A couple weeks ago I read this note at Reddit about a guy who emailed Pandora and got a shirt. I love Pandora and I wanted a Pandora shirt, so I decided to give it a shot. So not expecting much, here’s what I wrote:

Hello,

I just wanted to tell you all that Pandora is awesome. I’ve been premium subscriber for a few years now. I listen to my stations every day. I tell everyone (who hasn’t heard about you) that they should not just listen but join to keep it alive, and overall, I’m one satisfied customer. I’ve been exposed to so many great artists and I have Pandora running when I work, at home, on my iPod about 18 hours a day, always listening.

With all of that said, I know that you sent another fan a shirt, and if you can spare a XXL for a brawny lad like myself, I’d like to promote you by sporting your dry goods!

Thanks and keep up the great, great work!

Matt

In short, look what arrived from Pandora, in the mail today, personally signed by the founder, Tim Westergren:

Let me also add, they even included a 2XL for this brawny lad. It’s just that kind of attention to detail that has made Pandora my #1 site and why they just might have gotten themselves a lifetime subscriber. While I would love to see them include more indie artists, as they did early on, there’s still nobody like them. They’ve changed the way I enjoy music and are what it means to be constantly striving to be better.

That’s why I heart Pandora!

-Update-

In my best pirate voice all I can say is ARGH! So I was trying to link these posts to my LinkedIn status and wouldn’t you know it, the only way to update your status is via Twitter. So, for the sake of full disclosure, I went back and created a utilitarian Twitter account so I could post there, no “followers” please… now I’m a hypocritter Twitter would-be quitter <sigh> …the seeds of the empire have been planted…

—

Yep, I did it. Actually, it’s been a couple months now, but what’s the dif? Did you notice? Probably not. There’s so much rubbish on Twitter that’s it very, very hard to find anything of real value. Ok, to be fair, maybe their redesign will make this better, but I doubt it, and so I flushed 2,000+ “followers” – a troubling bit of verbiage, anyway — I mean who wants to be a “follower”  – down the drain.

Working in Web services and electronic communications some of my friends and colleagues think that this is a nutso move, but Twitter has just never panned out. It’s also something that only in the  rarest of circumstances can I recommend as a tool to an organization.

Now, it’s not my intention to hate on Twitter. A lot of people have found something of value with Twitter and maybe one day, I will, too, but I don’t now and haven’t in the handful of years of years I’ve tried to make a go of it, personally. I even used to believe that somehow that Twitter might actually bring some readers to my site, and at times there were spikes, but mostly it was a bust. You want real content, pick up my RSS feed or visit the site.

Or focus on the brief, pertinent message. This is so the key for doing anything with electronic communications. It’s not print, people. So to try and approach it with that old, anachronistic model in mind is a total fail. People scan, they don’t read, at least most of the time. Of course, if it’s something that interests them, or provides value, then they’ll read and read, subscribe to your feeds, join your email lists, etc… but not if they feel like you’re wasting their time.

Electronic Communications Rule No. 1: Don’t waste my time!

The title of this post says it all, as far as I’m concerned.

A lot of organizations have jumped on the Facebook thing. Some have done a really nice job, others: not so much! There needs to be a strategic plan for whatever you’re doing with regard to electronic communications. As I’ve said before, it doesn’t have to be much, but there has to be something.

A Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media presence that an organization has taken on, and doesn’t listen to, watch or update can be hugely problematic for the communicator. In the best case you’ve created something that demonstrates that you’re not able to follow-through with what you started and it becomes a ghost ship, in the worst case, you get haters using your platform to talk smack about your organization.

If you’re going to start with social media, start small, start with something you can manage with the staff you have. Social media and the maintenance of it takes a hell of a lot of time, real labor and quick-mindedness is involved. For instance, if somebody posts a negative comment, say on your Facebook page, do you have to go through four levels of approvals to respond, do you just delete the nay-sayer’s post, do you just let it go and do nothing, or does your quick-minded social media specialist post a rebuttal, from memory, on message, because they’re just that good ( P.S. They have to be that good, this can’t just be some college nitwit who’s good with the interwebz). Each of these situations have their own specific punishments and rewards, generally dictated by where your organization stands, and how your organization wants to be considered, as well as the way it’s position – Are you a company of the people for people, are you positioned for your service, or as a no BS, brass tacks kind of outfit who wouldn’t flinch at a hastily worded jab at anyone who dare defy you?

It’s not just a Facebook page, or a Twitter feed, it’s an extension of your brand and who you are. Before you go out there know you are, don’t be afraid to communicate it! These are the folks who are thriving with social media today.

I came across an interesting article in the New York Times called Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest by Douglas Quenqua. This article definitely touches on the other side of the blog coin, and that’s the number of blogs that go the way of the ghost ship. The ghost ship is a term that I first came across here, that could be defined as a site that had been abandoned by their authors or Web masters, and left suspended in time. The article talks about how the price of admission is so low to become a blogger, that many try, but give up, because of either time, dedication, or the absence of other perceived rewards for doing the work.

This article presents a perspective that I’ve come up against personally and professionally, and it’s often the reality just beyond the hype. Blogs take a lot of work and dedication. I’ve started a half-dozen blogs, only to get bored, and have them turn into ghost ships, myself. In fact, I’ve had the idea for this blog for three or more years, but I knew I wasn’t ready so I waited. I’ve had clients, numerous clients, who’ve wanted blogs, and I inform them about what’s involved with doing a blog and getting it out there, but after a while, the inspiration dries up or the sense of urgency that created the blog dissipates — ghost ship.

I don’t think that this is a reflection of the medium. The blog is a very powerful thing. Not everyone is going to be a Seth Godin, or Michael Arrington. However, that shouldn’t deter anyone from giving it a shot. The beautiful thing about the Web is that we have this tool for communicating to everyone that’s open to everyone; that’s a profund reality! With the openess, though, there will be some (Read: many) who get involved and can’t keep it going. That’s Ok, give it a shot. The next hot blog could be anecdotes from a rural plumber who always wanted to be a writer and shares stories of his life’s experiences, or the rants of house wife driven insane by ordinary madness, and uses the blog as a way to vent, and tell amusing stories.

Therefore, a few tips for a successful blog (whether professional or personal) might be:

1. Express yourself.
2. Do it because you want to do it, not as a means to an end (i.e. a book deal, praise, because everyone else is, etc…)
3. Be genuine; people will see disengenuousness a mile away and never come back…
4. Do these things, do them fully, and don’t put a time line on it… the universe and the Web works on its own time. If you’re doing items #1-3, then just doing those will be enough, allowing for item #4 to unfold on it’s own…

Hopefully, these tips will help you avoid the ghost ship, and give you a better idea of what’s involved with a blog before you get started.

Well, are you? Sometimes, honestly, I think so.

Don’t get me wrong I think that it’s important to have search engine optimized Web sites, but sometimes, it’s a little much. Content is, and always, will be king! Write good content, and people will read it, work to optimize your site with crappy content, and you’ll get one time visitors who don’t bother to come back. This makes sense if you’re building link farms to game the Google Ad system, but otherwise I would say emphasize the content.

I, for one, wish I could write long, thoughtful, and well-researched pieces of content like the folks over at CopyBlogger or Future Buzz, but my mind just doesn’t work like that. Instead, I get these little nuggets of insight that I want to share. That’s my style, and like any style, it’s my hope that I can develop a readership of folks who like to read these brief thoughts, and hopefully they will provoke some further discussion.

Take away: Focus on developing solid content, and with the increase in readers and linking come the emphasis on certain keywords in your content – I call this the El Naturale SEO, because it’s happening naturally, through a natural process of attention and interest – this is the best!

The title of this post is the fundamental question I’ve asked many times, and other folks have asked me. I say for entrepreneur’s, small business owners, and self-starters, of any kind I, social media is for you.

Why social media?

Social media is any web tools that allow groups to generate content and engage in peer-to-peer conversations and exchange of content (examples are YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc…)

Social media is particularly valuable for entrepreneur’s, small business owners, and self-starters in general, I’m thinking artists – painters, musicians and the like, because it gives them low cost, high value, far reaching exposure for whatever they’re doing. The best part about many of these tools is that they’re free, fairly easy to use, and in many ways can make up for not having a Web site, an issue that seems to plague many local, small businesses. However, this is only one aspect of social media, and a simplified one at that. Social media for companies and brands is something else that I’ll address in a variety of upcoming posts.

As an entrepreneur, small business person, or artist/musician looking to get themselves or their business more exposure, there’s no single tool greater than YouTube. I’m sure that you’re already familiar with YouTube for funny and silly videos, as well as other things, you’ve seen here or there, but the hidden benefit to YouTube is making your own video, and using it to bring a greater awareness to your work or business.

For instance, let’s say you own a dry cleaners. You might think that nobody could have any possible interest in the business of a dry cleaners on YouTube; you’d be wrong. The Web is filled with just this kind of stuff, these minor curiosities that folks would love to spend a few minutes watching while they’re eating their lunch.

Take this video, for example, with almost 76,000 views… what if you made this video, and promoted your company simply by including a small logo in the bottom corner, or having the people in the video wear shirts with your logo, boo-yaa! I guarantee business would increase:

Then there’s this one, which, Paula Berg from Southwest Airlines talked about at the Digital PR Next Summit I recently attended, and it made me laugh out loud. This is a video of a jet engine being washed, basically, three minutes of water being blown through a jet engine, almost 97,000 views:

Anyway, I think you get the point. YouTube can bring great awareness to your work whether you’re an entrepreneur, small business owner, artist or musician. Surf around YouTube, and look at folks in your business are using it. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll find.

For this week’s Social Media Take Away I’m featuring a post that I read last week in The Future Buzz blog, 50 Blogging Lessons To Know If You’re Starting Today. Adam Singer has a great blog going over there, one that I’ve been reading for nearly a year.

I’ve been doing this blog on here for less than a year, and to read some of the points on here that Adam makes is great for not just myself, but for anyone looking to start a blog, or looking to integrate blogs into their work or communications plans.

For entrepreneur’s, small business owners, and self-starters of any kind I would say that you should get started using social media. In fact, this should have been the first post in the Social Media Take Away series, but hey I’m improvising and making things up as I go here…

What is social media?

Social media is any web tools that allows groups to generate content and engage in peer-to-peer conversations and exchange of content (examples are YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc…)

Social media is particularly valuable for entrepreneur’s, small business owners, and self-starters in-general, I’m thinking artists – painters, musicians and the like, because it gives them low cost, high value, far reaching exposure for whatever they’re doing. As I write more about the social media value, I’ll cover some of these. For starters, I would say see this post on Twitter or items tagged with social media on this blog. Though, I’ll be covering stuff more in-depth, and high level, alike as I develop this feature of the blog.