Chris Guillebeau and the Art of Non-Conformity

Chris is a writer and traveller – his blog is a place for people living their life according to what’s important to them.

The blog chronicles his journey to achieving a big goal – to travel to every country in the world before he turns 35.

Chris also offers practical advice and encouragement for anyone who isn’t content with a 9-5 existence.

His two free eBooks are well worth the read – A Brief Guide to World Domination and 279 Days to Overnight Success.

Gwen Bell

Gwen Bell writes about social media, creativity and entrepreneurship in a fresh, accessible way.

She’s a partner at Kirtsy, a brand enthusiast for Nintendo and owns a yoga studio in Yokohama, Japan.

Gwen always has interesting thing to say – visit her blog here or follow her on Twitter here.

I’d love to know who’s inspiring you right now? Any people that you regularly listen to or follow? Please share them below and spread their goodness around!

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It blew me away. I felt like I was watching an historical moment and it gave me goose bumps (I’m a nerd like that.)

I knew I wanted to be a part of it so I signed up to Twitter.

At first it was entertaining and exciting to connect with people around the world while sitting at my desk in Brisbane, Australia.

Pretty soon though – it became an everyday utility.

I’d wake up and instead of going to a news site, I’d open up my Twitter stream with 100% confidence that I’d get everything I need to know about the state of the world and news about my industry – filtered through my trusted network of global citizens.

My use of search engines has dropped dramatically – there’s nothing like the instant response from a group of trusted people.

The amount of information available is growing exponentially.

Image Credit: yskafotografie2007

People need filters to sort the noise from the sound.

We used to turn to search engines because they were the tools that organised the information into searchable content. That was the best we had – but now we have social networks.

The people in our social networks have become our information filters – information DJ’s.

We’ve added them to our network because we share common interests, or are thought leaders in our industry. They distill the information they find online and through their own networks and distribute what they deem worthy or useful.

Just as we depend on them for news, useful content and inspiration – other people in your network are depending on you.

What do you think? How much do you depend on your network to filter the information you see online every day?

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We’ve got U2 – a huge band – teaming up with You Tube – a huge force in social media – and the community sharing the experience  with each other in real time on Twitter.

In this world first – U2 have broadcasted their Los Angeles concert live over the internet via You Tube – allowing citizens of the world to share the experience with people live at the concert.

U2 have changed the way that music concerts are watched and given us an example of how free content works within social media.

Free content

U2 are giving away free content but they will still profit from playing live concerts – people will go to the concerts for the live experience. This is a great example of giving the content away for free and monetising “The Souvenir” (if you follow Seth Godin.)

Leverage

U2 are leveraging their free content with four call to actions located in prime page real estate next to the video – directing the viewer to complete an action that is a meaningful conversion for the band.

• Buy the album
• Join the newsletter
• Visit their website
• Donate to their chosen cause

Functionality

• You can follow and add to the conversation on Twitter without leaving the concert page
• It’s easy to send a link to the content to your Twitter and Facebook network through the two distribution buttons
• Video and sound streaming is extremely high quality

Here’s some stats

• First concert broadcast live across the  world in real time
• People across 7 continents viewing it as it happens
• Roughly 530 new tweets every 60 seconds during broadcast

What people on Twitter said

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This presentation was put together by Jonathan Crossfield – the super talented Marketing Manager of Net Registry and regular contributor to my favourite Nett Magazine.

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In an example of the power of word of mouth online – Australian brand Cotton On is being flamed in social networking site Twitter as I write this.

This morning I noticed a tweet by popular Australian blogger Mia Freedman. “I have not been this furious for a looooong time” with a link to a post on her blog describing her outrage at a slogan t-shirt sold by Cotton On that said “They Shake Me”

Her audience have responded by re-tweeting the link to their own social networks all morning.

The word has spread to influential social media personalities – an action that will ensure the negative exposure will continue to grow.

Mia has updated her Twitter with response from Cotton On – that is that there will be no comment.

At the time of writing the blog post had been re-tweeted on Twitter 230 times with 143 comments posted in response.

—

UPDATE

Cotton On did listen and have now withdrawn the t-shirt line as a result.

From The Australian…

“CLOTHING company Cotton On has admitted it “crossed the line” and today vowed to withdraw a range of offensive children’s t-shirts, including one making light of child abuse, after a consumers threatened a boycott.

A t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “They Shake Me” was the last straw for many angry parents, who sent emails and Twitter messages to the company this morning expressing their disgust and an intention to vote with their feet.

Last month Cotton On had stuck by its range of shirts, which included slogans such as “I’m a tits man” and “I”m living proof my mum is easy”, saying there was a place in the market for their “edgy” humour that pushed the boundaries.

But today, as anger spread through the social networking sites, Cotton On finally cottoned on to their customers’ feelings, offering a contrite apology and a promise to withdraw the offending items from sale.”

Full story here.

SUMMARY

From a Social Media/Online Business perspective this is a great Australian business social media case study. Individuals used their collective voices and personal networks to create change and were successful.

The lesson here for any business is that each and every customer and potential customer of yours has a voice and they’re not afraid to use it.

It’s crucial to develop relationships before the preverbial hits the fan and it’s important to be active in the social media space. By being active I mean – monitoring AND engaging.

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I thought – hang on, I work online but not exclusively in social media – then I thought to myself – aren’t they the same thing?

Social media really just describes the way that people use and behave on the internet now.

If there’s anything “new” about it it’s that the term Social Media signifies that there has been a shift in behaviour and the technology developed to facilitate that behaviour.

So what does this mean for business? The way you interact and use the internet needs to be examined – for business growth and to keep up with expectations of users.

The most significant change for most businesses includes the fundamental shift in thinking about marketing using Social Media/the internet in it’s current state – that is to realise that Social Media has given people a voice that is more immediate and far reaching then ever before.

Your brand is not so much “your” brand as it is your audience’s brand to do with it what they will.

Be prepared.

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Thanks for visiting – let me introduce myself and show you around.

My name is Clare Lancaster – I created my first website in 1995 and was using ‘social networking’ in 1996. I studied Communication Design at QUT in 1998 and started my commercial career as a Search Engine Optimisation Specialist (SEO) in 2001.

If you’re interested in knowing more you can find out about my background and what I’m up to now here.

If you have read my article with Glenn Wheeler you might want to know more about the “Using Twitter for Business” eBook available for $14.95 or you may be interested in my consultancy Dot Marketing.

Thank you for visiting and feel free to have a look around the blog and visit my other websites:

Dot Marketing Consultancy www.dotmarketing.com.au

Are you a woman in business? Take a look at www.womeninbusiness.com.au and feel free to submit you business to the directory – the website will be up and running soon.

Get up to date and learn how to use Twitter for business or pleasure at www.twitterguide.com.au

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“search.twitter.com is now arguably the most important website for any business.” Watch this 2 min video – it’s worth it.

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The guide was designed to answer the most frequently asked questions I get asked about Twitter by my consulting clients. It teaches you simply what it’s about and how you can use it in these key areas – Marketing, Sales, Customer Service and Business Development.

It was designed for Business Owners, Marketing Managers and anyone who needs to get up to speed quickly to start using Twitter effectively. It’s for people who need a concise, practical guide without the hype.

The guide is 21 pages with a bonus guide full of tips & tools from business owners successfully using Twitter right now. The advice is identical to the information I give my consulting clients and will not be republished on this blog.

Personally, I’ve found participating in Twitter invaluable.

The business opportunities that I’ve received (most recently being asked to write an article for Dynamic Business Magazine and Virgin Blue Voyeur In-flight Magazine) I wouldn’t have dreamed of if it wasn’t for my daily Twitter fix!

It’s priced at an introductory offer of $12.95AUD until midnight, Friday the 20th of March so if you want to pick one up, please visit the website twitterguide.com.au now for more information.

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I’ve found participating on Twitter to be an incredible experience – both personally and professionally. It has helped me build an audience for business launches, conduct market research with immediate feedback and shape my products and services based on this feedback – it’s a win-win situation.

I recently read this quote from FlexiCar’s co-founder, Monique Conheady – an early adopter of using Twitter for business.

“We decided to trial Twitter when we noticed our members posting “tweets” about us. And it occurred to us this could be a short, sharp way to stay in touch with both members and others who were interested in Flexicar’s movements. Plus we can follow our members, which helps us stay close to our member community. To be honest, it’s also a minimum of effort to get out a message at a time when emails get increasingly relegated to junk mailboxes.”

Click here for the full interview.

The last line caught my attention – “it’s also a minimum of effort to get out a message at a time when emails get increasingly relegated to junk mailboxes.” And got me thinking – is following a business on Twitter the ultimate form of ‘opt-in’?

The word “opt-in” is commonly used in email marketing – it’s a term used to describe individuals who give permission to receive promotional/email communication from an organization.

With news that social networking is overtaking email – is it more important than ever for businesses to be participating in Twitter? And when a Twitter user chooses to follow you as a business is this the ultimate form of permission marketing?

If businesses present themselves honestly, and communicate sincerely using this medium has their opportunity for promotion/sales/marketing doubled, quadrupled, or more?

Is following a business on Twitter the ultimate opt-in?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

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