2009/04/04

[chrisbrogan.com]

USA Today Launches Hotel Content Platform- I Want More

Posted: 04 Apr 2009 03:30 AM PDT

It’s encouraging to see USAToday’s new Hotel Check-In blog platform, dedicated to talking about business travel. It follows Gannett’s overall model of embedding a Pluck social network under it. It’s not a bad start, but I want more.

First, let me say that Barbara De Lollis is a great blogger. I like her voice, and feel she’s producing interesting content. Note how Barbara does a great job of asking readers and professionals in the travel industry about pieces at the very end. I really like that.

What do I mean when I say “I want more,” then, if I’m happy with all this? Simple: I want more lateral participation. I think I want the Pluck networking areas to thrive. Maybe it’s just because you haven’t discovered it. But think about all the value you and I could share if we talked about travel in those forums.

I want more from us. But then, you’d have to agree with me about the content so it means you have to swing by and check it out yourself.

What do you think? Is there a value in a blog content platform around business travel? What else does it need? What will get Barbara’s community talking more in those forums?

Pirate Moves - Pass The Mic

Posted: 03 Apr 2009 10:41 AM PDT

It’s not what you say about yourself that counts. You know that. So why try? A week or so ago, I met Calvin Lee and Louie Baur, to name a few, at the So Cal Action Sports Network event at Oakley HQ.

Calvin is quiet but personable. Louie is outrageous and jovial. They are both stars in their own skies. Calvin is a designer, but to me, he’s an information core on Twitter. Louie? Louie can get your online stuff attention. He proved it to me a week before I met him in person.

Now, what’s funny is that they both came to the event to see me. Want the truth? I came to the event so that I could meet them. That’s not being polite. That’s not false modesty. That’s how the business works for me. I fly places, speak, and get the chance to meet amazing new people with incredible talents.

I meet thousands of people a year. Do you know who sticks out to me? I’ll give you a list (as I often do):

Ten Ways to Stand Out at an Event

Be sexier. Confidence matters tons.
Remember that you’re every bit as important as the person you’re meeting. Not pompous or arrogant; just important.
Don’t push your agenda. Just get to know me. We can do business any time. Just meet me. We’ll do business later.
Share. Give people things (and things can be information, ideas, introductions to others).
Praise other people. The more you tell me about yourself, the more I wonder if you’re cocky/arrogant.
Share the air. If you talk and talk and talk and I nod and smile the whole time, I’m happy, but also probably not going to remember much about you.
Brevity is okay, but also knowing a nugget about what makes you passionate is great. If you say, “I’m really into surfing,” then I’ve got lots to ask you. If you say, “I love your tweets,” I can say thank you.
Introduce me to someone else. I love meeting your friends, too.
Bring your best ideas. If you’ve got something to run by me, it’s okay if it’s brief. Share the nugget, not the riverbed.
Know that coffee and beer trump breakfast or dinner. People often want to continue talking over a meal. It’s hard to meet with lots of people and take an hour or more for a meal. Coffee or beer works just fine. : )

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be in Detroit, New Zealand, Santa Barbara, and then at the Inbound Marketing Summit event in San Francisco (April 28-29). Please be sure to connect. Please go out of your way to say howdy do. It’s why I bother flying all the time.

Realize that I travel so that I can hear your story. Think about that with your own business. Are you talking about yourself or about your passionate customers? Are you talking about your products or about the people who use them?

Product Placement in Marvel Comics

Posted: 03 Apr 2009 06:44 AM PDT

Look at this:

Holy crap. I’m reading Marvel Comics’ Secret Warriors #3, and Nick Fury cracks open a computer and opens a Cisco Webex session to contact Dum Dum Dugan. He calls it out. He says “Open Webex connection.” And then he uses it with a very obvious and drawn in Cisco Webex logo in the corner.

Not sure this is the first placement in a comic but it sure is a powerfully obvious one.

Bad idea? Good idea? What’s it mean for things? It’s been this way in movies forever. Why not throw ads into comics? Purists?