A trend I’ve been noticing amongst SMBs I interact with is that they’re increasingly using technology to capture value from one-off interactions where they previously failed. Larger brands have long recognized the power of an email address or social media relationship and have provided consumers with incentives to trade this information. This information is a gateway for maintaining relevancy and hopefully cultivating a relationship through the penetration of your inbox or social stream. The diligence of retail brands in this arena serves as a stark contrast from my experience with SMBs. However, a few of my most recent interactions indicate SMBs are now getting in the game:
After putting my name on the waiting list at a local restaurant, the …
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Last night I read a post about the difference between pain and discomfort on Jason Shen’s blog. The paragraph and highlighted sentence below particularly resonated with me as I turned off the light following my google reader ritual:
Only for the first night did I think I would have trouble getting up at 5am for a full inspection in subzero temperatures. Only on the first day did I think there was no way I’d run a 2.4 before and after each meal of the day. If you are the kind of person who rolls over each morning and hits ‘snooze’ so you can throw away another 10 minutes of opportunity, this man had a practice grenade he would casually throw into your dorm to …
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Some readers told me they liked the life hacks section of my old blog, so I decided to publish some more.
Engage Awesome Founders by Reporting Bugs – I encounter bugs in products all the time. Actually take the time to screenshot and document the actions that lead to a bug then send it to the founder. I use my rapportive hack to find their email if I don’t have it.
This is a great beachhead for building a relationship because it indicates that you’re interested in their success. People appreciate that. Leverage this point of contact to build a relationship by continuing to add value in the form of feedback, connections, etc.
Identify Tech Talent for Hire Amongst Your Network – In …
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So… what are you working on?
This question pervades the New York Tech scene like 6th grade girls at a Bieber concert. There’s nothing wrong with it, but I think there is a level of etiquette surrounding it which few employ.
People ask this question for a variety of reasons: they’re naturally awkward and have no idea what to say, they can’t wait for you to ask back because they think their project is the next Facebook, or they’re generally interested and want to help. If you want to develop meaningful interactions aim to be in the final camp.
When I first meet someone I never like to ask this question off the bat. Why? Because you never know whether someone is …
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I was just writing an email and hastily cc’d the wrong person. Gmail uses machine learning to understand my common behavior and alerts when they think I might have made a mistake. Its awesome
1. Auto-populate my contacts (which are automated via frequency)
2. Recognizes my mistake
3. Enabled me to easily correct my mistake with one click
Saved me from emailing the wrong person. Impressive.
I started writing because people told me it was beneficial to cultivate an online presence with a blog. At first, blogging felt like work. But the more I wrote the more I began to enjoy it and recognize its incredible benefits.
Now I write every single day. I usually try to follow aspects of the artists way and write as soon as I wake up as well as just before I go to sleep. When I feel like others can derive value from what I write, I publish it on my blog. It typically ends up being a 50-50 split between what I choose to publish vs. file away internally. Ironically, maintaining a blog is now merely a positive …
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A loyal online community is one of the hardest assets to cultivate, but often one of the most valuable. Unlike one-off click-throughs, members of a community engage in an on-going relationship. Depending on the context, their value comes through in the form of support, input, awareness, data, SEO, repeat purchases…the list goes on.
Consistently publishing high-quality content is one way to cultivate an online community. Fred Wilson’s blog AVC is a perfect example of this. By churning out value on a daily basis he has cultivated a loyal community. Make no mistake, building this community is the product of lots of hard work; regularly publishing thought-provoking posts and accomplishing the things he has as an investor and community leader is no …
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My biggest problem with my Facebook newsfeed has always been that so much of the content is irrelevant. This is mainly due to the fact that many people I’m friends with I’ve only met once or haven’t seen in a long time. So I acknowledge that the noise is somewhat my own fault.
I made a friend request the other day on Facebook and was presented with an option I hadn’t seen before. I took a picture of it below:
If you haven’t noticed, Facebook implemented a smart lists feature. Now each time I make a friend request, it prompts me to assign new friends to one of these lists.
I started thinking about it and realized that the more engaged I …
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