Jive From The Hive ~ Elizabeth Hannan - Branding Better Through Community Based Ecosystems

Thursday

Apr012010

Gary Vaynerchuk Quotes And Memorable Points From SXSW 2010

Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 9:00AM

With the fine tuning of my own speaker kit in mind I decided to share my notes from Gary's presentation with the world. Personally, I prefer his style of presentation as it closest to my own presenting goals. Particularly, I like that he opens up the mic to solve problems on the spot rather than delegating to the crowd.

Gary Vaynerchuk (@GaryVee) always is entertaining and insightful. I've rarely miss a presentation of his speaking engagements when I am in attendance of the same event. His presentations are rarely the same and they are hard not to get charged up and motivated from.

There are parts of his presentation that resonate long after the event. He is very straight forward and at not PC sometimes but the world isn't sugar coated.
So, I figured I'd share some of his quotes from SXSW 2010 today as accuratly as I remember them. It is important to see in between the lines and to formulate your own impressions and call to actions (CTA) based upon your own motivations. I do feel that Gary approaches many topics with and exceptional force of no nonsense business sense only taught to a select few from the school of hard knocks.

This SXSW 2010 presentation was by far the best I've every attended and the rapping/beat-boxing at the end was phenomenal.

Memorable Quotes From South By Southwest 2010

"You are at SXSW so you already have the head start on everyone else."
"B/c you're at #SXSW you have no idea how far ahead of the rest of the world you are."
"No exact right answer."
"Value is determined by what you put into it."
"Did it get Ridiculous?"
"People want to scale too much. One on one is the way. You can't scale caring it is not authentic. Small and powerful is NOT bad."
"Don't try and sell people social media and twitter. They get it or they don't."
"The internet is 15 years old and hasn't had sex yet."
"You can't put out projects that you don't use yourself."
"Question, "How do you turn it off?" Answer, "I can't. It's in me."
"He has talked to 100's of old people and NONE of them said they wished they made more money. They wanted more family time."
"Being thankful and showing gratitude seems to be an important part of @garyvee's work & life."
"I roll up on 90 year old people randomly."
"Ques: how do you keep everything involved with a new business running and everything? Answer: Surround yourself with awesome people. You have to love them like they are your family. Don't take them for granted."
"People completely underestimate 'thank you' and 'you're welcome."
"Real time data is sexy."
"Never sell out. Don't move away from your core values and beliefs."
"Analytics are not my favorite. Don't just bail because of a reports. Businesses were NOT built in six months. Bring in talent in and stay the course."
"1.7 billion people online everyday. Only small fraction are in US."
"Comment on other blogs that you respect. Leave credibly comments."
"Agencies need to be creative and NOT play politics to get and keep clients."
"Content is the cost of entry to getting folks into your world."
" People are completely under estimating please & thank you."
"Take chances and try to make amazing things happen. When I see a process I've already won. Live for the process."
"Family life balance you have to think about."
"If people say you shouldn't pursue business around your passion they are haters. Don't believe them."
"The best business development people are Robots."
"The internet is like a teenager: 15 years old and haven't had sex yet."
"Jizz - Hut" (no comment you had to be there. Take your mind out of that dark place.)

My personal favorite: "Content is King but Marketing is the queen and we all know who rules the kingdom."

You can find out more about Gary at any of the links below.

Disclaimer: Gary is a friend of mine but his personal passion for the social business model is very motivating and I feel comes from a solid business sense I don't see in many.

Photo Credit

arduous

Elizabeth Hannan |

My Online Doorbell. How To Turn Your Brand Evangelists Into Anti-Evangelists

Friday, March 26, 2010 at 9:59AM

This one in a series of posts that make up "The Community Manager's Toolbox".

When does company contact reaches the point of becoming an annoyance? When do you start to feel resentful that your own time managment is being challeneged?

Incessantly ringing my door bell multiple times does not make me want to buy your product more. It is becomes and annoyance. An annoyance is also the one element of company communication that will always produce the same result.

Offline Experience:

For example, some days out of the week I work from home. When I am not traveling I am a snow bird and spend my winters in Scottsdale, AZ. It is 50-80 degrees all winter here and yes it is the lifestyle I have worked my whole life for. Hence, my simple pleasures in life include running Blue Blazing Media, LLC and planning my speaking career with the doors open and my dogs at my feet. Arizona is one of those states that is laissez-faire when it comes to door to door solicitation nine monthes out of the year. The amount of solicitors that come to my door in a day on average is six. They solicit primarily for landscaping services, donantion to charity, local dentist offices and so on. When I first moved into the house I couldn't understand why there was no doorbell on the outside of the house, now I get it :)

So I'm taking client meetings over Skype and respond to all my emails and the doorbell rings once, twice, three, four times.

How should I react? Am I really going to pay you you to mow my lawn especially, when the lawn is already mowed? Build the relationship then ask for the sale.

Online Experience:

(This applies to direct communication and NOT to social platforms and the social flow of information being delivered by those means on those platforms.)

Being an online nuisance to point of annoyance is the one element that makes me immediately drop all communication with you. If you are a company please create an editorial calendar and align all your outward facing direct communication to a considerate pace. Be considerate of others.

Something to consider when you are online is that your behavior is an extension of how you would behave around others in a face to face interaction. Your behavior online is the evolution from being an acquaintance to a trusted source and referral.

Conclusion:

Offline:
If you ring my doorbell once and I don't come to the door. Guess what? I cannot make it to the door at this time. (DUH) If you ring my doorbell multiple times until I have to come to the door just to shut you up I am in NO WAY going to buy nor promote your product or service. (user generated experience) Consider yourself lucky if I don't let one of my ferocious dogs out the door to chase you back off my property.

Online:
"The direction of least resistance will receive the most traffic and the most complements." If you email me I will get back to you at my convenience. (Of course this DOES NOT apply to clients. I love my clients and you always take first priority.) Behind the scenes you are put in my communication queue and based upon priority and moments of chaos you will be responded to.
Please don't email me twice in one day about the same topic. For example, telling me about this great sale you are having. Please don't then call me the next day to remind me of this one more item added to the sale.

Let me remind you about the rules of an Anti-Evangelist verses Evangelist for your brand. If you harass they hell out of me; "Your Brand Promoter" I will turn my promotion and all the good things I say about your product or service to my community and directly towards your competition. Period.

In every community if you harass or try to milk your evangelists of your brand they will turn and leave you in the dust. If you create a bitter taste around your brand you better be on watch to correct it. View "hydrostatic equilibrium" as a resource.

How To Fix This Issue Online:

1. Before it starts, internally within your organization communicate with each other. Assign outgoing direct communication to specific individuals. Communicate actively with your community manager and sales team. Lock everything related to a direct communication down to a date on an editorial calender. Don't try to cram it all in and be a nuisance.

2. Create better content. Content marketing is a whole exciting element of online marketing that every one I have ever met could do better at.

3. Be more approachable. Interact and use those social platforms to help your brand instead of directly emailing everyone. Let the social platform protocols act as a barrier and present content that i can view when I am tempted too.

4. Add a human element. Let me know when you will be at events that I will be at.

Interact:

What is your point of annoyance with company contact?
How much to too much?
Do you buy more or raise awareness of their brand if they contact you more?

Photo Credit

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arduous

Elizabeth Hannan |

Speaking Events: ICSC Retail Fusion Conference Chicago

Friday, March 19, 2010 at 10:59AM

Two weeks ago, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting the marketing mavens of the shopping mall world otherwise known as ICSC ( International Council of Shopping Centers). I was quite enlightened to be exposed to the social business model and the the retail industry.

In a way they are just starting out with the social business paradigm shift. It is unlike anything they have every experienced before and the majority of the feedback came back to the same point. "We have to trust in the voice of our employees outward facing to the public?" No traditional PR/Legal filters?" This industry is very similar to the affiliate industry only it it is more arduous. Brick and mortar businesses were designed to "sell product" but the foundations in the industry could not exist with out their silent "services" counter part. Both affiliate businesses and the retail industry know you and know how to sell to you. It is a perfect science developed over hundreds of years of research. They how you will interact and react when you are on site or in a store. More specifically, what makes you buy their products. With the paradigm shift into the social business model they are now somewhat helpless.

The tell tail traditional signs of success are not as obvious online and so it affecting their sales. Also, as new leases are completed the tenants contribution to the overall shopping centers marketing budget is slowly be negotiated to lower rates, hence putting the squeeze on each individual center. As many tenants are slowly migrating to an online business model more purchases are being made online and NOT onsite at a traditional shopping center and the traditional need to "market" and drive foot traffic to the location dwindles significantly.

My presentation was entitled "I’m On-Site: How Do I Build a Social Marketing Roadmap for My Location?"

I'm in the midst of an EBook (Retail Revolution) that discusses what you can do to improve your chances for success. You may signup to receive it over at BlueBlazingRetail.com

Social Retail People you should follow:

@Melissa808

@MobileFringe

@AngelaSweeney

@jenaugustyn

arduous

Elizabeth Hannan |

Send Elizabeth Email...

Gary Vaynerchuk Quotes And Memorable Points From SXSW 2010

My Online Doorbell. How To Turn Your Brand Evangelists Into Anti-Evangelists

Speaking Events: ICSC Retail Fusion Conference Chicago

@jenaugustyn