Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Archives for February 2009

Market Value

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In Toronto, the main public transport system is the TTC, or Toronto Transit Commission. They handle buses, streetcars and subway trains for the Greater Toronto Area, which is a pretty wide circle of commuters. They had a pretty stormy 2007 and early 2008, with disputes between employees and management and fairly poor service for its 2.5 million daily users.

Yet in the last six months the TTC has been visibly trying to repair damaged bridges. They’re decommissioning their aging streetcars and replacing with energy-efficient LRV’s instead. They’re looking to increase the amount of subway connections to the commuters that really need it. Their buses are being replaced by hybrid vehicles, to fall in line with the Ontario eco-friendly program.

Add to this the improved (yet still not ideal) employee structures, the OneStop Media LCD information screens in stations keeping commuters up-to-date with the latest news as they travel and the fact that TTC fares have stayed the same $2.75 since 2007, and things are looking much better for the company.

Compare that with Mississauga Transit, which is about 36 miles from Toronto yet still falls within the GTA area and is serviced by the TTC subway system. They’ve just put their prices up from $2.75 to $3.00 (this is the same whether you’re a child in grades 1-8 or senior citizen – no discount there).

They’ve cut a lot of services, and many don’t run on a Sunday – not even to some of the larger shopping malls where local retailers count on consumers to stay afloat. They recently closed down one of their main bus stations for upgrades and moved the passenger embarking area without any clear cut announcements. Services at peak time are often 20 minutes to half an hour apart.

They do have a shiny new email alert system for delays, so it’s not all bad…

Market value is a key commodity between businesses and their customers. Word of mouth, both good and bad, is the currency behind the value. What are your customers saying about you?

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Social Media for Good

As you may or may not know, I started a charity project this year called the 12for12k Challenge. At its simplest, it’s 12 charities throughout the 12 months of 2009, with the aim of raising $12,000 per charity. It’s a tall order, but one that can be achieved.

Yesterday, the 12for12k promo video was released. This is the result of a lot of hard work behind the scenes by Susan Murphy, Cheryl Gain and Kathryn Jennex of the 12for12k creative team. Post-production was very kindly carried out by Rob Lane and his great team at Overlay.tv.

I’d like to share the video with you now, and thank everyone for their continued support of the 12for12k Challenge. Together we can use social media for good and make the difference.

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It’s Good to Say No

My social Network on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter...
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If you’re a business owner, do you have a social media presence yet? Set up your Twitter account, added a shiny new company blog and joined Facebook? How about a Squidoo page or a Ning community? Networking on LinkedIn? Got them all on your checklist? No?

GOOD.

Despite what you might hear, you don’t need a presence on every single social media network or community.

Contrary to popular belief, social media is not the be all and end all to your business worries. It’s not the one-fit-catches-all solution that will bring you endless streams of revenue and profit.

It is a powerful medium to spread your message and engage with your customers – but your customers need to be there first, old and new.

It is a hugely cost-effective medium when compared to traditional promotional and marketing spend, but you need to invest a lot of time to make it work. Time can be just as expensive a commodity as a media campaign.

Ask yourself who your core audience is. Are they the early adopters that would use social media much like boxers would use mouth pieces? Do they fall within the key users of the mediums you’re looking at? If not, why waste time in that arena? Why try and spread a message to people with closed ears? Even the most silver-tongued persuader will have a hard time if he can’t speak sign language.

By all means, open your business up to the strengths and opportunities that social media can offer. But open up the right doors – make sure your business is the key that fits.

Your business survives because your customers say yes. But sometimes it’s good to say no too. No?

But I’m Not a Shepherd

Apart from using the term “sheep”, which seems a little off (sheep follow blindly – people make their own choices), TwitterSheep is a pretty cool Twitter application that offers a visual cloud of someone’s followers. Simply type in a username and you’ll see a word cloud that’s generated by each follower’s profile.

There are obvious instant benefits to this – for example, what a new follower may talk about the most as well as what your own outreach is like.

Here’s mine. Who’s in your radar?

flock

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My Gift to You – Hurry, Offer Ends Soon!

So there’s been a recent spate of Social Media Certification courses spring up lately. Who knows, maybe they’re great? However, I feel that it’d be remiss of me not to jump on the bandwagon offer my expertise course if you’re interested. Please leave your name in the comments field and why you need this training and agreeing that my results may vary but you’ll still pay me the course fee money.

Official Social Media Person-Type Leader/Follower/Coach/Tutor/Guru/Expert Guy/Girl Certificate of Certification

Sponsored by the Best Upper Level Leveraging Strategy House in Town (B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T.)

Have you heard of that crazy thing called social media? Where you can be in the media (or not) and be social (or not)? No?

It?s ALL THE RAGE!

But don?t worry if you?re missing out ? thanks to the Official Social Media Person-Type Leader/Follower/Coach/Tutor/Guru/Expert Guy/Girl Certificate of Certification, you too can become part of the socially media trend that?s hitting the nation.

For as little (or as much) as I choose to charge you, you will learn:

  • Who are all these Twits this guy is talking about?

  • How to do more on Facebook than just poke your best friend?s mom

  • How to socially media market to people who aren?t even using social media

  • Get a lifetime?s worth of knowledge in 20 minutes and a CD/DVD

  • Me following you on your social media accounts so you have followers which makes people think you know what you?re talking about because that?s where the legitimacy and authority of my course really kicks in (punctuation not needed!)

That?s six five great offers!

One for every social media application being used today!! How about THAT for results??

And for the first 100 people that sign up, I?ll even give you a free link to a site of my determination that might (or might not) be worth your time.

But hurry ? offer ends midnight (on some day or other!!)

Sponsored by the Best Upper Level Leveraging Strategy House in Town (B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T.)