Archive for January, 2010
Twitter: How Do You Choose Who To Follow?
Posted by: | CommentsFollowing: Keeping A Short List
I’ve been studying Twitter for almost a month now, reading everything I can get my hands on from the top Twitter “experts,” learning how the service works for those who use it, and evaluating what works and what doesn’t.
The Twitter Fail Whale
One of the things I’ve noticed on Twitter is that there are many different “following vs. follower” practices, even among the “power” users. Robert Kiyosaki, for example, probably best-known for his best-selling book on personal finance called “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” has of this writing 29,052 followers, but follows just 13. We didn’t make that list.
Then there’s Pete Cashmore, the CEO of Mashable, who has 1,948,549 followers and “follows” 2,092 Twitter accounts. We haven’t made that list yet, but I wonder how Pete keeps up with all those people he’s following? I know he uses Twitter Lists, and I would venture that he uses his lists to randomly scan categories of Tweets looking for something interesting to write a blog post about. That’s what I would do if I were Pete Cashmore.
Amanda MacArthur, a popular Rhode Island-based blogger and article writer, has 1,358 followers and follows 570 on her Twitter. When asked how she chooses who to follow, she replied, “I (almost) always accept local friend requests. Also check profile and see what they tweet about.” We made her list, and thanked her for following us.
Following No One, or Following Everyone?
Larry Winget, who calls himself “The Pitbull of Personal Development,” is a best-selling author of books like “Your Kids Are Your Own Fault” and ”You’re Broke Because You Want To Be.” He follows NO ONE, and has 3,940 followers as of this writing. Mr. Winget has been featured on Fox, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, The Today Show, and just about every major news outlet in the country, so his face and voice have been seen by millions. Yet he only has a few thousand people following him. He actually has more Facebook fans than Twitter followers, but not by much.
He’ll probably gain a few more followers now that I wrote about him and provided direct links to his stuff. I hope so. He speaks the truth with no apologies.
"To Follow Or Not To Follow? That is the question."
Now, interestingly, Robert Kiyosaki has a Twitter for a new book he’s written called “Conspiracy of the Rich.” He’s following 6,111, but “only” has 5,837 followers. We actually made the list of people he’s following. But I’m not fooled by that — I think he’s up to something, since his “personal” Twitter has a very different ratio. I wonder if Larry should pay attention to Robert? He might sell more books than he already does. Or is Larry trying to make a statement? He’s always making statements.
I’ve polled a lot of people about how they choose who to follow, and it seems many “follow back” to be nice. Others follow everyone they can get away with, in hopes that they will be “followed back,” not because they want anyone to read what they Tweet, but because it makes them look more popular and gives them an image that will hopefully drive their true popularity. Kind of like Paris Hilton being famous for being famous.
Following People We Learn From
Then there are those, like me, who follow people I can learn something from in our industry, which is marketing using the web, audio, video and buzz.
Paul Geffen, Software Project Lead/Development Life Cycle Expert and Marketing Director for Boston Wagner Society, told me that’s how he chooses who to follow. His reply: “I follow people I can learn from. And there are many!” This encouraged me, since he follows NEMultimedia, our Twitter account. On his main Twitter account, Paul follows more than follow him, 300 to 153, but according to his blog, he actually has five Twitter accounts. Before you get up in arms and think he’s playing games, he’s not. Read his post first.
James Jones, of MediaDisconnect, says that he follows those he can learn from and that he’s personally met. We made his list, too, after Scott met James at a Southern New England Media Makers event.
So, how about you?
1) How do you choose who to follow?
2) Do you have a strategy that’s purposeful, or do you just follow everyone who follows you?
3) And if you follow everyone who follows you, do you care if they read what you Tweet?
Note: Because I want your comment to stand, please read our simple comment policy before replying! Thank-you!
Michelle handles all Social Media for New England Multimedia. You can contact her by email, on our Facebook, or on our Twitter.
7 Things To Look For In An On-Hold Marketing Company
Posted by: | CommentsNobody wants to be put on hold when they call a business, especially in today’s world of too many tasks, and too little time to get them all done. Being put on hold is a certain way to irritate even the most patient caller. The worst offenders put their callers on hold with dead space, leaving the caller to wonder if they’ve been disconnected. While you have your caller’s attention and ear, you should be using that time to your advantage and to his. You want to think like a caller, and do what you can to not only give him your message, but make it worth his while to be on hold.
"Did I Get Disconnected?"
While you have a caller on the line waiting for your attention, you have an opportunity to not only make an impression on him about your company, but also promote your company’s products, services, and special promotions. With a creative on-hold message, you can educate, sell, entertain, or all three at the same time, resulting in lower frustration for your callers and better returns for your business.
Don’t be afraid of the technology or the unknown. The range of options and prices may surprise you. There are many equipment options available today for on-hold marketing and phone systems, including virtual on hold systems. The equipment prices at the low end allow even a home-based business to enjoy the benefits of on-hold marketing. With the technology available, every business, no matter the size or location, can use their on-hold time to their advantage.
So, what should you look for in a reputable, professional on-hold company?
1) An experienced on-hold messaging service provider should have a list of equipment options available for you to choose from and a knowledge about the benefits and drawbacks of each. Prices should be clear and up-front, with no hidden costs.
2) They should be able to either install the on-hold equipment for you, guide you through it, or arrange for it to be professionally installed.
3) You should have your choice of either male or female professional voice talent, with demos available of each.
4) The music a reputable on-hold marketing studio uses should be royalty-free, or the company should offer licensing as part of the price.
5) A professional on-hold message company will offer a choice of music styles. If you get lucky, you’ll find an on-hold company run by gifted musicians (like New England Multimedia) who custom-write original material for every on-hold message.
6) Scriptwriting should be part of the package. If you want to write your own on-hold message script to save money, be sure to read it out loud yourself and see how long your message is with breaks, or you may get caught in a frustrating cycle of emails back and forth with the company as they instruct you to cut, and then cut some more.
7) A professional on-hold marketing company should offer to contact you a couple of weeks before an update is due, to give you time to get your marketing materials together.
Did you know?: New England Multimedia started out exclusively as an on-hold marketing company called “Soundtrax Unlimited,” with little more than a 4-track recorder, keyboard, guitar, bass, and microphone. Scott literally picked up the Yellow Pages and began cold-calling every business in the book to offer our telephone on-hold message services; at one point, he was the voice of nearly every Auto Body Shop in Rhode Island! Back in those days, he’d hook up a standard CD player to a business’s phone system to get them up and running. Script-writing, voiceovers, and all-original music with quarterly updates kept them coming back, and that’s how we paid the bills while Scott built New England Multimedia into a multimedia business offering website development, on-hold marketing, video production and more.
Note: Because I want your comment to stand, please read our simple comment policy before replying! Thank-you!
Michelle handles all Social Media for New England Multimedia. You can contact her by email, on our Facebook, or on our Twitter.
The Cost of Poor Audio Quality
Posted by: | Commentsby Scott Quillin, for New England Multimedia
"Make it STOP!"
The quality of audio in an advertisement, whether radio or video, has a definite effect on the public’s perception of the quality of the product or service you provide. While “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” poor quality audio is apparent to everyone listening. Many businesses don’t realize the negative effect low-quality sound has on their brand.
It’s easy to hear the difference in audio quality between a professionally-produced product and one produced with sub-par technology. When it comes to the transmission, reception, or reproduction of sound, audio sometimes ends up at the bottom of the technical food chain. This has never been more apparent in the flood of online web videos, podcasts, music sites and marketing material uploaded to the Internet each day.
Truth is, in some applications, there are applications where you can record using “cheap” video but use professionally-produced sound quality, and still result in a professional experience.
Not convinced?
Paranormal Activity, an independent horror film written and directed by Oren Peli, had a nationwide release on October 16, 2009. Peli chose to shoot the picture with a hand-held home video camera to focus on believability and authenticity.
According to an article in Entertainment Weekly, the film was shot with a Sony FX1 camcorder and edited on a Dell PC using Sony Vegas.
The audio was recorded and processed professionally to give it that “cinematic” quality – even with intentional low-quality video production.
This is just one example of the importance of high-quality audio production to deliver a professional quality product.
Scott is the CEO and Founder of New England Multimedia. You can contact him by email, on our Facebook, or on our Twitter.
