Notes from Notchcode

providing graphic design, branding, photography and marketing expertise to denver and the world

Quote of the Week:

All solitary dreamers know that they hear differently when they close their eyes.

-Gaston Bachelard

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Notes from Notchcode

2.08.2010

Now with more infographics

Thanks to Betsy and Heather, I've got me a shiny new account over at Behance. It's the official online portfolio of the AIGA, as well, so I'm super-duper covered now.

Not much up yet, seeing as I can't even get time set aside to get my work on the new notchcode site up, but you can check out a dozen or so information graphics and such that I've put up. Let me know what you think of them.
Labels: information graphics, social networking

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11.06.2009

For Those of us who take Social Media too seriously

Despair, Inc. has a t-shirt for us:

Happy Friday, everyone!
Labels: humor, social networking

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9.03.2009

Mmmmm...beefy.

I'm working on a nice social media and online branding campaign for a small family ranch in eastern Colorado, and it's a heck of a lot of fun. I'll point you to a placeholder site page once we have it up, and then we'll be moving into a content rich, visually enjoyable site experience where you can find out all you ever wanted to know about what ranch life is like, what you can do with a Pikes Peak Roast, and what the heck "certified Angus Beef" means, anyway. The owner of the ranch is a great writer, so I expect the site to be not just a great place to buy your beef, but also a nice window into the world of a small family ranch.
Labels: beef, food, social networking, twitter, web design

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8.25.2009

One of my other jobs...

...is helping to run a scholarship fund dedicated to helping out environmentally-minded undergrad students. Started up in honor of my late father, the David L. Bucknam Memorial Scholarship Fund is finally on Twitter, Facebook, etc. and you should become a follower/fan/supporter as soon as humanly possible. You know, if you care about the earth, or anything. Which I KNOW you do--which is why I digress from my usual design ramblings here to mention it.

We're holding our fifth annual fund-raiser on September 13th, up at Alderfer-Three Sisters Park near Evergreen, by the way. It's a lot of fun. You can hike or bike around and not even know you're supporting the education of dedicated environmental scientists while you're wolfing down an amazing burger, or brownie, or Breckenridge Brewery Avalanche Ale (thanks, Tebo!). All you have to know is if you come, you'll have a great time.

Go here for more info.

Labels: cycling, fundraising, nonprofits, social networking, twitter

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6.24.2009

Nearly one in 5 of you Denverites are on Facebook

...scary numbers, but I suppose not unreasonable.

There are 2,357,404 people in the Denver Metro Area, according to the all-knowing oracle at Wikipedia. And there are 468,902 people in the Denver, CO network on Facebook. Granted that some in the network aren't living in Denver, it's still a big number (19.8906 percent).

As a marketing person, however, I want to stress that this means there are at least four out of every five people in the Denver area that don't use Facebook. And don't see social media campaigns being played out there.

So stick to traditional media, in addition to social. It's still sorta important.

Labels: advice, marketing, social networking

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6.09.2009

The need for social relevance on your front page

How necessary is it to show off your Twitter feed, Last.fm music updates, or other social media on your front page? I imagine it's helpful to garner more followers who are finding you via your site, as opposed to visitors to your site who find you through Twitter... but I don't have the analytics for this. If anyone does, tell me your story; I'd be very interested in what the prevailing opinion is (and more importantly, what the hard numbers recommend).
Labels: advice, social networking, twitter

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5.29.2009

The Principles of Open Space

John McCrea, of Plaxo, is posting notes and images from the Internet Identity Workshop. This is my favorite image so far:

Very Zen.

Follow his musings on his blog.
Labels: social networking, strategery

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5.26.2009

Plaxo is becoming the key to my Internet-based Perpetual-Motion Machine.

I think it says something about both Facebook's confidence in being the social network leader (read: hubris) and Plaxo's desperation to get more people to use its platform that Plaxo has reached an agreement with Facebook to allow people who use FB and Plaxo to automatically send FB updates to the Plaxo service.

First I can allow Twitter to update my Facebook status, so I don't have to use Facebook. Then Facebook will update Plaxo. But wait: Twitter already updates to Plaxo. The mobius strip or gordian knot or infinite loop will be complete once Plaxo starts updating my Twitterfeed. Indeed, it will become the perpetual motion machine I've been waiting for.

Labels: social networking

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Geekchart: a confluence of infographics and geekdom

Want to chart where you spend your time on the social networking inter-tube/?Check out Geekchart. It has listings for almost all the social media portals, including Flickr, Twitter, Last.fm, and more (Facebook isn't on there, yet).

Mine's embedded below:

Bucknam's Geek Chart

Thanks to Cool Infographics for the link.

Labels: information graphics, social networking

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5.05.2009

Guest posting now at BigBrainTheory.com

My first post over at the collaborative blog BigBrainTheory.com just went up. The blog is the, er, brain-child of the folks over at Collaboration Lab (whose brand identity I created earlier this year). It's an expanded take on one of my earlier posts on Twitter.

Go check it out, and let me know what you think of it!
Labels: blogs, social networking, twitter

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4.21.2009

Sarah Wu: Hire Her Before Your Competition Does

Ach! I thought my friends would all escape the recession unscathed. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Sarah Wu, recently married, is also now recently laid-off. Don't let her talents go to waste!

From Sarah:

The dot com and post-911 bubble bursts didn't get me, but I couldn't outrun the recession of '09! As the most productive product strategist you'll meet with success at the fastest-growing technology companies in Colorado, I'm ready for a new Product Management or Product Marketing challenge. But are you ready for me? On Twitter, DM @sarney or find me on LinkedIn.

You better hire her before your competition does.
Labels: advice, marketing, productivity, social networking, software, work

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4.13.2009

Twitter enables the self-assembling group

From a nice summary of how Twitter is more than a tool for inanity:

"Twitter reverses the notion of the group," said Paul Saffo, the Silicon Valley futurist. "Instead of creating the group you want, you send it and the group self-assembles."

I have used Twitter recently to help me brainstorm concepts, get feedback on ideas, and see where a client's market (or competition) is heading. Before you dismiss it as just seeing what your friends had for breakfast this morning, see what it can do for you as a business.
Labels: creativity, marketing, small business, social networking, twitter

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3.31.2009

Even God wants the Old Facebook Back:

From a Facebook Haggadah, by Carl Elkin. Check out the whole thing!

via hgm's twitterstream
Labels: humor, information graphics, interface, social networking, usability

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3.30.2009

Breaking News: Underpants Gnomes on twitter

I just proved that you can gain followers either by repeatedly mentioning "real estate SEO" on Twitter, or....um, "underpants gnomes".

That being said, I'm a little disappointed that there is no twitterer out there with the handle "underpantsgnomes". Shame on you, internet. Shame on you.

If you're reading this, well, then, I suppose I would encourage you to follow me on twitter as well.
Labels: advice, social networking, underpants gnomes

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3.23.2009

Meanwhile, Facebook comes one step closer to becoming the BOB of the 2000s...

A recent Valleywag article tells us that the CEO of Facebook knows everyone hates the new redesign. He just doesn't care. Why? From the article:

A tipster tells us that Zuckerberg sent an email to Facebook staff reacting to criticism of the changes: "He said something like 'the most disruptive companies don't listen to their customers.'" Another tipster who has seen the email says Zuckerberg implied that companies were "stupid" for "listening to their customers."

Ah. I see. So, you piss off the people who are using your product; the ones who evangelize to their friends and relatives about how they Just Have To Use It, and expect them to keep bringing business to their door?

This model takes the idea of off-the-wall innovation--the kind driven by people with a vision of their own who won't listen to naysayers--a step farther than companies like Google and Apple did, and who got this approach right. The point isn't to not listen to naysayers, or not to listen to your customers; the point is to have a clear vision of what you want your product to do / be / inspire, and always keep that vision in the forefront of everything you do. It doesn't mean "don't listen".

Facebook should concentrate on its Facebook-ness, and not try to ape Twitter. Yes, Twitter has had something like a 1370% increase in new users in the last year (or month, for all I know) but that doesn't make it come even close to Facebook's reach. Remember, all Microsoft did when they tried to "apple-up" their OS was to create "Bob". Remember that? It was their attempt to put a friendly face on the nastier, more left-brained bits of their operating system interface. And it failed. Miserably. Even Bill Gates admitted that it wasn't working out. We can only hope that the folks at Facebook come to such a realization sooner rather than later, lest they alienate everyone, and not just obsessive social networking geeks.
Labels: interface, social networking

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3.22.2009

Twitter is a brand-builder, not an advertising medium

Twitter's great at getting people inside your brand's brain. But really puts people off if all you do is tweet on about your latest software release or product. Every. Time. You. Post.

Case in point for brand-building: John Cleese. is he harping on about his latest project? Nooooo. He's bringing us more into the world of Cleese. Which is scary, funny, and sometimes seemingly pointless. But any way you look at it, it definitely builds his personal brand. Here's a screenshot of his stream that shows he's got Twitter's number, and knows how to use it for teh funnay. Remember that tweets are arranged from freshest to oldest, with the older posts at the bottom. Read from the bottom up on this:

Not an international man of comedic genius? Doesn't matter. You could be a spring manufacturer. Or lawyer. Twitter gives you a chance to relate to your audience from something other than the head-on, standard direction. It's not for hitting people over the head with your marketing message hammer. It's more for elbowing them in the ribs as you talk about something not-quite-but-possibly-a-little related to what you spend most of your time on. Give it a try.
Labels: advice, social networking, twitter

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2.25.2009

Neil Gaiman causes Armageddon on Twitter

Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite authors (he of current Coraline and long-ago Sandman fame) is on Twitter. And today, when he was nearing his 33,333rd follower, he posted:

Soon there will be 33,333 of you. And then... ARMAGEDDON! Or tea. Hmm.. it could go either way. Okay. Tea it is.

Of course, many of his fans re-tweeted him ("RT" in twit-parlance), adding their own takes on things, such as @miorne's

either we're a lot of tea snobs or huge Armageddon fans. I'm an Armageddon snob, I want it to be *just* right.

Imagine this played out through even a small fraction of Gaiman's twitter-based fanbase, and you can see what happened: Armageddon on Twitter:

and again here:

The revolution may not be televised, but armageddon will certainly be twittered.
Labels: social networking

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2.24.2009

TMI

Livestrong.com has a nice calorie counter, for those of us afflicted with the desire to eat everything around us that looks good. It's not quite as nice as Calorie Count, from About.com, but only the Livestrong tool (originally made by The Daily Plate) has an iPhone app for entering, tracking, and managing workout and food data.

I noticed on the web version of the Daily Plate tool, however, a disturbing trend over the last week: Twitter and Facebook integration. I don't know about you, but it seems that sharing EVERY PIECE OF FOOD I EAT with my entire social network seems a bit, well, much. "Too Much Information!", my friends would say. And would any of my professional friends or clients really want to know I had a cheeseburger right before our meeting?

Labels: social networking

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2.09.2009

Bad news: The Dalai Lama is NOT on Twitter. The Good News: Caesar Millan IS.

What sort of karma do you get when you impersonate the Dalai Lama on the internet? I expect it involves lots of slime mold. Or maybe just eons of telemarketing work....

Caesar Millan, on the other hand, is real. No word on whether he does dog whispering in 140-character, uh, bites.

Labels: social networking

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1.31.2009

I CAN HAZ FAMOUZ D3S1GN3R FRIENDZ?

I mean, really, Facebook, REALLY?
Labels: graphic design, social networking

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1.28.2009

Let Social Networks do for your business what it did for the Bacon Explosion

I am a bacon fan, and was thinking this latest article in the Times would be an interesting recipe for one of the mighty Pig's greatest gifts to us. Instead, I found another lesson in social networking:

Mr. Chronister explained that the Bacon Explosion "got so much traction on the Web because it seems so over the top." But Mr. Chronister, an Internet marketer from Kansas City, Mo., did what he could to help it along. He first used Twitter to send short text messages about the recipe to his 1,200 Twitter followers, many of them fellow Internet marketers with extensive social networks. He also posted links on social networking sites. "I used a lot of my connections to get it out there and to push it," he said.

Since then, the recipe has been viewed about 390,000 times.

The over 7 million users of StumbleUpon apparently had their say as well: the Bacon Explosion link was on the service's front page for three days.

So if you think your business, or product, is at least as worthy of attention as a 5,000-calorie, 500 fat-gram roll of various pork products (my mouth is watering already), don't dismiss social networking as a fad. It's real, and it can help you get more eyeballs on your brand, your designs, and your products.

Labels: advertising, social networking

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1.09.2009

Where do you go to complain?

As we all know, it's no fun having to spend extra time tracking down someone to complain to when you've already spent time using a broken product or process and have been trying to make it work.

My wife, Robyn, used to do a lot of high-end hand-holding for clients of a software company. She acted as the liason between the client and the software engineer assigned to them. She was there to basically translate engineer-ese and make sure the client's concerns were being heard by the engineer. It was also a really good P.R. tool to have someone there just for them. It made the client feel special.

We all want to feel special (at least a little), and especially when we have an issue that we feel needs to be addressed. We want to be heard, and have our feedback acknowledged.

Different organizations have different ways of dealing with feedback like this. Some have a phone number and an e-mail address that you contact when you have a question or concern. What happens once that call is taken or message is received varies widely, ranging from indifference to a complete commitment on the part of the organization to make sure you're listened to and taken care of. Just depends on the culture and community that the organization wants to build around its stakeholders.

I was talking with an old friend this week about strategies for getting good feedback from your audience. "Your audience", of course, can mean many things:

people you are marketing your product to,

website visitors,

software users,

restaurant patrons,

internal stakeholders in your business,

and so on.

The company he works for has a hand-built trouble ticket system for handling user complaints. But it's getting to be more trouble than it's worth to maintain. And I suspect they aren't into paying for a big-name system like Siebel's etc. So, they are shopping around for another feedback tool that will allow them to take care of their stakeholders (users of their product). He mentioned a number of ways to get users engaged with their customer support team, including social media (twitter, Facebook) and services like Get Satisfaction.

This last service has been intriguing me lately, as it isn't industry-specific: it's not, for example, just a place for software companies to host support networks. You could set up a Get Satisfaction page for, well, yourself. Imagine a page where people could complain about (or praise you for) the tip you left them at their restaurant the other night. Or offer suggestions on how to better shake hands?

Say you're a non profit organization looking to get feedback on your outreach, or engage in outreach via creating a dialogue with your stakeholders. Set up a Get Satisfaction page and drive people to it via mentions in your other outreach materials: e-mail blasts, direct mail, postcards, webpage plugs, and plain old conversations with people. Once there, the stakeholder can leave feedback, ask questions, and even rant. You as an organization provide one or two voices there to answer concerns, offer suggestions, and just LISTEN.

Here, however, is the problem that my friend posited with the Get Satisfaction (or similar) route: You have to create a new username and password to use the service. If an organization has an existing feedback loop on-site, or on another system, having their stakeholders create another account on another system to leave --what is in their minds-- the same feedback they used to leave somewhere else is a little aggravating for the stakeholder.

Hence the image at the top of the post. I ran across this in the Men's room of a coffee shop the other day. Notice the soap dispensers; there are two. One installed to the right of the faucet in the sink, and another installed on the wall. The user of the sink, wanting soap, has a choice to make: which soap dispenser to use? Either one should provide a similar soap experience, but which one should be used? The one conveniently embedded in the sink? Or was the one in the wall installed because there was some problem with the in-sink dispenser?

This is a perfect metaphor for the CRM solution dilemma my friend finds himself in. If you have two places for people to go to for customer support, which one is the RIGHT one for their needs? And how will they know?

And even more importantly, will they both be staffed and managed effectively? Both the soap dispensers in the Men's room were out of soap.

Here's the bottom line: you should use whatever customer relationship tool works best for both your company and your stakeholders. And make sure that once you decide on a solution, you commit enough resources to it to make it effective for both your customers, and for you.
Labels: advice, customer service, marketing, social networking

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8.13.2008

I think I'd be a little afraid to be Friended by him:

I'm glad, actually, that I only have one mutual friend on Facebook with this guy...and he's the one I'll be checking for the Dark mark later on.

Labels: social networking

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7.29.2008

Politicos using social media: who gets it, who doesn't

A quick survey of two world powers shows me that the Brits know how to use social networking [twitter] [flickr] , and while the Yanks have twitter, it's pretty dang dry. Also, while he has an equally-passive Facebook page, W doesn't have a flickr page. WTF?

Here's the Prime Minister's Twitter:

Content evaluation: lots of banter, and answering of questions from other twitterers. A

Design Crit: the use of a black background and the choice of a cropped photo showing the iconic "10" address numbers on the Prime Minister's door is very British. Understated and stylish. B+

And the White House's:

Content evaluation: dry dry dry listings of press releases, and events. D

Design Crit: The pale blue background is weak. No read, white, and blue? No american flag? Soaring eagle? The image of the President being used is incongruous with the screen name "TheWhiteHouse"...is it a place (where the stream is reporting on not only the actionsof the President, but all of the Executive Branch), or is it a person (the President)? Demerits for the bad photoshopped-in background behind W's head, as well. Let's get consistent, people! D+

For the comparison, here's Obama's twitterstream:

Content evaluation: this is somewhere in-between: it's mostly a marketing tool to raise awareness for the events on his campaign schedule. I haven't seen his twitterstream answer questions from others, although he does use it to drive readers to other social and interactive media, where they are (by self-selection) comfortable absorbing more information. I think the Obama camp could learn something from the PM in terms of talking to the people, though. B-

Design Crit: repeating the visual mark in the background and in the user icon...good, but perhaps a bit repetitive? And I know that Barack Obama is the brand, it wouldn't hurt to humanize the branding a bit with a photo of Barack's face for the icon. Let the logo work in the background image. B

Stats of Twitter followers*:
downingstreet: 3,504

TheWhiteHouse: 569

BarackObama: 51,402

hmmm, who is reaching out to, and connecting with, the online community?

*(and before I get mail about not including John McCain's stats here, believe me, I looked for him on Twitter. He's just not there.)
Labels: branding, politics, social networking

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7.11.2008

...and because I was complaining about not finding a good app that could update social network statuses...

I give you this article.
Labels: social networking

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5.03.2008

You want me to bug all my friends into loading your crappy Facebook application before you let me use it?

Yeah, it sounds pretty stupid, from a marketing standpoint. Basically, a lot of the newer apps posted over on Facebook take you through the activity involved in the application, then before they let you see the result of the activity, they make you select 8 or more friends in your network to spam about the application. Only then can you see the results.

Hmm. Well, I see how it results in increasing the speed at which your viral application spreads, but at what cost? At some point people will decide their friends are worth _not_ spamming with a new app every day or two. Hopefully, at that point, the viral software distribution model will adjust to make it more, well, friendly. Which is kinda the point of a SOCIAL NETWORK, right?
Labels: marketing, social networking, software

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4.30.2008

How the psychology of friendship can apply to building a good brand

Hello, class. Tonight's assignment:

Read this post over at the Happiness Project about Eight psychological terms to help you strengthen your friendships.

AN excerpt:
Triadic closure. In a phenomenon called "triadic closure," people tend to befriend the friends of their friends – and this is very satisfying. Friendships thrive on inter-connection, and it's both energizing and comforting to feel that you're building not just friendships, but a social network. I now make much more of an effort to help my friends become friends with each other, and to befriend friends' friends.

Think about how these principles apply to building a good brand relationship with your audience. You do want your brand to be a friend to your audience, don't you?

Discuss.
Labels: branding, social networking

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4.28.2008

Twitterized

Yeah, I am doing that thing, now, like everyone else. It seems that six months ago it was all about Facebook. Now it's Twitter. Next thing you know we'll have webcams installed in our necks and will stream it all to our circle of friends and voyeurs.

If you want to follow me, you can catch the twitterstream here. But I swear if you are a fracking robot I will boot you, then reboot you after wiping your nvram, then hunt down your robot children and take an electromagnet to their innards.
Labels: branding, social networking, visual information

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