Change of Venue

I have started hosting my own website and all of my blogging will be over there now...  please visit

ShoelessTim.com

to keep up with my posts.

Branding

With TWTR launching their IPO yesterday lets discuss branding...

While it may seem cheap to mock my own creative failings, I do have a business that I want to develop and products that I want to sell.

The most interesting part of creating something is how to build what we now call a brand.

An interesting term because branding, usually by means of charring, comes from livestock.  The act of marking [by branding] livestock with fire-heated marks to identify ownership has origins in ancient times, with use dating back to the ancient Egyptians. Among the ancient Romans, the symbols used for brands were sometimes chosen as part of a magic spell aimed at protecting animals from harm.

So over the years branding has transitioned to other types of goods. The brand being a name, a logo, a slogan, and/or a design scheme, which becomes associated with a product or service. A good product with superior branding is something customers can identify with. The key is the ability to build a relationship with your consumer and drive that repeat and subliminal business.

A good example of superior branding is Kleenex. People by default in the United States of America ask for kleenex when they need a facial tissue. We are so deeply ingrained with the idea that we blow our nose with Kleenex that their brand is an almost subliminal choice.

The synonymous use of brands vs. products is from fantastic marketing.  Good marketing and good branding is the result of understanding people and how they think. If you can successfully build an image that becomes a long lasting and irreplaceable part of a cultures psyche, then you can establish product dominance. Some things are so iconic that they simply don't need marketing. For example,  Post-It Brand notes.  What to I need to say about these?

I want to create a great design for my company and myself, but how do you compete with multi-million dollar design firms?  How do you make a way for yourself in an industry that is saturated with brilliant marketing.?

#TWTR

Todays IPO is huge, possibly larger than the facebook IPO.  At least for @Twitter who is launching in to a new market. Already possibly the fasted social media venu,e twitter draws real relevance across Klout and much of the SMM sphere.

The big deal of the day their IPO lead off at 0830 EST this morning and hopes are high for a better start than the other social media giant.

Update: With in hours of the stocks opening at $25 there has been a huge growth to numbers as high as $49.73. Keep watching to see what happens. Updates to follow.

The Social Media Toolkit

If you have Facebook, you probably have other social media outlets which means if you want to hit all of your info-sphere then you have to copy post to each of your outlets. Some outlets will post to other sites for you like:

• Foursquare is good because it will post out to Facebook and Twitter.
• Instagram will Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, email, Foursquare and Tumblr.
• Amazon will also link up to your Facebook and Twitter, but the process is complicated.

 This is time consuming and irritating as well as pointless. BECAUSE NOW, there is IFTTT.  The process could not be easier. You build a recipe:

with your social media outlets to feed each other with content. With 70+ connected Channels you can tie together your google drive with your twitter and have a spreadsheet of all your tweets. or have your iPhone Camera dump picture straight to Facebook when you take a picture. the possibilites are in the thousands now, and growing daily.

Pintrest...

I have to say, Pintrest is probably my least favorite social media venue. Mainly because there is not a lot of controls, the content is spotty, and its repetitive.

The problem with its content is this. Its user built and driven. Whats wrong with that, Tim, you might ask. because it is an outlet that is predominantly used by women (ok so thats unfair), in reality theres not a lot of attention to detail. If I were to put up a link of a rain barrel like this:

I would make sure like I have here to link the crediting source and to have some kind of a comment for this item...

However the problem that I have is that some of the time when i click on a link it I get this:

Where there is no link or amplifying information. Realistically its a large visual search tool but instead of drawing information into it people are posting things which to me seems to be the reason for its spotty information.

KLOUT

It would seem that there are even analytics on people. Klout is a data analytics tool that rates People on their social media (sm) presence. I currently am at a 46 our of 100, but most of my social media activity is from the past 3 months.

 Erie Brewing Company who has a great beer, has little to no web presence. Some minor modifications to their  Facebook, Twitter and own company web page could significantly increase not only their presence but their revenue streams. A few hours of work a week could yield major dividends.  Simple things like direct and rapid responses to tweets and status could draw big follower ship on sm. Here is a  post from me on their Twitter:

@ErieBrewingCo Are you guys brewing anything for Turkey Day? #seasonal #localbeer #brewers #beer
— Tim May (@shoelesstim) October 28, 2013

If all goes well their Virtual Assistant (VA) is getting a notification on their phone or device and formulating a response. I will comment that response when I get it.

In the past year I have had extremely positive response from @Jockey, @Sterilite_Corp, and @GrandTrunkGoods. All I did is tweet my complaint and within hours their VA got back with me and arranged a positive experience with their products and brand. These are three companies that I will spend money with again.

 Other companies that I have contacted with simple tweets have not acknowledged them at all making me wonder if they even understand the purpose of sm.

These simple factors can have a massive and damaging impact on business because weather they want to admit it their Klout displays how accessible their business is in the sm world. Social Media drives business now, not the other way around.

@shoelesstim Not sure yet! May do something exclusive for the brewery for the tasting room! Keep you posted!

— Erie Brewing Company (@ErieBrewingCo) October 29, 2013

Community Service

Items 

• garbage
• soup
• clothes
• beds
• good deeds
• sense of community
• giving back

All great things, and I encourage people to give back. Unfortunately, personally I don't have a large heart to give up my time. 

Its not that I don't care. I do care, and i am deeply vested in Erie, and the surrounding communities. 

I think i have earned the right to say no. 

Let me explain before people get the wrong idea. On September 26, 2001, days after September 11th, I joined the Navy. Not because of problems in my own life but because I already felt a requirement to serve. As a high school student I talked about service in the military as something that every able bodied man should do. My patriotism is exceptional. I am proud of all the great things we have accomplished in our 200+ years of freedom, recently we have made some stupid decisions but thats not the point. 

Fast forward (a phrase that will soon have no relevance) to 2013, July 23 to be precise, my contract with the Navy ended much to my disappointment. After almost 12 years in the Navy learning what is is to be a sailor, man, husband, and father the end had come. The Navy in their wisdom decided that I was no longer needed (downsizing is everywhere). 

That greater than a decade of time spend defending peoples right to judge, loathe, believe, and do whatever they want was worth it. I have a sense of entitlement regarding my time. I am going to spend it in the manner in which i have been unable for so long. I know that I will be judged by some but I KNOW what I have contributed to this great nation. 

Stingy some may say, but I have my satisfaction and thats enough for me to know that I have served my community, and that box has been checked more then mosts.