Blogging

You Can Be A Blogging Case Study

Most of the events I go to about social media are a lot of speechifying and people telling me how successful they are.  So I was a little intrigued when I ran across  the SOBCon09 event that Liz Strauss is putting on.  It appears that you’ll have a chance to bring your company there and actually have experts sit down and focus their skills on developing an action plan to make things happen.

“Using a unique Presentation/Workshop model, we’ll push theory into practice – the conference is designed to build solid action plans tailored to attendee’s individual needs.

On the main day, each speaker will present a 40-minute talk with a direct business application. Then attendee “mastermind” teams will work together for an additional 40 minutes to establish action steps for that part of their business. Through this process, attendees will compile and build a complete Business Action Plan by the end of the day.”

I had a chance to talk with Liz on the phone today, and she tells me that this evolved over several years from an initial “online chat” session that she set up one day — and it’s now several days in Chicago with lots of big names (and their big brains).

sob

Most impressive to me, as an education wonk, is the idea that you’ll actually have the chance to walk away with something actionable that is tailored to your specific problem.

And the fact that @Naomi from IttyBiz is a sponsor means that there will be lots of fun.

ContentPreneuring: Building Your Business By Sharing What You Know

I’ve always been a “content” guy.  Focused on teaching, training, or somehow showing people how to do something that they’d like to be able to add to their list brainof skills.  Over the years that’s covered a lot of turf — photography, business, education, the Internets, video, Shiva Nata Yoga (just kidding, Havi) — but it’s always involved talking to someone who really knew the nuts and bolts and then arranging some kind of order out of it all.

The fancy name was “Instructional Designer” — that’s what got me lots of money at Microsoft — and meant that I listened to technical types with big brains go on and on about their software and all the bells and whistles.  Then I’d whittle it all down to what the software actually did that the users would care about.

In the last few years, I’ve been working with small businesses who are becoming “content” people.  But in a very different way.  They’re using what they know to build a brand for themselves, identify potential customers, and move them into the “raving fans for live” category.

This couldn’t have been done five years ago.  But the advent of blogs, the use of Twitter, the availability of YouTube and Facebook and all the other types of Social Media have made it possible for very small businesses to share out what they know for free as a way to connect with their audience.

And this has become a powerful method to build a thriving business.

I’m exploring that idea by interviewing some of the people who have already succeeded as ContentPreneurs* in the marketplace, and will be posting a series of interviews over the next few weeks.  They have wildly different approaches to business, different products and services they offer, and are in agreement in only one thing — that there are no rules right now.

cp_book_150My goal?  I’d like to be able to develop ways that I can offer help to small businesses who want to implement some of this magic — initially in a book, then maybe some workshops or online classes, and eventually virtual communities — so that nobody ever gives money to anyone who has a business card that says “Social Media Guru” on it ever again.

Yeah, I tend to start small.

*I came up with “ContentPreneur” on my own a few months back, and registered the domain.  I did discover one previous existence on Google — but since “google” actually existed before Larry and Serge registered that domain, I think I’m on solid ground.

Download My New Free e-Book!

Want the free book? I’ll trade you your e-mail address for the link. That way I can add you to the list of people who get to hear about new stuff that happens around here.

We don’t sell or give away your name to any varmints, scoundrels or bushwackers (did you see the little “cat” in the western getup?) so don’t worry. And you can always “unsubscribe” down on the bottom of any mailing.

UPDATE: Now available in e-Pulp version as well, for cash money. Knock yourselves out!

Still not sure?  Read the entire introduction right here!

catl_coverI’m known as a risk-taker. When the herd is headed one way, I gallop off in a completely different direction. This often annoys management and confuses the audience. And it’s happened again.


Some of my older readers may remember a content form known as the book. First written by bald men in brown robes, these heavy objects were write-once read-many devices that had virtually unlimited storage. Updating was cheap and easy, and rights management was only a padlock away.

I’ve written a book. Sort of. You can now download a free digital version of something called Creating Amazing Technical Learning — a collection of topics that I’ve written on over the last three years, and (eventually) you’ll even be able to purchase it in the above ink-on-paper format (what I like to think of as i-Pulp) for your reading pleasure.

You’ll even get some cute little doodles that I’ve done exclusively for the book, on scented cocktail napkins, that are appropriate for framing and display in nearly any type of decor. Not to mention an introduction (copy of which can be reviewed below) which has complete sentences and actual punctuation.

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Introduction

I feel obligated to warn you that by reading this book you’re likely to put your job in peril. For years I’ve managed to piss people off, lose contracts and generally get in trouble because I keep asking “why” and carving big juicy roasts out of sacred learning cows. So it might be best to take advantage of the 100% money-back guarantee and order one of those AIDA books that gives you a time-tested template for creating tidy little templates of training.

Do I have all the answers? Hell no! I just tend to accumulate more and more questions, the longer I do this work. I’ve found that the introduction of humans into any neat and tidy system tends to screw things up completely, and so it’s really hard to predict what’s going to happen to your favorite learning theory. I spent thousands of hours (not to mention thousands of dollars) learning all that stuff, got to put “M.Ed.” after my name, and ultimately have come to the conclusion that it really doesn’t mean much.

First Heading: You’ve Skipped To Here, Anyway

Nobody reads the text anyway, anymore, so I’ll just give you some bullets to look at:

  • The content of this little book are posts from my blog, TechHerding.com – revised a bit for the book, but not much – I try to do as little as I can to get by
  • I’m assuming that you work in the training field – if you’re a newbie or some kind of middle manager, ask for the refund
  • Please disagree, argue, or get red in the face – I often tend to go a bit outside the envelope to make a point or get your attention.

Second Heading: Have You Read Any Of The Text, At All?

There really is no flow here – you old-timers are going to be horrified – because in our learning world of today there isn’t really much flow anymore, anyway. We click and search our way to comprehension (well, what we do comprehend) and I’m fine with that. Look at the table of content, flip pages, or scroll through the electronic version. Or be really contrary and start at the first page and go through to the end.

Since I just pretty much cut and pasted content from the blog, and there’s no flow there, it seemed silly to try to make something up here.

Third Heading: At Least You Read The Headings, I Guess

If you’d like to see more of this stuff, or something more recent, head off to the blog. If you think I’m a total idiot (there’s probably a Yahoo group forming as I write this) feel free to comment on a specifically lame post, or show up when I speak and take me to task.

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Send your thoughts to dick@TechHerding.com

Managing Your Brand Online — (Hint: You Can’t, Anymore)

I’m having an interesting conversation with my new friend Selma. (She’s a duck, and quite young, so I send email to her mom Havi — who then quacks and flaps my comments to the lovely Miss S.) We’re talking about what you need to be worried about for your “brand” in the big ol’ scary world of the internet.

This began when Havi was asking on Twitter if there was anything more lame than having a “Hotmail” email address, nowadays. We all had some fun with that, and then I played a bit of a joke on her. (You’ll have to wait a few days to hear about what I did. It was evil, and mean, and lots of fun.)

But it raised the question of what sorts of things do people who live and work online really need to be worried about? Could someone pretend to be you, and embarrass your tiny business horribly online? Could someone hijack your domain, or your email address? Could they register a similar domain?

Here’s what I wrote:

The most useful thing to share? Probably that you need to begin to think of your brand as something that your customers own, rather than as something that you own. (I still love the Judo analogy, of not being able to do anything until your opponent exerts their power.)

Old Model:

Companies decide what our brand looks like, what it represents, what it stands for (Maytag, Keebler, Coke, Sony). Then we pay savvy ad guys and girls to put together print and video stuff in great quantity to communicate that message, over and over, into the skulls full of mush. “Maytag is very dependable.” “Keebler cookies are magically delicious.” “Coke is cool.” “Sony is cutting edge.”

None of these messages are actually verifiably true (and in many cases, demonstrably false) but if you throw enough money and airtime at the crowds you can convince them. This works with politics as well. It worked for Stalin, Hitler, FDR, Kennedy, Nixon, Clinton, and Bush2

New Model:

Customers evaluate your company, and share out their opinions. On blogs, review sites, Twitter, epinions, etc. Motrin gets savaged in the space of 24 hours. Sarah Palin goes from Angel to Devil in one news cycle. Putin is voted as having better abs than Obama by 2:1.

What you need to do, like the Judo masters, is realize that all you can do is attempt to guide the energy. Build a framework for your users/customers to talk about your product. Provide transparent information about both good and bad things. Provide access to experts. Don’t be evil. Build a strong and reliable communications framework, ready for the day that the bomb drops.

Examples? Google “Fiskateers” for a good starter.

Stay tuned. Selma the duck, Havi and I are thinking a bit about this and will be doing some more writing on the topic.

Blog Basics From Nathan Bowers

If you’ve read my blog at all, you know that I’m always interested in stealing sharing the work of others with my readers. Nathan Bowers has a wonderful podcast interview up on Cubicle Nation where he talks about the basics of blogging, and I highly recommend it.

Here’s part one, and part two. Just click and learn. (And yes, sadly, someone has registered that domain and put up a little dysfunctional website rife with errors and annoying little sound effects.)

You should do what this guy says. He admits right on his blog that “the Internet is hard” so you know he’s a truth-teller. And he’s willing to help you for money, so he’s just like me.

Most useful takeaway? Never use “subscribe” on your RSS feed — use “get updates”. Subscribe means you have to pay money and commit to getting a magazine for twelve months.

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