Monthly Archives: December 2008

Communities around Ball Bearings, Underwear or Drano

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In a post last week, Aaron Strout and Bill Fanning asked “Would you Join a Toothpaste Community?” The implication was that some things might not lend themselves to community online. In the comments, I engaged with Adam Cohen over whether Medical Device Manufacturers should target patients in addition to hospital purchasing agents and doctors regarding their products.

This week, Aaron is back with a discussion of the things learned from that previous post and comments, including information on a Ball Bearing community. Definitely worth the read.

Changing your Social Media Status isn’t a Marketing Tactic

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I’ve written several times about the things that can happen when you change your Social Network status, or use a presence tool like Twitter to update your community.  (See: Facebook and Blogs for Non-profit Recruiting ,  Business Development via Social Networks, and On Social Networks Give and you Shall Receive).
At a recent conference I ran into Jeremy Epstein who told me this story. He got an email from a potential business contact, but had no idea how he got Jeremy’s name. The client liked Jeremy’s blog posts about consumer privacy issues, so Jeremy engaged him and asked where this person found him. Continue reading →

Motrin Gets a Headache while Ford needs no new media bailout

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This month has been an interesting one in the New Media world. In the early part of the month, Motrin was attacked by an army of Mommy Bloggers and Mommy Twitterers. Motrin ran an ad online with corresponding print campaign discussing “baby wearing” – the practice of putting babys in packs, slings and other devices to help moms carry them. The premise was “this can hurt your back – try Motrin.” The actual execution to me was tone deaf, but to many Mom bloggers and Twitters was offensive. The traffic started to grow on Twitter, with links to posts from Mommy bloggers expressing outrage at the perceived slight. There was even a 9 minute YouTube response with pictures of moms carrying babys and Twitter posts. This all happened on a weekend, but by Sunday night, Kathy Widmer, VP of Marketing had taken down the ad and replaced it with an apology. I’ll get to my take on that response in a second. Continue reading →

Inc.com Startup Blog – startup helps find office space w/social tools

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My latest post on Tech and Marketing on the Inc.com Startup Blog is about a web tool that lets entrepreneurs find flexible office space inexpensively.

How I Found the Right Office Space

I typically write here about tools to help entrepreneurs better promote, market, communicate and sell in their businessesI typically write here about tools to help entrepreneurs better promote, market, communicate and sell in their businesses. But as the economic slowdown creeps up on many businesses, it is worth exploring a web tool that lets entrepreneurs find flexible office space inexpensively.

In keeping with the theme of my posts, the site also uses social tools to promote and improve the product.

Read the rest at INC.com.

Pulver’s Social Media Jungle at CES 2009

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After participating in Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Jungle last month, Dean Landsman and I were asked to give a talk at the SMJ at the Consumer Electronics Show 2009 in Las Vegas.

I am honored to be asked to participate. The Social Media Jungle event had great value because all the speakers were real practitioners, speaking from experience, not selling, but explaining how they do what they do. The event had a very high signal to noise ratio. Continue reading →