1/29/10

 

C3 Richmond Sums Up The Week

It's been awhile since I posted, we have been extremely busy, as always...
Here are a few notes from the last week or so...

• Facebook will be making changes to the layout of its business pages. Here's what you need to know: http://thewebissocial.com/?p=628 
• Ok, there are enough early-adopter Richmonders on now, so let's talk about Foursquare. From http://bit.ly/cN2HkS:
  
  
  
  How Foursquare Helps Consumers and Business Owners
  
  
• Some things that made me happy in the hectic past week or two:
• The use of social media to help during disaster. Too many cases involving Haiti to even begin, but think of all the aid and good it is doing...  here's two that came to mind:
  
  
  
  
  • How, through communication via cell phones, apps, and online access, people were even saved.
  • Also noted: Twitter's human touch amid the horror of Haiti
    
  
  
• An anonymous person began posting Dwell satire:
  Unhappy Hipsters
  Why did this make me giggle? Because I have always railed against the aloof supa-too-cool-for-you attitude that emanates from so much architecture / media entities.  I have always embraced an honest, "laugh at yourself tone while educating others" approach, obviously evidenced at @greenmodernkits / @copelandcasati... if you intimidate people, how are they going to feel comfortable asking you questions? 
• iPad... yeah, we know, we know...
• On our own web agency in Richmond, Virginia front, we were honored to be asked to comment on social media in Richmond Grid...
  
  
  
• I will be teaching a course giving a general overview on how to use social media for farmers on February 13th.  If you would like to register your small business for this (it's only $20!), please do so here: http://5thgrowersworkshop.eventbrite.com/
  (Also check out the fantastic other programs!!! Backyard poultry! Bee keeping! And more!)
  And more fantastic happenings: http://www.centerforruralculture.org/events.php
• Speaking of gardening... here's a nifty, practical, frugal, sensible and HUGE cold frame project I ran across and adore: http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/ghetto-fabulous-cold-frame-a-photo-essay/ You could say it doesn't have anything to do with media, I respond: By creating a simple blog, posting pictures and information online, someone discovered it on twitter, broadcast it out, and it reached me, now you, to maybe inspire someone to do the same.
  I. Am inspired.
  

Thanks for listening…

I'm Copeland Casati, of Copeland Casati Media,
the original C3 in Richmond creative arts and media since 1999.

You can reach me at copeland@copelandcasati.com, or on twitter, @copelandcasati. If you are a Facebook enthusiast, we can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Copeland-Casati-Media-C3/52352550685 

Labels: facebook, foursquare, social media, twitter, voice

10/28/09

 

Richmond Web And Media Roundup: Halloween Edition!

• Just in time for Richmond's Zombie Walk and Halloween: Facebook sees dead people!
  
  
• It's not just about real time search. This is just the beginning... [Spooky laugh inserted here]
  
  
• If you are a blogger / active social media participant, you may have noticed the rise of aggregation sites taking your content, your voice without your permission.  These sites use your content to make money- through Google Adword sponsors, etc. and increase their site's search engine ranking in a topic, therefore ranking them higher than your own hard-wrought site's industry content.  I resent that...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I *do* take the time to report these sites to Google, because I have found that when you discover one site is taking your content, it repeatedly does so.
  
  I've also added Google SideWiki to my arsenal - Yo, if they're gonna take my voice, then I get to write "on" their site*, telling visitors (granted, not many have SideWiki installed yet but still...) what I think! AND leaving LOTSA links to my own site.
  
  *Note: SideWiki is not technically "on" a site but within the browser.
  
  
  
  
• With that "one-two" Google punch I deal thieving websites, these September statistics from iCrossing make me feel like like it might have quite an affect on their seo... in that, if AdWords / Google penalizes them for taking other's content once it's reported, it *will* hurt them. Remove the revenue and ranking rewards, remove the motivation for sites to steal voices.
  
  
• Yes, I "get" the arguments in favor of aggregation, "all data is public"...
  but I'm not emotionally convinced. 
  
  Several sites post my content *with my permission,* which I happily grant because they are 1. publications I respect who 2. asked my permission and that are 3.industry respected and 4.link the synopsis of my content to my sites, where readers can access the full content.
  
  Yes I share my stories on the 'net... but still, my writing remains such a personal piece of me, so 'private' even though it's public... Each time I discover a new theft of content, it's like... it's like...
  they take another little piece o' mah heart now, baby...
  
  
  
• Great article in Business Week: Rise of the 'Homepreneur', which starts out with a bang:
  
  
  

  "More than half of all U.S. businesses are based at home. These companies often are dismissed as quaint hobbyist ventures, but new research suggests that's a mistake. An estimated 6.6 million home-based enterprises provide at least half of their owners' household income. Together these "homepreneurs" employ one in 10 private-sector workers, and by many measures they're just as competitive as their counterparts in commercial spaces."
  

  Not only are home-based businesses just as competitive, their employees are often happier than their cubicle-bound counterparts, therefore remaining with the successful business. This garners not only financial revenue (also benefiting the surrounding commmunity, providing jobs and revenue) but don't underestimate the cultural and environmental benefits such business models offer: no commuting,  greater satisfaction of lifestyle, healthier eating and exercise, workplace composting, less waste...
  
  Speaking of environmentally friendly, I hear some companies even have traditions like Vintage Hat Friday, where they showcase reuse and recycling, and celebrate repurposed clothes (and hats) in the work place! ; ) Our workplace was recently featured in V Magazine for many of the reasons above.
  
  
  
  
• We hope you all have a safe Halloween. If you're still scared of social, here's a good article overview that explains some top venues and why cold technology needs to always keep community in mind.
  

Thanks for listening!
...If you note any trends or local media items of note, feel free to send 'em on!

I'm Copeland Casati, of Copeland Casati Media,
the original C3 in Richmond creative arts and media since 1999.

You can reach me at copeland@copelandcasati.com, or on twitter, @copelandcasati. If you are a Facebook user, we can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Copeland-Casati-Media-C3/52352550685

Labels: facebook, google, search engine marketing, seo, sidewiki, social media, voice

3/11/09

 

The Agency As The Octopus

I wrote this draft post back in January, but the AdAge article today on how marketing is becoming directed to other marketers targeting each other prompted me to post it now:

Now that we're all comfortable with 'social media,' I'd like to throw in a little of my darker, literary side.

In 1901, Frank Norris detailed the struggles of small farmers against the "public domain" encroachment of big railroad industry in "The Octopus."

In the end,

"Presley goes to San Francisco, where he meets the president of the railroad and finds that he is not an evil man. He meets Hooven's daughter Minna, whom poverty has driven to prostitution. Chapter seven alternates scenes of a splendid, opulent dinner in the home of a railroad vice president with scenes of Hooven's widow starving on the city street. In the end, Behrman, the cold-hearted railroad agent who destroyed so many wheat ranchers, is buried under tons of wheat being dropped into the hold of a ship on which Presley is sailing. The ship is one that the wealthy people of San Francisco have arranged, with charitable contributions, to take wheat to the starving people of India."

Traditionally, agencies expanded when valued employees moved to other cities with viable markets and wanted to become outposts, or when working with a client in another city, they forged relationships with smaller companies there to then merge.
Until now, only the largest and well-funded agencies were able to expand to multiple locations.

Will that model remain?

In Richmond, copeland casati media has clients we've never met in London, Washington, L.A., Toronto... We know everything about their business, even their grandchildren's names. Somehow far-flung clients find us, and relationships begin. It has been great seeing so many different businesses overcome the "must meet in person" mindset to leap into close, successful, longterm projects.

Now there's twitter, and other social media.
When I first joined, it was to listen to authorities on subjects that interested me.
Then I began to cut up- our job involves much research, so I use twitter often as a place to giggle, relax, and interact with my peers.

This brought about some unexpected gifts- new friends with whom I'm happy to see outside of work, and collaboration on ideas, conversations... and fun.

Lately I've been exploring several large agencies in Paris, London, New York, loving how each has their own voice, brand, culture... seeing ones that are totally different from our workplace, then discovering ones where I think, "Oh my gosh we could work there!"

And think...

Now, before you start spreading rumors that we're gonna merge...
We have neither plans nor desire to change our company or culture.
We are happy as we are.

BUT it makes us think:
I am certain 'Big Ad Industry' will be changing, thanks to the ease of interaction through new social networks, and thought professionally we should point it out.

Like the era of Big Railway taking away small fields of wheat, will there rise The Octopus of Large Advertising greedily extending their domain?

...Or will this foster opportunity for nimble collaboration and exchange of culture and collaboration?

As a web enthusiast... I'm certain it will be the latter.
The interaction on the web still remains individualistic- despite the brand umbrella under which your agency speaks.

I see instead The Octopus as people leaning towards and reaching to each other via different agencies, in outreach, not overtaking but benefiting in positive partnerships to better serve their clients.

Let culture, and freedom of collaboration, ring.

Labels: advertising, twitter, voice

1/27/09

 

The Basics

For over ten years, we have been so fast and furious on our client's sites and strategy, we rarely pause to speak as a voice for Copeland Casati Media.
If you would like to hear us, please listen in through the following streams:

Twitter:
Copeland Casati Media (Copeland Casati) www.twitter.com/copelandcasati
Copeland Casati Media (Amy White) www.twitter.com/rvamedia
Copeland Casati Media Web Trends (Various Staff) www.twitter.com/rvaweb
Copeland Casati Media (Various Staff) www.twitter.com/C3media
Green Modern Kits www.twitter.com/greenmodernkits
RVA Green Drinks www.twitter.com/rvagreendrinks

Blogs:
The Voice of Green Modern Kits www.greenmodernkits.com/casa-ti1.htm

Newsletters:
Copeland Casati Media Newsletter
Green Modern Kits News
Green Cottage Kits News
Green Cabin Kits News

FaceBook:
Copeland Casati Media
Green Modern Kits
Green Cottage Kits
Green Cabin Kits

Labels: blog, facebook, twitter, voice