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The Power of Conversation and Social Media

February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
iPhone 4 showing the home screen.

Image via Wikipedia

What is the definition of Social Media?

Social media is conversation. It is about having conversations with people online. It is about framing the conversation online. Imagine, it is like being in a room of people and knowing how to talk to everyone and directing the conversation.

It’s like the story of the girl who wanted the iPhone:

One evening, a colleague watched a teen age girl trying to talk her dad into buying an iPhone. Dad wanted something a lot simpler and was really wanting a free phone (probably so he could afford an iPhone for his daughter). The daughter saw the iPhone as one half gadget, one half fashion statement and one hundred percent hers on evenings and weekends.

In the end, Dad had to go to the bathroom. And that’s where the conversation that mattered occurred. An older gentleman, probably one with daughters was wooing at a less uber-cool phone. He looked at the girl, who was still oogling the iPhone and said, “You know, I bet you let your dad get the free phone and you get one of those for Christmas.”

The girl looked at him like he was crazy and shot back, “My dad would never do that.”

Then the old guy smiled and replied, “Do you know why your Dad dresses the way he does?” The girl shriveled her nose and said, “You noticed? It’s really bad.”

“It is. And look how he dresses you. That’s why I’m pretty sure your going to get that iPhone.” After a few uneasy seconds, the girl looked up and said, “I never saw it that way.”

When Dad got back from the bathroom, his daughter didn’t say anything – she just gave him a big hug. And said thank you to the old stranger who was finally checking out the iPhone he had been waiting on.

The old guy was present in the room and influenced the conversation. Social Media requires participation.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

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Filed Under: Internet Public Relations, social media, Social Media Marketing, The Social Network Tagged With: , , ,

Branding Yourself: Using Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself, and Que BizTech

December 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

My business partner Erik just finished his new book, “Branding Yourself: Using Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself, and Que BizTech” (Pearson Education).

It is an excellent guide on how to use online social media for branding yourself online. You can also pruchase it on Amazon.

Erik is an excellent writer. You can also read his Laughing Stalk Blog where he posts his weekly humor columns for several local newspapers in Indiana.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

Filed Under: internet marketing, Internet Public Relations, Online Behavior, Online Marketing, Online Reputation Management Tagged With: , ,

Captain Kent Brian

December 13, 2010 By 3 Comments
Photo on 2010-12-13 at 16.51

My cousin has a House for Sale in Hungary.

Over the course of helping him list it online, I have been getting numerous scams approaching me to help him offload it quickly.  It has been quite funny. So, here is the latest of a number of scams. Since I called the guy out using a real name Captain Glen Parent, this guy is now calling himself Captain Kent Brian. (It sounds suspiciously like a made up name).  Google Captain Kent Brian of NATO forces in South Afghanistan, you will not find one.

For your entertainment: (The grammer is great and “Kent Brian” sounds convincing).

Good day I write back to you concerning what I wish to discuss with you. I implore you to take your time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will go off a long way to determine our future and continued existence. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Kent Brian, a member of NATO-ISAF Task Force and Provincial Reconstruction Troops in Southern Afghanistan.Captain Kent Brian has a very confidential opportunity for you

I have a very confidential proposal for you. It was in my search for a secured business listing that I came in contact with you and I wish I can confide in you to get this business completed.

Based on the United States legislative and executive decision of pulling our troop out of here by the End of the year I have decided to contact you for this business opportunity and relationship. I want to inform you that I have in my possession the sum of USD 10.5 million, which I got from crude oil deals in Afghanistan. I deposited this money with a Red Cross Agent informing him that i am making contact for the real owner of the money and it is under my power to approve whoever comes forth for the money.

I want to invest the money in a good business as soon as my service here ends, anyway you will advise me on that since I am not into business. I am solely interested in making a life for my two daughters and therefore I shall require the service of a person who is trustworthy and sincere. I am going to make you the beneficiary of the money and allowing you to invest for my Kids in the event anything happens to me here. I am an America and an intelligent officer, so I have a 100% authentic means of transferring the money through diplomatic courier service. I just need your acceptance and all is done.

Where we are now we can only communicate through our military communication facilities that are secured so nobody can monitor our emails, then I can explain in details to you. I will only reach you through email, because our calls might be monitored, I just have to be sure whom I am dealing with.

I need someone I could deal with on trust, so that is why I contacted you to work with me as the receiving partner in your country. If you accept, I will put you forward as the beneficiary of the funds and transfer the money to you because as a uniformed person I cannot be parading such an amount so I need to present someone as the beneficiary.

I am writing from a fresh email account so if you are not interested do not reply to this email and please delete this message. If you are interested, then let me know so we can proceed as time is very important to me. I wait for your contact details so we can move into action. In less than 5 days, the money should have been in your position and I will come over for my money when my service here expires. I will give to you 30% of the sum and 70% is for me because I know that nothing goes for nothing, I hope I am been fair to you for your assistance as my receiving partner. If you are interested in handling this life changing and promising transaction of mine, please reply me immediately.

Regards
Brian

This is so bad….I am not sure it is even that funny. But, an unsuspecting person could find themselves in trouble.

Filed Under: internet marketing, Internet Public Relations Tagged With: , , , , ,

At the Top Networking Strategy Session – Erik Deckers Speaks

April 27, 2010 By 3 Comments

Last week on Thursday April 22, 2010, Erik Deckers participated in the Strategy Session called Mistakes Small Business Makes in their marketing.  Erik was responsible to talk about “The 3 Mistakes Companies Make with Their Blogging and Social Media.  He will discuss the following:

  1. Ignoring Social Media
  2. Broadcasting, Not Conversing
  3. Abandoning the Plan

I think he did a pretty good job.

Check it out:

Filed Under: Blog Marketing, internet marketing, Internet Public Relations, marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Online Forum Behavior

April 15, 2010 By 2 Comments
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For the past 6 years, I have participated on an online forum that covers the state of Hungarian Football.  There are a Fires burning on online forumssmall number of “hopeful” Hungarian Football fans that are waiting for the resurrection of the “Golden Team” of the 1950s.  We religiously follow our beloved Hungarian National Team only to be disappointed every 2 years when they fail to make a major tournament.  The last time Hungary participated in a World Cup was in 1986 in Mexico.

Football is passion and passions brings out the worst or best in others.  The forum is going through the changes that often occur in groups where a choice is asked of its members to be with the forum leader or not.  Members come and go, but now there is a come to Jesus with the remaining members to pledge allegiance to the Forum Manager.

Now, if we follow the pattern of what is happening, it is a common in offline communities for people to become divided.  There seems to be a life cycle that starts with the following steps:

1.  Mutual Respect

2.  Cooperation

3.  Division

4.  Power Grab

There is a “Lord of the Flies” effect that seems to take hold.

Division leads to power grabs by individuals that leads to potential dictatorships for order.

I am going to explore this phenomenon further.  This behavior is not limited to online forum behavior but permeates our lives.  I have seen it in how organizations work too.  Competition breeds cooperation that denigrates into division which ultimately leads to a new congregation forming at another Church.

This common offline behavior can be seen occurring in online forums also.

More to come on this subject…

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Filed Under: internet marketing, Internet Public Relations, Online Behavior Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Star Wars in Concert

December 13, 2009 By 1 Comment

Ok, so my wife tells me, “I got you and Andrew concert tickets for “Star Wars in Concert” for your birthday.“ I have to admit, I did not jump up and down. “Ok”, I said with a one eye brow raised.

If you have kids and you have kids that love music, take them! It is kind of expensive at $65 a ticket, but it was worth it.

We saw the concert at Conseco Field House. Surprisingly, the sound was excellent. I leaned over and ask my son, “Is this live, or is this Memorex?” He gave me a puzzled look of course because he is not familiar with the old Aretha Franklin commercials from the 1970s-1980s.

The real point of this post is, “Community Orchestras can learn something from the Star Wars in Concert series.” The concert combined visual montages with the music. People were clearly entertained. (I am still shaking my head at the quality of the sound. The orchestra was so tight).

I remember when classical music was taught to me. I finally learned about classical music while on a study abroad program in Austria. Our Professor taught us the significance of Mozart, Beethovan, Hadyn in the context of their time. He was so enthusiastic about the music that I finally go it.

John Williams film music is very easy to get because we have the visual support of the film to help convey what the music is saying.

What if Symphonies started applying some of the same techniques to traditional Mozart, List, or Beethoven pieces. After all, we are an easily bored society. People want to be entertained by our standards today which include video or visual stimulation. Maybe we should have a video running that accompanies the music being played by the Orchestra.

Think I am crazy? Well, Conseco Fieldhouse was full. So, something tells me people are ok with orchestrated music. They just want to be entertained with it.

It was a great concert. I recommend it to anyone.

Filed Under: internet marketing, Internet Public Relations, marketing, Social Commentary

Online behavior, why is it so bad sometimes?

October 19, 2009 By 1 Comment
Two Face - Character from Batman comic book

Two Face - Character from Batman comic book

Two Face - Character from Batman comic book

What is it about being in front of a computer that can sometimes bring out the worst in people?

Hiding behind email

In the office, email is the weapon of choice.  How often have you received a nasty email from a co-worker who says things they would never say to your face?  I had a boss that used email to say what he really thought, yet he had a hard time communicating it in person.  After reading it, you would scratch your head and ask, “What was that all about?”

Back in the day before all the electronic communication, if you had a problem with someone, you would spar with them in some form to settle the dispute.  Today, we hide behind email.

I like my wife’s rule to my kids.  If you can’t say it to their face, then don’t say it at all.  She can’t stand the “hide by email” effect.  She is a direct person and tells it like she thinks it is.

Message Board Rage

Another phenomenon I have been observing is what I call  “Message Board Rage”.  I participate in several boards and blog discussions.  There is another guy in some part of the country or world.  He has never met the other person, yet he is spewing a vitriolic hatred for the other person.  In many cases, it is because the other person just does not agree with what they are saying.

Growing up as a 1st generation Hungarian boy, respect is a very important concept in my family.  I grew up in the era of respect your elders.  Now that I have reached my mid-40s, I understand what experience really means.  There is an absence of this long held value in message board culture.  Not only can you show disrespect, you can down right destroy someone you do not really know.

Which begs the question, what drives this behavior?  Are these individuals so unhappy in their real lives that they feel power to take it out on people half a world away?  As my wife says, would these people do it in person?  Chances are not.

Twitter Rage

Recently, we observed some Twitter rage.  An individual did not like something another person said, so he attempted to totally destroy the credibility of the other person.  It was not an intellectual banter of professionals.  It was a vitriolic dialog akin to something seen on the Jerry Springer show.  Is there no professional respect in the world?

The individual tried to engage me.  I pointed out, this will become a circular argument.  Why even have it?

The individual that was getting the rap is guy anyone would like to have a beer with.  He is funny, witty, and just a decent human being.  Yet, this guy from another part of the country had no qualms about trying to destroy this person’s reputation online.

Binary World

Everyone today is right and the other person is wrong.  Convictions are so important that basic human communications have degraded into a disrespectful shouting matches.  The current economic situation does not help matters, as people are full of fear.  The anger out there certainly does mask that fear.

So, what should be done to change the bad behavior in electronic communication?  Simply, start with your own behavior.  Ask yourself, why am I allowing this person I don’t really know, pissing me off?  Is what I am writing, what I would say to him/her in person?  If not, don’t write it.  It’s a start.\

Online Golden Rule

“If you can’t say it to a person’s face, then don’t write it in an email, message board, blog or twitter post.”

Let’s bring the concept of mutual respect back into our dialogs.  We can solve more problems this way.  Maybe even help one another in the process.

Filed Under: internet marketing, Internet Public Relations, Online Behavior, Social Commentary Tagged With: , , , ,

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