Marketing on Twitter - How NOT to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

Last night I attended the TiE Trends in Social Media forum at Google.

As one might expect from any event in Social Media, especially one after a week of utter social media frenzy in the press, the word chirping across everyone's lips was "Twitter."

It seemed from talking to people before and after the event that the attendees spanned a great spectrum of knowledgeability when it comes to Twitter. While a raise-your-hand-if-you're-on-Twitter poll showed that about 90% of the people there did already have an account, it seemed like a good portion of the people there, or at least the people who cared to be vocal, were still somewhat mystified about what it is that Twitter can do for them or their business.

Now, I'm definitely not one to try to put rules on how to use Twitter, or try artificially to police the way people behave in the Twittersphere. But if you're going to use it for business, I do think there are some "Oh Duh" marketing practices you need to apply if you're going to appeal to the members of the general Twublic. To me, and I think the panelists from last night might agree, everything one can learn from great examples of marketing on Twitter boils down to basically these three best practices:

1) Host a conversation, not a lecture
2) Be enthusiastic, but above all, be human
3) Don't be afraid to branch out from business

To my first point, Ron May asked the question early in the evening: Why should Twitter need to be viewed as a marketing tool? Why not just a tool for conversations? In my humble Web Evangelist opinion, I would propose that in order for Twitter to be successful as a marketing too, "marketing tool" is exactly the sort of image it needs to avoid.

I've been saying since I started tweeting months ago that it won't be long before people realize their self-indulgent, largely masturbatory tweets equate to random shouts into the darkness with the hope that someone is listening. I think people will be able to stomach this for a long time, but if they start to think that the only people who read their random musings are trying to sell them something, they'll sign off in a heart beat. People want to be heard, not talked to.

For me, this means that in my daily Tweeting I look for conversations that I can contribute to, not derail. This brings me to my second point which is to be enthusiastic, but also be human. No one wants to feel like they're being randomly targeted for marketing. This is the reason people make a large loop around people handing things out on street corners, or go out of their way to avoid the kiosk people in malls. No one wants to listen to a robot on autopilot just spouting off marketing BS. That's obnoxious. Use your human skills of discernment to identify the people who will want to talk to you. It's not that hard. People wear their hearts on their sleeves on Twitter.

If I may digress for a minute, on my personal Twitter account I continually wonder why people select me, of all the hundreds of thousands of Twitterers out there, to sell me their ring tones or their marketing services or whatever. I don't want that stuff. I don't tweet about that stuff. And when I login to my webspace, I don't want to feel like I'm wandering through a crowded bazaar avoiding all of their crap. It's a stupid and pointless marketing tactic to hope the people you follow will care so little about what comes through their feed that they won't bother to read your profile before following back. I stand against this on a personal level, and I won't contribute to it on a professional level.

Therefore, I don't follow aggressively. I don't have a pool of 125 character responses that I send to people. If someone is looking for information that I have, I provide it. If someone is having a conversation that I want to listen to, I follow them. And when I @ or DM people, I do it with the intent of starting a conversation. Personal tweets aren't like brochures that you just throw at people. They're your gateway to have a meaningful talk about what you can do for someone. With a DM especially, you're essentially walking into a potential customer's home. Show some respect. Tweet others as you would be tweeted.

Finally, don't be afraid to meander off of the topic of business. As one of the panelists put it last night, you don't have a business discussion in real life without talking about other topics, too. By now everyone's heard the famous Zappos Pizza story (Thanks @Zappos_Service for helping find the link). The lesson? When you're selling shoes, but they're buying pizza, they can still walk away with your name and something to talk about.

In other words, be relevant as much as possible, but when the flow of conversation is taking you to a different subject, go with it. Best case scenario: you get people buzzing about your amazing customer service. Worse case: you go back to talking business. Either way it does not hurt to show that you care about things other than simply getting sales. Display your personality. If it's a good one, people will respond. Remember, it's hard enough for a sales person or a customer service rep to cultivate a relationship with the benefit of eye contact. Being expressive, approachable, and friendly online, especially in 140 characters, is hard to do. But the rewards are immeasurable.

I don't know if this was my $.02, or my $15, but for whatever it's worth this is my philosophy. It's working for me so far.

Google Picasa Photo Album Test

Thanks to Dragon Blogger for turning me on to the Picasa embedded slide show. After a whole week of searching for the right one, this viewer seems to be the best one available (with the most useful customizations) for those of us who want a free, easy-to-maintain slide show for use on blogs and web pages.

I've found that Flickr falls short in the embedded player department specifically because it does not give you an easy way to display captions. I realize a picture is worth a thousand words, but in my opinion, a picture with a caption is worth ten thousand. So while I will continue to use Flickr for its viral possibilities, I don't think I'll be turning to one of their embedded viewers any time soon.

Other decent image players I came across, but that didn't work for my purposes include:

• FlickrSlidr (Flickr compatible)
  
• SlideFlickr (Flickr compatible)
  
• YourMinis (RSS compatible)
  
• Flickr Slideshow Generator BETA (Flickr compatible)
  

Of course, if you've got a few others to suggest, please leave them in my comments and I will review and add to the list.

Big week at Flashpoint

<-- Click to view photos in Flickr.

This week at Flashpoint has been huge. Apart from students wrapping up the semester and making sure all of their final projects and resumes are in order, some of them have had some other mighty big fish to fry.

On Thursday, Flashpoint Academy welcomed Matt Walker's MDR (Most Dangerous Race) for the rock show of a lifetime at the brand new FPA studio at CBS 2 Chicago. First year (yes, first year) students in all disciplines had a hand in the production, filming, and recording of the concert, and it was without a doubt the coolest thing I have seen since I've been working there.

NBC 5 stopped by to do a piece before the event. You can watch it here:

Flashpoint Students Get a Taste of the Big Time

The press is great, and once the DVD of the show is released that's going to be awesome too, but let me tell you: there is no substitute for having been there. Our students were the utmost professionals. The sound was great, the lights were exciting, the stage was visually interesting. Every detail, right down to the student animations running during the performance, was perfectly choreographed to deliver the most killer concert I've been to in recent memory.

Of course I can't give Flashpoint all the credit. The MDR was out of control good. If you haven't heard of them you've got to check them out. Matt Walker is a staple of the Chicago scene and has toured with basically every band you've ever heard of. Most recently he's been touring with Morrissey (you know, that guy from The Smiths). Anyway, you can hear a bunch of the band's music here, on their MySpace page.

The MDR guys were so cool, too. I've always heard Walker is a very classy guy, and the whole band was very approachable. I got a chance to thank JT McCluskey (singer) after the show. He was so humble and unpretentious that it made me wonder why I ever gave up my dream of being a music journalist. If everyone in Chicago music were as cool of him, maybe I wouldn't have.

Even Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, a great supporter and enthusiast of local music, came by to watch the set. As someone who grew up worshiping Billy, I can't imagine the thrill these students must have gotten to have him there. He was there to admire their work! Unbelievable. Where else but Flashpoint?

In any event, last night was a truly magical experience. I can't wait to share more info about the DVD release when I get it. In the meantime, please take a look at the photos from last night that we posted on Flickr, and check out our time lapse videos of yesterday's production below.

To me, this project is absolute proof that Flashpoint Academy is THE place to go for an education in recording arts, film, animation, and game development. When my cousins are old enough I am dragging each and every one of them here for a tour. I would have kids just so they could go here. It's amazing.

Plug time:

For more information on Flashpoint Academy, please click here. And don't forget about our High School Institute! There's still time to sign up!

Vimeo

For those of you who haven't see it yet, check out Flashpoint Academy's page on Vimeo. Vimeo offers a really cool product. See below for an example of their really easy media widgets. This took about 15 seconds to create.

Attention Unemployed Veterans

I just received word that the school I work for, Flashpoint Academy in Chicago, is able to give some unemployed Veterans a truly unbelievable deal on a great education.

I've been told that the exact details of the program should be reserved for phone conversations between prospective enrollees and the admissions team, but what I can tell you is that some incoming vets may qualify to receive completely free tuition for both years.

For more details, please call admissions at 312-332-0707. (Make sure you check out our website first, too.) They'll be happy to tell you more about the program and let you know if you or your loved one may qualify.

For those of you who are new to our school, Flashpoint Academy offers two year, fast-track programs in film, animation, recording arts, and animation -- great industries that have lots of job openings in Chicago and elsewhere.

The Flashpoint program consists of a 40-hour per week curriculum, where students report to our downtown campus at 28 N. Clark St (Clark and Washington) from 9am until 5pm Monday through Friday. The program is structured like a full time job to maximize the quality of your time in the classroom, teach you the skills you need quickly, and launch you into the workforce with a great work ethic and an expert knowledge of the very latest technologies.

I'm extremely passionate about Flashpoint and our programs, and I highly recommend looking into this school no matter who you are. It's a great place to learn the skills that are in high demand, and that are also fun, creative, and high-paying.

Web: http://www.flashpointacademy.com
Phone: 312-332-0707

"Nothing Has Really Been a Detour..."

On episode 6 of The Office (BBC), secretary Dawn sits down for an interview segment and imparts some wisdom from her friend, Tim. "It is better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb," she says, "than to be halfway up one you don't."

As a recent college graduate with a fairly expensive education, this saying really hit home when I rewatched this episode last fall. In retrospect I admit that maybe it's silly to take life cues from British television comedies, but then I've never been overly judicious in where I get my advice. All I knew was I was making less per year than I owed for each year of tuition, and that I'd gone from studying Shakespeare to hawking timeshare. My proverbial ladder was looking pretty shaky indeed, and climbing it any further was starting to look like a bad plan.

Since then, and due to a number of factors, I've switched jobs, changed industries, moved to a new home, and to some extent started a whole new life. But what I've come to realize after all of this is something I probably should have known much earlier, something that would have saved me a lot of frustration over my first two years out of college; there's no such thing as a career detour if you continually endeavor to be authentic to yourself.

The quote in the title of this blog post comes from Francine Sanders who spoke today at Flashpoint Academy's Women in Media luncheon. A very large part of me was touched by what she and Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com had to say about navigating the narrative of one's life, and I very much hope that the young women who attended, as well as the young women and men who will read this blog, will find their words of value.

Both Francine and Jenni knew they wanted to be writers very early in life, and started pursuing this goal at a tender age, from writing absurdist stage plays to getting published on the front page of the local newspaper as a highschooler. Still, after college, both women found themselves doing jobs that likely never qualified as ladders they'd originally wanted to climb: Jenni began to write for a rocks and cement publication, Francine for a military wives magazine. Neither had a prior knowledge of or particular passion for the topics they were writing about when they started, but write they did.

From their respective starting points, both women found their ways into various other Jobs-with-a-capital-"J." From PR work to zines to volunteering to freelance writing; from temporary odd jobs to desk work to working with the Chicago P.D., both Jenni and Francine peppered their writing resumes with tons of bullet points that perhaps had only one thing in common: the woman behind the task.

But as it turns out, employers and colleagues respect, even admire the tenacity they showed in all of their various positions. In other words, it wasn't a matter of where they'd been; it was the direction they took once they got there that mattered.

A goal-oriented mindset teaches us that when a ladder isn't worth reaching the end of, it's better to just jump off and find a new one (with the subtext being that you'd better find the right ladder the first time). But what Francine and Jenni taught the 25 odd women in the Digital Garage today was this: when you take a job seriously, when you do your best to impart your own creativity and ingenuity into every task you take on, there is no such thing as a career detour. Every rung you climb, if done correctly, can be a step in the right direction.

In the end, if you can call today any sort of an "end," Francine and Jenni have both found places they love to be. They have demonstrated that the skills you may learn from being an office assistant or from traveling overseas or from interviewing autistic women in your spare time can be just as important as, if not more valuable than, the skills you might have learned at the bottom of a single ladder. Each seems to be satisfied both creatively and professionally. And both have not only survived but profited from taking a less direct path toward their goals.

With a diversity of tasks, projects, and responsibilities, and singular determination to respect, adhere to, and build upon the authentic passions in your life, you'll get to the top of the ladder you want to climb. Because, as it turns out, there are lots of ladders, each with infinite connections to and from others. Nowhere is it written that the best way is to go straight up. Just ask Donkey Kong.

Here are two more important nuggets of wisdom that Jenni and Francine shared.

Don't Be Afraid of Shameless Self Promotion

When you're building your name, you must take it upon yourself to teach people who you are. Join professional organizations. Place phone calls. Hand out business cards. Make it a priority to go to attend events and to travel to far away areas. Budget both the time and the money for all of this. Pitch yourself wherever you go; there's no better way to transmit your message.

Strip Away the Editor

Adulthood tells us to edit, not just our words, but our actions. Expression is at its most evocative and most touching when it is raw and unabashed; embrace the instinct to act and write as your heart dictates. Unlearn the part of you that tells you you need to interfere with your own creativity. You'll be more successful, and both you and the people who encounter your work will come to a better understanding of the author (which is, after all, the point, right?).

Social Marketing Pointers from Howard Tullman

I received this note in my inbox this morning from Howard Tullman, CEO of Flashpoint Academy, with some really helpful tips on understanding how Web 2.0 will affect your business.

***

Social networks, for better or worse, are in the process of changing branding, marketing, interpersonal and B2B communication and even the nature of what we used to think of as conversations around the water cooler at the office. Increasingly, we will all tell our stories thru our customers rather than to our customers. I recently spoke to a group of direct marketers and I included 10 critical considerations to keep in mind as we all approach this new and very challenging area.

1. Your Brand No Longer Belongs Just to You.
   
2. If You Don’t Control the Conversation, Someone Else Will.
3. You Can’t Control the Conversation, but You Must be A Constant and Authentic Part of It.
4. A Little Bad Pushes Out Tons of Good.
5. Talking to Yourself is Like Wetting Your Pants in a Dark Suit. (You Get a Warm Feeling, but No One Notices)
6. Talking to Existing Customers is Much More Valuable than Trying to Solicit New Ones.
7. Deeper Connection is Always Better than Wider. (Commitment and Spend.)
8. Value Exchange is Critical for Engagement.
9. Additive and Empowering – not Interruptive and Trivial.
10. Build Up from Bite Sized…Start Small, then Scale.

Summer High School Institute at Flashpoint!

I just got the information about the new summer school programs at Flashpoint Academy. Here is the link to the website, where you can read about the programs and download an application:

DATES:
June 22 - 26 July 13-17 August 10-14
Monday - Friday, 1pm-4pm

All High School Summer Programs are one week long and held at Flashpoint’s main campus and production facilities. You must be a current high school student and over the age of 16 to attend a Flashpoint summer program.

For more information, contact Admissions at 312-332-0707.

Choose from:

• Introduction To HD Film Production
• Broadcast Bootcamp
• Game Design Workshop
• Create Your Own Machinima
• Studio Recording Workshop
• Animation & VFX Workshop
• Sound, Image, Time & Space Workshop

Film/Broadcast

Introduction to HD Film Production
This week long, hands-on program is designed to give high school students an introduction to film production and filmmaking techniques. Over the course of a week students will take a project from ideation and conception to finished short-film all as part of a team.

Broadcast Bootcamp
In this Broadcast Bootcamp course, students will create their own “How To” videos that will appear on the Flashpoint Academy Howcast Channel. Over the course of a week, students will select topics from the Howcast library, cast and shoot a 2-minute “How To” video, add graphics, voice over and music, and upload it to the Flashpoint Channel on Howcast.

Game Development

Game Design Workshop
The Game Design Workshop offers an introduction to modern game design. This professionally guided hands-on opportunity leads a select group of attendees to the creation of a design appropriate for today's consoles. Life-long gamers will evolve game ideas coupled with the fundamentals of play mechanics during this one-of-a-kind workshop. This learning experience involves the creation of physical prototypes, group critique, and design iteration. Finally, at the end of the workshop, diligent attendees leave with the completion of individual professional-quality game concept documents!

Create Your Own Machinima
The Machinima Workshop offers those interested in all forms of digital media development to immerse themselves in a professionally guided effort toward completion of one of the latest forms of digital storytelling. This form of entertainment involves the use of today's game engines in creating dynamic storylines. Game characters represent actors and 3D game levels work as virtual sets. Attendees work in groups to create unique stories, storyboards, and scripts. From there, groups coordinate efforts in Flashpoint Academy media labs to work as camera operators and actors. Next, editors and sound designers add and finalize completed QuickTime™ files. At the end of the workshop, all films are screened and students leave with copies of their work, implementing modeling and texturing to compositing creations into film.

Recording Arts

Studio Recording Workshop
Students will begin the week with an introduction to sound systems used for the recording and playback of professional audio. Topics and collaborative hands-on training include: an overview of the music recording control room and studios, signal flow, operating level, gain structure, basic acoustic principles, microphones, microphone preamplifiers, equalizers, compressors, and the concepts and methodologies of multi-track recording. Students will also engage in aural awareness and critical listening exercises. The last part of the week will be devoted to tracking,
overdubs, and mixing sessions of a 4-6 piece pop ensemble. As the Institute concludes, students create compact discs of their projects to Red Book Standard specifications.

VFX and Animation

Animation/VFX Workshop
The VFX/Animation Workshop offers an introduction to the complex but powerful world of creating Visual Effects (VFX) and Animation using computer graphics. This professionally guided hands-on opportunity leads a select group of attendees to the creation of a character which is modeled in 3D using the latest hardware and software, and then made to move using a custom skeleton. Once that is completed, attendees learn how to composite their creations on top of moving footage, creating a convincing illusion that the two were photographed at the same time. At the conclusion of the workshop, hard working attendees leave with the completion of an animated character that they created which they added into footage taken during the week of all the attendees. You get to share screen time with your creation, as if he/she/it really existed!

Core Studies

Sound, Image, Time & Space
The Sound, Image, Time & Space Workshop is a week-long immersive program that explores the four media building blocks, and how they are employed by media artists to create emotion and meaning for their audiences. Students in the workshop engage in a series of exercises and experiences designed to build sensory awareness and observations skills, essential tools for all media artists. Screenings and collaborative projects introduce students to many of the fundamental concepts that are at the core of filmmaking, recording arts, animation and game
development.

BLiP Bloink

In case there was ever any doubt, the Flashpoint Academy faculty really does know what they're talking about.

BLiP Bloink, developed by game chair Simeon Peebler, is the latest brainchild in Flashpoint's growing list of buzz-able games. Developed for the iPhone, BLiP Bloink combines elements of Tetris and Bejeweled and social networking to create a game that is both fun and viral.

On Monday, Gamasutra, an important voice in the game development community, mentioned Simeon's game as one of the week's noteworthy iPhone releases. Click here for the direct link to the write-up on Gamasutra's sister iPhone site, FingerGaming.

Congratulations, Simeon, and good luck!

CADM Event Feat. Howard Tullman

Today I had the pleasure of attending a CADM luncheon featuring a discussion of Flashpoint Academy's marketing and branding strategies by Howard Tullman, president and CEO. Now, I know he's my boss, and it's not exactly fashionable to be so impressed by the guy who's signing your paycheck, but I'm telling you... If you ever get the opportunity to hear him give a talk, you need to go. He's always so engaging and very well-spoken.

Howard touched on many points this afternoon, including the role of print media and social marketing in creating Flashpoint's image, and then answered a good number of audience questions. I'm sure anyone interested will have another opportunity to see his slideshow or listen to him present (and when you do, I'll be sure to post about it in advance), but I thought I'd share some of the audience questions here.

(All questions and answers are paraphrased from notes taken at the event. Please, do not consider anything below this line a quote.)

Where does Flashpoint plan to see its students go after graduation?
Flashpoint intends to forge relationships with the elite employers in all our courses of study. Pixar, Dreamworks, etc. Our target market is small and tightly focused with an emphasis on return business. That said, we expect one half of our students to go directly into corporate America, filling the growing number of positions for digital media experts at every company trying to expand its digital/online presence.

How big is enrollment, and how big is the target?
Enrollment at Flashpoint is currently at 400. Our target enrollment, which we expect to hit in 2 years, is 900.

What percentage of students go directly to Flashpoint from high school?
In Flashpoint's first year, none of the students came directly out of high school. Guidance counselors were unwilling to bet their careers on an untested college. All of the initial enrollees had varying amounts of collegiate experience, some having left their first college after just a few weeks, others with a Bachelor's degree from a 4-year institution. Our second group of enrollees is about 38% straight out of high school.

How does Flashpoint reach out to High School Students?
Flashpoint will be running a summer institute for high school students 16+ beginning this year to give them a taste of what Flashpoint has to offer. The school doesn't typically reach out to students under 16 because so few of them are truly serious about their career paths. Our focus is primarily on high school juniors and seniors.

What will the average salary be of students who graduate from Flashpoint Academy?
Between 35k and 75k per year.

How does Flashpoint measure the effectiveness of Social Media?
For one thing, we do have extensive lead tracking systems in place [utilizing Google Analytics and other means]; however, one way to be sure you're maximizing the potential of your social media is to create media that can be used in multiple places. We'll have a camera crew at events that we heost or speak at, and then load the video and disperse the content over multiple channels.

Bare Naked Social Marketing

Ever since I attended the MIT Enterprise Forum (click for Vimeo) 2 weeks ago, I've been spending a lot of time on Threadless.

Those of you who are fans of funny t-shirts and indie-style fashions have probably encountered Threadless designs, even if you didn't know it. In Chicago especially and across the nation, Threadless tees are to Indie culture what the over-sized flannel was to Grunge in the 90's: the quintessential wardrobe item of creative, quirky, and culturally-literate youth.

But what you may not know is how much time, effort, and consideration goes into each design, not as much by the employees of Threadless as by the designers and customers (who are, in fact, largely one and the same).

The business model of Threadless is genius, plain and simple. Before a product is even manufactured, it is painstakingly selected via rigorous voting from a pool of registered users, the majority of whom fall into one of three categories:

1) Artist
2) Buyer
3) Fan

...and each of these people is utterly invested in the vetting process.

The artist votes in order to gain votes for himself. The more visible he is within the community, the more community support and credibility he'll receive in return.

The buyer votes in order to mold the site's offerings to his tastes; the more he votes, the better then chances he'll find a shirt that speaks his language.

The fan votes because the artist wants them to; these are family, friends, and other non-members of the community who join the community in order to support a particular artist.

Because of all of this invested, organic, self-motivated voting, by the time a design even hits the presses it has a following, and the artist has a following, and the shirt sells like hotcakes.

For anyone interested in promoting their business online, Threadless is a must-see. Don't just look at the site; sign up. Score some designs. Create a slogan. Participate in the blog forum. See what it's like to be part of a real online social community that's quite literally unlike any other. This is where every business should strive to go.



Tons of thanks to Flashpoint Academy for giving me the opportunity to attend.

Urban Rebirth, Just In Time for Spring

Ah, Chicago in the springtime. Love is in the air, "Caution: Falling Ice" signs line the downtown streets, and the boys of summer very nearly throw out the first pitch on the South Side. It's a beautiful time to be alive, and I'm right here to witness it all.

Until recently, I had been working "up north," in a small town just outside of the city. There, the coming of spring is marked in more obvious ways, in the look and scent of the landscape, the re-emergence of robins, daffodils, and Crocs. Here, where the light off Lake Michigan pierces the gaunt giants of Mies Van Der Rohe and Sullivan, spring comes in the form of colorful silken scarves, damp sidewalks, and a sudden abundance of asparagus on lunch menus.

To me, though, the most palpable difference is in the attitudes of the people one passes on the street, on the L platform, even in the elevator. I am among the many who have developed a subtle spring in their step, but for me at least it's not just the weather.

About three weeks ago I started a new adventure at a new company, and what an adventure it has been. Flashpoint Academy in Chicago is by far the coolest place I've ever worked. As an English and History major from a traditional four year university with a passion for the 17th century, I never before envisioned myself fitting into such a mainstream and modern culture as the one they have at Flashpoint. Not only is this college physically along the major artery of business downtown, but the company's corporate and educational models are absolutely bleeding-edge. It's different than what I expected for myself, but as I come to love it a little more every day, I can't think of a better place to turn over a new leaf -- or whatever the digital equivalent of a leaf would be.

This blog is going to be a place for me to share my Adventures in Urban Living; to chronicle my experiences and share them with those interested in all of the things my job allows me to learn. My blog will touch upon all of Flashpoint's disciplines; film and broadcast, recording arts, animation, and game development; as well as events in Chicago, personal anecdotes, and some periodic bragging about Flashpoint, our faculty, our students, and our soon-to-be-alumni.

Thanks for stopping, and until we meet again, have a beautiful spring!