Startup Blog

Once I got to about 1,000 followers on Twitter.  I noticed that something changed.  I used to Tweet, and not get much of a response.  And if I did, it was from people I knew.

Just a couple days ago, I tweeted that I was in the Atlanta airport (with a link to a photo).  A few months ago nothing would have happened.  But now I got a number of replies and carried on a couple mini-conversations - all with people I have not met in real life.

I continue to be surprised by the entertainment / community / usefulness of Twitter as my network grows.  So, follow me on Twitter!  I'll follow you back.

We're holding a Tweetup / Meetup / Gathering on Sunday 9/7 at 6pm at Tommy Doyle's in Kendall Square to kick off the Inbound Marketing Summit (#IMS08).  This is open to ALL, you don't need to have bought a ticket to http://www.inboundmarketingsummit.com/ to attend the reception Sunday evening.

Twitter message: http://twitter.com/mvolpe/statuses/909453707

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=25511137661

Will I see you there?

Katie Couric joined Digg to "share her press pass with the community".  But is she really participating in the community? Here is what she has done so far.

1. Wore a cute t-shirt and made a video.
2. Submitted that video and got 3400+ Diggs.
3. Gathered a bunch of people to be her friends.
4. Submitted articles and videos, but thy are ALL ABOUT HER - they all have "Katie Couric" in the title. 
5. She has only Dugg a couple things that all look like are associated with her.

Is that really "participating in Digg"?  Maybe famous people don't need to engage in the community.  But what is the point then? They might as well have "biggestkatiecouricfan" or someone submit her stuff and be their presence on places like Digg. 

For reference, here is her video on YouTube announcing what she was going to do.  What do you think?

Cool idea from Barak Obama.  Announce your running mate via text message and emails.  I wonder how many people will sign up?

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/firsttoknow

I found a post on American Shelf Life about how you can now register to vote on Facebook.

Wow.  This could really benefit Barak Obama.  He already has a corner on social media marketing for the campaign, and this might actually be a tool to get those youger voters who support him to actually make a difference at the polls.

Over 2 million people have registered to vote using this application.  What is McCain going to do now?  Run more TV ads?  That should work... NOT.

I found this great post from Marketing Pilgrim.  I have always told people that from a marketing perspective, unless you are selling to teens, people who frequent clubs or late night parties, people in the music industry, or people who work in adult industries, MySpace is a waste of time.

I also think that there is potential to actually damage your brand if you have a big presence on MySpace and don't want to be associated with the elements of the MySpace brand.  I think Cartier is making a big mistake.  I mean, there are so many other options out there... why choose MySpace?

I found this on the Duct Tape Marketing Blog.  This politician lets his supporters write on the sign why they are going to vote for him.

What would your customers or supportes say if you asked them to tell other people why they liked you?  Would it be the same as you company pitch?  Probably not.  Why not?

I have always been a big proponent of businesses following entertainers to catch onto new trends in marketing, and I have written some blog articles in the past about the marketing lessons you can learn from rappers and B2B marketing tips from rappers.

Recently, I saw another article on Yahoo showing that 50 Cent has created his own social network, mostly because even though he had a huge success on MySpace, he is unable to get access to the users email addresses or other personal information.

What I find funny about this is not only that 50 Cent has a million fans on MySpace and has also built his own social network, but that he clearly spends a lot of time thinking about his fan base as a strategic asset and how to best manage, grow and monetize that asset.   How many Fortune 500 CEOs think like that?  Very few I'd say.  I think they are still stuck in the world of building new products and sales promotions and channel strategies.  As consumers get more and more control of how they consumer information, I really believe that companies will success or fail based on how they cultivate and enable their biggest fans to communicate with others in the market.  The tools you should be using are blogs, social networks and your own product development.  You can pretty much stop advertising over the next 10-15 years I think.

50 Cent Launches His Own Social Network - What does this mean?

1. 50 Cent has decided that access to his fan's personal info is worth the time and expense of launching his own social network.  This is a very strategic decision.
2. It is pretty easy to launch a social network today.  The hard part is getting members - not a problem for a famous rapper.  You should think about what your social network strategy should be.
3. If social networks like MySpace and Facebook want very famous people (politicians, entertainers, etc.) to use their network, they might have to create some better capabilities for these people to access personal information of their friends/fans/supporters.

It will be interesting to see over time how this battle plays out.  If 50 Cent(or other very popular people) are not on Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace, that decreases the value of these networks to everyone else.  Will the networks make concessions to the famous people?  Will the famous people decide it is OK to lose some control and information access in exchange for a broader audience of people?

For those of you who know me personally, you know that this video combines two big elements of my personality.  For more info, you can read this article about rap stars and their marketing techniques and also the follow-up article about rappers and marketing.