I am not a huge fan of really pushing sales with my blog posts. Sure my Fusework Studios tab is there if you choose to click it to find more information about our company. And you can always contact me or contact Fusework Studios at any time.
You see, to me a blog is more about building relationships and connecting with others. The leads and sales opportunities will come with time after those relationships are developed. That being said, we do some pretty cool things at Fusework Studios. Cool things that I do enjoy sharing (not selling) with you on my blog. I believe sharing things you or your company is working on in a permission based setting is a critical apart of online relationship building. So without further ado, let me share our latest news:
Fusework Studios has partnered with the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce to help increase awareness of and promote green business practices. Part of this initiative was developing an Indy Green Business web site. We have also taken it a step further by developing a video on how Fusework Studios is taking an initiative internally to “go green.” Believe it or not, the last shot in this video was not staged. Chip McComb really just wanted to work outdoors to enjoy the nice day - we made sure we got it on camera:)
Check out the Indy Green Business video below to see what I mean and join me in making it viral:
Seth Godin accomplished something last month that most of us will never achieve - producing 3,000 blog posts in a row. If I am doing my math correctly, that is over 8 years in a row of blogging every single day. This is an incredible feat. While this does not make up all of his success, I believe it factors into a very large portion of it. Now do I think that everyone out there should blog every single day for 8 years straight? No. But do I think we can learn something from this example? Absolutely.
Passionate people with a strong work ethic can accomplish great things. Can you imagine the sense of accomplishment after making your 3,000th blog post in a row?
There is a reason people like Seth Godin are so successful. It’s because they are remarkable. Read Seth’s post on How to be remarkable. Over a month after the fact, this blog is still fresh in my mind and serves as motivation. My hope is that it will provide some motivation for you in some are of your life as well.
“Within a week of starting this blog, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be giving it up any time soon. It’s a difficult habit to develop, but an even harder one to break.”
“And thanks. Thanks for reading and sharing and instigating and helping me grow. I appreciate it more than you know. It’s a privilege.”
Answer: To many people this is who you are, like it or not.
When you apply for a job odds are the HR department will do a Google search and review the results as part of a background check.
When a potential customer is deciding if they are going to work with you or not, they are probably going to do a Google search on you and your company.
People even do a Google search before they decide if they really want to be your friend or go on a date. Another form of a background check.
Unlike keywords such as “cell phones” or “cars” your name and company name are something you can realistically own (in most cases). This is very important to your brand and your company’s brand. It is also very interesting to note how many of your search results are social media profiles. In my particular case, Facebook, LinkedIn and Smaller Indiana are all on the first page of results. This is an important extension of extension of your name and brand as well.
So ask yourself: Do you really own your name online? If you do not or if you are unhappy with the results – what are you going to do about it?
Today I would like to share with you a viral marketing case study from my days at Ball State University (man I sound really old).
Let’s go back to 2005 on a warm spring day walking down McKinley Avenue (the main road that runs through Ball State) in route to your next class. The time is 12:00 pm. In the distance you can hear a “Happy Friday!” along with a faint motor running. The shout grows louder as a man dressed in bright colors with a cape moves closer at a very fast rate. Soon you can tell this guy is wearing a red karate helmet, goggles, a yellow shirt with a blue cape and of course knee pads! To top it all off he is on a motorized scooter weaving in and out between students on their way to class yelling ”Happy Friday!” You turn to the person next to you with a startled look on your face and without saying a word that person instinctively replies, “That’s Happy Friday Guy. He does this every Friday at noon.” And this very story is how a BSU legend was born.
Answer: Happy Friday Guy became viral. And the virus spread.
You see every single Friday at the same time and same place you could count on Happy Friday Guy. He was consistent. And he never missed a Friday.
His message was very simple – Happy Friday! Who wouldn’t appreciate someone going out of his or her way to wish everyone a Happy Friday (and occasionally pass out candy)?
What if we all take a few minutes each Friday to reach out to a group of people within our network simply be sending them a message online or calling them just to wish them a Happy Friday? I think we can learn something from Happy Friday Guy.
Check out the video below to see Happy Friday Guy in action:
Here is my thought of the day from a great new friend of mine:
Blogging, text messaging, email, and instant messaging are all great communication tools.
But guess what else still works? Picking up the phone to call someone or stopping by just to chat. Yes, that’s right our phones actually make/receive calls too and we often forget that (I am just as guilty as the next person). Some people actually do still like to sit down with a real person. While social media tools are great and much time is spent discussing them - they are just one piece of the pie.
Sometimes it takes an experienced, wiser person to remind you of these things. So as technology continues to improve, lets not forget the traditional methods work too. I encourage you to take your online networking offline from time to time. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.
Facebook Responds to Criticism Over Latest Redesign
You provided the criticism. Facebook listened/read. And Facebook responded. But is this satisfactory for most people? It sure doesn’t look like it. Many comments I read can be summarized by this statement, “Just give us the old Facebook back.”
My Personal Opinion (for what it’s worth) The new Facebook layout really does not bother me. In fact, I am beginning to get used to it. I am still able to quickly accomplish my Facebook goals just as I was before. Ignoring all of the clutter to stay focused is something that you must become good at if you are going to use Facebook effectively. Most of the applications I find to be pointless and avoid them anyway. The simple reality is that Facebook is not just for college students anymore. The demographic is quickly drawing more from the 30+ crowd and a huge amount of businesses. Facebook had to adjust to this trend at some point. I will admit, however, I have missed a few birthdays because of the new layout! So, please blame Mark Z.
So, tell me what you think. Do you like the new Facebook? Take the poll. Leave a comment.
I like to completely change things up from time to time with my posts because I think it is part of an interesting blog (when done in moderation). So, here we go….
Ever have one of those days when nothing goes right? What are you supposed to do? Just roll with the punches or put your foot down and make a change?
Luckily I started my day off by reading a blog titled Eeyore or Tigger which served as a reminder that we ultimately determine how our day will go. Whether it involves our work or personal life, we can control our outlook. Reflecting back on this post helped me get through my “nothing can go right” day and allowed me to go on and make the best of it. It also prompted me to check out the following motivational quotes that can surely help most people get through a bad day. So bookmark this post and the next time you are having a bad day, come check it out. Heck, I bet these thoughts could even help you make a good day a great day. It is also a good idea to start your day off with the Forgetting 2 Remember Blog as well. This up and coming blogger has very inspirational thoughts to share.
Here are the motivational quotes courtesy of Motivateus.com:
“If you want to BE ALIVE in today’s struggling era, you must BELIEVE in yourself.” Written in 2009 by Pravin Dhikale — India
“Greatness comes not when things always go good for you; greatness comes when you’re really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes. Only if you’ve been in the deepest valley can you know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain. “ Author Unknown — Submitted by Ajayadas S. — Nambia
“Every dark has a hidden candle, every smile must not be yours, and every piece of day is one life. Don’t miss your life, whatever happens.” Written in 2009 by Puja Tulsiani — India
“Don’t let fear stop you, it only means you’re facing great opportunities.” Written in 2007 by Erich Jao — Philippines
Every blog should have a purpose. I don’t need to give a lecture on that, but consider these questions:
Is your blog really about sharing your thoughts? Is it about winning search? Or is it both? When I first started blogging I asked myself these same questions. How do you appropriately include and tag keywords without diluting the message?
This week I found out I am definitely not alone in this thought. One of my favorite local bloggers, Kyle Lacy, wrote a blog post entitled Is Blogging For Search Ruining Innovative Thought which touches on this subject. There really is not a right or wrong answer, but it makes for a great topic of conversation.
Here are my thoughts:
No one wants to speak to an empty room. In other words, a blog without an audience is a blog without purpose. Part of making your blog findable is using keywords. Yes, it helps your business by improving search rankings, but it also helps people in need of information find you. As long as it is relevant – go for it!
Chris Baggott said it best within the comments area on Kyle’s blog, “Keep in mind as well that Crap is Crap.” If you are stuffing your posts with keywords it is going to be totally obvious. Your readers will soon grow tired and your conversion rates will suffer. Ultimately, you have to find that balance which I truly believe does exist.
But should you feel self-conscious or selfish in doing it? Absolutely not. Blogging is fun and helping people through blogging is rewarding. But it is also time consuming work. If including relevant keywords increases your Return On Investment – go for it and don’t look back.
I am very much a novice to the world of free internet music radio. I generally just listen to my iPod and CD collection. With Pandora users continuing to overwhelm me at our Fusework Studios office, I finally decided to check out my online music options. This ultimately created a Twitter brand experience for me that I wanted to share. It’s funny how everything ties together.
Pandora is part of The Music Genome Project and I have included an excerpt from their site which pretty much sums up the mission statment:
Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or “genes” into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song – everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It’s not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records – it’s about what each individual song sounds like.
Overall, I like Pandora’s ability to create a playlist of songs that I like by identifying similar qualities within each song. I am not crazy, however, about the ability to browse through songs - it seems somewhat limited.
Following a post on Facebook about Pandora, I was turned on to Grooveshark by a friend. I decided to check it out for a few days to compare. After listening for a few days I tweeted asking my followers if they had a preference between Grooveshark and Pandora. @Grooveshark quickly responded by following me on Twitter and replying with a very unbiased opinion that Grooveshark was indeed better:). Still being relatively new to both Pandora and Grooveshark I asked the @Grooveshark Twitter user to explain why. I have included a screen shot of the replies in this post.
Overall, this interaction was very impressive and is a perfect example on how a brand can use Twitter as a powerful tool. Here is how it went down:
Grooveshark found me on Twitter
Grooveshark sent me a Tweet using a bit of humor to show some personality
Grooveshark went on to answer my question about what separates them from Pandora
I was then able to retweet their answer to help in increasing brand awareness and also told everyone at the office about it
Grooveshark also offered personal assistance with any of my questions/suggestions – very cool.
I am still undecided on which service is better, but Grooveshark has definitely created a better brand experience for me thus far. The ability Twitter has given a brand to directly connect with their end user is amazing.
Voicemail can be very frustrating. Most of us have to call a phone number to access it. Then we have to wait on the operator and make our selection. Then we have to wait again and again before we get to the voicemail we actually want to hear. By the time we get to the important voicemail we are in such a habit of deleting the other trash voicemails that we accidentally delete the important one with the number we needed. Okay so maybe that just happens to me, but I bet you have been frustrated with your regular voicemail at some point too!
YouMail will transform your “regular” voicemail experience. YouMail is free visual voicemail that allows you to listen to the voicemails you want to hear when you want to hear them. All voicemails can be managed online as well – similar to emails in your inbox. You can forward a voicemail, save it, delete it, and even post it your blog or Del.icio.us account! YouMail also allows you to set up personalized voicemail greetings for each of your contacts. Now your friends and family do not have to be greeted the same way as your business contacts. YouMail even offers an upgrade to receive your voicemails as text. What more could you want from a voicemail service?
Here are some common questions I am asked on a daily basis:
Does Social Media really work?
Can Social Media actually improve my business?
Do you have any examples?
How do you prove it?
While the below article may be a little bit of shameless self promotion, my hope is that you will learn from it, share it, and be able to utilize this example as another selling tool to help grow your business as well. Oh yea, and don’t forget to sign up for IndyLinkif you are a Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce Member.
As the GICC’s Internet Marketing partner, Fusework Studios is continually generating new ways for the Chamber to stay connected to their members. As social networking sites have grown in popularity in recent years, Fusework Studios began developing a way for Chamber members to capitalize on the networking opportunities available to members of the Chamber of Commerce. The result was IndyLink – a forum for Chamber members to post jobs, have access to exclusive RFPs, learn about volunteer opportunities and connect with one another on a level never before offered to members of a chamber of commerce. “We wanted to create an online community for the Indianapolis Chamber that wasn’t just about generating “friends,” but one that would actually provide a tangible benefit to Chamber members,” said Bruce McClain, President of Fusework Studios. “Indylink.com has opened the door for these opportunities.”
As the only chamber in the state with an online professional network, the GICC continues to lead the pack as one of the most forward thinking innovators among chambers of commerce nationwide. Julie Grice, VP of Communications and Marketing for the Chamber stated, “In terms of ROI, within the first 36 hours of indylink.com going live we saw more measurable leads from indylink.com than had been generated in all of 2008.”
The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce is a not-for-profit, member-based organization founded in 1890 by Colonel Eli Lilly and a group of Indianapolis business leaders. Today the Chamber has more than 4,200 members who gain access to Indianapolis’ premier networking events and advertising audience, are able to build brand awareness through event sponsorships and benefit from local economic and demographic data and resource materials. The members’ 300,000 plus employees save with member discounts from health care to office supplies to car purchases. The Chamber also works to ensure that local laws and regulations encourage business growth and investment in central Indiana. The Chamber is the voice of progress and improvement for the central Indiana business community
Fusework Studios is a premier creative house specializing in Web development & Internet marketing, film & video production and managed IT support services to private, public and nonprofit organizations. Fusework Studios, with offices in Indianapolis and Muncie, has been the recipient of numerous Telly, Addy and Emmy Awards for their innovative work. Fusework Studios is a division of Rutter Communications Network, a 21-year-old privately held, multi-media company.
Many people have found my blog due to interest in the Blackberry Storm. I have been using my Storm for over 3 months now and am very happy to report that I have FINALLY found a solid operating system – version 4.7.0.103. I have been using this operating system for over 2 weeks now and have not experienced any issues. This is by far the best performing OS in comparison to all others that I have used (and trust me I have used them all). Yes, I am aware that a leaked version of 4.7.0.109 is available, but due to the superior performance of .103 compared to all others I have tried – I am not in a hurry to upgrade. So, if you have the Blackberry Storm you need to get OS 4.7.0.103 right now.
In doing research and working with the Blackberry Storm over the last 3 months, I have found 3 resources that I highly recommend you check out. I have listed these below and also have a few screen shots in the video above. Check them out and enjoy!
ILoveMyStorm.com
This is easily THE SINGLE BEST resource for the Blackberry Storm. A very plain site with links to the latest OS updates, applications, games, themes, and anything else relevant to the Storm. Trust me you will want to Bookmark this site.
StormGrounds.com The best collection of backgrounds for the Storm. This site has everything from sports teams to comic book hero backgrounds all FREE and sized perfectly to fit your phone. You will have to put up with some annoying advertisements, but it is worth it for this huge collection.
YouMail.com This is a great voicemail management system for ANY phone. YouMail is free visual voicemail that allows management of everything from personal greetings to uploading a voicemail directly to your blog. This is the perfect resource for someone that cannot stand the “regular” voicemail experience. I like YouMail so much that I am going to do a separate blog post discussing more of its features in the next week, so be sure to check back for that.
Seth Godin wrote a blog post today entitled Looking for yes. In this post, he summarizes his interactions with companies and individuals that continually make excuses/throw obstacles in the way of satisfying a customer- these companies answer “No” instead of looking for a way to find a “Yes.” Seth also shared his interaction with “Yes” companies and indidviduals that will go out of their way to accomodate a customer- these are the companies/individuals that stand out by generating repeat business and raving fans.
This post inspired me to share a recent interaction with a Qdoba manager which I would classify as a “No” experience. I hope he somehow finds and reads this blog. It would just be another opportunity for him to create a “Yes” though I am sure he wouldn’t even realize the opportunity if it jumped out of the screen and bit him.
I recently obtained a coupon at Cardinal Fitness for a free naked burrito with the purchase of any burrito of equal or lesser value. This coupon had an expiration date of 3/31/09.
I attempted to redeem the coupon at a Qdoba location that I frequent at least once a week and received the following objections: “Where did you get this?”
“This coupon was only good last month.”
“I see the coupon says 3/31/09 as the expiration date, but that is written in.”
After I refused to accept his objections, I was made to feel guilty about using my very valid coupon with the following remarks: “How many more of these do you have- is this your last one?”
“I will honor it this time becuase I know you come here alot, but I could get in big trouble for this.”
So let me just recap this experience. I am a loyal customer at your store where I regularly pay $7.00 for ONE burrito. And you are going to give me a hard time about using one coupon, accuse me of changing the expiration date on the coupon (basically calling me a liar), then tell me that I could be getting you in trouble because you are honoring one of YOUR coupons, and finally you are going to check to make sure I do not have any more coupons for your store. Great job! Great job at delivering HORRIBLE customer service. I will still eat at Qdoba no doubt at some point in my life, but NEVER the store where you work. I can also promise that I will tell as many people as possible about this experience and encourage them to tell others.
And I am sorry but you will soon find out that negative word of mouth has no expiration date…
Posted by derekmcclain 
department will do a Google search and review the results as part of a background check. 
along with a faint motor running. The shout grows louder as a man dressed in bright colors with a cape moves closer at a very fast rate. Soon you can tell this guy is wearing a red karate helmet, goggles, a yellow shirt with a blue cape and of course knee pads! To top it all off he is on a motorized scooter weaving in and out between students on their way to class yelling ”Happy Friday!” You turn to the person next to you with a startled look on your face and without saying a word that person instinctively replies, “That’s Happy Friday Guy. He does this every Friday at noon.” And this very story is how a BSU legend was born. 
