Jules Says

Integrating Social Media Into Your Marketing Plan

by Julie Gomoll on March 2, 2010

Today I gave a presentation about Integrating Social Media Into Your Marketing Plan as part of this week’s RISE Austin conference in Austin.

It was standing room only for the presentation, and it was a fantastic audience. Not only did I get some great questions about everything from tools to analytics to psychographics, but there were some experts in the audience who taught me a few new things as well. How cool is that?

I made some great contacts this afternoon, too, including one woman who interviewed me for a class she was taking back in the 90s when I was still running Go Media. Apparently I played a small part in her decision to become an entrepreneur, which thrills me more than you can imagine. I’m looking forward to getting together with her and several other folks in attendance for some invigorating conversation.

Really, this session was so fun — I came out of it energized and excited and inspired. I’m so glad I decided to participate in RISE.

The presentation is embedded below. It’s pretty information packed — I show some analogies between traditional marketing and social media marketing while stressing the importance of both.

My Social Media Ecosystem slide is always a favorite, and that’s here too. I swear I have to update that file every couple of weeks, things are changing so rapidly. Ideally I want to create the same kind of diagram for traditional marketing and show where they overlap and where they diverge. I’ve been working on it, but this is proving to be a pretty big undertaking.

I follow that up with a case study of JPeterson Garden Design, my wonderful gardener, dear friend, fabulous client, and favorite success story.

Thanks to Jan Triplett of the Business Success Center for hosting my presentation.

Integrating Social Media with your Marketing Strategy

View more presentations from Julie Gomoll.

This presentation carries a Creative Commons license. Feel free to share it, just please credit me and provide a link back to this post if you do.

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How to Block Text Message Spam on Your iPhone

by Julie Gomoll on February 26, 2010

I get far more annoyed with text message spam than I do with email spam. My iPhone dings every time I receive a text message, and I check it as soon as I can. I really, really resent the intrusion when it’s spam. And of course there’s the cost. I don’t pay per text message, but lots of people do. I do, however, have a monthly limit and don’t want spammers using it up. I searched every nook and cranny on the iPhone to find a way to block the spam, to no avail. Turns out AT&T actually does provide a way for you to block text messages. They just don’t publicize it much. Put your iPhone down right now and go to http://mymessages.wireless.att.com/. You’ll need to register here, even if you already have an AT&T login for your regular account. Once you’re there, you’ll have a few different options for blocking text messages.

You can block all SMS messages and multimedia messages sent to you as email. This is how most spammers get you — they send their junk to MobileNumber@txt.att.net or MobileNumber@mms.att.net. I recommend you block both of them.

AT&T does give you an option to set up an alias address, so if there are people you know who send you SMS messages via email, you can give them the alias and still foil the spammers.

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Tom’s Planner: Gantt Charts for the Rest of Us

by Julie Gomoll on February 3, 2010

I’ve tried quite a few project management programs over the years. Most have been overly complicated and bloated with features I just didn’t care about.

Web 2.0 brought us some solid new options. I use Basecamp for most projects these days, and I love it. But it lacks the ability to show me a visual overview for the timeline of a project.

Enter Tom’s Planner. This is a simple, elegant web-based app for creating Gantt Charts. You name your own project categories and steps and choose your own colors and labels for the bars. The interface is very intuitive once you get in the habit of right-clicking for many of the functions (which they helpfully remind you to do when you get started). Right click to start a time period, give it a color, then click and drag to set the proper length of time. New colors automatically show up in a key at the bottom, where you can name them.

You can also easily edit the timelines one at a time or as a group — just click and drag to select a bunch of rows and move them. You can add your own logo to the chart.

Charts can be exported to MS Project, .png, or published online. The charts themselves are saved on your hard drive as ASCII files, which seemed a little odd, but the contextual help made it a breeze. You can print directly from the chart, but the options don’t include US paper sizes. I’m guessing that will be updated at some point.

They’ve got a bunch of templates for you to work from if you’d rather not start from scratch, including templates for web design, gardening, construction, and a handful of others.

I jumped in and used it for a real project right off the bat. Not only was I thrilled to be able to so easily create a schedule, it turned out to be a great way to show clients exactly why a simple website can take over a month. My client loved the professional presentation of the schedule, and I didn’t have to do any more explaining about time for content gathering and feedback.

And in my dreams…

… Tom’s Planner would sync with Basecamp. I could click on a time period on the Gantt Chart and automatically update milestones in Basecamp. Maybe some day :)

Tom’s Planner is in Beta right now. At some point they’ll implement a monthly charge, but if you sign up now you’re guaranteed a free year. So go sign up right now.

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Secret Cabal of Bloggers Recap

by Julie Gomoll on December 23, 2009

Chris Garrigues and Jan Triplett

I hereby declare the first meeting of the Secret Cabal of Bloggers a success! We had a few last minute cancellations, but everyone who showed up got right into the spirit of things.

First up was introducing the secret handshake, of course. Curious? You’ll have to attend the next event to learn it. It’s highly classified.

Jenny Peterson and Karen Kreps

We talked a bit about our blogging platforms of choice, some of our experiences growing our blogs, and only occasionally meandered off into discussions of Twitter and Christmas and cookies. And yes, we did dive in and do some actual blogging.

People present: Jan Triplett, Chris Garrigues, Karen Kreps, Jenny Peterson, Susan Price, and myself.

Susan Price

Computers used: 6 Macs. Cool, huh?

Treats eaten: Pecan ball cookies, oranges, popcorn, and Susan’s homemade chocolate chip cookies. Yum!

I don’t know what the Secret Cabal will become. That depends on you. Is it helpful to have dedicated writing time? Was the conversation even more valuable? Let me know in the comments.

And by the way, the groovy conference room you see here is at the Business Success Center, and it’s available for rent :)

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Read this bleeping post, bleep it!

by Julie Gomoll on September 9, 2009

Used to be, you only heard “bleeps” on TV when a network aired a movie that had PG language in the original. Now many series just build them in, as their way of flipping the bird to the censors. And they get away with it.

Admittedly, I don’t understand all the upset these words cause, but that’s another issue.

I get it. You don’t want little Timmy to hear grownups swear, and you don’t want delicate Susie to think that people use the awful, awful words on a regular basis.

But are these intentional bleeps helping? When I hear one, I immediately cycle through the Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV to try to figure out what was said. So instead of hearing some frustrated cop say shit, I end up thinking “Did he say shit? Or dickhead? Or was it *gasp* the dreaded f-word”? (A word so awful we have to give it a nickname.)

Bleeps leave the interpretation open to our imaginations, which are far richer than the measly seven words (which are no doubt way up in the double digits by now).

I don’t know if anyone offended by these words actually reads this blog, but if you’re out there, tell me what you think. Are the bleeps better? If so, why?

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Ergonomic Laptop Keyboard — Make It So!

by Julie Gomoll on September 8, 2009

The other evening, David Pogue tweeted a request for ideas for new laptop features. This brought to mind something I’ve been wanting for years: an ergonomic keyboard for my Mac laptop.

Several years ago I broke my arm, and was in a cast up to my elbow. The cast prevented me from rotating my wrist to the proper angle for typing on a regular old keyboard. I went out and got a Logitech Ergonomic Keyboard. Not only are the left and right sections of the keyboard angled to a more natural position for your hands, but the keyboard itself isn’t flat — each side angles up a bit toward the middle.

It took a bit of getting used to, but it was perfect for my injured arm. The cast stayed on for 6 weeks, and after I got it off I found returning to a standard, flat keyboard exasperating. I realized I actually typed much faster and much more accurately using the ergonomic keyboard.

These days, I work on a laptop 90% of the time, and the keyboard has been hell on my wrists and arms. Fingerworks offers an interesting keyboard replacement for Mac laptops, but it’s still flat.

I know, I know, I can still use the Logitech keyboard with my laptop, but I don’t want to. I carry my laptop around a lot, and don’t want to carry an external keyboard around as well.

Lately I’ve been drooling over some of the new dual-screen laptops that are showing up on the market. All I can think is, if this is possible, surely an ergonomic laptop keyboard is possible. One that was split in the middle, and could be lifted and angled for comfort.

Come on, all you clever people out there. Make it so!

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The Frogs Are Getting Smarter

by Julie Gomoll on September 7, 2009

My rockin' outdoor shower

I have a sweet outdoor shower — a wonderful thing in Texas. It’s the master shower. There is only a tub in the master bath. There’s a dinky indoor shower upstairs, and it’s become a badge of honor that I’ve never used it in the 10 years I’ve lived in this house.

I absolutely love my shower. So do the frogs. They come out a minute or so after the water comes on. I’m not sure if they’re just curious about where all the wet stuff is coming from or if they’re trying to avoid all the suds. I’ve always been fond of frogs, so this doesn’t bother me one bit.

Sadie & Kody: uninterested in non-sheep

My two border collies, Sadie and Kody, have always peacefully coexisted with them, and in fact seem a little afraid of them. Hey, if they’re not herdable, why bother, right?

But then Tip came along. She has decided that the frogs are obviously there for her entertainment, and joins me in the shower daily, eagerly awaiting their appearance. For awhile, a frog would come out and pretty much just hang out in one corner. If I noticed it, I’d pick it up and put it out of Tip’s reach, but lately she’s been getting pretty strategic about the whole thing and usually beats me to the poor little critter.

Tip: stalker of frogs

She snatches it up and trots it out into the yard, where she tries to get it to play with her. After much batting and tossing and barking, the unfortunate frog stops moving, and Tip loses interest.

Lately though, the frogs come out and immediately scamper to safer ground, as though they know what might be in store for them. Sometimes they even succeed. So how is this happening? The ones that met their unfortunate fate at the paws of my dog couldn’t exactly send word. Do they send “Danger! Danger!” signals as they’re carried off? Have they been sending scouts to watch the action?

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Some Things Shouldn’t Be Crowdsourced

by Julie Gomoll on August 30, 2009

Crowdsourcing: The Good

Crowdsourcing has been behind some truly great products and initiatives. Wikipedia and Linux are perhaps the best-known, and there are indeed stellar examples of the power of this model.

Other great examples include:

The Netflix Prize for a 10% improvement on their recommendation engine.
reCaptcha and their innovative use of the millions of typed words to help digitize old books.
Foldit invites people to play a game that ultimately results in new protein-folding strategies.
Microlending companies like Kiva are pooling small amounts of money and loaning it to poor business owners with enouraging results.

Opinions can do well as crowdsourced projects, although I contend people are more likely to supply them when they are bitching rather than raving. Still, reviews and other opinions certainly provide value, and I admit I readily use them when deciding on restaurants, books, and products. Companies like Yelp, Amazon, and Ebay are learning to navigate the intricacies (and legalities) of the relationships between businesses and reviews, making the content even more valuable in the process.

What do all these good examples have in common?

There is governance. Although anyone can contribute to Wikipedia, all contributors are not equal. A hierarchy of editors ensures that spam and misinformation are quickly weeded out. It’d be nice to think it’s all perfectly democratic, but it’s not, and it wouldn’t work if it were.
Crowds are used to solve problems or to offer commentary, not to determine strategy or any decide critical business issues.

There’s gray area, of course. Most software developers actively solicit feedback for new features and general improvements. Notice, though, that they rarely promise the most popular suggestion will be implemented. The people responsible for the business strategy are wisely learning what their customers want, but they know better than to leave the final decisions to the public. The customer may be good-intentioned, but they just don’t know enough to always be right.

For some excellent crowdsourcing stories and analysis, be sure to read Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams.

Crowdsourcing: The Bad

Logos. I cringe every time I hear someone brag that they crowdsourced their logo. For one thing I have an intense distaste for doing work on spec. Most logo crowdsourcing sites (as well as contests) do just this — a bunch of designers create a logo for free, getting paid only if the company likes and select it. But logos are critical to the identity of a company. It’s not just a matter of what looks nice on a business card and a website banner. The always-meaty and useful Smashing Magazine ran an article called Vital Tips for Effective Logo Design, accompanied by this graphic. Do you really want to entrust this critical piece of your image to starving artists out there eager to get their hands on your $200? Pay someone what they’re worth and get it done right.

Strategy. No one knows your business as well as you. Get Satisfaction and UserVoice are great for site-based feedback and ideating. Customers/readers make suggestions and vote on their importance, and the companies do with those suggestions what they will. Austin’s own BountyStorm lets companies post questions with a bounty (usually in the $5 – $15 range) for the best idea. Some questions are perfect for this model — creative Valentine’s Day ideas, for example. Some are a bit worrisome — ideas for a first tattoo (Yikes! Isn’t that supposed to be a deeply personal decision?). And some just don’t belong there. There are a ton of people asking for business names, taglines, and marketing strategies. Do they really think they’re going to get what they need from a stranger? For $10?

Crowdsourcing SXSW: The Ugly

And now we come to the issue that drove me to write this post in the first place. Programming at paid conferences should not be crowdsourced. Not even part of it. This will be the ⁶th year SXSW is letting the general public vote on panels, and the 6^th year that attendee complaints have swelled about the quality and selection of that programming. Lots of folks come to town and don’t even bother attending the conference, opting instead for the appropriately crowdsourced BarCamp Austin. Last year at SXSWi some really great panel ideas with excellent panelists never made the cut, while panels presented by often pathetically underprepared heavy hitters filled the schedule. The panel-picker was at least a little easier this year, with the option to vote thumbs up or down rather than assigning a number of stars as a rating.

This approach sounds really good in theory, but what ended up happening last year was would-be panelists filled our Twitter streams with panel pimping promotions and microcelebrity popularity contests, while many deserving panelists truly working at the edge of our industry were left in the dust. Bloggers with 10s or 100s of 1000s of readers ready and willing to vote for their panels crowded out those doing interesting, paradigm-changing work. SXSW is too important to the industry to run it as a popularity contest.

I’m not sure what the best solution is, but I have a few ideas that would improve the SXSW experience..

Make it clear that there is a committee that is ultimately responsible for the programming. Not just 40% of it. All of it. There should be 2 (preferably divergent) experts in each area of content (coding, architecture, marketing, social media, business, etc.). The committee could be nominated by the public, and chosen by SXSW staff. Or nominated by staff and chosen by the public. Continue to accept panel suggestions from the public, but leave the deciding to the committee.
Create a SXSW advisory group committed to uncovering and featuring new voices and industry trends. Some of the A-Listers are fantastic presenters. I’m in no way saying they shouldn’t be on the schedule. But there are some amazing thinkers doing cutting-edge work right here in Central Texas. Commit to finding them. Ask the public for suggestions of inspiring speakers they’ve seen in other settings and personally encourage them to submit a panel.

This year’s pimping wasn’t nearly as bad as last year, due in part to a bit of a backlash to the whole system, as you can see by the following Tweets.