If you haven’t already, check out http://sbbuzz.biz/ which features “small business talking tech on Twitter”.
I attended the chat last night and really enjoyed it but more importantly, learned a lot.
Here is a compilation of some of my comments last night. Once they post the log of the chat I will link to it so you can read more!
- Some good advice for people running a business: Provide only one product or service. Serve one audience only. Have the simplest web site possible. From http://tinyurl.com/cs2agg
- Zappos is an excellent example of a company that engages their customers. Customer service (or customer experience) is now king.
- On blogs: In the past I’ve found blogs to be burdensome if they don’t have a specific focus. Will probably stick to Tweets with my new company. (ha ha I’ve reversed myself already)
- On outsourcing: I love the stories of consultants who find business, then outsource people to do the actual work for them. Sneaky!
- Great article on transparency – http://tinyurl.com/2d932c
- It is important to be authentic and to bring people “behind the scenes” BUT they can also think that means you are “open source” – meaning they think they are now part of the team and are upset when you don’t use their feedback. You have to be prepared for the negative backlash if they don’t feel their input is being heard or making a difference. If you have a forum you have to let people have their say – but be prepared as you might not like what they tell you and you need to act on it. Excellent article on this from the NY Times at http://tinyurl.com/css9mh
- On measuring success with social media: In the game industry most games are gone in a few months. If you still have people interested past that it is a measure of success. Also, using social media (especially forums, blogs, etc.) to lessen the investment in support services can be a measure of success as your fans helping fans are sometimes the best support!
- Microformats are “a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards”. Check out http://microformats.org/ in case, like me, you had no idea what they were!
