by Asia Matos | Dec 24, 2012 | Marketing
by Asia Matos | Dec 24, 2012 | Marketing
Digital ego is the beast you encounter when no one likes your statuses. It’s what provokes people to post every gritty detail about their day on Twitter or Facebook, even when the Internet doesn’t seem to care. It’s what keeps people coming back to SecondLife. It’s what has teenagers saying, ” I deserve to be recognized and applauded for my online efforts” in more or less words. It fueled the “like my status if you like my status” phenomenon (apart from a particularly viral video). Digital ego, in a sense, keeps people coming back. It’s also why many of your friends have tried – and failed – to quit social media. When Facebook re-invented social media (remember LiveJournal, AIM, MySpace?), it created a new way for humans to interact with each other. What makes Facebook different is that it caught on with the world. Since October, Facebook hit 1 billion users. That’s 10% of the world’s population, and its popularity is growing. I remember when Facebook blew up. Now, my entire family is on Facebook, and some of my younger family member will have spent their whole lives on social media, assuming something else doesn’t come along the way and beats Zuckerberg’s brainchild into the dust. Even still, children will literally grow up with a separate version of themselves on the Internet. A whole new ego to cater to. Am I saying that its bad? Not at all! At least not yet. The problem with ego is that it has to be fed. Ego is great – it gets you places, brings you drive when you need it most,...
by Asia Matos | Dec 24, 2012 | Marketing
This just happened to me recently. I was researching a security system for my new apartment. I just moved in and have been thinking it wise to invest in some type of alarm in case of intrusion. So I embark – and what I find initially doesn’t seem too terrible. Every website I visit asks for my information so they can provide me with a better quote. I only receive two calls from two different companies – one I recognized, and the other I did not. Not bad right? After visiting Clark Howard, however, I decide that it might be best to wait until I can afford the system that I truly want. I tell this to the two companies and they seem to understand. Three months later, and they still call me twice a day. I was hoping they would take the hint after two weeks of no answer, but no. I’m going to have to answer and explain to them again that I don’t want their service. At all. I can confidently say that I will never recommend either of these brands strictly because of the frequency of the calls and the sheer persistence. It then dawned on me just how dead cold calling is. Most people I know don’t have house phones anymore. The only way to get in touch with someone is to call the cell phone. But imagine how disruptive that is. Almost invasive for some. When I receive a call from a company, I automatically get defensive. It reminds me of when my teenage brother was explaining to me that his friends only...
by Asia Matos | Dec 22, 2012 | Marketing
The ability to learn is detrimental to success, and the passion for learning only speeds the process. As we approach 2013, we are also going to encounter a new dawn of learning and adaptation. Businesses will continue to collect more data and adapt to the shifts in consumer needs. But not everyone in your organization can always be kept up to speed with the newest, hottest resources in your industry. That’s where business libraries come in. In every organization, there should be a library – filled to the brim with the newest books about their industry. For people who prefer e-readers and the digital frontier, there should be an online collection that the employees can visit and view the resources that their organization’s leaders deem important. A database – if you will – of all the books, articles, white papers, podcasts, case studies, and blogs that you can manage into one single resource specifically for the people of your organization and for your industry. For employees who want to learn about C#? BAM! They can search on their company database and find that they recommend Lynda.com. Or this book on Oreilly.com. You get the idea.WHY? It inspires the people of your organization to keep up. The digital worlds of marketing and technology are constantly changing. Forrester and Gartner are constantly bringing new sources of information to the table. Every year, at least 10 great books on marketing and technology and other business fields are written. There are certain bloggers that you might want to pay attention to, not to mention your competition. It could also aid in your own internal...
by Asia Matos | Dec 18, 2012 | Marketing
UPDATE 1.8.2013: Small hiatus on cram school. Was asked to read Made To Stick instead. Will resume post-haste! UPDATE 12.23.2012: So far, I’ve knocked out CRM Fundamentals, Data-Driven Marketing, Content Rules. Working on C# Essentials, Social Media ROI, and Programming C# 5.0. I’ve been contracted to ghostwrite for an undisclosed firm . Since I’ve been writing for them (as they seriously needed to produce some great content) I realized that it’s time to use my freakishly spongy brain and start engulfing knowledge about the marketing and technology world. I can’t write the most thought-leading articles if I have no clue about the subject matter, right? So here I go: Day 1: CRM Fundamentals, C# Essentials Day 2: CRM Fundamentals, C# Essentials Day 3: Data-Driven Marketing (Driving to Lousiville, KY) Day 4: Data-Driven Marketing, Content Rules (Coming back from Lousiville, KY) Day 5: CRM Fundamentals, C# Essentials Day 6: Programming C# 5.0 (or 3.0) Day 7: Programming C# 5.0, Social Media ROI Week 2: Programming C# 5.0 , Professional Sitecore Development Week 3: Social Media ROI , The New Rules of Marketing and PR Week 4: Likeable Social Media, .NET Framework Essentials Week 5: Inbound Marketing, Visual Studio Essential Training Week 6: The Digital Edge, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Step by Step *Phew* I know. It looks intimidating. This week will actually be most advantageous because of my 12+ hour drive to Louisville. That allows me to cram in at least two books over the course of two days. Anyone well-versed in the marketing technology world who has some books to recommend, please do! I could always stand to add to...
by Asia Matos | Dec 5, 2012 | Marketing
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a custom framer at a pretty awesome art store in Atlanta, GA. One vital thing, however, about custom framing that many people forget is that it ultimately doesn’t have to match your couch, or your walls, or your rug. Your decorative needs will change over time. Unless you’ve got life perfectly planned out and you know you’re going to live in one house forever, you will change your mind about how you want to present your home over time. Colors, patterns, and trends might go from one thing to the next over the course of a few decades. If you’re like my grandma, her home changes every few months. But the art in your home? It doesn’t. The actual physical artistic entity does not change. It might age, but with proper TLC and modern conservation practices, even that has slowed down. What you are left with is a timeless piece – so frame it accordingly. It doesn’t have to match the exact color of your house or your wall. In fact, don’t make it! It might seem kitschy and convenient to make them match, but in my experience, pieces tend to disappear when the matting and/or the frame is the exact color of the wall. Why have the art in the first place if it’s just going to die and disappear into plaster heaven? I say: coordinate. Don’t match. Coordinate. It’s so much more powerful to frame a piece with a mat color and a frame that coordinates with both the art and the decoration that’s already present in your home. That way, you get...
