I’ve been following Tony, the CEO of Zappos (Follow him on Twitter! @Zappos) for a little bit now, and he is a totally normal and cool guy. He is also a huge fan of Twitter and is a frequent updater, which might make one wonder how much CEO work is actually getting done, but nonetheless he sees value in Twitter. In fact, he is trying to convince the President of shoe maker Skechers to join Twitter.
Not being one to just jump into the great unknown, Mr. Skechers decided to run an experiment to experience the power of Twitter. Tony sent out a message to followers stating the first 10 people to visit the Skechers shop in Manhattan Beach, Cali and say “Zappos” would receive a free pair of shoes. Results of this experiment are still to be seen, but this is such a cool way to do business.
I love this for many reasons. First, what a super way to convince someone on the fence with real interaction and physical results, rather than the usual “Oh but there are 30 million users and growing at xyz%…”
Second, its instant consumer interaction. Twitter allows marketers an active audience that are more likely to respond to unique promotions.
Lastly, I just think its great how transparent companies can be if they embrace Twitter like Tony and Zappos does. His tweets aren’t corporate BS; he is funny, honest and actually enjoys the service.
Just got online and noticed Twitter is down…again. I’m a relatively new user to the service and wasn’t sure if these outages were normal or not. A quick Google search reveals that although the company just raised $15million dollars on top of the $5 million it previously raised, blackouts are still a common occurrence. A post on Twitter’s blog admits that they really aren’t sure what the problem is, although some of the tweeps commenting sure think they have it figured out. What’s cool to see though is how many people that did comment are very supportive of Twitter and that these blackouts aren’t that terrible.
Oh man, when I started this post Twitter was down. It came back for a bit, but now as I finish this post, the ol’ girl is down again. Let’s hope they figure it out, otherwise there will be some very upset investors!
I don’t have a job that requires me to be online all day or to write blogs or browse social networks (in fact, I have no job whatsoever!), but I do all of these things anyways. Most of my online time is probably spent learning, which comes from reading blogs and news and seeing what people are talking about on Twitter. A big chunk of time is spent job searching on job boards and agency sites. Then of course I spend some time working on AdSponge and Facebook. Oh, and I am connected all the time through my internet friendly iPhone. Becoming disconnected for me can be a difficult task.
Larissa Fair from the Buzz Bin offers a list of ways to achieve balance between your online life and the rest of your life. Most of her tips are pretty obvious, like leaving your laptop at work and avoiding Twitter. I guess for me, it depends who I am with that changes my online habits. If I’m with friends or family or in a social setting, then the iPhone will stay in my pocket. Also, I try to save at least one day a week to be completely disconnected, usually Sunday.
Most of my friends will say I’m online more than anyone they know, but isn’t that a good thing?
Advergirl provides an excellent presentation on social media and the way consumers and marketers use it, and also compare traditional models to the new social standard. Click on the image above to view the PDF presentation.
There’s no debating that social media is hot right now, with sites like Facebook and Twitter dominating in the blogosphere. But there is still skepticism as to the true value of these sites to marketers, and even whether some of these sites have business models to make money and survive. This article by Cyrus Afzali on Talent Zoo dives into the subject of marketers determining if social media sites really are valuable. Check out the article, although Afzali is a little down on the prospect, he does a good job of showing both sides of the social media story.