People call me The Community Guy
Zappos pays new employees to quit
by Jake McKee on 05 Aug, 2008 - 3 comments
Can you imagine showing up to your first day of a new job and being offered $2000 to walk out the door that very same day? Zappos, the amazingly successful and fairly unknown (at least in most circles) e-commerce business does exactly that. And apparently it leaves only the truly interested working at the company. […]
Video: There’s a New Conversation
by Jake McKee on 28 Feb, 2008 - 1 comment
A couple weeks back, I was honored to join an event in NYC organized by Ted Shelton from The Conversation Group. The event, “There’s a new conversation” focused on what’s happened in the 10 years since the launch of The Cluetrain Manifesto. More on the event, as well as clips of the other speakers on […]
Community Communication: Finding the right tone
by Jake McKee on 31 Jul, 2006 - 2 comments
I was just talking to a friend who was asking about how to find the right tone for communications to fans/users/consumers via text (blog posts, emails, forum messages). Here’s my formula, for what it’s worth. Step 1:Write the first draft in the exuberant tone that you want it to sound like. Make it as upbeat […]
Soliciting Feedback From Consumers
by Jake McKee on 27 Jul, 2006 - Comments Off on Soliciting Feedback From Consumers
All too often when you say to a marketing person or executive something like "Let’s ask consumers for feedback", their minds jump instantly to focus groups and formal surveys. Certainly there are valid uses for both of those tactics, but I’ve found that a few well placed personal questions can net basically the same results […]
The Fourth Wall and Character Blogs
by Jake McKee on 13 Jul, 2006 - 4 comments
In theater there’s a term called the Fourth Wall – basically the boundary between the audience and the fiction. Imagine this: You’re watching the new (and very good) Superman movie. Superman is flying through the air but you can see the guy off stage operating the wires. Ruins the illusion, right? Or imagine watching Friends […]
Webmaster Program Rant
by Jake McKee on 22 Jun, 2006 - Comments Off on Webmaster Program Rant
More and more, movie studios are releasing raw assets for a movie in order to allow community members to build fan sites related to said movie. Rather than having users hack photos out of the official site, or scan a magazine picture, or other low quality methods, the studios are giving away photos, videos, backgrounds, […]
Tips for Blog Commenting
by Jake McKee on 21 Jun, 2006 - Comments Off on Tips for Blog Commenting
If you are taking the step to start commenting on blogs on behalf of your company, here is a great article on the etiquette of leaving blog comments. Leaving a comment on someone’s weblog is like walking into their living room and joining in on a conversation. As in real life, online there are some […]
Tips for Community Building
by Jake McKee on 20 Jun, 2006 - Comments Off on Tips for Community Building
The latest WOMMA newsletter had an interesting article that I wanted to pass along. Scott Wilder, Group Manager of QuickBooks offers up some great pointers on creating successful community. (Complete with my own commentary) Tip #1. Create infrastructure for questions When dealing with small businesses, questions are par for the course, and every business’ questions […]
No content? Add context!
by Jake McKee on 08 Jun, 2006 - Comments Off on No content? Add context!
If you’re business blogging and get stuck on what to post, don’t fall into the trap of repurposing your whitepapers or press releases. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t post those things, in fact quite the opposite. Press releases showcase what you’re doing. Whitepapers showcase how you’re doing it. That’s good stuff! […]
Deleting Blog Comments
by Jake McKee on 05 Jun, 2006 - 6 comments
Recently I posted a comment on a blog that was politely taking the blogger to task. See, I had read his subject line incorrectly thinking he was overreacting to the topic at hand. This blog was his personal blog, but the content was related to his work. He clearly identified himself as being an employee […]