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“What Sound Does Orange Make?” On Air with Michael Libbie

By Mike Sansone on October 8, 2009 in Blog Coach, Marketing with 0 Comments

I’m excited to be appearing as a guest today on Michael Libbie’s show, Insight on Business. We’ll probably be talking about a few things that are making the news in the business and business blogging worlds.

Some of the things I hope we get to talk about:

The bit how 54% of companies have banned the use of social networking while on the job.
When and why your company (maybe) shouldn’t blog at all.
Should your company hire a Social Media Expert Escort Service Evangelist
21st Century Marketing: It’s not about the tools
What sound does orange make?

That last one will come up, and it’s an important question. The response may be even more important. Stay tuned.

Update: Here’s the show below…

Gnashing of Teeth or Punching of Keys?

By Mike Sansone on October 6, 2009 in Blog Coach with 0 Comments

When we
write, our brain acts quicker than our fingers and all the
wordstartjumblingtogetherlikethis in our head and, in our haste to be perfect wehavegnashingofteethratherthanpunchingofkeys. (Breathe)

Phew. Don't fall into a trap of spending 3 hours and 3,000 words writing everything you might know on a topic. Not a lot of room for engagement with those types of posts. And you'll shy away from posting again tomorrow.

Try using a worksheet, like the One Post – One Point worksheet. If nothing else, just spill.

Reflections and Reviews: September ’09 and Before

By Mike Sansone on October 1, 2009 in Blog Coach with 0 Comments

As I was reflecting on posts from this month, I am please at the multi-media, multi-modal variety of postings:

Reading with Ears Wide Open – A poem? On a business blog? Sure, why not? What if?
Social Media Expert or Social Media Escort Service? - A short video shared on You Tube. A bit of a rant, but…
Purpose Driven Blogging Worksheet - An interactive form. This post also allow me to email a link to a prospective business about to immerse themselves in social media, thereby synchronizing my communication.
Sometimes Saying Nothing is a Real Cool Hand – A short post. 60 words! Strong point. Love the concise-ity.
Powerpoint to YouTube? Easy with PPT2YouTube – A mini-tutorial on a "tool of the trade" with screen shot/end result
Your Ears Will Never Get You in Trouble – Quite simply, a slide from a recent deck. Use as desired.
Brunch n Brains: The Art of Listening – A video — but someone else's content I'm sharing with my folks. Everyone wins with this kind of sharing.

Posts from Septembers Past:
Limp Wrists Can Give You Controlled Strength ('08)
HASPO or ASPOBO? Your Choice ('08)
ConverStational Mini-Lessons: Google Reader ('08)
Wallflowers: An Important Part of the Conversation, Still ('08)

Business Bloggers: Mingle with Your Audience ('07)
Blog Posts are Inventory, Blog Sites are Displays ('07)
Discovery Along the Blogging Path ('07)
Add RSS to Your Web Strategy Toolbox ('07)

Putting Your Toes in the Water ('06)
An Example of Handling Negative Comments ('06)
Crash Davis Belief Statement – My Turn At-Bat ('06)
Married to Panera ('06)

Business Bloggers Featured in Des Moines Register

By Mike Sansone on October 1, 2009 in Blog Coach, Blogging, Social Media with 0 Comments

Wonderful story about our Central Iowa Business Blogger group (#CIB) in the Des Moines Register today. The piece captures the spirit of collaboration and open-source ideation we hoped for from the start og the gathering three years ago.

Though some have moved on, plenty of new folks join in each month. It really has become an offline example of the blogosphere if you watch and listen:

You enter the restaurant and immediately hear the buzz, looking over and seeing 30-40 people sitting, standing, laughing, or drawing on backs of napkins
You try to get close to see what all the commotion is about. You hear the word "blog" or "twitter" and remember the jokes that you heard on Letterman or the View — and you wonder who these "geeks" are, starting to back off, until you hear it…
You hear folks talking business; best practices; relationship-building; global connection; new income streams; synchronized communication; improved findability on the web
You creep closer and some Yoda-like guy starts introducing you as if you've been part of the group all along (and you have — you just now realized it is all)

You see, you've been part of the community all along. It's the nature of the species. To connect. To communicate. To share thinking and feeling, It's a unique species for sure. No, not the blogging species. The human species.

The CIBers (we all co-own it) meet every month on the First Friday (next one is tomorrow), Panera at 6740 University (WDM), 8am-ish. I won't be in town for the October event, but look forward to November.

And if you find that the CIB is not at a [convenient] time or place, you may want to check out the iBlog Conference coming up in November.

B&B: Words and Ideas Can Change the World

By Mike Sansone on September 30, 2009 in Blog Coach, Education with 0 Comments

Love this scene from Dead Poet's Society! What will your verse (image, sketch, blog post, mantra) be?

Just Spill

By Mike Sansone on September 9, 2009 in Blog Coach with 1 Comment

If you’ve seen Sir Ken Robinson’s TED video, you’ll recall the story about the little girl in art class:

Teacher: What are you drawing?
Girl: I’m drawing a picture of God
Teacher: But… no one knows what God looks like
Girl: They will in a minute

A funny bit on the creativity of kids, but also an important practice that I call “Spill.” It is a common term I use with people as we first start working together.

Them: I don’t know what to write (or say)
Me: Just Spill, when it comes out, then you’ll know.
Them: But what if it’s not good?
Me: We can only find out after you spill. So spill.

You don’t know what your know until you articulate it.

70% is Launchable

By Mike Sansone on September 5, 2009 in Blog Coach with 0 Comments

When I was working with startups and in my early AOL days, we used to say 70% is launchable – we'd just do a quiet launch and work out the kinks. We now label these projects as "beta" — but we do the same thing offline, yes?

Think of a retail setting or even a bank. Sometimes it's months after the doors quietly open to the public before the actual Grand Opening event. The quiet launch allows for kinks to be worked out, – a punch list if you will.

Want to launch a new section or new site? Forget perfect! Remember, the only way to get living, breathing ducks into a row and stay there is to grab your gun — but then you have (you guessed it) dead ducks.

Related:
Quotes n Notes: Perfection