Curation Revolution

Marty Note on Twitter Marketing Lessons

There was an employee a secret cop at Twitter I had to call. My feed was on the wrong side of some unwritten law and it was in "Twitter Jail". Finally, I got an email through to the secret cop and she told me in an overly hurried voice (amazing how you can get so much information between the lines in an email) that I was no longer n Twitter Jail. 

San Francisco Rocky Horror Warp
Read the post and try not to do everything Read Write outlines, but we have another take - don't put your company in San Francisco or don't leave it there. San Francisco is an AMAZING place. 

If I could afford to live there I would be in San Francisco. When I sold sweetener for NutraSweet to Dryers in Berkley I loved staying at the Claremont. But there is something warping about the bay area. The arrogance, tunnel vision and pit bull meanness are hard to overstate. 

I've had versions of the secret cop story over and over. One of the owners of Bunchball, a gamification engine, tore me up one side and down the other for the sin of wanting to purchase and use his software to help cure cancer. 

For all the MAGIC in the air help, the bay area and success can be deadly combinations. Twitter was so LARGE and IN CHARGE, I had to beg a secret cop to release me from jail despite never understanding what I did to end up there in the first place. If you believe in business karma then every customer slap eventually comes back. 

Nietzsche's Superman
Nietzsche believed adversity created life. No adversity, no challenge, no life. Twitter's adversity can teach valuable lessons in life's inevitable humility, the curse of being the smartest guys in the room and time's constant arrow toward entropy. 

Entropy is a truth we all know - everything organized becomes less so, everything valued now becomes less so, everything known becomes boring, and every lesson hangs around until learned. 

Twitter is great and can become greater still, but not without soul searching adversity and connection with customers. Yep, no more secret cops. Listening more and abusing less would be good. 

Twitter is sitting on a mountain of fascinating information. SHARE IT. What about asking for help, innovation, and ideas from customers? What about asking for help? 

Entropy happens, we all die, but we and Twitter don't have to die TODAY. If Twitter keeps doing what they've been doing they are done. If Twitter listens, opens up and looks for help they win big. Just because you are young, rich and smart doesn't mean HELP isn't valuable or the oxygen needed now. 

When in doubt be nice. Be nice today because tomorrow someone can treat you like you treated them when you were sure the world revolves aorund you, your company and its brilliance. The world runs on pain, joy and beauty. If your company can relieve one (pain) and promote others (joy and beauty) life is good. Success is rarely about YOU and always about THEM & US :). Marty 

Here are 5 Internet marketing tactics some genius friends are using to have a happy holidays (with names and website identieis kept secret as promised):

1. Mobile Games.

2. Disruptions.

3. Asking for help.

4. Listening.

5. Crowdfunding

What are you doing that is cool, unique and different this holidays? Tell me if you can, if not hope you will in January :). M  

Steal This Survey To Post Idea
Had a great stay at the Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Charlotte during the Search Exchange conference. I NEVER fill out surveys since who has the time, but the service was so good I wanted to share that information with Marriott.

I broke my rule and completed a survey that was at least 2 pages too long. Started out looking all Net Promoter and then just went on too long. Glad I hung with it because if I'd bailed I wouldn't have seen one of the coolest ideas - use surveys to create web reviews.

The last page asked me to write a review TO GO TO THE COURTYARD WEBSITE. Now that is BRILLIANT. Bet they are smart enough to create a new webpage with the 100 words I just shared too adding to page spread and aggregating reviews on their property.

Why am I so confident Courtyard is that good? Look at their 7,000 follows on 43K following number (15%). IMPRESSIVE. Most big brands think social is about THEM talking to you. That's why I created Social Its About the Conversation Stupid on Haiku Deck (http://shar.es/LhQP2 ).

Don't have to teach Courtyard by Marriott to listen. They are and the experience in their hotel was pretty amazing as a result. Now all they need is our startup Curagami (http://www.curagami.com ) to take their community to the next level of excellence in listening :). M