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September 29, 2006

Word of mouth and small businesses

By David Binkowski

Earlier this week the Wall Street Journal put out a special section for small businesses geared toward helping them achieve success marketing themselves online. This is important stuff, and we, too have our thoughts. Unlike the WSJ web site, you don’t need a subscription to hear what my thoughts on this topic were some 5 months ago over on smallbusinesspodcast.com.

The Journal article falls short, in my opinion, by taking a narrow view of ways in which small businesses can engage in online and word of mouth marketing.

Around the time that I did my podcast, an article in a local business paper came out letting us know that we would be getting new neighbors. Salon Vox, a trendy new salon, opened its doors this week and is having their grand opening party tonight. What, you might ask, does that have to do with word of mouth marketing?

Good question, glad you asked. While Jeniffer’s salon didn’t open until September, she created a strategy for acquiring new customers and creating buzz well in advance of their doors opening. Jeniffer and her street team infiltrated the Ann Arbor Art Fair in their all-black attire, including Salon Vox tank tops and black balloons bearing the company name. They handed out fliers to interested Art Fair goers for 20 percent off their first visit and had scheduled 19 new appointments long before their storefront was even completed. Oh, and they ultimately abandoned the booth they had rented for the fair because the word of mouth on the street was a much more effective way to reach people.

While having pretty girls in tank tops didn't hurt the initiative, it's not the only tactic the salon used. Salon Vox has also been working with a MySpace page as well to acquire new customers. Over the past three months they’ve been added 429 Ann Arborites as friends (including me and my band) and extended their Grand Opening invitation to their MySpace friends (and the BlogWorks crew).

I’ll have pictures from the grand opening posted on Flickr next week. The salon is located one floor below our offices at 115 W. Liberty in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Posted by staff at 02:23 PM
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September 25, 2006

Amanda Congdon meets Jeff Jarvis

Amanda Congdon, former Rocketboom hostess has a new gig: traveling videoblogger.

She's touring the country in a Ford-provided Escape hybrid while meeting bloggers, politicians and environmentalists as part of her new vlog. The five-week project is being sponsored by Environmental Countdown, Ford and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Congdon recently met up with Buzz Machine's Jeff Jarvis in New Jersey along her Amanda Across America tour.

Congdon spoke with Jarvis about the transition he made from old media to new media, and why some might still be scared to make the switch, whether it's on a personal level or a business level. Take a look at her vlog for the video, both Part 1 and Part 2.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:07 PM
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September 22, 2006

Using the web in times of crisis

The recent outbreak of E. coli in packaged bags of spinach has caused concern across the country as cases of food poisoning continue to be reported. However, companies who sell spinach have been turning to their own web sites to adress those worries and keep consumers up to date on the latest news.

Earthbound Farm, whose spinach has been contaminated, has transformed its press section to an outbreak update area, providing the latest findings from health officials.

Dole, one of the leading distributors of packaged salads, has a special section on its homepage that sends readers to a statement about the recall and tells them how to avoid any possibly contaminated products. Dole even has a sponsored link on Google that sends searchers to their site for E. coli information.

National retailer Whole Foods has put together a special section as well, as they carry some of the brands in question.

Andy Boy's homepage has been replaced with a special landing page that consumers see before being redirected to the official corporate site. The statement notes that Andy Boy doesn't sell spinach, but reminds consumers to take precautions with all kinds of ready-made foods, and offers a suggestion of how to replace spinach in recipes with their other products.

By providing readily accessible nformation, and simply acknowledging the problem, these companies have taken a step in the right direction in terms of following good PR practices when it comes to keeping their customers safe.

Food companies aren't the only ones using the web for up-to-the-minute updates:

• The Food and Drug Administration's top "Hot Topic" on their homepage is the E. coli outbreak, and the link sends readers to a page with the latest press releases.
• Blogs are devoting informative posts to the topic as well, as this story from the Food Poisoning Law Blog shows.
• And if you type "Natural Selection Foods" into a Google search, the ad that shows up first is for a law firm asking, "Have you been affected by a foodborne illness?"

Whether it's a company homepage, goverment site or even a blog, the use of the Internet as a public safety tool in times of a potential life-threatening crisis is just another example of how important it is to remember the web in any successful PR game plan.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:21 PM
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September 21, 2006

You can’t ignore message boards

By Kai Blum

I have monitored Internet message boards for almost seven years now and I’m convinced that no one should underestimate these online communities and the effect they can have on a company’s bottom line.

I have seen message boards with tens of thousands of registered members and thousands of discussion threads. Some discussions — especially those about products with quality issues — continue for months, have hundreds of posts and sometimes have been viewed more than 100,000 times. Many potential customers go to message boards to find out if there are any issues with the product that they are interested in, and they often base their purchase decision on the information and opinions they find there.

The comments made by people who already own the product have an enormous influence on purchase decisions. Any company is well advised to monitor message boards closely, since one can find valuable information there, such as praise and complaints about products and customer service, product improvement suggestions, etc., or as Mike Driehorst wrote: “Discussion boards are good for getting the pulse of a subject or industry.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Posted by staff at 10:18 AM
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September 20, 2006

Gawker launches Idolator

Despite having shut down two of its blogs earlier this summer, Gawker recently launched Idolator to music fans tired of snobby, indie-music heavy musings.

"We're as obsessed with the music world as we are with the machinations behind it, and we'll cover the people who are manufacturing the latest band buzz, whether it's an old-guard standby (Rolling Stone), an absurdly powerful new-media turk (Pitchfork), or an agenda-pimping blogger (take your pick).

Of course, being music lovers ourselves, we also want to steer you in the direction of a good song or artist, which we'll do every day. We aim to be discerning, but not snobby. And every time we introduce you to a new artist, we promise to wait at least three months before starting our own backlash against them."

Unfortunately, after reading a few entries, Idolator seems to lack anything exciting in terms of content and is missing its focus when it comes to targeting a specific audience. For example, one post makes fun of Bryan Ferry's British Burberry ad campaign, while a few posts later the Idolator kids are talking about Justin Timberlake.

True music fans DO have a wide variety of likes and interests, but I've yet to find a JT fan who enjoys Roxy Music just as much. Focusing on one type of music or genre might be a better way to go.

Where Idolator continues to go wrong is with the underlying snarky tone the writers convey through their posts. It takes just a few minutes of reading to realize Idolator doesn't like indie music's most well-known bloggers, such as Pitchfork, which is unfortunate considering they claim to not be snobby in their opening manifesto. A post touting their testimonials doesn't do much to help that tone, either. This commenter's feelings on Idolator over at Oh World sums up exactly how I feel about the launch:

"The thing about blogs like Idolator is that what good does it do to just complain about Pitchfork? They should be doing something about the supposed state of music journalism. Don’t just whine and moan and snark—that’s the gimmick of more than enough bloggers and music “journalists” already. Put out great content for the love of the game and the rest will come.

The sad fact, though, is that Idolator will find an immediate and likely steady audience and cats trying to break into the game still struggle to get their work read by their mommas."

Idolator does have some funny components to it, such as a post rating the top five greatest public access music videos of all time. A post providing links to new music tech sites was useful to read.

If Idolator can come up with their ideal target audience, they're set to develop loyal readers and piggy-back off the popularity of their owner, the Gawker Media empire.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:25 PM
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September 19, 2006

Speak like an Internet Pirate

Did you now that today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day? No? Well, "ARRRRRR!" to you then!

For the past decade, John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy) have been helping friends across the globe find their inner pirates with the September holiday.

The concept took off after well-known columnist Dave Barry wrote about it back in 2002 (subscription required) in the Miami Herald, and continues to grow today thanks to his blog. Just one look at Barry's postings for today show that his support for the holiday has never been greater, as he simply writes:

ARRRRRRRRRRR!

(Make sure to read the comments.)

Barry isn't the only one showing his support for pirate speak online. Comedy Central's CC Insider blog takes a moment to tell the "truth" about pirates.

However, we would be remiss to not mention a cause that is dear to our hearts: educating people on the true nature of pirates. The Hollywood spin machine, in its infinite wisdom, has spent decades lying to the public about the ways that pirates lived their lives and conducted their business, turning sea-faring rogues into romantic anti-heros.

The Boston Globe has a fun poll in their arts and entertainment section to see how well you know your pirate lingo.

Want to work on your pirate speak? Take a look at this YouTube clip, courtesy of Cap'n Slappy:

Need more practice? Take a look at what these YouTubers have to offer:

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yarrrrr!

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:20 PM
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September 14, 2006

The future of entertainment or just a clever vlog?

That's what MSNBC is wondering after YouTube personality "lonelygirl15" was exposed as a hoax this week. That lonely girl is really Jessica Rose, a 19-year-old aspiring actress who has been broadcasting from her bedroom to YouTube for the past three months, courtesy of three equally aspiring screenwriters.

LG15 had a simple story — she was an average 16-year-old American girl, bored out of her mind thanks to a small town and being homeschooled by her parents. She supposedly created entries on her family, her friend Daniel (seen in clips) and even religion. Since her very first vlog, YouTube users have been criticizing the one- to two-minute clips as fake, citing the polished look, good use of music, seamless editing, and, well, her eyebrows...

"are you ACTING ??? you sound like you are....are your eyebrows real ???"

OK, she was acting. Rose is actually originally from New Zealand and currently living in Los Angeles. Whether her next move is to Hollywood is still up in the air.

While the backlash from YouTube users was quick, just as many fans were still supportive of LG15. Even while posts began circulating trying to prove the whole thing had been a hoax, other comments on her videos and even her Myspace page encouraged her to keep up the good work.

Should we feel upset by hoax? This YouTube user thinks not:

"Because when this was new 3 months ago it wasn't in the papers, people thought it was all real. They were trying to fool us and worked on a lot of people. Anyone who shows up now saying "Who cares if it's fake?" Missed the boat, because it was fun trying to figure the whole thing out. Sorry you don't get it now, you're late."

LG15 got thousands of viewers to watch and comment on her ongoing teenage saga, so she must have been doing something right. But was this really such a big deal? She wasn't a company trying to sell something. In reality, she was trying to sell herself as an actress looking for the next big part.

Jane Wells from MSNBC summed up her report on LG15 best:

"But is there a movie here? Or do some things work better in two minutes on YouTube rather than two hours at the Cineplex. Yet to surface is the actress herself, who’s gone Greta Garbo as the Lonelygirl saga figures out how not to blow the next move."

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:16 PM
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September 13, 2006

How to monitor Wikipedia

By Kai Blum

Steve Rubel confirmed what we already knew: companies should pay attention to what is being said about them on Wikipedia. Of course, any high-quality web monitoring service – one that informs clients where to locate information that has the potential of damaging their reputation – has Wikipedia on its radar, in addition to other community-driven online media, including message boards, blogs, video and picture sharing sites, etc.

Based on my experience, Wikipedia should be monitored:

• frequently, since entries can be created and changed at any time
  
• thoroughly, because damaging information can not only be found on the pages about an organization and its products, but on other pages as well
  
• multilingually, since there are Wikipedia versions in many languages and content varies greatly between the various Wikipedia sites
  
• topically, prioritized by known issues. If there are complaints about certain problems in other online communities, then there’s a great chance that something similar will be posted on Wikipedia.

This monitoring should be done by experienced media analysts, whose skills allow them to identify the most relevant information - better than any software package could do. They should also be able to recommend a strategy to their clients to counter inaccurate information about them found on Wikipedia or in other online communities.

Posted by staff at 12:30 PM
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September 11, 2006

Five years later

In honor of the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I’ve found some blogs with unique perspectives on this day.

One that struck me right away came from Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine. I’m used to Jarvis commenting on everything from the latest in the blogosphere to PR topics and pop culture musings. But the thoughts he aims at “media leeches” giving conspiracy theorists a voice today at Ground Zero are particularly right on, in my opinion.

“The story isn’t a few wackos who come because you and your cameras and notebooks are here, you fools! The story is over there, in the hole that still haunts us. The story is about the families and about the heroes and about the memories and about that hole. The story is even about WTC 7, now rising above the void, shining in a sky as bright as that five years ago today. The story is about the crowd of people — more than I’ve seen in recent years — who came to pay their respect.”

The Huffington Post has a post on CNN’s real-time streaming of coverage as it happened five years ago, which is chilling to watch today. As Danny Shea wrote:

“CNN Pipeline's (free) real-time rebroadcast of CNN's original 9/11 coverage seemed a bit gimmicky initially, but watching the story unfold in real time, with so little information s when just one plane had flown into just one tower and it was already a huge, huge story — it takes you back with a surprising intensity, and is surprisingly mesmerizing.”

The Blogger’s Blog has a very thorough collection of what the bloggers are saying today. Already “9/11” is Technorati’s top search term today, a phrase that’s been growing in searches over the past few days as the anniversary grew closer, with “Path to 9/11” right behind it.

Think Progress has a timeline with pointed political observations, including a collection of updates on the ABC docudrama, “The Path to 9/11.”

All of the different perspectives on the day only remind you how important blogs are for not only providing news, but serving as a much-needed outlet for reflection, caring, and support.

My favorite post, courtesy of Gaping Void, had to be one that didn’t have any words.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:58 PM
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September 07, 2006

Facebook wants to help members. Honestly.

I hadn't logged into Facebook for a few weeks, but when I received an e-mail telling me I'd been invited to a birthday party for my brother I knew nothing about, I checked in on my account right away. Needless to say I was surprised last night to see RSS-like news feeds reporting on the most mundane of updates on college friends, including an alert letting people know I had "become friends" with a former co-worker of mine from Michigan State University. What the?!

Enter Facebook's site redesign, complete with "news feeds" and "mini-feeds."

Facebook's attempt to keep members up to date was met with a HUGE backlash and even created anti-feed groups, such as the "Students Against the Facebook News Feed," complete with an online petition to stop the new features. Take a look at the group's mission:

"You went a bit too far this time, facebook. Very few of us want everyone automatically knowing what we update. We want to feel just a LITTLE bit of privacy, even if it is facebook. News Feed is just too creepy, too stalker-esque, and a feature that has to go.

We demand that either the feature goes, or that we have an option to remove ourselves from the feature. Nothing people write on our walls, or what we write, or what we update goes up on the "News Feed." These are small demands of your users, but we are here to complain and protect our privacy.

I know it's odd to protest facebook through facebook, but this perhaps is the best way for them to get the message.

Until this feature is removed or changed to protect my privacy, I WILL NOT update my profile, and I hope you will too.

So join here, and you're part of the petition to remove the most undelightful feature to have ever hit facebook."

This uproar isn't good news for popular Facebook. According to the Wall Street Journal, the online social site has more than 9 million members, had 6.1 million page views in July and is one of the 10 most viewed sites on the web.

Much to the dismay of Facebook, the anti-feed groups and backlash from members have been picked up by just about every MSM outlet as well as blogs across the globe. The topic was the top story on the WSJ's Marketplace section today and due to vandalism over at Wikipedia, is no longer open for public editing.

Adding insult to injury is the response from Facebook itself. WIth a blog post tile of "Calm down. Breathe. We hear you.," you can imagine how well that was received by the mad users. Take a look at part of Mark Zuckerberg's blog post in response to the controversy:

"We’re not oblivious of the Facebook groups popping up about this (by the way, Ruchi is not the devil). And we agree, stalking isn’t cool; but being able to know what’s going on in your friends’ lives is. This is information people used to dig for on a daily basis, nicely reorganized and summarized so people can learn about the people they care about. You don’t miss the photo album about your friend’s trip to Nepal. Maybe if your friends are all going to a party, you want to know so you can go too. Facebook is about real connections to actual friends, so the stories coming in are of interest to the people receiving them, since they are significant to the person creating them."

It's probably a good thing the blog doesn't show comments posted on this entry... I was disappointed with the response from the company as it seemed to almost talk-down to its users and make them feel as if they should be grateful for the new service they clearly down't want.

Overall, I couldn't agree more with the angry users. The feature crosses the line of being useful; it's too invasive. Facebook should have allowed members to sign up for the feature and make it a tool they could customize to personal interests.

But who knows, maybe I should be happy for the feature. How else would I have learned about my brother's birthday party?

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:09 PM
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