Podonomics

Liz Dreesen (seen on left), a surgeon and student at University of North Carolina in the United States recently wrote that she doesn’t support podcasting of her anatomy lectures because it means that students will no longer attend her class.

I hear this argument alot from educators. They’re worried that the podcast will come to replace the in-class experience, with students relying on them to get their information as opposed to physically being in class.

While I can appreciate Liz’s arguments, I also want to remind her that the goal should be to avail herself to the changing needs of her students. Inconvenience to a student can mean having to miss class due to illness, childcare, a death in the family or even stress. A video recording of Liz’s lecture will aid these students so that they don’t have to rely on 2nd hand information to still stay on top of the lessons.

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I’ve been through an acquisition. Four managers in three years. Name of the division changing every 6-months. Layoffs happening every quarter. Talk about feeling like the bastard child.

Well, if you’re a corporate type and you want to encourage your employees that everything’s going to be alright after a merger or acquisition, check out what Bank of America did.

I won’t spoil it for you, so just click here to view it on the AdFreak blog. All I will say is that it’s one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite rock bands. And it’s a darn clever idea.

Technorati: corporate podcasting, retention, social media

I was perusing iTunes, looking for one of my client’s podcasts. I went to the podcast directory homepage and guess what I found? A video podcast called Justice League Heros.

The little girl in me just couldn’t resist and immediately subscribed. She squealed in delight as the music started, but she soon turned quiet when the big girl in me reared her authoritative presence. However, the big girl justified it by saying, “This is research.”

I was curious why Warner Brothers released the video and audio portion of the podcasts. So, I clicked on the text link beside their podcast listing in iTunes, which took me to their website. There, I found out about the release of a video game by the same name.

What I liked about the Justice League Heros Podcast:

• I found the audio listing for this podcast in iTunes first and found out about the video podcast via the description. In it, it said there’s a video podcast AND told me how to get to it.
• The video podcasts were short, under 5-mins.
• When I clicked through to the website from iTunes, it took me here. So nice to see that they’re using their podcast as a lead generating tool.
• They’re using other social media tools, namely a blog, well, a pseudo-blog. On it, someone gives a behind the scenes look at the creation of the characters for the video game. I say it’s a pseudo-blog because it’s actually presented in flash and you can’t leave any comments.

What could be improved:

• Just one thing - I was taken through hoops just to buy the thing. I went to the Xbox website and it took a few clicks (about 4 altogether), before I found the details here, only to discover it’s not for sale yet. The path of the breadcrumbs was much too long and I grew tired trying to find what I was looking for.

Other than that, very nicely done. Nice to see a corporation doing it well.

I found out by way of Frank Barnako’s blog that Episode 3 of Starbucks Coffee Conversations Podcast will be the company’s last. Since launching its podcast, Starbucks has received nothing but poor reviews.

I said to myself, “It can’t be that bad,” until I went to iTunes, subscribed and then listened to all 3 episodes.

Slit my wrists, please.

The hosts, Scott McMartin, Director of Coffee Education and Aileen Carrell, Manager of Green Coffee Sustainability, were dead boring. Poor Scott didn’t even sound as if he wanted to be there. At least Aileen had a little pep in her step.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

• The podcast focused on the cultivation, manufacturing and choosing of coffee beans. Boring!
• Both hosts were obviously reading from a script. How inauthentic.
• The jazz music playing in the background while the hosts chatted was quite irritating.
• It was waaaaaaaaay too informercial. Every few minutes, the hosts talked about what’s for sale at their store.

Here’s what Starbucks should’ve done instead:

• Get stories from those who serve coffee behind the counter on some of the weirdest requests they’ve received from customers. Sort of like Niles Crane from Frasier, when he would always ask for coffee with fat free cream, whipped cream without the froth and a splash of nutmeg without the spice. There must be some crazy customers like that.
• Interview customers on some of the wildest, saddest, happiest moments that happened to them while sipping on a brew at their stores. I know I’ve closed a good number of business deals at Starbucks located at Yonge & King in Downtown Toronto, so I’d have some great stories to tell.
• Interview an expert as to why coffee is so addictive. Yes, I’d want to know.
• Do an episode simply asking customers about their first coffee sip. What was the taste like, how old were they, what did it feel like, etc.

Starbucks has no problem getting customers. I mean, everytime I walk into a Starbucks, the lines are very long. Instead, Starbucks should’ve used its podcast to extend the customer experience.

Overall, Starbucks’ focus was wrong. They failed because they focused on the coffee bean. They would’ve succeeded had they focused on their best asset - their customers and the stories they would happily tell about their experience with coffee.

Technorati: podcasting, starbucks, Coffee

Here’s a great example of what can go wrong when you don’t have a set of guidelines for your employees to follow when it comes to using blogs, podcasts and other social media tools.

Garth Turner, a politician turned journalist turned politician (in some order), was recently kicked out of the Conservative Party (the party in power in Canada) because of some inflammatory remarks he wrote on his blog. Garth was elected last winter to the federal Conservative Party and represents a riding in Southern Ontario.

Some highlights from his blog:

• On Stephen Harper’s image (Canada’s Prime Minister): “He’s a [George] Bush clone.”
• On the Conservative Party’s environmental plan: “Green plan gonads.”
• On same sex marriage, Garth said he’s vote against re-opening the vote (the Conservative party wants to re-open the vote in an attempt to squash the bill that makes it legal to marriage as a same sex couple).

And so on.

One journalist said that Garth was inviting the Conservative Party to kick him out due to his openess on his blog, or in Craig Oliver’s words of CTV news, Garth is “an internet virtuoso.”

Did Garth Turner do anything wrong? Nope. He was using his blog to engage his constituents in the conversation. Garth clearly understands that his blog is meant to display openess, honesty and transparency. Garth “gets it.”

Did the Conversation Party do anything wrong? Yup. They didn’t draft up an official set of guidelines to let their party members know how to and how not to use social media while representing the Party.

Instead of reacting to Garth’s blog, the Conservative Party could’ve been proactive with a set of written guidelines that could’ve been shared with all party members. Instead, the Conservative Party has put their minority status in a precarious position and have lost an intelligent man who now sits as an Independent in the House.

Guidelines. Draft them up. Today. Don’t sit in ignorance with social media. Even though your corporation or business isn’t using blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc., chances are your employees are.

Technorati: Blogging, conservative party, Canadian Politics, Current Affairs, Stephen Harper, Conservative Party of Canada, podcasting

I got an email from Anita who’s organizing a Corporate Podcasting Summit that will take place in London, England March 19 & 20, 2007. She said that the sessions for the Summit will heavily rely on case studies, compared to the Summit that was put on in June 2006 in San Francisco which relied more on theory. It appears that the British want to see whether or not their competitors have fallen flat on their faces or are wildly successful before they themselves even bother embracing podcasting.

Interesting…

I was speaking to a publisher today about my book idea (btw, if you were thinking about writing a podcasting how to book, forget it). He was jazzed about my idea, although he did say that my book would need to focus more on case studies - companies that have been there, done that when it comes to podcasting.

Interesting…

Scotiabank recently released their podcast called The Money Clip. They were the only bank in Canada podcasting, however, that distinction lasted only about a month. Just today, I stumbled upon a press release announcing that BMO has teamed up with Profit Magazine to publish a bi-weekly podcast called The Business Coach.

Interesting…

If corporations are now demanding to see case studies of their competitors or counterparts using podcasting in their marketing mix, does that mean we’ve reached the inflection point in corporate podcasting?

I was at a networking event last week Thursday. Actually, I was asked to be a model in a fashion show showcasing the designs of Linda Lundstrom. But I still consider it to be networking because of all the business women in attendance.

While waiting to be fitted, I had a chance to sit down with Diane Brooks and her friend, I believe her name was Amanda. Amanda asked me what I did for a living. I told her that I’m self-employed and I help businesses use podcasting to fill their sales funnel.

Diane, who’s an image consultant, started raving about podcasting. Although Diane isn’t podcasting (yet), she told her friend that it’s the best way to communicate a message to your employees or customers.

Amanda then said, “But how can it work in my environment?” She’s in the HR department of a large Canadian retailer and she said that they have communications challenges between head office and the field (namely, each retail outlet).

Amanda said that podcasting couldn’t work because:

• Retail stores are geographically dispersed.
• Retail employees can only spare 5 to 10-minutes in a team meeting, then have to run back to the floor to help customers.
• Each store only has one computer and it may not have Internet connection, nor does it have the ability to play audio or video files.
• As much as she’d like this to happen, retail employees won’t access work related podcasts from their home computer (as Amanda says, who wants to do work at home?)
• And there were more, just can’t think of it right now.

Looking at the problems that Amanda described, podcasting can work, but I was stuck at how the solution would look. Does every employee get an iPod? Do we get Internet access into every store? Do we put Podcast Link in every store? And how much would all this cost?

For the first time in my life, I was stumped. Typically when people explain their marketing and communications issues, I can easily spout off a solution to their problem. But Amanda presented me with a challenge that I had to mull over for a few days.

I’m still mulling.

And while I’m mulling, Amanda’s situation really highlights an issue that those of us in the social media space don’t want to hear.

That while it’s important for people to engage in “the conversation” - meaning that it’s ideal to launch a blog, a podcast, and other social media tools to compliment your existing promotional tools - not every corporation or business can be part of this conversation.

Issues such as dispersed teams, language, geography, time, lack of technology are just some of the issues that plague organizational teams.

And, if it’s going to take a complete infrastructure overhaul and cost millions of dollars for a corporation to upgrade their technology just so they can launch a blog or a podcast, then this is a very expensive dialogue that’s not worth having.

Eric Rice posted on his blog that there’s a conversation we’re not having (thanks for the link C.C.). He was referring to the fact that social media consultants are neglecting to teach senior executives why social media is so important and why they need to get in the game.

I’ll take that one step further. The conversation we’re not having is understanding that not everyone can be a part of the conversation.

Technorati: corporate podcasting, blogging, Marketing, Business, social media, Podcasting

Here are some very important questions to ask a podcasting consultant before you hire him or her.

1. Do I even need to hire one? Assess your needs and figure out if you can produce a podcast in house. No need to hire on a podcasting consultant if you have the staff to do it. The big question is can you manage a podcasting strategy in addition to your full-time duties at your company? If the answer is no, get a podcasting consultant on board.
2. Can you show me yours? Find out if the podcasting consultant is podcasting, how long he or she has been producing his or her own podcast and when’s the last time it’s been updated. This is important because in order to hire someone to produce your podcasting strategy, you want to know that they’ve done all the mistakes and gone through the headaches themselves.
3. Have you done this before for a business that’s similar to mine? Producing a podcast for an entrepreneur is different from producing one for a non-profit organization. Both have different goals. Compare apples to apples by asking the consultant whether or not they have developed a podcasting strategy for a company similar to yours in sales volume, in number of employees or industry.
4. Is podcasting your main focus? Your business can’t afford to hire a consultant who also does technical writing and graphic design, all while holding down a full-time job as an insurance agent. You have the right to inquire about their other interests. If anything, use Google to find out more about the consultant you want to hire.
5. Who owns what is created? Even though the podcasting consultant is producing your podcasting strategy, you must own the creative pieces. If a podcast cover is designed for your podcast or if a script is written for your podcast, your company owns it, not the consultant. If your files are being hosted on the consultant’s servers, don’t ask for the passwords though. Just remember that you own the creative and the consultant owns the technical pieces in your podcasting strategy.

Any others?

Technorati: podcasting, corporate podcasting, sales, consultants, Business

My friend, Dave Forde, has made a call for speakers for the business and corporate podcasting conference he’s organizing in Toronto for February 21, 2007.

If you podcast for business, read his guidelines, then submit your speaking proposal.

Technorati: podcasting, corporate podcasting

I’m having difficulty finding corporate podcasting guidelines. I know that IBM has developed podcasting guidelines for their employees, but, who else?

Technorati: podcasting, corporate podcasting