Chris Brogan | Seattle Online Marketing, Communications, Strategy

Getting to know C.C. Chapman, Baratunde, and Chris better

November 29, 2009 By Joe Hage Leave a Comment

I spent a little time on C.C. Chapman’s blog today. He’s a new media mentor and digital dad living in Boston area who helps people understand the changing world of marketing and social media.

He attended Web 2.0 and Web 2 Open in New York last week and he posted videos from Baratunde Thurston (very entertaining! editor of The Onion) and social media expert Chris Brogan. I wrote about Chris twice before in “P&G, Facebook, Brogan, and K-Mart” and “Chris Brogan blogger, social media expert” (the latter is definitely worth your time).

It’s rare for me to watch 25 minutes of video. But these were so good I not only watched them but blog about them here for you.

Barantunde entertained the crowd with the extremely viral nature of comic hashtags. As a comedian, he’s able to build quick, mini-campaigns that bring attention to his wit and his projects. (I’m now following @Baratunde on Twitter.)

Chris reminded us how successful social media purveyors give back. He tweets 12 times more about others, what others are doing, than about himself. In doing so, he has followers interested to learn what he’s discovering. At http://delicious.com/chrisbrogan/casestudy, he’s built a library of work about social media ROI and more.

Skip around if you have to but give these a look. Tell me what you think.

Thanks, CC!

The Joe Hage Twitter experiment, Part II

October 3, 2008 By Joe Hage 2 Comments

21 days, 153 updates, 66 followers (now 67 ~ see point #3), and a few dozen new connections later, I’m completely hooked on Twitter.

Here are fifteen things to consider. If even one resonates with you, join me online.

One: I found a new application. By following Michel Fortin, one of the web’s greatest copywriters today, I learned about Instant Slide Up and installed it on my blog. It slides up from the bottom of my blog and asks visitors to subscribe to the blog (see below). Fortin says he’s seen a +300% increase in his take rate. I just started, so no news to report, but it looks promising to me.

I designed my Instant Slide Up with some whimsy.

Two: I strengthened a business relationship. I created a second account called DefibNation so I could have a dedicated account to raise awareness about automated external defibrillators. To attract relevant visitors, I went out and started to follow them.

FoundersHeart, the NY-based, seven-state AHA chapter started to follow me as a result and applauded what my company has been doing. They made a comment on my blog, on @defibnation on Twitter, and invited me to get in touch with them. A connection I otherwise would not have had.

Three: I won real-time eyeballs. As I’m typing this, “twitterbo” just started following me. He’s the self-described Internet entrepreneur who founded of DrEveryone.com.

I immediately tweeted him, saying, ” @twitterbo, thanks for the follow. Check out this SCA video and please retweet it for your followers? http://tinyurl.com/Kaitln Thanks!”

And he did, putting my message in front of his five-hundred-and-forty-six followers!

546 interested eyeballs.

100 click-throughs in two hours.

For Free.

This alone is a stop-what-you-are-doing reason to join Twitter.

Four: I improved everyone’s user experience. I follow Chris Brogan. He posted a link to his site. I clicked through and saw at the bottom of his blogpost an icon that said “Reblog.” I clicked to see what it was all about.

I experimented and “reblogged” something that Chris said, attracting readers. I discovered Zemanta, the company that developed the software and sent a tweet to Chris letting him know that I found the “Log In” part of the application confusing.

Within minutes, the founder of Zemanta sent me a tweet. He wrote, “@joehageonline, Login form that confused you has already been reworded and will be rolled out on monday.

Five: I discovered another new application. I plan to install Zemanta on my site. Haven’t gotten there yet.

Six: I’m gonna be a published author. [Read more...]

Twitter: One Week, Seven Joys

September 12, 2008 By Joe Hage 3 Comments

Technically, it’s only five days since I joined. I’m loving it. Visit my page at http://twitter.com/JoeHage.

You need to join.

For the uninitiated and according to Wikipedia, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

1. I found 25 people to “Follow.” When each of these folks posts a comment, it shows up on my Home Page.

2. 20 people “Follow” me. Six of them (30 percent) are people I’ve never heard of before. They found me though a comment I left on Chris Brogan’s blog. Never heard of him before Monday when The Communicatrix (of Southwest Airline Blog-o-spondent fame) directed me to her de.li.cio.us profile. On it, Chris’ blog about Twitter was favorited hundreds of times so I looked further and began to follow him.

3. The Communicatrix taught me how to make a hyperlink in Twitter. When I complained that the 140-character limitation screwed [Read more...]