Ian M Rountree

Copywriter, Project Manager, Digital Marketing

  • Copywriting
    • Content Marketing
    • SEO
  • About
  • Contact

Archives for May 2010

The Triangular Social Graph Problem

May 29, 2010 by Ian 1 Comment

The more time I spend networking – on and offline – the more I’m noticing a problem with the basic assumptions some people – including myself – make when looking to build connections. Beyond just who we connect with, there’s a part of the specifuc how that creates issues.

We’re getting worse at introductions, especially self-introduction.

The sheer density of instances where we run into new people online has overtaken realtime introduction so thoroughly that the skills we use are changing in all arenas. When you meet someone new, the practice has been to either be introduced, or to introduce yourself with a 30-second personal sales pitch. Anything to explain who you are, why it’s important you make a connection, and what benefit it might be to the person you’re connecting with.

Now, however, we comment on others’ blogs, reply to them on Twitter, friend them on Facebook out of the blue, and call any reciprocation of these actions a success as an introduction. But we’re wrong in some cases, and unless we learn the cues, we’re going to make idiots of ourselves.

You’re my friend. He’s my friend. He’s not your friend.

It’s easy to forget that many of the most vocal people in a space know each other already. If we miss the key references that tell us that two bloggers – in or out of the same industry – are from the same town, or grew up together, we’re missing out when we see them respond to each other in certain ways on Twitter or in comments. Because of this, even if you know one of these two people, missing the link between your friend and their friends can cause a lot of awkwardness if you approach this third-lever connection from the same angle you approach your own friends.

This, along with a failed introduction practice, can make us come off like idiots.

But now often do we notice, and what affect does our reaction have on our audience when we’re in any of these three positions?

How can we tell when we’re being idiots? Better yet, how can we tell our friends they’re being idiots?

Want an example? Let’s break this down.

We’ll call position one Bill. He’s the popular guy. We’ll call him a marketer. He’s used to audiences.

Position two is Doug. He’s Bill’s friend, perhaps he’s an author. He’s known, for different reasons than Bill is, and is still growing his audience. Hasn’t hit critical mass yet.

Then there’s Steve. He’s the late comer. He’s a marketer like Bill, and has made a connection – maybe a strong one – with Bill. Steve’s a fan of Doug’s work.

Steve makes a joke at Doug’s expense, on the assumption it will go over well, because Bill’s made a similar joke before.

Doug gets pissed. He rants. In public. On Twitter.

Steve’s no longer going to buy Doug’s book. Bill is confused with Doug. Doug is pissed with Bill for not defending him.

Who’s in the right? Is there a right? How can we fix this?

Important questions. I’m glad I’ve never been on any of these three sides – at least not that anyone’s alerted me to. But that can be part of the problem, can’t it? If no one tells anyone they’ve missed a step in the thorough social connection process, those connections can’t be treated like real friendships can.

They remain part of a graph. Inanimate, data-driven, and short lived.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: commentary, connections, idiots, internet, learning, social graphs

How Trance DJs got Social Business Right Ten Years Early

May 27, 2010 by Ian 1 Comment

First there were the Grateful Dead. Then there was Phish. From rock and roll, bluegrass and folk music, to grunge, punk and hard rock – even through to electronica, techno and other sub-genres, there have always been superstars. These few, lucky groups and artists have done for years – decades – what businesses now are just beginning to address as a powerful form of community building. They’ve created and fostered the mythical superfan – and they did it by the hundreds, sometimes by the thousands.

The idea of musicians having a culture isn’t a new one, but in the late nineties, the idea of professional musicians playing pre-produced musicwent from big to huge. Entire sub-cultures popped up in electronic music. Jungle, house, trip hop – dozens of varieties. Each had its own following, but one of the larger groups which has had the most visible bleed into the world stage at large has to be Trance. Melodic, heavily blended music has an effect on a wider majority of people in certain settings than other forms of audible entertainment do. Because of this, and the charisma of the DJ culture, trance music has sustained a wider following longer than many of the other zeitgeist artforms of the early oughties.

How does this apply to successful business? Simple; the forms used in every single set, by just about every successful trance DJ can be transferred to the business patterns of many successful businesses.

First, choose your venue.

Very few DJs choose larger houses or stadiums to play in. They know their business, they know the kinds of environment they want to foster. Smaller clubs, encouraging exclusivity and personal connection are a mainstay of the DJs weapons of presentation.

Next, you play with the crowd.

You won’t see too many DJs failing to move along with the music. They dress like their crowd does, move like the crowd does and, on the rare occasions they speak to the crowd, it’s with a We’re All in This Together tone. The DJ is bringing the crowd along for a ride, and the crowd loves it. The separation from behind the decks to down on the dance floor is physical, but not – as in other performance environments – emotional or even spiritual. there’s a different kind of connection beind made.

Learn the power of the build-up.

If a trance set lasts two hours, you can be certain the first fifteen minutes will be almost a third the volume of the remaining show. One of the hallmarks of trance is a slow progression from melodic to heart-pounding speed. Some tunes range from as few as 60bpm up to 300bpm – a massive change to address. A good DJ knows how to play with the pace of the sound, to make sure everyone pays attention, and no one notices the shift. When the whole dance floor is moving at the same pace, the change from 60bpm to 300bpm will be more emotional than audible.

Find the transition point.

A 12 inch record lasts about twelve minutes. That’s not a lot of time, really, considering the pace at which the music moves. Often, with the exception of the first record played, there are as many as four minutes of overlap between tracks – which means four minutes of two songs playing over each other, four minutes focused on a single tune, and four more minutes to get into the next tune before a record runs out. Any DJ worth her salt will study her music, know every beat, and know exactly where to make the change. The music never stops often the audience is completely unaware of the complex dance being performed and, if you’ve done your job right, every piece matches up perfectly. Two hours begins to feel like forever – until it’s over. Then it feels like it wasn’t nearly enough.

Enjoy the Silence.

When the best shows end, there’s often a moment of stunned, confused silence in the crowd. Hearts are pounding, faces are flushed. The tension between DJ and crowd – and, depending on the venue, within the crowd itself – can be staggering to witness. the crowd wants more, and the DJ is withholding… Until the next show. The DJ knows, as will many of the veteran participants, that this is the best part of the entire night. The transaction is over.

If you make yourself aware enough, just as the dancing stops, you can look out over the crowd and watch the faces. It’s easy to see who’s enjoyed the show, who’s ready to leave, and who can still hear the music.

Do you see who can still hear the music? Those smiling fools, barely keeping still, too excited to look around, eyes glazed in wonder over what just happened. Flushed, still by force of will only, ready to jump back into the swing at a moment’s notice. The ones whose eyes scream Encore une fois! barely contained.

If you’re aware enough to pay attention and properly identify these faces, see these few lucky people for who they are, you’ve just done something businesses everywhere have been scrambling over themselves to do for the last few years.

You’ve just witnessed the birth of a superfan.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: music, social business, social media, trance

The Semantics of Price

May 26, 2010 by Ian 5 Comments

Yesterday I did something fantastic. I mean really mind-blowing, from a personal perspective.

I bought clothing from Old Navy.

This is mind-rendingly awesome for two reasons: primarily, I was amazed I found clothes there I liked. Secondarily, I fit the clothes.

Let me put this into context for you. Price for clothing goes by tiers. Everything between size “air” and size “high average” costs average price. For a pair of pants in the late 90’s, this was anywhere from $15 to $40 – and that’s if you wanted the good pants. When you’re the size I was in high school, you’re not even in the “Dear lord, what do you eat” category – I spent most of the end of my school days broaching a 50 inch waist, wearing size quadruple-extra-large shirts, and taking whatever I could get for under $100 per article.

That’s right. When I was in school, most guys bought cars. I bought pants. That’s a big difference.

I haven’t fit 42″ waist pants since I was fifteen. That’s 1997, folks – twelve years of paying well over $70 per pair of pants I needed to replace. Clothing quality is going down, and prices are going up. This means if the average person of my size bracket buys five pairs of pants per year, they spend between five thousand and seven thousand dollars on pants alone in fifteen years. Someone in the air-to-average bracket spends theoretically three thousand dollars buying the same amount of clothing. That’s a possible difference of $4000, in fifteen years.

Some people buy cars. We buy pants. I won’t even mention shirts, socks or, gods forbid, underwear.

When you’re overweight – or even just large, I’ll never wear anything smaller than a 38, due to bone structure alone – you don’t get certain choices. Yesterday, I bought the largest size available in both pants, and shirt. I happened to be lucky enough to have noticed the relative sizing, try the clothes on, and be happy with them. Shirt and pants cost me what a shirt usually does. A shirt, one shirt. Singular. The pants were basically free.

When you’re looking at financial choices, it’s easy to feel hosed into certain corners – credit cards, vehicle maintenance, housing costs, personal or student debt. It’s worth remembering sometimes, that some financial considerations we really don’t get visible choices on. I now get to cut a basic cost of living in half, just because I’ve been active, eating better, and paying attention to myself.

Now that I’ve got pants, maybe I’ll finally be able to buy the damn car.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: cars, choices, finance, pants, pigeonholes

Review – (mt) MediaTemple

May 25, 2010 by Ian 4 Comments

(gs) GridService Media TempleDo you love your hosting company?

I mean “make jokes at their expense because you know they’ll just fire back” love them?

I’ve been with (mt) MediaTemple (referral program link) for a few months now, and I seriously can’t say enough good things about them. They’re not the cheapest in the barrell – the basic level, (gs) GridService starts at $20 per month, running through to (dpv) Nitro service for $750 – but I swear, there’s a massive difference in service, even at the (gs) GridService level.

Having been through six hosting providers in the nine years I’ve been running websites, I can safely say I’ve not felt as comfortable working with a hosting team as I do with these guys. I’ve tossed Star Wars references at them, and had responses in kind. I’m writing this specifically because my site’s been down for two hours – and when I asked the @mediatemple account on Twitter, I had a response within five minutes. They even took a screenshot of their support blog and located the image off-server to make sure their clients could still access the information in some form.

Dedication. Seriously.

This style of hosting isn’t for everyone. Media Temple uses Plesk – a very in-depth control system, whereas many commercial providers offer Cpanel, which is a little more straight forward and feature-full. Still, the reliability (eight minutes down – which I was warned about – in four months) and the speed is well worth the adjustment. At least it was for ChickenBall and I when we aggregated our hosting in February.

Do yourself a favour. Check them out. (mt) Media Temple is well worth the look, especially if you’re stuck with someone you’re not absolutely in love with. Make the jump.

And you’d better believe every link in this post is an affiliate link. I support who I believe in. I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in (mt).

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: affiliate links, hosting, mediatemple

Lateral Thinking – A Guided Mediation

May 24, 2010 by Ian 2 Comments

I want to share something with you. By now, I figure we know each other well enough to play a little game – and I’d love to hear your response to this very short exercise – I’ll share mine as well, if asked, but won’t volunteer them first. I’d love for you to comment here, but if you’d prefer it, I’ll keep your confidence – send your responses as an email to blog at ianmrountree dot com.

Please, turn off your music if you have any, and at least press the mute button on your television. Politely pause any conversations you’re in the middle of, and read the following as slowly as possible.

You are somewhere you’ve been before, but have thoroughly forgotten.

In the north, there is the sea.

Calm waves stretch out onto white sand, tickling your bare feet. In the distance, the colour of sea and sky blends so well it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Waves reach up toward the clouds – which pour their tears down. Lovers, separated, yearning to reconnect. The crush of the waves and sky against each other creates a never-ending breath, pouring ashore as fine misty breezes. Refreshing. Pleasing. Calm, and well known.

In the south, jungle.

Dark expanses of trees girded by low bushes. Foreign noises. Animals. Darkness, even in the light of day – perhaps danger. Perhaps discovery. Abrupt and abstract. The brief purity of the unknown.

Each way, to the east and west, there is the beach. Sand.

A pale expanse of shimmering, soft sand, barely the width of some highways you’ve driven on, stretching as far as you can see in either direction. In the west, the sun is setting over the beach. In the east, there’s a small house. Bamboo construction. Simple. Likely just enough room for a single bed and a small kitchen. Just the right place to escape.

There’s a patio attached to the small house. A small table in the middle, and two chairs. One of the chairs is empty. One is not.

As you close in on the house, the calm breath of the ocean keeping you steady, you begin to recognize the figure occupying the chair. Distinctly cropped hair, a familiar ear. A nose, a chin, shoulders you’d know anywhere. Those eyes. That smile.

This is the most important figure in your life. A family member, a life partner. An idol you aspire to become or embody. In every way your living/passed personal god(dess).

You sit. You greet.

You are asked three questions, each one systematically shattering your sense of serenity.

Here you are, in this beautiful divide between the calm of the ocean tides and the dark unknown of the jungle, and the entire assumption on which you base your existence has just been challenged.

Stop thinking about the location. Stop thinking about the figure you sit before.

Stop thinking about the answers.

What questions were you just asked?

Photo by ((brian))

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: experiments, meditation

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Categories

  • Announcements
    • Event Notices
  • Blog
  • Communication
  • Content Strategy
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Personal
  • Reviews
  • Social Media
  • Technology

Archive

  • January 2016
  • June 2015
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • July 2008
  • February 2004
  • Copywriting
  • Blog
  • Reading Lists
  • Colophon

© Copyright 2023 Ian M Rountree · All Rights Reserved