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I saw this today on Amplify.com and love the message. The real courage resides in the hands of the first follower, not the leader of a movement. Without that first follower the movement never takes off. Brilliant.
Tags: Amplify.com, guerrilla marketing, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Social Media
Posted in Amplify, Inspiration, Leadership, Lighter Side of Things, Social Media Strategy, Video, community | Comments
Today I wrote my first article in a series for the SF Startup Business Examiner. The article is entitled “A to Z Series Web 2.0 Apps for Startups – Amplify.com”. For those of you that follow my blog you know a couple of weeks ago I dove into Amplify.com because it had filled a significant void in my social media needs. This of course became the inspiration for my first series of articles as the SF Startup Business Examiner.
Please check out my first article A to Z Series Web 2.0 Apps for Startups – Amplify.com
Here is the video associated with this article:
Tags: Amplify.com, Blog, Business Examiner, Examiner.com, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Social Media
Posted in Amplify, Blogging, Examiner Articles, News, Video | Comments
This past week I attended two different “networking” or social events. One was a chamber like event and the other was the Mashable/Social Media Week party Friday night in SF. Not long ago you would be hard pressed to find me at either of these events but I have really become more of a social being this last year or two. Why did this occur?
I think among the list the economy tanking is the most self-explanatory. As the owner of what had been a growing IT services business a sudden interruption in that growth led to more time on my hands. The Guy Kawasaki thing dates way back to a suggestion that came from my friend Patrick Lee, now CEO of Rotten Tomatoes YEARS ago. Patrick gave me some great suggestions of books I could read as the owner of a technology business. Among them was Guy Kawasaki’s book Rules for Revolutionaries. Of course it took one more catalyst, this happened to be from neighbor and friend JP McDermott who reminded me that Guy had a blog and that it was great – which is where I found and read the schmoozing article. Ok, so now you know how I found the article but why was it instrumental in making me more social? The answer is quite simple – because guy tells you to give and help others. This was something I could do, naturally, daily and consistently. Never Eat Alone was the nail in the coffin for my anti-social positions. One thing in particular, when Keith recounts the story of the guy getting choked up about everyone forgetting his birthday – except Keith, really struck a chord with me. You see I am that guy, the one that sees one person struggling and can’t help but reach out and offer at least a smile and a bit of encouragement. I was dead set on being more social and connecting with more people.
Now on to the meat of the story, the real reason I wanted to write this article. I had interesting experiences at these events that I feel I have a unique perspective to share with the world. My hope is that people who are both part of the positive experiences I had and negative or just similar in their presence at these events will benefit. Most memorable among my experiences (actual names and specific details often omitted to protect the innocent and guilty):
So you’ve probably heard of “that guy”. You know the one you’re not supposed to be. Well this guy was “that guy”. The banking business is evidently extremely aggressive on the sales side of things. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. This guy approached me and my “old acquaintance” (see part 2) and could not wait to sell us his services. It was really bad, almost laughable, I could not believe it. It will be hard for me to take that company seriously again, he so poorly represented them. He was sure of himself, had no problem asking for the sale. Someone back at the bank loves him, but not me.
This is one of the great things about any social event. I was able to reconnect and have a fine conversation with someone I knew briefly through Toastmasters. Very nice guy, quality conversation and I am happy to be back in touch. Class act and I hope we are able to maintain a connection.
She had a gimmick to give you a sample of her product and a business card. She also approached a group of us and executed the gimmick. While personally not my style I respect her courage and willingness to be out there, trying to make things happen. It wasn’t over the top by any means. I sent her a nice follow up email because I wanted to encourage her to keep doing what she is doing. It did not seem like the approach was by any means second nature to her.
This was at the Mashable party Friday night. I had arrived maybe 5-10 minutes, was checking Twitter, etc, as that seemed like “the thing to do” at a Mashable event. Then I noticed another guy just hanging out by himself. He was, like me, at this event alone so we shared at least one thing in common. I approached him and we had a pretty decent conversation going. I think this guy will be an entrepreneur one day, and I hope to encourage him to pursue that dream so I will be following up periodically. That is when the high energy dreamer showed up.
She was great, full of energy joined the conversation and really kicked things in to high gear. She had just learned about 20 minutes before she arrived that her dream of having a certain job at a certain company had been fulfilled. She was riding on a natural high and passing on that positive energy with many people. I checked out her blog and I find her story very inspiring and humorous. Definitely a great person to connect with and I will probably keep in touch because I love to hear about happy endings and people winning.
When you’re having a conversation with someone else and someone comes along with the business cards already in hand, brace yourselves. This was very similar to “that guy” but in this case it was “that girl”. Please don’t be that girl/guy. You are the reason I didn’t want to be at events like this until I realized there were other reasons to go and much better philosophies and ideas about how relationships work with human beings in business or personally.
So I am not sure how this article will resonate with readers, but I truly hope that it helps you find what I’ve found and perhaps get you to go outside your comfort zone. The Mashable party was a spur of the moment thing. I learned about it and decided to go very late Friday afternoon. Please let me know what you think.
Tags: Blog, Guy Kawasaki, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Mashable, Networking, Social Media
Posted in Inspiration, Networking | Comments
I was posting to a discussion about Amplify being a “better Posterous” and decided I would share it here on my blog also for the people who follow my blog. I basically moved from “living” on Facebook and Twitter to Amplify this week. I still access Facebook and Twitter in fact in ways the move has enhanced my experience. Here is the post, there is a link after to the original thread if you want to see what others have said.
Wow great discussion! The hook for me that exceeded Facebook, Twitter, etc. was the fact that there is a GREAT community interaction and the site is absolutely unique in what it can do right now. Of course over time I am sure the team here (and elsewhere) will work to innovate and disrupt but I hope that amplify will continue to build on the strength of the conversation portion. Prior to making Amplify my home, I bounced between Facebook and Twitter. For me this was a really simple shift because I can still selectively engage those audiences but also just casually share the stuff that I read throughout the day.
There are some special things about Amplify for me that I had not anticipated at all, and would have stuck around anyway:
1. I made some great Quality friends quickly (the site attracts energetic, kind, supportive and savvy people).
2. I had a big increase in my mentions and interaction on Twitter. (Go figure!)
3. It encouraged me to use a couple of other sites a little more (sites I was basically passively updating already via ping.fm) Friendfeed, Posterous.
In summary Amplify is a site were individuals of all skill levels can effectively communicate without being forced into a closed system (like Facebook). In my view it has the most important aspects of Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed right now. It will also truly “amplify” the effectiveness of your message, ideas and experience.
A bit long winded and worthy of a blog entry on my site, let the ctrl+a, ctrl+c begin! <EOM>
See this entire discussion.
Tags: Amplify.com, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in Amplify, Facebook, Social Media Strategy, Twitter, community | Comments
While watching a video today by @garyvee today I was both validated and also inspired to write this post. Gary’s point was simple – if you want to get anywhere using social media to promote something, you have to grab it. You have to engage the people who can make a difference for whatever it is you’re interested in doing. This could be anything from getting a job at a certain company or getting a certain celebrity to wear a product you are marketing. I want to add to what Gary said in his video. We have to understand as a people that the opportunity to network has never been greater in our lifetimes and it is not only possible but it is likely that this window will diminish in the near future. I believe there are two reasons for this and I will get into both of them a little more in depth.
Reason #1 it’s the Economy
A bad economy gives you access to people in an unprecedented way. Case in point – I formed a business group in early 2009 called 1 Degree, several of the members of this group are simply people that would not have joined a group like this had their businesses been running at the typical brisk pace they had been just about every year prior. When you lose your job or customers to a bad economy, you get creative, you put yourself out there. Networking has never been more prolific than it is today, in a good way.
Reason #2 it’s the Technology
Every “new” technology is given a pass on many issues early on. Think back to the chain letters that seemingly reasonable people would forward in the early days of Email. These same people today would not even think twice about it. Or how about the early success of the Email SPAM industry, had it not worked so well people would not have continued to do it. SPAM has to be facilitated today on a huge scale to have any impact. Social networking is really no different from this. Today many people are using geo-tagging software that in essence tells the world where they are at a given moment in time. At some point in the future there will be high profile events that remind people that some privacy is a good thing and these technologies will be used much more sparingly. Or how about the prolific Facebook application posts that are already a bit of a taboo? I’ve seen a number of people create brand new accounts to avoid annoying their real life friends from the prolific wall posts of the latest Zynga game or similar Facebook application. Or how about the “50 things you don’t know about me” it’s a bit like the Facebook equivalent of a chain letter – tag 10 of your friends and post this on your wall.
Action Plan
So Gary is right, but we need to also encourage people to strike while the iron is hot and be prepared for the next stage of this ever evolving world. 15 years ago I forged relationships on Internet Relay Chat with a bunch of people around the US and the World that were Windows NT administrators. The dealings of this group have included quite a bit of commerce over the years and the core is all still communicating with one another. Today similar relationships are being established on Facebook, Twitter and other Social Networking related sites. There will be winners and losers but the people who do as Gary has suggested will find a way to win regardless of the circumstances. I think we all need to evaluate which technologies fit us best and pursue them for personal or commercial benefit. For me the value of the medium is much greater in terms of personal satisfaction for the friendships and inspiration but it’s nice to know that these efforts will continue to open doors for commerce. Let me know what you think. Share your story, plenty of room for your comments here.
Tags: Facebook, Gary Vaynerchuk, IRC, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Social Media, Social Media Marketing
Posted in Inspiration | Comments
In my day to day travels both personally and professionally I am often encouraging people to check out and use certain social media sites and blogs. When I mention RSS it seems like a lot of my audience drops off comprehension wise. In response to this I’ve come up with a video that your parents could use to understand and use RSS and more specifically Google Reader. The video will get into detail but it will be useful for people who:
Tags: Blog, Feedburner, Google Reader, RSS, Social Media, Tips
Posted in Blogging, Tools | Comments
Another great resource I found by following @Guykawasaki on Twitter. I am a big fan of multimedia content for learning about Social Media. Get a group of people with months or years of experience in a room together and have a conversation. The results can be very interesting. In this case the group is a very qualified panel of social media marketing professionals.
Resources:
Tags: Guy Kawasaki, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter
Posted in Social Media Strategy, Twitter, Video | Comments
A recent study has show that significant numbers of business are engaging social media at some level and a high number of those consider the engagement successful. 62% of executives are familiar with Twitter and 52% are also using social networking to promote their business.
Tags: Joesgonesocial, Research, Social Media, Social Media Marketing
Posted in News, Social Media Strategy, Studies | Comments
If you think you control your brand message, you may want to evaluate recent data from 360i that claims 77% of the listings on popular networks are controlled by a source outside the company. One interpretation of this outcome is that the consumer is still the king, perhaps more so. If this topic interests you check-out the complete article @Mashable.
Tags: 360i, Brand, consumer, Mashable, Social Media, Social Media Marketing
Posted in Studies | Comments
I found a very useful video capture application today that just blew me away. It supports full HD, upload to YouTube and even has a feature that allows you to add notes to your captured video. Needless to say you can expect much more multimedia content from me as a result.
Tags: Blog, Social Media
Posted in Tools | Comments
