Highway to Hale

With the freelance work I have been doing in digital marketing strategy, research, and implementation, it was time for a new personal business card. Designed by Andrew Osborn.

We decided on using a “hale”stone as the image because hail forms up in the clouds, with a view of the big picture – As water drops freeze, they fall down through the clouds, but updrafts push the frozen drops back up, picking up additional condensation and freezing in the higher altitudes. This happens over and over again, forming layer over layer of ice and a rock solid center. When the stone is refined and dense, it becomes too heavy for the updraft and unleashes on the ground below.

Strategy and research both require layers of flexible ideas and decisions, but they’re nothing without that rock solid base.

In case you haven’t heard, Facebook is now the glue of the internet. That’s pretty vague, so read all about what that means in this post from Andrew Swenson/Wordpost (or in the first article I linked… they’re both good).

The big news is Facebook’s announcement that their “like” button will be available all over the internet. When you’re frolicking around IMDB and checking out your favorite quotes from Clueless, you’ll be able to check out which of your Facebook friends has a similar love for the best movie from 1995. Beyond that nice little friendship builder, it’s no big deal – just that every site that has a “like” button is allowed to aggregate, save, and react to YOUR information.

A lot of people are kind of freaking out about the changes to what Facebook and publishers can hold onto.

But I think it’s GREAT.

Obviously it’s great for Facebook and publishers to gather mounds of consumer data, but it’s perfect for me too. There’s only two points that matter to me from a Facebook-user & consumer standpoint:

1. Every piece of information that Facebook knows about me is a piece of information that I willingly gave to Facebook. If I don’t want it passed around the internet from company to company as I like things that I use, want, or enjoy, I’ll remove it from my page. Facebook can’t share my information unless I give it to them.
2. The point of publishers saving information is to customize content for each visitor to their site. If that means that ESPN will display a Tigers story on the front page because they recognize I’m a Tigers fan, that’s a win for me. If IMDB shows me an advertisement for an upcoming Tim Burton movie because I like a bunch of his previous shows instead of an ad for Sex and the City 2, I might even go as far as sending a thank-you email.

If you’re using the internet (and something tells me you are…), privacy is an illusion. Google knows what you search and what your emails are about. Facebook knows who your friends are and what you like. That’s the way this world works and it’s going to make your life better.

Are you concerned about the information Facebook knows about you? Do you think it is wrong to allow publishers to save that information as well? …will any of your concerns lead you to delete your Facebook profile?

Here’s what I told Facebook – use it wisely

Here it comes. The inevitable BAD DAY. You can feel it rolling in. We’ve all had them. Things just aren’t going your way. Maybe you woke up late or your boss got on your case about something. Maybe you haven’t had your coffee yet or you aren’t feeling the creative juices flowing. It’s just not a good day.

I’ve got some more bad news for you.

Time to put the smiley face on because your brand doesn’t get a bad day. Your community doesn’t deserve to feel the pain of whatever stress you’re trying to handle. If you need to, go blow some steam on MySpace with a cryptic update, because your community isn’t there to pity you – they’re involved because of the value you bring. As marketers, we preach all day to add value, but consumers aren’t looking to add value in social media, they’re looking to take whatever value you’ll give them.

The current buzz around social media is that your brand should be human and it’s fine to make mistakes – screw that. It’s not fine to make mistakes*. Your brand should have personality, but your goal should always be a perfect user experience. It’s tough to achieve, but you sure as hell better be trying whether you’ve got a black cloud over your head or not. Nobody wins if you’re not always acting as a pleasant touchpoint for your brand.

Online communities exist 24/7 and you need to have your game face on during all interactions.

What do you do to avoid the impact of bad days? How do you turn that frown upside down when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed (extra points if you can use more cliches in one sentence)?

* Mistakes happen and you should always learn from them (acknowledge and make it right if possible)…but don’t brush them off as if there’s no problem.

In the spirit of full disclosure, you should know I’m writing this post because I lost a bet with Kyle Jameson aka @memyworld. He’s a Vikings fan and I’m a Bengals fan. Nevertheless, I stand behind everything I’ve got to say in this post. Kyle has a nice music blog called “Me. My World.”

Before you get the wrong idea – I don’t think your brand should set out in longboats conquering land masses while sipping mead from the skulls of your enemies. On the other hand, I’m not totally against you hiring a guy named Björn Ironside to manage your brand identity.

We’re talking about the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. You know, the team of burly guys wearing purple and being led by your grandpa at Quaterback. All kidding aside, the Vikings have built one of the most intelligent and passionate fan bases in all of sports. You might argue that it’s easy to build a fan base for the 2nd most successful NFL franchise of all-time, but every year since the merger in 1970 has ended in disappointment.

So, how do you keep a fan base happy, involved, and satisfied when your team fails to meet high expectations?

They may not always be the greatest football team, but the Minnesota Vikings are made up of excellent personas and intriguing stories.

Like me, you might not remember much about the 1998 season. But bring it up to a Vikings fan and they’ll cringe. Gary Anderson, who was about 40 at the time, didn’t miss a field goal all regular season. It was probably the player story of the year. The Vikings were favored to go to the Superbowl…until Anderson missed his first and only field goal of the year in the NFC championship game on the last play of regulation. The Vikings lost in overtime. The fans took on the mantra that they would have won if not for that one field goal. Next year would be their year…but it wasn’t.

If you are a sports fan at all, you know and fear The Mullet and you can’t help but stare in awe at The Williams Wall. The Vikings are characters and the fans love it. Over the past few years, the Vikings have built the persona of A.P. as the hardest hitting back in the league and this year saw the arrival of the missing piece of the puzzle – Old Man Gunslinger Favre.

There is no doubt that Vikings fans will be disappointed with anything less than a Superbowl victory, but nobody will walk away from this season saying the management didn’t try. The Vikings’ management finds a way to give the fans what they want. From the outside, fans can see that they manage like they want to win.

So, why should your brand be more like the Vikings? Because they build characters with fascinating stories and they give their consumers what they need to maintain a positive relationship. The team doesn’t need to win for fans to keep coming back for more.

Image by "roygullem" on Flickr

If you’re a fan of sports (specifically College Football), you’ve heard of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Odds are you’ve even complained about the BCS once or twice. We won’t get into what a horrible system the BCS is, but if you think about it, the BCS has a lot in common with social media.

1.) Nobody likes the BCS…but the BCS – “Nobody” is a little extreme, but do you know anybody that has argued to keep the BCS around in the last few years? They’re not on the popular side unless they are sitting in an office with the BCS officials. Similarly, who are the largest advocates of social media? Those that make money as a product of social media.

If people on the inside are the only advocates, they are often blind to outside opposition. When logic and reality fly out the window, you’re drinking the Kool-Aid. Luckily, social media is gaining momentum in outer circles while BCS stock has been declining since it was established.

2.) The BCS “mission” isn’t exactly the goal of the BCS – If you ask a BCS official what the goal of the BCS is, they’ll tell you their goal is to find and match-up the two best teams in college football. If you ask an advocate of social media what the benefit of getting involved is, they’ll tell you about building relationships and reaching consumers where they spend their time. What’s the reality of both? The goal is to make money.

The BCS doesn’t necessarily win if the two best teams play in the championship, and businesses don’t necessarily win if they talk personally to consumers. The odds that both will be successful increase if they achieve their stated goal, but neither can exist if they don’t establish the underlying need of profitability. The rest doesn’t really matter.

3.) The big boys always have the edge in the BCS – In theory, the BCS puts all teams on a level playing field and the best teams will compete in the championship game each year. You see where this is going? One of the largest selling points of social media is that it puts small businesses on the same level as big corporations. Don’t be fooled though – the power conferences always have the upper-hand in the BCS and large corporations are still the ones that will push social media forward and make the largest splash when they get it right.

In the case of the perfect storm, small conference teams can impact the BCS heavily and the same goes for small businesses in social media. If they big boys aren’t making the news, an excellently planned and executed social media campaign will get noticed and hit the big time.

What do you think? Maybe the BCS and Social Media are crossing paths while heading different directions.

Here’s a bonus comparison – If the more established communications fields (marketing, PR, advertising) are the BCS conferences, social media is still the mid-major looking for the chance to get into the big game and prove itself against the heavy competition.

This post comes as a response to a recent article called “Why Resumes Are Lame” by Ryan Stephens. Ryan makes the argument that resumes are a waste of time, especially in certain fields including PR, marketing, social media, and advertising. David Spinks also wrote a post on “3 Reasons Why Resumes SHOULD Be Irrelevant” awhile back.

Here’s an important first note: Don’t throw away your resume. In fact, make your resume awesome with tangible results, relevant job experience, and a few personal interests. While you’re at it, see if you can present that information in a creatively designed manner. The chance you will get any job without a resume is pretty close to 0.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, forget what you’ve been told about a resume. There are only so many ways black ink on a white piece of paper can really speak to the validity of your skill and stick in a hiring manager’s mind.

All I’m trying to add to the discussion is that young people should be using all of the tools at their disposal to get creative and stand in the face of a bad economy to get that dream job they’ve been preparing for. Even the simple things help you stand out. Write a blog. It shows your ability to write coherently and present important ideas in your industry.

Will a blog replace your resume? Absolutely not. But it will create a conversation and build your personal brand.

Consider how designers apply for a job: They often drop off a well-designed promo/teaser piece for their artwork. Then, they follow up with examples of their previous artwork (portfoli0) and support their abilities in text by presenting a creatively designed resume. Why wouldn’t you do something similar for a job in your field? No, it’s not the norm. But unexpected creativity focuses eyeballs. If nobody sees you, nobody can hire you.

For example: You’ve built your personal brand in social media, so run a campaign for your brand to get hired. Call on your community and use the tools and theories you’ve learned, practiced, and discovered to promote yourself.

It all comes back to the age old Journalism saying – Show. Don’t tell.

Allow your creativity and the available tools to open doors. So what are you going to use as your doorstop? A flimsy piece or paper with twisted words, or your confident skills filled with substance and experience?

*for further examples, Ryan Stephens added these two examples to his blog. They are great uses of available tools to build a campaign for an individual to get hired. There’s also one example I added that shows how people are marketing themselves in other industries as well

• Here’s one.
• Here’s another.
• It’s not just a social media thing.

Muse-ic : When MUSIC inspires ART

Above is a poster designed by a friend of mine – Andrew Osborn (@ajosborn). Just out of school, Andrew scored an internship at Fresh Produce (a little advertising agency on the prairie) in Sioux Falls, SD. As the story goes, Fresh Produce put together a team of qualified interns to work as a fully-functioning ad team within the walls of Fresh Produce. The team was called Famous For Meats. They were tasked with “creating buzz by taking fresh ideas and letting them marinate, ensuring that the product is as juicy and hearty as possible”. Throughout the summer, Andrew and the rest of the “Meatheads” pitched design work and gained extensive experience as interns out on their own (you can see and read about some of the work at the FFM link above).

As their final project at Fresh Produce for the summer, the Meatheads concepted, planned, organized, and promoted an art show at the IPSO Gallery. They titled the show Muse-ic: When MUSIC inspires ART. The Meatheads charged local painters, sculptors, drawers, illustrators and installation artists with picking a piece of music from a determined list from which they could draw inspiration for a piece of art. Essentially, “Muse-ic is rooted in the constant dialogue between visual arts and music” – Andrew Osborn. You can listen to more about the show and hear a little bit from the artists involved on this RockGarden Tour Podcast in which Fresh Produce turned the wheel over to the Famous For Meats interns.

The technical information (time, date, location) is on the poster above, and you should really check it out and talk to the artists and interns about the entire process if you are in the area.

What do you think about this kind of internship? Obviously Fresh Produce trusted their interns to maintain their reputation and produce solid work. Furthermore, the interns got great real-world experience including pitching and dealing with client needs. On the other hand, there was not a whole lot of mentoring going on as internships are often known for. Famous For Meats was implementing full projects at lower wages. At times, they were even finding their own work.

I think it is a fine idea. As far as I know, the interns loved it and Fresh Produce didn’t seem to take any issues with the interns.

We all have limits. There are things we are simply not good at. We can work to improve our skills or mask our inabilities (although I would not suggest the latter if the former is possible). But what is the most unforgivable weakness in every field?

Not knowing your own limits.

To think you have no weakness is the greatest weakness of all. An unknown weakness will inevitably rip you apart from the inside and you will have never seen it coming.

This blog post is going to be a bit of an experiment. It will be driven by your comments about your greatest weakness and how you overcome that weakness.

Maybe it is a little dangerous to write a blog post about a weakness while still on the hunt for a job, but I think it is necessary to understand yourself; furthermore, doing so is probably more valuable than assuming you can do anything.

I’ll start by expressing a weakness of mine – I need to have multiple things going on around me to stay focused. Seems strange right? But as I write this post, I’ve read seven articles from my Google Reader (and have 20 more queued), refreshed and caught up on my Tumblog three times, tweeted a couple times, and made a late lunch. I probably seem very unfocused.

To combat this weakness of seeming to lack focus, I have harnessed the ability to think about things actively while engaging in other activities. I found out I could do this in school when I would write a sentence of a paper and leave it for days at a time. When I came back to the paper, I could sit down and build on that one sentence quickly and accurately with the ideas I had conjured up in the time I was away from the paper. Now, when I start something, it stays in my mind and grows until I can release it.

In the age of social media, brands never go to sleep. It always needs to be in the back of your head and on the tip of your tongue. You also have the ability to research your competitions’ strengths and explore your own weaknesses to minimize them. Don’t let a weakness that you did not recognize tear your brand apart.

So, go ahead. What is it? What is your personal weakness and how do you use it to your advantage or minimize it? Like I said above, this post will really be pushed forward by your comments and your willingness to improve your strengths. I hope you trust the community to be honest and help you build your abilities.

I wrote this on Posterous after returning home from a tweetup in Sioux Falls.

I grew up in Omaha. I spent four years at school in Sioux Falls. The Internet and group functions have allowed me to socially network heavily with individuals in Minneapolis.

When I send a resume to an Omaha company, a return email systematically lets me know that the company is not currently looking for entry-level employees.

In Sioux Falls, members of a close-knit professional community (from CEOs to Account Executives) will sit down for lunch or coffee and discuss possibilities in the area and speak candidly about employment opportunities as they see fit. Personal introductions are often the chosen method for passing along names, information, and recommendations.

Is the difference simply due to size? I don’t think so.

When I send a resume out in Minneapolis, the recipient indicates they have read the email and at least glanced at the attached document. If they are unable to help through employment, they offer to forward the information to colleagues and keep an ear open for possible opportunities. I’ve run into very few companies in Minneapolis that simply turn a cold shoulder without staying in contact and offering assistance.

How does information flow in your community? Like Omaha: the ‘Black Hole’ model [information that goes in never gets out]? Like Sioux Falls: the ‘Cheers’ model [where everybody knows your name]? Or like Minneapolis: the ‘Collaborative Potential’ model [our community can benefit from solid work and solid workers]? Maybe something completely different.

After driving 200 miles to meet with some great people in Sioux Falls, I began thinking about a post concerning the physical relation to one’s community. I would ask how far is too far to travel for a good community? And what do you do when you move out of a stellar community?

There is something more important than the geographic relation you have to your community. When I ask how far you will go for your community, I mean what will you do to show your community that you are one of them?

Scribnia community manager, David Spinks, does a great job of letting the community know that he belongs with them. He is every bit as likely to be nominated as Blogger of the Week as he is to choose the award. Furthermore, David makes it easy for bloggers to join the community by creating the skeleton structure of their page that they can fill in and claim when they choose to do so.

So, what can you do to show your community that you are a valuable component of the group? How will you show your community members that you belong with them and that you are willing to improve the community? It is commonplace to say go the extra mile for clients/communities/friends/coworkers.

Well I say – Go the extra 200 miles.

Image Credit: Tara Hunt (flickr.com/photos/missrogue)

By now, you have all at least heard of the case in which United Airlines reportedly ruined the $3,500 guitar of country musician Dave Carroll. If not, join over 2 million viewers in watching the music video Dave created about the situation. If the video doesn’t do it for you, feel free to read the story from Dave’s perspective on his website.

Hero?

Dave has been lifted to near hero status among social media circles in the past couple weeks due to his band’s catchy viral video, but has Dave exposed the dark side of social media heroism? When I first heard the story and watched the video, I thought it was great. I knew Dave had been wronged by United Airlines and I was happy that somebody had the ability to take a shot at a corporation that ignored his customer service needs. Blog posts jumped up all over the place praising Dave’s destruction of the United Airlines image and support rolled in through comments about never flying United again.

Villain?

Whoa, slow down a minute. I know it looks bad for United at this point, but take a second to consider what they were dealing with. There is probably no excuse for giving somebody a run-around for nine months, but United might have a case here. First, we all know that airlines claim that they are not liable for lost, stolen, or damaged luggage every time they get a chance. But if Dave saw the handlers throwing his instrument around, there must be an exception. If not, there should be – so we’ll stay on Dave’s side. After Dave claims to have seen the handlers throwing his guitar case, he picks the case up at baggage claim and goes to his hotel. Seven days later (after a Nebraska-wide tour), Dave returns to United and says they broke his guitar. Why didn’t Dave check his guitar at the airport if he saw it being tossed around? Dave says the case looked fine and they were tired.

Implications

Again, there is no excuse to send a customer from employee to employee for nine months basically avoiding response to his claim. But United might be on the receiving end of the dark side of social media. Dave and his band are less-than-famous and have created a viral sensation on the internet at the expense of United’s reputation. I would like to believe that Dave honestly knows that United broke his guitar, but it seems like he has a lot more to gain in this situation than a repaired guitar.

Does this case indicate that a certain amount of publicity, whether with good intentions or not, will result in a desired outcome? The most common solution I have seen is that United could have avoided this by fixing the guitar. Do you really want business to work that way? If you make a claim, they bend over and accommodate your demands? Whether wrong doing has occurred or not, publicity would dictate the outcome. Imagine United did not break Dave’s guitar, but to avoid confrontation they replaced the guitar. Yes, $3,500 is a relatively small price to pay to save your reputation, but what other expenses would United have opened themselves up to?

I feel bad for Dave, his guitar, and United. But I’m still on the fence about whether this is a shining moment for social media or a dark realization, what do you think?