You can go to business conferences, talk to “experts”, consult with agencies- but one angle in regards to social networking tools that isn’t being emphasized enough: do not overuse the tools. The definition of what “overusing the tools” actually means is debatable- but we all can agree it’s easy to get addicted, become excessive with usage of the tools and ultimately can translate into being counterproductive. Don’t get me wrong, I flippin’ love Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, [insert the next big social tool here and here] but I’ve also am cognitive that there is a right way to integrate these tools into your life without it taking over your life. It can help you, not drown you. It should augment your life not make it harder. It can make things easier and not be a burden to your already long list of things-to-do. But also realize, like everything else, it does take practice, retooling and lots of self-evaluation. Unfortunately, no one can really teach you how to do this because how you should use the tools depends on what YOU are trying to achieve. I would argue it’s not the same for everyone.

That said, I wanted to share a great article I came across from the NYTimes of view points that are totally on-point in my opinion. Take the 5-minutes to read it here. One of my favorite excerpts from the article:

“The bottom line is: We have to learn when and where multitasked social networking media actually help us carry out our daily tasks rather than interfering with them. Because these media are ubiquitous, tempting and potentially addictive, we must strive to manage them better than we do now.”

–

Here are a couple favorites from photos I snapped this weekend while @The Lake of the Ozarks. A college friend had a bachelor party and it was a great excuse to head down to enjoy the not-to-hot-outside-but-still-sorta-warm-enough-to-swim weather. I’m a fan of going to the lake in the summer because I grew up in Springfield, MO and my parents had a place at Table Rock Lake. Check out the photo below with my friend Brittany- I took a series of pictures and patched together her back dive into one photo neat-o huh?

I wanted to pass along the good word about a great book called Web Form Design. If you’re designing a website, good form design is essential. The book is over 200 pages- however, I wanted to share the “CliffsNotes” lesson in regards to alignment of text labels for a website form. This is the fast and furious version I put together (below), but go buy the book if you want the longer explanations and research/data behind the tips (i’m just trying to save you some time).

Label alignment is vital to form design and there are basic rules on when to use top-, right-, or left-aligned labels for input fields.

TOP ALIGNED
Use this method if you want to reduce form completion time for users. This design is quick and easiest for users to complete because the labels are close in proximity to the fields themselves. Users will quickly scan to see see the only direction their eye has to move to complete the form (down). The book goes into in-depth eye studies about top-aligned design- which prove it’s consistently the fastest type of layout / design to have users complete a form. Again, since it’s all compacted together, this makes it easy for users to see a clear path to completion.

RIGHT ALIGNED
This method is good users and the minimal vertical screen real-estate used. This method still allows for fast completion time, but not as fast as Top-Aligned.

LEFT ALIGNED
If you’ve got a form that you really want people to take special care and time in what data they are entering, Left-Aligned is the way to go. The amount of area the eye has to travel from the label on the left to the field on the right- this is the reason for this being the slowest of the options. However, if you have several ‘optional fields’ or ‘preference’ dialogs this is the best method to choose. Again, if you’re asking for specific uncommon data input (address information for example is NOT an uncommon data request).

I’ll admit, there’s nothing special about these photos — just a few photos I snapped while golfing on a cheap golf course (in this economy!?!) last weekend with one of my best friends Trent (more on my flickr page). If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know I love golf. Also, you might remember, one of my goals for 2009 is to improve my wicked skillz at being a photog (ok, maybe they’re wicked …at least, not yet).

Checking my list of goals for 2009 was refreshing- I’m making decent progress. Still lots of work left to do. How about you? How are YOUR goals / new years resolutions for ‘09 going? Have you achieved things you’ve wanted to for the year already?

Have you read the articles buzzing around this week quoting Google co-founder Larry Page and his concerns that Google needs to be in the business of real-time search? Here’s an example of how I’m already turning to Twitter for real-time search (depending on what I’m searching for). If you’re skeptic of the value Twitter can provide, this mini-mini-micro-case study is easy, clear, simple example of how it can actually be useful regardless of your participation in the Twittersphere. Take that Google

Here’s a tip I came up with: whenever I’m shopping for things online- right when I’m about to checkout, I go to http://search.twitter.com and search for “[company name here] coupon code” or “discount”. So far, 3 out of the last 5 I’ve purchased online, I have found coupon codes to use.

I want to just officially state all this jib-jab about the new Amazon Kindle is simply ridiculous. I’m tired of reading about it. I don’t know any friends, family, co-workers who actually own a Amazon Kindle. I met ONE person at a conference who had one and it was a company gift, he didn’t buy it. I personally do not have any desire to even consider purchasing one. That’s a bold statement considering I heart electronics- anything that lights up or has buttons catches my attention (I know, I’m like a 5-year-old). I’ve already asked my mom and dad- they’re not interested in a Kindle, who’s this supposed to be targeted towards again?

This Amazon Kindle buzz just needs to GO AWAY. Either that, or someone needs to explain to my why this is the next big thing, because frankly I think it’s just a waste of Amazon’s time and money. Furthermore, I’m tired of reading about it on my favorite tech blogs. Valuable blogger resources are being expended.

The idea or principle of “not having a plan in life” has been reiterated by multiple people the past couple of weeks. I remember at first I thought it was stupid advice, you need a plan, duh- right?  I heard this first at the BIG Omaha conference a couple weeks ago by Jason Fried of 37signals and then again tonight while watching Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt give the commencement address at Carnegie Mellon (worth your time, if you’ve got 11 minutes and 55 seconds). So what does this “do not have a plan” advice really mean? I wanted to take some time to reflect on this crazy notion.

In Eric’s speech, he says, “Live your life and forgo your plans- and you can also forgo fear.”

It’s important to not stop yourself from doing something because you’re unsure on it’s possible outcome. Not knowing how it will “end” shouldn’t be reason to stop you from trying it. Far too often do people cross things off their list or dismiss their ideas because they think of 1 negative possible outcome. Figure it out, don’t hold back from trying something, learn from it, tweak, then keep trying again.

Originally I thought the idea of “do not have a plan” was a ridiculous notion- but I’ve realized that I have adopted and practiced this myself already. Personally, when I started blogging, shooting my video blogs, trying out photography or started planning the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party benefit- I did not have experience, a road map with instructions, or even the slightest clue where it would end. And I still don’t. But I do have more information now than I did before- which has influenced what step to take next. More importantly, not knowing outcome to each of these activities didn’t stop me from trying.

For people who are linear thinkers and require rationale for everything, it’s hard to exercise this “no plan” mindset. But, I believe John Lennon got it right when he wrote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
–

This weekend I snapped some photos I wanted to share from an event called AMUSE here in Kansas City. It was a benefit for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I have some friends who were in the fashion show portion of the event and I figured it would be a fun event to check out. You can view more photos from the event on flickr and watch my video blog of the event here [YouTube link coming soon ]

Yesterday marked the day for the launch of website redesign Project of mine, Ferrellgas.com [cheers, loud noises!]. These guys are the leading retail propane company in the U.S. and are a publically traded Fortune 1000 company. Just to back up a bit first- for those of you who may not know, I work at Digital Evolution Group. We’re a 30′ish person e-consultancy in which I lead the concepting, design and implementation of Projects (largely website focused). I really love what I do and who I work with- no day is ever the same. It’s awesome.

Anyways, back to the website launch. The short and sweet gist is we were tasked to redesign the website in order to satisfy the organization’s marketing and overall strategic goals. Their old website did not completely fulfill these basic, mission critical needs. Furthermore, the overall aesthetic of their old website wasn’t reflective of the fact they service over 1 million customers nationwide (they’re a big deal).

This is the old website (left) vs. redesigned website (right)

So we focused on formulating a plan by integrating objectives from all aspects of the organization- not just marketing and sales. This meant meeting with every department in the organization and understanding internal objectives and the customer perspective as well.

In addition, we analyzed the persona of the visitors to Ferrellgas.com. We believe that every successful web project prioritizes the end-user experience above all else. As such, you must design the website from the end-user’s perspective.

This is what a persona is by our definition: “A persona incorporates the demographic and psychographic attributes of a type of website end-user (“target audience”), as well as that end-user type’s context of visit, expectations, and business situation.”

If you just use demographics or target audiences to design a website — you are likely to find yourself short changing or leaving your visitors with an unfulfilled experience when they visit your site. By identifying persona you are able to take it a step further by understanding needs and context of the users visit (download a free whitepaper I wrote about Persona here).

For Ferrellgas, we identified that our primary personas that guided the design of the website were;

1. Prospective residential/business customers
2. Existing residential/business customers
3. Potential employees

That said, I’m extremely proud of the execution and output- it’s reflective of a smart, clean, customer focused website that fulfills the expectations of our personas. Check it out and let me know your thoughts at www.ferrellgas.com!
–

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw all my updates from the Big Omaha tech conference this weekend. There was a company that had a booth setup to display their capabilities of developing software for the Microsoft Surface computer. The Surface is essentially a big giant computer shaped like a table that is touchscreen controlled. It also has the capability to read/scan things that touch the surface as well (p.s. if you haven’t seen the MS parody video, you need to watch it).

I was pretty excited to see the Surface in action after reading the hype on tech blogs these past couple of months. It’s rumored to be over $10k. I had Jason from phenomblue.com walk me through how the program they developed for Big Omaha worked. Watch the video blog!

I attended Big Omaha- a conference that featured several speakers in the online space (e.g. Gary Vaynerchuk, Jason Fried and Ben Rattray), it was dedicated to bringing together others with like interests of that great-super-thingy called the Internetz!

I snapped a few photos at the conference and along my way Omaha, NE (it was my first time in Nebraska). Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with both the amount of tech in Omaha and the city itself during my visit. These photos are shot with my new 17-40mm Canon lens- which I’m in LOVE with.

As you can see by the two blog posts I recently posted; I really enjoyed SOBCon this year. That said- since I love the power of video (and it’s ability to depict an experience) I wanted to shoot a quick video blog while I was there! Check out my video blog on YouTube and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel! The inspiration of this video blog didn’t come until about the second day when I realized that I wanted to provide something that highlighted both the experience of SOBcon -but also highlight everyone who attended. Hope you enjoy it!

This past weekend I was in Chicago attending SOBCon (Biz School for Bloggers). This was my first year attending and overall the entire weekend was great time with some pleasant surprises (like riding a scooter in downtown Chicago). In my opinion, the difference in this conference is it has a more intimate, interactive, feel and makes it easy to really get to know almost everyone who attends (view my video blog). While we all had a common interest of utilizing the Internet, the people I met were made up of such an eclectic mix of focuses it was interesting to hear the different perspectives.

I’m a proponent of going to conferences and doing as little talking as possible (which for those of you who know me, it’s hard for me to do). Ask, ask, ask questions is what I say. There were several presentations, but the most engaging part for me at this conference was all the conversations in between. This is where I got to hear the stories of what works, what doesn’t, what struggles others have faced was interesting- and motivating.

It was also interesting to ask how people were either making money marketing social media or utilizing social media.

One thing I’d like to share that really resonated from people and presentations was the concept that social media is more than just marketing.

Social media is just a way where people can talk to each other and that can affect the entire company. Marketing just so happen to be where the money is, that’s why people are talking about it. It’s much more than just marketing.

BINGO; social media can touch everything in a company like: customer service, operations, research and development, compliance, human resources, public relations, product development, etc. etc. So while marketing and lead generation may get most glitter and attention- it’s not the only consideration when executing strategies as a company. For example, consider what a social media HR strategy has to it: In what ways do potential employees engage looking for jobs at your company? Does having a presence in certain existing online networks help facilitate recruiting? Does this require that you not only ‘fish’ for candidates in social networks- but also contribute in order to positively position your brand in the long run of potential candidates?

Your objectives dictate how strategies should be executed and formulated (online and offline). And the bigger point is that these objectives involve more aspects of the company other than marketing or new business- understanding this is the first step, but executing and measuring (then repeat) is vital in order to see success.
–

This past weekend I attended SOBCon (Biz School for Bloggers). I snapped some pics when I was there — check ‘em out in the gallery below. I’ll be posting a video blog and my thoughts about the conference later this week. You can view all the photos on my flickr account here.