February 2010

Feb 2010

25

Networking, innovating, and getting “wild” about business

by Allen Voivod

Wild for InnovationHere’s one thing that 2009 taught us – everything you think you know about business can change very rapidly, and cause even the most stable of companies to get nervous, get shaky, and in some unfortunate circumstances, go under.

Here’s something else we know – out of recessions come some of the most powerful, profitable, game-changing companies. General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, CNN, Federal Express, Burger King, and dozens of other giants started out in what some would consider the worst of economic circumstances.

One of the keys to their survival through thick and thin is their ability to innovate – to constantly search for ways to improve the way they do business, internally and externally. This is the overriding theme behind “Wild for Innovation,” billed as “a unique opportunity for New Hampshire businesspeople to converge with some of the brightest at UNH for a day of learning, sharing, celebration.”

It’s happening Friday, March 5th, at UNH in Durham, starting at 12pm and continuing through 5:45pm, after which there’s going to be a tailgate-style networking dinner. (You can stay and watch UNH’s hockey team take on Boston College at 7:30pm and make a night of it, too.)

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t planning on going originally, even though one of our clients is involved in putting on this event. But I’ve since changed my mind, and the reason why is because of what I learned from studying up on trade shows a couple of years ago:

If you want to stand out in your field, look at what’s happening in different industries to get fresh ideas, find out what’s working (and what isn’t), and bring some of that into your own presence as appropriate.

Same thing goes for innovation – if you want to get in the innovation mindset, surround yourself with open-minded business professionals who are thinking in that direction. Surround yourself with people who are actually innovating for a living. Get fresh input from different fields that you can take back and put to work in your own business.

You’re going to get that (and a lot more) from Wild for Innovation Day. It’s an event unlike others I’ve seen put on here in NH in the past, tickets are limited for it, and half are gone already, so don’t wait until the last minute – jump on it today.

Feb 2010

22

Social media success update: Rock Art Brewery

by Allen Voivod

Debbie Bolduc of Franklin Savings Bank first brought this story to my attention back in October 2009, and it quickly made its way into our presentations as a powerful example of how building a dedicated tribe through social media has tremendous, far-reaching, and even unexpected benefits.

Short summary: In September of 2009, Vermont’s Rock Art Brewery got a cease-and-desist letter from Monster Energy Drinks (subsidiary of the multi-billion-dollar Hansen’s Natural Beverages). They wanted Rock Art to stop using “The Vermonster” as the name of one of its microbrewed beers. Rock Art found out they could fight it in court and have a good chance to win, but it would likely bankrupt the comparatively small-pocketed company in the process.

A month and a half after receiving the C&D letter, thanks to thousands of people joining a Monster boycott movement on Facebook and nearly 2 million tweets on Twitter about it (which also got the attention of one of their US Senators), Monster dropped the case. Or, as CNN succinctly puts it, “Matt [Nadeau, Rock Art's owner] used social media to publicize his plight and settled the dispute amicably.”

Yes, that’s right – this social media groundswell also led to television coverage on major news outlets, including this piece last week on CNN. And the best news – as you’ll hear at the end of the report – is that Nadeau leveraged the power of his tribe to create real change in how small businesses like his, yours, and ours can protect their trademarks.

And if the embedding isn’t showing you the video wherever you may be reading this, here’s the link to watch directly at CNN.com.

So…what do you want social media to do for your business today?

Feb 2010

19

A-Ha! TV: Twitter Promises That May Be Too Good to Be True

by Allen Voivod

Ever get a Twitter DM or see a tweet that promised X tweets a day and X followers per month for a monthly fee? Here’s what may be going on behind the scenes…and note to self, don’t record video while facing direct sunlight. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MKBavI_oXM

For our Friends and Fans who may not see the embedded YouTube code on Facebook, you can see the 1:21 video right here!

Feb 2010

12

Epiphanies, Inc. to Deliver Free Social Media Webinar for NH Division of Economic Development’s “BizCast” Series

by Lani and Allen

We’ve done a webinar or two before, but this will be the first time one of us has been webcast live in streaming video glory, and we’re pretty psyched. This session is primarily being promoted for New Hampshire audiences, but the information applies to businesses wherever they may be. Hope to “see” you there!

Gilford, NH (2/12/10) – With more than 330,000 NH residents on Facebook and 350 million overall, a billion YouTube streams being played every single day, and the US government asking Twitter to delay scheduled downtime because of its vital role in crisis communication across the world, it’s very clear – social media platforms are here to stay. In fact, social media channels are rapidly becoming some of the most preferred methods of communicating important information.

nhbizcastBut do you know how to maximize social media’s use for business purposes? Learn how during “New Mediums/New Messages – How Social Media is Transforming Communication,” the free NH BizCast webinar slated for Wednesday, February 17th from noon-1 p.m EST. It will be broadcast live online at www.NHEconomy.com.

“It’s not enough these days to rely on traditional communications and advertising vehicles,” said New Hampshire Division of Economic Development Interim Director Roy Duddy. “To keep pace, you really need to learn how to reach new audiences via social networking.”

“New Mediums/New Messages – How Social Media is Transforming Communication” is a Social Media Crash Course, covering trends, fears, and success stories, and exploring how they relate to the potential and power businesses and organizations have today. Offered by the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development, the February 17th BizCast will feature Allen Voivod, co-owner of Epiphanies, Inc.

Allen and his wife/business partner Lani have been featured widely in the media, including the NH Union Leader, Forbes.com, NH Business Review, Blog Talk Radio, NHPR, and New Hampshire Today. As founding members of the International Social Media Association, they have delivered presentations for the NH High Technology Council, Women Inspiring Women, and the American Society for Training and Development, among many other groups.

As is the case with all NH BizCasts, the webcast will be hosted live at the Comfort Inn (71 Hall Street) in Concord and will feature a live audience.

For more information and to attend the BizCast, visit www.NHEconomy.com. Those planning on participating in the live audience at the Comfort Inn are asked to pre-register by contacting Leslie Sherman at (603) 271-2591 or leslie.sherman@dred.state.nh.us.

About Epiphanies, Inc.
As Certified Social Media Strategists and Certified Inbound Marketing Professionals, Lani and Allen Voivod share powerful social marketing & success strategies through speaking, workshops, customized training programs, and consulting. Their company, Epiphanies, Inc., trains teams, crafts strategies, and serves as long-term success partners for a handful of global brands, industries, and mission-driven organizations. To find out how they can help your business boost visibility, community, competitive edge, memberships, and profits, become a Fan of Epiphanies, Inc. at http://facebook.com/AhaYourself and drop them a line on their Wall, or email facebook [at] EpiphaniesInc [dot] com.

About the NH Division of Economic Development
The New Hampshire Division of Economic Development, comprised of the New Hampshire Business Resource Center and the International Trade Resource Center, offer resources to enhance the economic activities of the state through business attraction outreach, in-state business expansion efforts, and facilitation of government and international sales. To network, access resources, and support the efforts that make NH one of the “Most Livable States” in the nation, become a Fan at http://facebook.com/NoBullBusiness.

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Feb 2010

3

The current Twitter password situation, in plain English

by Allen Voivod

Heard the news about Twitter? It’s yet another password hack, but it’s not really their fault. (Really!)

Since some of the things I’ve read required me to read them two and three time to understand what was up, and since I had a client ask me whether they should be worried about their account, I thought I’d share with you a very simple explanation for this latest Twitter security breach, and plan of action for you, in 6 easy points:

1. Some file-sharing websites/forums (also called “torrent” sites) have turned out to be hacker scams, thought out over the long-term. Hackers built online forums and sold them to unsuspecting folks, secretly keeping the ability to access complete lists of usernames and passwords Twitter Securityfor themselves.

2. As a sweeping generalization, people like to use the same username and password across all their different logins anywhere on the Internet whenever possible (from your newsletters to online banking to web-based email to Twitter).

3. When these hacker-compromised forums get popular and get enough users, there’s enough reason for hackers to go back in, pull the lists of usernames and passwords, and use them for nefarious purposes.

4. One of those nefarious purposes was to break into Twitter accounts – likely to send spam, scam people for more confidential information, et cetera.

5. So if you use file-sharing forums, or software like BitTorrent, and you want to keep using it, then you’ll need to change your password for Twitter (and would be advised to do it in every other online venue you use that requires a password).

6. And if not, then you don’t have to worry about it for the short term…but do consider the idea of changing passwords more frequently and (to be REALLY safe) use different passwords for different sites where possible, so they’re not repeated across websites/forums.

There. That was pretty simple, eh?

Feb 2010

2

Michael Stelzner’s Rich Content & Social Media Webinar – 3 Highlights

by Allen Voivod

Have you heard of Michael Stelzner? Or did you, like me, only know him as “that white paper guy”? (Which is actually intended as a compliment, since there’s no one else I think of when I think of white papers.)

Michael StelznerWell, things have changed for Mr. Stelzner in the last year, and he revealed the back story of his transformation a few days ago during a fantastic webinar: “The Magic of How Rich Content and Social Media Can Land You on ‘Page One’ of Google.”

(Side note: Michael’s on the Board of Advisors for the International Social Media Association, and delivered this webinar on their behalf – it was a freebie for Founding, Platinum, and Premium ISMA members, and available to Basic and non-members for a nominal fee.)

It was the inside story of the success of his 2009 Social Media Marketing Industry Survey, which led to more than 40,000 downloads of the related report, more than 3,500 new email subscribers, 500+ news and blog stories, and helped change his brand positioning from just being a white paper expert to being a social media expert as well.

You’ll have to check out the further details at the ISMA site, but I wanted to share three quick stories for small biz owners, marketing professionals, and anyone tasked with creating social media campaigns.

1. Even the best don’t always hit their goals. In the Survey itself and in tweets about it, Michael wrote that he needed 1,000 people to take the Survey. He also made it very easy for people to share links to the Survey form. In 10 days, he got about 880 to take the Survey.

Do you think he was beating himself up over not hitting the goal? Heck no! He got more than enough responses to create a decent report, and he ran with it, without hemming and hawing about it.

2. Be open to surprise benefits. In the final report, Michael included links to a couple articles as additional resources. One of them was The Dark Side of Twitter: What Businesses Need to Know, a “MarketingProfs Today” newsletter article. On the strength of the report’s reception, that article became the most popular article of 2009 on the MarketingProfs site.

As he shared in the webinar, that was an unintended side benefit of the campaign. And with more than 360,000 members, you can bet that created fantastic exposure for him.

3. “Anticipation is a marketing super-weapon.” To propel the report to stardom, Michael used an age-old tactic. He emailed the 880 Survey respondents days before the report was ready to tell them it was coming, and to be on the lookout for it, promising some very surprising results. He reached out to industry leaders and media centers of influence in advance, and offered to make the report available to them a day early to get a jump on the story.

For an automotive analogy, imagine stepping down on the gas and the brake at the same time, then suddenly releasing the brake – and pressing a “turbo” button at the same time. Result? Explosive launch!

There’s a 2010 Survey report being created as I write this, and if you want to get your hands on it, keep an eye on Michael’s excellent Social Media Examiner for details.