Josh Greene

Top 10 list from Social Media Day

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:45:53 PST

I spoke yesterday at the DMAW Optimizing Social Media Day in Washington yesterday. Several people had asked for my top 10 list, which wasn't part of the planned presentation. It follows:

1. Play to your strengths
2. Sell internally
3. Decide on an online personality
4. Empower people
5. What's the worst that can happen
6. Find the right places to monitor
7. Money doesn't solve every problem
8. Lists work well, and are authoritative
9. Ask people to do something
10. Everybody loves a secret/free gift/inside knowledge

More to come, including my takeaways.

Thought provoking links

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:31:11 PST

Many thought provoking articles this week:

When Growth Spurt Is Needed, Grab �Unique, Unfair Advantage� - big news in the ecommerce space with the purchase of Rue La La.

Get Elastic's picks for best blog posts of October.

Edward Norton runs the NYC Marathon today with three Maasai warriors.

Who the hell are these people? The overuse of stock photography.

Michael Arrington on social media and scam offers.

Google redefines disruption: "Less than Free" business model

And, on another note, I'm talking this Thursday at the DMA's Social Media Day:

Freakonomics and the SportsGuy

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:17:12 PDT

Two separate book events last night in DC:

The Freakonomics guys hosted a book signing at the Washington Post conference center. An amusing note beforehand - the first two rows were labeled "resevered" ... we spent some time wondering what fate was in store for those who occupied them.
They're great storytellers - it was an enjoyable hour listening to them go over some of their personal history, and stories in the book. It looks to be a fun read. And, there was an only in DC moment. Someone from the "Union of Concerned Scientists" got up during the Q&A and asked a long-ish, rambling question, the gist of which seemed to be "sorry some of us slammed you online, but I'm really a real person, and wouldn't you like to reconsider your thoughts about global warming?" which was met by a good response, which was "we're happy to discuss facts, but when you make things up, and do your best to spread them, that's really not a dialog." At which point, when the questioner attempted to suggest more discussion, he was basically hissed/shouted down by the crowd, who were clearly much more interested in hearing fun anecdotes.

Bill Simmons, the SportsGuy for ESPN, was at the ESPNZone in DC. The book signing wasn't until midnight, but he was out and about talking to fans when I got there at 9:30. According to his Twitter account, they ran out of books for the second straight visit, so I'm happy I didn't stick around until midnight. Looking forward to reading the 700+ ! pages on pro basketball at some point - hopefully, it'll be in the mail today.

Saturday morning links

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:53:13 PDT

More Saturday morning links:

Do retail locations matter in online retail: Paul Sloan argues that they do. http://www.bnet.com/2403-13241_23-351380.html?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

John Furrier - Startup founders should flip burgers - nothing beats getting your hands dirty: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=145749552713&ref=nf

Great Google Wave demonstration using Pulp Fiction: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-google-wave-demo-weve-seen-nsfw-2009-10

Saturday morning links

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:37:17 PDT

Some thought provoking stories on a Saturday morning:

The Wifi problem at conferences:
ClusterShot: How a Startup�s Pet Project Became Profitable

A Story of Scotch - Keep Walking

Turn Design-on-Demand Into Profits

New printer

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:56:39 PDT

I recently bought a HP Photosmart C6380 All-in-One Printer from Amazon. It's been a few years since I've bought a home printer, and was stunned at all the new features. There's a 2" mini-LCD screen for both instructions and picture viewing. You can print directly from an SD card and it will auto-recognize the right side of photo paper.
Not earthshaking, but certainly nice to see a product that delivers on its promise.

Introducing John Donahoe

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:03:46 PDT

Last week, I introduced John Donahoe, the President of Ebay at the Shop.org Annual Summit. Several interesting items:

It was the largest crowd I've ever spoken in front of (1,500+). It didn't feel all that different from speaking to 100 - the lights were bright enough you couldn't see clearly out beyond a few tables. It looked like a special effect where the back rows had been cloned many, many times :)

He was very relaxed backstage - he's been a CEO for a long time, and was clearly comfortable in this format (speech/interview). He was looking for information on the mood/flavor of the conference that would allow him to connect from stage.
He was very relaxed onstage for that matter, pulling out a Flip phone to record a video blog for Ebay employees.
He also didn't have an issue making statements that were going to pull press attention "auctions are not a religion", "we're doing $380MM in mobile sales" and some commentary about Amazon and Wal-Mart.
He was very focused on "servant based leadership" and I heard "blessed" used to describe Ebay several times.
Ebayink has a good writeup - as does Scot from Chanel Advisor - who got reimbursed $10 for breakfast.

A networking tale

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:53:47 PDT

I received good news yesterday. About four months ago, a friend of mine, Ken, asked me if I could introduce his former intern to some folks at a publication here in town. "Intern Y" had done great work for him, and had always been interested in the media industry. I respect Ken's opinion, so I made the introductions and we went to lunch.

It went well, and the folks at the publication were able to provide some good advice for continuing the job search. She was recently out of college, and it boiled down to a)networking, b)targeting her job search focus and c)considering some of the realities of the publishing industry.

Some time passed. A project manager left. The hiring manager needed to bring someone in. Former Intern-Y was not a traditional fit - she was highly organized, but had a fine arts background. However, she got the first interview because of the power of that connection, made a month or two before.

Then, she hung in there. She made sure to explain her strengths - detail oriented, organized, and provided examples. She also sent along a demo she had done of a website - for her sisters wedding - but it proved she could move between mediums.

And, it paid off yesterday when she got the job offer. :)

Pepperjam and GSI

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:33:07 PDT

Congrats to Kris Jones and PepperJam, acquired by GSI.

Tree stumps

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:22:58 PDT

I'd highly recommend reading Kevin Ertell's post on the Tree Stump Theory. Especially with all of the different systems in play in an ecommerce environment, it's easy to overlook the assumptions that built the current system.

Thinking unconventially

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:37:32 PDT

Great article in SI.com today on thinking unconventionally - an interview with Bill James who makes the case for challenging conventional wisdom in your industry.

Congrats to Mike Ferzacca

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:48:26 PDT

One of my favorite magazine issues of the year is the INC 500. It's always fascinating to see the companies that make up the fastest growing segment of the business community.
When I was at Discovery Stores, we worked with Ignite Media (then AIS) to help manage our DRTV programs. They had some innovative programs that helped us run successful DRTV programs for shows like Planet Earth. Great to see them doing well, and at #418 on the list, growing 618% over the last three years. Congrats Mike!

Shoemoney

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:15:09 PDT

If you're an Internet marketer, you're probably aware of Jeremy Shoemaker (ShoeMoney). He's got a charity auction currently going on, to promote a company at Affiliate Summit by wearing their T-shirt. At a current $1,400 bid, it seems like it would pay for itself pretty quickly. I have a feeling it may get close to the 10k bid from last year, as it gets closer to closing.

Catalina Coupons

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:49:41 PDT

Being out on the West Coast for the Shop.org Merchandising Workshop reminded me of a vendor I had worked with a while back. If you've ever wondered, where do those coupons in the supermarket come from? It's Catalina Coupons... They had a fascinating variety of demographic selects that you could match up for your product, and did a nice job of matching up offers to products you purchased.

Buzz 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:39:48 PDT

I'm attending Buzz 2009 in Washington, DC. Lots of great advice, beginning with Andy Sernovitz talking about Word of Mouth Marketing. So many people are Twittering, you can almost follow the presentatioins in realtime.

Great Harvest Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:26:20 PDT

From the category "Retail Experiences that Really Deliver", I highly recommend the Great Harvest Bakery. They deliver on their promise of great, freshly baked bread, they have free samples in the stores, and are knowledgeable about the ingredients. And, the "Guiness & Gouda" bread is fantastic.

Drain auger - or, the benefits of curiosity

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:03:25 PDT

If you're analyzing a web campaign, or trying to get a clogged shower drain open, there are some significant benefits to curiosity. Last night, I attempted to solve the mystery of our slowly draining tub.

At first, it appeared that plunging the tub would take care of things. However, nothing changed. I called Aaron, a friend of mine who's a plumber. With great patience, he explained that there's usually an overflow vent and I would need to plug that, in order to seal up the system, so that air from the plunger would go down the system, rather than being vented.

I then unscrewed the covering, located the overflow vent, and plugged it with a rag to create a seal. Plunging away, within a few minutes, I brought up a bunch of dirt into the tub. Feeling very successful, I continued. Trouble struck. I managed to suck the rag back down the overflow vent, out of reach of both needle nose pliers, and a hangar.

Aaron's next recommendation was for a drain auger. Fortunately, Home Depot was still open. A very helpful rep in the plumbing section pointed one out, along with recommendations on how to use it. Twenty minutes later, I had retrieved the rag, and mentally decided I was now only facing a normal plumbers visit, not one to repair the entire sewer system. After some additional experimentation with the auger, I had roughly 4 feet of cable in the system, and was unable to find a clog. The drain auger seemed to be working fine

At that point, curiosity took over. One of the sinks had been slow to drain, so I started filling them up, and letting them drain. Interestingly, more junk started to appear in the tub. I ran the auger down the sink, hit something, and suddenly everything started working. A couple of minutes of cleanup later, and the problem was solved :)

As I was cleaning up, I was noticing the similarities with online campaigns. Sometimes you keep trying tactics, and then you finally hit on one that solves your problem/ generates the response you need.

B2B social marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:54:50 PDT

Jeremy Epstein has a nice post out about the ROI on B2B social marketing. He's also got one coming on B2C, that I'm especially curious to see. He and I had had a long discussion on the topic when I was at the Discovery Channel Store, and he's really proving out a lot of the points he made then.

Twin Tech IV

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:05:03 PDT

If you're looking to expand your network in DC, the Twin Tech series of parties is a great way to go. Twin Tech IV was tonight. The nice thing is the published attendee list ahead of time, so you can get a feel of who's going to be there. And, you can always watch Twitter search in realtime to see what's going on.

Placeholder for running post

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:37:10 PDT

Placeholder for running post re: sprint training.

Twitterfeed

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:35:42 PDT

If you have an active Twitter account, I'd highly recommend checking out Twitterfeed. Great way to get your blog posts, or other RSS feeds, included in your Twitter postings automatically. It'll answer the question of "Did we put that on Twitter?". Also, you can do some creative things. For Shop.org, we have an RSS feed of the top item on SmartBrief, and autopost it. You'll also see that in my personal Twitter feed to the left.

Phone call to verify email

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:05:07 PDT

Interesting online marketing tactic - I got a call yesterday from a vendor that I'd last ordered from two years ago. They sell consumer products, with their typical order probably in the $40-60 range. They were calling to verify my email, and to let me know they'd send out a gift code for a discount.
It was a nice gesture, and made me wonder if:
a) the cost of sending incremental emails made the cost of the call worthwhile
b) people who received phone calls had a much higher likelihood to purchase
c) they had an excessive amount of unused time from their inbound phone reps, so they were redirecting it.

What are your thoughts?

Blauction!

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:42:17 PDT

Shop.org is hosting our first "Blauction". You can see it at http://blog.shop.org/2009/04/30/sponsorship-auction-place-your-bid-2/. We're auctioning off a sponsorship slot for our Annual Summit. We think it's a fun way to combine social media with sponsorship sales.

Firex smoke detector

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:52:53 PDT

I did several Google searches very early this morning for Firex 120 1182. In case you're ever wondering about why the smoke detector is going off at 2:30 in the morning, it's because they're most likely to fail as it gets cooler.
The good news is, you can find a manual online eventually.
But, the short, 3 step version to solving the immediate problem is - if your detector is more than five years old, disconnect the power, take out the 9V backup battery, and if it it still continues chirping, put it outside :)
Step 3, proceed to Home Depot, buy a new version from Firex for $14, with a completely different model number, although essentially identical, and, hopefully, enjoy a good nights sleep.

Once a Runner

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:10:41 PDT

I've posted a few "lessons from the stairwell" lately. Sometimes, you just need to put your head down and power through a challenge. Once a Runner was the best running book I ever read, which made the point with its legendary 60 x 400m interval session. I still have a dog-eared copy in the basement. It's been out of print for a long time and has just been reissued. Good reviews from Slate (last December) and the Wall Street Journal.