Chip Griffin: My guest today is Doug Haslam. He is with Shift Communications but today I'm talking to him not about his professional life but about some charitable work that he's doing. Welcome, Doug.

Doug Haslam: Hi, and great to be here again.

Chip: Yeah, we do have a lot of these conversations for various of my podcasts and it's great to have you back. As I was telling you before we started recording I promised to actually record this conversation, because the last time you and I got together for a media bulls eye round-table we had an energetic 35 or 40 minute conversation only to realize that my computer hadn't recorded even a second of it!

Doug: [chuckles] Oh, well...

Chip: So, in any event... Doug, I want you to talk a little bit about the Pan Mass Challenge. It's something that you've done for the last couple of years and you've been using social media to promote your effort. So, first of all I want you to tell us what the Pan Mass Challenge is.

Doug: Sure, and this is actually my second year riding it. Last year was my first. It's a two-day ride across a large part of Massachusetts. There's a couple of other start points but the ride, I think, is about 160 miles over two days. It's actually, this year, the 30th ride. They started in 1980 and all the money raised -- every cent of it raised -- goes to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. So it's to research in treatments and cures for cancer.

Chip: So, basically... I mean, you do a lot of training for this too, right? I mean, this isn't something that you just can go out and say: "Ha, you know, I think I'm going to ride for two straight days!" without having done a little bit of warm-up.

Doug: Right. You know, as soon as I... This year actually I started doing some spinning classes as well as getting to the gym. In fact, a friend I met through Twitter, Les Page, has been Jessie's spin class teacher and they've actually generously let me crash their classes over the winter but now that the weather is good I'm actually on the bike. Yeah, I would say every weekend I try to get at least one long ride in, maybe two, and then some shorter ones during the week. I just keep doing that up until August and the ride is the first weekend of August. You know, I just try to get a lot of miles and to get used to biking and my experience last year was that the ride wasn't that bad after getting ready for it, so... Even though it was longer that anything I have done.

Chip: . And you mention your experience sort of from the physical standpoint but talk a little bit about your experience last year and some of the people you've met and sort of how the process went for you.

Doug: From the ride itself or...?

Chip: Yeah. For the whole event, start to finish.

Doug: Yeah, sure. Well, what was interesting: I rode with one friend -- I neighbor I knew -- and we actually got separated a lot. It's just that way when you ride with a thousand -- 5, 000 really -- people: you tend to get separated among groups. So, basically, we all had name tags on our bikes so, as we were riding, I would just look at the name tags and see where someone was from and I would strike up a conversation, talk about were I lived and where I was from and all that. You know, you never know... because this is a pretty high-profile event in Massachusetts you never know who you're going to meet up with and at one point I was actually noticing the New England's Sports Network truck kept going past me and then slowing down and then going past me again with a guy hanging out with a camera.

So I looked at everyone's nametags around me and I realized I was right in the middle of the wives of the Red Sox players and actually struck up a conversation with Trot Nixon's wife. Although he doesn't play for the Red Sox anymore, she still comes every year out to ride that and the Red Sox of course are big supporters of Dana Farber so they have a huge contingent called Team nine -- nine as in Ted William's number -- that rides every year.

On the way back I actually took the less popular ride back last year to Wellesley and there was a lonely stretch where I was just getting very tired and very slow and I happened across a bunch Team 9'ers and they just said: "Well, bike with us!" and that really picked me up.

So I'm talking to these people about what they do and it was: "Hey, who are you, what do you do?" and one of them says: "Oh, I'm a cancer researcher at Dana Farber, I'm doing experimental bone marrow transplant research, like" I was: "Oh, OK. That's interesting. I'm in PR."

Chip: Right. [laughs]

Doug: And then I come up to a guy in the group and it's like: "Oh, what do you do?" and he says: "I'm the CEO of One-Stop-And-Shop" So, I mean, not to single out people who are rather prominent, because there's 5, 000 people doing this, but it's just kind of funny: you never know who you're going to run into and who's going to pick you up really and help you get through it. There is a real collegial atmosphere among the bikers there.

Chip: Well, of course a lot of people do get involved with the Jimmy Fund because of their affiliation with the Red Sox. You know, it's a lot of great publicity for them and for Dana Farber. I know that's how I got involved years ago and it's a great way to... all the events that they have are really a great way to meet interesting people, although I'm an entrepreneur and I like to think of myself as pretty innovative but when you meet the cancer researchers like you did, you sit there and say: "Yeah, OK, maybe an online clipping service in not as cool as that." You know? [laughs]

Doug: Don't sell yourself short but, yeah, you just get kind of get that feeling like: what you're doing is way more interesting than what I'm doing, as interesting as what we all do is. You know, it's fascinating.

Chip: Yeah.

Doug: It's just a whole weekend of meeting people like that.

Chip: Right, and one of the things I found out is... You know, I have gone to a number of the Telethons that they do each summer in conjunction, usually, with a Red Sox game and for a couple of years I was able to sit with some of the kids who were being treated at Dana Farber and watch a game. I remember one them, a few years ago, was a Yankees game and I believe the longest regular season game in Major League history. I was there with my wife and she said, about after the three and a half hour mark: "OK, you know, let's go now!" and I said: "No! We can't go yet! I stayed till the end of every Red Sox game. I've never left a game early!" On top of that I said: "And look! All these kids with cancer are staying. We can't leave without them leaving, you know! That would be wrong! I they can stick it out until midnight we can do it too!" But it's really amazing what they do there.

Doug: Yeah, one thing I think about is: I'm doing this because... To be honest, because I like to bike and this is an event that allows me do something good while I'm training with the bike and getting healthy but it occurs to me, like: well, everyone talks about cancer, everyone raises money for cancer. But all around you, you see the effect that people raising money and having research has done over the last, say, 20 to 30 years and how treatment for cancer has become much more advanced, more people surviving, more people surviving tougher types of cancer and a lot of cancer survivors actually ride in the PMC which is incredible. So, I mean, I can't touch those stories. I just like to say I'm just a guy on a bike.

Chip: Right.

Doug: But they make you commit to a certain fund raising amount and that's fine. So I go about doing that too and that's probably just as difficult as the training if not more so.

Chip: Sure, and that's actually a great segue because this is, after all, a fund raiser and you may start it because you like to bike or because you want to help people for all sorts of reasons but ultimately it's a about the money that's raised. Why don't you talk a little bit about some of the things that you've done because I assume most of your money comes from online fundraising, just by virtue of what you do and your profile online.

Doug: Yeah, well, I decided to take advantage of that since I'm very active in social media and I decided to use the blog and FaceBook and YouTube to house media and to use Twitter as a hub to just tell people about what I'm doing and link to my updates. So, from a content creation standpoint I would just occasionally blog about my progress but I would also strap a camera, like a foot camera, to my bike and do little videos. I started doing that this year. I do little videos of training rides and try to keep it fairly short but fairly interesting: maybe something funny happened or maybe there's something unique about this ride that I can point out in a five or six-minute video and put it online, and then just let people know where I am, and repeat the link for the fundraising so people can go there and give money.

And I found, last year, I raised about $3, 500 last year, and almost all of it came through Twitter and Facebook. And probably mostly Twitter, to be honest, because Twitter and FaceBook were pretty much the same group at that time. And I actually ended up not hitting up a lot of local friends and family, which I plan to do more of this year.

Now, this year, it's a bit of the same mix, but I found that Facebook has so many different people on it now, now that it's kind of a big high-school reunion, and people from all different parts of my life are there, so there's a lot of different people seeing that stuff and donating.

So there's a whole different crowd. And I credit that, actually, with my being ahead of my fundraising pace last year, despite having to raise more money this year, because I'm taking a longer route, and despite the economy just making everyone sick.

So, so far, fingers crossed and knock on wood, I'm ahead of my pace for last year, and then I'll be able to make my minimum before the ride. So I'm working on that. People are very generous and very helpful.

And I should add that something I'm trying to add this year, just to try to get a little bit more creative about it and exercise some of the content-creation and social-media chops is, as you know, because you're one of the generous people who have sponsored me, I've asked the people who have sponsored me for their permission to profile them on the blog.

So I'll have a series, starting soon, of just profiles of people who've actually donated, because those people are as important as anyone to this whole effort, and just asking people why they're donating to this as opposed to something else. Is it something unique about them? And of course, giving the opportunity for me to promote whatever they do, whether it's a personal blog or a business or something like that.

Chip: I assume it goes without saying that you apply the things that you've learned from being a social-media communicator, a PR practitioner, to what you're doing here. But has the converse happened? Through last year and this year, have you done things to help your fundraising efforts or your awareness efforts, things that you've learned there that you've been able to apply, or want to apply, to some of your actual client work?

Doug: Well, I think, just in general, when I do things for the blog, and I'm writing for you and doing things on Twitter and FaceBook, for me, I always have room for error. Even in fundraising for the Pan Mass Challenge, I have room for error and I can try things out. And if I learn things, great, I can apply them to clients, or I can apply them to make recommendations for clients. So I'd say, in a general sense, yes, I've been able to apply that back to my work because, more and more, social media and content creation and relating to people directly becomes important to PR agency work. That's an everyday conversation now in our business.

So I always preach that. Just practice. Get out there and do it for yourself. And kind of by trial and error, really, you'll figure out what works, so you can recommend just the parts that work to clients.

Chip: Now, assuming that the listeners who've made it this far are now inspired by what we've talked about and feel like they want to step up to the plate and help out the Dana Farber Institute and the Jimmy Fund, how can they go about doing that? How can they sponsor you?

Doug: Well, I set up links to my donation page, which is housed at pmc.org. And I should add, before I go on, that the people at PMC, including Jackie Herskovitz of Teak Media, who's doing their PR, have been very helpful and encouraging to me this year as well, just because they're really getting into the social media.

There's @PanMassBike on Twitter, and there are other folks who are riding that are on Twitter and doing blogs and on FaceBook and things like that. So, yeah, they've been very encouraging and kind of cheering every step of the way and linking to the blog and all that.

So, to go back to how people can help and sponsor me, you can just go to doughaslam.com. And I have a big Pan Mass Challenge logo right there on the right-hand margin. You can just click on that and go there. And I actually set up a short link that's easy to remember as well, which is a bit.ly link. So it's bit.ly/pmcdh. So either way will get you there. And of course, any of you folks who can help, great. I appreciate it, and I thank you.

The other thing I should add, also, is because of the economy, I know some people who gave last year, for instance, might not have jobs this year, or just might not be able to give as much or at all. And I've just started telling people, well, help in another way.

And one of those ways is to take the link and forward it to a bunch of friends, and spread it that way, and then maybe someone else actually is able to give. And you really contribute that way, too. And that's potentially very helpful. I hate to say the word "viral," but the intent is to have people pass it along.

Chip: A good virus. Not like the swine flu, right?

Doug: Yeah. Good viral, yeah.

Chip: I think that's a great point, because there are so many ways that you can be helpful in social media, and we are all getting hit up for all sorts of different things to contribute to, particularly in these tough economic times. So getting the word out and getting the message in front of someone who may say, "Yes, this is the cause that I want to support, I can support," I think that is just as important. But also, the other thing is, even if you can't give as much as you did last year, giving any amount is really helpful, right?

Doug: Absolutely.

Chip: No amount is too small, probably.

Doug: No, no. Last year, I think I had one donation that was like $2, and I had a bunch of $5 or $10 ones. Because they actually allow you to download your sponsorship info, I think my average pledge last year was about $45. But some people gave quite a bit more, so that kind of skews it. I think a lot of people probably gave $25. 25, 50 was pretty common. And it adds up.

Chip: Sure. Exactly, exactly. And if you give 5, 10, 15, 20, 50, 100, 1, 000, whatever, it all helps. It all goes to a great cause. And it's all tax-deductible, right? So you'd get a nice little tax deduction every April 15th.

Doug: Yes, it is. Yeah. They have a really great organization at the PMC. They get it all down. They send you a receipt. If you give right through the site, they send you a receipt right to your email address. And if you give to me personally, I just make sure I register your address, or email address, and they send the receipt so you have that. I was going to say, 78 people gave $3, 500 last year. And so far this year, I've raised--I should say we have raised--$1, 385 out of $4, 200 that I need to raise. I think I've had 31 people, actually, contribute. And to me, it's been a great response so far. I've still got a ways to go, but it's been a great response.

Chip: And what's the dates, again, for this? When do you have to make your contribution by?

Doug: Actually, the fundraising goes all the way 'til the beginning of October. I try to close it out by the time the ride goes on, just because it kind of increases the excitement, and I find that people do get more excited about it in June and July. That's no reason to wait, but those tend to be the busy months. And probably not coincidentally, it's the busier months for training as well, so I'm probably posting more about it and talking a lot more about it as I do more rides.

Chip: Sure. So we're running up against the end of our time here, but I do encourage everyone to go to doughaslam.com, click on the PMC logo, pull out the credit card, and make whatever contribution you can. And if you can't make a contribution, at least Tweet his site so that other people might do so if they're so inclined. Thanks for joining me, Doug.

Doug: Thank you very much.

• "Content is an order of magnitude harder than technology with an order less upside." As someone who has done both technology and content myself, I can wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Good content, whether written or in audio/video form, requires more resources than you expect. Essentially, I would double whatever your initial expectation of people and costs may be before you are likely to even be in the neighborhood of what it will take to be a success. At the same time, revenues are a challenge if you are a content-oriented startup. You need traffic before you can get good ad deals which means you need a long runway. None of this is to say that content cannot be successful ... it absolutely can, but you probably need to think more creatively about how you monetize it and how you sustain the momentum of quality, regular content before you reach break-even.

• "A metaphor I like is that a chess novice can defeat a master if moving twice each round. This generally increases bugs and offends perfectionists, but I agree with Reid Hoffman that if you review your first site version and don't feel embarrassment, you spent too much time on it." In other words, build your web site/product fast and be prepared to keep changing it. Anyone who works for me knows that I love to say, "never let the perfect be the enemy of the good." You don't want to turn out crap, but at the same time you should be willing to start with something that is "good enough" and keep plugging away at improving it.

• "the best marketing is controlled and calculated. If you know exactly how much it costs to acquire a user and you control the entire process, you then know how much capital and revenue you need, reducing your marketing plan from fuzzy guesswork to a clean formula." I'm a huge fan of metrics, perhaps to a fault. I want to know what everything costs and what the ROI of every activity is. I'm not sure I agree anything is a truly "clean formula" because there are many assumptions and allocation decisions that must go into metrics, but you can certainly get a damn good idea of the cost and return. And you should.

• "Plenty of useful advice conflicts for this reason: Know Your Customer vs. Build For Yourself, Don't Raise Too Much vs. Don't Raise Too Little. The better answer to these questions is It Depends. Advice isn't like code that's easily executed, but like map coordinates that require skill and context." Ah, yes. The famous "It depends" rule that I think I first heard in a political campaign management seminar I attended when still not yet of (legal) drinking age. It's no less valid today, though, and is worth considering even as you read my opinions here.
  

• A VC - Fred Wilson, a NYC investor, provides some of the most thought-provoking posts I read regularly. Most days he gives me at least a little something to chew on. My only regret is that I don't regularly and actively participate in the comments on his site because those can often be just as valuable since he has a vey high quality audience.
  
• Bacon Unwrapped - we all could use a little fun in our lives, so I read my friend Heather Lauer's blog about the greatest meat ever. I do blame her for about 10 of my current pounds, of course, because I find myself craving bacon every time I read one of her posts. Oh, and she has a book coming out about bacon in a couple of weeks, so don't just read her blog, head over to Amazon.com and pre-order yourself a copy!
• CC Chapman - CC's a very creative guy who turns out a mixture of thoughtful posts, personal reflections, and creative rumination. That's a great combination. Plus he's a New Englandah!
• Feld Thoughts - Brad Feld abandoned New England, where he had some great early success in business, for the mountains of Colorado. But I don't hold that against him because he keeps me entertained and thinking through his blog posts. Plus he has been helpful to me in making business connections over the years even though we have only met in person a couple of times.
• Neville Hobson - I have yet to meet Neville in person, but he's one of those guys who I really feel like I know pretty well. My company, CustomScoop, has sponsored the FIR Podcast that he and Shel Holtz do twice a week, but I also talk regularly with Neville via email, Twitter, blog comments, and the like. He brings a UK perspective to both communications and technology that I really appreciate. And, of course, he just seems like a decent guy, too.
  
• New Hampshire Startup Blog - my friend Jesse Devitte rounds out the list of 3 "vulture capitalists" in my 0read folder. All three made it by being what I think of as "hypoallergenic VC's." None of them come across as stereotypical venture guys looking to screw the entrepreneur. (Not that I really believe that, but it is a great stereotype anyway!) I think what sets them apart from other VC's I know is their willingness to roll their sleeves up and get actively involved with their investments, but also with their communities and fellow entrepreneurs. Plus all three started as entrepreneurs, not money guys, so they have a more balanced perspective. Jesse's a local guy who I have known for more than a decade and it is great to get his New England perspective on things.
• Photoshop Insider - I enjoy photography and Scott Kelby does a great job of provding practical advice and entertaining stories on his blog. Plus he is a media maven who has an empire that includes a magazine, a TV show, a webcast, a blog, books, and so much more. Whether you are a pro photographer or just getting into it as a hobby, be sure to read Scott's blog. You won't regret it.
• Road Weary - The aforementioned Shel Holtz has a regular blog, but frankly if I had to pick between them I would choose his infrequently updated travel blog. That's not a knock on his main offering, just the fact that he is a fellow road warrior and takes the time to share his horror stories keeps me entertained.
  
• Ronin Marketeer - John Wall, he of Marketing Over Coffee fame, brings me a solid sales and marketing perspective, which is probably one of my greatest weaknesses (unless you count HR). For that, I'm grateful. But he (and the lovely Carin) also joined me for a drink at the Brandy Library in NYC and it's hard not to like people even more after an hour or so there imbibing fine brown spirits.
• The View from Here - NBC's David Gregory, host of Meet the Press, is quite a bit different than most of what I have on this list. I follow this blog not because it is necessarily the most thought-provoking (he mostly posts news links right now), but because I am interested in following his evolution in the use of his blog and Twitter account. He seems to have a real enthusiasm for new media and it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Plus, he and I overlapped at American University so I have to support fellow alums! I also follow my friend and another AU alum Betsy Fischer, MTP's Executive Producer, on Twitter (which she initially joined to keep track of David's Twitter escapades). 
• The Intersection of Online and Offline - Mark Story didn't make this list because he came up with the BlogMonday idea, but because he really is in my 0read folder. He brings a sensible view of social media blended with lots of experience in traditional media communications. It's a great mix and a very worthwhile read. I don't even hold it against him that he is a U-Maryland fan and teaches at Georgetown because I know AU is superior.

FIR Live #13
Saturday, April 25
10 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m. EDT / 6 p.m. Wokingham
Listen in

Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb explored both sides of the increasingly popular business activity of monitoring social media. He wrote:

It's kind of a modern day horror story, isn't it? Web 2.0's potential benefit for humanity tragically sold short by social media because it fell under a fog of marketing software. Would-be short-form conversationalists jumping in with CRM-tinted glasses secured to their faces. One of my co-workers says that within minutes of his wife Tweeting about her art studio last night, she was friended by scads of art companies and salespeople. Who wants to have a conversation in that context?

Or maybe it's just a matter of changing our expectations. Maybe this is all good; the new customer service - a lot like the old customer service, but in your blog comments and replies tab.

In our April FIR Live episode, we'll talk with CustomScoop CEO Chip Griffin and a senior representative of the new social media monitoring service Spiral 16 for their takes on the issue. And we'll take your calls. The show is set for Saturday, April 25 at 10 a.m. PDT, 1 p.m. EDT, and 6 p.m. in the UK. You can participate by calling in to +1-347-324-3723. You can listen in live by dialing into the same number or visiting http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fir. The recording will be made available as part of the Hobson & Holtz Report.

There are many great efforts underway to provide opportunities to develop those community relationships, of course. David Beisel's Web Innovators Group brings together hundreds of people every few months to explore new products and network. Bryan Person founded the Social Media Breakfast in Boston a few years ago to give online communicators a forum to engage in. More recently, Leslie Poston has introduced a similar effort here in New Hampshire. Of course, Podcamp began in Boston under the wise leadership of Christopher Penn and Chris Brogan. And groups like Boston Media Makers gives multimedia creators the chance to get together periodically.