dygiscape

Today, I’m at CenPhoCamp, otherwise known as Central Phoenix Camp (etymology: Bar Camp, Unconfernece, etc).

CenPhoCamp user-supported, user generated, collaborative approach to sharing strategies and advice among other interested users. It’s started by Tyler Hurst and Yuri Artibise and they have a very packed, valuable agenda for the people here.

This is proof social media works – I only heard of this conference from Tyler on Twitter. No emails, no calls, no insider connections. People. That’s the reason why a conference like this has a ton of users.

I’ll be updating my entry with a few notes that I’ve gathered from the sessions I attended. Live-blog, if you will. To catch the latest pulse, check the #cenphocamp hashtag on Twitter.

CenPhoCamp Notes from Joe

(Newest on bottom.)

• Facebook Applications
  Kimber Johnson
  • Applications are successful when they are viral, simple and “social” – get true engagements from users of app.
  • Successful apps may include peer-to-peer competition – ranking, leveling, etc.
  • Strong description and screenshot makes apps easier for people to grow.
  • An application should [internally] have a strategy, plan and goals.
  • Approximate cost for a simple app is $4000 or development resources.
• Low to No-Cost Sales Tools
  Chris Conrey
  • “Sales” is an word with a bad rep.
  • Sales is hard. Big difference between Good and Great. Sales = Expensive.
  • Technology helps (sales).
  • Twitter slide – “I won’t talk about twitter!” … “I’m not going about selling shit on Twitter.”
  • Twitter is one of the easiest places to get involved to LISTEN and to talk.
  • LinkedIn is a great resource to serve as a digital resume.
  • Google Apps. Free for email on your own domain – use it.
  • Get your own domain – if nothing more for email domain. Own your name.
  • Additional tools:
    • Page.ly, WordPress (org/com), Amazing Mail, Craigslist…
  • Low tech – consider the audience, not all people get technology.
  • Barter trade skills and services to get more sales/marketing.
  • Speak! Go out and build speaking engagements. It’s free to gain publicity. Video, too.
  • Swag – stickers are great to spread buzz from outside/third-party, more trust.
  • Sponsor events – get the buzz going.
  • Tracking sales
    • CRM: Basecamp, Highrise, SugarCRM, Pipejump, ACT! (And Infusionsoft – me!)
    • Keep stats on everything: Calls, length of time till close, know everything.
  • Most important sales tool – You. Be knowledgable, trustworthy and engaged into what you’re selling.
  • Audience Interaction (Q&A)
    • Susan: Negotiate on the pricing to gain case studies and close deals. Use it as a resource when there are example.
    • Ask for the sale, ask for permission, ask and never assume.
    • For some businesses, case studies communicate the value of what your business does – powerful when it’s real.
    • Clients on Webinars are great sales assets.
    • CRM thoughts: painful to create contact, info and simple notes. Don’t need to use a ton of fields when working with prospects. Chris has built his own custom-tailored CRM.
    • Cold-calling can totally work, but lots of waste but can work. Warm-calling is the way to go – follow up on someone who has demonstrated pains out in the market and give them a solution. Be the expert with knowledge, and make connections even if you’re not making sales.
• Acti­vat­ing pas­sion­ate groups
  Derek Neighbors
  • We as people have a pyramid – Explained. (See Wikipedia for details)
  • New communities are not about money, rather self-actualization. (You can earn some cash on it, but not the primary purpose of it.)
  • Communities have defined leaders.
  • Transparency – be open. It’s difficult in America.
  • Go Against the flow.
  • Build exclusivity – not for everybody. (See quote)
  • Bashing competition doesn’t work – backfires.
  • Social media != free marketing.
  • Social media isn’t new – references to historical events.
  • Live explanation of “Mantra/Motto” , “Connect x2″, “Progress Visibility & Participation”
  • Q&A
    • [Audience a little shy, but Derek works the crowd]
    • Question  – about how you know you have a passionate community  –
    • You’ll see it all around in how people and the vibe and the cause you believe in.
    • Question – how to market a business and build a community involving privacy.
    • Answer – Mixed answers, but the consensus is that social media may not be the best means to built. Privatized community and the use of a blog may be great to grow an interest.
    • Question – How do you launch a passion/community while working on main business work (paraphrased-sorry).
    • Answer – Make the passion either a part of your work OR find a different position that supports your creativity and passion.
• Get on Track with pub­lic transportation
  Roundtable
  • Three folks promote and talk about local eateries, transportation and travel.
  • Discussion – Meaning of proximity to transit stations – impact on the reality of people.
    • Phoenix’s tolerance to walking is about 3 blocks. NY – much much more.
    • Density of businesses make it easier for people.
    • Empty lots/vacant buildings add to negative perception to pedestrian walks from transit centers.
    • Examples include Northern VA for the community growth/activity – small, dense clusters and then rural then more dense areas.
    • With the growth of light rail – despite business owner criticism – business are now embracing and gaining more foot-traffic from light rail.
    • Biz-Dev opportunities w/ Light-Rail, building community (i.e., Diamonbacks, Suns sports transportation/tickets.)
    • Visibility from the Metro makes a difference to businesses; consumers only choose what they see.
    • Issues limiting Phoenix Light Rail/Metro is because the limited coverage. Greater question is, “Do I wait for the rail to come to me, or do I go to the rail?”
    • Use case of light rail – “I’ve felt a sense of connection and community on it – but not utility.”
    • Value-add for Light-rail: “When I’m on the rail, it might take about 15 minutes or so where I go. I use the time to do email and stuff.”
    • Suggestion to implement better communications – small books/pamphlets on the rail that engage and interest riders.
    • [Connection Issues]
    • Definite need for Phoenix to market its message to ensure density is protected, embraced and not feared. Target audience – Scottsdale.
    • #PlanPhx is the hashtag for updates about phoenix code (?) for planning and density.
    • Ideally we need the ability to link Queen Creek, AZ to North Scottsdale.
    • Density and not height — important to distinctively identify.
    • Important to communicate that density is NOT high-rises/massive city scapes.
    • Marketing at the Airport is not a priority – should be improved to make it more aware for people in it.
    • Reality-check – it’s important to take and try the Light Rail.
• Ana­log to dig­i­tal and back again
  Roundtable
  • What are you doing to shift the offline business to online.  [Discussion]
    • It’s important to consider the value offline businesses provide while respecting the value from online-marketing.
    • Downtown Phoenix Journal gets big value to document and share topics via multimedia chronicling history and culture of Downtown.
    • Another topic to consider is the pain in managing the content (example in this case was iWeb/mac). It’s easier to build business on free assets (Twitter, Facebook).
      • Important to not forget that we don’t really control the the medium. Your website is 100% controlled.
      • Websites considered static, old, lame. (Maybe — others disagreed.)
      • “If I want to know what you’re doing [lately], I will go to your Facebook.”
  • Back on topic – Digital – analog – digital. [Discussion]
    • Flickr is the perfect example – allows people to do all digital photos and allows people to print photos.
    • Examples of a local music shop – using the embargos from record companies to build exclusivity in pre-release back to customers via Twitter.
      • Side-effect – Younger music listeners aren’t connected to music artists – lost novelty of browsing music shop, loss of creativity. Less time in store.
      • Staggered releases, assuming digital download is dangerous. Getting people in the space is important but respecting their space.
      • Music industry is taking numerous steps in trying things, but selling out its culture.
    • Question about the reality of taking business from digital to analog foot-traffic. [Discussion]
      • It works, but some over-ratedness of it. (Reference to Tweets where no one responds to open-ended questions).
      • Example of “Next 20 people get a free CD” – disbelief in 20 people coming in.
      • Digression to topic over social media engagement and age. Different people use different mediums to get their information.
      • Creating a valuable story to draw people into a space.
      • Social media is the digital gap from Analog to digital – use of Yelp or other customer reviews; accountability.
      • “I can’t wait until I can use Yelp to review my stupid customers.” – Kimber (Epic laughs.)
      • Keeping an understanding that people are really behind social media efforts; keep it personal, not lame.
      • Can’t ignore the tenets of Marketing as a whole. Ambassadors of communities often patronize businesses (they are community).
      • Technology can be intimidating, but through networking and collaboration, you can find the best tools for the job.
      • Social media is a connector – Enable and drive the discussion to have people tell existing customers and fans to share with their friends. Continual upkeep.
      • Traditionally, people used to be interested in music and lately, it’s self-service and requires music shop owner to touch base multiple times.
      • Getting out to the local community and contribute to the community; reach out to community leaders ask for feedback, ask for constructive criticism. The business owner should do this MORE  rather than dumping people to the their facebook/flickr/web/etc.
      • Value for the business – SEARCH. Focus on it – gain analytics.
      • … Ability to search in a geographic area (Twittelator/Tweetie) offers geographic search – very powerful.
• Make busi­ness memorable
  Justin McHood, Susan Baier
  • [ Abbreviated - I missed a few minutes here. ]
  • LISTEN: Methods to make a business relevant – online surveys, market research, customer feedback cards, focus groups, blog comments, social media, Google search alerts.
  • NOW WHAT?: Sweet Spot – find what you do well and what people want – but you can’t do everything people want, but can really exceed their expectations and make them happy.
  • All good marketing plans based on strategy.
  • Audience relevance and different strategies – by audience/demo. (Example: Macayo’s)
    • Messaging?
    • Targeting?
    • What kinds of media?
    • Promotions, products, etc. that will matter to each audience. (Ability to be very targeted.)
  • Help the right people find you – IRL, Community events, Online (SEO).
  • SEO
    • Personalized search changing search experience.
    • Only 14% of Paid listings are clicked.
    • Organic SERP: Pos. 1 = 56% of clicks; Pos 2 = 13%; Pos 3. 9.8%. (Cornell U.)
    • Google Keyword Tool  shows relevancy and traffic that people search on, plus related terms.
    • Keyword research also needs to RELATE to your audience.
    • Ignoring the perception from your customers won’t make it go away.
    • “What do we do” to customers will help.
    • Conversion is important – Tracking the right keyword that converts is better than a hundred bad ones.
    • AuthorityLabs is great to see how your site ranks.
    • Yelp – Some concerns are raised on its impact on SEO, ability to manage online reputation. There are rules to play the game – a theme of “OMG! Yelp!”
    • Yelp is an advertising opportunity for many businesses – but can’t incentive it.
  • Email Marketing
    • Gotta have people’s name.
    • Personalized emails.
    • Link to specific content to your site – not the homepage.
    • Spreadsheets are a good baseline start
    • CRM – Industry, How do we know them?, Did sales know their problem? Concerns.
    • Make the email relevant to their industry.
    • Had 400% better activity than lame broadcasts.
  • Online photos – avatars should communicate your style, tone and interests.
  • ThinkGeek is a great example of a brand awareness and style. -Entertaining product descriptions, Talking their customer’s language (literally) – Facebook in Binary for users. Brand personality is EVERYWHERE.
  • Great customer service — relevant to the customer’s concerns through social media. (Example: Noahs Ark during Phoenix tornado and TG mentioned it.)

END.