The Unknown Studio

Here’s a more or less random list of things I uncovered to day from my various wheelings and dealings:

• There’s a place in BC called Hudson’s Hope which, for me, evokes images of Hadley’s Hope Terraforming Colony on LV-426 from the Aliens movie. I imagine a town of more-or-less happy British Columbians who occasionally suffer the effects of monsters busting open their rib cages.
• This Lil John mashup is awesome; this recommended video I received at the end is not.
• I don’t know what peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have to do with SEO, but PBJ is defined on this SEO terms page for some reason. So is sausage link — cute.
• I absolutely love TweetStats. @missmarsh introduced me to it. Wordle is also rad… Creates some really excellent artwork!
• You know those road signs that tell you the bridge it out? Yeah, here’s how to access them to change their messages (via BoingBoing).
• Uh, what the hell?

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I’m currently working on trying to come up with individual taglines for a line of nutraceutical products, like Ginkgo Biloba, Ginseng, and Echinacea. I can’t help but feel I’d be getting more done if I was using one of these supplements to stimulate my brain and sharpen my focus.

It’s been challenging, and will continue to be, to shift my focus from working in a staid, bland office-drone position to working in a vibrant, chaotic creative services firm. I’m up for it, it was the right choice, it was about time and all that good stuff… But It’s still tough to shift gears so suddenly, when I was so used to being bound by process and policy.

Fortunately, there’s always levity. So given that I’m working with scientists to market their new line of products, I thought I’d drop some sort-of pseudo-science on your asses. That is, after all, the misspelled name of this blog.

Thanks to @ink_slinger on Twitter for sending out this inspirational link.

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I recently started a new job, working for a full-service creative firm. I’m doing some communications planning, some client management, some art direction, and some actual writing. It’s ideal! Or rather, it will be. This is only my second day, but I’m already up to my face in research, particularly on leveraging social networking into viable, sustainable marketing strategies. My main focus today has been Twitter.

I use Twitter, currently, on two fronts: for myself as an individual (@bingofuel; also, see the right-hand sidebar for my most recent tweets) and for OilersNation.com (@OilersNation). I’ve found it to be quite a lark for personal stuff, and a really excellent way to find like-minded, interesting people. I’m actually looking forward to the next Edmonton Tweetup (@edmontontweetup), as I felt I was too much of a newbie to attend the last one.

As a personal tool, Twitter connects you with people. People around you, people far away from you. It allows you to filter through broadcasts and read and respond to the things that you deem most relevant. It forces the users to be concise in their messaging (you’re only allowed 140 characters per tweet). I can see its utility as a tool for personal communications and connection to others. As a tool for businesses though—and I’m speaking strictly about my very limited experiences with it for OilersNation.com—I’m not really sure where to begin (and yes, I’ve read Caroline Middlebrook’s Big Juicy Twitter Guide). I’ve used it to broadcast new posts on the Nation’s website that I deem interesting. I’ve used it to broadcast information on contests and such. I’ve even done some very minor live-tweeting of Oilers games. But the key to using Twitter for business, I think, isn’t just sending out promotional information. It’s doing things like what @ComCastCares does: showing the human side of your company or organization. Here’s one of the key things I took from the Big Juicy Twitter Guide:

“[...] if you are approaching this from a purely business perspective then you need to have something to offer your customers. What I mean is, if you use your Twitter account to just pitch, pitch, pitch, you will not get many followers. Twitter is not something that can be effectively used as a direct selling medium without adding extra benefits [...]“

Businesses using Twitter should be doing so to try and start or continue one-on-one discussions with their clients. Twitter brings organizations into the fray of communicating with users who might have an interest in their brand or product. It’s really neat how people and businesses are finding new ways to use the system to get the message out — or, in @ComCastCares’ case, bring the message in and do something about it.

I <3 Twitter. And I know I’ll have a hell of a lot more to say about it as I convince a few clients to start using it to get the word out.

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