Jon F Moss

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America ran a number of TV ads back in the 1980′s highlighting the dangers of doing drugs. The frying egg spots struck a nerve with a number of adolescents back then including myself. Although still prevalent today, there is a new drug of choice among many: social media. Over-connectivity or stimulus overload, social media is fast becoming an addictive and powerful stimulant to many.

Today, it’s not uncommon to hear about companies banning  social media from the workplace.  The effectiveness of such policies are still subject to debate as tech-savvy employees can usually work around this to get their fix, but the point is employers see it as as a total time suck. (reminds me of an employer who asked how to keep her employees from using social media while at work, and then lamented she has no time to use social media to promote her business – hmmmm)

A New York Times article highlights a group of  scientists who set out on the San Juan River “to understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.”  Going beyond mere social media, they cut themselves off from all forms of technology and connectivity.

Imagine the horror of not being able to receive email via your smartphone?  Or worse, not being able to read visual voice mail or send text messages?  Oh the humanity!!!  Seriously, it’s not all that bad.  In this modern era of always-on instant transmission/reception it’s sometimes good (and necessary) to unplug.  It seems to allow oneself to clear the mind and be free of distraction.

You can sometimes experience this just by going for a run or a bike ride (provided you leave the phone and mp3 player behind)  Ever hear people say they get their best ideas while working out or doing something physical?  There really is something to this.  For maximum effect go on a weekend or week long adventure to place where cellular signals can not penetrate.  This way if you get tempted to turn on your phone, you’ll be greeted with nothing but “No Signal”.

You may just find that “No Signal” in the digital world translates into “Strong Signal” in the brainpower/creativity world.

Came across something VERY disturbing recently.  A company branded Twitter account was repeatedly posting quotes about honor,
integrity (or lack thereof)  and a statement to the effect that this account had been seized by the marketing agency because the client didn’t pay their bill.   I about fell off my chair after seeing that.

Wrap your brain around this:  On the surface it would appear a marketing firm, hired to promote a business, is using the clients social media platform to announce they’re deadbeats and didn’t pay their bill.

Who would have the audacity to do something like that?   I have never seen anything quite like this, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened before or won’t in the future. The ramifications are frightening to say the least.  What can companies looking to consultants to setup, manage or advise them in the area of digital marketing do to protect themselves?

I posed this question to attorney Ed Nanney who specializes in entrepreneurship and business law.  Ed offered some sage advice for companies.  “When businesses operate, market and communicate by electronic media, basic contract and agency principles are as important as ever and the risks of ignoring them may be amplified. Take time at the start of  a business relationship to define the parties’ expectations of each other, the rights and responsibilities of each and to anticipate what happens if things don’t work out.  Electronic media foster rapid actions and communications, but don’t let a need for speed compromise due diligence and thoughtful planning.”

The big takeaway here is to alway get a written agreement upfront that spells out the parameters, scope, expectations and deliverables of the project.  Equally important are the terms of ownership regarding social media accounts and generated content.  This is a rare and extreme case, but worthy of consideration.  Needless to say, this gets placed in the “not working” category as I wonder where are the Dirty Harry’s of Social Media?

After much thought and deliberation (all nighters)  I’ve decided on a new direction for this site.  My interests are diverse and my business ventures may seem unrelated (in reality they’re not), but there’s always been one common thread:  a passion for connecting business owners, professionals and entrepreneurs with people, marketing ideas and technology.  If I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting you in person at an event, chances are we’ve talked about either networking, marketing, social media, HR-related stuff or technological advances (cool gadgets and how to justify their cost vis-a-vis (bonus points for using French) business.

Conversations are always swirling around what’s working  in these areas so I thought why not document them.  I give you “What’s Working Now” and will strive to post the good along with the bad.  Look under the category “Not Working”  for the bad stuff.  As always, I welcome your comments, suggestions and conversation.  And now – on with the show!

@jonfmoss

Wait! Stop! One more thing – I intend to post at least three (3) times a week.  If you see me slacking off, puh-lease call me out here, on Twitter or shoot me an email jonfmoss [at] GMail [dot] com (take that all you scraping spam bots!!!)

I’ve been putting a lot of thought as to what to do with this site.  Should it turn into a landing page that merely directs one to other sites I’m involved in?  Should I drop the blog portion?  Will anyone care or even notice? I dunno, but regardless I’ve decided to blog more about my interest in business mobile tech applications and how professionals can harness it for increased productivity.  At least for now.  Stay tuned.

First sky rocketing gas prices from a year or two ago, followed by record profits by oil companies, combined with the Gulf Oil Spill which may very well go down in history as one of the worst man-made ecological disasters of all time are culiminating to create the perfect PR storm for BP.  This is one oil company with a bit of an image problem.

An unresponsive US Government coupled with a corporation bent on not disclosing information to the general public has turned into major disaster.  Media continues to report the story:  ”It’s bad, and it’s getting worse.”   Not to diminish the seriousness of what’s going on, but from a social media perspective it’s a tragedy of another kind.  In simple terms, it’s a PR nightmare for BP.

As of  Tuesday night close to 115,000 people on Facebook have joined the “Boycott BP” Page, and many other (yet smaller) pages are springing up with a few thousand people “liking” them as well.  When I searched for the official BP Page on Facebook there was nothing to be found.  

Upon further searching and eventually going to BP’s website I found an icon for their Facebook Page.  Click it, and you’re taken to the Deepwater Horizon Response FB page with no mention whatsoever of BP.  The page, as of late Tuesday evening, had under 25,000 fans.  Let’s do the math: 115,000  > 25,000  (nearly a 5:1 ratio)

Maybe things will be better for BP on Twitter.  Not really.  Actually, it’s worse.  Twitter is all abuzz about BP.  I’m on the East Coast, writing at 2 am, watching live  Twitter Search updates of “BP” – thousands pop up in a span of minutes.  The majority of what’s being tweeted (98% in my opinion) is not positive.  A Huffington Post story highlighting a website that is “taking bets on what species will go extinct as a result of the spill” is gaining a lot of traction on Twitter

BP’s Official Twitter account is pumping out tweets every hour or so.  Advising their followers, who number just under 5,400, of what they’re doing.  It appears pretty much to be a rehash of “their” Facebook Page.   Meanwhile, a fake BP Twitter account has surfaced and has garnered a much large following with only 79 tweets (at the time of this writing).  @BPGlobalPR has nearly 35,000 followers and is getting retweeted (RT’d) a lot…and showing up all over Facebook in people’s status updates.  Whoever’s behind it is making BP look really bad.

I have to admit that some of the @BPGlobalPR tweets are rather humorous – in a horrible kind of way.  Again, the damage this spill is doing and will continue to do for God knows how long is a very bad thing.  But tweets like “We feel terrible about spilling oil in American waters, we’ll make sure the next spill happens where the terrorists live. #bpcares” and “It’s official, the phrase “All the tea in china” has been replaced with ‘All the oil in the gulf” – Can’t wait for the royalties!” made me laugh out loud.

Funny stuff at the expense of a big oil company that some say gouged us all in recent years.  Now @BPGlobalPR is saying what we deep down inside half-way expected them to be thinking all along.  Did I mention they’re also selling t-shirts?

Almost forgot – let’s do the math: 79 tweets + 35,000 followers > 302 tweets + 5,400 followers (nearly 7:1 ratio)

BP’s CEO was quoted as saying the big oil spill is “tiny” in relation to the “very big ocean.” From the looks of the social media buzz surrounding it, I’d say the people aren’t buying it.

A friend of mine recently updated their Facebook status with the following:

“Dear BP,

Perhaps you should spend your money cleaning up the mess you made instead of paying Google to put you at the top of their list so that you can attempt to appear as though you’re actually doing something worth a damn to stop the “leak” (i.e. huge gushing mass of oil) in the Gulf and actually trying to prevent it from ruining the entire Gulf Coast and killing every living thing that inhabits the entire area.
Thanks”

Do a Google search for “Gulf Oil Spill” for yourself and see what comes up at the very top.

I’m curious to know what your take is on this.  Is BP showing up on your social media radar at all?  From my vantage point they seem non-existant.  Tell me all about it and maybe I’ll send you a shirt.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lBQkNgY3bY]

Today we celebrate Presidents Day – a day equated with colossal car and mattress sales for many.  Besides that what

else comes to mind?  Lincoln, Washington and former presidents who had a huge impact on shaping the United States.   Mount Rushmore embodies the best of the first 150 years of American history in the form of it’s best Presidents.

Reduced by a factor of 10, the birth and growth of social media is not unlike the growth of our nation.  That begs the question: who should be on the Mount Rushmore of Social Media?  Rather than throw out some names, I’ll leave it to you to nominate your top four in the comments.   So who would you put on the Mount Rushmore of Social Media?

Yesterday’s announcement by Steve Jobs and Apple about the new iPad was met with laughter and let down by many.  Apple has raised the bar so many times when it comes to product innovation that fans expect (demand) to be blown away by anything new coming out of Cupertino.  Whereas the iPad may not be a mind-blowing device (as the iPhone was three years ago), it does expands on Apple’s existing technology making it even more useable….especially for business.

Christopher Penn’s post on the business applications of the iPad really got me thinking:  Games aside, this really is a powerful tool for sales and marketing professionals who spend a lot of time out in the field.

If you’ve ever had to lug around a laptop to make multiple presentations throughout the day you know what I’m talking about.  Meeting with small business owners who are multi-tasking during your presentation can be a tricky thing.

What salesperson hasn’t had to pick up all their wares and follow the owner around their plant as they make rounds, put out fires or check on their employees.  Making a presentation via laptop can be very difficult in those types of situations.  Worse is when the prospective client has no room on his or her desk for you to even place your computer.  Having to always ask to sit close to an electrical outlet is bothersome to say the least.

Enter the iPad.  It’s sleek design is impressive yet trumped by it’s compact size.  Easy to maneuver and flip around to show off information since the screen reorientates itself whenever moved around.  You say your prospective client has five minutes to give you?  No problem.  That’s plenty of time to fire up the iPad (one month of standby battery life!), pull up the appropriate app and launch into your presentation.  Before it would take five minutes just to pull out your laptop and boot up.  This alone makes it a valuable tool for sales warriors constantly on the road.

But wait, there’s more.  Access to video, pictures and a plethora of media that you’ve pre-selected to show a prospective client is all at  your fingertips.  All accessible with a few touches of the screen.  Need to schedule a follow up appointment?  No more fumbling for your contact manager – it’s all right there.  The possibilities are endless.

Last week there was a flood of really good information coming out of the blogosphere.  So much that I decided to aggregate it here for those wanting to learn more about digital marketing and how it could fit into your business marketing plan.

4 Myths About Social Media and Business

Great little article by Leah Betancourt.  She breaks down some misconceptions that small business owners may believe about taking their business to the masses online.  Myths such as:

• Small Businesses Must Be on Social Media (okay, I may disagree with Leah on this a bit, but her point is if your existing client pool is not active in social media platforms then you may be wasting your time)
• Set It and Forget It (there is no auto-pilot when it comes to this stuff)
• Social Media is only for Broadcasting Messages  (this mistake is repeated over and  over again by many companies)

Where’s the fourth one?  Go read the article for yourself.

5 Ways Small Businesses Can Avoid Social Media Panic

Leah B. is back again with tips for small businesses looking to get into the social media pool.  Her recommendations are spot on:

• Have a plan (how many times have you seen companies sign up for numerous platforms without a tie in to their existing marketing plan)
• Take small steps at first (very true – it takes time to build up a following and more importantly foster trust among that following – view this as a part of a long term approach and not some quick scheme)
• Be flexible (if devising a plan on your own, it may take some time and experimentation to find the right venue for your audience which in essence means your efforts may be better suited with one social media tool than another)

View the full article here

10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration

Brian Solis does a brilliant job of defining the steps needed to meld social media to a business marketing plan.   If a company chooses to skip over Stage 1 (Observe and Report) it can show in a really bad way.

Read the article for yourself

20 Tools for Tracking Social Media Marketing

Like  Merle says:   “Participating in social media doesn’t take a lot of money, but it is very time consuming and businesses want to know that all of this investment in time is paying off.”  Twenty different, but useful sites are listed with brief descriptions on what they do.  Be sure to check out BackTweets.  Read the entire article here.

30 Tips for Using Social Media in Your Business

Printed in Inc. Magazine, April Joyner provides useful & practical tips on how companies can use social media to stand out and shine.  She includes tools and examples of each tip that really resonate.  Arguably a social media marketing primer for small business this is an excellent piece that is worth reviewing several times before jumping into the social media water.  Read the entire article here.

So there you have it!  An aggregated list of myths, ways, stages, tools & tips for social media marketing.  Take the ones most useful to your business model, fuse them to your marketing strategy and get started.  Which ones do you think apply most to your business?

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. Most of us remember how things used to be, and a number of us yearn for a return to the ways and things of the past. Mountain Dew has a product on the shelves that”s been catching the eye of those who recall the days when soda was made with sugar and not some corn-based product subsidized by the government.

It’s called Throwback.  It beckoned to my recollection of childhood, and I bought it hook, line and sinker.  There’s magic in marketing that brings you back in time to a place you remember fondly.

Is there a way to introduce nostalgia into your marketing? This could be a challenge for some businesses, but is worth the experiment.  Just think back to when you where a kid.  Did you interact with the product/service you’re selling now?  What comes to mind? Delve deeper by imagining yourself using it.  Grab a few details from your memories and use them as lynch pins for your marketing plan.  (More on this later in a future post)

Oh, if you’re curious to know how Mountain Dew Throwback stacks up to the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) version check out this review from BevReview.com