Archive for Technology

Get In The Conversation… Notes from CRBJ Breakfast

// April 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology

I had a great time sharing some basic overview information this morning at the Charleston Regional Business Journal’s Power Breakfast.  Thanks to Andy and the crew for including me.  Just some notes for those of you who may be looking for a recap of my “blah, blah, blah..” time.  :)

The biggest point I wanted to get across was to get in the conversation.  Getting in the conversation is free.  Tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging platforms are free.  You can monitor what people are saying about you and your company!  Below are the four points that were included in the booklet this morning…  my big point of “Get In The Conversation” has connections to all four points.  If you aren’t sure how to start or get rolling PLEASE do not hesitate to contact me, I’d love to help!


Social Media, Interactive Marketing and Flow

Word Of Mouth: “I can sell your product better than you.”  Word of mouth marketing is what I also call trust marketing.  Word Of Mouth marketing is also known as “Viral Marketing”.  We spread the word about products we love, buy and use.  I talk about social media, blogging and WordPress (blogging platform) a lot.  Because I do this, people trust what I have to say about those topics.  We all pay attention to the people we trust or who have an authority in a specific area or service.

The Obligatory Website:  Most businesses have a website because, well, every other business does.  If you have a piece of the World Wide Web real estate, why not use it to it’s maximum potential!  Don’t let your site sit static with no reason for people to visit except to get your phone number.  Your website is your biggest ticket to finding new customers as well as new sales avenues.  You have an opportunity to tell your story and become the leader/authority in your arena.  Websites can and will often be the center-piece to your online initiatives.

Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Management: SEO & SEM activities ensure that #2 (your obligatory website) gets traffic… more importantly qualified traffic.  There are two ways to go about this: Natural and Paid.

–Natural (or Organic):  The most cost effective method is to acquire high placement naturally.  This involves your website, how it’s laid out, what page titles you use, what content you have, how often the content changes and the number and quality of incoming links to your site.  Natural placement takes some time, but can be supplemented by paid placement as you grow.  Example: the company I maintain all the SEO/SEM for had 10-15 keywords on the front page of Google in April 2008.  Since then, with a site redesign and a focus put on the SEO, we have been able to acquire over 250 terms on the first page of Google with a value of over $7,000/month.  That value is based on how much it would cost us to “pay” for this type of placement or the value of the “click”. Over 25% of new leads on the site are now coming from the internet and most are coming from search engines.

–Paid:  Google and Yahoo! offer the opportunity to “pay for placement”.  You can have your ad appear based on specific keyword or phrases that a user may type in. It’s important to remember, this can be very costly depending on your desired terms or keywords (more popular search terms cost more money).  You must research which terms and keywords work for you.  You are paying each time a user “clicks” on your term or keyword.  This gives you the ability to place value on a “click”.

Blogging/Transparency/Social Media: Whether you like it or not, people are talking about you or your company.  It can be positive or negative but if you aren’t “listening” in the social media arena then you can’t defend yourself or, better yet, say “thanks” to those who are praising you.  There are many mediums online that people are using to talk. Here are some that are important to monitor and get involved in.:

Twitter (Examples include Comcast, Guitar Center)

Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn)

Blogs (Thomas Nelson’s Michael Hyatt, Chris Brogan)

Forums/Discussion groups (citydata.com)

Listen To Me Talk… Fun, eh?

// April 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology, life

Jason Bradford Speaking

So, it started a few weeks back when I got to spend the morning with some elementary kids telling them about interactive media and marketing. Of course, the kind of computer I had and if it played cool games was way more important to a fifth grader. It seems I’ve graduated and will be on a panel this week for the CRBJ’s Power Breakfast series and then presenting to the Charleston Chamber’s Area Business Council the following week. I’m looking forward to both of these and sharing thoughts from interactive marketing and social media. If you know me, then you know, that I want you to know all about social media and how it can enhance your life and business.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a little bit nervous. I’m not from the typical business/corporate world that most of these attendees will be used to. I’ve only worked in an office and for someone else (directly) for a year and a half. However, I’ve been doing “it” my way for many years which has paid off and has lead to some great opportunities including being featured on Wired.com in their small business program.

Outside of the box thinking has always been a part of who I am. How can we do things better? How can we manage interactive/social media better? How can we do it more affordable? These question came up many times because I had ideas and projects that I didn’t have funding to pursue. I had to figure it out on my own and have since been able to refine my thoughts and processes that have led to consulting, teaching and leading others in a new way of thinking.

Here’s my question to you… if you were/are wanting to learn more about social media what are you most wanting to understand? What outlets or practices are you unsure about? Are there any specific question you’d want addressed if you came to sit in on a social media “talk”?

Who's The Oldest Twit?

// March 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Funny, Technology, life

I’m curious who the oldest person on Twitter is. I mean, the oldest one actually using twitter daily. I know we got 60 covered, but do you know someone who is 70 or 80 using Twitter?

I’m using the hashtag #oldesttwit – Can we find the oldest twit??

We Took A Bath

// February 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology, life

Blog Bath

It’s been a while since the blog was “bathed”.  I was on the other day and was thinking that the layout was just looking a bit dingy… so I gave it a bath.

I’m hoping to launch the Free Music Friday as a sidebar widget so that the artists who are featured get exposure more than just a day or so.  Also added some social media buttons so you guys can find me all over the place!

What do you think?  Like? Dislike?  Add?  Take away?

What The Social Media "Elite" Won't Tell You

// February 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology

social media connection

So I’ve ranted and raved about social media a lot lately so I figured I’d keep going. I’m not a negative person, I promise. I just think that the mass and instant communication tools that we have all been given (for free) are quickly saturated by those who are only concerned with making a buck. I’m not talking about all of them, but a good many are only concerned with telling you how to “grow your network” and “make money”.

I’m all for making $$$ to make a living, but I’m also all for community. Real community that isn’t concerned with just making money off their friends/followers! Here are some things you won’t hear most of the social media “elite” tell you.

  1. Be Real.  Meet the people you are connecting with, don’t send DM or Instant Messages that direct them to a product or your “How to make bank with Twitter” post.
  2. Don’t Try To Make Money.  You’d be surprised at how many people meet others and create connections that lead to work.  I know.  I’ve worked with musicians and web projects with people that I met on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace.  I wasn’t trying to get work!  I was just being myself and people were able to learn who I really was.
  3. Delete Friends and Followers If Needed.  If someone you follow or a “friend” sends an automatic DM or Message that is selling you something- delete it.  Drop them.  It’s ok.  They are selling you something not trying to be your friend.  Think telemarketing.. we all hang up on most of them!
  4. Turn Down The Noise.  Do what you want when it comes to followers and friends.. accept them all or accept only a few.  It’s your network!!!
  5. Ignore The Rules.  Wait, there are no rules.  I promise.  There is no definitive rule book for social media.  Sure, a lot of stuff has been written on growing your network and community, but none of those came from the Constitution.
  6. Don’t Be “That” Guy/Girl.  Guru, Rockstar, Evangelists, Expert, Maven- all the self-proclaimed titles…  This is one the weirdest trends I’ve seen in social media.  Like I said above, there are no rules so if you are a self-proclaimed expert then you must think you know the rules and want to teach everyone.  Wrong. You don’t know me.
  7. It’s Your Social Network.  Do you let others tell you how to run your social life?  Why would you do that online?  Use your social networks how ever you like, it’s your network.  If you want to piss people off and be the high-pressure/annoying sales “friend” go for it, just know it’s not much different online than when you call my house at 9pm to sell me something!

I’m in total agreement that we all use social media for separate reasons.  We also have social lives outside of the internet that aren’t much different.  We don’t like to be sold to every other minute and not all of us are out looking for “get rich quick” schemes!

Please also know there are some great Social Media peeps who are very popular and get it.  Who do you follow or are friends with that get social media, I want to know!?

Is Twitter Heading Down The Myspace Road?

// February 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology

myspace and twitter

You guys know I love Twitter…  as a matter of fact, most of you think I live on Facebook because my Twitter account is connected to my Facebook status updates.  BUT, I’ve recently started feeling a bit the same about Twitter as I did when I was ready to abandon Myspace.  Why? What has happened?  Here’s my thoughts on the future of Twitter, I may be way off but hear me out!

Twitter is about connecting and building community.  Myspace was about finding friends and building community as well (before it became a booty call station).  However, Myspace became a game about who had the most friends.  I’m guilty… I had 1800+ friends and really only talked/connected with a hundred or so…  I was overwhelmed with trying to keep up with them all and usually missed the “real” friends because of the noise of unknown “friends”.  It wasn’t long after reaching that 1800+ mark that I “cleaned” house and narrowed my connections back down to people that I knew or people that I had common interests with.  Even so, I eventually looked at Myspace as a chore- and have since moved on to Facebook.  The whole Facebook vs. Myspace saga is another post, I just choose Facebook over Myspace.

So how do I see Twitter as another Myspace?  The “followers” war.  Once again, I’ve played this game too.  I started following anyone who followed me even if I had nothing in common with them.  As the numbers started to grow I slowly disconnected with the people that I had truly connected with.  Then I started seeing people post stuff like “If you don’t follow me back, you will be dropped…  Fair is Fair!”.  That’s not a joke.

First off people, get a clue.  A follower doesn’t mean a friend-  friendships are built by talking and getting to know one another.  There are many folks that I respond too and converse with but don’t follow and the same with other folks who respond to me.  Why do I follow people who’s sole goal is to gain followers then 90% of their tweets are the song they are listening to.  Really? Really?  Ego trips are quickly taking over Twitter… one guy is following 12,000+ people and he has 11,000+ followers, yet he doesn’t talk with his followers rather he spouts out information and 9 times out of 10 it’s a retweet of someone else that everyone is already following.   I’m seeing this more and more daily which is why I’ve realized that soon we are all going to get tired of the game and look for the next manageable communication/media breakthrough.

This is how I relate Twitter to Myspace… Myspace and Facebook are basically the same idea, Facebook was executed better by giving the user more control over their connections and privacy… the interface was also very user friendly. Twitter is basically an open & easy interface place to connect. However with mass followers it gets hard to manage (I say hard to manage, I’m talking about the average user- see below to see how I manage Twitter sanely!!!)

I know I’m stepping on some of the toes of the “Twitter Elite”.  If it feels like I’m stepping on your toes, I’m sorry but I just don’t think you get the idea of building community- whether online or off.  Give me some info, give me a reason to be your “follower”!

This applies to me as well.  I try to be myself on Twitter, I post through out the day with stuff I’m working on, music I like, food I love, interesting links I find, and respond to those I may be able to help.  If I’m not offering you anything then unfollow me… it’s ok… I’m not going to be offended!!!

I still love Twitter but mainly because I’ve found a way to manage it.  If you are overwhelmed with Twitter or feel like you are missing conversations then I encourage you to check out Tweetdeck.  Tweetdeck let’s you create groups…  I have the following groups setup:  local/real friends, music related friends, marketing/interactive friends, then the big group of “All”.  :)

I have hope for Twitter but we’ve got to get a grip on the egos and the serial followers to create a great and useful community.  Who’s on board?

Facebook Connect : Connect Your Communities

// January 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology

So what’s so great about Facebook Connect and why do I like it so much? Facebook Connect is a tool that let’s you connect your blog or website to Facebook… You’ve spent hours building community on Facebook while spending even more hours on your personal blog trying to build readers. Why not use a backend that is proven and connects seamless to align them both?

Facebook Connect does just that. I think a few folks have over looked it because they aren’t programmers and/or developers. Words like API, code, php scare a lot of bloggers- they did me for a while! Thanks to some savy programmers/developers a WordPress plugin has been created and has simplified the process.

I’m using a simplified version of this plugin but fully functional you can utilize many more features from Facebook including photo tagging, wall posting, commenting and connectivity. Absolutely amazing possibilities with this!

If you look to the top right you’ll see a working plugin of Facebook Connect. I had this installed and running in less than an hour. My own Facebook app.. pretty dang cool if you ask me.

So, why do I want to use this app? I want to create an easy way to build community and since most of the people I interact with are on Twitter and/or Facebook why not give them an easy way to participate in my blog world? However, it gives me an opportunity to participate in their world as well. It’s community. It’s talking. It’s sharing via Facebook and our own personal blogs.

You can read more about Facebook Connect here. And you can check out the developer of the WordPress Facebook Connect plugin here. Please email with any questions you have or if you need some help setting it up. I’m more than happy to help build up this tool!

Now, let’s connect!

Wired.com and Tone Box Digital

// December 7th, 2008 // No Comments » // Music & Entertainment, Technology

We are a few days into this competition and Tone Box is getting some great exposure and I’ve had some great inquiries from artists and labels. The voting? Well, we are still way behind. The others have taken way off from us. I learned from Wired last week that there was a little “glitch” in the voting system and they are very aware of it.

So what do we do? Nothing. We are going to keep voting and doing this thing with integrity. Tone Box Digital and myself are unwilling to find a way to “beat the system”. We’ve received over a 1000 votes from fans and friends and we are super excited to know we have support in all we do.

What can you do? Keep voting. Spread the word and let’s find a way to win by true votes by the people. Over the next two weeks we have two newsletters going out and a possible feature on a very large music site- This will be more great exposure- it doesn’t mean votes and it doesn’t mean winning but it does mean we are spreading the Tone Box model.

If you are spreading the word, I appreciate all you are doing.  Please make sure you join our Facebook group: “I Voted For Tone Box Digital @ Wired.com“.  Share on the wall how you are spreading the word and you could get a $30 gift card to iTunes, Amazon.com or Starbucks.

Thanks again for all you guys are doing!!!

VOTE FOR TONE BOX DIGITAL HERE!!!

Tone Box Digital

Tone Box Digital and Wired.com : The Story

// December 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Music & Entertainment, Technology

Wired and Tone Box

As many of you know Tone Box Digital was chosen as one of the five finalist in Wired.com’s small business program.  The program launched today and I wanted to get the word out.

Tone Box Digital is an indie label and distribution service for the arts.  We currently distribute and market over 25 artists and are working on digital distribution for independent films and shorts.  Unlike the other competitors, Tone Box Digital is funded by one individual.  No backers.  No investors. No deep pockets.  Just one individual, me. That’s not me complaining, I am 100% proud that Tone Box has survived this long and has been making a profit (small as is) since it was launched in late 2003.  What’s the coolest thing about Tone Box?  The best part is that the artists make more money than anyone in the chain.  This gives them the opportunity to make a living at what they do best.

I’d like to ask you to take a minute or two and go vote for Tone Box and all that I am trying to accomplish.

It’s real simple.  Go to this Link.  Check out the video… have a giggle or two at my chattering and then vote!

To vote hit the red button with the arrow above it.  It’s right beside my video to the left.

Thanks for all the support and help over the years.  I couldn’t have done any of this without my friends, family and most importantly the artists that have let me be a part of their music.

Wired.com Interview and Finalists

// November 7th, 2008 // No Comments » // Music & Entertainment, Technology

I just finished my interview/video with Wired.com and have really enjoyed the whole process. Wired.com has started a new small business section on their website and to kick it off they asked for submissions for small businesses that aligned with the Wired mentality. I submitted Tone Box Digital, my indie record label/distribution service to them and truthfully, forgot about it. A few weeks ago I received an email that said I was one of five finalists- wow. As a finalist they flew me to NY to shoot a short video to talk about Tone Box. On December 1st all the videos will go live on Wired.com and you, the public, get to decide who is the winner.

The other finalists are really cool and have some super great ideas! I’m in great company and am honored to be among them.  No matter who wins this thing we are all going to benefit from the exposure. Here are the other finalists and their websites, great stuff and great minds behind them all!

  • Scryve: a collaborative web resource and browser tool combination that provides a resource for environmentally and socially aware Internet browsing. (check out the firefox plugin!)
  • CrowdSPRING : was started to help people from around the world access creative talent, and to help creatives from across the globe find new customers
  • Greenlines: Classic boardshorts made from 100% recycled polyester fabric.

    Every purchase supports your local beach.

  • Livespeakr: The LiveSpeakR™ is a boombox in your pocket! Designed for use with the iPhone and iPod Touch. Designed by a customer, for the customer.
  • and me.  Tone Box Digital-  You can check us out to!

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