Trafcom News

Michael O’Connor Clarke analyzes “Social Media Release 2 point UH OH”

I hope they’re paying Michael the big bucks over there at Thornley Fallis, because he’s one wickedly smart guy. In a lengthy post, he analyzes the new offering from Marketwire: “Social Media 2.0: The Industry's Most Authentic Social Media Product.” (Yes, an odd tag line.)

The blogosphere and the PR community have been vigorously debating the merits of various social-media release formats since the earliest ones appeared in 2006. This discussion is healthy, because it’s moving us toward the day when all communicators understand the goals of such a release, know how to explain its benefits to clients, and how to use it successfully in a campaign. Sometimes it’s not easy.

And so it continues.

Candidates’ conference calls as podcasts?

Here’s a fascinating idea from Dave Winer via Michael O’Connor Clarke, regarding political candidates’ conference calls as publicly accessible MP3 files.

By the way, I’d be happy to show them how to add ID3 tags so that their files display properly. I’m just sayin’.

Did you meet Annie Abbott at Podcamp Toronto?

The next time I complain about a slow Internet connection, a wonky Skype call, an icy sidewalk,  or a frustrating day in general, I will think of podcaster Annie Abbott, who makes a Herculean effort just to get through each day. I'm grateful to Wayne MacPhail for interviewing Annie at PodCamp Toronto.

UPDATE:: Added the link for Annie's podcast.

PodCamp Toronto 2008

Thanks to Connie Crosby, Dave Fleet, Eden Spodek, Jay Moonah, Katherine Matthews,  Rob Lee, Sean McGaughey and Tommy Vallier for organizing PodCamp Toronto 2008. I was able to attend only on Saturday, but was glad I did, especially for:

• Chris Brogan’s stream-of-consciousness presentation on “Social Media and Networking,” which was punctuated by a phone call from Mitch Joel, who was obviously bereft at not being in Toronto. Chris speaks with passion, knowledge, generosity and humour. We were fortunate that he made the trip from Boston to be with us.
• Whitney Hoffman’s fast-paced and information-packed talk on “Making it Stick,” in which she shared tips on making our ideas (and our podcasts) memorable to our audiences.
• Victoria Fenner’s inspiring “Soundwalking and Creative Listening” session, which filled my head with ideas for incorporating more ambient sound into my work. I’ve collaborated with Victoria on a few projects; she’s a very talented audio artist.
• Wayne MacPhail’s case study of “How the Alzheimer Society of Ontario Fell in Love with Social Media …” was a fascinating look at how he helped this organization transform its intranet (and soon its external Web presence too) with a wiki and other social media tools. Wayne is one of those multi-talented guys who can communicate in the written and spoken word, photography, audio, video, you name it. He speaks geek too.
• “Video Podcasting for Beginners” with Vergel Evans and Bill Deys, where these two answered lots of questions about how to use video to spread your message. The consensus is that Blip.TV is one awesome tool.

Late in the day, I participated in an informal roundtable discussion with Victoria Fenner and Wayne MacPhail on “Corporate Podcasting Best Practices.” Because many of those who streamed into the room were involved in nonprofits, we devoted some time to talking about podcasting in this sector. Another hot topic: “selling” the podcast to clients, and discussing the contentious issue of measurement and ROI. Thankfully, Connie Crosby saved us from white-board-less-ness with her quick creation of a live slide deck as we talked. Wow. You’ll find it on Slidehsare. Thanks to Connie, and to Victoria and Wayne! Also take a look at Michelle Sullivan’s blog post about this discussion as well as several other PodCamp sessions.

If you missed PodCamp Toronto either in person or the live stream, watch for the media archives, which will be posted soon.

Photo credit: Wayne MacPhail

Podcasts: not just for young geeks

Too many people believe that only under-20s listen to podcasts. This just ain’t true!

Over the last couple of years, various surveys have been published about the demographics of the podcast-listening audience. The most recent report I’ve seen was in Emarketer, pointing to Arbitron and Edison Media, who note a nearly even gender split between male and female podcast listeners in the United States, with 25- to 34-year-olds making up the largest single age bloc with 24 percent representation.

As a podcaster, I think it’s important to dispel the myth of the typical podcast aficionado as a 17-year-old guy.

From my personal perspective, I see plenty of middle-aged and older people who like to listen to audio, often at their desktops but increasingly on the move with iPods and other portable MP3 players. And I do NOT see the teenagers in my family expressing the least bit of interest in MP3s, except for music.

Do you agree?

Measuring your podcast’s success

When business people ask me about podcasting, they always want to know how they can measure success. Well, you can measure your downloads, subscribers, page views, comments and WHATEVER ELSE you deem to be a metric. If you’re a consultant, it might be the number of speaking invitations you receive. Or the new prospects who contact you. Or the frequency of your name appearing as an expert. If you’re a corporation, it might be something else, such as inquiries coming through to a special email address or Web link you mention in your podcast. Only YOU know what you want to measure.

In my own experience, the trend matters more than the absolute number. Christopher S. Penn has written an insightful post on this very topic. He says:

"No matter what statistic you use - file downloads, Feedburner numbers, etc. the main value of basic traffic statistics is trend growth - does your show have more audience this month than last month? Does your show have more audience this year than last year, and what kind of growth are you looking at - 1%? 5%? 50%?"

Your thoughts?

Going to Podcamp Toronto? Let’s talk corporate podcasts!

If you’re going to Podcamp Toronto this weekend, please look for me. (I’ll be the geeky girl, likely with white headphones hanging on my neck.) And if you’re interested in corporate podcasting, let’s talk! I am eager to take part in a roundtable discussion on Saturday afternoon (probably at 4 p.m., but please check the schedule), where those of us who do podcasting for/within corporations can talk about production, distribution, successes, headaches and everything in between.

Five ways to kill your podcast

I get questions, many questions. And from these questions come some thoughts about the top five ways you can kill your podcast. (Maybe I’m watching too much CSI?)

You don’t want to ruin your podcast, right? So listen to this 9-minute episode, which serves up five easy pieces of podcasting advice you can use.

Here's a sneak peek behind the crime scene tape... Five ways to kill your podcast:

1. Focus on technology
2. Don’t bother learning to use a microphone
3. Don’t consider your listeners’ needs
4. Email the MP3 file to everyone you know
5. Forget about shownotes

You'll find it right here on the Trafcom News Podcast page, along with show notes.

Customer service rule 1: Do not hang up on customers

How I wish I had recorded this call today.

First, some background. All week I've been receiving calls on my office line from an 888 number. I usually don’t pick up. When I do, it’s a hang-up. After it happened today, for the 12th time this week (I know how many times because my phone displays this), I called the number back. Here’s what happened. (I am not revealing the company name since I didn’t record the call and can’t guarantee that my memory is 100% accurate.)

Company XYZ: Hi, this is [unintelligible name], XYZ Telephone.

Donna: Hello, this is a customer of yours. All week, your company has been calling me and hanging up. I wonder why.

Company XYZ: This is an outbound call centre.

Donna: So you are making outbound calls to customers.

Company XYZ: Yes.

Donna; Well, you are hanging up on customers. You are a phone company. I would think that you know how to make phone calls.

Company XYZ: We use auto-dialers. Some times there is a delay.

Donna: I am familiar with auto-dialers. Believe me, this is not a delay. This is a hang-up. It’s very annoying. So tell me, why were you calling me anyway?

Company XYZ: We call our customers to see if they’re happy with our service.

Donna: OK. I’m NOT happy with your service because you keep calling and hanging up on me!

Company XYZ: We use an auto-dialer…

Donna: Yes, I know about the auto-dialer. I can’t imagine that this is a good way to build customer relations, by phoning people and hanging up on them. I can’t be the only customer who actually called back to see who’s annoying me.

Company XYZ: Would you like us to take you off the list so we don’t call you any more?

Donna: YES. Thank you!

So there you have it. A phone company calling customers and hanging up on them. That’s what I call top-notch service: technology first, people second. And cost-cutting above all.

I said, “LET’S HAVE A NICE QUIET DINNER!”

On a recent Friday night, after a hectic week, my partner and I decided to eat out so that we could unwind, reconnect and just share each other’s company (and not cook!). Well, forget about quiet conversation. Three minutes into the evening, we realized that we could not converse at all because the restaurant was so noisy – the 1980s soundtrack, the din of conversation, the plates banging. To communicate at all, we had to shout at each other, which sort of ruined the idea of an evening out. We chalked it up to the nature of the restaurant –  a casual spot filled with 20-somethings and families. And we joked about inventing a headset/mic combo just for diners that would allow people to communicate at the table while blocking out everything else. (That’s what happens when two geeks go out.)

Several weeks later, at our favourite fine-dining restaurant in Oakville, we were fortunate to be tucked into a little table in the corner. Not too far away (it’s a small place), in the centre of the room, three couples held court at a round table. Two of the men were so boisterous that I was almost tempted to ask them to keep it down. (Giving them the evil eye didn’t seem to help). Compounding the problem, everyone else in the restaurant had to crank up the volume on their own conversations so as to talk over Big Mouth and Friend.

My partner and I wondered: Is it just us, or do other people think restaurants are too damned loud? An article in today’s Globe and Mail addresses this very point, going so far as to measure the decibel level in dining establishments in several Canadian cities.

Have you noticed this, too? Do you find restaurants are no longer cozy places to enjoy a quiet meal? With all the dollars spent on  fancy renovations, doesn’t anyone think about acoustics?