Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Tag: Facebook (Page 1 of 4)

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with Workface

Workface-DEMOspring2011 I stopped by late on Day 2 to chat with my friends from Minneapolis, Workface Inc. I wanted to hear more about  their very successful DEMO experience. The company was founded in 2006 "to pioneer human-to-human selling on the Web."  On the morning of Day 1, in the Enterprise Technologies category, the Workface guys introduced to the Workface-logo-175wworld their "Customer-initiated Engagement Platform," which connects sales professionals with new prospects that are looking to make high-value, considered purchases on the Internet. They call it a "pre-CRM solution." It's cloud-based software accessible in any modern browser (no plug-ins required). The enterprise customer has no software installation expenses, and subscription costs are as little as $25 per month per sales person. Here's the DEMO Conference video of their pitch.

Workface_Profile-150w The Workface profile (at left) is media-rich and searchable, featuring video, text, images, links, files, and two-way chat tools that enable prospective customers to initiate meaningful conversations (anonymously or not) with the most appropriate sales person at the company whose web site they're visiting. A key point is that these profiles are highly portable, in that they can appear anywhere on the 'Net, including on Facebook. The Workface duo showed the latter in their on-stage demo.

 

Download or listen to my interview with Lief Larson, CEO (left in the large photo above), and Tanner Thompson, Marketing Director, of Workface Inc…. (MP3)

 

 

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with SocialEyes

SocialEyes-RobGlaser

SocialEyes is a social video service to instantly connect you to friends and groups of people who share your interests. Think video chat, but you connect via Facebook, so it's your real identity, unlike previous services. It really looks good!

Rob Glaser, cofounder and chairman, was actually manning the laptop on the stage for this DEMO pitch!  First time I've seen a VC do that. (He's a partner at Accel.)  Cofounder Rob Williams gave a great pitch (video). SocialEyes-logoThis one will be huge. Hey, it better be with the amount of money behind it! (Read more about SocialEyes on this TechCrunch post.) And go sign up. Millions will, I'm sure!  Maybe already have.

Download or listen to my interview with Rob Glaser, cofounder and chairman of SocialEyes… (MP3)

Gist Gives You the Context You Need for Meaningful Engagements


Gist-diagram
Today, I had an opportunity to meet with a couple of the good folks
from Gist, a startup based in Seattle that helps you "Know More about
Who You Know."  It's a neat app that I've been using for some time, and
that includes their native iPhone app — which is a great way
to stay in touch when I'm on the go with what my network is up to.  I
also love the daily email updates I get from Gist that give me all the
latest content from my most important contacts. 

I sat down for breakfast with Robert Pease, VP of Marketing, and Jenn Pitts, Marketing Operations Manager, who were in town for a conference. My friend Buzz Bruggeman in Seattle was nice enough to give me a heads-up that Robert and Jenn were coming to Minneapolis, and I thought it would be a great
Jenn+Robert-Gist opportunity to get an update on the company.  I had previously met the CEO, T.A. McCann, last year at a couple of conferences I attend in Denver, Defrag and Glue, where I had first learned about the company's app.

Here's the audio interview I recorded of our conversation, which is about 22 minutes long. Excuse the sound quality, because we were in the very large lobby restaurant in the Hyatt downtown, and there was a fair amount of background noise. At one point, there was even a loud clap of thunder outside that interrupted our chat! But it was good to hear about how this startup is doing in advancing its mission of helping people improve their relationships with the people and companies that matter most to them.

Download or listen to Graeme's interview with Gist (MP3)"

My Talk on Blogging and Social Media at ‘Club Entrepreneur’

I gave a presentation on blogging and social media recently to the monthly lunch meeting of our local "Club Entrepreneur," which was launched within the past year by Rick Brimacomb. ClubEntrepreneur-logo About 60 people attended, more than they'd had at previous meetings, so we got to meet in the larger, main dining room of the Minneapolis Club — which is just awesome (quick iPhone photo included here, which I shot afterwards).

What a treat to present in such an historic place!  MplsClub The date was February 4, 2010.  After the event, I uploaded a pdf of my 64-slide deck to SlideShare: I titled the talk, Why Launch a Company Blog and Use Social Media.

I originally created the presentation in Keynote on my Mac, with lots of nice transitions and builds, which you can't see on the SlideShare pdf, of course.  You can in the QuickTime movie of the Keynote file that I also created, but that's 238 megs, so I won't expect you to download that… 🙂

(Note: A shout-out to authors David Meerman Scott, Debbie Weil, Brian Solis, Ann Handley, and Tara Hunt, whose work I cited in parts of this presentation. They are all heroes of mine.)

Also, I audio-recorded myself making the presentation, with my little whiz-bang podcast machine — my Olympus LS-10. So, if you'd like to listen as you go through the SlideShare pdf, here's the MP3 file:

Download or listen to Graeme's presentation at the Minneapolis Club, "Why Launch a Company Blog and Use Social Media (MP3)".

The talk was 45 minutes, with about 12 minutes additional of Q&A at the end. You can't hear some of the audience questions very well but, overall, the recording turned out better than I thought it would — I just tried it as an experiment, setting the device on the projector table (mounted on a mini-tripod), about 12-15 feet away from me.  It worked well, though next time I'll get closer to the LS-10, so the volume level will be a little better.

If you'd like to have me give this presentation, or a variation of it, at your company, or as part of a workshop for a group of employees, please hit my email link at the top right. Thanks!

The Book That Rules in Marketing & PR, Now In Its 2nd Edition

NewRules-Mktg+PR-2ndEd Without a doubt, David Meerman Scott is one of the people I most respect in this business. He's also my favorite author and speaker, and a great friend. (Heck, he's even a surfer, and sends me cool pix of some of the beaches he visits in his world travels!)  David is the guy that inspired me to finally realize that what I am is a "content marketer" and "brand journalist." He's the ultimate champion of people like me — and my hero, for sure.

I was lucky enough to get David to speak at the October 2008 meeting of our Social Media Breakfast-Twin Cities (which, by the way, has grown to be the largest SMB group in the country). We offered a free copy of the first edition of his book The New Rules of Marketing & PR to all those attending, thanks to a generous sponsor.  David packed the house, was a huge hit, and the Twin Cities became an even hipper PR and social media town than it already was… 🙂

So, I was delighted to hear that the Second Edition of the book is now available. "It's gone through an extensive rewrite," said David. "Of course, I've checked every fact, figure, and URL. DavidMeermanScott But I've also listened. In the past two years, I've met thousands of people like you who have shared stories with me, so I've drawn from those experiences and included many new examples of success." 

He said these new stories and examples are even more valuable and timely than the original ones. Thus, even if you've read the first edition, he promises you'll find many fresh ideas in the second edition.

"When I was writing the first edition of the book back in 2006," said David, "Facebook was only available to those with a .edu email address (students and educators), so I didn’t feature Facebook. And Twitter didn’t even exist at the time I was researching the first edition. So I have added extensive new information and examples on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites." Since the term social media has become so strong in the past few years, it's not surprising to now see it in the book's subtitle.

The power of the ideas David talks about in The New Rules of Marketing & PR propelled the book to the BusinessWeek bestseller list and kept it there for six months. Another stat that blew me away is that it's been the number one public relations book on Amazon for approximately 910 days. My gosh, that's more than two and a half years!  David still says he's stunned.

(A few links: David's blog, Web Ink Now, is ranked in the AdAge Power 150 as one of the top marketing blogs. Also, here's the direct link on Amazon to the Second Edition of "Rules"… and a page with links to all the online bookstores where David's books are available.)

When David launched the first edition of The New Rules of Marketing & PR (via Wiley), he pioneered a tactic that attracted the attention of hundreds of bloggers, typically overlooked by marketers at the time. Since then, the book has garnered numerous awards, been adapted at universities and in politics, has been translated into 24 languages, and even sparked the idea for a series, "The New Rules of Social Media." More importantly, as his Wiley publicist points out, the book has provided a hands-on manual for new marketing. "Marketing campaigns have never been the same, and a new decade brings new opportunity to connect online with buyers and communities."

The New Rules of Marketing & PR explains how to harness the power of the Internet, how to identify the right audience, create compelling messages, and get those messages directly to your targeted community — with powerful new tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more.

David says the underlying message of the book remains the same: "The tools of the marketing and PR trade have changed. The skills that worked offline to help you buy or beg or bug your way in are the skills of interruption and coercion. Online success comes from thinking like a journalist and engaging as a thought leader."

Right on, David!  I can't wait to dive into my copy of the second edition.

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