Social media for the entrepreneur
This is a ENORMOUS post. If I weren’t summarizing a presentation I gave last night, I would have broken it into a small miniseries with many guest stars including Betty White. So make sure you go to the bathroom before you start. Last night I got the chance to speak to a class at DU that focuses on creating business plans. Social media is perfect for the startup due to the low barriers of...
Going mobile with Icelantic skis
It’s been a couple months since I posted about one of my new favorite companies (even though their skiers), Icelantic. The person responsible for their social strategy is currently in the class I’m teaching and he’s done an amazing job organizing their social effort. I wanted to take some time and explore additional things Icelantic could do to help deepen their brand. Most of...
ITEC 4700: Class 16 – Monetizing Web 2.0
Thursday we started off with several of my students asking if my Twitter account had been hacked. And yes, it had. Someone got in and sent out the following message: ‘hi, i’m 24/female/horny… i have to get off here but message me on my windows live messenger name *****@hotmail.com’. They had direct messaged a large number of my followers. (I was also alerted by someone who...
Marketing platforms: the who, what and where
Since the late nineties businesses have been thinking of the Internet as a marketing platform and for the most part have been relatively successful at leveraging it. When ecommerce happened even the naysayers expanded their concept of the Internet from a cost center to a method of generating revenue. I thought I would take a few minutes and describe the newer platforms that we’re just...
Talking with Twalkin
This morning I had a chance to try out Twalkin. I know. I know. Another Twitter app with a goofy ‘tw’ name but this is yet another way people can use Twitter to network and organize. The focus, as you may have guessed is enabling Twitter users to connect on the phone. It has a slight social feel as you can leave the call open for anyone to join in. My friend Jason Markow found this...
ITEC-4700: Class 7 – Twitter
Twitter! Last night we focused soley on Twitter. Arguably Twitter could be the focus of several classes but hard to do with 10 weeks. We talked briefly about the history of the business and how SXSW 2007 was the tipping point for Twitter. We also discussed how the technology/business was briefly called twitch (as in that is what you did when your mobile device went off.) I like it in only that...
Icelantic, the social ski
So I’m in the line at Wahoo’s waiting to order a shrimp enchiladas and I see an ad for Icelantic skis. The artwork adorning the top of the skis was so striking I mentioned it to my wife and told her that I wished they sold snowboards. Fast forward 2 months to my first class. The students are going around the room talking about what they do and Chris Blackett tells us that he works for a...
Will Google include Twitter Lists in PageRank?
When Twitter Lists was introduced it made sense solely based on organizing those you follow and I’ve also posted about the lists being the foundation for niche social networks. Currently I’m fortunate enough to be on 4 lists. @TheNextWeb/tech-bloggers-and-journos @AMauiBlog/social-media @jmarkow/worth-following @B2Bbloggers/socialmedia As I look at these lists I believe that Google...
For sales: Twitter is networking, blogging is the follow-up call
I had yet another conversation that started with, “I don’t get Twitter”. Fortunately (for me) the conversation ended with an, “Oh. I get it.” The analogy I used for this person (who’s in sales: aren’t we all?) is that it is best to think of Twitter as networking, except that it’s a one to many model. By Tweeting about what your business is doing for...