When Daniela told me she was going to bring her Executive Clare Hart from Dow Jones to meet with Robert, I was thrilled. I used to be a customer when Clare was the President of Factiva. At the time she was a blogger who was part of the conversation. At one time, she reached out to me via email, a very thoughtful touch from someone at the higher echelons to a customer.
Robert’s interviewed Clare here right in the PodTech headquarters, and has the story. There’s a few other pics I captured.
I encouraged Clare to consider doing a video show, she’s very personable, real, and down to earth. Video could be a good solution for her to communicate to the world, given the time it takes to blog, I’ve written tips on how to do that here.
Thanks for stopping by Dow Jones and Factiva folks!
It’s no mystery that I write this website for Corporate Marketers who use the web (that is my background for 7 years, this is my first time at a small startup), there’s a real need for sharing and learning as a single community. A few weeks ago, I wrote a very lengthy post, it was really a white paper of sorts, where I discussed the Impacts of Social Media on Customer Reference Programs.
I’m very excited to go into details about that post, as well as related tactics and strategies as a speaker at the Customer Reference Forum. If you know someone at your company that’s involved with Customer References, Loyalty, Customer experience, or General Marketing, I encourage you pass them the link to their site. The Customer Reference Forum event is on April 23-25 in Berkeley, CA (just outside San Francisco), looks like I’ll be joined by Ben and Jackie, (among others) both whom I can’t wait to meet.
(Update: Bill Lee of the Customer Reference Forum has a unique blog on the topic, including some Q&A of some thought leaders in the space)
Also that week, I’ll be speaking at Ad-Tech, invited by Rohit on a business blogging panel. Steve Hall of Adrants will also be on that panel. More news of that to come.
Last year, PodTech hosted the first annual Vloggies awards show, all in the honor of videobloggers. If you’re a videoblogger, there’s a couple of ways to get involved to submit your video to be part of the grand awards. If you didn’t go to the last vloggies (I couldn’t attend, as I was in China) you can check out some of Laughing Squid’s photos.
At SXSW, you can enter the contest at the PodTech booth, where you can meet Scoble and Irina!
Here’s what you need to know to get involved:
“Seagate is sponsoring a contest to kick things off for us: the SXSW-Vloggies Show Challenge: we’re inviting ANY VLOGGER to show their stuff at SXSW. Open to anyone in the world, we’re inviting you to create and showcase your video coverage of SXSW 2007 on The Vloggies Show site for some cool prizes.” -Irina Slutsky tells you more about the contest and the Vloggies event!
If you’re not familiar with the Vloggies, Scoble has a list of the best videobloggers check out last year’s coverage of the ceremony and party:
If you can’t see the embedded flash player in your feedreader, you can access the file directly, or see all the posts tagged Vloggies on PodTech.
Social Media isn’t always pretty. Sometimes things happen in the news, that hit social networks and spread at rapid pace. So fast that it forces corporations to wake up and pay attention to how the internet is connecting people at a rapid pace. I’ve noticed a pattern today in my feedreading, and although I don’t have a lot of time, I wanted to highlight what I’m seeing as a Web Strategist.
This week, KFC is is the news as this bad press hits YouTube. The president promptly responded, and even did an online video, good job Gregg and KFC. View video remarks from KFC President Gregg Dedrick (although they need a direct link to the video, I had to splice this code together in order to link to it directly). I hope they keep this open transparent dialogue going, have you read my Web Strategy on Why Online Video is good for your Corporate Executives and How to Deploy?
Brand Hijacking is when customers and the marketplace take your brand and create their own messages, experiences, and share with others. For most corporate marketers, this is scary stuff. This WalMart Watch blog is taking on Walmart Corporation as well as Edelman. They’re calling for video submissions to support their cause. Even Wikipedia has an extensive section focused on some public shortcomings.
Related: Sean’s added a comment below that really should be elevated, he’s provided some coverage of Jet Blue’s execs humble and sincere video apologies and customer bill of rights.
I’ve some other examples of some videos that were created on YouTube against Starbucks. Today, I find it interesting that Dave Winer is calling out some recent online activities. It’s disappointing to some that Dell is saying to Linux users: Not so fast. I was hoping they were on to something, the saga is still not over.
Update: I’ve had my eye on this book, Citizen Marketers I hope to get a chance to read it in the near future. They’re doing a book tour, and will be at the Customer Reference forum, where I’ll be presenting.
I feel guilty. Guilty that I don’t have enough time to spend sharing on this blog.
Posting has been light lately, and it will likely stay light. I’ve not had time to focus on some real analytical pieces that I enjoy sharing like The many forms of web marketing, the impacts of social media on customer reference programs, contraversial online data storage predictions, or indexing all the white label social network apps, etc.
Recently, in addition to a lot of personal and work things, today I was having lunch with a Googler, tomorrow I’m having lunch with the CTO of Hitachi Data Systems and some data storage pioneers, tomorrow night, we’re hosting some upcoming professionals, I’m also writing a white paper for a well known social media measurement company (stay tuned) and lastly, in case you can’t tell, I’ve started to do more video, so there’s a learning curve there.
If you’re hungry for content, I recommend cruising the Web Strategy category, most of these posts are designed to tell how to, case studies, or other resourceful information on web strategies.
Yes, been busy, so thanks for your patience.
Update: Oh yeah, I’m still sharing my items that I think you’d like to read in my Google Reader shared feed. If you haven’t subscribed yet, I encourage you to do so. Also subscribe to colleague Robert Scoble’s who I suspect reads more feeds than any other human. His shared feed is here.
Some of the footage from the unconference that Doc Searls invited me to is finally up. Check out the text and picture capture of this Mobile Identity Workshop. I’ve been hearing a lot of Doc, recently hosted a great talk with podcasts, the one with Dave Winer on this NPR podcast both of which provide some very important messages.
In the following video, Doc tells us why Mobile Identity is so important, and why the format of the event as an unconference is undesigned to help promote dialogue from the mind trust of those attending.
If you’re reading this in a feedreader, check out the media post.
I’m friends with Intuit folks, really great team over there. I read Avinash’s web analytics blog frequently, and spoke on a panel about Business Blogging with Paul Rosenfeld of Intuit. Great folks who get the web.
We all know about Intuit as having a successful online community. They’ve done quite a bit in the form of blogs, forums, and other types of community outreach programs.
The elusive SMB market is hard to identify, yet even to provide a web marketing strategy for. Quickbooks has done it, and is one of the great examples of how a thriving community is there. I even know of some small businesses that actually communicate and have done deals on the Intuit network. Intuit is an example of an online marketplace for the small and medium sized business.
You can hear how Scott Wilder (who also writes a killer blog) discusses how to navigate limited resources, the legal landscape, and internal and community cultures.
If you’re responsible for building or understanding online communities at your workplace, I recommend listening in. Scott discusses how they want to add video to their upcoming sites, I hope they reach out to PodTech to assist.
If you’re reading this in a feedreader, access the player directly. This player is sharable, and you can embed in your site as well. (click the Share button)
A few days ago, I gave my media consumption diet. It’s interesting that a lot of my stuff is on Demand, and has few ads. Loren’s responded with much love on his video:
(if you’re reading this in a feedreader, access the post)
I’m still waiting for Robert Scoble, Jason Calacanis, and Chris Pirillo share their diets. Martin did, and a few others says Technorati.
Oh, and my last name is pronounced Ow-Yang. I’m not Irish Loren.
Chronicling the Dell Social Media Saga
I’ve been watching this Dell story for quite a while, even been on a panel with blog expert Shel Israel, author of Naked Conversations discussing it.
[Dell has come so far, they've learned to listen, converse, and lower the corporate walls. While this saga is not over, this is becoming a classic case study of a corporation making a 180 degree turn using Web Tools]
Gone to Hell, Cursed, and Exploded
Dell’s taken a freaking beating in the past years due to social media bloggers. you can do a search on Dell Hell, and at one time, if you did a Google Search on the term “Dell Support” bloggers not happy with their support come up. (Today’s Google results show it’s still on the first results page)
Joining the Conversation, Cautiously, then with Gusto
Dell launched their One to One blog, which was met with mixed feedback. While some didn’t think they did an authentic job at joining the conversation, others supported them for the effort. A few weeks after the initial launch, Dell started to publically recognize their faults. At CES, I had the pleasure to hang with Michael Dell himself, (thanks to Lionel) where Dell said they were going to start embracing Social Media, watch the video yourself.
Turning it up with Customer Collaboration
Just a few days ago, I helped to announce IdeaStorm, the idea was for Dell to create a Customer Feedback/Collaboration web tools that will let customers and employees create products together. Marshall Kirkpatrick at Techcrunch, wasn’t sure if I was completely right that employees were fully onboard. Engadget cleverly modifies the tagline as they state that Dell Wants You to Make It Suck Less with Digg Clone.
Acknowledging the Voice of the People
Well it appears that Dell corporate (which I hope includes some employees) that they are on board and that they are taking IdeaStorm seriously. On this summary list, Dell demonstrates they are listening to what customers have been saying. A very strong meme is leaning towards open platforms (or none at all). It’s even moved it’s way up Digg, a popular user voting site. Not sure if the solution is worked out, as the costs may be even higher to get a wiped hardware machine.
Saga Timeline
Blindsided from ignorance
Learned how to listen
Built tools to join the conversation
Learned the right way to interact
Reached to community
Acknowledged customer requests
Next Step (and most important) For Dell:
This is the most important part, the final leg of this cyclical journey is to get Dell to give the products that the people ask for.
Document and Measure
It will be very interesting to see if there’s a reduction in Product Research costs from these tools. Could be a very insightful case study on Social Media ROI for corporations, I hope Dell shares this info with me. Keep at it Lionel Menchaca (the Community Manager), Michael Dell and the rest of the Dellions. By the way, if this whole concept is very new to you, I recommend you read the Cluetrain Manifesto.
Update March 2: The saga continues with IdeaStorm injures scores at Dell — “sounded like a freight train”. Apparently, Dell will not be building what the people asked for in IdeaStorm. Ars Technica speculates the many reasons why it doesn’t make sense for Dell. For what it’s worth, either way, the market knows what the market wants, and it’s documented, in addition for great buzz for Dell.
Update March 13th:
Dell has made an announcement that it plans to offer Linux to customers, the flavors will depend on how users answer the survey. I met with Lionel yesterday, and knew about this in advance. I was able to interview him for my video Web Strategy Show, he’ll be up soon.
Update March 29th:
After reviewing over 100,000 survey submissions, Dell is now offering it’s Linux flavored offerings. The company is listening.
Update April 3rd, 2007:
Lionel Menchaca visits in person with Jeff Jarvis, who first coined the business blogging case study “Dell Hell”. This community relations in real life was a success.
Update May 24th, 2007
Ubutu, a flavor of Linux is finally released as a product. Lionel uses video to tell his story.
Update June 16th 2007
The consumerist releases an ex-employees 22 tips on how to buy the best computer, although Dell demands a retraction. Jeff Jarvis sympathizes with Poor Dell, Lionel of Dell responds from the Dell one to one blog.
Update October 18, 2007
Dell’s continued push to reach to customers has paid off, relationships, communication and conversations are starting to be the very fabric of their company. Business Week runs this story, praising Dell for all that they have done. A few times people have told me they are tired of hearing about Dell as the case study of success, the problem is, few or no other companies have moved this far in such a short time. The deserve our applause.
Posted on February 24th, 2007 in:
Feedback
I don’t know this guy that’s being talked about, but after two posts from personal friends over time, I’m noticing a trend:
Martin McKeay: What sets off your alarms? (Martin is a Network Security Expert, so if he says something, I listen)
Brian Oberkirch: Is Marc Freedman Like Herpes? (Brian’s also a trusted friend, so this really set off my alarms)
ValleyWag calls him out too:
Valleywag: Linkslut lifestyle: the pickup artists of networking
