Personal Branding: A Media Perspective

• James Wong
• Blog , Marketing
• 0 Comments

Written By: James C. Wong, Co-Founder & General Partner of Empowered Ideas As social media technologies erode away at the foundation of traditional media, it seems imperative that today’s journalists capitalize on their personal brands. In the past, many journalists and reporters put great emphasis on associating themselves with the brands of the major media and news networks. However, as social media technologies acquire more and more users, and as these technologies integrate into mobile technology, the need to build one’s own brand has never been more crucial. Media end users have a virtual smorgasbord of media consumption methods, and therefore, have devastated traditional mediums like magazines, newspapers, television, and even radio; which once stood as the medium giants of their day. In order to truly be successful in today’s digital age, media professionals must begin to develop communities of followers, readers, and fans. Through social media technologies and communities, journalists can now receive instant feedback on their work, and even cater their work to meet their followers on a much more personal basis. As more and more newspapers and media organizations downsize their mediums and staff, I predict that these media organizations will rely more heavily on contractors rather than hiring full time staff members. This was a key point supported by fellow panelist Sam Methany of the Capital Broadcasting Company. A perfect example of niche journalism is the lack of Sports coverage in the Triangle area, especially in the area of High School athletics. Most of the area papers have reduced their sections so drastically, that High School sports have virtually no coverage compared to years past. Seasoned journalists could seize such a perfect opportunity and publish their own small town publication, or even a simple blog which could provide the coverage that consumers demand in that specific field of local journalism. In time, and the right usage of social media best practices, this small publication could attract enough online traffic and notoriety that larger news organizations could utilize the traffic and content from such a blog, and integrate it into their media on a third-party vendor/contractor basis. The key to such a concept is simple: Personal Branding, Quality Content, and Effective and Streamlined Social Media Best Practices.

Greatest Opportunity for Email Marketers Today

• Empowered Ideas
• Blog , Marketing
• 2 Comments

Written By: James C. Wong, Co-Founder & General Partner of Empowered Ideas In a world of highly integrated, yet segmented internet usage and behavior, today’s email marketers must be more in tune with their email contacts than ever before. This of course presents an all too real problem for most marketing teams, because email is a channel that has received much negative publicity in regards to spam. However, email remains nonetheless, one of the most viable and critical communication channels for today’s marketing professional. Why and How Has Email Remained So Popular? With the advent of new communications technologies focused around social media interactions like Twitter and Facebook, many internet users have flocked to these various channels to receive and distribute bite-sized bits of information. The information exchanged is much more concentrated and distributed in snapshots, as compared to emailed content. Regardless of which communication channels your contacts choose to utilize, one fact remains strong among all of those networks – they all require a valid email address to sign up. Besides being a low-level security verification channel, email has become more than just a simple communication channel, but has matured into a hub that connects all of a person’s social media activities. Through email notifications, a user’s email inbox notifies the individual of Facebook message, comment, and friend requests. It notifies the individual of Twitter activity and requests, and replicates the same resource to hundreds of thousands of various online social networks and communities. Ultimately, all of that data gets redirected into an individual’s inbox. Not to mention the simple fact that you can’t send attachments via any other “social media” channel. What Email Marketers Should Be Doing Marketing professionals should be tapping into the wealth of data waiting just beyond their email lists. Each of their email contacts could potentially be a member of various online social networks, and in today’s inter-connected world, it’s vital that marketers discover to which networks and communities their members belong. Using simple email surveys can reveal a flood of information about their contact’s behavior, interest and communications habits. Analyzing this data will identify key networks and communities that you should be targeting, and which networks you could be leveraging for your marketing efforts. The key is that every social network and community has its own unique niche. Researching and understanding why your contacts are on certain networks over others will provide you with insight into their interests and behaviors, which may prove to impact their buying behaviors as well. Email marketers should view email as a two-way communications channel, and start listening to their contacts. Marketers need to document and respond to feedback, and be as transparent as possible. Collecting contact behavior and network preference data will better prepare marketers to engage in meaningful and educated discussions with their contacts.

Google Voice Now Available to the Public

• James Wong
• Blog
• 0 Comments

Yesterday, Google announced that Google Voice, a web-based platform for managing your communications, is now available to the public — no invitation required. Google Voice provided users with one number that rings to all of a user's phones, and even includes features like voicemail that works like email, free calls and text messages to the U.S. and Canada, low-priced international calls and more. Google first released the Google Voice Beta a little over a year ago, and I had the opportunity to beta test this unique service. I have a custom Google Voice number that rings to various land and mobile numbers simultaneously. It allows me to monitor incoming calls using the built-in screening system, and even allows me to block specific numbers for free (unlike most mobile carriers that charge additional fees). Google Voice even forwards incoming text messages and converts voicemails into text. Definitely check it out, and see if Google Voice can help streamline your small business, or even the way you manage your personal communications channels.

Google Voice with a Google Number

• Use one number to manage all your phones; your Google Voice number is tied to you, not to a particular device or location.
• Voicemail like email: Save voicemail messages for as long as you'd like, star important ones, and search through them
• Voicemail transcription: Voicemail messages will be automatically transcribed to text and sent to you via email and/or SMS.
• Customize your callers' experience (custom voicemail greetings, decide which of your phones ring based on who's calling, send some callers straight to voicemail, etc.)
• Define which phones ring, based on who's calling, and even ListenIn^TM on voicemail before answering the call. We use smart technology to route your calls. So, if you're already on a Google Voice call, we'll recognize it and use call waiting to reach you on the phone you're on.
• Works with mobile phones, desk phones, and work phones. There's nothing to download, upload, or install, and you don't have to make or take calls using a computer.
• International calling: Make low priced international calls from the web or from your phone.

Google Voice with Your Non-Google Phone Number:

With this option you won't get some features (i.e. call forwarding, screening, and call recording), but you'll still get plenty of others, including:

• Voicemail like email: Save voicemail messages for as long as you'd like, star important ones, and search through them
• Voicemail transcription: Voicemail messages will be automatically transcribed to text and sent to you via email and/or SMS.
• Custom voicemail greetings: Customize your voicemail greeting based on who is calling.
• International calling: Make low priced international calls from the web or from your phone.

Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi On July 1st

• James Wong
• Blog , Marketing
• 0 Comments

Written By: James C. Wong, Co-Founder & General Partner of Empowered Ideas Starbucks has finally joined the wireless revolution, by announcing that they’ll be offering free Wi-Fi at 6,700 locations beginning on July 1st.  This monumental news comes six months after McDonalds began offering free Wi-Fi to customers in 11,500 of its restaurants. This strategic move by Starbucks will ultimately result in increased revenue and traffic at many of its famous Seattle-based coffee houses — in some ways, even more than McDonalds.

The Strategy

Starbucks hopes to increase traffic to it’s 6,700 selected locations by offering their loyal customers with an added benefit, free Wi-Fi.  In today’s digitally connected world, a cup of quality coffee and a laptop (or mobile smart-phone) have become synonymous all across the country. Starbucks hopes to divert potential patrons from other venues such as McDonalds, Panera Bread and others that offer free Wi-Fi.

The Return on Investment

Starbucks’ business model is one that will capitalize on having it’s clients remain in the venue for as long as possible.  The longer the customers remain in the restaurant, the higher the probability that their patrons will require additional food and beverages.  Since Starbucks doesn’t offer free refills on many of its products, it stands to reason that the potential to increase revenues from keeping their patrons in their venue longer, should increase.

The Catch

Starbucks will be relying on the AT&T Wi-Fi Service, and each patron is only allocated two consecutive hours a day of complimentary Wi-Fi service.  However, AT&T DSL customers will have unlimited Wi-Fi acess free of charge, as will patrons with Wi-Fi enabled AT&T mobile devices (iPhone/BlackBerry).  If you’re not an AT&T customer, you can purchase two consecutive additional hours of Wi-Fi access for $3.99 on your Starbucks card.

Connecting to the AT&T Wi-Fi Service

1. Make sure your computer has Wi-Fi capability.
2. Connect to the “attwifi” wireless network. (Most wireless devices will automatically detect it.)
3. Open your web browser. A login page will appear.
4. Sign in using the connection bar at the top of the login page.
5. Agree to the AT&T Terms and Conditions.
6. Enter your username.
7. Select “AT&T Wi-Fi” from the dropdown menu.
8. Enter your password.
9. Click “Login.”