Outsourcing social media management

by Jack Burke

The New York Times has an interesting report on a growing market for businesses that help companies manage their social media presence by archiving business communications or managing individual employees posts on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Muscle in Rosemont

by Jason France

For one weekend every November, The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois is a “must do” car show for me. For the past 3 or 4 years I have been attending and the show just keeps getting better and better. The quality of rare muscle cars sardined inside the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center is just awe inspiring. I’m not talking about nicely restored ’70 Chevelles and ’65 Mustangs here. These are cars with heritage. Vintage restored drag race cars from the ’60s. Cars sold through dealer networks like Nickey, Yenko and Ammon R. Smith. Cars with hood scoops, hockey stripes and dual four barrels. Cars that are worth more than a four-bedroom house with a swimming pool.

This isn’t your average car show. This showcases some of the best of the best. And for one weekend in November we can go take it all in.

A nice home with a fireplace is great, but it doesn’t have solid lifters or a 4-speed.

See some more of my shots at Flickr.

You can’t teach a pig to sing

by Tim O’Brien

Savvy marketers know good content is the single most difficult thing to develop in-house.

Small wonder. Effective content requires an uncommon combination of skill, expertise and dedication. 

It takes professional writers, not product engineers from the third floor. Skilled wordsmiths capable of creating credible content customers crave.

Next, you need people who know your business. Proven, productive performers. In today’s fast-paced, digital market you can’t afford to train someone about your business—much less pay for that training!

Finally, it demands dedication. Seek a true business partner, committed to your success—lifelong students who share a passion for your business, not your wallet.

Good content informs, educates, instructs, excites, aids, guides, motivates, directs—and forms the essential foundation that supports your entire communications program.

So don’t annoy the pig or waste your precious resources.

When you find the right content provider, hang on tight. Nothing is more critical to the success of today’s voracious, multi platform communications programs than solid content.

Content is still king

by Jack Burke

A lot of business owners think they want a blog for their website, but get scared by one thing: Where's the content going to come from?
Coming up with new things to write about isn't easy, even for people who work with words for a living. The key with blogs is making sure what you say is interesting to your customer base. It doesn't have to be completely original. For example, if you see a topical story in the Wall Street Journal, blog about it. Make sure you link to the story and give credit, but if it is of interest to your customers, it will help build your relationship with them.
Here are a few other topics to mull when blogging:
1. Comment about what's going on in your industry.
2. Write "how-to" or "how-not-to" do something in your industry.
3. Put company white papers on the blog.
Remember, blogs don't have to reinvent the wheel. They just have to be of interest to your customers, both current and potential.

A tripod could hold the key to good photography

by Jason France

Most amateur photographers don’t carry a tripod with them when they are out and about. Could be that it is inconvenient, they don’t have one or they just think they don’t need it. The truth is you can benefit from a tripod for most anything you are photographing. You will have less camera shake which result in sharper images, straighter horizons and more well-thought-out compositions. If you “shoot from the hip,” your images will seem more like snapshots rather than well-composed photographs. For any product photography, you should rely on a sturdy tripod. It should become as essential to the process as a lens and a battery. If you don’t own a sturdy tripod, go to your local camera store and pick up information and ask questions on the models they carry. Buy a good one! Don’t be cheap, because it WILL fail on you. Plus, the thought of mounting that $1,600 camera and $1,400 lens off a cheap tripod on a windy day scares me.

Black Friday tips

by Jason France

 Black Friday early morning shopping is a tradition in many households. People venture out at a ridiculously early hour in pursuit of bargains and come home with carloads full of stuff. If you are new to this whole thing here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Who? Who is crazy enough (besides you) to get up at 4a.m. and head out to retailers in pursuit of that coveted bargain? A friend? A family member or two? Who is going to do the driving? Make sure you are taking a vehicle that has room for your items…and your co-pilots’ items as well. Ample trunk space is not only necessary to hold all your stuff but to hide it all as well. Thieves are aplenty during the holidays so don’t leave that 46-inch LCD television in plain view in the back seat of your sister’s AMC Gremlin. And don’t forget the Joe! Many gas stations are open 24 hours, so stop in quick for mocha to give you that jolt you need to start the day.

2. What? What items are worth sacrificing sleep for to go get at the wee hour of the morning? Many websites have the sale ads posted well in advance of Thanksgiving (when the ads are traditionally released) so keep checking them. I use www.gottadeal.com. Look for the killer deal. Many retailers like Target and Best Buy have the best sale items: $3 DVDs, mega-discounted televisions, laptop computers and camcorders…stuff you can save hundreds of dollars on. Pass on the stuff you can buy anytime. I know iPods and iPads are the hottest thing but unless there is an incentive to buy, pass on these items. Save your hard-earned Benjamins for the door busters.

3. Where? Create a plan of attack. What stores will you be going to? The store you will hit first is most important here. Remember, there are thousands of people with the same idea as you to shop on Black Friday so a television that is half off will be sold out at that price by 8am if the store opens at 5am.

4. Why? Why even bother to do this? For my wife and I it’s what starts the holiday season for us. Every year we have been doing it we look forward to the following year. We have saved literally thousands of dollars over normal retail prices so the early morning effort is well worth it. Most of all it’s a lot of fun.

Good luck!!

Who is your Chief Content Officer?

by Warren Eulgen

Perhaps your company already has a Chief Content Officer (CCO). If it does, congratulations, someone in the C-suite is a visionary. In three to five years, most Fortune 500 members and many smaller progressives will likely have established the CCO position. In 10 years, your company could be well behind the times if the CCO position has not yet appeared on your org chart.

So just exactly what is a Chief Content Officer and what does he or she do? Good questions.

CCOs report to CEOs and work side by side with CMOs and CIOs. The CCO is responsible for developing and disseminating a constant stream of information—emanating from all corners of the organization—to customers, prospects, employees, investors, suppliers and other partners through digital channels. The position might well be described as an e-com marketing, advertising, promotions and PR expert on steroids.

The CCO will be charged with defining the character of the company and clearly and convincingly projecting its voice to all digitally receptive constituencies. In this new era of transparency, outsiders can more easily gain a true and authentic view of the company. Information will flow more freely in higher volumes and be characterized by fewer filters and faster responses.

For many, digital content is fast becoming the single most important asset at a CEO’s disposal for positioning companies, conditioning audiences, increasing revenue and enhancing value. As traditional media increasingly struggles to maintain relevancy, more and more savvy communicators will utilize a combination of social and digital media to speak more directly and less expensively with growing online audience segments.

If you would like to accelerate your firm’s ability to connect with these narrow-band niches, let’s discuss the role of the CCO and how HVC can help you generate a constant flow of segmented micro-topics focused on three simple keys: captivate, educate and motivate.

Why a boom can go bust

by Jack Burke

It’s a problem most businesses dream about. Being too busy, that is. Too many customers, too many phone calls, too many order forms. Really, can anyone be too busy with sales?

Turns out the answer is yes, if you’re not prepared. The New York Times has an interesting article about a couple of start-ups that almost went belly-up after getting big-time endorsements by celebrities. One, a chocolate maker, got a huge boost when Oprah’s O magazine mentioned them. The blurb was only 36 words, but the phone started ringing and they got so many visitors to the company’s website that the server crashed.

Great, huh? But what happens when you can’t fill the orders? You get angry would-be customers who might bad mouth you to other would-be clients. Maybe you rush to get product out so fast that quality suffers, hurting your credibility. The chocolate company had to invest in new machines and hire new workers to match demand—but what if big early demand ebbs? It’s good to remember the old saying: Be careful what you wish for—you might get it.

A photo a day

©2010 Yellow Wagon Photography

Shot Oct.30 2010 at West Allis Farmer’s Market

by Jason France

The idea that in order to be a better photographer, you need to shoot…everyday. Imagine that, practice makes perfect? I have been doing my best to partake in this venture, though it is hard sometimes. But even the attempt at shooting a photo everyday will sharpen your skills and better yet, conceptualization. There are many websites online that have groups of people participating in “photo a day” programs if you want inspiration. Other forums like thephotoforum.com have assignments that give you a word and you have to shoot a photo of how you interpret that word. It’s a lot of fun so get out at try it.

New-school marketing

by Jason France

You can find deals almost anywhere today. Utilize websites and services such as Groupon, Gottadeal.com and even Facebook to find that next bargain. That can be great sources of deals! Facebook, for instance, wouldn’t seem like a great avenue to score a bargain….but it is! Create a Facebook or Twitter page to allow others to friend or follow you. This provides you with a great sample of potential buyers interested in your product. Look at it this way, they CHOSE to follow your page. 

Drive potential customers to the site for new product introductions, sales or offers. Be careful! It is addicting! You don’t want to post too many updates and flood the user’s “Wall.” They will react negatively to your constant updates and boot you from their accounts. This is especially important the more people check their Twitter and Facebook pages on their cell phones.

Here is an example: A good friend of mine owns a successful tattoo shop in my hometown. He utilizes a Facebook page to show off recent work, provide Facebook-only deals to his followers and allow others to post their comments and feedback on his shop. It has worked out extremely well for him. In roughly 7 months, he has more than 250 “Friends.” A recent offer announced, “Be the first 10 people to “Like” this comment and get $50 off a tattoo!” He had 10 “Likes” in 15 minutes. The offer was successful to book new appointments at the shop.

Be a go-getter

by Jason France

It is appreciated when you offer to help out on a project rather than have it assigned to you. Put in a little extra effort to get it done on time or to make the customer happy. Your extra effort will be noticed not only by your supervisor but your smiling customers as well!