Reaching an Audience of 8

Here's a story that caught my eye:

To woo academic recruits, college makes them stars Philadelphia Inquirer 03/27/2008

Gone are the days when a simple acceptance letter was enough. Now Wilkes University in Pennsylvania is courting eight high school seniors into matriculating at the school by making them rock stars through TV ads, commercials and pizza boxes all featuring messages tailored specifically to these eight students. So far they're undecided on where they will go to college and Wilkes is hoping this tactic will be enough to sway these students into enrolling. Maybe the ads on MTV will do the trick.

Not only is Wilkes trying to reach these students, but the tactic is intended to raise the school's profile among other mid-level Pennsylvania schools. Interesting.

I appreciate their creativity, but I really hope this method doesn't become the norm.

How not to follow-up to SoCon08

I went to SoCon08 this weekend and had a wonderful time. It was a fantastic gathering of people from a variety of backgrounds that all have an interest in social media. I was able to meet a lot of interesting folks, and see some old contacts, such as Josh Hallet, Dave Coustan and Grayson Daughters.

One person I did not meet, however, sent me a follow-up email yesterday (Wednesday) morning to pitch his services. I knew something was up when it came to my personal gmail address and not the business address on the cards I handed out at the conference. I checked the other recipients of the note (which were not hidden – shame on the sender!), and sure enough I was one of a dozen or so – listed in alphabetical order – whose names had been lifted from the conference registration sheet (which is where my personal address is listed).

Here’s what the email he sent said:

It was good meeting with you at the SoCon08 Conference. The Sales Group is a sales performance agency – focusing on sales recruiting and sales training for businesses. We are sending you separately our latest newsletter, “Driving Profit,” which we hope you will find beneficial. We would like to speak with you if you feel your company would like to increase its sales productivity.

P.S. Please visit our website at COMPANY URL HERE – no link love from me, sorry

Since I hadn’t met him, I sent him the below:

Hello Jack --

Thank you for your note, but I don't believe we talked to each other at SoCon. However, I can appreciate your business outreach effort and would like to reciprocate with an offer to talk with you about my email marketing consulting business and help you avoid future communications that could be construed as spam.

Regards,
Sandi Karchmer Solow
http://isendyouremail.com/default.aspx

Despite his advance warning, he signed me and the other 200+ SoCon08 attendees up for his eNewsletter. I never asked for this message and consider it the dumbest thing he could have done for his brand. I haven’t gotten a response to my email back to him – no surprise.

In the course of writing this post, I found others – Josh and Lance Weatherby (not Lancy) to name two – who have done a great job of taking this man to task. The comments to each of their posts are worth reading.

Don't discount a 140-character message

We've been away far too long from this blog, but out of sight doesn't mean out of mind. It was the holidays, New Year, yada yada

Anyway, I found an interesting gem as one of the links of the day on Micropersuasion. A NY Times story on how some media outlets are using Twitter to microblog from the presidential campaign trail.

It's worth a read.  But ever since reading the story, I've been thinking about the comment below from Josh Tyrangiel, the managing editor of Time.com, whose site is promoting its reporter's Twitter and Flickr feeds from the campaign trail. Is a 140-character limit really the best way for someone to follow the presidential race?

“If you tell people how to consume their content, they will ignore you,” he said, a truism that experience had taught new-media executives. “Let people do what they want to do and try to be in their circle of choice.”

25th Georgia Blog Carnival

Welcome to the 25^th installment of the Carnival! Consider this a virtual tour through the Georgia Blogosphere.

With the help from Elementary History Teacher, this installment hits the interweb just ahead of the Christmas and New Year's holidays.  As such, this carnival has a bit of a holiday flair to it.

The Georgia Carnival will be returning home to Georgia on My Mind for the 26th carnival on January 4th.  Submissions can be sent to gamind@mail.com or use the blog carnival submission form here.

In the meantime, grab a blanket (it's cold out there) and bundle up for an entertaining trip through the 'sphere with our fellow Peach State bloggers. (As a holiday bonus, I won't even charge admission.)

Hobbies

Follow along with several blog postings as Maria Peagler creates a red and black contemporary quilt for the third generation of family members attending UGA.

Who needs Comcast when you can have iTunes? The Satellite TV Guru has an answer for that one.

Paw Paw Bill takes a look at The Mitchell Report and wishes someone would Say It Ain't So 

Holiday Spirit

Lowe’s is selling “Holiday” trees? Brian Bowen has a rant on that!

Patchwork Reflections tells about the moving speech Truett Cathy, the King of the Chicken Sandwich, gave at her company’s Christmas luncheon.

Charles Wooton takes us on a shopping trip down Broughton St. for with a pre-holiday hispter wanna-be view of the experience.

Pastor Bill asks, "Do you have a manager set up in your home or on your front lawn? Often we look into those manger scenes and observe what appears to be a tranquil and placid event. We call it a "Silent Night". But it was anything but silent. It was a REVOLUTION!"

Political Soapbox

Jace Walden reflects on Ron Paul's comments on fascism

North High Shoals is the ground zero of political discontent in largely Republican Oconee County, where three Democrats are elected on a non-partisan municipal town council and local color has begun to freak out about it. Oconee Democrat has something to say about that!

Mike Huckabee?!  That's what Jason Pye asks Neal Boortz in an open letter questioning the radio host's endorsement of the GOP candidate.

If this isn't pointing a finger then maybe it's just a one finger salute? John Heneghan documents the lack of coordination between the DeKalb County School System and the DeKalb County Government over a needed intersection improvement.

Book Nook

Here are Santa Yoda's reading suggestions for the holiday season.

Badassbard wonders why more people don't read. He wishes us all a more literate year.

John chats up John Joseph Adams, slush editor with The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF), over at Grasping for the Wind.

St. John Flynn reviews Tea with Sister Anna: A Paris Journal by Rome, Ga., artist Susan Gilbert Harvey.

With one foot in the Guttenberg Graveyard, Paw Paw Bill takes a look at Amazon.com's latest offering.

aTypical Joe gives us his take on writing.

Elementary History Teacher, the aforementioned Carnival poobah, we have the following entries:

• The Story Where I Prove Santa Exists or Why the Red Ranger of Mars Is My Here
• History of a Long, Dirt Road
• 13 Things About the Movie 'The Nativity'

History Lessons

You Know Who isn’t the only person with a December 25 birthday. Here’s one more for the list.

Reminder: Wikipedia isn’t to be a one-stop shop for historical info. Thanks to the Wren’s Nest for an example of why this is so.

Concession Stand

Missing: Pimento Cheese from The Vortex. A perplexed Dave Coustan would love to hear from others who feel the same way about the absence of this delectable item.

The Blissful Glutton with notes from the Atlanta restaurant scene.

Fun House

Tiffany Colter talks about leaving the information age in our cluttered world. (A topic near and dear to my heart.)

Technorati Tags: Georgia Blog Carnival

Next Up: Blog Carnival

I'll be hosting the next installment of the Georgia Blog Carnival, which goes up on this very blog sometime on Friday, December 21.  This is a semi-regular (it's more than semi- but I don't know how often) compilation of blog posts written by Georgia bloggers or blog posts about Georgia.

Here's a link to the most recent installment, which was hosted by Drifting Through the Grift.  I am  not sure of the full history behind this traveling blog shot, but it was begun by the mastermind behind the Georgia On My Mind blog and she's the primary organizer. 

Want to be included?  If you're a Georgia blogger or posting on a Georgia topic, go here to add your permalink to the fun.

See you Friday at the Blog Carnival!