Content is King…But Imagination is Everything!

Why do some people read novels? (Then again, why do people watch Twilight movies over and over? I’m perplexed!) They’re imaginative, creative and paint a picture. One method for attracting attention and keeping audience interest is to become an artist with words, using both metaphor and similes. You might say to yourself right now that you are not the linguistic version of Picasso. Yet, even the most mind-numbing products and services have characteristics that are able to create a mental picture with words. Does ice get jealous? Can food clown around? Of course not! However, by giving seemingly disconnected and sometimes-inanimate objects, human characteristics – even a glass-chiller product for a bar or nothing-special restaurant food, can come alive. Try it yourself. Does your product stick like glue? Do your services get attention like the roar of a lion?

What Do You Mean?

For some of you, getting a little “out there” with your writing won’t suit the professional nature necessary for your web, blog or social media content. But, you still want your audience to find meaning in your writing. One simple method for explaining complex information in an entertaining way is to use analogy. By using comparative concepts, you can relate to your audience and connect complex ideas they won’t understand with simple notions they already know well. In my case, if I were to explain the ’marketing experience’ concept to an audience where I live – particularly San Francisco Giants fans – I might say the marketing experience is about communicating the feeling you get going to the AT&T park, with the sights, sounds and smells of the game of baseball. It conjures the imagery and helps explain the concept without being “over-the-top.”

Summon Your Inner Steve Jobs

Watch any keynote by Steve Jobs and you’ll understand why thousands travel from afar to the “City by the Bay” and hundreds of thousands more watch online, just to see him speak. Steve knows how to arouse an audience. It helps that Apple has generated a cult following around its products that rival entire world religions. Yet, Steve Jobs presents Apple products, not in terms of Gigahertz, RAM and boring features. You can find those if you want to. No, Steve Jobs focuses keynote presentations by setting the tone with emphasis, using a vocabulary of incredible zeal and just plain…“cool.” You can turn your written copy, even videos and webinars “Jobsian” with just a little research and a thesaurus.

There is quite a bit more to good copywriting techniques that sell product and get attention; but a little creativity can go a long way in attracting an audience who cares.

And remember boys and girls, if you happen to use a cheesy pickup line, at least make ‘em laugh with you, not at you.

Since I am a SXSWi expert/celebrity/goddess (you get the picture, right?) I’ll generously share my reply and then some:

I could have a LOT of tips for you – First, it’s a massive conference. Expect overwhelm.

Then: Plan as best you can, and then throw the plan out the window.

Here’s a comprehensive list of events.
–> RSVP now for everything you know you want to attend, and even the stuff you are on the fence about attending. (Most events are badge &/or RSVP only).

You will not get to everything. Don’t even try. (As Lucretia Pruitt said, “SXSW is like a surfing competition – you can train all you like, but you ride the wave you get.” She was right.)

(No SXSW post from me would be complete without a message from the following sponsors. Namely, Me.)
I have an event on March 15: http://techkaraoke.eventbrite.com
I speak on March 14: http://outsourcingsocialmediaprofessionally.com

You might have fun playing the Meet-Meme SXSW scavenger hunt: http://meet-meme.com/sxsw

Down time & a good place for networking will be the Tech Set Bloggers Lounge (where you’ll want to find Derek Overbvey and ask to borrow his earbuds. Tell ‘em KBJ sent ya!) at the convention center.
But you’ll actually find out that cool kids will be here: http://bloungeatx.eventbrite.com

Connect with people you want to meet now & put them on a Twitter list and then follow them on Foursquare (this is the best way to find people).
You could follow the #SXSW or #SXSWi hashtag, I find them overwhelming now (and create my own for folks to follow… who remembers the Adventures of #KOZi?)

Bring backup power supply for all your electronics…

Take lots of PICTURES :)

(Starting to sound like Baz Luhrmann’s Sunscreen Song here. Well, you might want to do that, too.)

That’s all I got!

You could also ask smarties like:

Field Guide to South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi)

20 Tips for SXSW

hmmm…. what else? tips? links? share ‘em!

UPDATED: Crapola! I almost forgot. Hug @SugarJones. Get a picture with @Unmarketing wearing these bad boys :) That last one might be just for me!

I remember what some of them were and I’m really sad that I didn’t read them.

Others, I’m sure I’d be seriously disappointed that I didn’t read if I could remember what they were.

And I have no links to share with you today.

But on some level, it felt good.

I’ll likely forget all about it by Monday, and the process will start all over again.

Between browser tabs, email labels, bookmarks, social bookmarks, hard drives, books, paper files, etc, (oye!) information starts to pile up and get disorganized!

Sometimes, you just have to close them out. I did today, and I liked it.

Added bonus: my machine runs much faster and so does my brain!

Not anything earth shattering, here, but sometimes, you just gotta let ‘em go!

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for the impact you’ve had on me this year whether you realize it or not… It’s been an amazing year for me, thanks to the support of those of you I’ve connected with!

I also wanted to share with you about a delivery from Amazon.com that landed on my doorstep yesterday…  TADA! These gorgeous pinqued Joan & David pumps from Santa Scott (aka @unmarketing) are what was inside! Isn’t that the coolest?

I’ll quickly tell you the story – Scott sends out a tweet asking for folks to tweet him back with their Amazon Wish lists. (of course, I have one with books, but I also have one with pink shoes… you know, *just* in case! Well, I finally got the opportunity to share that list (first time!) and I was really just trying to be a smart-ass, when, well, as you can tell, Scott called my bluff!)

There are many lessons to this story. (One of which is I get to cross these babies off my list!) The least of which is not that SCOTT STRATTEN IS THE COOLEST GUY ON TWITTER (and maybe the planet, but I cannot confirm the latter just yet). No, seriously. Go follow him… http://twitter.com/unmarketing also… buy his book and read that, too. (not even an affiliate link, baby!)

What’s even cooler… is that’s not why he sent them to me, or anyone else he picked…. he just did it to be awesome. And that was the best reason to do it.

So, whatever you get from this… I say, THIS is what social media is all about. Things like:

…Connecting with awesome people!
…Developing relationships both on and offline
…It’s not about you! Supporting others in what they are up to!
…Being genuine & GIVING to your followers… give back. Give again. then give some more.
…Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there ;)
…SHOW UP – If I hadn’t caught the tweet & responded, I wouldn’t be writing this post :)
…oh, and don’t edit your blog posts… I didn’t!!
…I am sure there are more (or less…) whichever, i’m sure you won’t hesitate to let me know in the comments :)

Lastly, Scott has taught me about more than just engaging. He’s also taught me about life. Here’s a gift from him to you, trust me, you want to hear this… http://youtu.be/3Cakm2nIQWo

And because I couldn’t decide which picture of Scott and I to post, here’s another for your viewing pleasure :)

I’ll stop rambling now.

Thank you again, Scott {Hugs}

and Best Wishes for Happy Holidays to all!

xoxo,

kbj

All hail technology! The first forums started springing up not so long after more and more people had access to dial-up Internet. In these forums, people talked about anything and everything. As humans, we naturally segmented ourselves into groups based on interests. Star Wars fans with fascinations about the Wampa Ice Creature probably had a forum and could get their rocks off talking about the creatures predatory inner workings. Online forums became more and more widespread and we increasingly found venues for our interests.

One of the original terms for social media and the idea that referrals might result in better brand awareness, was “word-of-web”. The ability to find and talk online about products and services that people like is not new. The new part is that “word-of-web” has permeated the consumer landscape like a fast growing wildfire. The good news? This is not some flash in the pan way of business, as some pundits might suggest. Word-of-web is not going away any time soon. The best part about it: the resistance from traditionalists in business and marketing. More on that later.

In the meantime…your customers aren’t at the water cooler. They are online…word-of-web. Go get em!

After a super long exhausing day yesterday… I was so pleased when I found a few gifts in my office & in the mailbox!

On my desk:

Flowers and a card from the chef! How sweet :-)

Last night, I finally met up with my good buddy Ricci Neer at Austin Internet Marketing Entrepreneur Network who had months ago gotten a copy of Trust Agents signed for me by Chris Brogan.

And then this morning I had Chris’ Social Media 101 in my mailbox!

Had a second gift in the mailbox!

Even Frankie Dogg got a couple of surprises today!

The first, was a gift certficate to Austin Dirty Dog for being their 1500th follower on Twitter. (Yes, you read that right!)

He also got a shiny new contraption for me to walk him with that Christina from Skillful Paws found for him!

Oh, Happy Day! What surprises did you find today?

These are the things I learned:

Share often.
Play fair.
Don’t spam.
Follow back when people follow you.
Update your status.
Engender loyalty.
Say you’re sorry when you “shout” by leaving your CAPS lock on.
Create and provide value.
Blog.
Taking care of your customers is good for you.
Live a balanced life -
learn some and think some
and tweet and twellow and post and link
and play and work every day some.
Answer your email every afternoon.
When you go out onto the web,
generate traffic,
nurture your relationships,
be present to opportunity.

I’ll start from the very beginning, a very good place to start.  I created an account on Twitter about a year and a half ago.  One of my Facebook friends status updates always read, “is twittering:” and I was curious what she was so nervous about all the time…

I went through the basics – username, password, etc, and following people in my address book who were using Twitter (all of 2).  I have to admit, like most, I had no freakin’ clue what to do or how this was supposed to be used. Naturally, my facination with it didn’t last long.

It wasn’t but a few months later that I got the pink slip due to downsizing and I thought to myself “Well, crap, better get on Twitter.” See, although I had been managing a 30k + member online community for over 2 years, I really hadn’t wrapped my brain fully around what was going on in OTHER communities, unlike mine.

But what I did know, was that whatever it was that was next for me, was to be found on Twitter.

Long story, longer, as hard as I tried I could not locate my former account. So, I started again from step one, calling myself @Miss_Banana. (Why banana is my nickname will be saved for another post – and yes – it’s a clean story.) Picture, check. Location, check. URL, check. Bio, check. Name & Username, check.

Time to start tweeting, or twittering or whatever its called.  I can’t even remember what my first few tweets were, but it was football season and I remember being very active on the weekends and during games (watch out – football season isn’t far away). I spent the weekdays following others, lurking, reading and absorbing all I could. I would jump in when I: 1) thought I had something interesting to contribute and 2) could muster up the courage to actually post it.

My first follow: @JuliaRoy … not long after @chrisbrogan. I followed every person in Austin I could find (Not only is Austin where I happen to live, but there are cool people here, and I quickly found out that the social media and techie community was no exception.) I followed everyone that I saw in an @reply from someone I followed.  I was a follower MANIAC, trying to soak up and absorb as much information as I possibly could.  I read and bookmarked dozens and dozens of blog posts each day; subscribed to feeds for the “good ones”.

It wasn’t long before someone pointed out that I wasn’t going to make it far with the username @Miss_Banana.  I really appreciated that – as up until then, for the most part, I had been using twitter on a more personal level, but of course i wanted to be taken seriously in the long run.  That’s when @katebuckjr was born (I’ll save the “jr” story for another post as well.)  Somewhere along the way, I started using Tweetdeck, began playing with backgrounds, and stopped hanging out on Facebook all day.

There for awhile, I didn’t personally know anyone who followed me on Twitter, nor vice-versa.  And this was a good thing.  I found a comfortable voice for myself, and I found that 140 character posts were fun!  It gradually got easier and easier to post updates. At some point I must have realized the whole world wasn’t hanging on my next tweet.

That being said, as I watch the Twitter world rejoice with happiness as they opt out of Fun140 auto DM’s from hell, I can’t help but feel pride as the one who I single-handedly saved Twitter.

Here’s how it went down (or up, depending on how you view the stream):

And the rest is history. You’re welcome, Twitter.

1) Tweet that everyone who has RSVP’d is either old or trying to sell stuff.
2) Let everyone know that your not going to follow them because you don’t follow anyone who has the word “social media” in their bio.

Tell me again why you’re attending the tweetup? So you can meet old people, who are going to try to sell you stuff and talk about social media?

More great tips on attending tweetups from @Omarg.