Tag: Social networking

Biznik — Does It Work?

I recently stumbled on a social networking site called Biznik. It’s been described as like LinkedIn, but with more social interaction and ways to promote. This evening, I set up a profile, and found one local person I know already on the network (hi, Michael!).

The basic membership is free, but there are more goodies available if you’re willing to pay $10 or $24 a month. Given the fact that time and money are both finite, I’m trying to figure out how valuable this service would be, both for me and my clients.

So, my question is for those who’ve been on Biznik for a while. Does it work? And by “work”, I mean, has it caused a quantifiable improvement in your business? More customers? More traffic to your blog?

And for those who have upgraded to a paid membership — is it worth the dough?

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Jott Blogging

The previous post was a test of a service called Jott. The service (no charge during beta — like crack on the playground, the first taste is free) converts voice into text, and then delivers that text. The “voice” part comes from your cell phone. The text can be delivered to an individual via email or text message. It can also send it to your blog, as the example below shows, or to Twitter. And since both Twitter and my blog go to my Facebook page, my profound wisdom will wind up there as well.

I called Jott on my cell phone, and an automated voices asked “Who do you want to Jott?” I said “WordPress” (I’d filled out an online form with my URL and password). I spoke a few words, the voice said “Got it!”, and minutes later I had a blog post. Except for the Phil-fill issue, they got it right.

Of course, they make sure a link back to Jott appears on the post, so in addition to using me as a guinea pig, Jott gets free advertising out of the deal.

As a free service, this is a no-brainer, but eventually they’re going to have to figure out a way to make money. Will subscribers pay enough to make the company profitable? Will they be able to sell advertising? This will be interesting to watch.

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

Twitter for Business — What’s Appropriate?

As a brand-new Twit, I read Ron Shevlin’s post on Twittiquette with interest. If this thing’s going to work for me, it’s going to work as a business tool — if I want to communicate with my vast network of friends, I can call him on the phone.

So for the business users among you, a query — how much is too much? What do your customers, prospects and business associates want to hear from you. What’s so important that they would subscribe to a feed that gives me regular access to them?

What constitutes appropriate business Twitter behavior, and what constitutes an annoying repeated intrusion?

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

Phil Bernstein is a Twittering Fool!

You can subscribe to my blog. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. You can “Friend” me on Facebook. And now, I’m on Twitter, too.

Frankly, I’m not sure why, exactly. But supposedly, this blog is now synced up with Twitter, so my “followers” (assuming I have any) will get a “tweet” when I publish this post.

Do you use Twitter for business? If so, leave a comment, and tell me why, and how you use it. And if it helps you at all.

Enquiring minds want to know.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.