Archive for July, 2009
Twitter 101 – Twitter’s Guide for Businesses
Jul 27th
Recently twitter published a guide called Twitter 101 to help businesses get started and get the most value from their popular application. Twitter 101 includes: best practices, glossary of terms one should be familiar with, case studies and more. 
If you are a business looking to get involved in Social Media, specifically twitter and don’t quite know how this guide is a phenomenal starting point.
Here is the link to view Twitter’s 101 guide. You can view the guide online, download ppt slides, or download the full guide.
At my previous job at a top social media marketing company we ran sponsored tweet campaigns and twitter contests for Sears, Kmart, SeaWorld and more. If you have any questions about twitter or would like to discuss growing your company’s presence on twitter feel free to contact me at David[at]Davidbrim[dot]org, or follow me on twitter: @Davidbrim
AT&T Launches Small Biz Tech Makeover Contest
Jul 26th
Do you have a small business or idea for a startup? I own and operate a small business and also launched a start up venture last year with my business partners called GroupTable. Let me tell you from first hand experience that growing a small business, especially a technology venture in the current economic climate can be very challenging. You have server costs, marketing costs, and competition that may arise from anywhere. It is very important that you are on top of things and have the resources to enable your venture to succeed. With that said…If you have a tech start up company, or even if you have an idea for one I have great news!
AT&T launched a technology makeover contest on July 13th to help promote their AT&T Small Business InSite. This web property they have built has expert tips, free courses, productivity tools as well as other resources that are very beneficial to any small business. I have to commend AT&T on this initiative because not only is it a great way to grow awareness of the business services AT&T offers, but give back to the small business community.
Here are some additional details on the contest AT&T is launching:
By entering the contest you have a chance to win a large amount of other prizes as well including: 2 samsung Epix smart phones, 1 year subscription to AT&T’s tech support, 1 year of enhanced Web hosting services, a free consultation with a technology expert and more.
I would encourage all of you out there who have a technology start up or an idea for one to enter the contest by visiting: http://urlbrief.com/8d0a7e and to visit the AT&T Small Business InSite to help you grow your small business.
A Lesson in Communication from Sun Tzu
Jul 24th
I’ve always enjoyed reading inspirational or thought provoking books when I have the time. I’m kind of a geek at heart and love learning about history, ancient philosophers and other wise men throughout the centuries whose names have lived on and words have remained relevant long after their time. One such person is Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher and military strategist.
Sun Tzu is most popular for his book The Art of War. Though this book is filled with military strategies and tactics there are core lessons that can be extremely beneficial in many different situations such as sports, business or even personal relationships.
I was reading the art of war and came across a good quote that I thought was a very good lesson to reflect on.
“If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders ARE clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.”
Having employees and interacting with vendors, partners and clients everyday I can completely appreciate the value of clear, concise and candid communication. It is very easy to think that someone understands what you are trying to get across just because you understand it. If you’re not clear it leaves someone to play the guessing game and try to perceive what they thought you’ve meant. This is how mistakes happen….breaks in communication. It’s always better to over explain giving several examples and very specific verbs and adjectives that articulate the exact message you’re trying to get across. This leaves no room for error in the communication process, only disagreement or insubordination as Sun Tzu said referred to. I strive to improve my communication skills daily in all of my interactions.
Have you had any experiences recently where you’ve noticed a break in communication that you or someone else could have prevented by being more clear?
If so please share
Stumble or digg this post if you see the value in the quote and post.
thanks
Facebook valued more than CBS?!?
Jul 14th
Mashable just published an article stating that facebook is now valued at $6.5 billion dollars. That’s more than CBS, Discovery Communications, and Macy’s. Mashable’s article was in response to a report released by the New York times which articulated that fb employees were allowed to unload their stocks at $14.77 a share giving them a $6.5 billion dollar valuation.
It’s very true that Information is power and the amount of psychographic data and usage trends facebook has at their finger tips is scary (and I’m not the only one that thinks so: Do you have a FB video).
However as far as profitability and being a viable business I think a valuation of $6.5 billion is absurd. They have raised $716+ million in funding / multiple rounds and in my opinion have too high of costs (700 employees) and not enough revenue coming in for such a valuation. http://tinyurl.com/2cg44
I have a few friends that work at FB and am connected by a 1-2 degrees to some higher up sales managers/executives and last I heard they were not happy at all. Even though it was a while back my thought is that Microsoft’s $240M investment into Facebook for 1.6% giving them a $15 Billion dollar valuation still is a large reason why they are valued so high. It’s no doubt that a company like Microsoft or Google can better monetize facebook then facebook themselves can, but how and to what extent remains to be seen.
If you had the money would you buy fb for even $1B?
I wouldn’t.
just my $.02s
