Friday, February 29, 2008

Businessweek.com, Starbucks and Me


I made the homepage of www.businessweek.com for a comment I wrote on how to re-energize Starbucks. It is interesting as I have been researching Starbucks for the past 4 months.

This is a partial of what appeared. This is the actual photo which appeared with the comment.

In Your Face: Reenergize Starbucks

Reader Andy Kaplan Writes:

"Starbucks should focus on teaching customers about coffee. Most don't realize each is paired with a cake/food they sell or that their bold coffees taste better when paired with chocolate."

Tell Us: How can Starbucks perk up?

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Audible.com Journey


For the past two years, I have been in touch with executives at Audible.com, the leading creator of audiobooks on the web. Recently Audible announced a merger with Amazon.com. Currently audible's titles end up accessible via iTunes or downloadable from its own site.

In the last month, I have been exploring this medium with some of the executives at Audible to find a way for some independent and well published authors to bring their content to audible.

With proliferation of ipods, the 12 to 34 year old audience may be likely to be attracted to the convenience of the portable audio book. As much as there is a nice way to curl up with a book in bed, the teens of today, are on the go with iPods in tow.

This is leading to a need for content of all kinds especially for this youth audience including youth and children's books.

MediaMensch is now capable of having your book or content recorded by a professional and submitted to Audible.If you believe your content translates well to audio format, Please contact us. We are also teaming up with authors and publishers to bring their books into social media sites such as Facebook via our sister company, FacebookEnthusiast.com

You can contact us at 704-293-2151.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Part 1: Tips and Tricks for Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups is another area of Facebook which may be a valuable tool for branding yourself and your company. In this article I will talk about how Facebook Groups and how you can use it to attract customers, new friends, and people with similar interests.


What is a Facebook Group?
First of all, a facebook group is an area in Facebook where you can allow people to join who like yor topic. Topics can be around a place you live or want to visit, a college, a politician, your business, a hobby or any other idea you can think about.

How Much Does it Cost?
Setting up a facebook group is free.

How Do I set up my Facebook Group?
Simply click on the word "group" in the left hand bar of your profile and then find the tab or button to "create a new group". You will be asked to create a name for your group, choose a category that your group is in, and an overview of your group. There is also an area for contact information including e-mail address and website. In addition, you may add a photo or image so that your group has a distinctive look or feel on the home page.

What Types of Groups are there?
There are three types of Groups, Open, Closed and Private. An open group means anyone can join, a closed group means that the administrator (You) need to approve members after they apply, and private means that the group is not listed and only those who you will invite will know the group exists.

How Can an Administrator Communicate with Group members?
The group area allows for you to send out an e-mail to its members. This is a powerful feature because you can reach a large group of people by sending out a simple message from the group.

How Can Members Communicate with the Group?
In each group, an area exists to upload photos, post links and to write on the "Wall". These are powerful ways in which users can express themselves and communicate with others. In certain, instances, such as a group where you feel you want 1-way conversation, you can allow or restrict your members from posting. It just depends on the situation. In the case of a group around a politician or actor, they may want to control the photos that are posted.

What are Group Officers?
The best way to think about this will be any organization you belong to. It may need people to take on roles such as the President, VP, Treasurer. You may have a group for a trade show, so the officers might be the Host, Membership Chair, Sponsorship Chair, and Speaker Chair. If you set up a group for your family, it might just be something like Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, etc...For some groups, you can make up silly titles to make it more fun. A title for an entrepreneur might be "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer" or for an actor it might be "2009 Academy Award Winner".

How Do You Find the Groups?
If you are interested in a certain topic, simply type in the words into the Facebook Search box and select search. In the general search a "tabbed" window will appear with profiles, applications and groups containing some or all of those key words. Click on the Group tab and find groups. Also once you join a group, on the right hand side of the group, it will show other groups which members are interested in which may be associated. So if you join a group about your college or interest, other groups around that will also appear that other members have joined.

I realize there are many more tips and tricks around groups and I will be covering more of this in another article. Please feel free to list or post your favorite groups and some of your tips and tricks.






Friday, February 01, 2008

Leatherheads j- The Romantic Comedy



Leatherheads is not just a sports movie. It is a romantic comedy which harkens back to classic Tracy-Hepburn movies. Looking at the eyes of Zellweger and Clooney will show you that mischief and mayhem are afoot. The photos and lighting in tese posters are stunning. This film is a 1st class operation all the way.