog author – Looking decidedly like a 1964 Military Industrial Complex Physics nerd.
We often wonder which are the best social networking tools to promote our business. In many ways it’s all and none.
There’s no shortage from which we can shoose from a business perspective: My space, Facebook, Bebo, Youtube, Blogging, Twitter, Live streaming TV, Ranking sites like Technorati, delicious and Stumbleupon, Virtual world spaces like second life.
The list is endless. In fact wikipedia lists the most notable (well over 100) here.
The best ones to engage and use aren’t those necessarily with the most people, the most features or the most anything. The best ones to use are those which you use properly. The way in which they were intended. There’s no point having your brand or startup on any of them – unless you engage the crowd in the conversation ‘they want to have”.
What does this mean?
It means be there often – turn up, and talk.
It means listen to them – it’s their place not ours.
It means share the information people want to have shared in ‘that’ forum.
It means, give first to them, and expect nothing back.
It means learn from their wisdom.
It means show your personaility and have an opinion.
It means create value to them, whatever value means in that forum.
It means be part of a dialogue, not a monologue.
In real terms all these tools are, is a personification of yourself, startup or brand. Don’t engage in behavior you wouldn’t engage in while in the real world. We mustn’t act like an Amway Sales Agents on line. If it’s bad form in the real world, it’s bad form in the on-line world.
If we just put our brand on all of these spaces and don’t get involved – it’s a waste of time for all parties involved. We are much better off embracing one or two forums and using them often and consistently. Going there, isn’t the same as being there. They are not shortcuts to brand fame. In fact, they take longer, but can be of greater value.
Given that the web is a conversation – we must embrace it and have manners. If we’re patient it’s worth the effort.
Here’s a nice little insight by from Seth Godin on the truth about networking.
[youtube=http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=OujgPgNCLvk]
In short it’s about helping others. It’s about the quality and value you provide them – not the number of people you know.
Dig the glasses Seth…
There is plenty of buzz around UGC (User Generated Content), Crowd Sourcing and Mass Customization at the moment. And the truth is I am a sucker for it. I embrace it, love it and really believe it is an economic revolution. In fact many of the new features we’ve implemented on rentoid have been at the suggestions of our members…. but there is a downside.
We need to be aware that not every consumer knows what they are talking about, and not every idea we get from the crowd happens to be a good one. The crowd can get it wrong occasionally. Yep – there are people out there with ideas that just might send you broke if implemented.
If we are building a forum for people to create & share their own stuff on like Youtube or Etsy – that’s when it’s a cool idea to let the crowd take over. That’s when it’s cool to build the forum and get the hell out of the way. But when it comes to them designing and creating products for others – we need to keep our heads. In fact if there is one piece of advice startup blog can give is know which business you are in:
A) Are you building a forum for them to connect on?
or
B) Are you building a product for them – with their input?
If you are doing the latter – that’s when you need to be wary of the Homer mobile.
Instead, what we need to do when we want the crowds input is look to our “lead user group”. The lead user group is our base of fans who are knowledgeable, expert, style leaders or simply influential. These are the people we need to listen to when UGC is part of the mix, but not the whole story.
This advice matters to everyone: Favour action over all things.
For the uninitiated: This speach was given by a famous football coach in Australia during an AFL Grand Final (think Superbowl / FA Cup). With passion he emplored his campaigners to just get out there and do whatever they could. The end result being a victory – or the ability to say ‘at least I had a go…’
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9db1GgNtCKw]
There’s many emotions associated with being an entrepreneur – seldom discussed is the fact that it’s a lonely business.
If we can’t deal with being the guy in photo above, then we’d be better off in the office of conglomerate X.
No one knows, cares or even thinks about what we are doing until we’ve arrived. During the lonely journey we’ve got to stay busy, remain active and get out in the world. We’ve got to get out of the ‘lab’ work mobile and stay social. If we islotate ourselves too much during the ‘lonely’ evolution period, we risk losing the ability to make the cross over to ‘leader’ when our startup gains momentum.
I really like the idea of ‘small’ – Making the macro, micro. 12 secondsTV does it: www.12seconds.tv
As far as marketing insights are concerned it proves that categories don’t converge – but split.
We recently used it for rentoid to kill a few birds with one stone:
The cool thing is that we’ll publish what people think about rentoid good and bad – so then we have to act on any mooted improvements. Check it by clicking here:
So in the spirit of involvement – I’d love to get a 12 seconds.tv spot from the startupblog crew – ‘yes that means you’ with any piece of business / entrepreneurship or life advice you feel approporiate.
Put your 12 seconds link in the comments and I’ll put it up as it’s own post with a link to your blog / startup / business or whatever.
Get on it.