http://www.christopherspenn.com Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:08:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's Independence Day, the day in history when the United States declared independence from the Crown of England. It's a day steeped in patriotism, with a little nationalism and some jingoism mixed in. There are some very lengthy debates about what patriotism is vs. nationalism (which is widely credited for things like ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/07/04/patriot/ In today's A Week With A View, an abstract of sorts, ribbons of flags for the Fourth of July. Flags by Hryck. It's interesting that so many of the July 4th holiday photos on Flickr have a ton of political commentary rabidly espousing a viewpoint with them. Independence Day at its core ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/07/03/a-week-with-a-view-july-4th/ Every conference these days has a hashtag and attendees are (unless explicitly prohibited) tweeting, live-blogging, streaming audio and video. If you wanted to, from your desk, you could attend nearly every conference in the world, and for free as opposed to paying $50-$5000 to attend. In terms of content, you'd ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/07/02/will-social-media-burn-conferences-to-the-ground/ Today's A Week With a View showcases fire. This is a longtime favorite of mine. Bonfire by Dominic. This one is just... impressive. Did you enjoy this blog post? If so, please consider subscribing for free! Get this and other great articles from the source at www.ChristopherSPenn.com http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/07/02/a-week-with-a-view-fire/ It's Canada Day (or Dominion Day) so I thought I'd pick something Canadian for today's A Week With A View. The trouble is, there's too much to pick from. Here's a selection. Clouds in Quebec by Michel Fillon: Victoria Glacier in Alberta by Laszlo: Vancouver Island by Zedzap: And new media friend Angela Misri, ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/07/01/a-week-with-a-view-canada/ For today's A Week With A View, I went searching for temples. Spirituality and the power of the spirit has been on my mind lately. By Koshyk. This is a photo of Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple, a Sikh site. I love the light in this picture. I look forward to seeing your ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/30/a-week-with-a-view-temple/ A Week With A View: June 29, 2009 Did a search for hiking. Saw this: by Adam Baker. What I really like about this photo is the very strong path my eyes follow through the photo from the hiker all the way up the mountains. In that respect it's very similar to a ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/29/a-week-with-a-view-hiking/ A Week With A View There's an impressive amount of photography on Flickr. There are some amazing photos on there from amateur and professional photographers. Here's a blogging exercise I'd like you to try this coming week. Find a beautiful photo licensed for Creative Commons use, a moving photo, a stunning, ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/29/a-week-with-a-view/ What's next? There has never been a more repeated question in all of marketing, and there has never been a time that question has been asked more frequently than now. Marketing, like so many other industries, has had its world turned upside down in the last decade. Marketing executives' heads are ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/26/whats-next/ Last night I had the opportunity to attend Radian6's Rockstars of Social CRM. Interesting event. The panel discussion was mostly on interaction with customers, but all of the side conversations throughout the night made it absolutely epic. Some highlights: Talking with Olivier Blanchard about the ultimate evolution of social media and ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/25/rockstars-of-conversation/ We spend a lot of time focused on differences because we're programmed to. That's a crude survival mechanism. As Mitch, Hugh, and CC pointed out on the most recent episode of Media Hacks, the one silver lining in the current Iranian... situation?... is that our prejudices about what Iran and ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/22/marketing-says-unity-is-possible/ Podcasters Across Borders 2009 has wrapped up and the team of Mark Blevis and Bob Goyetche threw yet another impressive event. This year's PAB theme was ostensibly bringing outside knowledge into the podcasting world, but the general subject of many of the presentations was on story more than anything - ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/22/i-was-on-a-boat-called-pab09/ I enjoy communicating with Twitter, talking to all of the friends I've made over the past few years at conferences, events, etc. I enjoy many of the Twitter clients out there like Tweetdeck, Twhirl, Nambu, and others. The one thing I don't enjoy? Every Twitter client seems to have a ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/18/geeking-out-twitter-from-the-command-line/ Here's another serious topic for discussion: how do you, in social media, reconcile openness and secrecy? Let me give you an example from World of Warcraft. One of the side parts of the game (a very big side part for me) is the in-game economy. You make gold by creating stuff, ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/17/how-do-you-reconcile-openness-and-secrecy/ I have a serious question for everyone who's not in the country of Iran but is participating in the various Iran memes floating around the social media world, such as changing your location or making your avatar green. I want to hear your thoughts and debate on this. How does something ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/16/how-exactly-is-this-making-a-difference/ From Twitter: sophware: @cspenn Good stuff. Do you have a similar list of people you respect? That's usually harder to make catchy, but would be great to see. People whose records actually do speak for them. People who accomplish real, tangible results. People who happily say "I don't know" and follow up with "but ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/16/people-i-respect/ Financial coaches who aren't fabulously wealthy. Chefs who crusade against foods. There's more than enough to advocate for that if you're crusading against something, you're probably not cooking delicious things. Fitness personal trainers who are seriously overweight. Black belt "masters" under the age of 13. Social media experts. Any (American) politician whose ads include the ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/15/people-im-wary-of/ I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking on the Robust Online Content panel with Dr. Matthew Grant, Phil Juliano from Novell, Valeria Maltoni from Sungard, and Mike O'Toole from PJA on Monday at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum. One of my personal themes (that I didn't articulate in the panel) ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/10/souvenirs-from-marketingprofs-b2b-forum/ I'll be at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum today, speaking on a panel about creating compelling content with Matthew Grant, Mike O'Toole, Phil Juliano, and Valeria Maltoni. If you're at the B2B Forum, say hi. If you have no idea what I look like, the photo at the top of the ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/08/meet-me-at-the-marketingprofs-b2b-forum/ I posed a question on Twitter that cuts to the heart of all of this stuff: What is social media? Seriously, what defines social media from any other form of media? Lots of folks responded. bigguyd: @cspenn interactions. SM is a two way street where traditional media is one way, typically. comedy4cast: @cspenn We ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/07/social-medias-defining-factor/ Do you know what happens when you set foot in the ocean? In that brief moment, you touch the world, all of it, because every drop of water that touches your feet has touched every shore, every beach ever. So it is with the Internet, with social media, and with the news. ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/04/my-morning-news-stand/ An interesting bit of Twitter conversation fleshed out. chrisbrogan: 10,000 hours of practice: the magic number of skill mastery. - Gladwell. cspenn: Gladwell failed to answer how to overcome advantages that other outliers have. Only major flaw in that book. chrisbrogan: meaning, in a pool of many 10k folks, what causes one ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/03/winning-against-all-odds/ Want to know how the recession is affecting your small part of the world, if at all? Check your workplace refrigerator. In boom times, folks tend to eat out more, especially for lunch. In leaner times, folks bring lunch, especially leftovers from the previous night's dinner. This, plus a slew ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/02/local-recession-indicators/ A couple of years ago, I posted a graphic of the mortgage resets from Credit Suisse First Boston. Let's see where we are now. Congratulations to all. We've made it through the subprime crisis and only lost GM, every investment bank, nearly wiped out the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund, put 1 ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/06/01/the-eye-of-the-storm/ One of the biggest problems with design, especially web design, is that we have a nearly impossible task of trying to use words to describe design. For example, if I say light blue, what color comes to mind? Is it the light blue of an early morning sky? The light blue ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/29/what-your-eye-doctor-can-teach-you-about-web-design/ I'm amused by how often the term organic is used in marketing. Organic campaigns, organic link building, organic traffic growth. You'd think the eco/green movement moonlighted in marketing the way we overuse the word organic. Here's some food for thought - organic if you like. The difference between organic marketing and ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/27/marketing-flowers/ Ever wonder what's really hot, what's really selling, where you can make some significant profits? Here's a screenshot of the Auction House from World of Warcraft. Look at all the gold and shiny things you could sell. What should you sell? Where should you focus your attention? If you followed the herd ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/26/what-not-to-market/ There is sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love. - Washington Irving The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/25/a-thoughtful-memorial-day/ I'm very excited to see how fast PodCamp Boston 4 is growing, particularly under new leadership as Michelle Wolverton takes PodCamp Boston in new directions this year as lead organizer. One of the most interesting aspects of PCB4 is the refocus on shared community knowledge through Questions. How many times have ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/19/the-questions-of-podcamp-boston-4/ Backing up your Wordpress blog takes less than 60 seconds and will save you hours of heartache later if something goes wrong. Back up frequently, at least once every few posts so that you don't lose them or the comments your readers have left. Here's how in one screenshot: Click to see ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/16/how-to-back-up-your-wordpress-blog-in-60-seconds/ They're considered relics of antiquity now, but once upon a time, corporate sponsored cookbooks were all the rage. In my grandmother's kitchen cabinets, you could find the Betty Crocker cookbook series, Good Housekeeping's set, Kraft's set, you name it. Dozens and dozens of cookbooks, some famous in their own right. ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/14/recipe-books-and-social-media/ Take a look at these three charts. Bloomberg's commodities index of indices: Commodities, or commodity futures, are investments in the future value of things like rice, gold, oil, cattle, and other tangible goods. Baltic Dry Index: The Baltic Dry Index is an index of costs to ship things on cargo ships. As BDI goes ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/10/turning-this-economic-ship-around/ Thousands of followers on Twitter. Friends across many networks. Blog/PR/Twitter/Facebook/etc. Grader ranks you in the top X on the network of your choice. All of these sound familiar, right? All of these sound wonderful, showcase your social media expertise, innovation, thought leadership, cutting edge, leading, luminary status. Fine and good. How much power do ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/07/how-powerful-is-your-social-media/ It's no secret that the Amazon Kindle makes for a great eBook reader. It even makes for a passable mobile computer. What Amazon doesn't tell you is that it makes for the best newsstand ever, using open source software package Calibre. Here's how to power up your Kindle. 1. Download and ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/05/04/turning-your-kindle-into-the-best-newsstand-ever-for-free/ Attention is incredibly scarce. Why? There are so many ways to divert it. Father Roderick Vonhogen once famously said that the Catholic Church isn't competing with Islam or Judaism - it's competing with ABC, CNN, YouTube, and Facebook. The same is true for you, your company, products, or services, and ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/28/your-attention-please/ Twitter's the hot new thing, the shiny object du jour. As such, it's also turned into a massive cesspool of spam from marketers desperate to try hawking their ineffective wares in another channel, hoping against hope that consumers on Twitter are not as smart at filtering them out as they ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/24/identifying-and-nuking-twitter-spammers/ I thought I'd detail some of the processes and thinking behind how I manage and maintain nearly 10,000 followers on Twitter. Before we dig into tech stuff, I have two stated goals for Twitter: 1. Focus on people who want actual conversations. 2. Eliminate people who want to advertise. I don't care. ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/23/twitter-following-practices/ There's a popular expression, a cliche, that says time is money. However, time isn't money. Why? There is no such way to intermediate time. There is no coinage for time, no way to purchase time back that you have spent. If time were actually money, you could buy back that ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/21/time-is-not-money/ In the World of Warcraft, there's an epic battlezone known as Lake Wintergrasp. Players who choose to play in this part of the game join one of two teams with either the goal of defending Wintergrasp Fortress or attempting to take it over from the other team. Without delving too deeply ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/15/learning-from-wintergrasp-marketing-on-the-offensive/ There's a fun drill we do in the martial arts that I first learned from master instructor Bud Malmstrom. Given that you have so many choices, so many options, so many techniques, it can be tough to excel at something, especially in a system like mine which has an absurd ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/14/the-right-hand-blade-of-doom-for-marketing/ Waiting For Wintergrasp: The Moment to Lead People need leaders. They want leaders. They hunger for leaders. In some cases, people are so desperate as a crowd for leadership that they'll follow and even swear loyalty to terrible leaders, as long as they don't have to take up the mantle of ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/10/waiting-for-wintergrasp-the-moment-to-lead/ If you watched my session from Jeff Pulver's Social Media Jungle Boston, you know that I gave everyone some homework - your favorite grilling item, sent to Justin Levy. While I have lots, I thought I'd share something slightly different. Here's how I grill, period. First, I use charcoal because I ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/06/smjbos-homework-grilled-something-or-other/ I'm reluctant to plug any one set of people on Twitter's #followfriday only because I'd have to broadcast hundreds of Tweets for all the interesting people and what they do. Rather than do that, here's a compendium of #followfriday tips that you can use to find the conversations you want to ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/03/8-follow-friday-tips-for-twitter/ How many blog posts haven't you read yet? How many podcasts haven't you listened to yet? How many messages in your inbox are just languishing there? Some of them are landmines. After all, yesterday was April Fool's Day, but you might not get to those April 1 blog posts in your RSS reader ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/02/april-2-is-international-mark-all-as-read-day/ I just got a new prime lens for my Nikon D90 and want to take it out for a spin. I also want to do a very casual social meetup with fellow local shutterbugs to do it. This raised an important question for me - when in Boston is the ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/04/01/using-rss-apis-and-web-services-to-plan-a-photowalk/ Making me hate your brand I got my copy of the Boston Business Journal yesterday, which is a paper I normally enjoy reading, as it's got decent coverage of the Boston business scene. Yesterday's issue came with something new: The paper, looking to maximize advertising revenues I suppose, has now permitted an ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/31/making-me-hate-your-brand/ We banter a lot in discussions about social media and the various applications of it. Twitter, for good or ill, has come to dominate a lot of people's thinking about what social media is, despite it being only a small piece of the puzzle. That said, Twitter does a great ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/27/twitter-sometimes-brevity-means-all-meat/ Many thanks to Jeff Glasson and Perkett PR for recording and publishing the video, and to Jeff Pulver for hosting the event. Did you enjoy this blog post? If so, please consider subscribing for free! Get this and other great articles from the source at www.ChristopherSPenn.com http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/24/its-all-about-the-numbers-social-media-jungle-presentation/ I was messing around with my D90 today and was thinking about lightboxes. If you're not familiar with a lightbox, it's a controlled photo environment, like a pint-sized studio, that lets you take close up shots of items for sites like eBay or Craigslist. Most of the systems out there ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/22/4-steps-to-a-diy-lightbox/ Becoming a ninja My teacher, Mark Davis of the Boston Martial Arts Center, asked us to write a bit about how we got involved in the martial arts and why we're still here. Way, way back, as far as 4th or 5th grade in school, I was the short, unathletic kid who ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/20/becoming-a-ninja/ Sensei is an interesting term in Japanese culture and the martial arts. Traditionally, most people translate it as "teacher", and the term is applied as an honorific to doctors, lawyers, teachers, and others of high esteem. If you dissect its meaning and characters, it literally translates as "before born" in ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/19/social-media-success-and-the-idea-of-sensei/ The seeds of the economic recovery are beginning to sprout a little. While the broader economy still has a lot to shake off and the investment, credit, and financial markets still have more garbage to take out, there are small signs of recovery underway that will eventually grow to big ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/16/seeds-of-the-recovery/ I thought I'd share some resources that have been helpful to me developing my public speaking skills over the years. Some are free, some require some investment, but all are worthy. If things are a little tight financially, definitely start with the free. Free Garr Reynolds on effective presenting at Google [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ2vtQCESpk[/youtube] Sample effective ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/13/public-speaking-starter-kit/ It IS A Numbers Game - Thinking About What Numbers Actually Matter Jeff Pulver asked me to speak at Social Media Jungle: Boston and gave this intriguing guideline: At Social Media Jungle, our discussion leaders will be presenting their talk as if they were sharing a blog post. And the people in ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/10/it-is-a-numbers-game-thinking-about-what-numbers-actually-matter/ There's a peculiar expression that accompanies World of Warcraft that needs to make its way into social media, and quickly: Bring the player, not the class. In Warcraft, there are different classes of players - mages, paladins, shamans, etc. Each of the classes has different traits suited to different kinds of players ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/05/bring-the-player-not-the-class/ This is mandatory, absolutely must see material. The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo. I only wished the video went further. It ends at the credit crisis and failing investments - and the chain reaction beyond that is choking of credit to businesses, which puts some out of business, ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/03/01/stop-whatever-youre-doing-and-watch-this-video/ How many of you know what a neighborhood watch is? It's an old school idea - neighbors keep an eye out in the neighborhood for suspicious activity and report it to the police. It's especially effective when neighbors know each other and are happy to look out for each others' ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/26/neighborhood-watch-20/ Stop me if you've heard this one: Interrupting consumers doesn't work any more. Outbound marketing - direct mail, trade shows, conferences, PR, advertising - just doesn't work any more. Instead, you need inbound marketing. Attract customers like a magnet to your products or services! The new truth of marketing is that ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/23/falsehood-as-truth-the-lie-of-inbound-marketing/ A friend was at a recent business meeting where product marketers were going over color palettes, organization of their stores, and a bunch of other details, all important. What was critically missing, however, was their marketing. When asked, they said that they were doing marketing, that all of the operational ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/18/stop-staring-at-the-pizza/ Guido Stein asked a terrific question in this Twitter conversation: cspenn: @chrisbrogan I am stingy with my recommendations, but when I recommend something, I *mean* it. High bar, but kudos if you reach it. GuidoS: @cspenn how can you be stingy about recommendations but not about people in your network? Isn't association ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/12/association-is-not-recommendation/ Jobs are what matter most. Here's a stimulus idea to send to Washington. Create a $100,000 loan grant run through the federal department of your choice, backed by the Treasury. Businesses of any size may apply for and receive a $100,000, one year loan at the Federal Funds Rate. If a business ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/11/a-different-stimulus-idea-that-might-work/ ... over at Chris Brogan's blog. See you there. http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/11/today-im-posting-somewhere-else/ A serious question in a bit. First, consider: Micro-famous. Micro-blogging. Micro-finance. Micro-marketing. Are we so desperate to feel any sense of importance that we'll attach the word micro to anything just so that the definition includes us? (by the way, the same applies to new and social) No disrespect to the creators of the terms, but ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/10/micro/ I've read and heard a lot of buzz about Amazon's Kindle and Kindle 2 lately. Of the folks who are not wild about the device, the main criticism is that it's not a book. It lacks the real world charm of books - the feel of the paper, the smell ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/10/why-marketers-dont-understand-the-amazon-kindle-or-kindle-2/ There's no formal economic definition of a depression like there is a recession. That said, a depression is basically a really bad recession. The current environment fits that description aptly. Despite wishes to the contrary, more folks are realizing that we are in the midst of a new depression. Wall Street ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/09/yes-youre-in-a-depression/ More than a few people who follow me on Twitter have been asking about what all the stuff is in one particular Tweet that I do daily, more for my own benefit to see where market indicators are. Here's your morning tweet cheat sheet. Sample: DJIA +146 VIX 42.28 TED 95bps 3mo ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/05/whats-all-the-stuff-in-the-early-morning-tweet-about/ These are two questions I receive often on social networks: Where's the bottom? When do things get better? First, a disclaimer: I am an armchair economist at best. I've never taken a course in economics, but I do own Economics for Dummies and have read it cover to cover many times. That's enough ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/04/wheres-the-bottom-when-do-things-get-better/ Starbucks. Apple. Maglite. Dom Perignon. All of these are premium brands, yes? They conjure up certain images, certain feelings, certain associations, all of which their respective marketing departments have worked hard to establish over the years. Premium denotes quality of product or service above average, a product you can aspire to as a consumer... ... ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/03/the-problem-with-premium/ How You Fight Tells Me Who You Are A lot of your personality is revealed when you take up arms against someone else, whether in self defense or aggression. How you fight, your particular fighting style, reveals your traits - strengths, weaknesses, identity. After all, in a fight, you're tapping into ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/02/03/how-you-fight-tells-me-who-you-are/ Money as trust I heard an interesting comment made during Davos (I wasn't there, but was listening to Bloomberg Surveillance) about the economic situation. One Davos participant said that it's all a matter of trust. He hit the nail right on the head. Everything that you see happening right now is ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/30/money-as-trust/ Fun With Journchat Last night I decided to give Journchat a spin, which is a Twitter-hosted discussion of journalism topics between PR folks and journalists. Question: As a journ, who should I follow on Twitter to ensure my newsroom is on top of breaking news? (quick one) #journchat Not a person, but topics. ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/27/fun-with-journchat/ Pixelated Business Marketing Conference A while back, Mitch Joel posted his Pixelated conference series, a collection of seminars and sessions from conferences that contain the "best of the best" for any set of topics. I've been so busy doing stuff that I never got around to putting mine together until now. ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/21/pixelated-business-marketing-conference/ Monetization and social media Get rich quick! Quit your day job! Money while you sleep! All claims made of social media and virtually every other new technology, idea, or movement since mankind first created money itself. Can you make money in social media? Should you make it an aim? To answer this ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/19/monetization-and-social-media/ In reading the latest "controversy" in social media about Burger King's ad agency tweeting on behalf of the client and the furor over authenticity and transparency, I came to this conclusion: Burger King needs a new agency. If you haven't been following along, here's the very short summary. CP+B is the agency ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/16/make-your-social-media-experiment-useful/ I've been writing a lot of eBooks lately, it would seem. For those folks who are just getting to know me, I thought I'd summarize all the writing in one post so you could go and get the eBooks if you like. All of the eBooks are completely free of ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/15/lots-of-ebooks-lately/ In a period of growth, your brand is your sword, helping you open up new markets, boldly making an impression on consumers, reinforcing the emotional aftertaste of doing business with you for good or ill. Your brand is what you brandish against competitors, demonstrating with swiftness your strengths and the ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/14/the-power-of-brand-in-a-recession/ Social media for business is unquestionably a hot topic in the current environment. Lots of folks want to know how it can help their business, make them some money, or reduce costs, and to a degree, social media can do all that. That said, a real stealth play for social ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/13/social-media-as-an-agent-of-corporate-change/ I was prepping for a presentation at College of the Holy Cross and noticed that Twitter had, at least for posting updates, ground to a halt this morning. There are a lot of folks in the social media space positioning themselves as Twitter experts, Twitter consultants, Twitter this or thats, ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/09/do-you-have-a-twitter-plan-b/ Recently, my friend Chris Brogan asked what three words would define 2009's goals and achievements. Mine come directly from one of my teachers, Stephen K. Hayes, and his Quest organization - unleash your potential. In the context of his To-Shin Do martial art, it's about awakening a lot of things ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/04/three-words-for-2009-unleash-your-potential/ I twittered briefly about a fast, easy dinner I was making. Suddenly a whole bunch of people wanted to know how to make it too. Here's how. 1. Make some spaghetti, enough for 1 person for a reasonable meal. Doesn't matter what kind, just make sure it's washed and cool/cold. Leftover ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/02/simple-stir-fry/ A funny thing happens when a new year starts. For many of us, we craft these resolutions, these goals for the new year, as a way of making a fresh start to the year. Here's a few tips to make those goals stick. 1. They have to be achievable. 2. They have ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/01/01/new-years-resolute/ Hat tip to Stephen K. Hayes' Densho and the Tsubaki Jinja shrine for this stirring description of what 2009 may hold for us all: HEISEI 21/TSUCHINOTO/USHI DOSHI/KYUSHI KASEI meaning the 21st year of the Heisei reign of current Emperor, 6th of the Ji-Kan 10 Celestial Stems Inner Aspect of Earth, Year ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/30/the-year-of-the-ox-ahead/ Here's a question - what are your marketing cooldowns? This comes from a weird amalgamation of marketing, a hot shower, and World of Warcraft. See, in World of Warcraft, especially as a spellcaster, you have spells you can cast that function like ammunition. Each spell can be fired with a mandatory ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/26/your-marketing-cooldowns/ If you've been hankering for some power tips to use with Twitter that go beyond the basics, be sure to check out my new Twitter Power Guide eBook over at the Financial Aid Podcast. Did you enjoy this blog post? If so, please consider subscribing for free! Get this ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/26/twitter-power-guide-ebook/ I can't begin to tell you how many holiday cards, videos, photo greetings, slide shows, and more I've received from nearly every company I've done business with over the past two weeks. Many of them were tasteful and well made, a few were silly, some clever, and one or two ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/21/make-your-corporate-holiday-card-useful/ Much has been made of 2009 being a year of frugality for marketing departments and social media becoming the new darling for budget constrained companies. That said, I want to throw a contrary viewpoint out there: social media marketing is not necessarily cheaper than other forms of marketing. What social media ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/16/social-media-marketing-is-not-cheaper/ I was noticing and thinking about something earlier today when it comes to food. In a lot of foods, in our quest to cut calories and fat, we've substituted astonishing amounts of salt for savory, for flavor that originally came from modest amounts of fat. Take a look at bacon, ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/15/salty-is-not-savory-but-you-might-think-otherwise/ So here we are. The economy's down, business everywhere is in trouble, prospects for the future look dim at best. What's a marketer to do? The thing to do is to take a moment and strip away everything in marketing that doesn't matter. Put down for a moment ROI, analytics, metrics, ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/09/the-soul-of-marketing/ I got yet another cold call at the office today. The sales drone on the other end, as soon as they confirmed they got a live human being, immediately launched into their pitch. "Mr. Penn, I'd like just 15 minutes of your time to go over your telecom needs and introduce ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/08/the-cold-call-receives-the-cold-shoulder/ How effective is a web design? How effective is a photograph? Here's an easy way to tell. Load up your web site of choice on a mobile browser. Hold the device at arm's length. If you can't immediately pick out the call to action and get a sense for what the site ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/07/web-design-and-photography-assessment-tip/ Celebrate International Day of the Ninja today by taking some ninja lessons right online! Want to take actual ninja lessons? Study with Stephen K. Hayes, or if you're in Massachusetts, check out the Boston Martial Arts Center in Boston or the Winchendon Martial Arts Center in Winchendon, MA. Ninja grandmaster teacher ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/05/celebrate-international-day-of-the-ninja/ Well gang, after much, much, much labor, data gathering, and reading the most awful documentation ever produced by mankind - from the US government - my new eBook, the 2009-2010 FAFSA Guide, is now published. It's 47 pages of financial aid stuff about how to fill out the FAFSA, landmines ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/02/new-ebook/ What's the fastest way to go out of business? I'd venture to say that it's having a product or service at the wrong price. (that or having no revenue model) Nowhere is this highlighted more obviously than in fantasy markets such as the one in World of Warcraft. There are ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/12/01/understanding-value/ As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, please consider this super-easy leftovers tip: whatever you don't need, whatever's extra, please donate to a local food pantry, soup kitchen, or homeless shelter. Even just an extra can of cranberry sauce or can of coffee makes a difference, and it's so easy to ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/11/27/happy-thanksgiving-and-leftovers/ As we wrap up 2008 and the interesting year that it was, I wanted to throw out some ideas there for PodCamp organizers for 2009. 1. Use the tools! 2008 showed rapid growth in every social network of note, and as organizers, the more you can help people meet and greet ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/11/25/podcamp-in-2009-thoughts-for-organizers/ One of the greatest lies ever told to people is the fallacy of good debt/bad debt. "A mortgage is good debt! It's an investment that will pay off!" "A college education and student loan is good debt! It's an investment in yourself!" "A credit card is bad debt! Stuff you buy with a ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/11/25/bad-debt-good-debt-and-the-great-financial-lie/ I saw this story on CNN about the vetting process for the Obama administration being too cautious and too meticulous: ...some political observers say the president-elect's similar caution with respect to recruiting new administration officials and key high-level advisers may be turning away a string of qualified candidates wary of subjecting ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/11/23/obamas-vetting-process-is-a-good-thing/ Our economy is in a great deal of trouble. Far more than a problem in financial services, far more than just hype on the evening news, we're in a LOT of trouble. Consider a few things: 1. The jobless reports crested today at 542,000 jobs lost/initial unemployment claims filed. This is huge, ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/11/21/we-are-in-a-lot-of-trouble/ You must be passionate about what you do and what you believe in. You must be passionate, emotional, even a little overzealous, because it's that passion that will keep you going when times get rough... like now. The passion to make a difference, to be more than the sum of ... http://www.christopherspenn.com/2008/11/19/passion-and-light/