Social Networking | A Sales Guy

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 |

User Engagement vs. User Investment

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with Fred Wilson and his partners at Union Square Ventures, Brad and Albert. The conversation centered around how you know if a networking/sharing/social media type business is doing well, and is something to consider investing in. Fred’s opinion was engagement is a key measurement in determining the success of a network business or site.

Fred reiterates this in his post last week; How We Measure Success:

We believe very large networks of engaged users will ultimately create significant financial value for everyone involved.

At the time I agreed with Fred. However, since that meeting, I’ve been plagued with a gnawing feeling that engagement just wasn’t right. It hit me yesterday what I’ve been feeling.

User engagement isn’t the true measure of a productive site or network, it’s investment.

I may be splitting hairs, but I think there is a real difference here. Engagement is too soft. People can engage with little expectation of return. It can be fleeting, as the engagement isn’t necessarily rooted in anything substantial. Investment on the other hand carries a much greater commitment. When users invest they are expecting to get something in return. When people are invested they take ownership. Investment is sticky.

It’s not that I don’t think engagement isn’t a good measure of the value of a network based business, because it is. User engagement can be easily measured and quickly evaluated. All you have to do is look at to things like comments, shared content, posts etc. to see if users are engaged. The fact that engagement can be easily measured makes it a good metric.

However, for a business based on a network to last, it has to be sticky. It needs the users to stick around. Engagement doesn’t necessarily mean sticky. Users can swoop in for awhile, be engaged on a topic, or a fun project, or network site etc then be gone. Engagement is too susceptible to trends and fads. To make engagement sticky requires user investment.

Investment adds another layer to the user experience. When people become invested they see long-term value. They expect a return for their efforts. They see and embrace a specific utility. When people become invested in something they are far more committed to it. Invested users take ownership.

Investment is a little more difficult to measure. How do you tell the difference between someone who is engaged vs someone who is invested? For me personally the best example is Facebook vs. Twitter. I’m invested in Twitter. I use it to promote my blog. I use it to get information. I rely on Twitter and expect a return. If it stops providing that return, I will stop using it. With Facebook, I’m engaged. I, maybe, check it out once a day. If it were to go away, it wouldn’t kill me. It’s nice to stay in touch with my friends, but there are a lot of other ways I do that and if I never knew what 90% of my old highschool friends were doing, it wouldn’t kill me.

I’m engaged in Facebook, but invested in Twitter. Therefore, I am a much more valueable user to Twitter than I am to Facebook.

In both Twitter and Facebooks case they have done a good job in building network sites that give people a reason to invest and that’s why they’ve been successful.

People invest in networks that provide value, that have specific utility and a way to measure return. The more measurable utility or value a network has, the more users invest in it. When users invest they make it their own, they embed it into their lives, both business and personal, they share it with others, evangelizing it’s value. When networks create a reason for people to invest, they become sticky. When networks become sticky, they grow and they last.

Engagement is important. It can lead to user investment. But, after thinking about it for awhile, I disagree with Fred. Network based businesses have more than engaged users, they have to have invested users.

21 Rules of Engagement in Social Media (briansolis.com)
How Do You Know if Social Media Is Working? (unionstreetmedia.com)

June 15, 2010 | Filed under: Uncategorized | View Comments |

How Has Social Media Affected You?

Many of you know I’m writing a book with co-author Leslie Poston based on a post I wrote a while back; Online Presence – Asset of the Future: Why Your Social Graph Will be Worth as Much as Your Home

The web and social media are fundamentally changing the way we interact and connect as a community. Most notably it is changing how we network. Peoples network has been a valuable component of our lives for years. It has helped us get jobs, get movie recommendations and even set us up on blind dates. As social media grows and our presence online increases, our off-line network is quickly being replaced by an online network. This new online network is going to be far more influencial and life effecting than anything we’ve seen to date. Our online presence is quickly becoming the center of our world and will impact the most important and sensitive aspects of our lives.

Leslie and I have come across some amazing stories of how social media has impacted peoples lives. We have found compelling medical stories where peoples lives were saved and unnecessary surgery was avoided because of social media. There are those we’ve found who have met their soul mate. We’ve found stories where people have gotten their dream job. Then there are the stories of those who used social media to help others in need. We are coming across amazing stories, stories of average, everyday people whose lives have changed because of the power of social media. Some changed in monumental ways, others in small but impacting ways.

We are excited to share with you the powerful story unfolding in social media and the Internet. There are millions of people who are asking why? They are asking why do I care about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging and the rest. They are skeptical, they are hesitant, they don’t see what many already have and that is social media is changing the way we connect, and the way we network. Social media is quickly moving from being a nice to have to a must have and our book; Online Presence-Asset of the Future: Why Your Social Graph Will be Worth as Much Your Home is going to share how and why social media matters in our lives.

Tell us your story. We want to know how social media is changing how you think, work, share and engage. If you have some research you’d like to share or a great story send us an email to onlinepresence@assetofthefutre.com

Don’t be shy, we know there are more good stories out there. We’ve just begun to scratch the surface.

October 25, 2009 | Filed under: Asset of The Future | View Comments |

We Are The New Book Covers

Auren Hoffman of Summation and Seth Godin had two very interesting posts in the last week. Seth’s, comes from the old school perspective. Aurens comes from a new school perspective.

Seth’s post, The Purpose of a Book Cover, describes the role a book cover has in selling a book. In it he writes:

“Tactically, the cover sells the back cover, the back cover sells the flap and by then you’ve sold the book.”

“Books are better at creating conversations than most products.”

“Some ways that a book cover can accomplish its mission:

* Noticeable across the room (you see that lots of other people own it, thus making it likely that you’ll want to know why)”

Understanding Seth’s point. Auren has an interesting observations in his blog post, Book Conversations and the Imposition of the Kindle. In the post Auren observes how Kindle’s limit the ability for people to see what your reading and therefore it stunts the conversation.

. . . as we all move to reading books on our devices, we wont know what people in our proximity are reading anymore and conversations between strangers will go down.

This inability to have a book “Noticeable across the room” will impact the value of the book cover. The Kindle is going to viciously maim book covers as a way to sell books. The new book cover will be you and me.

As more and more people buy books online through the Kindle we will be unable to look to book covers to sell us. We will look to our social networks. We will decide to buy based on Twitters, Facebook, and LinkedIN. More and more of us will use applications like ReadingList by Amazon to share with our social networks what we are reading. Future versions of the Kindle will have a sharing component that Twitters or shares the books you download every time you download a new one.

I think Auren had a great observation. We are moving away from a time where we could see what people were reading. This will create fewer opportunities for face to face offline conversations. It will provide less opportunities for the book cover to do it’s job of creating conversations. Even more than before, books will have to be good, because we are the new book covers and if the book is not good, it won’t matter what’s on the cover.

Seth is/was right book covers sell the book by “teeing up the reader so the book has maximum impact.” But that is changing. Moving forward it won’t be the book covers selling the book, it will be you and me. Tactically, their won’t be a cover to sell the back, to sell the flap to then have you buy the book. It will be; you see it on a friends Facebook status, it shows up in your Twitter stream 3 times, it’s in your mom’s Amazon Reading list, so you download a sample to your Kindle and then if you like what you read you buy the rest, all without ever really knowing what the book cover looked liked.

Book Covers are dead!

July 2, 2009 | Filed under: Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |

Utility in Social Media

I started cre8Buzz in 2006. cre8Buzz was about accelerating exposure for the little guy. We wanted to create a way for the content of the masses to be seen. A sort of long tail accelerator. cre8Buzz didn’t make it and we shut the doors in 2008. (you can read about the buzz here) Tons of social networks have come and gone in the last 3 years and I’m seeing a trend. Like everything else in our lives, social networks that provide utility are the ones that work. Regardless of their features and functions, Social Networks need to provide utility.

LinkedIn has become the leader in professional development and networking. It’s utility lies in connecting professionals with other professionals, in helping them find jobs and connect in groups around similar professions.

Facebook, is the personal site. Yes, many companies are using it for marketing, but the majority of users are connecting with H.S. friends, finding old acquaintances and staying connected with their current friends. Facebook, to me is about the personal relationship. I don’t have a lot friends or followers on Facebook, just good friends and acquaintances. I am creating a Facebook page for my larger online network of friends and followers.

Twitter is about branding (personal or corporate), broadcast messaging and realtime search. Twitter is a great online marketing tool. Providing people looking to distributed information or get information an easy way to do it. Twitter corrals the masses. With no intended recipient Twitters lob stuff out and see what happens. Twitter has created a platform for dynamic information flow and network building.

MySpace is declining in it’s numbers. They’ve laid off 400 people. Why? Because their utility is quickly becoming niche. Myspace is the place to find cool new bands. It’s the place to discover new music and talented musicians. It’s utility as a meeting place to hang out with friends is waning, they can thank Facebook for that. I think in a few years, Myspace’s value will be strictly for fans and bands to connect. It will be a music site.

As the use of social networks grows, we will become increasingly particular on how we use them. We are going to expect that they provide some sort of value. We will expect them to integrate into our lives. Social networks will not longer be a hobby or strictly entertainment but an integrated component of our lives that we rely on to accomplish things. Facebook may become our new contact manager or phonebook, where we dynamically manage our friends and family. Twitter may become our news channel and search engine. LinkedIn may replace resumes and cover letters and become a career development platform.

Social Networks are becoming increasingly utility driven. Users on them today, look to get specific value from those they use. People not on them are asking; “why?” They are looking for a reason to invest their time. They are looking for a return on that time. They’re looking for utility. I think we will see an increase in the utility we get from Social networks. As users are going to want more meat and less fluff.

I think this trend is only going to increase. It’s happening already. Have we seen the last of new social networks? I’m not sure. Although, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace to small degree have the key area’s covered. I think we will see them look for more ways to add value. I suspect they will create more hooks into our lives making them that much more integrated and that much more difficult to for us to unhook.

I see us looking at social networks through a lens of value. We are moving into a the next phase of social networking, and this phase is not about the cuteness or the fun, but the value. Users will relentlessly ask, what can you do for me today and the answer better be good . . . or their gone.

June 25, 2009 | Filed under: Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |