Archive for the ‘podcast’ tag
Podcast interview with Paul Chaney, author of The Digital Handshake
The world of social media can be a bit daunting. Every day new applications and companies are launched and others fade into obscurity. Jargon is coined, buzzwords and acronyms are applied liberally. In the face of all this, Paul Chaney’s new book, The Digital Handshake, serves as a kind of field guide for the uninitiated.
While he breaks down the the reasons social media is eclipsing mass media in marketing and PR, most of the book is structured as a social media how-to lesson. Chaney walks the reader through seven social media tools (blogging, social networks, online communities, twitter, video, podcasting, social media news release and other odds and ends). The book goes over the major applications in each category, the pros and cons of each product, a huge help if you are trying to figure out which of the hundreds of vendors you should try for your business.
Finally, Chaney walks you through how a social media strategy could be implemented for an actual company. Chaney is a clear, concise writer who keeps the emphasis on practical instruction rather than the big picture, which will be a huge help to many. Chaney is Internet marketing director for Bizzuka, a Web design, content management and online marketing company based in Lafayette, LA. His site is thesocialmediahandyman.com
Podcast interview with Erik Qualman, author of “Socialnomics”
I recently had a chance to talk with Erik Qualman who has put together a great read called “Socialnomics” on how social media works and how businesses can use it. For companies that are trying to figure out what they should do to get involved in social media he suggests that they not let the perfect be the enemy of the good: simply put on foot in front of the other and start doing something. His advice is to first figure out where your audience is and how your brand is being perceived and then figure out how to create a relevant conversation. That may involve a lot of failure, according to Qualman.
For instance, about 3.7 million users a month use a TripAdvisor applications that enables them to put pins on a map of where they’ve been. While it looks like a no-brainer in retrospect, Qualman said TripAdvisor CEO Steve Kaufer said you have to be prepared to fail a lot to get a winner.
“He said `You have no idea how many iterations we did, not related to that idea, that failed, but the key for us was the idea that speed wins, that we just have to keep doing rather than deliberating.