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My Pub’s On Facebook

August 9, 2009 Suse Barnes One comment

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/staci/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

For the past few years I have been a member of Kezar Road Runners, a fabulous group of runners who meet every Wednesday at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. We do a speed workout under the direction of Coach Joe and that is a story for another post, but just know that he is one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet and the best friend you could ever have. He’s also a great coach, an accomplished runner and just an overall good guy.

After Joe’s workouts, the tradition is to head over to Kezar pub for a pint or two of Guinness or your beverage of choice. It’s the best part of the evening, not only because you deserve it after the track workout, but also because you get to spend some quality time with interesting people with a variety of backgrounds and careers, but with one important thing in common: an appreciation for running.

So that’s why I’m at the pub on Wednesday evenings (well as much as I can anyway.) My reason for this post however, is that I was recently invited to become a fan of Kezar Pub on Facebook. Of course I accepted the invitation because Kezar Pub rocks and it’s definitely the Cheers of San Francisco. I know the names of the bar tenders and the very appropriately Irish and as appropriately hilarious Sinead is even a Facebook friend.

Thinking about this, I’m not sure if Kezar Pub understands the value of their presence on Facebook, but it makes me smile anyway. They can now

build a fan base BEFORE they need it so that when they do need it, they can notify their fans of events – the jello wrestling fund raisers are always fun!
understand who their fans are and make them feel important by providing special offers – nudge nudge, wink wink, can we get a Facebook Freebie please Bridgett?
be available for public comment online (for free) even though they don’t have a website – what no website yet? Scandelous! (but actually do they even need one? Could their Facebook presence be enough?)
offer information about hours, payment methods and updates
let their fans promote the pub through the social network effect with comments and photos (again for free)

Kezar Pub should have a website, but I’m sure they don’t feel like they need one. They are a San Francisco staple for both locals and sports fans. Most importantly, they are real and a cold one always goes down well after a good workout. Welcome to Facebook, Kezar Pub!

Cheers!

Facebook, Fun, Social Media Facebook

A Comparison of Twitter with Blogging

August 6, 2009 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

I’m reading “Naked Conversations” by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel as a result of reading “Putting the Public Back into Public Relations” by Brian Solis and Deidre Brekenridge. What is it with dual authors? I guess the “two minds are better than a guru” adage applies with book writing too.

Anyway, “Naked Conversations” is an older book about blogging and while it is old in terms of the fact that blogging has been around for years now, I am enjoying the corollaries that I am finding between blogging and microblogging (and more specifically in my case Twitter, since that’s my microblogging platform of choice.)

On page 28, Naked Conversations talks about Blogging’s Six Pillars (from 2006) and I chuckle as I think about the similarities that Twitter has in 2009:

1. Publishable – “Anyone can publish a blog.” Anyone can tweet.
2. Findable – “Blog posts are search engine friendly.” Twitter posts (tweets) show up on search engines all the time.
3. Social – “The blogosphere is one big conversation.” Twitter is a great conversation starter. Many people think of twitter as a cocktail party where you chat with people who share similar interests. Conversations are short and fun. You converse more with those who you have more in common with.
4. Viral – “Information often spreads faster though blogs than via a news service.” Anyone heard of “Twitter-time?” Some say they get their news from Twitter now instead of any other news service.
5. Syndicatable – “RSS…” Um… RT is the ultimate in syndication and there are all kinds of tools that allow you to syndicate other people’s tweets.
6. Linkable – “Because each blog can link to all others, every blogger has access to millions of other bloggers.” Twitter is all about sharing links and repeating (RT’ing or Retweeting) the links that other people have tweeted. It’s a love fest of links and information on your favorite topic.

Fun isn’t it? Are you tweeting yet?

Blogging, Internet, Social Media, Twitter blogging, Social Media, Twitter

Social Media Monitoring

July 31, 2009 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

In Tom Forenski’s “No Social Media Monitoring By Apple Or Wells Fargo Yet Still Successful” post today he argues that it may be best to ignore criticism instead of monitoring comments about your brand on the social media networks.

Forenski says “Whenever there is criticism of Apple in the mediasphere I rarely see an Apple response. By mediasphere I mean the entire media landscape from traditional media through to social media, Twitter, etc,” implying that since Apple is a very successful company, perhaps other companies should mimic Apple’s behavior and stop monitoring, thus negating the need for social media marketing consultants such as myself and/or companies employing community managers.

I wonder if this isn’t the same as the “tree falls down in the woods and no-one was there to hear it” scenario. Did the tree make a sound? Using that as the analogy, was your complaint heard?

The benefit companies are receiving by listening and responding is in the brand equity that is earned a result of good customer service. Apple may be succeeding without social media, and maybe it’s only those companies that are struggling that really need to dive deep into it, but I think you’re right in saying that since Apple has done such a good job building it’s community of followers already. Apple knows that the community will respond where necessary. Perhaps Apple doesn’t need to participate in social media spaces as much as other companies, because their fan base is already doing it for them.

Create a good product and your customers will market it for you, right? What then is the critical mass where you can then turn off the volume on negative feedback and/or complaints? It seems you may need to be as successful as Apple to be able to do that.

Marketing, Social Media Social Media

For the Joy of Teaching

July 28, 2009 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

Last night I taught a Marketing with Search Engines class for Classes for Causes. The class was held to benefit Symphony Parnassus and I raised $64 for the orchestra. Classes for Causes is a non-profit dedicated to connecting people to raise money and awareness for various causes through teaching and learning. Anyone can teach a class about anything they want and the money they earn in tuition is donated to the charity of the instructor’s choice.

There were just two students, so it was very intimate and actually just perfect. Most people would cancel or postpone a class if only two people signed up, but not me, I guess I just love the experience of teaching too much. It was such a pleasure to have time for each student to participate, ask as many questions as they wanted and really understand the concepts of the subject. Teaching that way is a lot more like consulting than giving a lecture. It’s a conversation which sparks ideas and nurtures the learning process. When learning is fun, you learn more and digestion of the knowledge is easier.

I am extrememly grateful for the interest my students have in the subject matter and confidence in my ability to help them learn. It is an honor to teach and a pleasure to learn from my students. Thank you Aimee and Brian. I can’t wait to see what you do with your new found Marketing with Search knowledge.

Random, Search class, search engines, teaching

Friday Fun: A New Boyfriend and Twitter Interviews

July 24, 2009 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

What a great find! I just learned of the joys of Jay Baer (@jaybaer)and I’ve decided he’s my new boyfriend for social media advice. You can convince and convert me any day, Jay! I love your blog. Not only do you practice what you preach, but you share it too! Thank you.

Since I’ve been a fan of Beth Kanter for several months now I was tickled to find this twitter interview with her that Jay is doing as part of his 20 Twitter Interview series. My favorite question and answer from the Twitterview was:

13. @jaybaer: Social media is inextricably linked with inbound marketing. How important is search engine savvy for NPOs today?

@kanter: SEO is very important for nonprofit marketing plans – part of the rule of thirds (Web site, social media, SEO).

Good to hear we the web site and SEO still need to get attention in this wildly social time.

Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Twitter Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Twitter

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