James VanDyke

Introduction to Lifestreaming

2009-10-12T21:39:00Z

Lifestreaming is a term that refers to the aggregation of various streams of content that a person creates on social media sites.

Between Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Blogs the content a person creates can be spread out in many separate places. The promise of lifestreaming is that you can pull together all of that silo-ed content into one stream that you can share with others. For people like me, an added benefit is that you can have a blog that doesn’t seem out-of-date.

The downside is that I haven’t found a great way to integrate all of that content on my Wordpress blog. I’ve added a lifestream page that pulls in most of the information but I haven’t been able to integrate that with my blog entries. So, I’ll keep playing with it and let you know what I find.

I’m using the Wordpress plug-in Lifestream right now.

Note: I had to upgrade my database from MySQL version 4 to version 5 to make it work. While’s it not a hard process it’s not something you’d want to do without a backup in case something goes wrong.

The Essentials: Clean and Organized Buildings are Important

2009-07-29T04:10:56Z

For most organizations, your physical location is just a part of the way a customer experiences your brand. However, it can quickly ruin a customer’s experience because it gives them a concrete image to associate with your organization. A poorly maintained location places an obstacle to your customer doing business with you again. All business should focus on getting the following basics right before you ever invite a customer to your site.

The Basics

Be clean.
No clutter. Keep everything that doesn’t add to a consistent brand image hidden. Simple is good.
The exterior is just as important as the interior. Keep the landscaping up. Maintain the building and parking lots well. Better than most businesses.

Do you know of an organization that does a particularly good or bad job with this? Tell us in the comments.

Using Social Media with a Defensive Strategy

2009-07-24T21:09:44Z

For most companies, the best reason to have a social media strategy is to play defense. The effort to effectively use social media to influence sales or conversations requires commitment and time. Most companies aren’t ready to put in that effort.

Your Social Media Defensive Strategy

Create a basic presence on major social media properties.
Assign someone to post small pieces of new content once a week.
Monitor feedback and comments.
Let other customers and users carry the conversations.

This strategy allows feedback and conversations to flow through official channels. You can observe and, if needed, participate in the conversation, without being locked out or caught unaware. In addition by establishing a presence you are able to be the authoritative voice in the channel instead of ceding that voice to someone outside the company.

This isn’t an ideal use of social media but it address immediate needs and provides the opportunity to grow into a fuller social media strategy at a later time.

Use Google Alerts to track mentions

2009-07-06T04:49:49Z

Type what you want to track.

One of my favorite tools to track mentions of a company, product or person is Google Alerts. This is a simple tool that can give you an edge in understanding what people are saying about you or your organization.

How it works

Choose a search term and use advanced search options to tailor your results. Google will scan the internet for you at the time interval you decide and then email what it finds to you.

You can also decide what type of content you want to hear about. I like the comprehensive option, but it can also selectively search: news sites, blogs, the general web, video and groups.

Once you’ve created your alert you’ll be able to login using a Google Account to edit your alerts. You can also receive the results as an RSS feed to insert into your favorite feed reader by clicking the search term while managing your alerts. Just look for the RSS icon either in the address bar of your browser or on the left hand side of the page.

What have you used Google Alerts to track? Leave a comment and let us know.

The Essentials: Social Media

2009-05-31T00:12:00Z

Lately I’ve had several people ask me about adding social media to their marketing mix. Here are my three essential rules for social media:

It’s still marketing
Expect conversations on difficult issues
Regular updates are key, so plan accordingly

It’s still marketing

Social media is new, exciting and sometimes intoxicating. Before you jump in remember, the fundamentals of marketing still apply. You must still be able to answer:

What is my goal or objective?
Who is my audience?
What message am I trying to convey?
What tactic is going to be most effective?

What can happen is that because it’s new and cool you think you need to join in. However, just because Twitter is in the news right now doesn’t mean it’s a solution to your problems. Social media isn’t a case of “if you build it, they will come.” Start with the basics and look to see if social media tactics are right for your situation.

Expect conversations on difficult issues

Be prepared to talk about the weaknesses or difficult issues of your organization or product. Social media creates a town hall atmosphere where critics are certain to voice their opinions. It’s more productive to allow these opinions in an arena where you have a opportunity to respond than other forums simply where you have no voice.

Regular updates are key – plan accordingly

Unlike a new brochure, social media efforts will have a long life. People expect you to update them and respond to comments that they share. Creating a social media channel requires a time commitment. If you don’t update regularly, it will appear that your organization isn’t active and thriving. Your social media presence will affect how people view the quality and vibrancy of your organization in the same way your traditional marketing materials do.

Questions or comments? Leave them in the comments.

The Essentials: Consistency

2009-10-07T12:17:59Z

If you want to succeed as a business or organization, consistency is crucial.

Last week one of the blogs that I follow had a post that was different than the type of content they normally publish. The blog has a strong following in its specific niche so after reading a post that didn’t have anything to do with their niche I was left scratching my head. It was a clear case of “one of these things doesn’t belong.”

Consistency does three main things:

Turns a one-time experience into repeat users
Builds trust in your organization and messages
Creates the basis for your brand image

Consistency = Repeat users

When a new restaurant opens its doors, people will come just because it’s new. If customers enjoy the experience, they’ll come back. The second visit makes the difference between a trial and a customer. Can you deliver the same experience twice? If so, you’ve earned a repeat customer.

A single great performance will fail when compared to lesser but consistent performances.

Consistency = Trust

Trust comes from meeting expectations over time. People want to trust you. They value trust because it streamlines their life. They don’t have to hedge against you not delivering. As a result they are willing to pay for the ability to trust. Consistency impacts the bottom line because people who trust you are willing to pay in order to continue trusting you.

Consistency = A Brand

When you combine repeat users with trust, you have the beginnings of a brand. This also gives you the opportunity to expand with the goodwill that you’ve created carrying over. You can easily create a brand that stands for not meeting expectations and turning people away after one try but it won’t be around for long.

Find what you can do consistently

In order to succeed find something you can do consistently. Start small and consistent and then build or expand.

The Essentials: Stories and Relationships

2009-04-28T04:15:20Z

My current working theory of marketing says that there are two core elements, stories and relationships.

Stories

Stories are the threads that tie all the pieces together. Packaging, distribution, pricing and advertising are all parts of a story that is being created about a brand, product, organization or person.

Relationships

Relationships are how people see themselves tied to a brand, product, organization or other person.

Best Stories

The best stories are those that bring a person into a relationship or further develop the relationship.

As a marketer, you should be looking for stories that create a relationship between what you’re promoting and the audience you’re targeting.

Results Only Work Environment

2009-04-26T06:10:15Z

In 2006 Business Week magazine published an article entitled, “Smashing the Clock.” The article detailed electronics retailer Best Buy and a new work environment they were promoting – Results Only Work Environment (ROWE). The basic premise is companies and workers are tied to a old mind set of a forty hour work week. The mind set is wrong. Companies actually want specific amount of work out of each worker and the number of hours is just an artificial hold over from assembly lines. ROWE says that as long as you get your work done; it doesn’t matter how, when or how long it takes.

On the surface this seems like a very elegant statement. Companies pay for results and employees deliver results.In turn, companies give workers the freedom to do their job in the way that works best for them. As long as the results are delivered every one is happy.

I think the difficulty with ROWE is in the implementation. Cali Ressler and Jodi Thompson have written an book about the program called “Why Work Sucks.” The book discusses some of the mental roadblocks to a ROWE mindset but is light on important issues like setting the “outcomes” for the first time and how to avoid being given too much work. The two authors left Best Buy and created their own consulting firm that sells implementation kits.

Only the Best – The Concept

2009-02-09T02:13:21Z

OTB only offers one product per category.

Have you ever walked into a consumer electronics store only to be overwhelmed by all of the choices?

I have.

You want to spend your money wisely. But, this sea of products seems to ensure you can never be certain about your purchase. If you’re like me, you probably walk away from your purchasing experience frustrated.

Research tells us that in order to compensate for vast array of choices the average consumer now spends 12 hours researching online for each consumer electronics purchase.

OTB is a retail website that sells a single best-in-category product in popular consumer electronics categories. By researching and selecting only the best products, OTB guarantees consumers will make a great purchase.

For example if you visit the OTB website looking for a digital camera, the only camera you’ll find is the Canon PowerShot SD1100. OTB has done the research for you. All you do is click buy.

In addition OTB will build strong relationships with it’s consumers by providing the most comprehensive information on our products and suggesting complementary products. These additional services will
ensure that OTB continues to provide value to the consumer even after the purchase.

What do you think?

So, there is the core of my business idea. Let me know what you think in the comments. We’ll look at some of the numbers supporting the concept in the next post.

Playing with a new camera

2009-02-03T03:32:40Z

A great point and shoot camera

I bought a Kodak Zi6 recently. It’s a no-frills HD video camera that only costs $150. The camera takes 720p video, has a 2.4 inch view screen and a SD memory card slot to store your videos on. It uses 2 AA batteries for power and stores the videos as QuickTime movie files.

The camera’s biggest draw is that it’s point and shoot. It’s one of a new category of video cameras pioneered by Flip.

The camera also has a few drawbacks, like most of the point and shoot category, that are important to know going in. First, there is no optical zoom. The camera does offer a 2x digital zoom but it degrades the quality, so it’s best to avoid. Second, there is no image stabilization. This means that if you don’t use a tripod then your video is going to look a little shaky. The popularity of this category of video camera has resulted in Apple adding software stabilization to the latest version of it’s iMovie software.

Here’s a link to a sample of the video in HD.