OK, year-end business change tidbit: And it’s more than a mouthful . . .
Business isn’t always an easy sport. I often say there’s very little about business that any reasonably intelligent person can’t figure out, but when it comes time to mix it up, roll it into a ball, and turn out a delicious piece of bread, things get . . . sticky.
So as we enter a new year, my question for you is: What is your Social Networking Strategy?
It’s a tough predicament.
CLECs (AT&T, Verizon, et.al.) have a bunch of rules they have to follow that were made at a time when they held a different position. And let’s be honest: holding them to a standard that took into account a position they no longer hold really isn’t fair.
On the other hand: there are a significant number of people who still use CLECs in the same way they used them once upon a time, and dinosaur references notwithstanding it really isn’t fair to just cut them off.
At Answer Guy Central, we receive job applications all the time. Sometimes they’re in response to gigs we have available, but more often they’re unsolicited requests for work.
If you’ve ever weeded through dozens or hundreds of documents like this, you know what it feels like; the very first time it happens you’re happy to have generated a response like that, and then you realize how much work is involved in reading all that material.
So why not limit the size of your next batch?
Heads Up: I’m about to tell you more about business and this web site than you wanted to know. Please pay attention, because your business survival in the 2010′s depends on it. Your next business change could be “no more business”.
On Christmas, I received a gift that I’m going to share with you. It’s this blog post. Read it, right now. I’m serious.
Here’s why that post is so important: it shows what’s about to happen on the internet, and if you aren’t committed to enacting real business change, you’re about to get lost.
Wow. Two Kim Kardashian references in one week. I’m getting ready to call a moratorium on celebuntantes.
A couple of days ago I pointed out that Kim Kardashian might be in hot water with the FTC over her non-disclosed paid-endorser schtick for Carl’s Jr. on Twitter. The topic of business change is even more germane with today’s news that Pepsi is abandoning its long-held position as an advertiser on the Super Bowl.
Remember: in the earlier piece I pointed out that Twitter would reach people for about one-third the money that a Super Bowl advertisement costs, and that the eyeballs being delivered were of a higher quality because they had opted-in to Ms. Kardashian’s messages.
Back in August, I told you about a Ruling in US District Court that effectively made Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office illegal. Banned. Not OK to sell. Well, that ruling has been upheld. Microsoft has been ordered to stop selling Word and Office, starting in about three weeks. And they’re complying.
So what kind of business change does this mean for Microsoft? How does “none” strike you?
OK, so that hasn’t happened yet. But it should.
Kim Kardashian, one of those famous-for-being-famous celebutantes we just can’t get away from, has a new income stream. Tweeting. And get this: Ms. Kardashian’s rate is $10,000 per.
It shouldn’t surprise you that Kardashian gets paid to tweet, any more than it would if you found out that any message to 2.7 million people (her following as of December 20 2009) was compensated.
Want more time? Do fewer things. Talk to fewer people. Get OFF Facebook.
I’m feeling conflicted. Not at all surprised, but uncomfortable nonetheless. It seems that teenagers are starting to figure out that Facebook and other social networking sites are a great big time-suck. And, if not walking away entirely, stepping back.
I’m a big proponent of social networking. It’s not that I like doing it; all that time I spend on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the others can feel like it’s taking away from my ability to actually get things done. But there’s no question that it pays dividends, too. So I endure—just as I keep telling you to do as a planned-out part of your business change.
OK, it’s time. You need to make your web site do more than just look good. Now, you need traffic.
You can buy traffic, of course, but that’s expensive—and not because clicks generated on Google Adwords cost so much (and they can). The problem with Adwords is that you can spend a fortune driving the wrong traffic to your web site, and take too long doing it since most people don’t even look at the right side of the page.
How smart is David Pogue? He’s an accomplished musician. A successful business person. An author with dozens of well-written books under his belt. The lead technology columnist for the New York Times, and a talking head on television. And I know him a little; he’s a great guy.
But wow, is he asleep on electronic publishing.
Yesterday, David blogged on the subject. He asked what sounds like an innocent question, and the response has been strong and pretty much of one voice: “David Pogue, you need to pull your head out of that orifice“.
Want Wi-Fi With That?
How’s this for (long overdue) business change? : McDonald’s, the place where your kids make you go for periodic infusions of too much fat and sodium, has decided that the Wi-Fi Internet access they’ve installed and almost nobody has been paying for should be . . . free.
Wow. You think?
Using an iPhone, but prefer the Microsoft Bing search engine? There’s an app for that.
In the latest proof that Business Change is about coopetition, Apple has allowed Microsoft to put a search application in the iTunes store. What’s next, a Bing application for Google Android?
Since unlike Apple, Google and Microsoft both have search engines they want you to use, that seems unlikely. On the other hand, Google doesn’t have the kind of rules for their app repository that Apple does, so if Microsoft wants in they can get there.
So I’ve just listened to Chris Brogan and Julien Smith on a webcast talking about the subjects in their book Trust Agents. These guys are amazing communicators, and the book is . . . nice. But here’s the question:
How do you REALLY create trust?
If it’s true that we can each be really connected to only 150 people (a theory both Chris and Julien subscribe to), then how do we do business in a world where the game has become “have a brand and make sure anyone who could benefit from it knows that brand” ? Think about it: the “action” is on Twitter, where you seek huge audiences. But . . . then doesn’t the trust go away as soon as people realize you’re just broadcasting?
Here’s how important Social Networking has become:
Someone I know just became an uncle. Through the various familial dysfunctions that seem to effect so many people he wasn’t “in the loop”. But he was attached to the far-flung pieces of his extended family through Facebook. News delivered.
The story sounds sad, right? But where is the sad in the story . . . that his family is dysfunctional, or that the Internet is holding them together? Certainly the dysfunctional part is sad. But the part about the Internet as glue? That isn’t sad, it’s change.
How’s Social Networking treating you?
It’s amazing, right? A click here, a snippet there, and all of a sudden the whole world knows you. Business Change is a dream. It’s easy!
It isn’t at all. Now that you’re on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and wherever else, maybe writing a blog, and who knows what else, you’ve discovered how much work it is to maintain them all and keep them aligned. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a good way to post something once and have it show up everywhere?
Answer Guy Central Influency and Integrated Marketing, New York NY 10128
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