Disqus - Latest Comments for JStolarcyk

Re: How Ben Folds Sold an Album via Chatroulette

Jeff Stolarcyk — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 09:28:32 -0000

Cool album. The cover of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" is awesome, especially. I love what he's doing with ChatRoulette - taking something valueless and adding something cool and fun to it. Which is the same principle that marketers should be using, too.

Re: Earn Your GED- Find Success Tomorrow

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:27:29 -0000

Some great things to think on, as always. And it hit me right in the middle of thinking about ways to revamp a service offering at work right now and spending last weekend as a hotel guest, so that seems like a frighteningly prescient bit of triangulation.

Trying to frame other industries in the same language as hospitality really drives home two simple service principles that get overlooked or, in some cases, thought to death: 1. fewer hoops to jump through = better, and 2. the 'little' things from the vendor's POV can be the most important thing from the guest's.

Re: "You're Worse than the Nazis!"

Jeff Stolarcyk — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:02:07 -0000

/b/ is kind of dizzying in that it is somehow simultaneously the worst thing on the entire Internet and a community that has proven that it cares about social good and has churned out some genuinely compelling (and crowdsourced) creative work. It is a perfect example of needing to not only research but live in a community before you try to market to it.

Re: Twitter Insights From A Facebook Crowd

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:01:02 -0000

People who don't understand what Twitter is or have a base of followers to communicate with on Twitter don't like Twitter. Gasp.

If I had nobody to call, I'd think having a phone was silly, too.

Re: Google Wave- My First Feelings

Jeff Stolarcyk — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:38:26 -0000

My favorite description of Wave so far has been that it lets young people know what old people feel like when they try to use the Internet. I've not been able to devote the time to exploring it that I've wanted to, and every time I attempt to, I just get confused and intimidated and then go play Peggle for ten minutes and forget about it.

Re: Your Customers Don’t Want to be Your Friend

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:02:27 -0000

Truth to power. I talk to small businesses about going social and they have aspirations of being Amazon or Dell or @shitmydadsays, even. Now it's certainly possible to get that level of traction if the account manages to have a compelling personality and the account is in the right place at the right time, but it's so unlikely that any account trying to be these things is apt to remain settled in obscuria rather than get a feature in Wired.

The key for these accounts is niche/"small-pond" social - not acting monolithic, connecting with your peers/partners rather than your customers as a primary focus. See how your competitors are doing it and fill in the gaps. See what your other marketing channels are lacking and develop a plan. Even small companies have superfans - they're just smaller and less vocal. But they're likely in the business's email list. Send an intimate invite via email to your customers to connect on the social web, too.

One store that I've worked with uses their Facebook page to consult its fans on interior design - the fan asks what the best couch for a room is, the store asks for a pic of the space, and makes a few recommendations. Others, where it's relevant, act as white-glove customer service.

Social isn't about viral growth for these companies - it's about giving existing customers new ways to love them; you just have to find the right strategy to touch them.
.-= Jeff Stolarcyk´s last blog ..Friday Cover Songs – Late Again =-.

Re: One for the Price of Three?

Jeff Stolarcyk — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:48:33 -0000

Except that the Kindle and the Nook are less about being devices that do a specific thing and more about being totems of brand loyalty. You're not going to get a Nook unless you're a dedicated B&N customer. The big reason to get a Kindle? That you can shop Amazon from anywhere on a (debatably) sexy device that has an Amazon logo on it. Targeting early adopters and the people that already love you (and the venn between those two isn't 100% so you're not going to capture all of your loyalists nor all of your early adopters) is not a sustainable business model.

Re: Why I Don't Want to Be Chris Brogan (And Why Your Brand Shouldn't Either)

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:38:16 -0000

I agree with like 150% of this, especially the last point. In part because I want to maintain divisions between my work (I'm just an agency flack after all, not an entrepreneur, instapreneur, mompreneur or whatever buzzword we're going to start eliding with entrepreneur next) and my personal life whenever I can (for my own sanity more than anything else). The other thing that segmenting lets me do is remember that my work is about the client, that it's not just another platform for promoting myself.

I think the thing I appreciate most about TLJ is its constant reminder that there's actual shoulder-to-the-grindstone work waiting to be done and not just high-fiving and calling each other rock stars.

Re: Catering to a New Audience

Jeff Stolarcyk — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:06:49 -0000

I think there's a degree of fear that marketing aimed at that community is 1) going to be dissected to death by its target community, 2) cause a backlash among other demos who are insensitive to the LBGT lifestyle or 3) hyperconscious of how damaging a massive fail on this front can be and how subtle the line between a great campaign and a horrible campaign can be. I don't know that Expedia wants to start exhorting its customers to plan their next gaycation with them.

Re: Are You Cherishing the Wrong Trophy?

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:44:22 -0000

Specific to Twitter (because I get asked a lot about how a client can measure his or her Twitter success), I like percentage of followers that click a given link. If you're looking at performance over a month or so, average them.

I don't know if that's arcane or useless, but imo it's useful not only in the sense of providing a baseline of how engaged your audience is - how willing they are to take the action you ask them to - but also a good way to research what sort of links perform better than others with a given audience.
.-= Jeff Stolarcyk´s last blog ..Project Mixtape Week: Friday Cover Songs =-.

Re: Imitation and Obsolescence – Facebook Guns for Twitter

Jeff Stolarcyk — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:36:47 -0000

File this under "it's just me," but I still use Twitter and FB differently enough that I don't want to see one turn into the other.

Re: When the Face of Your Brand Goes Splitsville

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:07:10 -0000

The real question is what do you do when your face gets fired or parts on bad terms? In most of the big cases of this that have surfaced so far, it has appeared amicable. The first high profile case where it doesn't is going to be the litmus test, because the community is going to do the same thing that personal communities do when there's a bad breakup - circle around the wounded, build bulwarks and take sides. It has the potential to be a flashpoint.

Of course, most people managing social on a big brand level are professional enough to keep their mouths shut (unless they're really bitter).

"Have a Bench" is the best advice here - and make sure that the bench is visible the whole time and interacting with the rockstar so that the move up is as seamless as possible.

Re: How Do We Kill Birds

Jeff Stolarcyk — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:12:47 -0000

Thanks, Chris.

I think the best thing about the idea is that it puts the book into action and becomes something that can sustain itself without you and Julien attached to it, though it's leveraging you to get it moving.

Re: How Do We Kill Birds

Jeff Stolarcyk — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:04:07 -0000

Instead of a Borders or B&N or BAM, have your next book signing at a soup kitchen or at the open house of a charity you endorse. On top of that, give a discount on the book to people who show up to pitch in/donate/get on a mailing list/etc. Heck, start doing this all over the place and give them a catchy name like 'TrustUps.'

Re: Small Powerful Words

Jeff Stolarcyk — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:19:23 -0000

For just two letters, that 'in' is important. The entire game changes if the preposition gets changed to 'of'.

Re: The Entrepreneurial Agency

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:38:37 -0000

Huh. It's like Voltron.

I'm in love with the notion, but not sure how it would work practically, for several of the reasons already cited. Still, with the perfect group of people, it could be a winner.

Re: The Truth About Star Wars and the Matrix

Jeff Stolarcyk — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:40:31 -0000

There's only one Blade movie, but it's called Blade 2 for some reason.

Re: The Truth About Star Wars and the Matrix

Jeff Stolarcyk — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:38:26 -0000

Which nearly had a sequel. There's a script floating around if you're brave.

Re: The Truth About Star Wars and the Matrix

Jeff Stolarcyk — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:04:44 -0000

The Matrix sequels are the perfect example of 'don't take 6 hours to tell a 2 hour story'. I like the defense of the dock and the big aerial fight at the end (makes me want to see the Wachowskis do a Superman flick - heavily informed by what they did with Speed Racer, mind you), but the build up to them was completely empty.

Also, Batman Returns has Christopher Walken in it. That has go earn it some points.

Re: Why You Never Had Control

Jeff Stolarcyk — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:53:08 -0000

This goes back to the 'who manages your social strategy' debate - and reinforces that it really needs to be a mix of marketing/PR/customer service talent all working together to get maximum effectiveness. It's all about connecting with your customer and not about shameless self-promotion or ass-covering. And I've seen more than one corporate account of those sorts laying fallow lately.
.-= Jeff Stolarcyk´s last blog ..Rampant Misspellings =-.

Re: Community Can Be SO Powerful

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:56:30 -0000

Too many execs and stakeholders look at community as another tree to drag to the mill or another land to tap. I had a convo with a client recently who said that he was unconcerned with his existing customers; they already bought from him, and so he argued that he doesn't need to improve his CRM strategy. Just. Doesn't. Get. It.

Re: Trust Agents on a Plane

Jeff Stolarcyk — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:57:57 -0000

I'd be more excited if it were Trust Agents On A Boat. :P

I'd love to tell you I could rally 100 people to the local B&N (actually, I think I could), but I'm about 2 hours away from the closest possible stop.

Re: Why I Promote the HELL out of Thesis

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:36:16 -0000

And you just made a few bucks (I've been on the fence on Thesis for awhile, but I'm splurging and treating myself as an early birthday present). I don't know how much flack you get for promoting the theme, Chris, but all I ever sense when you post about Thesis is enthusiasm for it. At the end of the day, it all comes down to people and stories.

Re: A Social Media Gun to the Head

Jeff Stolarcyk — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:42:37 -0000

When I went to see Harry Potter over the weekend, the woman sitting behind me complained to her husband several times that the theater was too crowded and that she didn't like her seat. Before the trailers even started, they'd left the theater after her husband promised that he'd "get their money back if I complain loud enough."

The way that people interact with brands online reminds me of that couple. Like you, I've complained about a brand in part just to gauge the response.

I'm not sure whether disgruntled entitlement on the part of customers is worse than what I perceive as brands routinely ignoring social users that aren't "influencers," but pampering the ones that are. "We're responsive to some concerns," the message seems to read, "but not yours." Of course, that's a bit of an ouroboros.

I do think that brands in the social space should be responsive to complaints, just to show the user that they're listening (which is probably one of the things the plaintiff here is looking for, anyway). Not with a handout or with free stuff, but with an apology or acknowledgment and a non-rote answer to their question or problem.
.-= Jeff Stolarcyk´s last blog ..Cover Your Ears For A Second =-.

Re: Revenge and Crisis via YouTube

Jeff Stolarcyk — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:49:10 -0000

I think the best thing to do when something like this blows up is to fix it quickly.* That shouldn't be in question. First with the customer, then with the community and then, if it's gained significant traction to warrant it, with the MSM.

Sadly, this isn't done as often as it should be (though United has done what it should - contracted their disgruntled customer and pledged a resolution within 24 of the story hitting). Probably for two reasons. 1. A lack of sufficient monitoring, and 2. An unwillingness to let the squeaky wheel get more than its share of grease.

*if it's a legit complaint, even if it's legit only in spirit and not letter.