Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe 03-06-09

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Riding Dragons
Last summer David Zinger showed up at Jodee Bock’s annual Bigger Small Talk Summit. I heard him say that he can do almost anything for 10 minutes so tends to break down difficult or unappealing tasks into 10 minute chunks. That sounded wise to me and I determined to try it out. When I returned home, however, I quite promptly forgot about it.

Pick the Brain
You’re stressed, overworked, and tired. You feel like you’re dropping the ball on so many things. You find yourself lying awake in the early hours, thinking about those items still on your to-do list, those emails not yet cleared.

Virtual Impax
On Monday I get an email from a client who has been neglecting to protect her online reputation by neglecting her blog. She’s now busily meeting with lawyers to try to trademark her branding elements – something I suspect would be easier to do had she been maintaining her blog under the domain name she registered. At least she would be ranking #1 on her term – which is what started the fuss.

Remarkablogger
I have a confession
I have a confession to make.
I was once…
A vacuum cleaner salesman.

Work Happy Now
My wife discovered a story about a teacher who changed her/his work culture with a simple plan that anyone can implement at their organization.

Related ala carte selections include

New Twitter Movie: For the Birds
Here’s a new Twitter short movie that shows the impact each and every person you follow has on your social network! Have you ever had someone “hog the line” and cause a stir like this? The Betty Boop song might explain why some do what they do online.

Just Creative
To say the least, ranking fonts is an obviously hard task… how does one measure aesthetic quality, the benefit of an item, its value to humanity and so fourth?

Oh and..
Invest in your future.

Register for SOBCon09!

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

The "ART" of Being Genuine

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Definition of Genuine :

1 a: actually having the reputed or apparent qualities or character (genuine vintage wines) b: actually produced by or proceeding from the alleged source or author (the signature is genuine) c: sincerely and honestly felt or experienced (a deep and genuine love) d: actual , true (a genuine improvement) 2: free from hypocrisy or pretense : sincere

– from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

But being genuine isn’t something you should try to emulate, or work at or simulate. Being genuine is being yourself. Sometimes we take on different roles in different situations for various reasons. When you meet me at a conference I may be different that you perceive me to be on twitter. If we meet later that evening at a social situation I may be different again. If we ever happen to be discussing a project, contract or another work-related item I will, again, be different. These are all different roles for different situations, but they’re all still me.

There’s a lot of talk in the blogosphere, on twitter, in the press, actually everywhere I look lately, about being genuine. It goes hand in hand with the conversation about authenticity. I realize that this isn’t a new conversation, and that its relevance as a topic will come and go.

But for me it became very relevant just yesterday. Yesterday, someone questioned whether or not I was being genuine. First I was shocked. I realized they had a totally different idea of what being genuine meant. I was being honest, respectful and sincere but they thought that this wasn’t enough.

Being genuine is important – it leads to respect. My genuine self isn’t your genuine self. We are all different. We all strive to meet the definition but we all come at it in different ways. There is no one way – we’re all individuals here from different backgrounds. If you are your actual, genuine self – then that is enough.

from Kathryn Jennex aka Nothernchick

photo credit: Andy Glogower

Are You Going to Believe Them? Or Are You Going to Show Them?

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People will tell you that you’re not good enough. Are you going to believe them?
They’ll tell you that it can’t be done. It will take too long. It will cost too much …
too much time, too much money, too much of what you ain’t got.
Will you believe that too?

You can, you can go with what they tell you.
But why?

People will say that you don’t have the right stuff. Are you going to feel wrong?
They’ll tell you need something. It might be anything. It might everything …
a top tier degree, a fancy pedigree, a shiny something that you never saw.
Will you feel worthless too?

Look up.
Just beyond the stars is the cartwheel nebula.
Can you believe those colors are real?
But they are and they are right above us in the sky.

Folks might want to convince that the time isn’t right or you’re not good enough.
Are you going to believe them? Or Are you going to show them?

It’s a helluva lot of work to make something beautiful.
But …
People and stars are made of the same stuff.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

This Shoemaker Has Decided the Ratty Shoes Have to Go

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To Be Seen, Heard, and Understood

Yessir, Chris Brogan, I have ideas. Thank you for linking my ideas to yours. I’m good at ideas and when they connect, my ideas light fires.

It’s the connecting that makes the ideas take off.
Connecting happens when people see, hear, and understand our ideas.

I’ve decided this year I want my connections working online and off.

Meet Vince

I’ve enlisted the best designer, Vincent Franco, to bring out the hidden content on this blog, to get it ready for where we’re going. The concept is rolling. We’ll be making room for new features, a bow to the past and a long look to the future. I’m taking over my dad’s saloon once and for. The new look will focus on what this blog and the successful and outstanding bloggers who hang out here are about.

  • We’ll be rolling up the categories into key locations. As we get going the content become more focused around the main topics of web strategy, how communities form, communication, social media, blogging / writing, and creativity / ideas.
  • I’ve already invited Kathryn Jennex to write a column called “Practical Communication.” Have you been reading what she writes every Thursday? She constantly hits it out of the park!
  • My dear friends from OZ, Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh will still challenge us to reflect as they share coastline of tomorrowland.
  • If you’d like to participate email me. It’s always been a community blog.

Meet The Image Studios

The most professional soft skills, image communication consultancy in Chicago, The Image Studios, has agreed to show me how to leverage the best of my head, heart, and purpose so that people can see, hear, and understand who I am — at first glance.

  • This is not a TV makeover. This is a serious quest to be recognized. The operative term is visible authenticity. You’ll be hearing more of that from me all year.
  • I had my first meeting with image team last fall. My meeting with Kali Evans-Raoul, the founder, brought out a baseline that is firmly grounded in who I am and where I want to be. The plan is to get what doesn’t work out of my way, not layering new things on.
  • I’ll be blogging. We’ll be taking photos and video. Most importantly I’ll be trying to track the thoughts behind the decisions and changes.

The why of this is simple enough. Social media, social business is about connections. Connecting starts long before we talk.

2009 is the Year to be SEEN, HEARD, AND UNDERSTOOD.

This shoemaker has decided the ratty shoes have to go.

How about you? Are you ready for visible authenticity?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Register now for SOBCon09

Invest in your business. Invest in yourself.

The Mic Is On: We're Talking Cartoons!!

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Th-th-that’s right, folks!!

Fred Flintstone Snoopy Porky Pig

We might also talk about

  • Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam
  • Donald and Daffy
  • Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
  • Ren and Stimpy
  • Scooby Doo

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring example links.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
image: sxc.hu
Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Who Owns Social Media

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who owns social media
who owns social media

Advertising Age Magazine saysShops Seek Control in Social-Media Space “Agencies of all stripes want to lay claim, and no one wants to cede control.”

This is an interesting article from two points of view. The first is in terms of “traditional” marketing practices using the new tools of the internet:

In some ways, media agencies are a natural for social media. As people increasingly spend their “media time” on social sites — in some cases at the expense of traditional channels — agencies need to figure out if they can put marketers’ messages in those places. According to Frank Magid Associates, more than 22% of 18- to 24-year-olds say they are watching less TV since they started using social-networking sites.

The social challenge

Yet, thus far, media agencies haven’t shown they can own social media. Most media agency-driven social-media campaigns look a lot more like traditional media with a social twist than they do created-from-scratch communities such as Dell IdeaStorm or social-utility staple Nike Plus. And they tend to be defined in campaign terms rather than the kinds of inside-out transformations of culture and organization that companies such as Zappos have pulled off.

While some social-media pundits will discount media agencies for that reason, there are practical considerations for these agencies’ approach to social media.

The other viewpoint is that the social media (or Social Media) marketspace is by it’s very nature individualized and non-media oriented. It is about people talking to other people. This part of the social media landscape tends to take a harsh view of commercializing what the users see as “their” space. As an example, look at the recent controversy over Chris Brogan’s sponsored post about Kmart (see Advertising and Trust, Twitter search)

The “ownership” of Social Media and the new internet marketspace is going to be hotly contested due to the enormous amount of user-generated content that is impossible to predict. It will be the users that determine the fate of advertising:

Craig Daitch, senior VP at promotions firm Measure2X, has logged time at PHD and Digitas working as a sort of social-media evangelist, and laments the problem. “You can’t append a CPM to it, and you have a hard time putting a profit and loss to it. So the question is: Who pays for it, how do we quantify ROI and how do I convince clients this is a worthy endeavor?”

He said digital shops need to embed a social-media way of thinking with their planning groups. He pointed to one, albeit old, example to illustrate the difference that can make. When Mentos saw the videos of two guys in lab coats dropping its mints into two-liter bottles of Diet Coke and making them erupt in a fizz-filled geyser, it bought ads on YouTube. Coke’s initial reaction: That’s not what you’re supposed to do with Diet Coke.[emphasis mine, ed.]

“You shouldn’t see it — it’s all about conversation,” Mr. Daitch said. “When something pops and people are talking about it, you look for brand involvement.“

Daitch hits the nail on the head – “when something pops” is completely out of the control of the advertisers, the marketers, even the brands themselves. I would submit that the answer to the question “Who owns social media?” is We do.