Podcast: Leveraging Video & Social Media for Your Small Business
Got Video? Live Webcast
Broadcasting Live with Ustream
So, I’m broadcasting my talk on Leveraging Video for Your Small Business or Non-Profit live Wednesday, July 13th 12pm Central for about 1 hour. I hope you’ll enjoy!
In the mean time, here’s an excerpt from a previous talk about Branding Your Creativity Through Social Media.
Podcast: Radio Interview w Dr. Cherwitz re: Intellectual Entrepreneurship
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So, my partner in crime Dr Richard Cherwitz, founder of the University of Texas at Austin Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) Consortium is featured in this edition of the Austin Lifestyles radio show that airs every Sunday morning at 7am in Austin, TX. Dr. Cherwitz explains just what IE is and their partnership with the Media Communications Council on the intensive mentoring and college readiness program It Could Be U.
the US – Marcus Graham Project
So, I met Lincoln Stevens, founder of the Marcus Graham Project, about 3 years ago when I was starting the Media Communications Council. He works with young African American men aspiring to enter the advertising industry and every summer hosts a boot camp in which young come from all over the country to work together for real clients being guided by advertising leaders. I’m very pleased to see that the project is maturing and making an impact on diversity in the ad industry. It was heartening to meet Lincoln and understand what his dream was as I was pursuing a similar dream with the MCC. We too have a come a long way and I look forward to working with Lincoln and his amazing program some time in the near future!
It Could Be U Camp – Week 1, Tour of UT Campus
This is another great video showing our students and mentors as they tour the University of Texas.
It Could Be U Camp 2011 – Week 1
I am thrilled to report that week 1 of It Could Be U Camps was a great success. This is a big milestone for us as we are incorporating UT Intellectual Entrepreneurship Mentors along with Peer Mentors for the camp. We’re just getting started!
26 Shockingly Offensive Vintage Ads That Would Never Fly Today
Austin Lifestyles Radio Interview
So, here’s a copy of the radio interview that aired Sunday June 12th on the radio show Austin Lifestyles hosted by Bo Chase. I go in depth about the E4 Youth Summit and our latest wrinkle. We’re establishing Vertical Teams of business leaders, Grad and PreGrad students and the youth we serve around the four broad disciplines of Media Communications, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics), Entrepreneurship & the Arts. Exciting stuff. Enjoy!
Right Wing Talk Radio Flame Out As Listeners Tune To Independents – The Daily Beast
Ratings for Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and other hyperpartisans are declining as listeners seek honest talk from hosts like Michael Smerconish over angry rants. A more civil conversation will add value to our political debate, writes John Avlon.
There’s new evidence to suggest a demand for something different than hyper-partisanship in the world of talk radio and political media.
It’s not just the sunset of the Glenn Beck Show on Fox or the dispatch of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC to CurrentTV. It’s the shuttering of a pioneering conservative radio station and data showing the demographic decline of Rush Limbaugh.
In contrast, growing numbers of listeners are tuning in to independent voices who can be honest brokers in debates and don’t just angrily parrot talking points.
In February, I wrote a column asking whether right wing talk radio was dying and ruffled some feathers in that flock. A more accurate means of measuring listeners showed that conservative talkers’ ratings had either declined or flatlined in the heat of the 2010 election, while the world-journalism focus of the John Batchelor Show had seen a decided ratings climb. Now, a look at radical centrist Michael Smerconish’s national ratings growth since the start of the year provides more evidence of this emerging market.
First, here’s a snapshot that puts the shift in perspective: Just days after the 2010 election, the nation’s first all-conservative talk radio station, KVI in Seattle, switched back to a classic-rock format after 17 years. Its innovation had become media saturation—and music became an appealing alternative to the drone of a dozen Rush Limbaugh imitators.
Limbaugh can sell bedpans and resentment forever. But the demographic trend is not his friend.
Rush Limbaugh (L) Glenn Beck (Photo from L to R: Ethan Miller / Getty Images; Alex Brandon / AP Photos)Rush is a giant in his field, reaching more listeners than anyone in political talk, but even he has seen erosion in his numbers. Analysis of industry data shows that in market after market, Rush’s ranking has declined decisively over the past five years among advertisers’ coveted 25-54 age group. For example, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Rush fell from sixth to 12th between 2005 and 2010. In Portland, Oregon, he fell from fourth to eighth. In San Francisco, he’s seen a similar decline. Among listeners 65 and older, Rush remains No. 1. He can sell bedpans and resentment forever. But the demographic trend is not his friend.
It’s not that “the angry white guy conservative political talk format”—as consultant and former Clear Channel talk radio programming director Gabe Hobbs calls it—is over. It’s just got little room to grow, going forward.
“Rush has been around for 23 years. They’re not necessarily making new Ditto-heads. You have to fish where the fish are,” says Hobbs, who helped launch the radio career of Glenn Beck, among others. “We’re singing to this choir, that’s great, they’re worth a lot of money and they do a lot of wonderful things, but boy, there’s a lot over here we could do.”
“This civil and smart approach—like [John] Batchelor and Michael Smerconish and some other shows—to me is kind of a ‘duh,’ ” adds Hobbs, indicating that it should have been obvious long ago. “The numbers that NPR is drawing clearly portends to something. I’ve seen it myself in research. It’s the tone; it’s the approach. Some people don’t want to be engaged at that loud, angry level—that hard right or left ideological approach where it’s my way or the highway.”
A Republican turned Independent who supported President Obama in 2008, Smerconish is a pioneer, putting himself out in the world of daytime political talk radio as a radical centrist, surrounded by the old hyper-partisan voices. He is currently an island, but he is far from alone, reflecting the 41 percent of American voters who now identify as Independent but are seriously underrepresented in our political and media debates.
This is no mushy middle. Smerconish memorably described his policy profile in The Washington Post as “someone who supports harsh interrogation, thinks we should be out of Iraq but in Pakistan, doesn’t care much if two guys hook up, and believes we should legalize pot and prostitution.” (Note the Pakistan comment—Smerconish has been beating that drum long before most Americans had heard of Abbottabad.)
“I choose subjects and offer my opinions without regard to any party’s talking points,” Smirconish says. “I have plenty of opinions, but they do not fit neatly into those faux, talk- and cable-created ideological boxes. And it matters not to me whether the audience at the other end is a conservative, liberal or independent—I don’t check registration cards.”
Would You Take Business Advice From a College Student?
This is an interesting article I found in Inc. Magazine. The advertising and marketing landscape is quickly being reshaped and it serves businesses to be in touch with youth. In fact, it’s a worthwhile investment in the future of your business. Enjoy!
Would You Take Business Advice From a College Student?
Why Jen O’Neal, founder of Tripping, created an advisory board of young people
By Jennifer Alsever | From the May 2011 issue of Inc. magazine
Courtesy Company
Student Teachers Tripping co-founders Jen O’Neal and Nate Weisiger (front) lean on young people for marketing advice.
Before launching a new marketing campaign, Jen O’Neal first ran the idea by her board. O’Neal is CEO of Tripping, a San Francisco–based Internet start-up that connects world travelers with local hosts, who offer sightseeing tips, conversation, and sometimes a free place to crash. To promote the site in Barcelona, O’Neal was considering hosting evening events on college campuses. Board member Jacopo Bordin shot down the idea. After class, he said, young Europeans aren’t hanging out on campus—they are relaxing at wine bars and outdoor cafés.
Bordin should know. A 23-year-old student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, he grew up in Italy. Bordin sits on Tripping’s social media board, a 10-person team of twentysomethings who advise O’Neal on marketing to students, the site’s primary users.
O’Neal and her co-founder, Nate Weisiger, came up with the idea for the advisory board last year after hiring an intern to manage the company’s blog, Twitter feed, and other social media efforts. Some 200 young people applied for the position. After making her choice, O’Neal sat down to toss out the rest of the applications, many of which included enthusiastic stories about travel and studying abroad. “I didn’t want to delete the e-mails,” she says. “I hated the idea of releasing all these people and not coming into contact with them again.”
At the time, Tripping had just three employees and didn’t have the resources to hire any more. But O’Neal and Weisiger thought the young people would make great advisers. To determine which candidates had the most creativity and enthusiasm—and ability to get the word out about Tripping—the co-founders decided to hold a contest. They went through the intern applications and challenged the 40 most promising candidates to vie for spots on the board. The contenders had three weeks to generate as much online buzz as possible about Tripping. About half of the people O’Neal contacted took her up on the challenge.
The contenders used various tactics to get the word out about the company. Because Tripping markets itself as a place to get insider travel tips from locals, Katy Birnbaum, then a San Francisco State University senior, made an online video of the 1 a.m. swarm of people lining up for fresh doughnuts at Bob’s Donut & Pastry, a popular hangout for college students. Lauren Nicholl, a graduate of the University of California, Davis, contacted popular travel bloggers and raved about Tripping. She also took to Twitter, posting information about Tripping as well as links to travel articles and famous quotes about travel.
Whenever O’Neal updated the company’s blog, the young people would flood it with comments. The CEO was impressed by the group’s eagerness. “You could see this rivalry,” she says. “They were trying to edge each other out. We didn’t think people would work that hard to get a seat on this new board we just invented.” In the end, O’Neal chose 10 of the applicants for the board—Birnbaum and Nicholl made the cut.
The board members don’t have daily responsibilities. They primarily act as brand ambassadors and offer the co-founders opinions, advice, and ideas. “It feels completely different than an internship,” says Bordin. “You feel more involved, more rewarded.”
Already, the board members have contributed many new ideas. “They have grown up with technology in ways I didn’t,” says O’Neal, who is 31. “Some of the best ideas came from people who barely had any work experience.” Birnbaum, for instance, came up with a feature called video validation, which helps travelers vet potential hosts in other cities. Since its founding, Tripping has encouraged users to rate and review hosts, but O’Neal wanted to add another level of verification for young travelers who would be meeting up with strangers or staying in their homes. Birnbaum suggested that Tripping interview hosts remotely using Skype; Tripping would ask them to show their passports and proof of address during the video calls and would keep a record of the information.
O’Neal loved the idea and had Birnbaum head up the project. Not only has the video validation feature been popular with Tripping users, says O’Neal, but conducting Skype chats with hosts also provides valuable customer feedback that the company has used to improve the site.
Board members aren’t paid, but they receive training from Tripping’s co-founders. Weisiger teaches board members how to write Web code and create Facebook ads. O’Neal helps them with job hunting, polishing their resumés, and conducting mock interviews and introduces them to other entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
Each board member determines his or her level of involvement. Bianca Cloutier, a recent Dartmouth graduate, already had a full-time job at a nonprofit in New York City, but she joined Tripping’s board because she wanted to get experience at a tech company and learn more about business development. Jeff Manheimer, Tripping’s vice president of business development, invited her to tag along when he went to meetings on the East Coast. She watched him create promotional partnerships with groups like university study-abroad programs. Working nights and weekends, Cloutier eventually signed up six new partners, including the alumni network of AmeriCorps, a student volunteer organization with more than 600,000 alums. “This was perfect for me,” says Cloutier. “The flexibility was great.”
The social media board has also become a useful recruiting tool for Tripping. Since creating it, O’Neal has hired four board members as full-time employees. And she plans to keep adding members to the social media board as the company grows. “It’s so easy to see who is passionate,” says O’Neal. “Some of them really shined.”
For tips on assembling an advisory board, including how to choose the right members, compensate participants, and structure board meetings, go to www.inc.com/building-a-board-of-advisors.
