Flip and think!

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.

Becoming Social Network Marketing Manager

When I read this Dilbert a few days ago, I knew I had to share it with you:

It's funny because it's true.

[Should I care about] Fans and Followers?

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?

[Should I care about] Location-based Services (LBS)

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?

Mastering the social media geek on a party

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.

People don't buy what you do

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.

keep the fire burning

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  

Listen to your mom

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:

• 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!

Why Google Wave will never replace email while social networks already did

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!