During that time I have done the usual “what I’m eating,” “what I am listening to,” and all of the bad things Twitter gets blamed for. But as I grew in my knowledge both in the technical side of Twitter and the power of reaching people on Twitter, I began to use it for other things – including announcing site launches, meetups (or tweetups) and other things.  And eventually I started using it in yet another area:

The non-profit organizations I am a part of.

I am the President of the Ames Community Theater, and while most theaters still hadn’t begun using Twitter, we had a twitter username. (Follow us at @actors)

In learning the ups and downs of using Twitter through my own name, I quickly started to leverage Twitter to help us get out information about auditions, performances, and other things relating to the community theater.  Then I had an idea: why not share this knowledge.

I had the idea for Twitter for Non-Profits for about a year before I finally put together the special report.  In it, I list many of the steps I myself followed in all my Twitter accounts to gain followers and utilize Twitter to help our organization grow.

I knew that this jump-start guide would be welcome information to many non-profit organizations to help their Twitter presence grow.  Unlike information I have given out in the past, I was certain THIS information is solid, easy-to-follow and can help any organization get started on Twitter.

So I decided to release it for $7.  But there is also a bonus.  If you buy the report, you immediately get access to an affiliate program that pays out 100% of the price of the report.  So if you link to the report with your affiliate link, you can earn your $7 back – and more.

Interested?

Click on over to www.twitterfornonprofits.com and check it out.  Let me know what you think, spread it around – link to it, become an affiliate.   If you are a non-profit organization, what have you got to lose?  $7 could get you on your way to a great Twitter presence.

Give it a try.

Your band changes all the time, whether you want it to or not.

For instance:  I am currently president of the Ames Community Theater.  Over the years the brand of the theater (ACTORS) has gone through many changes, notably the fact our audience, who were once the life and blood of the theater, are now pushing 70-80 years old, and our attendance reflects that.

We are constantly trying to find ways to entice and bring in the “under 30″ crowd, oftentimes calling upon the same people over and over to help out behind-the-scenes or audition.

Our brand is split between “producing quality shows” to “bussing in the retirement communities.”

And we are trying to change that, and encourage younger folks to get involved, as well as maintaining our brand as a community theater for all ages.

When you think about your brand, every time you go out in public you are changing your brand – either for the better or worse.  If you show up to a meeting in torn jeans and a T-shirt – that says a lot about you, especially if your company is known for being professional and well-dressed.

Every interaction and everything you put on your company blog – or even your personal blog if you mention your business at all – can change people’s perception of your brand.

It’s easy to forget that your brand isn’t just a logo or identity package – it is the sum of all your parts.  With so many variables making it change without your knowledge (or approval!) it’s a good idea to get a handle on the things you CAN control.

If you are trying to instill confidence, dress it up a little.

Trying to appear casual – dress appropriately.

But there is a way to completely avoid being labeled as part of your company’s brand…

Promote your individual brand.  As they say – The Brand Called You.  It will out-shadow all of your other competing brands.

Your twitter profile icon says a lot about you in a tiny square.  For me, it has always been a picture of me smiling.  For some it is their business logo, and others it is the meme of the day.  But Gary’s (at the time) was a photo of him snarling and looking mean.  Seriously.

And, like many people, I judged a book by its cover.

When Gary came to Des Moines in 2008, shortly after Chris Pirillo came home for a week (it was a social media bonanza year and the year the great tweetups came upon us all) I scoffed and wanted nothing to do with it.  Gary Vee?  Bah, I’m more infamous on the Internet than Gary Vee.

Yes and no.

True, most people in #dmtweetup and #cib have no idea where I have worked and what I have done, but who’s fault is that?  Mine. I don’t toot my own horn a lot, but this Gary guy sure seemed full of himself.

Fast forward.

I gave Gary a second chance.  I have zero interest in wine – I can buy a $4 of Lindeman’s or Black Swan Merlot and be happy.  But if all my Friends and friends followed him, then maybe I should.  And if his book is that popular within my circle, maybe I should read it.

So I bought Crush It.  And there was Gary – smiling.  Reading the book, I found Gary not to be an obnoxious, self-loving jerk like his avatar led me to believe… but someone who is excited about his business and brand.  Genuinely excited.  An excitement I recognized having myself when I was in my 20’s.  As Obi Wan might say “An excitement  I haven’t felt in a long time.  A long time.” Even though he doesn’t know me from a hole in the ground, I would just like to apologize for dismissing him based on an avatar.

So the point of this blog post is two-fold I guess.  One: Don’t judge a tweeter by their icon.  Two: People DO judge tweeters by their icons – choose yours carefully.

And I guess thirdly – know when to admit you were wrong.

There is only one reason for dabbling in Google Adsense – to make money.  But one of the lessons I have learned from Joel’s experience over the years is this: Products created to genuinely HELP others will make you far richer than those created for a quick buck.

You see, even though Joel created his Adsense Secrets eBook to make money, he also created it to pass on the knowledge he collected to others so they could make money too.  And that eagerness to share and to help others are an important cornerstone of not only his info products, but his entire business at InfoMedia.

There are a lot of rip-offs out there, and people who copy other’s work in order to make a quick buck.  Sometimes you don’t see it until after the purchase, which is unfortunate.  Other times the author’s true motives are apparent from the get-go.

It’s no secret that I have been trying affiliate programs and Adsense for years.  And while I could always use “more money” – it goes beyond that for me.  More money = more funds I can donate to my favorite charities.

That is why I am finally putting my experience to use and will be launching “Twitter for Nonprofits” – a quick start guide to leveraging Twitter for nonprofit organizations.  It should be available here in the next month or so.   I plan to donate 50% of the sales to our local community theater where I am President.

No matter how much (or how little) you make, you can afford to donate to charities in your community.  I hope my Twitter for Nonprofits report is well received, and that it will not only help others, but in turn end up helping our theater.

By the way, Joel is giving away his Adsense Secrets ebook away for free.  Download Yours Here.

Not just computers, the “social” aspect of computers. From my first sign-on to a Bulletin Board System (BBS) to being one of the youngest hosts on QuantumLink, to hosting events for AOL, to coordinating the online chat with the creators of The Matrix – I was community before community was cool.

The community boom really began in the late 1990s, when The Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) took hold and pounded competitor THREADS into the ground. During this time I was not only the community liaison between AOL and Warner Bros. (yes, THE Warner Bros.), I helped form the community department at the motion picture studio.

We had bulletin boards, chat areas both on the Internet and secluded on AOL, plus newsletters, games, and more. One of the highlights was actually one of my last things at WB – the creation of the Platform 9 3/4 for the original Harry Potter web site.

Companies everywhere were starting up community departments. The mantra was (and some still argue is:) Content, Community and Commerce. The three C-s to an effective web presence. Then boom – the dot com busts of the early 2000’s. And I was one of those hit.

Those who had “Director of Community,” “Community Manager” or similar titles on their resumes were doomed. Companies could no longer afford community directors and the like… so over time, the “community experts” diversified,and pretty much went their own ways.

Now here we are again – community is cool again. But almost like other fads that left and came back, the old guard remains almost in obscurity. The new flamboyant drivers of the community / social media movement are quick to dismiss those with more experience, yet complain when things don’t go their way.

I hate the overused analogy of “when we were young we had to walk uphill both ways to school in a blizzard, without shoes, carrying our books…” but to those enjoying success in community and social media… please remember: There are some of us that remember the old days of community, and who still have the battle scars to prove it.

What have you done for the good of the entire online “community” – or is it all take and no give? What will be the “legacy” of the creators of Facebook, MySpace, etc. Will your sites die when you do? Or are you making a real effort to affect the world?

Running a business, any business, is a lot like running a restaurant.  I’ve blogged about it here a few times, and tonight I came across another instance of brilliance from the TV chef.

“The golden rule of a restaurateur – you serve your customers, not yourself.”

That truism was uttered in Season 2 of the U.S. version of his Kitchen Nightmares program.

Ramsay could write a book by simply applying the lessons of running a restaurant with those of any other kind of business.   But the line above rings true for many reasons.

Too often I see publicists, social media consultants, Internet marketers, and other “wanna-be’s” tooting their own horn for what they have done for a client.  They issue press releases for this-and-that, which include their name and/or company for the majority of the release, and then their client for only a small portion.

Isn’t that reversed?

When you take on a new client, there is always this small sense of “this could be great for my portfolio” or “this could be great for my image” – but in the end it is truly the customer that is important.  When was the last time you asked yourself – “Am I serving the customer, or serving myself.”  Some would argue “both” would be the best answer, but I’m not so sure.

In a world of social media consultants who are trying to leverage THEIR name and THEIR brand, are they forgetting the customer?

What do you think?

I sent in the rss feeds for my blog and my twitter, as well as my YouTube account and Flickr feed, just in case those could somehow be integrated as well.  It was fairly painless, and the only other thing I had to provide were photos of various sizes for the icon, loading screen and the iTunes page.

So now, almost 4 weeks to the day, the app is released and out in the iTunes store.  Do a search for “Rutter” or even motherapp and you should find it.  Or click on the link below:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/troy-rutter/id349450153?mt=8

Now are these vanity apps actually GOOD for the iTunes store, or the net in general, that is a whole other discussion.  But for now, yeah, it’s kind of neat.

On a side note, since the app went live, Ive had about 30 Followers added.  I assume mostly through the iTunes store.

A couple friends and I arrived shortly after the place opened for lunch thinking it would be better than at night.  You see, it is a very popular place, and sometimes you can get stuck waiting for your turn in line for several minutes (or longer).  And that is AFTER you get seated.

Seating was not an issue however, and we were quickly seated just as the place was getting very busy.  It seems everybody had the same idea to go there for lunch on the holiday.

Over the past year I have been telling my coworkers about some of the management lessons I have learned from watching the television show Hell’s Kitchen, and also Kitchen Nightmares.  So much so I think they have stop listening.  Little did I know that our little lunch would prove to be a fantastic demonstration of what I have been trying to illustrate to the entire company the past several months.

During the natural progression of the day, the restaurant is allowed to fill up, empty, and repeat the process several times.  Things end up even-ing out so that there is no line at the grill.   But the morning is another story…

In the morning, everybody comes in at the same time.  They sit down, order their drinks, and go to the grill at the same time.  They eat their plate of food more or less at the same time.  Then they go up for seconds – again at the same time.  During this time  more people are coming in.  Soon the line is not only around the grill, but around where the bowls are started!

Why?

Everybody is trying to do the same thing at the same time.

Apply this to web development:  There really is such a thing as too much work at a given time.  While you may think it is your company’s best interest to start on a project as soon as you get the client and not have them wait… in the end you will have a line-up of clients “waiting their turn” to get their project started.  Then they start getting grouchy, complaining about the long lines, etc.   So you finally get to them, do a bunch of things, and then boom… they have to wait in line again.

This is why it is absolutely necessary to balance the load.  Be honest with your clients as to when something will start.  If your team is overloaded, tell the client you won’t be able to start on it for 2-3 weeks.  If you are really overloaded, you may need to either a) tell the client it will be a while before you can start b) hire additional extra help or c) pass on the project.  But not being honest with your client, and then having them wait and wait and wait… will breed hostility and ill feelings fast.

Just be honest.  You’ll both appreciate it.

That conversation led me to quote one of my favorite Commodore 64 SID tunes (transcribed by Bobbye): Harry Chapin’s “Flowers are Red.”  In the song, a child is told over and over that “flowers are red, green leaves are green.  There’s no need to see flowers any other way than the way they always have been seen.”

Mike Sansone’s eyes perked up, and after a few keystrokes he pulled the following blog post from 2008 up on the screen:

It’s The Way Things Have Always Been

Mike narrates the song along with pictures in a great slideshow.

At Captain Jack Communications, my friend and co-worker Anthony Clifton and I are sometimes seen as wanting to do things the way they have always been.  But in reality, we are constantly trying to find new ways to reinvent ourselves, our business, and bring out the creativity in the office.  The key is never losing focus on the thing you really ARE good at, so you can continue to pay the bills.

Changing a business model that works, in favor of one untested is a pretty stupid thing to do.  But introducing new ideas, techniques, technology, and maybe a few silly-ish thing into the mix can lead to not only a more productive workplace, but a more creative one as well.

With thanks to @jadehandy, @mikesansone, @dmevolve, @thebrandchef, @rhs76 and @clairecelsi

So, I have decided to list what I feel are the single BEST and WORST of Social Media in Des Moines this year.  Your mileage may vary, please let me know what you think.

THE BEST

Pancheros Mexican Grill – Free BurritoUps

When Pancheros’ former social media director, Joel, left in early 2009, we weren’t quite sure how the restaurant’s presence would survive.  Joel had launched Pancheros off with a great start on Twitter, and the future was uncertain.  Enter Reid.  Reid not only picked up the reigns Joel had left, but elevated the mexican grill even further on the social media scale, eventually earning the franchise a Social Media Award at the Franchise Leadership & Development Conference in Chicago.

Besides the standard Twitter and Facebook fare, Pancheros sponsored burrito-ups – free burritos during lunchtime, at many locations throughout Iowa and the surrounding area.  Even more recently they released the iBurrito app for the iPhone and iPod touch, and they continue to give out free $10 gift cards via a trivia challenge monthly.

Believe me, stopping traffic in downtown Des Moines, handing out free burritos out of a Pancheros Hummer is a very impressive sight.

THE WORST

Smashburger restaurant, September 4, 2009

“Smash Burger just did a flash and fizzle at Panera U #CIB. Dropped off flyers, no talking, drop & run.. WHAT?”
- Mike Sansone

At first it sounds like a success story:  new eatery sponsors free lunch for those who heard about it through Twitter or Facebook.  But it was the days leading up to the free lunch, and the appearance at the “Central Iowa Bloggers” meeting that left a bad taste in many bloggers’ mouths.  After hearing about the group that meets at Panera the first Friday of every month, Smashburger’s PR./Marketing agency asked if they could attend and tell people about the new burger joint.  Upon arrival, they quickly handed out flyers, then left as quickly as they arrived.

Leaving all of us mystified.

Part of the rules of social media is that you be, well, social – and simply coming and dropping off fliers is not the way to win over a bunch of bloggers.  The iPhones were whipped out, the blogging commenced, and Smashburger (and the agency) were tweeted and blogged about  in a matter of minutes.   Word quickly got back to the agency, and the  publicist came back to Smashburger and offered their apologies and stayed with the blogger group answering questions.

But, this disaster story does have a happy ending.  In the end, many of the bloggers did indeed take up the offer of a free lunch and tweeted about how good the food and service were. In the end, I think the marketing agency received quite an education.

[ed note: Above 2 paragraphs edited after publishing since I was being rather colorful with adjectives, rather than just stating the facts. ]

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Both the Best and Worst implementations provide valuable insight on what works and what doesn’t in the community.  If you mess up, apologize and try again instead of covering it up.  And if you have a good thing going, keep growing and finding new ways to reach even more people.

I’m proud to live in the Des Moines area – and I look forward to a great year of learning and observing.