Business' Social Post Pattern

Recently, I was browsing the news feed on my Facebook account and I couldn’t help but wonder why some of my friends’ businesses were posting the things they were. To me, posting personal opinions on your company’s social websites is good way to loose business. I believe that a business should be as unbiased as it possibly can because as soon as you start siding with one thing, you begin a slippery slope that might end up costing you more then you imagined.

I think every entrepreneur should read this article from inc.com. Entitled “What Not to Share on Twitter or LinkedIn”, it is written by Hollis Thomases and she goes over some of the pitfalls of social media. She gives some good advice on how a business should enter the social media network without coming off as unprofessional. Granted, most of what she says is common sense but then again, time in and time out we are proven that common sense isn’t all that common.

According to Ms. Thomases, the first thing that a business needs to have when entering the social network is a purpose. By entering the social-sphere with a plan of how it will benefit the company, businesses can easily avoid falling into the rut of randomness. When a clear goal is set out and followed, companies can take advantage of the power of social networking and really get themselves a credible following.

Secondly, Ms. Thomases warns of the black hole. By this, she is referring to the amount of time someone spends on keeping up with his or her social updates. With the abundance of social media sites, it is easy to get caught in the net of trying to get caught up with your social network. I myself have been easily distracted by roaming my Twitter feeds and checking Facebook updates. It’s intriguing to see what your friends are up to or how many times something you Tweeted gets re-Tweeted. The key is to not let it interfere with productivity. Make sure you stay on top of the social-sphere but know that it doesn’t need to be constantly monitored. Set aside so much time a day to update your status and whatnot and if you need to, set an alarm so when it goes off, you are back to work.

The third one is an excellent tip for a business: it isn’t all about you. Ms. Thomases analogy of walking into a room full of strangers and talking about yourself is spot on. Sure, as a business, you do want to keep people informed on what you are doing but also informing them of what the industry you are in is up to, is also a positive. When people see that your business isn’t just boasting about themselves all the time, they can start to see the people side of your company. It gives them insight into what your company’s values are. Maybe you post a link to help a cause or charity, or talk about something happening in your city. Whatever you post, try to spark conversation or action. Make your social network postings more responsive as to draw more attention to your company.  

Lastly, should go without saying but for some, it needs to be: don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see. If you think a person, who you respect a great deal, would be offended by what you are about to say, then maybe you should just hold off. It may seem funny or insightful to you, but there are people out there who could easily take it the wrong way.

The bottom line is: just think before you post. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking that what you have to say is grandioso but as a business, you need to adopt a new line of thinking. Besides, if you really have something that you want to post on the social network, well that’s what creating aliases are all about.

Reference

Thomases, H., Dec. 9, 2011, What Not to Share on Twitter or LinkedIn, found at http://www.inc.com/hollis-thomases/what-not-to-share-on-twitter-or-linkedin.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+inc%2Fheadlines+%28Inc.com+Headlines%29 on December 10, 2011

Graffiti Is Art

Looking through my RSS feeder, I came across an interesting article from Rolling Stones website. This article talks about how a graffiti crew from South Bronx is suing Jennifer Lopez and Fiat because of copyright infringement. If you haven’t seen the commercial, check it out here. The dispute is over the graffiti murals that are shown throughout the commercial. It appears that graffiti artwork is trying to take an important step in becoming a more legitimate form.

The plaintiffs, the TATS Cru, claim that Fiat’s commercial blatantly uses their artwork throughout the video. If the paintings were sanctioned work by the building’s owner, then I would have to agree with their argument. Typically, graffiti work is done underground and behind the scenes. Only until recently has it started to get a bit more glorified. Ever since Banksy blew up, graffiti work has gotten bolder. I have been to hip-hop shows where they have blank walls for people to tag. What was once viewed as a brazen form of rebellion is gaining ground as true art form and is even encouraged.

I hope that this suit is handled properly and that these murals are viewed as a legitimate form of artwork and self-expression. Even if they were not sanctioned pieces, they still add to the culture of the Bronx and how that area expresses itself. It could be viewed as a branding dispute as well. TATS Cru has helped develop an atmosphere in that area and to not show these artists the proper respect, well, that’s just wrong. There are some very talented artists out there and many of them are from low-income households. If more attention can be shown on graffiti work, only positives can come out of it. This could pave the way for troubled teens and others to find a creative avenue for venting. Many kids who would have otherwise been performing illegal acts are now benefitting the neighborhood by spreading their work across a city that needs a little brightening up. Who knows, maybe this could spread to more cities and show that graffiti murals have a place in city landscape and truly add to its spirit.

Game-ification of LIfe

I have seen a few TED videos and all of them have been pretty interesting but one that I want to discuss is the video by Gabe Zichermann where he talks about how video games make kids smarter and how game-ification is becoming implemented into some everyday activities. He defines game-ification as using game thinking and function as a way to come up with solutions to problems. Video games have become an intricate part of our society no matter how some people may feel about them. Rather then pushing against this fact, some businesses have accepted this and are developing ways to get people more involved with their products or services by attaching some sort of game element to it.

When Mr. Zichermann started to talk about how a teacher by the name of Ananth Pai implemented a video game based curriculum of his own design into his class of 3^rd graders, it caught my attention. Mr. Pai used video game consoles you can purchase right off the shelf so that nothing had to be custom made and used these games to teach his math and language classes. In the span of eighteen weeks, his class went from a below 3^rd grade level in reading and math to a mid-4^th grade level in those two areas.

What made this curriculum a success was what the kids thought of it. When asked about Mr. Pai’s class, the kids responded with two recurring themes; the learning was fun and that it was multiplayer, meaning they were able to interact with other kids in completely different locations in the country or world. If there are more classes that can be taught in this fashion, why not utilize it? I’m sure that there are plenty of kids out there who would greatly benefit from this style of education that are not succeeding in traditional teaching methods.

Game-ification has crossed over into the automobile industry as well.  There is a hybrid vehicle out there that has a plant that grows when you are being more environmentally conscious with your driving and withers when you are being less. They have also incorporated game-ification into speed cameras. These are the devices that cops set up in certain hot spots and take pictures of speeders and send them a ticket. Ken Richardson came up with Speed Camera Lottery, a game that uses those cameras a type of lottery system. He took his idea to Sweden where those cameras are used and also where they send you a ticket not based on how fast you were going but how much money you make. Well if you are driving under the speed limit, you are entered into a lottery for some of the money from the fines of the less fortunate drivers.

I can imagine that this line of thinking will begin to filter into many areas of life as time progresses. If a person can harness a way to make mundane tasks fun and interesting, they would have a very valuable service or product on their hands. The less people think they are working, the more likely they will be to donate their time and engage in what you are trying to accomplish.

SXSW: Guerilla Gear's Target Market

Since its inception in 1987, South By Southwest (SXSW) has increasingly become one of the premier entertainment conventions in the world. In the span of nine days, it covers the three main entertainment mediums; film, music and interactive. Beginning around the second week of March, the city of Austin, TX becomes one of the most popular and busiest cities in the country with the amount of visitors, exhibitors and artists that converge there. Not only can you show your video or have your band perform there, you can network with some of the biggest names in the industry as well as promote your product at the trade show they have.

What really caught my eye about this convention is that it is geared toward every level of entertainment. Whether you are a new up-start or a savvy veteran, everyone is accepted and can participate in anything they feel would benefit their company, band or themselves individually.

What I’m focused on is the Film Conference & Festival, which has been described as “a five-day crash course on guerilla filmmaking and marketing” (sxsw.com/film/about/history ¶5). During this period, Guerilla Gear would be able to display and demonstrate its product. With as many indie and up-and-coming videographers that attend, the likelihood of our products striking a cord with them is quite good. Our product is aimed at the striving videographer. It lets them shoot with their DSLR camera like a traditional video camera but at a fraction of the cost of other similar products. The market for DSLRs has continued to rise so this gives us the confidence that the market for our product will continue to rise as well.

Since SXSW is looked at as more of a collaborative festival then a festival where many of the films that are there are there to find a buyer, you are more likely to find people who are interested in what you have to offer. We have a product that is attractive to individuals who are just starting out to ones who are in the transition of using DSLR cameras to shoot video. Our product and business model fit in well in this environment and I believe that we could only benefit from going.

SXSW is also a great opportunity to network because of it being a collaborative festival. It is more inclusive so it attracts talent that is still being developed and because so, it is getting more renowned and garnishing more attention from distributors and agents. This can only mean a constant and steady supply of potential customers. As more and more videographers begin using DSLR cameras for their projects, the more opportunity Guerilla Gear will have of establishing a solid foothold in the independent filmmaker market.

New Trend...Network Department Outsourcing

 

            So I was looking through my RSS feeder and came across an interesting article from Deadline.com. According to the article, which was written on October 14, 2011, HBO is shutting down its casting department. HBO’s decision to do this is just another example of TV and Cable cutting costs by downsizing many in-house departments to outright liquidating them. HBO uses outside casting directors in all of its projects and its in-house casting executives only playing a supplemental role so their top brass decided to close it down. The fact that their movie and miniseries output is decreasing is also a major cause.

            The article also talks about how senior casting executives are losing their jobs as well as a part of this cost-cutting trend. Rick Jacobs left Lifetime 2 years ago as party of the company-wide layoffs. Marc Hirschfeld from NBC was let go in their 2008 shakeup of executives. Walt Disney released Marcia Ross back in February and Beth Klein was shown the doors at Showtime after having working there for over 23 years. This is not the complete list of executives but it goes to show you that anybody is expendable in today’s economy.

            Further along the article, the author, Nellie Andreeva, interviews an industry insider who tells her that often these now vacant positions are filled by junior execs at a fraction of the cost or they eliminate the position all together. The insider goes on to say that hiring a casting consultant as a freelance has been catching on within the industry. Starz has never had a casting department and instead has a non-exclusive deal with Hirschfeld who serves as their casting consultant.

            Using freelance consultants sounds like a more optimal way in going about keeping your overhead down. From reading the article, it would only make sense for HBO to use a consultant for future casting needs. If they aren’t producing as many miniseries or movies, then the need for a whole department seems ridiculous. If HBO’s plan were just to continue and improve upon their current line-up of shows, then they would just need someone to help them when a new character is introduced into the series.

            To me, it seems like a logical step for HBO to take. Why spend the money and resources on a department that you can easily have filled by an outside source? However, keeping with this mindset could be detrimental to the company. Who’s to say that they won’t just start looking for freelancers to fill the majority of the other departments? Sound, lighting, special effects, writing, marketing and others could be cast (no pun intended) aside to save money. By doing this, yes the network would save some money, but then you run into communication problems and then the quality of the product begins to suffer. It’s a perilous approach to saving money but if balanced properly, could really help the company stay afloat and possibly, in the future, bring back those lost departments.

Women Should Talk More...Really!

            I read a really good article written in the Harvard Business Review by Whitney Johnson. It was about how women need to speak up more in business and if they were to do so, the business world would get new perspectives and ideas. Men do tend to dominate the business world, and the world in general, and yet, they only represent 50% of the population. Granted there are women CEOs, Senators and other positions of power but how serious can they be taken if these women don’t speak up.

           

            Ms. Johnson quotes Tom Peters, a management thinker, when he says that, “There is little disagreement about what businesses must become: less hierarchical, more flexible and team-oriented, faster and more fluid. One group of people has an enormous advantage in realizing this necessary new vision: women”. He is noted for going on saying that having a women on a team can raise their collective intelligence which allows them to solve more complex problems.

           

            This got me thinking about my current group project for my Project and Team Management class. We are fortunate to have a woman in the group and so far she has brought a different outlook on the project. She was the one that came up with idea for us to work with schools and outline a program to keep music in academia. She brought a humane idea to the project rather then just something that would make money or bring notoriety to us. It was an idea to better a situation and that struck me as very noble. However, had she of been more timid and shy, that idea could easily have never even materialized.

           

            Ms. Johnson brings up an interesting point about initiating conversation out of women: let everyone at the meeting give a short introduction of themselves. This gives women the opportunity to show what they bring to the project to the other members. If you give somebody the chance to introduce themselves to the entire group in their own way, you immediately allow the group to get a more accurate picture of that individual.

           

            In management, I believe that is an essential tool because if you can have a more clear picture of the people you’re managing, you can group people together better to make a more effective team. When you have people in the proper area they excel at, you will get outstanding results. This makes the group flow much more smoothly and you lessen the chance of conflict as the project develops.

           

            A smooth, effective and creative team will be awarded with future projects. As a manager, it should be your goal in assembling such a team. By having everyone involved, it will only increase your success rate.

Innovation: America's Economic Savior

            I was looking at my RSS feed from Fast Company and they had a really good article by Gregory Ferenstein.  In it, he talks to Thomas Friedman, who is a New York Times columnist and author of the book, That Used To Be Us, about how we, as a country, need to empower every worker with innovation. We need to make more of a priority of it, from employers to policy makers and I couldn’t agree more.

            America used to pride itself on being the leader in the world when it came to innovation.  Having that “Made in America” stamp on a product used to mean something.  Now, businesses are using that stamp as a way of saying, “Hey, we haven’t completely outsourced our company”.  Instead of staying stateside and keeping the local economy going, top US corporations are more then happy to have a foreign agency handle certain aspects.

            If we keep sending our jobs overseas, how can we expect to be a competitor in the world?  This country is taking the easy way instead of putting our nose to the grindstone.  We are more concerned about profits instead of staying true to what made us a global powerhouse: innovation. 

            Sure the world has changed and that there is software and machines that can take the place of people but a savvy CEO or manager can turn that around and use that to their advantage.  Friedman talks about Jeff Lesk, a partner at the law firm Nixon Peabody, and how an automated legal software program had replaced scores of lawyers because it could do what they were doing at a fraction of the cost.  To combat this, Lesk turned to innovation with one way by "finding legal-friendly ways of combining renewable energy and low-income housing tax credits to finance community real estate projects" (Ferenstein 2011).

            Sure, this example sounds complicated and requiring thinking outside the box but that is what made this country stand out among the others.  We used our creative thinking to come up with ways to generate revenue.  Being the GM for Higher Education Records, I have to find ways to get our name out there other then just doing shows.  At the moment, we are working with Asset Builders of America on putting on a hip-hop showcase that is also about helping low income families with financial literacy.  For this global economy to recover, innovation will be key and America needs to be on point for this endeavor.