Phew, what a week! In addition to the usual, I volunteered at the Ligonier Ministries National Conference (although unfortunately got a migraine on Friday), and today we (Chancel Choir) sang for two services at Saint Andrew’s before I photographed the latest Fine Arts event.
My beautiful sisters are going to spend the night with me next weekend!
I went to Hobby Lobby and got some fun crafty things for their visit. I also grabbed a couple extra things that have become three new cocktail rings for me (about $5 each).
When I left for the concert, this funky caterpillar was on my car window.
I’m trying to be disciplined about taking more careful photos and posting them without editing. (It has the secondary benefit of saving a great deal of time!) Forgive my learning curve. 🙂
You’ve all heard of (and probably read) Seth Godin’s excellent book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us (Amazon Affiliate link). He talks about finding (or creating) your audience and leading those passionate people to new things. If you have a business, at some point (like every point) you’re going to want to monetize the tribe.
ABC’s LOST has one of the most passionate tribes since Star Wars. Even if you’ve never seen the show, if you’re on Twitter or Facebook (or have any water cooler talk at the office) you’ve encountered people talking about the show.
Now ABC’s business model doesn’t really include monetizing a certain show’s fan base other than promoting them to advertisers while the show is on the air. There’s an official LOST Facebook page, but they’ve gone mostly silent since the show ended. There are tons of unofficial message boards, fan pages, blogs and web pages devoted to the show.
One such site, LostBlog.com, has no interest in shutting (or slowing) down after the show’s finale. They’ve organized rewatch discussion boards (planned times to rewatch certain episodes, starting from the pilot) and highlight the Twitter conversation, including new “Losties” who are beginning to watch the show for the first time.
They’ve also organized a  LOST book club where fans will be reading through books featured, mentioned, or alluded to in the series (and believe me, there are a lot). They continue to have advertisers and they use the Amazon affiliate program, so while I doubt they’re making a fortune they’re definitely monetizing.
The question is, are your tribes doing the same thing? Are they setting up discussion boards, activities or events centered around your product separate from you? If so, is that okay with you (because your business model, like ABC’s, ignores profitability after a certain point) or would you like to get in on the action?
One of the ways this might happen is if you never thought of rewatch parties or a LOST book club. So think outside the island. Have you thought of every way you can grow your business, even if a certain product is “over”? I’m betting you can’t afford to miss opportunities like these. So… what haven’t you thought of?
Is your business easy for your customers? Some of you will say Yes first and then worry about it. Some will immediately begin arguing “All things worth having are worth working for…” The truth is whether you are a B2B, B2C or B2G, your product/service needs to be easy.
Staples has had success with their Easy Button campaign. They have a simple message: press the Easy Button, and all your office supply/ink/printing needs are met. Why is this effective? Because Staples is saying they understand you have bigger things to worry about– and whether your customers are business owners, Congressmen, housewives, schoolteachers or anything else, they have bigger things to worry about than your business.
At work recently I have begun ordering lunch a few times a week. I found a favorite place to order, Restaurant X. They have delicious food, reasonable prices and are only a couple blocks from my office. The first time they delivered right on time, but even after I had ordered a couple of times their [new] delivery people kept getting lost. A couple of times by the time my food arrived it was cold and I had lost whatever brief slip of time I’d been able to carve out for lunch in the first place. Then one day I called and they told me they couldn’t deliver during the lunch rush. Wait… couldn’t deliver lunch? Besides the fact that their website and menus’ largest text proclaims WE DELIVER, they are a downtown eatery within blocks of large office buildings, including mine, and they couldn’t deliver lunch. (On an earlier occasion, too, a coworker had wanted to order with me and Restaurant X told me they “couldn’t split orders”. Since neither she nor I had cash to reimburse one another, she cancelled her order.)
That coworker happened to think of Restaurant Y, a place with similar food a few miles away in a more residential area. Their prices are a little higher (a dollar or two per dish), but I decided to give them a try. They happily delivered, on time, and never got lost. Soon several other people in the office were ordering when I did because they’d seen my food (starting from when I was ordering from Restaurant X), and the drivers come out one time to deliver multiple orders. They patiently take an order and get transferred from phone to phone taking multiple credit cards.
You know what? I like Restaurant X’s food a little bit better, and would appreciate spending a few dollars less on lunch. But on those days I haven’t had time to pack anything and don’t have time to go out, only one thing matters: who can bring me lunch? I need to press the easy button and have lunch appear.
How could your business make it easier for your customers? How are you doing it already?
Yes, contacting your existing network. Yes, searching job  boards. Yes, searching on social networks. But you can’t (shouldn’t!) sit at the computer all day, and even in person you won’t be the first great candidate letting your connections know you’re looking for work.
I’ve heard far too many people tell job seekers that employers will understand if there’s a gap in your resume in 2009 or 2010– the economy is tough. Maybe, but what does a complete gap in your resume say? That you’ve sat on your butt collecting unemployment as it was extended and extended. Is that what you want this time to say about you?
What did you do before? Can you do that in some capacity, even if you might be working for free? Nonprofits can always use extra help, but they may not always be able to pay for it.
Does a local Relay for Life need your help to build a website where each team can take contributions via PayPal, or to teach teams about using Square to take on-the-fly donations via credit card?
Can you organize a huge city-wide event for Share Our Strength’s National Bake Sale? Put together a supply drive for Haiti, Chile, Nashville, or the local crisis pregnancy center? Find a candidate you believe in and host a fundraiser, make phone calls or walk precincts. Right now while you may not have money, you have what you probably haven’t in the past: time. Put it to good use.
On a smaller level, use WordPress to build your church a website. Set your friend the CEO up on Twitter. Teach your small business owning brother how to video blog. If you’re an accountant, become a campaign treasurer. Retile your elderly neighbor’s kitchen. Start making family dinners for your best friend the single mom.
You can volunteer consulting services, too. Whether your expertise is boards of directors, open-source technology, accounting, event planning, paperless office environments, building projects, energy savings, or graphic design, chances are there’s a local nonprofit who could really use you.
There is also no reason you have to work for free. You can probably walk down your nearest major street and offer to build a web presence for each of the local businesses. Ask around for companies who’ve recently had to reduce their workforce and are missing a crucial person just as a project needs to get done. Do some consulting for a friend’s small business. Create a profile on a freelance work site or a compete-to-win graphic design site. Babysit. Walk some dogs. Start your own company.
In addition to having something to put on your resume and helping a worthy cause, you’ll often meet local business owners who serve on the boards of nonprofits (and when you’re doing freelance projects for companies, you’ll temporarily fit into their regular workflow). This is network building– the thing most likely to get you a new job.
In short, do something. As companies begin hiring again, and even if “they’re not”, you’ll put yourself in the best possible position to move forward. And who knows? You may even find that the freelancing you’re doing or the company you start is what you want to do for the rest of your life!
You’ve heard a lot about social media. You know you should get involved. You’re just not sure you have time/not sure you know how/not sure you want to jump in just yet. That’s fine (for now). What do you do now, then? Ignore the conversation? Pretend no one is mentioning your brand because you’re not there? No way!
Whether you have profiles on every site, are waiting to jump in to social media or never plan to get involved, you should know what is being said about your company. Here’s how to do that.
Set up Google Alerts on terms you want to keep track of across the Web (your company name, your own name, brand names of your products or services, and– for best results– other terms related to your industry). Be sure to click Comprehensive! You can have these delivered to your email (in a daily or weekly digest, or as they occur) or to an RSS reader. (This step is really an absolute necessity. If you do nothing else, at least do this!)
While some tweets will eventually show up in your Google Alerts, for the most real-time results you should use Twitter Search. If you want to do this daily, you’re welcome to; but the easiest way will be to search the terms, then click Feed for this Query and subscribe in an RSS feeder.
In order to use Facebook Search, you’ll need a Facebook account. It’s worth signing up for, since anything within Facebook will not show up in your Google Alerts. If the mentions you see through Google are showing up in blogs, subscribe to search terms in the blog siteTechnorati. You might also search regularly through Alltop, a topic aggregator.
Once you have a good idea of the conversation happening about your brand (or related topics), you’ll have a chance to decide where you want to go from there. Do you want to set up profiles on existing networks, or try to start a community around your brand? Do you want to blog or just chat? Is there an educational gap surrounding your product? After listening for a while, you’ll know where the gaps are– and you can figure out (or get help figuring out) just how you want to fill them.
Without being active on the Web, you’ll have a hard time responding if you hear something about your brand getting out of hand, but at least you won’t be blindsided by something that arises “behind the scenes”. (Remember: Your customers have access to search engines and are usually on at least one social media site. It’s not behind the scenes for anyone but you.)
Provide top-notch customer service through Twitter, Facebook, or any number of forum or chat platforms.
Send a newsletter— use ConstantContact, Emma, or the bevy of other products available. (By permission only, please!)
Distribute informative literature by posting it on your website, Facebook fan page, or other platform.
Send invitations or spread the word about events— store openings, special sales, educational seminars, campaign rallies, whatever! Use MeetUp, Facebook, Evite, or a range of other options.
Distribute coupons, discount codes, or event tickets individually via email or generally to online fans/followers.
Organize volunteers to political events, community service opportunities, or other causes (MeetUp, Facebook, Evite, etc.).
Make announcements or distribute press releases. You can do this through regular communications on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, on a section of your website, or officially either through direct communication with reporters or by using a service like PitchEngine.)
With new small business clients I often get questions like
“Yeah, I know I should be on social media. But what would I use it for?”
“I don’t have a lot of time to devote to this, but I want to jump in. How can I start?”
“I’m not ready to set up a profile anywhere. Is there a way for me to dip a toe in another way?”
These questions, and others like them, will be answered over the next few weeks.
I’d love to get everyone’s input and look forward to further discussion.
This morning, thousands of people in Florida and Georgia awoke to “SOS Only” service on their AT&T cell phones. While only a minor annoyance for some, for others (like me) who use the phones to run their businesses and/or have gotten rid of their land lines, this constitutes a major problem.
I called AT&T and sat on hold for fifteen minutes. A customer service representative told me they were aware of the outage and it would be fixed within 24 hours. 24 hours?! That is a long time to be without cell service. I asked if this service interruption would be eflected in my bill.  I was put on hold again, and then was told I would be given a 48-hour credit ($4.79). That’s good, but doesn’t really address the larger business problem I’m encountering by being without cell service!
I began searching Twitter to see whether others were having this problem. Many were. Soon local station Central Florida News 13 was talking about it on Twitter, getting lots of responses and starting a hashtag for the event: #attfail. The Orlando Sentinel picked up on the story too, and began live blogging the updates they received from AT&T’s spokeswoman.
Facebook isn’t searchable in the same way, but news about it has definitely been going around my newsfeed.
AT&T was nowhere to be found. As far as I can tell there was no acknowledgement of the problem on their website (although the system was so clogged I couldn’t log in to my account online), and no use was made of their Twitter account to respond to the growing number of people making this problem very public.
Etan Horowitz, an Orlando Sentinel technology journalist, wrote a blog that the outage had been confirmed by AT&T and began actively updating the blog entry and Twitter (even @-replying to each complainant he found via a Twitter search) to keep people informed of AT&T’s official response. In short, he was doing precisely what AT&T ought to have been doing!
If your company ever has a service crisis like this, how are you equipped to respond? Will you rely on a local newspaper reporter to assure your customers that something is being done? (Are you willing to trust the media to communicate as well as Etan did with your customers?)
If you are not active in social media (especially Twitter), you are not set up to control your own message through a crisis. That’s a dangerous place to be.
(Amazon Affiliate link). He talks about finding (or creating) your audience and leading those passionate people to new things. If you have a business, at some point (like every point) you’re going to want to monetize the tribe.
