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44 More Blue Feather WordCamp Chicago Tweeters

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Sweet WordCamp Chicago – Part 2

Last week I wrote about some of the great people we met at WordCamp Chicago. This week I send you the rest of them.

At WordCamp Chicago this year we shared our twitter names with our WordCamp “tribe.” WordCamp is the spirit of small business come alive offline. We work together to make a community event happen when just a short time before there was none.

We go home knowing we’ve learned. W leave friends we can still reach out to online. Here are the rest of the WordCamp Chicago Blue Feather Tweeters who left their information with me.

  1. Tom Attana, technical, @TomAttana
  2. Christopher Cross, serial entrepreneur @cmcross
  3. Lin Chen, web designer @linchen
  4. Tom Evans, Small Biz and Sports Athlete @timothymevans
  5. Debbie Kong, creative helpful @kongsterville
  6. Darren Champen, new blogger @dchampen
  7. Barbara Rozgoyni, PR professional @wiredprworks
  8. Tillman Bauknight family freedom @Tilly85
  9. Bryan Hauer, theme designer @bryanhauer
  10. ryan Imel, web designer @ryanimel
  11. Jeff Chandler, networking communication @WPtavern
  12. Steve Blaskie, Erin’s Cheerleader @zepphead
  13. Dan Schultz, forum junkie @Dan Schultz
  14. David Griffith, lifelong learner @DDGriffith
  15. Jason Pelker, freelance developer@dougdevitre
  16. Len Mason, bored weekends, @lenmason
  17. Alex Falkenberg, thank you, @JPelker
  18. Brian Lis, irresistible, @brianlis
  19. Beth McBride, need knowledge, @BethMcB
  20. Jeff Milone, theme builder @jeffmilone
  21. Cory Miller, Theme builder @CoryMiller
  22. Jeremy Wright … @jeremywright
  23. Alex Cancado, learn networking @acancado
  24. Hirsch Fishman, Passion for usable design @Addicott Web
  25. Dave Bost, technology evangelist @davebost
  26. David Lawler, learning experience @davelawler
  27. Mike McCallister, writer @workingwriter
  28. Jessica Searles, WordPress Security @techwriterjess
  29. Bob RandKlev, website development @BobRandKlev
  30. Grant Gannon, seeking epiphany @grantgannon
  31. Adria Richards, technology training @AdriaRichards
  32. Craig Tuller, Taking blogs to the next level @craigtuller
  33. Ashley Hittinger, student, philosopher @arae
  34. Darryl Markette, I sent my songs to the world. @DMarkette
  35. Theresa Christensen, to network for my blog @GradingGirl
  36. Gary LaPointe, WordPress convert @GaryLaPointe
  37. Paul Shailos, expand knowledge @Filthygoods
  38. Denise Hayes, @birdbeauty
  39. Matt Thiessen, open code @stillatmylinux
  40. Theresa Christensen, to network for my blog @GradingGirl
  41. Ellie Smith, learner @n2turtles
  42. Rachel Baker, IT consultant @rachelbaker
  43. HopeBertram, perky, smart, fun @interactivehope
  44. Beth Rosen, extraordinary @bethrosen

I connect things … and people.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

10 Ways You Can Use Twitter for Small Biz

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Twitter Friends

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I’ve been working on a new Twitter presentation for a client that wants the whole team — the whole company — to be part of the conversation. The one I used last was built a while back and Twitter has changed some since then. As I was working on this new presentation new ideas about how the Twitter culture has grown kept coming to me.

They became this simple list and I thought you might find them useful too.

10 Ways to Use Twitter for Small Biz

When you’re on Twitter, you might try a few of these ways to add value and extend your relationships …

  1. Curate a small biz reading list that you filter and share links from.

    2. @BeckyMcCray writes Small Biz Survival

  2. Follow the leaders.
    @smallbiztrends

    3. @barrymoltz
    @TobyDiva
    @problogger

  3. Share ideas that have worked for you … or not.

    4. @stacybrice tweeted: i just got my Play Doh from #sobcon hopelessly stuck to a piece of paper.

  4. Talk about what other folks do well.

    5. @johnhaydontweeted: @Veribatim Can @JeffHunt make robots? Have two ever seen “The Iron Giant”?

  5. Share resources when you find them.

    6. GrowMap tweeted: This is the blog post by @designstrike where I found those and many more #dofollow Social Networking sites. http://su.pr/5ggaxe

  6. Retweet what’s good.

    7. KennedyIAm tweeted: RT @warrenss: Great collection of “must read” whitepapers for social media & business curated by @123socialmedia http://bit.ly/D3wFU #smwp

  7. Share events and announcements

    8. @roundpeg tweeted: I’m attending Citizen Debate: Healthcare, presented by Smaller Indiana – http://hcdebate.eventbrite…. #indy will you be there?

  8. Find people who share specialized tips, tools, and tricks.

    9. @philrichards tweeted: The Temporary Workplace Rules explained – http://bit.ly/2PTKPW

  9. Talk to people … use the @ sign a lot.

    10. @david_body tweeted: @rubbish That’s what the sellers probably thought. (Doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea.)

  10. Let your personality shine.

    11. @brentleary — tweeted: I always get the scrunchy face when I hear that guitar solo. if anyone ever doubted Prince’s skills on the guitar, send them a link to that!

Twitter has a lot in common with small business. It’s nimble, quick, and versatile. It takes time to get started. but can reach customers with care.

What’s Twitter has that most small businesses don’t is a far reaching network at little cash cost. Learn the culture and the lingo, you might find a world of friends and new ideas that make your small business take on that thrill of a new beginning again.

Twitter doesn’t just extend relationships, it makes it easy to make new ones. We find new friends, new customers, new people to partner with, new ideas, new channels of feedback. It’s an open channel for asking questions about our businesses and learning what others see, experience, and know. A curious learner can gain a wealth of knowledge a generous, experienced person can gain a wealth of followers.

Have you found even other ways that Twitter helps small business? Which work best for you?

I connect things … and people.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Can bing Help Me Decide?

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What Is This bing Thing?

bing arrived on my radar with an email that said …

In August, Bing shopping and cashback will offer significantly higher rebates from hundreds of retailers to help consumers save on essential back-to-school items. Below please find a press release that highlights the survey [and] information on Bing shopping’s upcoming back-to-school promotion. Also, watch for more information about the promotion on the Bing cashback Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cashback .

I accepted an invitation to talk with Melissa Powell, Senior Product Manager, bing, about the recent research and the the new “decision” engine.

How Does bing Help My Decisions?

binglogo

The first thing Melissa said was, “The search interface hasn’t kept up with the explosion of content.” In response to that situation Microsoft wanted to cater to what people are doing online and where they are searching for it.

bing has identified four verticals as important: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business. For example, in travel bing has several interactive tools to help travelers. They include …

  • Price Predictor uses Farecast technology to predict whether the price of a flight is going up or down and offers a “Buy Now” or “Wait” recommendation with a confidence level and expected price increase or decrease over the next seven days.
  • Rate Indicator analyzes historical rate data to determine whether the current price is a good deal.
  • Travel Deals features up-to-the-minute flight and hotel deals for nearly 40 cities around the world and why particular flights are considered deals.

Melissa underscored the bing quest by stating …

Bing helps you make better decisions faster, especially in the key areas of shopping, travel, health and local. One of my favorite features is Bing shopping, which helps you search, shop and save in a snap. With back-to-school just around the corner, you can save on millions of products from hundreds of the nation’s top retailers. Starting August 10 and for a limited time, we’ll offer as much as double the normal cash back from select retailers to help families save on their back-to-school essentials.

Research Before I Decide …

You can’t miss the beautiful design of the homepage the changes daily and becoming a member of bing has perks — open a bing cashback account, get bing news alerts, add bing map collections, and gain full access to the bing Webmaster Center and the bing Developer Center.

I signed up. Well, I started to, but I don’t have an MSN Live address and I’m not sure I want another id … as pretty as bing is, I decided more research was in order.

So I used bing to check bing versus google.
You can check and compare here …

I compared the cost of living between Chicago and Salt Lake City. I think Google got closer to what I might want to know.

Some folks say bing maybe offering information to sway my decision … I tried to find more examples of bias and wasn’t successful. Some folks are more clever than I.

Decide or Decide to Buy? …

From the first hello “every bing” has been about buying. The introductory email pointed to a back-to-school shoppers survey. I learned that:

  • 56% of shoppers won’t be buying Back-to-School supplies online
  • 75% will trade down to get more value for price

At the sign up screen, I was greeted with

bingcashback

and when I hesitated to complete that step … I was received an email reminding me of the opportunity to get cash back on my purchases. It read,

Hello,
Welcome to Bing, the search that pays you back!

What I hear is not “decide,” but “decide to buy.”

Can bing Help Me Decide?

A small sign upper right on the bing home page reads:

Live Search is evolving. Tour Bing …

Can bing help me decide?

I keep remembering my mom saying “if everyone jumped off the bridge …” As Judy Shapiro said,

Maybe I am just too independently minded (and not the primary target), but I resist the notion that Microsoft technology will decide anything for me. What I really want is technology to give me the information I need to make the decision I want.

Have you tried bing? What did you find?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

50 Chicago WordCamp Blue Feather Tweeters

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Sweet WordCamp Chicago

When I attended WordCamp Chicago I spoke on pencil and paper camp …
how we all write code — ABCs …
how we all ARE code — DNA …
during that discussion we shared Twitter names that I promised to compile and post one day.

Unfortunately, time, travel, great clients, and a friend’s passing have slowed my abilitiy to get to this list, but finally I can say …

This is the day I start sharing Blue Feather Tweeters from Chicago Word Camp …

First the speakers and organizers …

  1. Matt Mullenweg, founder of our favorite blog/CMS platform, @photomatt
  2. Jeremy Wright, CEO of one of the largest global new media blog networks, @jeremywright
  3. Jim Turner, business and social media blogging consultant, @genuine
  4. Erin Blaskie, CEO of global internet marketing strategy consultancy, @ErinBlaskie
  5. David Dalka, marketing and digital technology coach, @dalka
  6. Liz Strauss, online social strategist, owner of Successful Blog and Founder of SOBCon @lizstrauss
  7. Micah Baldwin, VP of business development of search-powered web application, Lijit @micah
  8. Tim Frick, who creates design-driven communication solutions with his company, Mightybytes @Mightybytes
  9. Doug Hanna, head honcho of running the day-to-day operations of the WordPress showcase @douglashanna
  10. Kevin Palmer, social media expert consultant and talent behind Social Media Answers @kevinpalmer
  11. Brian Gardner, Chicago WordCamp Organizser, Freelance Web Consultant, and Designer of the WordPress Revolution @bgardner
  12. Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Chicago WordCamp Organizer, Author of WordPress for Dummies, and Awesome designer @LisaSabinWilson

    13. The attendees and their WordCamp taglines

  13. Jeff Melvin, local targeted traffic, @jlmelvin
  14. Susan Hayse, Web Developer / Cycling Gear Editory @susancycles
  15. Troy Christensen, WordPress, Geek @TroyChristensen
  16. Chris Hajer, Love WordPress @ChrisHajer
  17. Sophia Madana, WordPress beginner @smadana
  18. Nancy Loo, evolving journalist @NancyLoo
  19. Mike Paradiso, passionately determined @mikeparadiso
  20. John LiCausi, WordPress is the heart of my businesss! @JohnLiCausi
  21. Marcie Hill, blog addiction @Marcie_Hill
  22. Sharon Kelly, need to know why @sharon_kelly
  23. Elaine Luther, jeweler, artist, writer @ElaineLuther
  24. Amy Ravit Korin, learning and excited @InteractiveAmy
  25. Anne Asher, Body posture @AnneAsherr
  26. Doug Devitre, Real Estate @dougdevitre
  27. Len Mason, bored weekends, @lenmason
  28. Alex Falkenberg, thank you, @AlexFalk
  29. Denise Wiler, likes learning, @dqwiler
  30. Beth McBride, need knowledge, @BethMcB
  31. Kristin Koskinen, still searching @kristinkoskinen
  32. Larry Null, Learn WordPress Better, Don’t Follow Rules @Larry_Null
  33. Joe Besenjak, Pastoral care, @JBesenjak
  34. Brad Williams, hardcore developer @williamsba
  35. Ryan Powszok, Social creativity @RyanPowszok
  36. Josh Feck, new experience @joshfeck
  37. Steve Racine, to learn @Quickshot56
  38. Chris King, build websites @fendmark
  39. Jessica Searles, WordPress Security @techwriterjess
  40. Jacob Santos, take video @JacobSantos
  41. Melissa Feeney, socially connected @Melissa Feeney
  42. Todd Krause, curiously social @toddjob
  43. Deena Mayne, WordPress artiste @Deena_Mayne
  44. Jane Goodwin, muuuust speeeak … @mamacita
  45. David Peralty, to make friends, I’m lonely 🙂 @brandingdavid
  46. Josh Byers, Love creating @joshbyers
  47. Steve Gassner inspire possibilities @stevegassner
  48. Brandon Zeman, Fun people @BrandonZeman
  49. Ryan Villnow, Design and Development @Villnow
  50. Terri Ford, Seeking change @TerriFord

More Blue Feather WordCamp Chicago Tweeters to come next week!!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Raise your influence and income. Be Seen! Be Heard Be Hired!

Should the Conversation with Big Brands Be Going Two Ways?

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relationships button

Flashback: We were sitting in a lovely Italian Trattoria. I was hot-shot Executive Editor in my thirties with my editor team having lunch with the President of the company. He asked us what we thought of a competitor’s product.

Replies came from around the table. All responses were negative observations.

He listened without remarking until every person had finished their critiques. Then he simply asked one question, “If their product has so many flaws, why do you suppose they sell 100,000 copies of each of the 104 little book in the series every season?”

One question pointed out that we didn’t know as much about our competitor as we thought.

What about Big Brands Are Social Media Folks Missing?

After SOBCon and BlogHer and recent conversations with Becky McCray, Stephanie Smirnov, and Sheila Scarborough, that story has been coming back to me. We’ve been talking about how big brands have been going after bloggers with a clearer intent to capture our page view and sometimes even gather our ideas.

For some of us, it’s become a heady experience. For other’s it’s lead to some regrettable behavior — we all know the stories.

What stands out is that the focus seems to have shifted hugely in one direction. Sometimes it can appear as if new social media folks are only here to learn. We know the culture. They don’t.

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Hmmm.

My curiosity leads me to my own questions …

If the big brands are so confused about serving customers, how did they get to be big brands?

If we only see what we’re good at fixing, we’re overlooking a huge opportunity for cooperative learning.

Flash Forward: Now I sit at a meeting table with a Branding agency, a PR agency, a traditional marketing firm, a direct mail expert, an email expert, a radio and TV person, and two other support team members. We’re writing the strategy and tactics for a huge product launch. Most of them don’t know much about social media beyond that it exists, but they know their own specialities deeply. But they build on what each other has planned and they learn from what each other has to say.

Presentation is a one-way communication. We talk and they listen. We broadcast and call them to action — in a mainstream advertisement or in a meeting, the goal is the same.

A conversation is a two-way communication. Both parties talk and listen. No one is in control.

Have we stopped listening to the big brands? Is it time to start listening again? Should the conversation with big brands be going both ways?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

More Upbeat Now Conversation with Raj Setty – Part 2

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Finding and Upbeat Path and Online Strategies We Miss

rajesh-for-website

As you might recall, I’ve known Rajesh Setty followed his wisdom for many years. He started his writing as a child in India at the young age of 9 and published his first book by the time he was 13.

I interviewed Raj the first time when he released his book Beyond Code. You’ll find the five days of our conversation introduced here.

This year I had the honor and the pleasure of being part of launching his new book UpBeat Now! at our SOBCon09 conference in Chicago. I’m more than delighted to share it here with you now.

This is the second part of the conversation we had …

Hi Raj, Now that we’ve found “the trap” and unfinished projects that befall us. How might online entrepreneurs use “the discipline” to get on an upbeat path?

For me, the discipline required for online business is like the discipline you require in any other business – probably a bit more, actually.

If you think about it, even when you are NOT solving a real problem, you might get a lot of people interested in your online business. It does not mean that they are willing to transact with you.

Add to that – the threat of competition from new players and incumbents.

Add to that the fact that people really don’t want to change easily.

Add to that the fact that somebody will offer the same (or stripped down version)of your service for free.

Add to that customers and prospects requesting features day in and day out feeling entitled.

Add to that the fact that one small bug gets blown out of proportion via blogs and forums.

Without discipline, one can get carried away and focus on everything except making their customers WIN in a big way.

The way to stay UpBeat in an online business is simply to make rockstars out of your customers. If they win, they will make you win.

Which part of strategy do online business builders seem to miss most often?

Creating the right ecosystem for their business.

Online or offline, without a solid ecosystem, businesses cannot scale. It is easy to miss that as you may not notice the need for a solid ecosystem in the initial stages of the online business.

If you could suggest one action that would make a difference in most online businesses what would it be?

Listening without filters

Most often, we listen with our filters and think and assume what the customers “might” want. If you simply “listen without filters” you will notice that customers and prospects will share their trials and tribulations, what they like and dislike about the product, what problems do they want to solve with your product/service, their wishes and their wants.

if you relentlessly focus on your customers, you will win sooner than later – listening without filters is the first step to do just that.

upbeat-cover-final

Raj, what you said in just these five short questions today and Wednesday has been a primer on how to steer clear of some pretty serious business faux pas.

This only a taste of the insights and wisdom you’ve pulled together in your book!

I so recommend everyone should buy UpBeat Now!

Thanks Raj! Talking with you is always a pleasure!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.