Choosing your platform, Book Outline “Crush It!” part 6
Posted by eviator in For Job Seekers on December 28, 2009
There are basically three different formats that you can choose from to produce content on the web, video, audio, or written word (or a combination of these). In chapter 6, Choose Your Platform, Vaynerchuk discusses some of the more popular online platforms…
Wordpress and Tumblr:
All other platforms you use should lead here to your blog. It should be your headquarters. Wordpress is an excellent service, and incorporates many features. It can be challenging to master, but can pay off in a big way. Tumblr is an alternative to Wordpress that is very easy to use and while lacking some of Wordpress’ bells and whistles, succeeds in getting the job done. Personally I recommend Tumblr (this is what I use), especially for the person with a $0 budget, for one big reason. They will host your domain for free. Awesome I know.
Regardless of which blog platform you choose, you should always take advantage of the call to action buttons (Like that button on the right that says Share). Having this type of button on your page can be an excellent way to build some word of mouth.
Facebook:
I love Facebook. It’s an excellent way to share all types of information, photographs, news articles, videos, etc with your friends and contacts. You can set up a personal profile for yourself, as well as a fan page (like my favorite local comic shop Keith’s Comics… http://www.facebook.com//keithscomics). The advantage of using a fan page is that you can have an infinite number of fans (there’s a 5,000 person limit on your profile). Also, it’s?an excellent non-intrusive way to get your messages out to your customers (as opposed to spaming them with emails).
Twitter:
I’ll admit, I’m a bit puzzled when it comes to Twitter, but after reading Vaynerchuk’s book I’m definitely reconsidering using it. Basically you can use Twitter to put out content, and follow other people’s content. Most importantly, it allows you to start conversations with people. As with other social media platforms, Twitter can be used effectively to lure people to your blog… assuming your blog is relevant and interesting to your followers. Vaynerchuk suggests the following website (www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business), and I agree. It is an excellent resource for those interested in using Twitter to effectively market a business (or your personal brand).
Flickr:
Flickr is a picture hosting site that can be used to either post pictures that lead back to your blog, or you can post intriguing comments on other people’s pictures that will lead back to your blog. Just remember, if you are posting comments, you should stay relevant and tasteful; don’t just post something for the sake of posting it.
Youtube and/or Viddler:
Youtube is one of my favorite time-wasting websites. I use it all the time to search for music concerts, classic boxing matches, video game playthroughs, and tons of other fun content. It’s such a huge site that it’s very easy to get lost among all the other people out there doing the same thing that you’re doing. Viddler is a smaller site, and you can even put your logo at the bottom of your videos (instead of having a Youtube logo on it). Viddler also allows you to earmark specific segments of your video which works well for someone posting reviews and such. If video is your thing, there’s no reason to not use both.
Ustream.tv:
Ustream.tv is a live video program that includes chat functions. Vaynerchuk suggests that it is excellent for radio shows or a home shopping network style show. I haven’t tried it myself, but if you’ve had success with it, I’d love to hear your story (email me at EdwardViator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com).
Everyone is starting to use these sites, but don’t let that discourage you. As long as you do things your way in your style, you will be able to differentiate yourself with no problem.
In addition to these sites, you should look into using www.ping.fm which allows you to post small updates on a bunch of sites (like facebook and twitter) all at once, and www.tubemogul.com?which essentially does the same thing, but for video content. Tube Mogul is also excellent for analytics (as is google analytics). Vaynerchuk recommends www.somewhatfrank.com/2008/12/social-media-my.html for a full list of social media tools.
Notable quotes from this chapter:
- The difference between promoting your brand via traditional marketing and advertising mediums and doing it via social networking platforms is like the difference between sending a message by pony express and chatting on instant messenger.
- Twitter is perhaps the most powerful brand-building tool in your tool box.
- The best business tweet of all time… What can I do for you?
- It’s not about?how many viewers you have, it’s about how passionate they are.
Office versus Remote
Which is better for productivity? People working in an office or remotely? A lot of arguments for both sides, but I recently found actual metrics for the difference. In the book, The HBR List – Breakthrough Ideas for 2009, there is an article by Alex Pentland titled How Social Networks Network Best.
His article is about how organizations should manage discovery and then integration and decision making. His point is that organizations that alternate between a centralized structure and a richly connected network can optimize these processes.
His article really does not address the differences between working in an office versus remotely but there is an interesting metric. To quote:
A recent MIT study found that in one organization the employees with the most extensive personal digital networks were 7% more productive than their colleagues…In the same organization, however; employees with the most cohesive face-to-face networks were 30% more productive.
What does this mean? I will address that more in my next article but there is definite concerns when an organization is geographically broken up and how that organization can address challenges, overcome obstacles and then executive quickly
As for startups, they are very prone to wanting to work remotely because of the cost of office space and the need to find the right workers. Compromising on the need to physically be together could impare the startups effectiveness.
Invest or Not in a new fuel
Posted by Steve in 14 Point List, Pitch, Valuation on December 23, 2009
In Sunday NY Times (Dec 6, 2009, pg 2) there is an article titled KLM Tests a Biofuel That’s Made From Weeds.? They are using Camelina oil as part of the fuel to run a Boeing 747. The question is: Should you invest in Camelina Oil?
What would be the first questions?
1. What is the economic advantage? Is it more efficient or cheaper or both?? Not mentioned in the article.
2. How safe is it? This is being tested according to article.
3. Who is producing it? Not mentioned but a Google search can find it.
4. What is the likelihood of it being picked up as a fuel? No idea.
5. What is the investment target?? Companies producing it, the oil or seed itself, or companies using it?
6. Finally, if it is patentable, who has it?
Lots of questions.? From the point of this blog, the best bet may be to invest in a company producing it. Why? It will be the efficiency of production, conversion, and delivery that will make this a viable fuel.? The seed can be grown in many locations by a variety of people.? Too much competition there. Assume the fuel can be used by anyone, it would only decrease the costs of that business by a fraction.
The real win is in the producer and deliverer of the oil.? The exit plan would be to go public or get acquired by another energy company.? The two key entry criteria would be an existing customer and demonstration by the company that they can deliver; or at least their managers have the experience of delivering on their promises.
A point I am making is that the methodology described in this blog is the ability to quickly evaluate an opportunity and determine if you should spend the due diligence on a deep dive.??I would look at the 14 points and see how well it fits and then make the recommendation.? If it passes all 14, I would only recommend this if I was looking at a viable concern.?? Oh, and one more thing, if the investor has experience in energy then I would make it positive; but if they are not experienced in energy, then I would suggest they get some before they invest.
Write about your passion – my version
Posted by Steve in Miscellaneous on December 22, 2009
Ed wrote last week about the content for your blog. He says to write about your passion. My passion is to develop cool products, solve problems, and doing something meaningful. One type of cool product is a company that is successful. If I can help a company grow whether it is to the next level or just increase a little bit, then I feel that it has been a success. And, THAT is the goal: do I feel like I did a good job.
I got a call today from a new client. They complained that they were losing money. When I asked about their previous advisor, they said that he did not help them at all. Can I help them? Fortunately, in my business our clients get a profit report once a month. This profit report lists how much money they make by each of their customers. It shows the revenue and the direct costs for each customer. You can assume that indirect costs (overhead) are about the same for each of them. This client makes approximately $13,000 per month. I told them to take that report and order it by profit from low to high. Start with the lowest, if it is negative, review why and then address it. If you have to, drop that customer; because losing that customer will make you more money! Within five minutes I identify how they can increase their profitability by $1080 per month by addressing the customers that were negative profits. That is more than 8%! I sent them instructions with a breakdown of the customers that were bleeding them money.
8% increase. That feels good. This company is going to be better off.
A lot of lessons can be learned from this but there are some meta-lessons too.
It is a good brag story, which did not take me long to write
Lessons learned:
1. Writing about your successes is fun and can be helpful.
2. Fun writing is faster and easier than writing that becomes a chore.
3. This type of writing can generate a lot of additional articles (I see a few already
Book Outline “Crush It!” part 5, creating content
Posted by eviator in For Job Seekers on December 16, 2009
We’ve already discussed why you should be building your personal brand (online and off), but how do you go about doing it? How do you create excellent and compelling content? Here’s a hint, it really helps if you are passionate about what you’re talking about. I enjoy many different things, film, comics, video games, music, etc, but I love marketing. It’s what I’m passionate about. Sometimes I find myself discussing marketing topics with friends and family that couldn’t care less, which is why I’m posting here. If you know what you are passionate about, then you should have no problem finding hundreds of topics to discuss.
According to Vaynerchuk, to win at this game, you need to honestly be able to answer yes to these questions:
- Is ____ my ultimate passion?
- Am I good enough to be the best blogger about ____ in the world?
He’s right. If you can’t answer yes to these questions, then go find something else to discuss. You can do amazing work marketing your blog or website, but it doesn’t matter if your content is bland. Vaynerchuk offers a formula to help you create excellent content…. Passion + expertise = good content. This means that you need to research your passion and learn everything about it. If you think about it, this should be the fun and exciting part of the whole venture. If you are truly passionate about your subject, then you’re probably researching anyway. You can even turn this learning process into something you wright about (like what I’m doing right now).
If you want a boring blog, post the facts. If you want an interesting blog that attracts the type of people you want to talk to, then you should infuse your posts with your own personality. Tell some stories (remember storytelling is by far the most underrated skill in business), and have fun. The next step is finding out which medium you should use to get your point across, print, online radio, or video, which we will discuss next.
Notable quotes from this chapter:
- To monetize your personal brand into a business using social marketing networks, two pillars need to be in place: product and content.
- Know yourself. Choose the right medium, chose the right topic, create awesome content, and you can make a lot of money being happy.
Are you creating excellent content? Tell me about it at edwardviator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com
Quit your job does not mean quit working for someone else
Posted by Steve in For Job Seekers on December 15, 2009
Be your own boss.
Stop working for the man.
Enticing ideas, but unfortunately they are rarely true. Bosses work for other people: stockholders, owners, board of directors, and customers. They are always answerable to someone else.
On Friday, Dec 9, 2009, Ed Viator wrote about quitting your job. The idea is not necessarily go out there and start your own company, but to find a job doing what you love. If it is not working for your current boss, then it may be working for someone else. That someone else could also be in the very same company you are now.
Before you quit your job assess your situation. Figure out what is wrong, and what options there are to fix it. Those options are fix your current job, find a new role in your company, find a role somewhere else, or start your own business. You will always be working for someone else so its best to pick not only the job you love, but the boss you can stand.
Book Outline “Crush It!” part 4, when should you quit your job
Posted by eviator in For Job Seekers on December 9, 2009
According to Gary Vaynerchuk, you should quit if you can’t answer yes to the following questions:
- Are you happy with your present job?
- Do you work for a company that allows you to have a public persona?
- If you’re not allowed to develop a personal persona at work, are you allowed to do so in your personal time?
In today’s tough economy, it is probably unwise to quit your job outright. However, Vaynerchuk makes a good argument. If you are not able to build your own personal brand, you will be left in the dust, and should at least start preparing your resume. Chances are, there’s a better job out there for you, one that will enable you to prepare for your own future success as well as the company’s.
What do you think? When is it appropriate to quit your job? Let me know at edwardviator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com
Notable quotes from this chapter:
?
- Crying about how things should be instead of embracing how things are doesn’t do anyone any good.
- The middleman has not yet been eliminated but we’re getting there.
- The changes that will be wrought by the internet are as fundamentally transformative to content and commerce as the printing press. It’s a whole new world; build your personal brand and get ready for it.
Startup charities have to earn our attention.
Startup charities are like any startup business; they have to earn our attention.
My premise is that startup charities do not command it because of the nature of being a charity. There are plenty of fakes that hurt the real good ones. They need to be treated like any other startup business: validity of the people behind the cause first and then the worthiness of the cause.
The number of charities in the United States that are considered tax exempt are between 40,000 and 50,000 and could number more. Although these charities are registered with the IRS, the number of charities indicates that they may exceed the IRS’s ability to vette them completely each year; some of these charities may exist for dubious reasons.
Those two points appeared in an article in the New York Times, this Sunday (December 5, 2009) on page 1 and page 29, titled Grab Bag of Charities Grows, Along with U.S. Tax Breaks (written by Stephanie Strom). You can read it here.
Remember on Nov 30, I wrote Believe in your charity by believing in other charities? The point of that article was that just because a person is running charity does not entitle them to get the services for free.? Some people tend to use their charity as an excuse to get free or discounted services.
On page 29, there is an article also by Stephanie Strom: Seeking Profits At a Nonprofit. It is a fairly unflattering piece about an energy company.? This energy company is accepting federal funds and donations to develop alternative sources of energy and patent them.? However, the reporter discovered that their one and only patent is NOT in their name but in the name of one of the founders. Given that we are not given any details, or the circumstances of the patent, we are left to believe that this is someone using the veil of charity to profit.
It is also a piece of terrible marketing for the energy company.
Unfortunately, some worthy charities have difficulties because they are just not popular as a way of showing that you are good citizen.? Last night I sat in a fund raiser for another charity, one that provides education for adults. One of the speakers, a professional fundraiser, pointed out that it is much harder to get donations for them versus a hospital. Why? Education is not sexy like a hospital. You gave money for books? Ho hum. You gave money to cure a disease!! That is very good of you. That is the mentality they deal with every day.? I donate to them.
Someone asked me why I should donate to them and not to someone that is more worthy. I said, They are worthy. I checked them out. The big charities get a lot of money already, but this small needs it too.
To reiterate my points:
- Just because you are a charity does not mean you should get services for free.? You have to earn that privilege.
- You CAN earn that privilege but you have to do deeds that demonstrate your intent.
- Talking about deeds and planning deeds do not count. You can try to convince me of the worthiness, but then I am going to judge you by you and your validity (just like any investor).
A startup charity is just like any startup business in the sense that you have to not just believe in the cause, but believe in the people behind the cause.
Book Outline “Crush It!” part 3, build your personal brand
Posted by eviator in For Job Seekers on December 7, 2009
Sure you can make money on the internet, but it’s infinitely more important to build your brand. Think about it this way, you can have a customer spend $1000 today, or you can have that customer spend $100 today, next week,?the week after, etc, and then tell all their friends about how awesome your company is.?If you have a strong brand that people can believe in, then the money will come eventually. When you are first starting out, you should focus on building excellent content, and most importantly on delivering that content in a way that embraces your personality. In his third chapter, Build your personal brand, Vaynerchuk discusses this in detail using his website, tv.winelibrary.com as an example. He didn’t start the website to sell wine, but instead to build a brand. While he’s excelled at both, it’s important to remember the order in which this took place:
- Build a strong brand
- Monetize the brand
No matter what type of content you create (video, text, pictures, online radio), it should be something that you are passionate about and can communicate in an honest and authentic way. This means you should be yourself. Your website shouldn’t look like mine, it should look like yours. This is what will differentiate your brand from all the others out there doing the same thing. Once you have great content up on your site, you should begin using online social networks to build strong word of mouth and create a community.
How are you currently building your personal brand (both online and off)? Let me know at edwardviator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com
Notable quotes from this chapter:
- Developing you personal brand is key to monetizing your passion online.
- Consumers want you to tell them the truth.
- Leveraging social networking platforms into effective conduits for your personal brand is all about building word of mouth.
Book outline: Crush It! part 2, discovering your passion
Posted by eviator in For Job Seekers on December 3, 2009
Too many people ignore their personal passions in order to conform to things that society or other people think they should do. In his 2nd chapter, Success is in your DNA Vaynerchuk discusses his personal background, his early business exploits selling baseball cards, working in his?father’s liquor store, and eventually using the internet to promote the store and his person brand. The general point of the chapter, and of the book in general is that you must be yourself. It can be difficult sometimes, but the good news is that the internet makes it possible for you to redefine yourself, and most importantly to turn your passion into your personal brand.
I can definitely relate to some of what he says in this chapter. I remember my dad working two jobs so that me and my brother could go to the best schools. I’m sure that he wasn’t passionate about loading goods into eighteen wheelers all day (his true passion has always been baseball), but he endured the back-breaking labor because he valued education, a passion that quickly became my own. You should look to your own past and find out what drives you to success. Do some soul searching and find out what you are passionate about.
Notable quotes from this chapter:
- Storytelling is by far the most underrated skill in business.
What are you passionate about. Let me know at EdwardViator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com