Web 2.0/Social Networking

Vail Crushes It, Throws Down the Social Media Gauntlet

Most of you know I am an instructor at Vail. I love vail. It’s my favorite mountain and has been since 1989 when I moved from Boston.

Last year I wrote my opinion on why I thought Vail and other ski resorts were missing the boat in social media. You can read it here. I gave a specific example on how resorts could improve the ski school guest experience. Ski resorts have been slow to adopt social media and social networking and it frustrated me.

I am passionate about skiing and passionate about my home mountains (Vail and Beaver Creek.) I wanted to see the industry become a bit more progressive and was frustrated they weren’t moving faster . . . that is until today.

Vail crushed it today with the announcement of their new social networking application EpicMix. Epic Mix uses Vails RF scanner technology (which I’ve also written about here), to track where you are on the mountain, the total vertical you’ves skied, number of days on the mountain and it allows you to share it all with your friends via Facebook, and Twitter. It’s frickin’ awesome!

Vail just threw down the social media guantlet for the ski industry with this move. It combines Foursquare like checkins and accomplishment badges called “pins,” with personalized skier data, with the ability to track friends on the mountain, with the ability to share it all on Facebook and Twitter. It changes the game.

Vail’s EpicMix changes the on mountain experience. This is why I think it’s so killer. Vail didn’t just create a me too social media app. They built something specific to the skiing experience and I love it. I ski 20 plus days a year over and above the days I teach. EpicMix will be my homebase for skiing. The idea that I can now know how much I skied, where I skied, how to find my friends who are skiing and share it all, is exactly what social media and social networking are all about

Vail rocks, it has always rocked. Vail lured me to Colorado in 1989. It enticed me into buying a mountain home near its slopes. It introduced me to ski instruction and now Vail has just given me a new mountain experience. Thanks Vail. You continue to reward me and all your guests for their loyalty. I can’t wait for ski season now!

A year ago I challenged Vail to “get engaged.” This year they did, in ways far more impressive than could have been imagined. EpicMix has set the bar for social media in the ski industry and it’s high bar! – Well done Vail Resorts!

(EpicMix will work at all Vail Resort Mountains Keystone, Vail, Breckenridge, Heavenly, and BeaverCreek.)

August 30, 2010 | Filed under: Technology and Products,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

Why People Don’t Get Social Networking

I was talking with someone the other day about Twitter and the importance of building a social presence. Their response was, they see how it is important for some people, but for his line of work, it won’t work, especially Twitter. He had an array of reasons why Twitter, Blogging and Social Networking can’t help him. His business is too specialized he said. It’s not going to get him any more business than he already has.

He’s probably right. But thats not enough of a reason not to build an online presence. It could get him a new job in the future, it could create a relationship he may need to close a deal someday, it could get him information he needed that he DIDN’T know existed. It could do a lot of things he is unaware of today, that could help him in the future. He is not alone. His thinking is like that of most people I talk to who aren’t actively building and online presence. It’s too linear.

The problem isn’t him but humanity. We are purpose driven.

Since the cave man days our actions have been purpose driven. If you wanted something from the guy across the cave you got up and took it from him. If you were hungry you went out and killed some food. Over the years we became more civilized, but we were still purpose driven. If you wanted to talk to someone you sent a letter. If you wanted a job, you applied for it. Then the phone and T.V. came along. Still driven by purpose, you knew who you were calling and why and we knew what we were going to watch on TV and when. Communication has rarely, if ever, been done without a direct purpose. Everything was linear. We played in the known.

Social media and social networks play in the unknown. They aren’t linear. They aren’t purpose driven. When we tweet something, we don’t know who we are tweeting or if someone is even their to receive it. When we blog, we don’t know who is going to read it, or who is going to comment. We don’t know if people will like it or hate it. We put our stuff on LinkedIn not knowing who if anyone is going to find it. Social media is anything but purpose driven. It’s this reason most people don’t get social media. They are thinking from the linear brain we’ve all been indoctrinated with. If doing X doesn’t get me Y right now, I don’t have time.

Social media and social networking don’t work in a linear fashion. They operate in a broader, less confined manner. Users have to be OK not knowing, not getting what they want right away and able to handle getting what they didn’t expect. Social media and social networking give life to the phrase; we dont know what we don’t know.

Many people see it as a waste of time. To the linear mind it is. It’s not like a phone call or and email. It’s not like getting up and walking across the cave and getting what you want. What it does do, quite often is give you what you didn’t know you wanted and many times that’s far more valuable.

It’s easy to focus on getting what you want and thinking in a linear fashion. It’s measurable. It also requires you block everything out. Social media and social networking are different, they get you what you didn’t know you wanted and that’s a big deal.

Social networking and social media expand your world. They make you more accessible, they provide more information, they extend your influence. If those aren’t reason enough to “get” social media it must not be linear enough.

Social media and social networking have a place, it’s just going to take time to change 10,000 years of thinking. It’s time to get out of the cave.

The One Way to Fail in Social Media (theantisocialmedia.com)
Are You Using Social Media As Social Proof? (socialmediabiz.com)
What the Hell is Your Favorite Social Network (theantisocialmedia.com)
Older Adults and Social Media (tjwalker.com)

August 27, 2010 | Filed under: Asset of The Future,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

Killer Bloggers Wanted: Apply Within!

If you’ve been to the site in the last 12 hours, I’m sure you’re wondering who these strange people are and where did all these posts come from.

Yesterday I opened up this blog to the community. I started using Kapost a crowdsource blogging platform and so far I’m pretty happy with it.

Kapost allows me to let the community contribute to this blog.

This is how it works:

Click on the contribute button on the right and you start a post right away. The post will show up on here on A Sales Guy and The A Sales Guy Community page. It’s that simple.

A Sales Guy now has two destinations; this page and the community page.

Kapost also allows you to build a profile and join the A Sales Guy Community. If you have your own blog you can automatically post to the community page via RSS. Each post has a share button and a vote button. This increases the chances your post gets seen.

In just 12 hours some killer posts have been submitted by the community. A couple of my favorite: What If, Where are the Good Sales People and Sales Tips from Yoda.

I think this has HUGE potential for this community. I’m already getting to know more of you because of this. I’m discovering great new stuff and most important, it’s showcasing the talent of this community.

If you’re not in yet, jump in. It’s a blast. We’re looking for more killer bloggers who want to add to the conversation. No need to apply, just put up great stuff!

To start your own profile go here: A Sales Guy Community

August 13, 2010 | Filed under: To the Community,Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |

Online, Offline — The Balance?

I had a great 4th of July weekend. 4th of July is becoming one of my families favorite holidays. We buy fireworks, grill on the front lawn, have all the neighbors over, set up a jumpy castle and just enjoy the weekend. It’s a blast. My daughters love playing with the sparklers and smoke bombs. It’s great to spend time with friends and neighbors.

One of the reasons we enjoy the 4th so much is because it’s such an active holiday. Unlike many of the other holidays; which are more family oriented due to their religious nature, I see the 4th as a community holiday. The 4th gets people outside together; playing games, camping, grilling, going to the beach etc. Similar to Coleman camping gear‘snew campaign; the 4th of July is like the original social network.

It’s the active nature of this past weekend that’s causing me a little anxiety.

I was offline almost the entire weekend. I blogged just once, yet my goal is to blog everyday. I stayed away from most of my other social networking, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. as well. I’m OK with the decrease in my social networking presence, but I am not quite sure I’m OK with not blogging. As I said; my goal is to blog everyday. I’ve averaged 6.2 blog posts a week for the past year. Clearly I’ve missed a few. But this weekend, I didn’t blog 3 days out of 4.

I like blogging. I don’t see it as a chore. However, determining content can be hard. It takes me about an hour or two a day to post. A good 35 to 40 percent of that time is spent editing. If you read this blog you know I still miss a lot of stuff. But hey, where I lack in grammar and editing skills I try to make up with content. Despite the fact I don’t see it as a chore, it can be tough to “crank out” a good post quickly. In order to get it done, I have to be targeted, focused, and take time out to determine the subject, write, edit, and post. This is hard during a holiday like the 4th of July.

I’m not sure where I stand on this. Emotionally, I am OK with it. I spent the time with my family. I was completely engaged in off-line activities that matter. It was a great weekend. I had a blast. Intellectually and logically, I’m not OK with it. I’ve committed to blogging everyday. Many of the blogs I read everyday (all though not over this past weekend ) manage to have new posts up over the holiday. So intellectually, I’m not OK with missing the days.

I’m going to spend some time this week figuring out my philosophy on balancing my offline presence and with my online presence, because sometimes I just can’t be two places at once.

I want to know what this community thinks. Did you miss there not being any posts this weekend? Would you have read them if there were? What do you think? How do you balance your online and offline presence? Share your thoughts in the comments.

July 6, 2010 | Filed under: Random,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

The Blog Connection

I have over 50 blogs in my reader. I like them all. I read at least one post from all of them every week. All of them offer something I find compelling and interesting. Despite how good the content is and even the blog subjects, there are a few blogs I call favorites. These blogs are the first blogs I read everyday. I’ve put them in a “favorites” folder. I always open my favorites folder first. Within my favorites folder, there is an order in which I read them. I have a favorites of my favorites. I almost never miss a post from these blogs. I don’t read every post from all the other blogs in my reader, despite the fact that I do like them all. They are good blogs.

So, why? Why is that we read some blogs religiously and others sporadically.

Conventional wisdom will say it’s the content. It’s the subject matter. It’s the writing style. I agree, but I think it’s more than that. I think it’s a connection.

Blogs are personal. More so than a newspaper article. There is no editor white washing any personality from the story. Blogs are extensions of the authors personality. This personal element of blogging allows people to create a connection to the blog itself. It’s this connection that draws us to one blog over another despite content or subject matter.

I definitely have a connection to my favorite blogs. In some cases, the connection was created through the comments overtime. Other times it’s the authors perspective and attitude. Sometimes it is a combination. What I do know is the blogs I favorite have a personality to them that resonates with me. Like friends, it’s the personalities that draw me to them and determine how much time I want to spend with them.

I was flattered when a former employee told me that he reads my blog everyday. I have other friends and former employees who read this blog sporadically and I know I have friends and former employees who dont’ read this blog at all. It takes more than just a personal relationship to create a blog connection.

How do you create a connection with readers? You can’t.

Trying to create a connection with your readers is like trying to get the kids at the popular lunch table to like you. Either they will or they won’t. All you can do is be yourself. We’ve been trained to avoid controversy, not to offend, and not to be provocative in a public setting. Blogging is for sure a public setting. This approach does nothing to connect with readers. I constantly remind myself of this when I post. I post through my personality. I post with the conviction that this is my blog and therefore an extension of me. Some will connect with A Sales Guy and read it everyday, others will like it and read it when they remember, they rest will just come and go. I’m OK with this, because it’s exactly how I read others blogs.

What is it about one blog vs another? Why do you find yourself reading some blogs everyday, while only reading others a few days a week?

Is it a connection thing for you too?

7 Things to do From the First Day of Blogging. (shoutmeloud.com)
An Introduction to Blogging (globalthoughtz.com)
Don’t Worry if Your Blog Sucks – Here are 3 Tips to a Better Blog (howtospoter.com)

June 30, 2010 | Filed under: Asset of The Future,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

Why Google Shouldn’t Copy Facebook – Google Me #Fail

Michael Arrington TechCrunch founder, has a post up today where he suggests that Google needs to copy Facebook, or clone it to be exact.

They need to raise the white flag and just copy Facebook right down to the details. Otherwise the war is over before Google even got to the battlefield. -Michael Arrington

Arrington’s argument is Facebook is making inroads on Googles self serve ad business and if Google wants to compete they need to play Facebook’s game better than Facebook. Arrington suggests it’s not improbable by 2015 Facebook and Google could be running neck and neck. I’m not sure I agree or disagree with Arrington’s 2015 prognostication, but what I am pretty sure is, Google’s not going to stem any Facebook tide by cloning them.

The reason Arrington’s plan won’t work is because of the simple rule of sales — there needs to be user value. There is no value to users in cloning Facebook.

Google needs a horse in the social networking race to be able to defend itself against Facebook over the long run. And the only way they’re going to be able to compete effectively is to just clone the darn thing.

The value in social networks IS the network. It won’t matter how many new features or bells and whistles Google can add on top of the “clone”. They won’t make a lick of difference without the network.

Yes, Facebook blew up in a crowded social networking space. They took MySpace out of the game. The difference between then and now is that social media was in the growth stage of the product or business life-cycle. Millions and millions of people were still deciding if social networking was for them. They were the late majority. This late majority were our Mom’s, Dad’s, Grandparents, business professionals etc. Feeling Myspace was too juvenile this late majority chose Facebook. Facebook took social networking mainstream.

Social networking has now entered the mature stage. Only late, late majority and the laggards remain. This means that Google has to convince Facebook users to switch and that ain’t gonna happen for a clone with a few extra features. The value is the network. No network, no value. There will need to be a seminal event or trigger to drive the switch.

The main value in Facebook is everyone expects everyone they know or once knew to be on the site. Switching to a site where this doesn’t exist and then wait for their friends to show up is going to take a lot more than clone with improved privacy settings and an easy export tool.

Arrington is thinking like a technologist. Clone and offer a few cool new features and functions and it will sell. Unfortunately, like almost every other sale, features and functions don’t sell, value does. In this case the value is the network and Google can’t control that.

The other challenge Arrington misses, is users are more than engaged, they are INVESTED. They have invested time and in some cases money in followers, pages, applications, games and more. Users will not just simply walk away from that level of investment and start over for a clone.

I think Google needs to think like a start-up and innovate. Don’t clone, but get ahead of Facebook. There is always a next something. There was Friendster, then there was Myspace, then there was Facebook, then there was Twitter, then there was Foursquare, what’s next? That is what Google should be focused on. Not trying to be Facebook. That is so 2007.

Google — build a new network, don’t try to steal someone else’s. It’s much easier.

Google Me, Facebook Competitor, Confirmed By Former Facebook CTO (huffingtonpost.com)
What Google Me Needs To Succeed (regulargeek.com)
Former Facebook Executive Adam D’Angelo Confirms New Google Social Networking Effort (insidefacebook.com)

June 29, 2010 | Filed under: Asset of The Future,Technology and Products,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

Keepin’ It Real at TechStars

“Let’s Be Honest” The Founders | TechStars Boulder | Episode 4 from TechStars on Vimeo.

Most of you know I am a mentor at TechStars Boulder. I’ve talked about it before. Expect I’ll talk about it again, and again, and again. The reason — it’s an amazing program and because it gives me an energy boost every time I’m in the bunker.

The reason it gives my such an energy boost is how opposite the traditional world of business it is. Start-ups have a positive, can do, let’s make it happen, we are going to change the world attitude that is completely contagious and energizing. Although it’s there, fear is rarely an influencer. I wish this could be said about the corporate world.

I mentor a few of this years companies, however much of my mentoring time is spent with 3 specific companies. I will share more about them in a future post. These guys are building on some great ideas and I’m excited and honored to be a part of their journey.

Although it’s a start-up environment, it is far from a wild west, unstructured, place. There is a culture of execution that many, well established companies could learn from.

One of the things I really love is what they call “intellectual honesty.” Intellectual honesty is being true to what your customers and the data is saying. It’s not letting your passion or tunnel vision cloud your perspective. I love this practice. It’s all about keeping it real.

I’ve started and failed at startups two times. Keepin’ it real is absolutely key. It is too easy to fall in love with your idea and miss what the data is telling you. Passion is great, but if you’re not careful, it can get you.

Check out the video, it’s one episode in an on going series highlighting this years class and talking about intellectual honesty.

Caution, watching this video may make you want to start-your own company. If so, make sure you submit to be part of TechStars class of 2011.

How TechStars Is Launching Startups Across The Country – With David Cohen (mixergy.com)
David Cohen: You Have Acquisition Interest, Now What? (davidgcohen.com)
TechStars Spreads the Love with International Affiliate Program (readwriteweb.com)

June 23, 2010 | Filed under: Entrepreneur,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

It’s Going to Be Your Blog, Name It

Most of you know I’m working on a crowdsourced sales blog. I’m excited to roll it out. Having an open blog for all sales bloggers to contribute to has tremendous potential. It could be game changing.

Last week I asked for name suggestions. I got some good ones. Thanks everyone.

I have put the top suggestions in a poll. You can see it in the side bar under my social media icons. Vote for the name you like best. If you don’t like any, click None of the Above and write in your suggestion in the comments.

The objective of the crowdsource sales blog is to aggregate all sales peoples ideas, thoughts, and experiences. I want to open up the online world of sales.

So, what do you think is the best name for a blog contributed to by every sales person in the world?

Sounds cool uh?

June 14, 2010 | Filed under: Random,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

What Should We Call It?

I am passionate about the “A Sales Guy” community. I’m amazed at how much it has grown in the past year. You have added a lot to the “A Sales Guy” experience. I really enjoy the comments, the Tweets, and those of you who I’ve met personally. It’s been a blast.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about ways to improve on the community experience and increase the engagement. I want to give the community a way to get more involved. One of the tenants of my thinking was it has to be a less one to many and more many to many environment. Even though some good discussion happens in the comments, I wanted a way where the community could post their own thoughts. A place where I wasn’t the only one creating the content.

I think I’ve found a way and I’m pretty excited about it.

But, before I launch it, I need a good name. I need a name that is a great extension of a “Sales Guy” but encompasses the entire community. It’s not about just me. It’s about the community and all the great ideas, thoughts, and interactions you have.

Understanding this, I’m reaching out to you the “A Sales Guy” community for a name. What do you think this new community site should be called? The new site will allow any of you to post to it. It will be attached to A Sales Guy so readers can find it when they land here. The community site will center around your thoughts, your ideas, and your posts. Everyone will be able to participate.

I’m real excited about this. I think it will provide so much more to this community. It will give everyone a voice.

So what do you think? What should this new community be called? Leave your suggestions in the comments. I’ll post the suggestions in next week and let the community vote.

June 11, 2010 | Filed under: Random,Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |