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Turn Your Business Into a Community Building Platform
Feb 8th
Turn Your Business Into a Community Building Platform
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
I believe the future of business and commitment building resides in the idea of viewing your business as a platform for your community.
The notion of a platform is one that receives a fair amount of play in various contexts.
An author is said to possess a platform when they have built a following. Consultants might work with a business owner to build a platform through speaking, writing, blogging and connecting in social media. And finally, many tech firms have built platforms by creating open source software, such as WordPress, that allows other 3rd party providers to build commerce and community on top of their framework.
Amazon sells lots of books, but in order to do that they needed to develop lots of file serving and storage capacity and get very, very good at delivering lightning quick web results in one of the highest traffic demand environments online.
Amazon took something that had little to do with their existing business, but which they had become incredibly proficient at, and created Amazon Web Services that allows thousands of business to build on the Amazon framework. I host and stream all of my product videos using Amazon S3 servers.
Airbnb is a community marketplace that allows property owners and travelers to connect with each other for the purpose of renting unique vacation spaces around the world. I use it frequently and love how simple the service is to use. Airbnb is built on Amazon Web Services and uses their database tools to build their community.
I would like to suggest that the notion of a platform is one that we can apply to almost any business.
What is a platform in this context?
A platform is a system that helps people create products, services, profits, businesses, communities, and networks of their own. The dynamics that must be present to create a platform environment are openness and collaboration.
So, the questions you need to ponder are:
- How could you or your business act as a platform?
- What could others build on top of your business or products?
- How could you add more value through your platform approach?
- How could you grow a network on your platform?
- Are there other businesses that your platform could launch?
- How could your community generate value for each other?
- How could your platform learn from community members?
- How could you create something open enough to attract your competitors?
- What platforms already exist that you could build on?
- Could you use your existing purpose, culture or community as a platform?
- What could you acquire as a way to build a platform?
- What could you extend as a way to build a platform?
When you start to think about your business in this manner you can move beyond the traditional applications of the term platform and blend platform type thinking into your business model, your culture and ultimately how you engage and communicate with your community.
Find your unique framework for openness
The key is to locate your unique framework as the foundation for the platform. Often times this requires thinking far outside of what your core business was designed to do and looking purely at things you can do, things you’ve gotten good at doing, even if they are simply things you do to support your core business.
AppleTree Answers is a call center business headquartered in Wilmington Delaware. The company has built a platform of sorts by figuring out how to change the paradigm of the call center culture. The company has received numerous awards for workplace excellence and is a frequent member of the Inc 500 and 5000.
AppleTree’s rapid growth then has come about by acquiring other small call centers and installing Appletree’s unique framework of openness. Appletree’s strong culture is the platform they’ve built all of their expansion on.
It’s all about building more value
A major dynamic of the platform component is value creation. No matter what your business does it will sink or swim based on the value (perceived or otherwise) it creates in someone’s life. This is extremely so when we talk about the community aspect of a platform.
Further, if you want to differentiate your business from others that are already providing value to a market, you’ve got to find a way to create more value as a competitive edge.
Many people default to adding features to products and services as a way to address value, but I think the real impact in value creation comes from strategically finding ways to add value in the way your business delivers a unique experience to its customer rather than through some sort of product enhancement.
The beauty of understanding value creation at the strategic level and then forcing that thinking into every tactical decision is that this is some of the most profitable work you can do. When a market comes to value what you have to offer as the “go to” choice you’re on your way to a premium pricing opportunity. People will pay dearly for an experience that helps them get more of what they want out of life.
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Infusing Your Business With Platform Thinking
Jan 18th
Infusing Your Business With Platform Thinking
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Phil Simon (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)
Iman Mosaad via Flickr CC
I’ve been talking about this idea of a business platform for some time now. The notion is that your business can be so much more than a group of products and services. Truly great businesses are now viewed not only as a group of products and services, but also as a place where people can go to work to build things they are passionate about.
And, they are a places where an entire community can participate in building things they are passionate about and get more of what they need from the platform regardless of what the business was originally created to do.
So the thinking goes like this – How can I get more of what I want out of life through this business, how can I attract people that share that purpose and want to bring more of themselves to working on the company, and how can I build an opportunity that allows other strategic partners or community members to build onto this platform in order to get more of what they need.
This thinking will either inspire and excite you, expand your view of what your business is or scare you to death, but in my mind this is the greatest opportunity to build a fully alive business that exists today.
For this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I visited with Phil Simon, author of The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business
I think it can be very instructional to look at how these very obvious examples of platforms got there and how, in some ways, this same thinking and approach can apply to the smallest of firms.
If you create a free eBook that’s packed with lots of great information and offer it to several strategic partners to cobrand and send around to their clients, you’re using platform thinking. If you create a blog in your town and and invite a handful of complimentary business professionals to contribute their expertise for the benefit of both reader and the group of bloggers, in a small way, you’re creating a platform.
That’s the kind of thinking that I believe holds one of the most powerful opportunities for a business of any size to differentiate, attract committed staff and build a loyal community.
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Vertical Response Acquires Social Media Platform Roost
Dec 15th
Vertical Response, known for its email marketing system that serves over 100,000 customers (many of them small businesses), just announced that it has acquired the Roost social media tool.
Roost, based in San Francisco, allows you to update your social media accounts (currently Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook) from one dashboard. There’s a built-in calendar to schedule and publish updates in advance.
While there are other tools out there that do similar functions, what’s interesting about Roost is that you can schedule social media updates like marketing campaigns. In a campaign, you can schedule updates to go out over a specified period of time — up to 40 updates over a period of 30 days. So, for instance, if you wanted to promote a special offer with a series of informational tweets and also discounts, you could set that up in Roost.
Roost also gives you some analytics about your social media impact. For instance you can measure engagement with your social media updates. You can also see where your Facebook fans are located geographically, as well as some other features. Roost announced its analytics features a few months ago.
Back in August of 2011, we did a review of Roost. At that time, Roost reported that it had a customer base of 30,000 small businesses. TJ McCue, who conducted the review for Small Business Trends, wrote what he liked about Roost, noting:
- I liked that Roost summarized my audience for me. I could see… where my fans/followers are located. Yes, I can do some of that in Facebook, but it is not easy, so I was glad to have Roost do it for me.
- On a busy day, you could pick from a list of links and Web stories that might appeal to your audience from already popular online media destinations. Roost pulls in a feed from each of the Web’s most popular sources and allows you to choose a story, and then post a comment about it (just like when you click the share or like button and comment from the Web).
The product still offers a free version, along with a premium plan that appears to target real estate businesses. As of this morning, you do not have to be a user of Vertical Response to get value from Roost. You can still use Roost as a stand alone tool.
There’s no mystery why an email marketing system provider would purchase a social media tool. For too long now, email marketing and social media marketing have been separate. But when you think about it, a company is losing out on opportunities to better understand and serve its target audience when the two activities are siloed. According to Janine Popick, CEO of Vertical Response:
“We look at social media as the perfect complement to email marketing. If you take a specific example, a small business more often than not has historically built their customer base and much of their business around a customer’s email address, which they’ve likely been emailing for quite some time. Now they’re using a new channel to communicate with some of these people who get their email offers and others who prefer to hear from the business through social channels.
With the acquisition of Roost, we’re looking to finally combine what our small businesses and non profits are doing on multiple sites under one roof. Sending email marketing campaigns, extending those campaigns to their social networks, and the ability to publish single posts or full social campaigns will make the marketing life of our customers simpler and save them time.”
Vertical Response, also headquartered in San Francisco, has been adding tools to its stable. It added an event marketing tool, and before that a survey tool.
Vertical Response Acquires Social Media Platform Roost
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
The Age of the Platform Will Make You Think
Nov 27th
Phil Simon’s newest book, The Age of the Platform, is the kind of book to read if you want to better understand the Internet and how your company can fit into it and create a business model to profit from it.
The subtitle “How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business” gives further clues of what this book is about. Simon refers to these four companies as the “Gang of Four.” It’s a term first used by Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, to describe four tech companies that are growing at “unprecedented rates.”
What is a Platform?
The premise of the book is that these four companies have created not just companies, not just technology. They’ve created platforms — and platforms are something that YOU can leverage with a small business. Or you can create your own smaller platform.
What’s a platform? It’s a valuable and powerful technology ecosystem. It scales and grows quickly. It serves customers, yes. But it also serves vendors and partners, who use it for their own business purposes. A platform embraces third-party collaboration. The platform, he says, is “becoming one of the most important business models of the new millennium” and “new companies are hitching their wagons on the platform.”
Platforms have benefits and they have their downsides. Benefits for you include a place to sell and distribute your content (Amazon or Apple’s iTunes) or promote your business (Google or Facebook). To understand the benefits of a platform, you have to understand consumer behavior. Simon says that consumers “want one-stop shopping, even at the expense of missing out on ‘the best’ app or service. They like platforms; they don’t want to manage 100 different devices, sites, and services.”
Of course, the downsides include the fact that a platform may end up becoming your competitor. Or it may just go out of fashion (think MySpace), leaving you to have to re-establish a foothold on another platform. Therefore, you must be fluid and nimble, and able to change as circumstances change.
About The Author
The author (@PhilSimon on Twitter) is a technology expert and former tech consultant. We had Simon on my radio show to discuss this concept of platform (go here listen to the 30-minute audio interview if you’d like to hear more in the author’s own voice). I was intrigued and he offered to send me a review copy so I could share more with you.
A Lot to Like About This Book
If you love to read about Google and Amazon — or are amazed at the growth of Facebook or how Apple can keep churning out new products that continue to delight — then you will love this book for that reason alone. These are history-making companies. We are seeing in real time how they change consumers’ lives. And, as the book points out, we are seeing how they are changing the Internet since roughly 2005.
I know I can hardly resist reading a good article about these companies and how they are changing the Web. I’m fascinated. But reading an article here and there gives you a fragmented view. Reading a book gives you a broader view of the landscape, and puts more in context. You capture more of the nuances. You get a better understanding when you read a book.
Another thing to like about this book is the way it gets you thinking about how to use the platforms of the Gang of Four (and other smaller platforms) to benefit your own business. It’s a book that raises more questions to think about, than perhaps it answers. That’s actually a good thing. After all, to build our businesses using the Internet we have to first open our minds and understand enough to know the possibilities.
Who Should Read This Book
This is a book for anyone with a business that is using the Internet to generate revenues — or wants to. If you produce content and want to promote or sell it online, read this book. If you create apps and need to get those apps to the populace, read this book. If you have developed technology or a product and need to market it, read this book.
If you are struggling with your online business model, or finding that your business model has to evolve due to circumstances outside your control, read this book.
It is NOT a how-to book in the true sense of the term. You will not be presented with chapter after chapter of detailed steps to take to create your own platform or learn to use the platforms of other companies. Yes, there is a chapter of about 30 pages called “The How: Tips for Building a Platform.” But you will have to do the thinking and heavy lifting to build your platform and learn to leverage others.
Still, not every book needs to be a how-to. It’s an important book in the sense of understanding the big picture and how your business can fit in. We liked it so much that our Book Editors added it to our list of Top Technology Books. If you want to learn more you can read the foreword and listen to the Introduction in audio, on the book’s website.
I recommend you read The Age of The Platform to start sparking ideas for where to take your business in the future.
The Age of the Platform Will Make You Think
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Google+: The Latest (and Perhaps Greatest) Platform for Thought Leaders
Aug 29th
One of the best ways for a small business to get on the map is to have the CEO and/or other key members of the executive team establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. A perfect example of this is the fact that you are reading this story on Small Business Trends. The small business experts who contribute to this site are hoping that their insights will pique your interest and encourage you to find out more about them and their businesses.
Thought leaders have myriad online avenues in which to broadcast their expertise and, hopefully, use those broadcasts to generate business. With the advent of social media, small business owners and experts now use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube (among other social media platforms) to get the word out.
Recently, Google introduced Google+, the search engine giant’s entry into the world of social media. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Google+ has a cornucopia of features and has been catching on like wildfire.
You may ask yourself, with all of the other social media platforms out there, do I have the time or inclination to get involved with yet another time-eating networking site? Is it worth my time as a thought leader to spread myself out even thinner?
My answer to that is simple and emphatic: YES!
The Google Brand
Let’s start with the obvious. If Google+ is the giant search engine’s social media platform, you know that it is destined to be a major player in the social networking world. In less than two months, Google+ has registered over 25 million members and has a demographic more attractive to businesses than Facebook. Over one-third of Facebook users already have a Google+ account.
If you do the simple math, it’s clear that Google+ is already taking visitor time away from Facebook. While Google+ is miles away from catching up to the scope of Facebook, don’t underestimate its ability to catch up.
Remember when people thought it would be folly to challenge MySpace?
The Google+ Basics
Google+ has tried to take the best features from all of the major social media platforms. For a full overview of the features, check out Google’s tour of the features.
Google+ gives you the opportunity to create a personal profile, where you can provide fairly detailed information on your work, family, interests and expertise. These profiles are completely searchable and, by using the appropriate keywords, can help a thought leader to reach a wider audience.
Once thought leaders have created their profiles, they have the opportunity to share their knowledge by posting content and links to content on their profile page. The content is fully searchable and will lead potential followers, customers and clients to your work. Unlike Twitter, there is no character limit to the content you can post. Google+ makes it simple to upload links, photographs, videos and slides.
Google+ includes a feature that can help to broadcast a thought leader’s content to a wide audience. When people see the content you’ve posted, they can use the “+1” function to endorse the content and forward it on. In other words, if a thought leader’s content is given a “+1,” that content is then broadcast to everyone who follows the person who liked your content.
So, now that you’ve created a profile and loaded content, how do you get an audience? Google+ has “circles” that allows you to segment other Google+ members into categories of your choosing. For example, you can create a “family” circle and include all family members. For thought leaders, you can create circles that pertain to your area of expertise or that include target members of the press and/or influencers.
My group of circles includes “business journalists,” “tech journalists,” and journalists working for specific outlets (i.e. Wall Street Journal). By creating these specific circles, I can see the content that these journalists are posting to the general public. When I see their content, I can offer my own expertise and get on their radar. If journalists choose to include me in a circle, it gives me a chance to put my content in front of them and may lead to them using me as a source for a story.
Another interesting feature of Google+ of particular interest to thought leaders is the “hangout” function. “Hangout” allows you to invite up to 10 people to join you in a video conference where you can make a small group presentation or hold any kind of meeting of your choice.
For a thought leader, this provides a number of interesting opportunities. You can hold seminars, client presentations, mini press conferences or roundtables. If you have a video of a prior speech or seminar you’ve presented, it gives you the opportunity to schedule small-scale webinars.
Business Pages
Because of all of the features discussed above, Google+ is extremely attractive to businesses. Because it provides ways of broadcasting your business’s messages to extremely targeted audiences, many businesses flocked to Google+ from the moment it was launched. At the time of launch, though, Google+ was open only to individual accounts and promptly took down the business accounts.
Due to the overwhelming interest from businesses, Google has decided to create a special mechanism just for businesses.
When this launches, it will present even more opportunities for thought leaders to generate business. As of now, thought leaders can talk about their businesses as individuals, but once the business pages launch, thought leaders will be able to better combine their messaging with the specific business goals of their companies.
How will this differ from the company pages on Facebook? For one, the Google+ brand pages will be backed by Google’s powerful analytic tools. It will be easy for thought leaders to monitor which content elements are getting the most traction and which ones aren’t resonating with their audience. Secondly, Google has a powerful ad delivery network that will allow businesses to better connect with their audiences. It is unclear what the advertising model will be on the business pages, but you can expect Google to exploit the power of Google+ to generate considerable advertising revenues.
Most importantly, Google+ business pages will have the power of Google search behind them. Again, it is unclear how Google+ results will be treated in the overall Google search algorithm, but businesses can’t afford not to have a presence on Google+.
In Conclusion
Google will always be the 800-pound gorilla in the online world. When Google dives into social media, then everyone — individuals, businesses and thought leaders — had better pay attention and not get left behind.
For thought leaders, Google+ represents a golden opportunity to gain the attention of an even wider audience and to serve your current constituency in even more effective ways. If you have real expertise to share, then Google+ is a necessary arrow in an influencer’s quiver.
Google+: The Latest (and Perhaps Greatest) Platform for Thought Leaders
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
The professional’s platform
Jun 12th
If you only show up when you want something, we’ll catch on.
If you only learn the minimum amount necessary to get over the next hurdle, you’ll fall behind.
If these short term choices leave you focused on the urgent, you’ll almost never get around to doing the important.
A professional salesperson refuses to engage in the short-cycle of cold call/sell/move on. An urgent plea from the boss before the end of the quarter isn’t enough reason to abandon your consistent approach. That’s because cold calls are painful and rarely lead to sales. The professional salesperson realizes that closing a sale and then moving on wastes an opportunity for both you and the person you’re working with.
A flustered programmer who grabs the relevant library without understanding its context or the role of the libraries around it will be in the same urgent state in just another few days.
The politician who only shows up when it’s time to raise money, probably won’t.
We remember what you did when you didn’t need us so urgently.
If you’re going to make a career of it (and of course, if you want to excel, you will), that means taking the time to understand the texture of your field. It means investing, perhaps overinvesting, in relationships long before it’s in your interest to do so.
When it comes down to decisions that matter, your town, every town, is far more likely to support the one who has moved in, put down roots and contributed than it is to rush to whatever bright shiny object shows up for a few days before moving on.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
Most Efficient & Longest Running Platform… 70% coms
May 15th
Built over 45,000,000 links to members and driven hundreds of thousands of google rankings and results to members. First Time Released On CB. Promote now and get 70% commissions, this will change later.
Most Efficient & Longest Running Platform… 70% coms
Where’s your platform?
Dec 8th
That needs to be the goal when you seek out a job.
Bob Dylan earned the right to make records, and instead of using it to create ever more commercial versions of his old stuff, he used it as a platform to do art.
A brilliant programmer finds a job in a small company and instead of seeing it as a grind, churning out what’s asked, he uses it as a platform to hone his skills and to ship code that changes everything.
A waiter uses his job serving patrons as a platform for engagement, for building a reputation and for learning how to delight.
A blogger starts measuring pageviews and ends up racing the bottom with nothing but scintillating gossip and pandering. Or, perhaps, she decides to use the blog as a platform to take herself and her readers somewhere they will be glad to go…
There’s no rigid line between a job and art. Instead, there’s an opportunity. Both you and your boss get to decide if your job is a platform or just a set of tasks.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
Amazon steals Microsoft’s Director of Game Platform Strategy for some reason
Sep 7th
| Amazon’s gaming related job postings are starting to bear exotic fruit having just nabbed… he held the title, Director of Game Platform Strategy. |
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View full post on Home Wealth Project Riot!
IOS Passes Linux to Become Third-Most Popular Internet Browsing Platform
Sep 3rd
| As noted by Computerworld, Internet research firm Net Applications has calculated that Apple’s iOS has passed Linux to become… |
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View full post on Home Wealth Project Riot!
