For the most part the discussions at UnSummit have revolved around topics marketing, technology and social networking. But in planning the next even (to the extent that we really do any planning), we wanted to shake things up.

So, instead of talking about solutions and successes we thought we’d pose a really open-ended question:

What is your X?

X is not your former spouse, but the one big problem that you want to solve. It doesn’t have to be grandiose or profound. Just something that you think about  a lot. And perhaps something that will serve as fodder for a good conversation and perhaps spark our imaginations.

UnSummit #4

Saturday, June 26
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
CoCo coworking & collaborative space
213 4th St E., 4th Floor
St Paul, MN 55101

Visit the UnSummit website

Go check out my Posterous, if you wish.

The other nifty feature is that Posterous will automatically repost your blog entries to other platforms. In my case, all my Posterous posts go to Twitter, Facebook and Delicious. If I wanted, I could also have my posts come to this blog, but I’ve held off, as the ease of using Posterous has led me to use it for more personal and frivolous posts.

Thanks to coworking mate Peter Fleck for pushing me off the fence. He’s been using Posterous to fuel a hyper-local community blog, in which community members are able contribute via email — no browser access or tech skills required!

The idea for the session stems from two rather obvious trends:

• Everyone’s a startup
  Thanks to the downturn, the streets are littered with talented but unemployed professionals. Some are using the occasion to go into business. Others are hanging out a shingle only until something steady comes along. And then there’s the rest of us who were already on the “eat-what-you-kill” diet.

  All of us are looking for ways to be more effective in how we conduct business, while keeping our costs down. Which leads to the next trend…

• Cheap biz tools are everywhere
  There have never been more cheap tools available to entrepreneurs for creating work product and managing and promoting their business. It seems to me that someone just getting into business could run their business using mostly Web-based freemium services — without compromising quality, and possibly with noticeable improvements in some areas.

What’s on your short list of must-have business tools for small business owners?
Let me see if I can identify some categories and give you my current picks… Perhaps you know of some cool services I’ve never heard of. My goal for the session at UnSummit is simply to gather everyone’s favorite tools in each category and find out how people are using these tools.

My favorite business tools

Info Architecture
OmniGraffle (not free, but it beats the pants off Visio)

Content creation
MS Word (I know. Not very free, nor very cool. But old habits die hard.)

Content collaboration
Google docs

Email client
We just switched from Entouage to Apple’s Mail app, running off a virtual Exchange server. Not crazy about Mail, but it’s only been a week.

Backup/storage space
Amazon S3

Recruiting (for freelancers, other help)
Twitter

Project collaboration
Basecamp

Conference calls
Freeconference.com

Webconferencing (screen sharing)
GotoMeeting.com

Web site/blogging
WordPress

Media relations
Pitchengine.com

Webinars
GotoWebinar.com

Business cards
Moo.com (looking for something new, though!)

Web analytics
Google Analytics

International calling
Skype

Social media monitoring
filterbox

Bookmarking
delicious

Image searches
Compfight.com (searches Flickr for Creative Commons photos)

Marketing (This category requires multiple entries, as I tend to use all these tools in tandem.)

• Twitter (current client: HootSuite)
• Delicious
• WordPress
• Pitchengine
• Flickr
• Slideshare
• Vimeo

Networking (this category also calls for  multiple entries)

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Ning
• Foursquare

Hmm, have I missed anything? I’m mostly a strategy and content guy, so you coders and designers will probably have a bunch of resources that I’ve missed. I’m eager to hear (now or on the 10th) what tools work for you!

For most businesses, the question of what to play while customers are on hold is not critical. Important, but not vital to customer satisfaction.

What if most of your business is handled over the phone? If you’re the iconoclastic savings bank ING Direct, you help customers cope with waiting by playing messages that are witty, informative and, most importantly, respect your customers’ intelligence.

Check it out!  ING Direct: On Hold Messages

Below are a number of resources related to my talk, “Social Media: Friend or Foe?” given on November 19, at a marketing conference hosted by the Farm Credit Bank of Texas. I want to thank Stan Ray and Lora Blume for their tremendous hospitality and everyone who attended for their kind attention and challenging questions.

Key points

What is social media?
Thousands of web sites that allow individual users to create, share, and rate content — and connect with others who share common interests.

Why should you care?
1.    Rapid growth in use & influence of social media sites.
2.    Resulting power shift: individuals exert more control than organizations over content & message.

Top social media sites/activity include:
•    Blogs (77% of active Internet users read them)
•    User-generated content (photos, video, reviews, documents)
•    Facebook (276MM per month)
•    Myspace (124MM per month)
•    Twitter (7MM users)

Social networking by age/gender
•    35% of U.S. adults
•    65% of U.S. teens
•    85% of Gen Y (2% increase since ‘08)
•    28% of Baby Boomers (59% increase since ‘08)
•    35% of men*
•    35% of women*

Farmers & social media
•    55% of farmers online
•    27% have high-speed
•    65% of farmers* use Internet “constantly or several times a day at work”

How can you put social media to work in your organization?
•    Customer service
•    Market research
•    Employee communications
•    Community outreach
•    Public relations
•    Marketing

How to adopt social media in 5 easy steps
1.    Listen to the conversations.
2.    Determine how you want to engage.
3.    Set boundaries.
4.    Rethink your content.
5.    Embrace R&D as a way of business.

Links and references

Ag and Social Media

• Twitter Blog: Twittering from the Tractor
• NPR: A Farmer, His ‘Tribe’ And The Web That Brings Them Together
• TWEET CORN? Nebraska farmers sharing their experiences via Twitter – Free-Press-Release.com
• Farmers embracing Twitter trend – 14 News, The Tri-State’s News and Weather Leader-
• Twittering from the tractor: smartphones sprout on the farm – CNN.com
• In the Field » Agriculture and social media: Q&A with Sue Colucci
• The Voice of Agriculture – American Farm Bureau
• THINKeEXTENSION » Blog Archive » Can Social Media and Web2.0 save Agriculture and Environment
• Farmers for the Future

Internal Use of Social Media

• Social Media Policies For Your Company: Internal Policies | davefleet.com
• Transparency Not Technology: Internal Use of Social Media

Banking & Social Media

• Banks & social media: shred your marketing beliefs
• The Community Banker’s Guide to Social Network Marketing
• Banks try social networking, jump on Twitter wagon – USATODAY.com

Social Media Trends, Statistics & Demographics

• Overview | Pew Internet & American Life Project
• Adults and Social Network Websites | Pew Internet & American Life Project
• Twitter and status updating | Pew Internet & American Life Project
• twitter.com – Quantcast Audience Profile
• Mindblowing #IranElection Stats: 221,744 Tweets Per Hour at Peak
• Social Media 2008 Statistics
• Growth of User Generated Content Contributors in USA : TechCrunchies – Internet Statistics and Numbers
• 82 Million User-Generated Content Creators and CountingBlogging grows by 68% « Mind Juice
• New Twitter Research: Men Follow Men and Nobody Tweets – Conversation Starter – HarvardBusiness.org
• Nielsen: Twitter Was Fastest Growing Community Last Month
  MySpace shrinks as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo grab its users | Technology | The Observer
  Domino’s Discovers Social Media – BusinessWeek
  Micro Persuasion: Social Networking Demographics: Boomers Jump In, Gen Y Plateaus

Resources mentioned in my talk

• Twitter search
• Google Alerts
• Google Blogs
• Google Trends
• Radian 6 – Subscription-based social media monitoring tool
• Techrigy SM2 – Subscription-based social media monitoring tool
• Filtrbox – Free social media marketing tool

Photo of the Texas capital building rotunda, by Flickr user jasleen_kaur

“Over and over, I have seen how a UCD (User Centered Design) process will tend to emphasize certain benefits of an experience like ‘convenience’ over other, more meaningful sources of social value.”

From an article in core 77 by Robert Fabricant, creative director of frog design.

So, while we’re doing a great job getting recognition from Ad Age and NYT as  an advertising town, we’ll need to lay some groundwork if we’re ever to get our fair cities on the entrepreneurial map. No doubt, we’re fortunate to have MinneDemo, MinneBar, Social Media Breakfast, UnSummit and Minnov8, but more needs to happen before MSP can become a breeding ground for startups.

So, yesterday I was delighted to have someone bending my ear about some projects that seem to be aimed at helping creatives and geeks collaborate, innovate and launch new ventures. Below is a rundown of just some of the efforts that Jeff Pesek (@JeffPesek) shared with me.

Co-working (possibly) coming to Minnesota

For whatever reason, and despite a fair amount of interest,  co-working has never caught on here in the Twin Cities. But that might change in the coming months. Stephen Filing, of ClubTix fame, is closing in on a space in Minneapolis that will be converted into a co-working location, with multiple tiers of membership available. You can get more info at www.twincitiescoworking.org. A co-working interest group is meeting on Wednesdays in St. Paul to discuss. As I understand it, Stephen is pursuing this project as a for-profit venture (only noteworthy in light of the following item).

An incubator for social entrepreneurs

Meanwhile, Jacquie Berglund, co-founder and president of Finnegan’s (makers of Finnegan’s Irish Amber and arguably the tastiest non-profit in the state) is considering the potential of using unused space in her organization’s headquarters as a hub for social entrepreneurs. The space in question is a 5,000-square-foot mansion (map) at Portland and 10th in Minneapolis.

One of the ideas Jacquie and Jeff have discussed is whether part of the space could be turned into a co-working-location-slash-incubator that would be attractive to like-minded creatives, geeks and others. Interested? Contact Jeff, who says:

“We’re looking at filling this space with 7 to 10 technically oriented/creative people who would be interested in $100 month shared space (700 square feet) in a socially conscious environment.

Please note that Finnegan’s is only 6 blocks from the Metrodome light rail stop. No word yet on whether the watercoolers will be stocked with Irish Amber.

A new role for CentralStandardTech.com

Started in 2006 by Luke Francl, Central Standard Tech has been a hub for coders and technology entrepreneurs in Minnesota. The site’s stated purpose is:

“to get developers, designers, testers, recruiters, entrepreneurs, VCs, and other members of the tech community talking to each other.”

Luke is hanging in the Valley these days, but has agreed to let the community repurpose and re-energize the site in order to extend the site to non-geeks. Jeff Pesek and Toby Cryns (@TobyCryns) are heading up the effort and hope to redesign the site so that it becomes a one-stop repository for:

• Personal profiles (hmm, I wonder if a mashup with extendr.com would make sense here?)
• Project updates
• Gig postings
• Local events (with a calendar that aggregates events from tech and creative organizations)
• Blogs

Since the intention is for CST to be a community driven site, the list above is only speculative and may expand, contact or morph depending on who joins the project. Interested? Meet Jeff, Toby and me on Monday, July 20, 9 a.m. at Spyhouse Coffee.

MNtechstartups.org

Finally, Jeff told me about a site I’d never seen before: MNtechstartups.org. It’s a community hub that seems to be aiming to achieve much of what I described above. The site’s stated goal is to:

“…add value the Minnesota startup community by providing a comprehensive resource for local startups, one that serves the entrepreneurs who make it happen…”

But how is it different from CST? Are they competing sites? Should they be folded into one big mega community? Maybe Jeff can leave a comment and set us all straight.

Feel free to peruse the 50+ postings at johnryanblog.com. Or you can skip to the chase and simply click through to one of the highlighted posts below.

• “Bank mishap highlights importance of employee communications”
• “Going back to the neighborhood” (on hyperlocalized marketing)
• “Prompting interactivity”
• “Using Twitter and social media to fuel your offline marketing”
• “Using free online research to feed your offline marketing”
• “Small steps toward a better customer experience”
• “How to embrace the economic crisis”

For those of you who read about last summer’s visit to  Corazón de Ñaupas in Peru, I’m pleased to report that Polymer Studios is the proud sponsor of the town’s soccer club.

On my last night in the village, the club presented me with a formal request for sponsorship, typed up on the only typewriter for miles around, signed by the officers of the club and stamped by the local notary. Who could say no to such a proper business proposal? We’re contractually barred from disclosing the details of the sponsorship, but let me put it this way: in the past, the guys played in the clothes on their backs and the other teams made fun of them. Especially those jerks down in the rich city of Vinchos. Who’s laughing now, Vinchos?

We’re hoping to have a skybox installed in the coming year. Until then, our preferred seats at the home pitch are located on top of the big rock outcrop above the field. (No, not the one above the outhouse, but the other one near the cornfield.)

We wish the Ñaupitas the best of luck in the coming season, especially against those dirty dogs down in Vinchos.

It’s no secret that the advertising and marketing industry gets walloped quicker and harder than most any industry during a recession. At least that’s how it played out in the last dip and how it’s looking this time around.

If you look at some of the specific crises driving this recession you’ve got a perfect storm:

• The credit crunch caused by the mortgage crisis
• Disappointing 4th quarter retail sales
• The prospect of one or more U.S. automakers going under
• The very real threat to print media (see this and this)

It’s a domino effect goes something like this: Consumers can’t afford to buy > stores can’t sell > manufacturers don’t make > less money for ads > pink slips for creative types.

The headlines in the trade rags and elsewhere bear this out:

• Media agency forecasters pull no punches: Smith, Coen and King see little hope for economic recovery anytime soon (subscription required)
• Ads subtracting: Massive job cuts seen across Madison Avenue
• Magazine ads evaporated in 2008, faster as months went on (subscription required)
• Most media to suffer retrenchment in 2009 (extensive but free subscription required)

The predictions call for even more bloodletting over the coming months. Which is to say, we could be in for the worst of it.

So, what to do? If you’re an agency type, where will you hunt for sustenance? A recent article in AdAge points the way, citing several areas that might make for good hunting grounds. (Comments in parentheses are mine):

• Washington D.C. (new gov’t, new spending)
• Package goods
• DRTV
• Beer (couldn’t agree more!)
• Online video
• Hispanics (with 30+ Hispanic cousins, I can verify this one)
• E-books
• Public relations
• Cable TV
• Marketing consulting (it was true in the last downturn: companies shed FTEs then bring in consultants)
• Digital out of home (see previous post: The shopper marketing revolution)
• Mobile (I’m getting an iPhone this year, recession or no!)
• Pet care
• Marketing analytics (yet another nail in the coffin of print and broadcast, which is barely measurable compared to online)
• CBS (huh?)
• Luxury recycling (2nd-hand yachts for pennies on the dollar!)
• China
• Package and fast food (Can a boom in the weight-loss industry be far behind?)
• Online coupons
• Gun sales (that huge clicking noise was the sound of millions of NRA members locking and loading)

Photo credit: GlobalJet