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Quote of the Week:

Getting grass-fed beef into the hands of people who love good food

We're working with Dan Merewether at Prairie Lane Ranch on a web site and online presence for his grassfed beef operation. Dan's ranch is located out in Karval, which is southeast of Limon on the Colorado prairie. I went out there last month to help bring in some of his herd for vaccinations and branding the new calves, and was very impressed with his approach to his cattle and the land on which they graze. You can visit the flickr set of my visit there and see how we walked the herd in; no horses, no motorcycles, trucks, or ATVs here to stress the cattle out.

You'll hear a lot more from Dan himself, once the site is completed; in the meantime, we've created a placeholder site for his ranch, with a link to a form to stay up to date on what's happening out on the plains. The ranch also has a Twitter presence. Check them out, and let us know what you think of it so far.

Labels: twitter, web design

posted at 8:39 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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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

posted at 8:48 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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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

posted at 10:10 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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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

posted at 3:33 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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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

posted at 3:45 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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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

posted at 1:27 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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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

posted at 5:18 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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