The concept behind this exclusive venture is that there are a number of things that CEOs want to share but would rather do it with like folks – other CEOs. The concept includes a high quality video with a moderator who asks you questions as a way of introduction into the group. A second video is done the same day with 2 or 3 other CEOs that are also being interviewed. A topic relevant and of interest to other CEOs is discussed. My personal video is here, the group session is here.   These were filmed and moderated by professionals and are well done.

In addition to your interview, you get a section within the site where you put your information, your company, personal likes, boards you are on, blogs, etc. The challenge is whether CEOs will become a community. There are good signs that this may succeed where other ventures like this have failed. First Sally Solis-Cohen and Emily Mercier are determined to make changes in the site that will accommodate interaction amongst the CEOs. They are very much in touch with those who have joined, and they also do something often times lacking in similar ventures – they listen. We tell our clients that the first step in any social campaign is listening. Sally and Emily have taken this message and applied it. They are allowing the members of the community to determine direction.

At last count there were over 200 folks who have joined this community and I will keep you updated on how the site does and changes that are made along the way to help make it a success. If you are a CEO you owe it to yourself to check out this site.

For transparency – they are not a client of Dinkum, and yes it is somewhat self serving that this site becomes successful because my target audience is primarily CEOs. More importantly, as a CEO you need a place where you can discuss things with others who have similar situations and insights and who understand the unique perspectives of a CEO.

So is it a community now? Not yet, but I do believe that with the persistence of Sally and Emily and the input of those joining that it has great potential to be a success.

Should you  join is not the question.  Why not join? Tell them Rick sent you. All you CEO’s head over here.

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies. Reach him at 267-626-9094 or rick@dinkuminteractive.com.

I read an article in the NYTimes the other day (online version, yes after my 20+ free articles had been used – no I did not pay for it…I know, I know) that framed it the other way: putting the internet to work for you.  The sense of empowering the internet to do things for you, versus harnessing the internet’s energy under your personal control, was edifying to me.

The service that spurred the article is called ifttt.com (if it) and showcases a wonderful sense of high level corporate-style management over one’s internet life.  Instead of doing all the muck-work of logging in to Facebook a zillion times per day and scanning all the recent posts and such (who has time for that, honestly!?) – one simply sets up triggers and recipes that cause things to happen.  So, you can set up a recipe such that when you’re tagged in a photo on Facebook, it automatically grabs the photo in question and puts it in your Dropbox photos folder.

Handy?  That’s an understatement.   Brilliant and freakin’ fantastic was my reaction!  The possibilities for empowering the internet’s many wonderful tools and experiences to be ‘put to work’ for you – in a sense, to be made actionable and relevant – is like a breath of fresh air in what has become a crowded competition for our shrinking reservoir of free time. With more and more of that time spent on the internet, it has seemed to spiral a bit out of control – maybe this is an example of a step back towards a more relevant, productive, and human relationship with the internet?

Photo credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/858296

Jacob Smith is a Senior Project Manager and Web Strategist with Dinkum Interactive and has led over 150 high-level consulting and website development projects over the last 10 years. He is active in both the internet and cultural communities, and served on the board of Philly Car Share, a nonprofit and one of the largest car sharing organization in the United States until helping engineer its sale to Enterprise Holdings in the summer of 2011. Originally from Southern California, Jacob and his wife, Meghan, now live in Center City Philadelphia with their young sons Rory and Duncan.

 The Background

The first survey was done while listening to a number of students who joined our tailgating fun prior to the latest Penn State football game – a win I might add here, especially since this does not look like a stellar year like times of old. I purposely did not participate in the conversations as they discussed their dislike of the Facebook changes. There was a universal dislike – “they didn’t ask us if we wanted it to be changed like this” was one comment. Then a surprise as a couple of the young ladies discussed how they spend hours on Tumblr. While most of the other folks did not know anything about Tumblr this group raved about it – hmmm interesting.

The College Class Survey

The second survey was conducted with a class I taught at Temple University where I was asked to come in and discuss the differences between companies that have adapted to the internet versus companies that rely on the internet versus companies who are a result of the internet – much like Dinkum. There were many good questions and I was impressed with the way the students had prepared for the class, most of whom had checked out our website. Just before leaving I took a poll of the social media websites being used by the class and their feelings on a few things. Here are my findings:

• Once again Facebook was tops on the list and not one person liked the new changes.
• 50% had tried Twitter but only a few keep up with it.
• Only a few had tried Tumblr but loved it
• 75% spent significant time on YouTube
• Many tried Google+ but only one person still checks it out – more on that later
• FourSquare, StumbleUpon, Pandora and LinkedIn rounded out the list.

The many comments about Google+ were interesting. Looks like it might be good someday but no one is using it yet. I asked if they would go back but only a few thought it was interesting enough for another look – Google+ did you not roll it out right?

Everyday I hear more about how Google+ is gaining traction but this survey and the many folks with whom I speak are saying that you have a LONG way to go. There are some interesting features – BUT! I wonder if Facebook actually did Google+ a favor by changing when they did and making folks angry? However, are they mad enough to move over to Google+?

In my opinion, they waited too long to roll it out for corporations.

Good luck Google. I am pulling for you on this one because I am really starting to dislike the arrogance of Facebook. It is a social media tool that does not care one bit about you, your opinion or anything more than tracking you to make some cash. Let me feel the love once in awhile – you have great potential but the arrogance may be your downfall someday. I guess we will see.

Share your opinions on any of these sites with us in the comments.

Photo Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1172174

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies. Reach him at 267-626-9094 or rick@dinkuminteractive.com.

 The unlikely partnership was announced earlier in the year with blogs, social media, print and TV advertising building steady excitement in the market. Launch date was eagerly marked in calendars across the nation but by 7:47am on M-day, 13^th September, the chaos began. The target.com website crashed. And crashed badly. And inside stores, shoppers described crazy scenes of stockpiling and aggression. In no time, the shelves were bare.

For customers able to secure the hot loot online, elation quickly turned to frustration when some received emails advising that their order would be delayed and in some cases not honored. But they had already paid the money. Now, tirades are being written against the company in every available medium.

So, it turns out Target rolled out a new website in late August and as one blogger noted, “It’s definitely not ready for prime time and was either rushed out to meet a deadline or there is a big team of idiots behind it.” It’s filled with lazy coding and poor quality pages.

The Missoni launch should have been a positive experience for Target but instead, it created a tsunami of unhappy customers. All that hype converted to disappointment. And now customers are threatening to boycott them.

Be very careful with your brand and your promises. Get it right or risk alienating the very people you rely on for sales.

Have you weathered a near crisis with your customers? Tell us about it in the comments.

Jennifer Fleming is Specialist Content Writer at Dinkum Interactive. With a background in journalism, Jennifer is a best-selling writer, writing coach and media strategist. You can reach her at jennifer@dinkuminteractive.com.

A story about Facebook caught my attention this week. A young man, Dave Kim, as part of a performance art piece called My Best Friend Facebook Forever, did everything Facebook told him to do for the month of April.  Everything.  He had to attend every event to which he was invited, friend everyone (at least 30 per day) that Facebook suggested, and “like” everything that was suggested to him. A partner helped him decide between conflicting events and also helped chronicle the experiment. There was a lengthy set of rules that governed the experiment, and laid out how Dave would document what he did each day.

One insight that Dave gained is that the suggestions that Facebook makes have the express purpose of pushing us to share our personal information and spend more time on the site. It is for their benefit and not our (perceived) popularity. OK most of us already know that, but I found it refreshing to see it as a revelation resulting from this experiment. Another fascinating thing is that Facebook decided that he was a spam bot and shut his account down, for doing exactly what they told him to do!

The site describing his project, www.mybfff.com has the stats and a final essay on the project. He increased his friends from 210 on April 1 to 966 on April 30. One friend asked if he would be “unfriended” at the end of the month. Dave has not had time to consider the long term effects of his project, but a fascinating social experiment nonetheless. And he will fulfill commitments that he made, like being someone’s pen pal for the coming year.

For me, Facebook is less a habit, and more something that I check into when I think about it and I have a spare minute, and I never take their friend suggestions or site suggestions seriously.  I am probably not the person that Facebook advertising is aimed at though. How about you? Do you check in every day?  Do you follow Facebook’s recommendations for friends and sites?  Let me know in the comments!

Photo Credit: http://www.mybfff.com 

Regina Sillitti is Project Coordinator for Dinkum Interactive. She has worked in programming, design, business analysis and quality assurance. Her background in design and data processing give her a unique perspective on client - tech translation. You can reach her at regina@dinkuminteractive.com, or find her on Twitter, @ReginaSillitti.

One of the questions tackled by the article (Summer of the Mob, available only to digital subscribers to the Inquirer) is whether offenders can be banned from social media. Not likely.  The same applies to the idea of prosecuting offenders who send messages regarding upcoming illegal events, as it is very difficult to determine intent, if the message is not completely specific about the actions that will occur, the place, the date, and the time.

Some law enforcement officials want access to the encrypted messages in order to patrol social media and be prepared for possible events. The very feature that draws customers to some social media options, privacy, could spell it’s doom if the developer of the product decides to cooperate with law enforcement regarding access.

Finally, there was a voice of reason, in Rosa Golijan, technology blogger for MSNBC.com, who mentioned that the young people planning these events often used Twitter, where trending topics by city can be monitored by anyone, or Facebook, on public pages for anyone to view.  No invasion of the private sphere, just listening to what is happening, now.

I can imagine police departments reaching out to social media experts asking for help in setting up their listening stations, how to monitor trending topics, and how to search for the specific kind of language that will tip them off to possible impending group actions. I can’t be completely sure, but it sounds a lot like monitoring the social streams for business innovations and trends, and customer feedback. Probably not a bad time for law enforcement to get into the game!

Photo Credit:  http://www.sxc.hu/photo/683316

Regina Sillitti is Project Coordinator for Dinkum Interactive. She has worked in programming, design, business analysis and quality assurance. Her background in design and data processing give her a unique perspective on client - tech translation. You can reach her at regina@dinkuminteractive.com, or find her on Twitter, @ReginaSillitti.

No big deal, you might say. But I want to understand why a simple change to my morning routine is causing such dissonance. And I believe it’s because eating toast is a comfortable habit. It’s more than sustenance. When everything else is unpredictable, one thing I could rely on was the satisfaction of toast.

It got me thinking about habits. We form habits to make our lives easier. Habits allow our brain to go on autopilot leaving space for other activities. But habits also close us off from doing new things and gaining new perspectives. We fall into the comfort zone. This zone is bad for business.

Modern business requires innovation and change. Yes, I can go back to eating toast but it means staying the same. And staying the same in business is a recipe for disaster. If your company isn’t embracing Internet marketing and social media, you’re going to be left behind.

The solution can taste bitter at first because it involves feeling unsettled. Even if certain strategies have worked for your company in the past, it’s important to try new ways of working. Yes, you need evidence that new strategies will have some payoff – I’m not suggesting blind faith in just anything. I’m just saying Internet marketing involves a willingness to try new things for breakfast. Who knows what culinary sensation you might discover?

Photo Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/504688

Jennifer Fleming is Specialist Content Writer at Dinkum Interactive. With a background in journalism, Jennifer is a best-selling writer, writing coach and media strategist. You can reach her at jennifer@dinkuminteractive.com.

Hope Solo, goal keeper for the United States, entered the tournament with less than 10,000 Twitter followers, and at last check was closing in on 200,000 followers. I am sure that while this may be a comfort to her, she would have preferred the trophy!

The White House was among those tweeting during the game. There were tweets by@BarackObama, including an apology for not being able to attend, but with a picture of the first family watching the game on television.

Various articles and blogs are talking about all the famous people from other sports tweeting their encouragement to players, as well as celebrities from movies and television putting in their 140 characters worth.

Twitter has been in the forefront lately with other initiatives like the  first live tweeted Town Hall meeting with President Obama on July 6. Watching the live stream during the video of the town hall was both enlightening and infuriating, even though I realize that events such as this always bring out the under-educated trolls in addition to those with articulate and valid comments to share, whether positive or negative.

Just like all the other social media outlets, Twitter is looking for it’s relevant niche in the lives of those who use it.  Sports, politics, world news, and Charlie Sheen, it appears there is something for everyone.

Regina Sillitti is Project Coordinator for Dinkum Interactive. She has worked in programming, design, business analysis and quality assurance. Her background in design and data processing give her a unique perspective on client - tech translation. You can reach her at regina@dinkuminteractive.com, or find her on Twitter, @ReginaSillitti.

Step One: Identify the Right Customer
The right customer or client is the one that wants what you’ve got and that you enjoy working for and selling to. It’s about matching their needs with your skill-set. Dinkum begins this process by performing an audit, writing a change document, constructing a list of keywords and using analytics to work out your target market.

Step Two: Spend Time Where They Spend Time
Once you’ve identified your ideal customer, you need to spend time where they spend time so you can meet and chat. It’s about using the right networking sites, sending out information about yourself and spreading the word about your services. Dinkum uses a range of techniques to achieve these goals including solid content distribution and ‘link building’. One important way Google ranks websites is by the number and quality of links pointing to your website – you won’t rank without these links. We also hang out in chat rooms, on Twitter and Facebook and share blogs. We make you the honey pot. It’s about listening in to the conversation and finding matches.

Step Three: Referral Agents
One of the best ways to generate new business with ideal clients is through referrals. You make friends with their friends. If you’ve added value and helped solve their problems, they will tell their friends and you end up working with more people like you who love what you do. The Dinkum strategy of search engine optimization, website design and Internet marketing gets you in front of this ideal audience.

Internet marketing is not about driving traffic to your site. It’s about driving the right kind of traffic to your site. The process of building these contacts takes around 6 months. The combination of ‘target market’ identification, using social media tools, and link building is a bulls-eye for your ideal customer and cha-ching at the register. Find out more now.

Photo credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1115856

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies. Reach him at 267-626-9094 or rick@dinkuminteractive.com.

Rick: Why don’t you give us the name of your company, and a little bit on what you do?

Steve: OK,  Benari LTD is the company.  We advise business owners, CEOs, Presidents, and their senior leadership on creating a fully integrated, aligned, and accountable organization leading to an organization where all employees and customers are passionate about being part of the story.

Rick: How long have you been working with Dinkum? And since I already know that answer, what led you to pick Dinkum as your tech partner and keep us around?

Steve: I have been working with Dinkum for several years.  I was attracted to you for your ability to understand that I was interested in a fully integrated way of connecting all my web activities to my company goals and objectives.  As I explored your capabilities I found that you understand that I have no interest in the technical issues behind the scenes and expect Dinkum to take care of all that while providing this fully integrated web and social media support totally aligned with my story and messages.  I found Dinkum to be easy to work with, able to talk to me in plain English, able to understand my requirements, and expert at translating these requirements into exceptional and highly effective internet marketing.

Best of all, you are fun!  I love working with the team.  They undersand and accommodate my techical incompetence, random thinking, and chronic craziness, and somehow manage to take my thoughts and develop and implement hugely successful web programs.  I can rattle off a continuing stream of ideas and thoughts that they are able to translate into wonderful materials in ways I don’t even begin to understand.  What I do understand is how successful the results are with little effort on my part.

Rick: There is lots of buzz around Social Media now days.  How has that affected you?

Steve: Social media makes me crazy.  I am flying around the world, my days are totally filled up, and people expect me to be always available through Facebook or LinkedIn.  It is nuts.  Luckily I have Dinkum who manage this craziness for me.  In conjunction with my Handler they make it all work and integrate all the various aspects of my websites, blogs, and all else web.  Without their knowledge and expertise I would be invisible in the web.

Rick: You recently made a video testimonial with Chef Jose Garces.  What has been the response to that?

Steve: I have the great good fortune to have Iron Chef Jose Garces as a client.  I say good great good fortune for two reasons: first because he is a wonderful person and a fantastic client, second because he offered to do a video testamonial for me.  I discussed this with Dinkum who did all the videography, editing, and created a great short video that I’ve used on my websites as well as through various social media.  The response has been exceptional.  Tremendous interest, lots of comments, and a number of new prospects who arrived via seeing the video.

Rick: That’s great, of course! To wrap up, what do you see as having the greatest impact on your business, technologically speaking, over the next year?

Steve: Although I really dislike the impersonal nature of the internet, I love the way the internet and social media have expanded my reach and impact.  Best of all, I have Dinkum to do all the heavy lifting for me so I never worry about it working perfectly and being fully integrated.  I expect to expand my presence on the web significantly in the coming year and look forward to taking advantage of whatever new way of connecting with clients and prospects appears.  Actually, I look forward to having Dinkum take care of this for me while I concentrate on what I do best: guide my clients to exceptional company performance.

Thanks, Steve, for a great interview.

Microphone Photo Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/794564

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies. Reach him at 267-626-9094 or rick@dinkuminteractive.com.