Līve Ambitions

According to statistics, more and more small businesses are beginning to use social media as a way to promote their business.  While I agree that social media has become the 800 pound gorilla in the room, I’m not quite sure whether it’s effective enough to justify the amount of time invested.  Before I go further, let me lay out the pros and cons of social media for small businesses.

Pros:

• Good way to leverage high-traffic social media sites.
• Good way to spread the word about your product or service.
• Good for branding your company.

Cons:

• Heavy investment of time and effort.
• Only effective for certain types of niches or industries.
• Little return.

This is my opinion, but I don’t think there are enough benefits to justify spending all day on Twitter or Facebook trying to sell your service.  I mean who has time for it?!  If you’re running a small business, I’m sure your time is better spent on more important things other than updating Twitter.

Social media works for big companies.

Bigger companies would benefit more out of social media – I mean the companies with enough money to hire a dedicated social media specialist.  With a dedicated social media specialist, companies can effectively leverage the power of social media.

Social media also works for SEOs, marketing and media companies.

This is what marketers do.  They devote their time and energy trying to sell their services and products to other marketers.

Why social media isn’t the best marketing tool for small businesses.

Social media requires a lot of time to do it right.  More often than not, small businesses don’t have the resources to do it cost-effectively.  You have to understand your audience.  If you’re running an ecommerce store, there is a thin line between being perceived as spammy and being newsworthy.

Most social media sites are used by marketers and people in the media business.  Real end-users and shoppers use search engines to shop or find information.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to Everyone!  May all your Wishes come true for the new year.

A moment of silence and prayer for Brittany Murphy.  My condolences go out to her family and friends.

I just read about a class action lawsuit from Rust Consulting in which they propose a settlement against Yahoo search marketing.  The lawsuit alleges that “Yahoo breached its contract with its customers by allowing Yahoo ads to be displayed in spyware, domain name parking sites (bulk registration sites), pop-ups, pop-unders and typosquatting sites.”  Here’s the settlement page: https://secureweb.rustconsulting.com/inreyahoosettlement/

Ok, that’s all fine and dandy, but if you read a bit deeper, you’ll see some startling details.  To be eligible for the measly $20 settlement, the advertiser must be out of business.  But that’s not the worst part.  The lawyers representing the case will be paid a whopping $4,170,000 – plus a reimbursement expense fee of $100,000.  What kind of nonsense is this?  The people that were directly hurt by Yahoo’s wrong-doing only get $20, while the lawyers get the bulk of the deal.  This is not just a slap in the face, but also represents loopholes in the legal system which allows lawyers to feed their greed and file bogus lawsuits.

I know about these bogus lawsuits 1st hand because I was involved in a couple of them before.  One was against LendingTree and the other was against CommissionJunction.  I didn’t receive a penny in either case because the bulk of the settlement went to the lawyers.  And, the story seems to be the same in nearly every class action lawsuit – the members don’t receive squat!

This is a follow-up to my previous post regarding the FTC’s intention to fine bloggers who do not disclose payment information for product or service endorsements.  According to information from Mashable, the FTC may fine bloggers up to $11,000 for not disclosing information about getting paid for product or service endorsements.  It seems like a hefty fine, and I think it will be enough reason for people to start disclosing how they are compensated by sponsors or advertisers.

Most of us are all for protecting the public interest.  But, shouldn’t there be certain boundaries that should not be crossed?  It seems that the FTC is giving too much weight to blogs.  Blogs are opinions.  Blogs are about perspectives.  Not every blog is considered ”authority” or a reliable source, and I think most readers have the sense to know that.  When you start policing what and how people talk about things, then you’re infringing on peoples’ right to freedom of speech.  Let the readers determine how much credence should be given to blogs and the content within.

If you want to endorse or review a product based on your personal experience, then you should have a right to without having to disclose whether or not you’re benefiting from it.  It is none of anyone’s business.  If a visitor reads your review, and decides to buy based on your suggestion, then it’s their prerogative.  It’s not practical to baby-sit every buyer or shopper out there.  It is ultimately the shopper’s responsibility to do their homework or research before spending money on anything.

What do you think?

Patrick Swayze was a talented actor.  He was someone I grew up watching, much like Michael Jackson.  Patrick Swayze is one of those rare celebrities who never forgot who they were and where they came from.  He stayed humble despite his success and fame.  He stayed a dedicated family man despite so many temptations.  Rest in Peace, Patrick Swayze.

Have you heard of this?  The FTC plans to monitor blogs for false claims and a lack of disclosure for compensation.

As you know, there are tons of blog owners out there that recommend products or services in return for some sort of compensation, whether it be cash or free products.  I would be curious to know how the FTC intends on tackling this massive challenge.  Also, I’m a little split on this subject because on one side, you have the issue of freedom of speech and on the other side, you have the issue of protecting the consumer.

I’m all for protecting the consumer, but where do you draw the line?  At some point, the consumer needs to take responsibility for their own actions.  If you get ripped off, it’s partially your fault for not doing sufficient research.  I know fake reviews on the web are easy to fabricate, however, you shouldn’t buy something solely based on a single review you read on the internet.  There will always be people who stretch the truth and even lie to make money.

I personally do not find anything wrong with promoting a product or service you believe in.  And, hey, if you can get compensated for something you would’ve written about anyways, why not?  It’s a win-win situation.  Now, the FTC wants you to disclose when you’re getting compensated for a review or recommendation.

I’m assuming the FTC is not so much concerned about monitoring personal blogs, but more interested in detecting flogs (fake blogs) or marketers that practice fakevertising (fake advertising).  An example of a flog would be a fake news site set up on an “official news” sounding domain to promote certain products or services.  An example of fakevertising would be using the name of a famous celebrity to promote a product.  I’m sure you’ve seen those fake ads featuring Oprah Winfrey or Dr. Phil.

Jay Weintraub offers an interesting look at flogs.  These unscrupulous marketers aren’t simply exercising their freedom of speech, they are taking it one step further.  They are blatantly misleading and lying to the public by using fake celebrity endorsements.

Lately, there’s been more celebrity deaths than usual.  Although its sad when anyone passes away, I was shocked when I heard about the deaths of Michael Jackson and Billy Mays - mainly because they were still fairly young and I assumed they didn’t have any health issues.

R.I.P Michael Jackson.  I was affected by this one the most because I grew up listening to Michael Jackson.  He was truly a unique artist, with an unmatched talent.  He was such a huge superstar that he almost seemed immortal – like he wasn’t human.  I feel so bad that he had to face so many hardships during his last years.  He gave so much to the world, and the world gave him nothing but drama.

R.I.P Farrah Fawcet.  To be honest, I wasn’t too familiar with Farrah Fawcet until I heard of her death.  I saw snippets of news regarding her battle with cancer and I knew she was a Charlie’s Angel, but I never watched that show before.  You could say her popularity was before my time.  Regardless, may her soul rest in peace.

R.I.P Billy Mays.  I had to do a double-take when I first saw the article on Yahoo, saying that Billy Mays was dead.  I wrote a post not too long ago regarding his new show on the Discovery channel called Pitchmen.  From what I saw, he looked like a good family man with a passion for what he did.

R.I.P Ed McMahon.  I guess this news wasn’t as shocking to many because he was 86 years when he passed.  In my opinion, if you can make it to age 86, then you’ve lived a long fulfilling life.  Still, I do remember watching him on the Johnny Carson show when I was a kid.

God Bless to all that passed, and may he console the families and friends of those who passed.

Yesterday, I watched my 1st episode of Pitchmen on Discovery.  After watching the show, I began to wonder whether an average joe like me could come up with a new invention that could possibly end up on the shelves of Walmart one day.  I’ve never took inventions too seriously, but the show yesterday inspired me.  There was a story of a man (friend of Billy Mays) who was crippled in a plane crash, but later invented the Awesome Auger.

In our free land of capitalism, the possibilities are endless.  The hard part is actually taking an idea and bringing it to life.  I’m not saying that anyone can become a successful inventor, but if someone has the “right” idea and actually puts work into it, I think it’s a very possible scenario.

When you think about all the crazy ideas that turned into successful inventions, it’s pretty mind-boggling.  For instance, the paperclip and paper-weight.  I know competition is much stiffer now than it was back in history, but even in today’s market, there is still room for new inventions.  In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a new invention – it could simply be an improved version of an existing product.  Though we have the disadvantage of greater competition, we have the advantage of a bigger audience.

I had 2 ideas in my head yesterday – both of which I found out already have patents.  The 1st idea was for an airplane parachute.  This idea came to me because I’m terrified of flying and there’s been more reported cases of plane crashes lately.  The 2nd idea was for a toe/finger nail clipping collector case.  This idea came to me because I had many situations where I didn’t want to clip my nails in public, or times when I would clip my nails indoors and the clippings would fly all over the place.

I’ve never seen or even heard of these products before.  Maybe I’ve been living in a cave.  Anyways…back to the drawing board. 

Is it just me or have you also noticed a big increase in poor customer service (in the U.S.)?   It almost seems as if our society and culture is accepting this kind of behavior.  Here are some situations that I come across quite too often:

• Cashiers or order-takers that have personal conversations on the phone or with co-workers while they have waiting customers.
• Sales people who are rude and talk-back to customers.
• Workers that don’t take their jobs seriously – which results in half-ass work.

I think there are some obvious reasons for this negative trend:

• As our economy declines, companies are paying less to its employees.  And with lower wages, workers don’t take their jobs as seriously.
• Our society/culture accepts this type of behavior.  Remember the days when we used to have respect for our elders and strangers.  Well, not anymore.  Now, our kids grow up with the mentality that it’s not cool to be nice to people.  Customer service is more deeply rooted than simple personal attitude – it goes as far as childhood up-bringing.
• Poor management leads to poor employees.  Why would workers give a rat’s ass about the company if the owner or managers don’t either?
• Lack of discipline.  Some people don’t know how to separate work from personal issues.  When your problems from home start affecting your work performance, then something needs to be done.

So…how does this affect the businesses providing the poor customer service?

• Loss of customers.
• Bad reputation.
• Negative workplace morale.
• Eventually, a failed business.

Businesses need to keep in mind that customers are the life-blood of their business.  Without customers, there is no money.  Without money, there is no business.