Some days ago I read a tweet by Jeremiah Owyang (jowyang) - in my opinion one of the most interesting people to follow on Twitter when it comes to social media. It said:
Oh my gosh, he is so damn right!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
[The Insider] 15 Talents
by
Unknown
When you want to be the leading market place bringing together talented students with interesting company projects of innovative companies, you need to be where the students are. When the 15 Talents SIBE GmbH was founded in early 2008 it was the leading rule for structuring the company. This simple but powerful rule was the reason why 15 Talents was created with Social Media at its core, making it a true social media company.
Two years later the responsible for Sales and the company site within Xing, Andreas Griesbach, is giving us insights of the company structure and how it works today through an interview.
Two years later the responsible for Sales and the company site within Xing, Andreas Griesbach, is giving us insights of the company structure and how it works today through an interview.
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facebook,
forums,
linkedin,
social media,
students,
theInsider,
twitter,
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Friday, November 26, 2010
Flip and think!
by
Alex Scholz
Recently I found an interview hosted by Mark Suster (@msuster) with the rapper and entrepreneur Chamillionaire. Firstly I was a little bit cautious about it because I knew Mark Suster from the side of an entrepreneur and active social media user. Chamillionaire was known to me as a musician and tech addicted. I thought it was a strange mixture but this interview really got me thinking about a lot of things regarding business and especially Social Media.
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Tagged:
Chamillionaire,
feedback,
itunes,
Mark Suster,
music,
myspace,
social media,
social networks,
strategy,
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Friday, November 12, 2010
Should Business-to-Business-Companies care about Social Media?
by
Unknown
When we talk about successful usage of Social Media one often talks about nice brands targeting end customers. Not only because there are many of good examples but also because they are more visible than others. But being a company doing business to business products or services one wonders what to do with social media. You barely establish your brand with it, only few try to do business to business over the social networks like Twitter and Facebook yet. Asking themselves: Should I care about Social Media?
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Tagged:
b2b,
employees,
engange,
events,
ShouldIcareAbout,
social media,
tips,
unternehmen
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Thursday, November 4, 2010
Becoming Social Network Marketing Manager
by
Unknown
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Tuesday, November 2, 2010
An open letter to Marketing
by
Unknown
Dear Marketing,
congratulations you are once again making a fool of yourself! I mean don't get me wrong, eventually you've understood that people care about the way the product gets produced, its quality and the service around it.Good for you! But there is one lesson you never learn: It's not about saying, it is about doing it. And with nowadays technology and world-wide networks and organisations like greenpeace there is no easy hiding anymore. So what is your answer, marketing? You do greenwashing and adverts showing the company friendly, supportive and offering the best and easiest service - while they do not. We normal people call this "lying": you help companies to pretend being better than they actually are.
Of course, you are doing it for the money, so no harm there, eh? But do you guys know the story of the boy who cried wolf? And in the end no one believed him, when there was a wolf? When I was a kid I was told the story every time I was caught lying. And it has point; if you lie people don't believe you, don't trust you any. So if anyone at all is believing the ads you are doing lately, they won't do it much longer. Leaving companies who actually care at a bad place: they can't advertise with these terms and those promises. Those got broken too often for anyone to believe them. So even if those companies grow bigger the only way to make people believe that they care is by actual action, by doing it. Advertising this is pointless, might even does harm as people question it. Got it?
Even when those companies grow there isn't much point in doing classic advertising as no one will believe them! This way of pretending without action you, dear Marketing, are supporting at big companies nowadays isn't only bad for the company it is bad for you! By doing this you are making yourself useless, destroying your own future. You should seriously consider being more picky about your clients: choose those with the good product over the one with the pile of money and ensure that what has been said gets done. But most important: don't Lie! Only if people can trust advertisments, they might consider believing you. And only if people believe and trust you, you stand a chance when the upcoming companies with good service and high quality products grow bigger and re-evaluate their communication strategies. Think about it!
With kind regards,
Benjamin Kampmann
congratulations you are once again making a fool of yourself! I mean don't get me wrong, eventually you've understood that people care about the way the product gets produced, its quality and the service around it.Good for you! But there is one lesson you never learn: It's not about saying, it is about doing it. And with nowadays technology and world-wide networks and organisations like greenpeace there is no easy hiding anymore. So what is your answer, marketing? You do greenwashing and adverts showing the company friendly, supportive and offering the best and easiest service - while they do not. We normal people call this "lying": you help companies to pretend being better than they actually are.
Of course, you are doing it for the money, so no harm there, eh? But do you guys know the story of the boy who cried wolf? And in the end no one believed him, when there was a wolf? When I was a kid I was told the story every time I was caught lying. And it has point; if you lie people don't believe you, don't trust you any. So if anyone at all is believing the ads you are doing lately, they won't do it much longer. Leaving companies who actually care at a bad place: they can't advertise with these terms and those promises. Those got broken too often for anyone to believe them. So even if those companies grow bigger the only way to make people believe that they care is by actual action, by doing it. Advertising this is pointless, might even does harm as people question it. Got it?
Even when those companies grow there isn't much point in doing classic advertising as no one will believe them! This way of pretending without action you, dear Marketing, are supporting at big companies nowadays isn't only bad for the company it is bad for you! By doing this you are making yourself useless, destroying your own future. You should seriously consider being more picky about your clients: choose those with the good product over the one with the pile of money and ensure that what has been said gets done. But most important: don't Lie! Only if people can trust advertisments, they might consider believing you. And only if people believe and trust you, you stand a chance when the upcoming companies with good service and high quality products grow bigger and re-evaluate their communication strategies. Think about it!
With kind regards,
Benjamin Kampmann
Sunday, October 31, 2010
[Should I care about] Fans and Followers?
by
Alex Scholz
Social Media is mass media. More than 500 Million users in Facebook, more than 160 Million on Twitter. I am sure you know the numbers. But what about your Fanpage or your Twitter account? Are there are lot of people around? Is it even neccessary to have the ultimate goal to boost those numbers? Really: should I care about my Fans and Followers?
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Tagged:
early adopters,
facebook,
fans,
followers,
marketing,
ShouldIcareAbout,
social customers,
social networks,
twitter
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Schuster bleib bei deinen Leisten!?
by
Alex Scholz
Ein CEO hat oft genaue Ziele, welche dann so schnell wie möglich mit so wenig Arbeitsaufwand wie nötig erreicht werden sollen. Ich bin mir nicht ganz sicher, ob es überhaupt eine Situation insbesondere in der Welt der Arbeitenden gibt, die diesen Wunsch ermöglicht. Social Media ist wohl auch eher ein Fall für Zeitaufwendigkeiten und deswegen nichts für die Geschäftsführung. Oder sehen wir das falsch?
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Friday, October 15, 2010
[The Insider] Schwarze Dose 28
by
Unknown
Since the start in 2008 Schwarze Dose 28 (also called "28black" in the US) has been more than just an energy drink based on the açai berry. Right from the beginning the brand stood for quality, natural ingredients and aesthetics. Resulting in a huge success; offline and online. When they hopped on the Facebook-Hype going through Germany last year, they took over a community Fan Page with about a thousand fans. By now they crossed the 20 thousand marker and head for even larger numbers.
Julia Akra, Head of PR at Calidris 28 Germany, met with us and gave some insights about the beginning, the current state and the future of the Social Media involvement of Schwarze Dose 28.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Outsourcing Social Media? Bad idea!
by
Unknown
With all buzz around Social Media you've properly discussed it in your company or with your media agency now or then. And they offered you to create a Social Media strategy and execute it for you. While it is a great idea to let them develop a plan for you - as you have bigger problems to worry about - you should not let them execute it for you: it won't work! No matter what you agency is promising you, it won't work. They can support you, come up with ideas and train your writing skill and how to behave in certain areas of Social Media, but they should never be in charge of execution.
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Monday, October 4, 2010
Who's afraid of Social Media?
by
Unknown
Recently we gave a presentation discussing the potential marketing of an upcoming product. Alex and me suggested using Social Media to make the step from the phase of early adopters to the mass market. Thought the listeners were quite young people and were aware of social media and its immense power they were quite sceptical, to not say scared. That got me thinking: are people scared of Social Media? And if so: Why? How can we prevent that? What can and should we do about it?
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Wednesday, September 29, 2010
[The Insider] Hotel Berlin, Berlin
by
Unknown
With its 52 years "Hotel Berlin, Berlin" clearly is not a new comer in hotel business. But when the hotel was bought out of a big chain in 2006 the heads decided to reinvent the hotel and its meaning once more. Beside a new facade for the building this included a new brand and new ways of marketing; taking the hotel into Social Media.
And once again Berlins third greatest hotel is leading hotel business to new innovative ways. Last week we got the great opportunity to talk to Anne Bubner, Brand and Media Manager and her Assistant Maria Langhammer both managing the Social Media appearance for the hotel. Like no one before they showed us how Social Media is more than just another communication channel and deeply effects the hotel and its processes.
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Thursday, September 23, 2010
[Should I care about] Location-based Services (LBS)
by
Unknown
Even before the latest peak in downloads of scvngr Location-based Services had a huge buzz in the internet community; Foursquare's and Gowalla's (both launched last year) growing user base put Facebook under heavy pressure. So heavy that about a month ago they launched their competitive service called Facebook Places.
Location-based services promise to "socially engage" users for your local business like cafés, bars, museums and similar public places. But how do these systems work? Why is there a hype about them? How do they try to keep this promise and what would I - as a business owner - have to do to participate? All boiling down to one major question: Should I care about Location-based Services?
Location-based services promise to "socially engage" users for your local business like cafés, bars, museums and similar public places. But how do these systems work? Why is there a hype about them? How do they try to keep this promise and what would I - as a business owner - have to do to participate? All boiling down to one major question: Should I care about Location-based Services?
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Tagged:
facebook,
facebook places,
Foursquare,
google latitude,
Gowalla,
gps,
lbs,
Location Based Services,
market,
scvngr,
ShouldIcareAbout,
social networks
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Friday, September 17, 2010
Marketing by Sharing
by
Alex Scholz
Oh no, thats not just another TED Talk. It is not, really! If you want to see some interesting TED Talks about marketing and social media I would suggest you to have a look right here and here. They won't dissappoint you. I promise!
But lets get back to the main topic. I guess a lot of you know 37signals. They are the creators of "Basecamp" (and more) and writers of "ReWork" and "Getting Real", some awesome books on building web based services.
Jason Fried (Co-Founder and President of 37Signals, the guy in the video) talks about a possible way to promote and marketing your products and services: marketing by sharing.
But lets get back to the main topic. I guess a lot of you know 37signals. They are the creators of "Basecamp" (and more) and writers of "ReWork" and "Getting Real", some awesome books on building web based services.
Jason Fried (Co-Founder and President of 37Signals, the guy in the video) talks about a possible way to promote and marketing your products and services: marketing by sharing.
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37Signals,
advertising,
brand,
Jason Fried,
marketing,
products,
sharing,
social media
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Friday, September 3, 2010
Good Night my Blog, Good Morning Twitter!?
by
Alex Scholz
Das Wachstum rund um die Nutzung von Microblogging in Unternehmen erinnert mich in vielen Facetten an die Veränderung der Firmenkommunikation mit dem "Einbruch" der Blogs. Das Gefühl man müsste den alten Zug verlassen und mit einem anderen weiterfahren um ans Ziel zu kommen ist nun wieder erkennbar.
Vor kurzem bekam ich einen Artikel zu lesen, in dem die Meinung vertreten worden ist, Microblogging würde den Blog in Kürze ablösen, denn die Tendenz zu kurzen Mitteilungen sei nicht zu übersehen.
Dabei bin ich der Meinung, dass sowohl Blogs im ursprünglichen Sinne als Microblogging für eine gelungene Social Media Kommunikation unabdingbar sind. In einigen Gesprächen mit Unternehmen kam immer wieder die Frage auf, ob es sich denn tatsächlich lohnen würde, einen Unternehmensblog weiter zu führen, wenn doch Twitter und ähnliche Dienste vorhanden seien.
Ich sage ja!, es ist sinnvoll, aus den folgenden Gründen.
Vor kurzem bekam ich einen Artikel zu lesen, in dem die Meinung vertreten worden ist, Microblogging würde den Blog in Kürze ablösen, denn die Tendenz zu kurzen Mitteilungen sei nicht zu übersehen.
Dabei bin ich der Meinung, dass sowohl Blogs im ursprünglichen Sinne als Microblogging für eine gelungene Social Media Kommunikation unabdingbar sind. In einigen Gesprächen mit Unternehmen kam immer wieder die Frage auf, ob es sich denn tatsächlich lohnen würde, einen Unternehmensblog weiter zu führen, wenn doch Twitter und ähnliche Dienste vorhanden seien.
Ich sage ja!, es ist sinnvoll, aus den folgenden Gründen.
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010
[The Insider] Freunde des Mauerpark e.V.
by
Unknown
The Mauerpark in Berlin (between Pankow and Wedding) isn't a park as all the others. When you look at it during weekdays it looks like an old, dry fallow land you would never call "park". While on weekends it is overcrowded - feeling more overcrowded than alexander platz - and filled with all kinds of artists; there are bands playing, people dancing, there is open air karaoke and a fleemarket every sunday. It is a really special place.
And like every special place the Mauerpark needs people who take care of it. One society of 25 volunteers taking care of the Mauerpark is the "Freunde des Mauerpark e.V." ("Society of friends of the Mauerpark") who are trying to establish the park as a constant in Berlin, its culture scene and tourism. So when they thought about relaunching their webpage last year it was decided to get off the path of a "normal society webpage". The people behind "Freunde des Mauerpark e.V." wanted a website transferring all facets of the Mauerpark - they decided to go "social media". We had the great opportunity to talk to Alexander Puell from dfacts.de, the designer of the concept, the creator of the page (software wise) and the one behind most of the social media involvement of the foundation. And, boy, did we learn a lot!
And like every special place the Mauerpark needs people who take care of it. One society of 25 volunteers taking care of the Mauerpark is the "Freunde des Mauerpark e.V." ("Society of friends of the Mauerpark") who are trying to establish the park as a constant in Berlin, its culture scene and tourism. So when they thought about relaunching their webpage last year it was decided to get off the path of a "normal society webpage". The people behind "Freunde des Mauerpark e.V." wanted a website transferring all facets of the Mauerpark - they decided to go "social media". We had the great opportunity to talk to Alexander Puell from dfacts.de, the designer of the concept, the creator of the page (software wise) and the one behind most of the social media involvement of the foundation. And, boy, did we learn a lot!
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Sunday, August 29, 2010
Remarkable
by
Alex Scholz
As you may have noticed we provide you with TED Talks regularly (e.g. here and here). It is not a secret, that we love them, as far as some "Social Media and Company"-Points are in as a topic. So, here you go with another great one.
This talk is held by Seth Godin (Blog), a great marketing mind. He speaks about marketing actions and in some points about product creation. Seth Godin points out that both have to be remarkable and aim for the right target audience. That doesn't sound new to us, n'est pas? But at the same time we see a lot of companies struggling to realize especially when it comes to remarkable product and marketing strategies as well as brand management.
These are also, and as I think especially, main points which you should consider if you are about to start some kind of social media activities. And yes, I am sure that social media is a great opportunity to build your community which will have a big impact on your brand management and product creation.
Social media activities need to be remarkable and aim for the right target audience if you want to be heard in your community and get reaction/respond. Try something risky, invent some new kinds of social media experience. Don't go the old way like this proverb says:
“One who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints.”
Now let Seth Godin do the talking!
"
Remember that!
This talk is held by Seth Godin (Blog), a great marketing mind. He speaks about marketing actions and in some points about product creation. Seth Godin points out that both have to be remarkable and aim for the right target audience. That doesn't sound new to us, n'est pas? But at the same time we see a lot of companies struggling to realize especially when it comes to remarkable product and marketing strategies as well as brand management.
These are also, and as I think especially, main points which you should consider if you are about to start some kind of social media activities. And yes, I am sure that social media is a great opportunity to build your community which will have a big impact on your brand management and product creation.
Social media activities need to be remarkable and aim for the right target audience if you want to be heard in your community and get reaction/respond. Try something risky, invent some new kinds of social media experience. Don't go the old way like this proverb says:
“One who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints.”
Now let Seth Godin do the talking!
"
Remember that!
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Demand and Supply
by
Alex Scholz
One of the big hyped surprises last week was, without a question, Twifficiency. We told you who was behind this viral tool. The whole Twittersphere was busy linking this tool to their Twitter accounts in order to let it calculate their "Twifficiency".
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analyze,
measuring,
monitoring,
social media,
tools,
twifficiency,
twitter,
viral effect
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Saturday, August 21, 2010
How to not be a Bad Email Marketeer
by
Unknown
I am not very fond of email marketing myself. The reason for that is one every one knows: It is often misused for spam. The guys from MailChimp, one of the best email marketing tools out there, know about this, too. But they also know: spam is not always intended. Often it just happens because people just don't know about "the email marketing etiquette". The people from MailChimp have understood that they need to provide more than just a tool if they want their users to be successful in this area. Therefor they created a really creative video campaign, explaining this problem in the style of a 30ties b/w education video.
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The End of Top-Down Control
by
Alex Scholz
I'll keep it short today, I promise.
I just want to show a really good TED-Talk about how Social Media is changing the way people communicate and participate in things politicians and also companies do. This TED-Talk was held by Clay Shirky in June 2009.
I just want to show a really good TED-Talk about how Social Media is changing the way people communicate and participate in things politicians and also companies do. This TED-Talk was held by Clay Shirky in June 2009.
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Tagged:
Clay Shirky,
communication,
facebook,
politics,
social media,
tedtalks,
top down,
twitter
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010
[Should I care about...] Microblogging
by
Unknown
A new services type emerged over the last two, three years in the internet: microblogging. With his most popular representative Twitter Microblogging became very well known and widely used. But what is Microblogging? How does it work? What services are out there and how do they differ? And most importantly: As a an owner of a [BUSINESS_TYPE_HERE] business: Should I care about Microblogging?
I say yes, if you want to use a service which helps you to provide your community with information and which doesn't take up a lot of time updating it. But...
I say yes, if you want to use a service which helps you to provide your community with information and which doesn't take up a lot of time updating it. But...
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Tagged:
blogging,
microblogging,
posterous,
ShouldIcareAbout,
tumblr,
tweetphoto,
twitpic,
twitter
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The New Era of Advertising
by
Alex Scholz
If we take a look at the global advertising market, we see companies investments heading more and more for online marketing and advertising. It is not about the general growth of the advertising market anymore but it is about the allocation between offline- and online advertising in the future and the way companies promote their products and services. That is going to be an interesting thing to talk about.
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Comments
Tagged:
advertisement,
Facebook Advertisement,
Foursquare,
Gowalla,
iAd,
Location Based Services,
marketing,
online,
social media,
twitter
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Friday, July 16, 2010
[The Insider] Taz - Die Tageszeitung
by
Unknown
"Die Tageszeitung" (aka "taz") is a German left wing cooperative owned daily newspaper with their offices in Germans capital Berlin. Since they started their "project" in 1979 the taz has evolved into a publisher with around 250 people on the payroll which still has some kind of outsider position in the newspaper market of Germany. As a result of it the taz has always been curious to experiment with new ways of publishing and journalism.
Years ago it was the first german newspaper you could read online and search their archives digitally (first published on CD, now you can get access online as well). Now it was one of the first publisher involved in Twitter, Facebook, using flattr for their articles and publishing a daily ePaper for the iPhone.We had the once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to Nina Schoenian, Creative Director of the taz.de and New Media.
Years ago it was the first german newspaper you could read online and search their archives digitally (first published on CD, now you can get access online as well). Now it was one of the first publisher involved in Twitter, Facebook, using flattr for their articles and publishing a daily ePaper for the iPhone.We had the once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to Nina Schoenian, Creative Director of the taz.de and New Media.
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Monday, July 12, 2010
What we've been working on
by
Unknown
It is time to unveil what we have been working on the last couple of weeks. As I already said earlier we wanted to bring more value to you as the reader of our blog. Therefore we decided to start two new series: "The Insider" and "Should I care about...". We want to have one new article at least one a month for each series. They will be tagged with theInsider and ShouldIcareAbout to make it easier for you to find new and old articles. Don't forget to bookmark the links!
But first, let me explain you what they are about:
But first, let me explain you what they are about:
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Saturday, June 26, 2010
Mastering the social media geek on a party
by
Unknown
As your company does Social Media now you have to face the fact that a lot of geeks and social media evangelists don't like you. Normally you don't have to care about that but as this group growth quickly chances are high you meet them on parties sooner or later. So you better learn how to cope with them in such a situation.
We've all experienced that: You are at party, it ain't that much fun (as in "fun party with friends") but it is okay-ish. At some point one of these geeks pulls out his new iphone/android/whatever, complains ten minutes about the bad reception but eventually is able to show the group surrounding him the thing he was looking for...To understand what happens and how to deal with it let's skip back 12 minutes. That is when it all began.
We've all experienced that: You are at party, it ain't that much fun (as in "fun party with friends") but it is okay-ish. At some point one of these geeks pulls out his new iphone/android/whatever, complains ten minutes about the bad reception but eventually is able to show the group surrounding him the thing he was looking for...To understand what happens and how to deal with it let's skip back 12 minutes. That is when it all began.
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exercise,
geeks,
parties,
party,
social media,
social networks,
video,
viral,
youtube
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Sunday, June 20, 2010
Wait for it
by
Unknown
It has been a lot more quiet in here lately. We know that. And I am writing to let you know it might get even more quiet for some time. But behold! We don't want to abandon this blog, actually the total opposite: we are currently working on a new series. And it is more work and needs more time than the intentionally thought, specially since it involves outsiders.
But we have a really strong opinion on this series. We are sure it will add a lot of value and give our loyal readers some really good advice(s). I ensure you: It will be legend - wait for it - dary!
But we have a really strong opinion on this series. We are sure it will add a lot of value and give our loyal readers some really good advice(s). I ensure you: It will be legend - wait for it - dary!
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Thursday, June 10, 2010
Break your mind!
by
Alex Scholz
Last night I was sitting in my living room while I thought about questions for a questionary about Social Media Usage in companies, how they want to use it in the future and what, in their opinion, is missing in the wide range of communication tools.
The problem was: I had no clue how to start and how to order the questions. It felt like my brain was empty, and I knew that I would need to much to get good results. That was really disappointing, because I wanted to finish at least a small overview, so I could follow up later on the next day.
So I stopped, switched off my Mac, put in some old Teddy Pendergrass songs and started to relax, think about daily issues. And suddenly I had this first question which would open the questionary. From that moment I needed 30 minutes to finish the questionary without even having a break.
The problem was: I had no clue how to start and how to order the questions. It felt like my brain was empty, and I knew that I would need to much to get good results. That was really disappointing, because I wanted to finish at least a small overview, so I could follow up later on the next day.
So I stopped, switched off my Mac, put in some old Teddy Pendergrass songs and started to relax, think about daily issues. And suddenly I had this first question which would open the questionary. From that moment I needed 30 minutes to finish the questionary without even having a break.
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company,
creative,
creativity,
efficiency,
limbic brain,
mind,
social media
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Friday, June 4, 2010
Rammstein vs. van Buuren
by
Unknown
I have been to two big gigs lately: "A State of Trance 450" (ASOT) by Armin van Buuren and Rammstein's "Liebe ist für alle da". Going through the process of finding out, buying tickets, getting there, attending and having fun I realised something: There are quiet some differences in promoting, organizing and executing these events. Looking closer it looked like a mirror of the two major ways companies act and communicate today: the classic way (Rammstein) and the new way (van Buuren).
Let me explain you what I mean by comparing these two events...
Let me explain you what I mean by comparing these two events...
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Monday, May 31, 2010
People don't buy what you do
by
Unknown
Simon Sinek needs only 18minutes to explain why some succeed and others fail although all the classic criteria (the so called "the recipe for success": the money, the team, the market conditions etc.) say the opposite. He uses great examples like Apple, Martin Luther King and the Wright brother to back up his theory: "People don't buy what you do, they buy"... but see yourself! It is published at ted talks and embedded right after the break.
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apple,
good example,
simon sinek,
social networks,
success,
tedtalks,
wright brothers
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Thursday, May 27, 2010
If companies were real people
by
Unknown
most of them would be in therapy by now. I mean seriously, they only care about themselves and act only to get their drugs (theirs is called "profit"): they are ignorant, betray, use people and lie straight in their faces. Unless they need you for their goals they won't even acknowledge your existence. But if they do they only care as much as they need to for their goal: as soon as they reached it they let you fall like a hot potato.
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Saturday, May 15, 2010
Spread the word
by
Unknown
Alright. The Facebook FanPage is up, the Twitter account has a decent background, the blog has its design - Everything is set to bring your [TYPE OF COMPANY HERE] into the spheres of Social Media Country. You even have a "social media strategy"; you want to tweet about [INTERESTING SUBJECT HERE] at least once a day, keep followers up to date about the changes of the company and blog about interesting events you participate in. But that is not enough: Start spreading the word!
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Monday, May 10, 2010
Pay or Die!
by
Alex Scholz
We see a lot of products, wonderful and awesome products offered for free in the world wide web. We don't even care about that, because we are used to get good and interesting tools without paying. In terms of customers we take a lot, but are not willing to give.
I think that is the wrong mentality especially when it comes to software we use for work or make money with. It is absolutely understandable, that customers don't think about paying if they get all they need from the origin itself: the entrepreneurs!
I think that is the wrong mentality especially when it comes to software we use for work or make money with. It is absolutely understandable, that customers don't think about paying if they get all they need from the origin itself: the entrepreneurs!
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Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Book Review: speak human by Eric Karjaluoto
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Unknown
After I quoted "speak human"last week you are probably not surprised when I say: I love this book! SmashLab Founder Eric Karjaluoto explains in depth why classic marketing is useless for small and mid-size companies and what works instead: "Outmarket the Big Guys by Getting Personal" (as the subtitles states). But it is not a book for everyone...
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Sunday, May 2, 2010
Don't "Go Viral"
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Unknown
Just real quick: Don't "go viral". EVER. And show every marketing guy saying something like "uhh.. nice and then we can make it go viral" the door. He is bad for your business. PERIOD.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Patience and Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
by
Unknown
After Gary Vaynerchuk took over his family business, Shopper’s Discount Liquors, he rebranded the whole thing. He launched a retail website and started one of the most successful social media campaigns in the history. With the idea of his store as Wine Library and his Video-Blog Wine Library TV he was able to boost his revenue from $4 million to $60 million.
At the Web2.0 Expo he gave a 15min talk explaining the keys to his success: "Patience and Passion". No other talk concentrated the essence of social media and how to succeed with it as good as this one. Luckily his very inspiring talk is available at TedTalks and on Youtube.
Take the 15min off your launch brake and watch this video right after the page break. It will change the way you look on social media for ever...
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Tuesday, April 27, 2010
keep the fire burning
by
Unknown
I am currently reading a few books about social media and the actions companies should take. I will share my thoughts on those in some reviews on this blog soonish, stay tuned. So long, there was one chapter in the book speak human by Eric Karjaluoto I would like to share with you. The sub-chapter is called "Staring a fire" and it says:
The part you probably don't want to hear is that little of this [Success with Social Media] comes for free. Some combat this by cutting corners, piece mealing efforts, or employing unproven partners whose sole benefit is price. I assure you someone can always offer a lower price; most times you get what you pay for.
This piecemeal approach to marketing can obstruct a company's efforts. Many are eager to create a one-off with hopes that it will prove a catalyst for change. This is hardly ever the case, and often results in frustration as sporadic efforts tend to bear little fruit. With this in mind, I ask you to instead look at such efforts as ongoing.
The analogy I liken this to is one of lighting a fire. Most small organizations put countless hours and resources into collecting dry kindling, finding matches, and getting it started, only to walk away once a small flame takes hold. A week, month, or year later they return to find that their fire has burnt out, and needs to be restarted. So they begin again, hoping for something different, only to repeat the process ad infinitum.
Fires need perpetual attention to grow. Once you have it going, the hardest part is over; from there you need to stoke it from time to time and add some dry wood when necessary. It's not hard, bit does require consistent attention. By keeping at it like this, you can build a roaring fire. If you're lucky, it might even turn into a wildfire, bigger than you ever anticipated. The trick is to keep going.
"Speak Human", Page 259, Chapter 23
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Thursday, April 22, 2010
Get your time right
by
Alex Scholz
When we talk about Social Media we usually talk about private usage, we see people "hanging around" in networks for hours and ages. They update their friends on daily issues via mobile phones, notebooks and netbooks from work, school, home. This is a huge amount of information, especially modern companies need to deal with, if they want to offer good and up to date costumer support these days (e.g. SixtUk, Dell, Blackberry).
Now small and mid size enterprises get nervous: "How do I achieve this kind of support without spending hundred and thousands of Euro/Dollar each month on social media customer support?"
Now small and mid size enterprises get nervous: "How do I achieve this kind of support without spending hundred and thousands of Euro/Dollar each month on social media customer support?"
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Monday, April 19, 2010
Listen to your mom
by
Unknown
Social Networking is communication, just straight down its bases. The bases your mom told you when you were four years old. In case she didn't (or you forgot as more and more some people do) the rules are:
If you want to be successful in Social Networking I have one advice:
Listen to your mom!
- be nice
- share
- don't steal
- help others
- listen
- be patient
- don't yell
- no fighting
- be thankful
- apologize when you caused trouble
- and eat your vegetables
If you want to be successful in Social Networking I have one advice:
Listen to your mom!
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Friday, April 16, 2010
stay disconnected
by
Unknown
This Monday I talked about the Social Media Landscape. In there I mentioned in half sentence that "Most of the Media Sharing Platforms allow similar techniques [as Social Networks] by now but it isn't their main purpose." without explaining myself. What I meant with this are all the ways to follow the updates other do on their accounts. For example you can "subscribe" to a users on flickr and youtube. When ever said user is now uploading new content you'll be informed about this. This allows you to stay connected.
Well, kinda. If you are a member of as many platforms as I am (I counted almost 20 I was able to remember by hard a few month ago, since then it grew) you are not logged into each one permanently, checking or updates all the time. This is why so many of the Media Sharing Platforms allow the users to connect with Facebook or Twitter nowadays. And on first sight that sounds like the long wanted feature we were all missing: connect everything with everything and everyone and all the time.
Well, kinda. If you are a member of as many platforms as I am (I counted almost 20 I was able to remember by hard a few month ago, since then it grew) you are not logged into each one permanently, checking or updates all the time. This is why so many of the Media Sharing Platforms allow the users to connect with Facebook or Twitter nowadays. And on first sight that sounds like the long wanted feature we were all missing: connect everything with everything and everyone and all the time.
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Monday, April 12, 2010
Social Media Landscape
by
Unknown
One term I hear a lot lately is "social media". From what I understand marketing people use this term to describe "everything but classic advertising in the internet". One big problem I have with the term and the discussion around it is that people use it in various contexts describing various aspects of it and making it look like "the big picture". In my opinion "social media" can't be understand as one big thing (like "mass media") working in one certain way with one set of rules.
I rather see a "Social Media Landscape" of various tools, ways to share or publish, connect and interact. And from what I see the rules differ between the areas in this landscape. But you can't adapt to the rules for this area when you don't know where you are. So lets start by looking at what this landscape looks like as of today.
I rather see a "Social Media Landscape" of various tools, ways to share or publish, connect and interact. And from what I see the rules differ between the areas in this landscape. But you can't adapt to the rules for this area when you don't know where you are. So lets start by looking at what this landscape looks like as of today.
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Why Google Wave will never replace email while social networks already did
by
Unknown
Almost a year ago Google published their "next big thing": Google Wave. And as an technique enthusiast I was psyched from the first day I saw the presentation video. I pictured all the ways this tool is going to change the world and how awesome everything would be. For those who don't know it, Google Wave is an online chat-collaboration-sharing tool. It was developed by the smart guys who came up with Google Maps. They were basically freaked out the way people use mails today and thought about "what would it look like if we would design mail today?". And that is what they did.
Besides some performance issues and missing feature Google Wave is quiet there, you can use it (drop me a line if you need an invite..!), heck I even use it at work. It is a great collaboration tool. But it won't replace mail. Sure it is still young and the developers said themselves that it will takes ages until it would do so. But standing here today, seeing what it is, I am totally sure: it will never replace email! Google Wave won't replace it for one simple reason: Email already got replaced!
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Social Media ain't any different
by
Unknown
A few weeks back we went to a "Social Media Workshop". Although we were not the targeted audience (the others were from companies with way over 1000 employees) and the speaker focussed on classic Internet Marketing, Blogs and SEO a bit too much it left some traces. One sentence that really got stuck was: "Social media ain't any different" and he continued saying that a marketing plan and target audience and all the classic marketing stuff has the same value it had outside social media. Bare with me when I say he is right. Right while being totally wrong.
Let me explain:
Compared to the long history of human communication mass media is a very young phenomenon (some even call it a fluke...) but it reached its limitation and got stuck already. More and more companies are not willing nor able to spend thousands of Euros for some TV- or Print-Campaign. They rather spent way less to do some smart advertising in the internet, targeted to the real audience. The reason why most of them do that is that internet marketing is actually measurable. You can track whether an ad campaign leads to sells or not. It can proof its value and you can make it more efficient.
Let me explain:
Compared to the long history of human communication mass media is a very young phenomenon (some even call it a fluke...) but it reached its limitation and got stuck already. More and more companies are not willing nor able to spend thousands of Euros for some TV- or Print-Campaign. They rather spent way less to do some smart advertising in the internet, targeted to the real audience. The reason why most of them do that is that internet marketing is actually measurable. You can track whether an ad campaign leads to sells or not. It can proof its value and you can make it more efficient.
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Thursday, March 25, 2010
Trafficzahlen sind kein Messwert für Erfolg
by
Unknown
Immer wieder werden gerne angeblich verlässliche Internet-Traffic Zahlen als Messwerte für den Erfolg von Marketing oder sogar dem Erfolg von Unternehmen heran gezogen. Dass sich diese Daten sehr leicht verfälschen lassen und dementsprechend nur wenig verlässlich sind, zeigt der Fall von City Deal, den GründerSzene.de genauer unter die Lupe genommen hat. Sie zeigen auf mit welchen Methoden diese Zahlen heute bereits aktiv verfälscht werden und damit angeblicher Erfolgszahlen erschlichen werden können.
Gerade im Marketing und im höheren Management werden diese Zahlen gerne heran gezogen, um den Erfolg beweisen. GründerSzene resümiert aber sehr passend:
Im Zweifel gilt also auch hier mal wieder: tief durch atmen und Ruhe bewahren. Wer ein System besitzt, welches die tatsächliche Erfolgswerte (also Einnahmen und Profite) verlässlich misst, braucht sich keine Sorgen machen. Seine Werte zeigen den wahren Erfolg.
Gerade im Marketing und im höheren Management werden diese Zahlen gerne heran gezogen, um den Erfolg beweisen. GründerSzene resümiert aber sehr passend:
Im Grunde lässt sich über Ad-Planner-Daten nur eins sagen: Wie so vieles im Internet lassen sie sich beeinflussen und sollten daher mit Vorsicht genossen werden. Sie lassen grobe Aussagen zu und dennoch sollte stets darauf geachtet werden, sie kritisch zu betrachten.Als Beweis taugen diese Zahlen nichts. Sie können maximal als ein Indiz oder Trend angesehen werden. Sie lassen sich nicht direkt in Einnahmen oder Profite umrechnen und sind daher als Erfolgsmesswert eines Unternehmens eher nicht zu gebrauchen, wenn nicht sogar komplett zu ignorieren. Unternehmen deren Ziel die Steigerung dieser Zahlen ist, sind nicht erfolgreich.
Im Zweifel gilt also auch hier mal wieder: tief durch atmen und Ruhe bewahren. Wer ein System besitzt, welches die tatsächliche Erfolgswerte (also Einnahmen und Profite) verlässlich misst, braucht sich keine Sorgen machen. Seine Werte zeigen den wahren Erfolg.
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