A recent segment of 60 Minutes was devoted to the life and work of Don Hewitt, the new magazine’s creator, who passed away in August 2009. As you may know, 60 Minutes is the longest-running prime-time television broadcast in the country. I enjoyed learning about Hewitt’s perspective on the show’s phenomenal success, which he says boils down to this: “Tell Me A Story.”
I meditated on this mindset as I watched my 6-year old son “read” the newspaper this morning. While he does not read all of the words, he perceives some of the story elements by studying the pictures. After he finishes “reading” the story, he tells me about it. His rendition is always pretty close to the real thing. [Continue Reading…]
Last year, I met Leesa Barnes, author of Podcasting for Profit
. Leesa graciously accepted my invitation to be a guest on my radio show, and you can stream or download the interview with here. (Jamila White hosted that show for me while I was away speaking at a conference.) While I hope to meet Leesa in person one day, for now, I am delighted to accept her invitation to join the faculty of her 2010 Social Media Telesummit!
Like Leesa’s past Telesummits, this one promises to be engaging, fun and informative! Other faculty members include PR strategist Shannon Cherry, social media devotee Nancy Marmolejo and many more! [Continue Reading…]
Small business owners often say they don’t want to be bothered with social media because the learning curve is too steep. Here’s what I have to say about that. Get over it. When isn’t the learning curve steep? Here’s an analogy. If you are a homeowner, you can’t let your front lawn grow wild. Not only will it look awful, but your neighbors will not like you.
Tall grasses and weeds can also harbor snakes and other potentially dangerous critters. So what do you do? You either hire someone to mow your lawn or you learn how to do it yourself. If you decide to do it yourself, you can’t just buy a mower and start mowing. [Continue Reading…]
Yesterday, I Tweeted my experience linking from a small business owner’s Twitter page to her website, and not finding her name anywhere. There was also no phone number and no address, yet her products were sold via a shopping cart at her site and her newsletter subscription form required subscribers to enter a first and last name along with an email address. My Tweet received a few replies, some of them asking why it was important for small business owners to use their names online.
I was a bit shocked that some online merchants thought there was nothing odd about asking people to do business with you anonymously. Here are some of the main reasons why I think business owners, regardless of size, should share their identities online, especially if they are relying on the Internet for the bulk of their sales. [Continue Reading…]
Earlier today, I suggested that social media is just media. Today, I want to share proof that, whatever you call it, it works! According to comScore, a digital marketing intelligence company, the graph below shows a marked increase in the number of discounts and special offers made by retailers on Black Friday (and ten days before and ten days after Black Friday) this year, as compared to in prior years.
According to comScore, retailers’s desire to lure shoppers early in a lousy economy explains this increase. For example, last year, online holiday sales spiked on Cyber Monday. This year, they spiked 3 days earlier on Black Friday.Not only was there a spike, there was an 11% increase in online sales on Black Friday, as compared to a 1% increase on the same day last year. [Continue Reading…]
I recently received an email from a small business owner who said, “I hate social media.” In the next paragraph, she asked me what she could to do grow her business, which relies on the Internet for the vast majority of its sales. While the short answer to that question is, “Use social media,” I was smart enough not to say that, even though it’s true. Small business owners frequently tell me that social media makes them gag, so I thought I’d take a look at how to bypass the emotions that prevent so many people from using new media tools to maximize their success.
While many people hate the term, ’social media,” they don’t hate what it can do for them. Unfortunately, their hatred of the term prevents them from discovering what it can do for them. To overcome this unacceptable result, start by getting away from the term and start calling it what it is at its core — media. [Continue Reading…]
I am delighted that longtime IBN member Kaila Westerman will join us at The Media Is You – San Francisco! Kaila is the owner of TKB Trading, LLC, a San Francisco-based supplier of cosmetics colorants for use in toiletries, soap and cosmetics. Kaila also sells waxes, lip product bases, containers, lipstick molds, and associated products. Kaila is a sought after speaker at cosmetics related events. She is also the author of Gel Candles: 40 Creative Projects
and Melt & Mold Soap Crafting
.*
The photo is of Kaila and I at the 2008 Beauty Business Boot Camp at The Nova Studio outside San Francisco where I taught a series of social media workshops. [Continue Reading…]
In case you haven’t heard, Oprah Winfrey will host the final episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show sometime in 2011 when her contract with CBS Corp. (which syndicates her show) expires. At that time, she will turn her attention to a 50-50 joint venture, announced last year, with Discovery Communications called, “OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.” Oprah’s ability to draw sponsors could have resulted in a lucrative renegotiation of her CBS contract. She could have played network against network for the best deals. But no. After 25 years, Oprah has won the right to own not only the water, but also the pipe. And that is the very essence of power where your brand is concerned.
Your product is like water in a pipe. You can produce it until the cows come home, but if you can’t channel it to the people who need it, then you end up with too much water and not enough drinkers. But when you own the pipe through which you channel your water directly to the drinkers, you are in the driver’s seat and the sky is the limit. [Continue Reading…]
If you don’t already think The Media Is You, this will change your mind. YouTube recently announced YouTube Direct, a service that allows news organizations to customize YouTube’s uploader to receive video from people who want to share items of interest with the news organization’s audience. The potential of this new format is massive, both for small business owners and for news organizations. Here’s a video overview of the new service.
(If you are reading this post via email or in an RSS reader and cannot see the video, click here.)
Look for traditional news organizations that are starved for human resources and weary of having to “compete” with you and me for the attention of their readers, to implement this new technology quickly. The power of this new platform to marry the interests of small business owners and traditional media outlets is very promising. [Continue Reading…]
On December 1 and 2, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will hold two days of workshops on how the Internet has affected journalism. The workshops come in the wake of the release last month of the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which become effective on the first day of the workshops.
If you are a small and independent business owner who uses technology to share your ideas, it is in your best interests to attend the hearings live or via webcast, or at least track progress, because the topics discussed will light on how you will use technology in the coming decade. Remember, The Media Is Y-O-U! And as the boundaries between you and traditional journalism continue to collide, it’s important to own your power in this regard, and to live up to certain responsibilities as well. [Continue Reading…]
