Portfolio.com has a great article on how Dunkin’ Donuts, and other businesses, uses Twitter to keep a pulse on their customer base as well as market (click here).  Twitter is probably the most misused and misunderstood of new social media fads.  Few businesses use Twitter, and even fewer use it correctly.  I tend to agree with those who feel Twitter is just too “spammy” and full of false connections, but there are some really smart uses of Twitter, and Dunkin’s Donuts found one of them.

Dunkin’ Donuts is a business that, when it is working well, becomes a part of a consumer’s day-to-day life.  As such, it finds itself appearing in the vast stream of consciousness of Twitter.  By being active on Twitter, Dunkin’ Donuts can keep a pulse on how they are being perceived by their target base.  They are able to converse with their customers, and have another FREE venue for announcing promotions and new products.

Almost any end-consumer business can benefit by this example.  While Twitter is still not a good way, in my opinion, to grow your base or reach a lot of new customers, it is a great way to connect with and cultivate your current base.

A little over three decades ago Bill Gates introduced to his dream of “a computer on every desk in every home”. Yes, the dream came true… but as more of a nightmare. We all have computers and we all hate them. They freeze, they crash, they are hard to use, they never work right the first time, they spy on us, steal our information, and never think they way we do. Now, after years of living like abused spouses with our technology, Steve Jobs has come to save the day. The iPad is going to start a revolution to such a magnitude that, in my opinion, Steve Jobs himself may not even grasp.

Geeks everywhere have logged their protests at the iPad lack of revolutionary technology. It is criticized as an oversized iPhone, and an less functional netbook. I think the point that people are missing is the iPad isn’t a new toy for geeks, it is a computer for non-geeks. The iPhone has gained so much popularity because it is so easy to use for the average consumer, so it just makes sense to expand that platform to a larger platform.

The fallout from the iPad won’t be felt right away, but it will be something we look back on in 5 years a monumental shift in consumer technology to the same degree, if not more so, that we now look back on the iPhone as a breakthrough for smartphones and PDAs. Once consumers get their hands on the iPad, and start using it for Internet, email, and multimedia, they won’t ever want to go back to traditional computers ever again.

Computers today do one major thing wrong… they do everything. When you buy a computer you presented with an open environment upon which the computer demands that you figure it out from there. Having a “customizable” operating system is just another way of saying “your on your own”. For geeks, like me, this is great. There are no rules, and we can make our computers do whatever we want. For consumers, it sucks. They stare blankly at a screen full of options, icons, and artifacts until their brain pops and they call me asking me to come over and set their computer up for them.

The iPad, like the iPhone, works the moment you turn it on and guides you, ever so cheerfully, through whatever task you are trying to perform. The only buttons you see are the ones you need to see, and there is little room to get lost. Beyond that, Apple has a done a great job of encouraging (read “forcing”) developers to mimic their user-friendly design when making new apps. All this making each task simply a new button on your screen, all working with a touch of your finger.

So three decades after the first so-called “personal computer”, Steve Jobs has given us the real first personal computer with the iPad. As “that guy you call when your computer breaks” I personally can’t wait to replace every computer my friends and family own with an iPad. I look forward for 5 years from now when only geeks and developers like me actually buy open platform computers, and the everyday consumer finally has a no-hassle window to the Information age.

My co-workers know how much I love my PSP, and how much of a love-hate relationship I have with Sony. But I just gotta give them credit for one of the best online social media marketing strategies I have seen. Not only does Sony have a very well run Blog, Twitter feed, and Facebook page, but they have both the COJONES and the common-sense needed to run them effectively. Other companies concerned about their branding in the brutal arena of social media would do well to follow their example.

Social Media COJONES!

SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment of America) runs the blog (http://blog.us.playstation.com/). They do just about everything right. First, they have great regular posts that both take advantage of current hot topics, but also have great personable content. All blog posts are credited to actual authors, who often flow up by responding to comments. They also allow users to not only comment but also to whine, rant, and complain about whatever they think SCEA is doing wrong. I, myself, have complained more than once and have never had a comment rejected. Yes, SCEA puts their flaws out for everyone to drag through the mud.

Everyone is afraid of the negative press they will get in the untamed wilds of social media, but SCEA isn’t phased by it. Whatever pain this may cause is far outweighed by immense amount of traffic and exposure their products get. Their Facebook page has over 700,000 followers at the time of posting this. That is over half-a-million users they have free advertising to at any point in time!

Social Media Common Sense!

It takes more than just COJONES, SCEA also has the best common sense approach to managing the chaos. SCEA only responds to users who are asking questions, or posting reasonable complaints and issues, but just let’s the whiners carry alone. This is very smart, because it trains their users to be polite. Fans know they have a better chance of being heard if they don’t just rant and rave. The point here is that they DO RESPOND, just in a very methodical fashion that builds a great fan base. Second, more often than not, other fans will just come to SCEA’s defense without them having to lift a finger. And again, all this just builds great traffic.

SCEA also does a great job of re-posting and re-linking all their own content. On weekends, SCEA posts a “recap” listing all their posts from the previous week, as well as a “what we read on the web” which is, of course, a listing of their best press across the web. This also helps their web strategy by encouraging other sites wanting traffic to be positive toward SCEA products.

Even if you don’t care about Sony (or hate them), it is worth following their social media for a while, just so see some real pros at work!

SCEA Blog: http://blog.us.playstation.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SonyPlaystation
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PlayStation

Read some good quotes in a local publication and thought I would share them with you, as I think they are great, especially for my fellow entrepreneurs:

1) Don’t apply rules of reason to unreasonable people. resist the temptation to assume everyone is like you. They are not.

2) To the one who understands, no explanation is necessary. To the one who doesn’t, no explanation will suffice.

3) A prudent person sees trouble and seeks refuge. The simple keep going and suffer for it.

4) Stop finding reasons why something won’t work and start looking for reasons why something will work. Life is WAY more fun if you think like this.

I hope you enjoyed these. Please share any great thoughts, ideas, quotes you might have with me.

So many businesses have their own internal needs for tracking information and managing their own brand of chaos.   Even though the world is saturated with different software, it seems there is never that “perfect” solution for what we need.  What you don’t know, is that there is a piece of software you can use to make your own “perfect” solution.

FileMaker, a long-time database software developer, has two products you should know about.  FileMaker Pro, which has been around for a long time, is a powerful visual-database creator like Microsoft Access.  It is a little advanced, but easily picked up and learned by anyone even remotely technology-savvy.

The other product, which is still very new, is Bento.  Bento is a drag-and-drop, dead easy, database maker.  It allows you to create your own database and visual interface with the easy of an iLife program like iTunes and iPhoto.  Bento can be taught to just about anyone, and is very fun to use.

Most internal software needs in business are just custom-database solutions.  For those needs, using the right FileMaker product can help you save a fortune over hiring a software firm to build you an application from scratch.  It also saves you from being married to the firm that designs your software.  While not for everyone, if you are a business owner with a need for custom software, give FileMaker a look.

FileMaker: http://www.filemaker.com/

Bento: http://www.filemaker.com/bento/

Lot’s of people are using Twitter to grow their business, have you thought about using Twitter to RUN your business?

A lot of businesses need to keep up-to-date on what their team members are doing, and what their progress is.  The solution for this is usually a complicated and time consuming project management software package.  These project management programs often require users to go through many clicks and menus just to post an update on a project.

Why not just tweet instead?  Many companies buy their employees company cell phones, and most cell phones can now run a twitter program of some sort (or heck, can just send text messages to Twitter).  Instead of using complicated software, just setup a group of private Twitter accounts.  This way, team members working on a project can just “tweet” short updates from their cell phones whenever they have a spare moment.

While some business need more information than what Twitter can provide, most do not.  Most project managers or small business owners just need a way to check in and see what everyone is doing.  Instead of waiting money and man-hours on complicated software, Twitter may be just what you need!