Following up yesterday's post about expectations for this year, I get bored doing the same thing over and over. So give me a little bit of thinking time, and I'll start tinkering. Based on some messing around over the holiday, here are the work-in-process changes to my online strategy for 2009.
I've been resisting Twitter because it just hasn't made that much sense to me. My POV has been I'm not always that interested in what I'm doing, let alone anyone else being interested in it!
Then over the holidays, I started following Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at Marketing Profs, Guy Kawasaki, David Harkleroad at The Hay Group, and Peter Shankman of HARO fame.
Rather than boring stuff about going to the grocery store, they use Twitter in innovative ways to point followers to information and people that they find intriguing. That's not boring, so with that, I'm in! We'll see what happens when the holidays give way to regular work life. For right now though, go here to find me on Twitter - @brainzooming.
Flip Video
Early in December, I bought a Flip Video Camera, which I recommend highly. In this case, going simple with fewer features has been the right move. It's provided quick alternative creative input for several posts already with a poster, an onsite guerrilla marketing report, and a silly video.
The Flip will enable a lot more of this variety, flexibility, and quicker turnaround on creative content.
Get Out There More
I don't want the blog to be too inwardly focused, but several factors work against that objective:
- Usually my strategy is sharing ideas from personal experience. I prefer letting you know what works and doesn't based on what I've personally found, rather than reporting innovations somebody else implemented.
- 2008 was a very heavy year for output, writing more than ever before. This constrained time to visit other websites, blogs, and publications, commenting and bringing ideas back to Brainzooming.
- From a work demand standpoint, 2008 was intense; 2009 will be more so. Available time is very precious; fortunately, I can get by on little sleep.
With the positive response to case study updates from 2008 conferences and some less formal posts, in 2009, I'll try and shift the strategy to more variety and less formal content:
- More Surf's Up type posts based on links to Brainzooming-oriented content on other websites
- More commenting on other sites and LinkedIn
- Using Tweets as a creative source of new Brainzooming posts (look to the top left on the blog for the most recent updates)
- Greater frequency in video updates and shorter posts
We'll See
That's the early plan. I wanted to share it to help keep me on the program and so that as you see changes in the blog you have a better sense of what's going on. Your thoughts and reactions will be important as we see what works and what other innovation is necessary. - Mike Brown
