Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

Twitter Link Roundup #123 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Friday, March 16th, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The video above shows a mechanical device for opening and pouring a bottle of wine. It’s complicated, huge, loud and I love it!

How anyone can create a successful online business for next to nothing (Part III) – http://bit.ly/yyTI6X

Why Do Some People Learn Faster? – http://bit.ly/wFcigV

Why You Need Marketing Analytics, Not Web Analytics – http://bit.ly/zYurcM

Competitive Differentiation that Matters – http://perfor.ms/wzrk7a7 Rules for Bootstrapping a Business – http://bit.ly/A5uzm7

Repeat after me: business is always about the customer – http://bit.ly/zzdgnG

Women (Entrepreneurs) Who Go Their Own Way – http://bit.ly/wrBdYn

Twitter’s Secret History As the World’s Worst Tech or Media Business – http://gaw.kr/wH6hqq

Why I left Google – http://bit.ly/xDOns2

Competitive Differentiation that Matters – http://perfor.ms/wzrk7a

A Start-Up Ecosystem Forms in Chicago – http://on.wsj.com/y09pUa

How Y Combinator Started – http://bit.ly/yqjidP

Repeat after me: business is always about the customer – http://bit.ly/zzdgnG

Name dropping! Now what could go wrong with Silicon Valley – http://bit.ly/AvdwaV

Hiring of Kevin Rose by Google sends all the wrong signals to Silicon Valley – http://bit.ly/FORxBS

The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time – http://bit.ly/wSMs9S

Secrets of the acquisition process from EA and Zynga – http://bit.ly/wv3Mv0

5 New Spots for Chicago Tech Entrepreneurs – http://on.wsj.com/yBMyce

Startup Recruiting 101: Strategies, Hacks & Don’ts – http://bit.ly/zOrH9P

Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas – http://bit.ly/zXgY76

Why Do Some People Learn Faster? – http://bit.ly/wFcigV

7 Rules for Bootstrapping a Business – http://bit.ly/A5uzm7

How I Changed My Life, In Four Lines – http://bit.ly/yh474X

Apple sold more iOS devices in 2011 than all the Macs it sold in 28 years – http://bit.ly/yJH8Di

A Big Idea: Y Combinator Now Lets Founders Apply Without… An Idea – http://tcrn.ch/yIN4yB

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann’s Lesson for Start-Ups: Go Your Own Way – http://bit.ly/wAReI6

Why are companies defecting from Google Maps? – http://bit.ly/xAXRxU

Why This 29-Year-Old’s Company is Worth $400 Million – http://bit.ly/xVSisb

MEMO TO EVERYONE: You Can’t Beat Apple By Trying To Be More Like Apple – http://read.bi/AmSLDw

U.S. Manufacturers Are Hurting Themselves by the Way They Hire – http://bit.ly/yD0ssP

Yahoo! Crosses The Line – http://bit.ly/zpjLxf

Why You Need Marketing Analytics, Not Web Analytics – http://bit.ly/zYurcM

How Three Germans Are Cloning the Web – http://buswk.co/y7mhHn

Twitter’s Ad Sales Are Booming, Says Gawker – http://bit.ly/yYnJNe

Why Marketers Never Learn From Others’ Social-Media Mistakes – http://bit.ly/zBXNci

Marketing the Viral Effect and Not-for-Profit Gold – http://bit.ly/zpLFbK

How This Man Made Dos Equis a Most Interesting Marketing Story – http://bit.ly/y5JtJm

Why You Need Marketing Analytics, Not Web Analytics – http://bit.ly/zYurcM

Honest ads that say what we’re all really thinking – http://bit.ly/wqvsZM

Trada Has Unlocked The Secret To Google And Facebook Ads That Work – http://bit.ly/zuAQ04

Top Non-Destructive Photoshop Techniques – http://bit.ly/xiqLO1

“Be interested in being wrong.” An interview with Jonathan Ive, Apple’s designer – http://bit.ly/y9top2

PBS Mini Documentary About Typography – http://bit.ly/zBwjp5

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Twitter Link Roundup #122 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The image to the left is a photo taken from inside a musical instrument. More interesting photos taken inside musical instruments in the Other section below.

Image credit: Brjoern Ewers

Small Business Tips: Foreign Payments, The Patriot Act, OFAC, and you. – http://bit.ly/xW82GP

This is a good resource for email subject lines: http://bit.ly/yMwZPL

The Importance of Brand in an Era of Digital Darwinism – http://bit.ly/wo6iYn

Selling or Funding A Startup? Tips On Surviving Technical Due Diligence – http://bit.ly/A8h315

I’m getting sick of the bullshit – http://bit.ly/ysF40u

Where Do Good Ideas Come From? – http://bit.ly/yyHVDA

How are VCs paid (and should entrepreneurs care)? – http://bit.ly/w2B2Cy

The safe career path in the future – skip college and start a company – http://bit.ly/wT6yZZ

Why entrepreneurs don’t sleep well – http://perfor.ms/zJPjIZ

Why Startups Should Curate Content – http://bit.ly/yXHwyP

The Importance of Brand in an Era of Digital Darwinism – http://bit.ly/wo6iYn

Google’s Rules of Acquisition: How to Be an Android, Not an Aardvark – http://bit.ly/wLVxma

Entrepreneurs must learn to listen and others must learn to give constructive feedback – http://bit.ly/y9Q9WD

Four Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Warren Buffett – http://bit.ly/xN4EUz

Ambient Social Location Apps Will be Consumer Duds – http://rww.to/we3laJ

Always Go Home with the Lady Who Brought you to the Dance (about startup fundraising) – http://bit.ly/w0OJnx

One Year Later: How Google Panda Changed Our Business – http://tcrn.ch/wacRfO

Fred Wilson’s Latest Advice for Start-up Ninjas – http://bit.ly/wKhpMn

Customer Validation: What To Do Post Product/Market Fit – http://bit.ly/A5JiIo

How to Develop Your Fund Raising Strategy – http://bit.ly/xzXcEz

Have Arrington and Conway screwed up big time with their investment in Highlight? – http://scoble.it/ACh25Z

Most Web Design Agencies Suck – http://bit.ly/w5AI2f

The Importance of Brand in an Era of Digital Darwinism – http://bit.ly/wo6iYn

30+ Extreme and Controversial Ads – http://bit.ly/zdMkIP

Did Facebook Just Kill Earned Media? – http://bit.ly/w6mLYR

Have Facebook Stores Flopped? – http://bit.ly/z02X9a

One Year Later: How Google Panda Changed Our Business – http://tcrn.ch/wacRfO

American Express transforms Twitter hashtags into savings for cardholders – http://bit.ly/A0lI7h

This is a good resource for email subject lines: http://bit.ly/yMwZPL

Google Is About Failure — The Failure Of Brands – http://onforb.es/y8A00y

E-commerce calls to action: 10 best practice tips – http://bit.ly/zL87Ec

The Collapse of Print Advertising in 1 Graph – http://bit.ly/wEET3j

Who Decides What Gets Sold in the Bookstore? – http://bit.ly/zYiF3R

Connecting Nonprofits With Pro Bono Help – http://bit.ly/yhe3Dp

20 Free Sans-Serif Fonts Licensed for Font-Face – http://bit.ly/wqWkNa

[Freebie] 15 Photoshop Watercolor Brushes – http://bit.ly/xpu1AW

50+ Amazing & Clever Examples of Alternative Movie Poster Design – http://bit.ly/zdgKdp

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Twitter Link Roundup #121 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The image to the left shows the Lord Howe stick insect, Dryocecelus australis, which was presumed extinct by 1960 but found again in 2001 on Ball’s Pyramid, the remains of an old volcano that emerged from the sea 7 million years ago.

How to Start Your Business on the Cheap–With Help From the Crowd – http://bit.ly/xszFer

What Small Businesses Can Learn From Jeremy Lin – http://bit.ly/ytKN38

9 Ways Google+ Can Help Your Business – http://bit.ly/wr1nmi

How to tell your customers that you screwed up? – http://perfor.ms/xpHWe9

Secrets to Select and Evaluate Innovative Business Ideas – http://t.co/nTduJ80M

Don’t try to game the system – provide awesome service instead (good reminder from Seth Godin) – http://bit.ly/ymBgLs

Why Cloud Is A Big Deal For Small Business [INFOGRAPHIC] – http://bit.ly/xViGUG

7 Things Your New Website Must Have – http://bit.ly/wdvXOj

How to Make the Move From Big-Business Employee to Small-Business Owner – http://bit.ly/xPdxOR

How to Start Your Business on the Cheap–With Help From the Crowd – http://bit.ly/xszFer

Once you take money, the clock starts ticking – http://bit.ly/AhLVVb

Secrets to Select and Evaluate Innovative Business Ideas – http://t.co/nTduJ80M

How To Choose A Co-Founder – http://bit.ly/AqQAV4

Twitter, the Startup That Wouldn’t Die – http://buswk.co/zUnqtF

A classic startup horror story: the M&A bait and switch – http://bit.ly/ABwzQd

Change Your Employees’ Minds, Change Your Business – http://bit.ly/A2JOUs

Paths to $5M for a startup founder – http://hub.am/z8oapS

Patience & Persistence – http://bit.ly/wuYlyi

“Is this a billion dollar business?:” The tension between market sizing and innovation – http://bit.ly/ygRE6u

How the bathroom can teach us a lesson about right vs. pragmatic – http://bit.ly/zlg2O9

Why Tech Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries Struggle to Raise Funds – http://bit.ly/z92G5s

3 things entrepreneurs need to know about patent law reform – http://bit.ly/ybR4ZK

Kickstart Your Lean Startup With Effective Feedback – http://bit.ly/wvzYrQ

Caterina Fake: Fast Growth for a New Social App Is a Very Bad Thing – http://bit.ly/zfMARM

Fun look at home and office desk/computer setups of the team 37signals – http://bit.ly/xUGFJD

9 Ways Google+ Can Help Your Business – http://bit.ly/wr1nmi

MEET THE NEXT CEO OF MICROSOFT: Steven Sinofsky Is The Heir Apparent – http://read.bi/A13ZH9

How to tell your customers that you screwed up? – http://perfor.ms/xpHWe9

Four Traps That Suck Meaning Out Of Work – http://bit.ly/yvI4Q7

Raising funding as a first-time founder – http://zite.to/yw8vYP

Don’t try to game the system – provide awesome service instead (good reminder from Seth Godin) – http://bit.ly/ymBgLs

Ten Lessons I Learned from Shark Tank – http://tcrn.ch/AesPu2

Banksy on advertising – http://bit.ly/ygGWcg

The Illustrated Anatomy of a Viral Pinterest Scam – http://bit.ly/y11w3h

9 Ways Google+ Can Help Your Business – http://bit.ly/wr1nmi

Leveraging the Social Media: 5 Ideas For Your Job Search http://bit.ly/xASKKM

Creating a Blog using Collaborative Consumption Services – http://bit.ly/xLGeCQ

Caterina Fake: Fast Growth for a New Social App Is a Very Bad Thing – http://bit.ly/zfMARM

Shocking. People click on Facebook ads that show breasts – http://bit.ly/AkaBej

Why Google+ Doesn’t Care If You Never Come Back – http://tcrn.ch/xhPWXY

Illustrator Tutorials: 70+ Awesome Hot New Tips – http://t.co/KnCMr2kO

50 Astounding Adobe Illustrator Tutorials – http://bit.ly/yUseqg

A Showcase of Free To Download Russian Fonts – http://bit.ly/AyESdS

28 Fresh Illustrations to Inspire You – http://bit.ly/yaazsh

1500+ Awesome Multi Color Gradients – http://bit.ly/zE3NIN

The Psychology Behind Movie Poster Designs – http://bit.ly/waahKU

22 Free Elegant Fonts For Logo Design – http://bit.ly/xT0E76

28 Inspiring Typography Examples within Poster Artwork – http://bit.ly/yEqKSf

Beautiful Bokeh Textures For Your Next Project – http://bit.ly/yPFicx

Hey Designers: Do You Want Your Artwork Visible On Google Earth!? http://bit.ly/zLUkqu

Free Quality Photoshop Brushes for Your Design Arsenal – http://bit.ly/xuN7M2

Design before computers ruled the universe – http://bit.ly/yC3KxD

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Leveraging the Social Media: 5 Ideas For Your Job Search

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Unemployment rates at 50 year highs. New college graduates moving back in with Mom and Dad. Things are bad out there and jobs are scarce, so where does a savvy job-seeker start? Monster and CarrerBuilder have plenty of listings as does Craigslist, but cruising the job boards is a passive approach: you watch the listings and send in that cover letter and resume when you see one that looks right for you. But, instead of waiting for an employer to publish that ‘perfect’ job description, I recommend the livelier approach: focus on the the active verb in “job search” and start making your own opportunities, start opening your own doors, and start creating your own luck.

Social media platforms provide wonderful channels for an active job search strategy and you can start today. To get the most from these I have 5 tips as well as some specifics pointers for the various platforms:

1. Update your profiles. Accurately reflect your experience, your background and your strengths. Oh, and be sure to get rid of those party pictures from sophomore year. Put your best professional face forward; remember recruiters and hiring managers will be checking out your pages and you should do anything you can to make their decision easier
Facebook: Choose a great professional-looking photo for your profile to increase your credibility.
LinkedIn: Make sure that you complete your entire profile so that it shows up on free searches
Twitter: pitch yourself via your bio, include links to an online resume or CV, even design a new background for your Twitter account to take advantage of all that great real estate to aid in the sale.
Pinterest: Post your resume, portfolio items, even press clippings to a pinboard titled “Job Search” or some such. Then do the share thing: publish links to your pinboard on your website, your business cards and your resume; be sure tweet it regularly and link to it via FB and LinkedIn.

2. Be social. Every study shows that the best way to get a job is to leverage your existing networks. Put yourself out there – make sure that your friends and associates on all of your networks know you are in the hunt. Lastly, take a risk and reach out to anyone who you think might positioned well to help you – relatives, friends, friends of friends, ex-colleagues – anyone.
- Facebook: Friends, friends, friends. The more you have the more chances you will hear of a new opening and the more people out there who know you are looking. Lots of friends equals lots of opportunity.
LinkedIn: Join and participate in industry-relevant groups – let people see you active and responsive.
Twitter: The general rule is that you should follow those who provide value and that you should provide value  in return. In the job search universe, this still holds true – follow people who could lead to that great opportunity and in turn provide them with equal value to help you to stand out.

3. Set yourself apart. When you learn of a job via your SM efforts, be sure that you are right for the job and then start explaining exactly why. Match the tone and style of your communication – whether a cover letter, a formal application, or even a simple Tweet of inquiry – to the job you are applying for.
LinkedIn:  Use your profile headline to communicates about you and not just your job title.
YouTube/Vimeo: Use your videos to be memorable – the video at the top of this article was sent to us unsolicited by a young man named Judson Collier who learned of an opening at crowdSPRING via one of our tweets and went above and beyond in letting us know how and why he would be a great fit.

4. Leverage the platforms. Use them for what they’re best at – YouTube is where people go to view videos; Twitter for short communications and to disseminate bits of news about yourself; Facebook is wonderful for content that will help someone get a fuller picture of you, etc, etc.
Facebook: Use the limited access Friends list and adjust your custom privacy settings to control the information you make public.
LinkedIn: Use the Professional Summary section to provide even more detail about who you are
Twitter: Use Twitter search terms such as “Hiring” or “Jobs” and check the results constantly or even create an RSS feed for these tweets.

5. Engineer your opportunities. Use SM to research the companies, positions, and people you are trying to win
LinkedIn: Add lots of connections in order to increase your first-degree connections in places you want to work. Also, ask friends and colleagues to recommend you to ensure that you look like the top candidate you are.
Twitter: Follow people in your industry; If you don’t, you will never see their tweets about jobs for people like you.
YouTube/Vimeo: Before the big interview poke around and see what you can learn about your interviewer – do they have a channel they like? If you have a bit of special knowledge that you can drop in the interview, it will make you stand out.

Twitter Link Roundup #120 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The video above shows Australian Magician James Galea performing an unbelievable magic trick with a deck of cards. How does he do that?

The Zappos Effect: 5 Great Customer Service Ideas – http://hub.am/yh0hLq

5 Ways to Use Social Media and Your Online Presence to Drive People Offline – http://bit.ly/wuUkMf

crowdSPRING’s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Should I Get Married? – http://bit.ly/y3eS9q

Functions over Titles – http://awe.sm/5fI9Z

Agreeable Guys* Finish Last – http://bit.ly/zqA34S

10 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Politicians – http://bit.ly/z68bxM

Ron Conway is a Silicon Valley startup’s best friend – http://bit.ly/xtt9L7

Zap your brain and get focused quickly. If it were only this easy – http://bit.ly/yl5kYS

The Three Things That Got Fab.com Two Million Users In Seven Months – http://read.bi/wdzAyR

Functions over Titles – http://awe.sm/5fI9Z

Does Startup Density Predict Success? – http://bit.ly/x8RfdY

Between failure and Facebook – http://bit.ly/wAE6BD

The Zappos Effect: 5 Great Customer Service Ideas – http://hub.am/yh0hLq

4 Entrepreneurial Lessons Learned From Self-Publishing My First Book – http://bit.ly/AmJBHT

Agreeable Guys* Finish Last – http://bit.ly/zqA34S

Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool – http://bit.ly/yGFips

We assume that brainstorming works pretty well to solve most problems. But does it really work? – http://nyr.kr/AbiEmG

The mad dash to remove something before the deadline – http://bit.ly/A94VTR

The Three Things That Got Fab.com Two Million Users In Seven Months – http://read.bi/wdzAyR

Is Bitcoin, once the next shiny thing, on its last breaths? – http://bit.ly/wf8fBR

50 Fresh High-Quality Free Fonts for Your Designs – http://bit.ly/wKvinq

20 Free Fonts Used In Iconic Movies – http://bit.ly/zQudPt

12 Things I Have Learned After 7 Years of Freelancing – http://bit.ly/xUtycT

50 Useful and Fresh Photoshop Tutorials – http://bit.ly/xhiFE2

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Twitter Link Roundup #119 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Friday, February 10th, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The image to the left is a fun look at what a movie poster for an Oscar-nominated film would be like if it literally wanted to communicate what the movie was about. More fun posters in the Other section below.

8 Legal Steps for Starting Your Business – http://on.mash.to/AdW6Rn

Could Your Business Survive Without You? – http://bit.ly/ApHXux

Good tips on what to say when you fire someone (all biz owners must be comfortable doing this) – http://bit.ly/z1wLNw

Small Biz and Startup Tips: 5 Ideas to Prepare for an Economic Recovery – http://bit.ly/x64Zme

The Power of the Rule of Three in Marketing Your Small Business – http://bit.ly/wqmtu5

The Perpetually Vexing Problem of Hiring Programmers – http://bit.ly/w5QTm2

5 Reasons The Windy City is a Great Place for Startups – http://j.mp/zh4Zw8

How to build your startup without learning code – http://bit.ly/yPw6Vq

The Chicago FireStarter Venture Capital Fund – http://bit.ly/ytkmoa

The Perpetually Vexing Problem of Hiring Programmers – http://bit.ly/w5QTm2

SaaS: Change starts easy and then gets really hard – http://bit.ly/wZqTSt

Could Your Business Survive Without You? – http://bit.ly/ApHXux

8 Legal Steps for Starting Your Business – http://on.mash.to/AdW6Rn

This was the right response from Path – http://bit.ly/zNiKIi

Small Biz and Startup Tips: 5 Ideas to Prepare for an Economic Recovery – http://bit.ly/x64Zme

The Power of the Rule of Three in Marketing Your Small Business – http://bit.ly/wqmtu5

Good tips on what to say when you fire someone (all biz owners must be comfortable doing this) – http://bit.ly/z1wLNw

Pinterest is quietly generating revenue by modifying user submitted pins – http://bit.ly/xa9Aj5

When did advertising get so small? – http://bit.ly/xd0S8c

Good to see companies focus on real advertising metrics – http://bit.ly/xoHbOU

Silly to reach conclusions based on results of a study surveying 200 people (about twitter addiction) – http://bit.ly/yx4ssE

Is traffic from StumbleUpon just “noise”? – http://bit.ly/x6Sa9W

This was the right response from Path – http://bit.ly/zNiKIi

Yelp advertising is a rip-off for small advertisers – http://bit.ly/yraI9X

Only 1 “Top Brand” Has Created A Google+ Page In The Past Two Months, Report Says – http://bit.ly/yugLbG

Crowdsourcing has a longer-term payoff than originally thought: study – http://smrt.io/xCfZSm

Pinterest continues to impress with referral traffic – http://bit.ly/zHheNr

Those Millions on Facebook? Some May Not Actually Visit – http://nyti.ms/Af9DAG

Those Millions On Facebook? They Actually Visit, And It’s Not A Huge Deal Anyway. – http://tcrn.ch/yDQUPv

Rice University And OpenStax Announce First Open-Source Textbooks – http://tcrn.ch/ytEUYk

AT&T, Google Among The Biggest Online Advertisers — comScore – http://tcrn.ch/A2fKGT

70 Excellent Adobe Illustrator Tutorials – http://bit.ly/yZimmK

50 Illustrator Tutorials To Create High Quality Icons – http://bit.ly/wNiIP1

How to Stop Yourself from Stealing from Your Design Gurus – http://bit.ly/yhUJ8j

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Twitter Link Roundup #118 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The video above is a new Super Bowl commercial from Honda, featuring Matthew Broderick and reminding us how much we loved Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

What Zappos Can Teach You About Becoming Irresistible to Customers – http://t.co/3UxbuL0b

Gamification: The buzzword that can ruin your apps and business – http://t.co/bdsJOO6q

Fail Your Way to Success – http://t.co/NZIGRSUA

Got Early Startup Competition? Here’s Why I Think You’re Fine – http://t.co/VvfDsrZP

crowdSPRING’s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Geben Communication - http://t.co/8OpJiC5o

Fail Your Way to Success – http://t.co/NZIGRSUA

Hiring for Lean Startups: The First Few Hires – http://t.co/1T5hVqFh

Outsourcing, crowdsourcing and crowdSPRING – http://t.co/DOAMW5nc

Ignore TechCrunch, Don’t skip your MVP, and be Data-Driven – http://t.co/mqOnDbs5

Solid advice for entrepreneurs – Startups are not a chess game – http://t.co/L8RI5z4y

Got Early Startup Competition? Here’s Why I Think You’re Fine – http://t.co/VvfDsrZP

What Zappos Can Teach You About Becoming Irresistible to Customers – http://t.co/3UxbuL0b

When has a consumer startup hit product/market fit? – http://t.co/Qb5Z5nXX

…Because Most SEOs Don’t Know What Strategy Means – http://t.co/50xVysi2

Gamification: The buzzword that can ruin your apps and business – http://t.co/bdsJOO6q

Tony Hsieh’s new $350 million startup – http://t.co/UbKfBVm0

To-Do Lists Don’t Work – http://t.co/huDb4pCd

Google+ demographics are predictable – http://t.co/4SuDAL0M

Study: Only 1% of Facebook ‘Fans’ Engage With Brands - http://t.co/C0dCY2UH

Not surprising to see ad agencies shedding employees - http://t.co/kGx6Jo2q

Why Necessity Will Soon Make Facebook The World’s Largest Mobile Ad Network – http://t.co/U7pHhIR9

Klout means nothing, because attention is not influence – http://t.co/7KclyNws

Aging in Adland: The Gray-Hair Phobia That’s Hindering Older Execs – http://t.co/btNQGAZJ

Facebook Pads Its Lead Over Yahoo in Online Display Ads With 28% of Market – http://t.co/oseZI92P

Pinterest Rivals Twitter in Referral Traffic – http://t.co/7bEJrlQU

Seven observations on the 2012 Super Bowl ads – http://t.co/AA9QA2ie

…Because Most SEOs Don’t Know What Strategy Means – http://t.co/50xVysi2

A very handy guide to mobile advertising – http://t.co/ffWgOvWb

Report: Search Ad Spend To Rise 27% In 2012 – http://t.co/AyQeTPKA

Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers [INFOGRAPHIC] – http://t.co/2I1tXTMc

41 New and Fresh Fonts for Your Design Projects – http://t.co/954Anu7O

55 Fresh And Free Texture Packs To Spice Up Your Designs – http://t.co/sU2LXkZb

Free High Quality Leather Textures for your Design – http://t.co/yeyb7Ftp

(more…)

Twitter Link Roundup #117 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The image above is a fun look at bottled water from Apple – if Apple made bottled water. That post, and other interesting posts are in the “Other” section below.

Crowdsourcing: a 7+7 Primer (tips for businesses on leveraging crowdsourcing) - http://bit.ly/wxqtb5

Starting a new biz with a friend? Good interview with @mike_samson about biz w/ friends – http://bit.ly/wBFfBv

Women Small Business Owners – America’s New job Creators [infographic] – http://t.co/74nUB76D

crowdSPRING’s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Studyers -http://bit.ly/wy7Qty

crowdSPRING’s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Twittapolls – http://t.co/aFHWJTmq

The One “Process” Every Startup Should Have - http://perfor.ms/jJ3Bzz

Love this post and agree 100% about need to promote intense debate among teams - http://bit.ly/zNbohI

Starting a new biz with a friend? Good interview with @mike_samson about biz w/ friends - http://bit.ly/wBFfBv

ExcelerateLabs ranked in the top Startup Incubators by Forbes – http://t.co/loB7YTes

Silicon Valley’s New Secret Weapon: Designers Who Found Startups – http://t.co/i8Vq3xl3

“If Willy Wonka built a financial institution, instead of a chocolate factory, it would look something like Square.” – http://t.co/icQhWPI3

You’re Mentoring the Wrong Way – http://t.co/2wWUC2ZQ

These Guys Launched A Startup For Entrepreneurs And Then Got Turned Away By Entrepreneurs – http://t.co/YWoM6gI0

When has a consumer startup hit product/market fit? -http://perfor.ms/vWhc5w

How to Develop Your Fund Raising Strategy – http://t.co/l4dOckDn

The best definition of entrepreneurship, in 25 words – http://t.co/lUKmQO0d

Venture capital investing hits 10-year peak, sparking bubble talk – http://t.co/IAI1IJKk

To Find Happiness, Forget About Passion – http://t.co/IAXq064F

Crowdsourcing: a 7+7 Primer (tips for businesses on leveraging crowdsourcing) - http://bit.ly/wxqtb5

Online Ad Spending to Surpass Print for First Time in 2012 -http://on.mash.to/w4dv2J

Mobile-Ad Spending Projected to Reach $2.61B in 2012 - http://bit.ly/wFv8KO

Pinterest Demographic Data: The Marketers Guide to People Who Pin - http://bit.ly/x7xkYS

Facebook Now Earns 23% More Per Impression Than In Q1 2011 – http://t.co/czMMI45P

Why Startups Shouldn’t Hire PR Firms – http://t.co/D8kFztzL

Big Firms Try Crowdsourcing – http://t.co/M5XFnBF0

Study: Why Do People Use Facebook? – http://t.co/QEoLTL66

I don’t agree w/ @benkunz – obscure price increases that trick customers are not brilliant – http://t.co/hakIhSHK

Why You Ought to Throw Away Your Vanity Metrics for These 5 Customer Metrics – http://t.co/Tzd95hKL

Google+ demographics are predictable - http://bit.ly/AAjf43

Interesting post from @bbhlabs about the digital revolution & whether we’ve overstated its impact - http://bit.ly/w4bFSJ

Crowdsourcing: a 7+7 Primer (tips for businesses on leveraging crowdsourcing) - http://bit.ly/wxqtb5

50 Hilarious Printed Ads Guaranteed To Make You Laugh -http://bit.ly/ABMoaJ

25 New Fonts for Graphic & Web Designers – Download Now -http://bit.ly/zBy2Ou

40 Superb Free Fonts for Your Next Typographic Project – http://bit.ly/zA5WGJ

50 Great Adobe Photoshop Tutorials That Every Designer Should Know About – http://t.co/IB2ngprh

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Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Twittapolls

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

So, we all know that social media is this thing that we’re supposed to use to promote our businesses. There are a billion articles telling small business owners that this is REALLY IMPORTANT and NECESSARY and VITAL,  or else we should go crawl into an analog, Web 1.0 hole and end it. This is mostly for good reason. After all, it makes it relatively easy for your company to interact directly with customers and for said customers to submit feedback and suggestions. However, organizing this feedback can prove to be quite the challenge.

Twittapolls is a service does just that: organizes the feedback you gather from social media sites. It’s simple to use, too, all you have to do is launch a poll, the service immediately promotes it on Facebook and Twitter, and then gathers the results to view and share in an easy and compatible format.

Below, Dave shares a lot of insight on starting a small business, especially one in such a popular medium:

How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?

(assuming everyone’s grandmother is as smart as mine….)   :)

Granny, you see there are FREE services on the Internet called ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’.  They enable people to share personal opinion quickly in short messages using your computer and/or phone.  They are very popular, and are in fact used globally….

However, while expressing opinion is easy, it is NOT easy to collect opinions and organize them.  We created a service called “Twittapolls” (twitt-a-polls) to make that possible.  Users can simply launch a poll, and automatically promote and share it using their existing Twitter and/or Facebook account.  Results are collected automatically and are available immediately for everyone to view and share.

It was designed for use by Radio and TV stations to connect with their audiences, but is also used by individuals around the world.  Oh, and we make money by providing the service and selling poll sponsorships (e.g. This poll sponsored by…).

What are some industry specific challenges you faced?  

Getting people to re-think their own views of “success” in social media.

We honestly think the number of followers is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. In our view it is about the “passion” of your crowd; specifically, what percentage (%) of your friends/followers are actually participating, passing it on, and how often, and what is the trend?  Twittapolls is the perfect measuring stick for that “passion” because it captures feedback and opinion by using polls using your Twitter and Facebook accounts – measuring your crowd’s responsiveness and engagement to your brand/account.

What was your biggest learning curve/experience?

Awareness is HARD to get in social media – there I said it…  If you are not offering something obvious, cool, easy to use and works… you are not going anywhere fast.  (more…)

Twitter Link Roundup #116 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Friday, January 13th, 2012

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The video above contains 160 of the best one liners from Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. That post, and other interesting posts are in the “Other” section below.

Small Businesses Spending More And More On Social Media – http://bit.ly/wvg6rw

Give Your Employees Unlimited Vacation Days – http://bit.ly/w2aCvA

Good interview with Mike Samson by @butleronbiz about biz w/ friends – bit.ly/wBFfBv

Five kinds of work to farm out to the crowd – http://bit.ly/Az9JmC

Pinterest for Brands: 5 Hot Tips – http://bit.ly/wZETZN

Give the Users What They Really Want – http://perfor.ms/tWUUnD

Good suggestions from @stoweboyd on handling customer service questions and issues – http://t.co/80Fc5ocd

Interesting and good read, especially for women … Confidence is a Numbers Game – http://bit.ly/w1zaqB

10 things entrepreneurs can learn from chefs – http://bit.ly/AyAln3

Mark Cuban’s 12 Rules for Startups – http://bit.ly/wVvAVK

What It’s Like To Be An Entrepreneur – Eboo Patel – http://t.co/ZaotKCvl

What history teaches us about startup incubators – http://bit.ly/w7vLYB

Why You Can’t Hire – http://t.co/5E9bi0tV

Good suggestions from @stoweboyd on handling customer service questions and issues – http://t.co/80Fc5ocd

4 Skills Every Startup Employee Needs – http://bit.ly/ynUZIr

When To Get Rid of Your MVP – http://bit.ly/AgEek6

When Reviewing A New Idea, Never Forget Its First Impression – http://onforb.es/yBYqmJ

The power of failing – http://t.co/KCxzb69f

Pinterest for Brands: 5 Hot Tips – http://bit.ly/wZETZN

Five kinds of work to farm out to the crowd – http://bit.ly/Az9JmC

Why do we pay sales commissions? – http://bit.ly/yTEoDi

Give the Users What They Really Want – http://perfor.ms/tWUUnD

Interesting and good read, especially for women … Confidence is a Numbers Game – http://bit.ly/w1zaqB

Give Your Employees Unlimited Vacation Days – http://bit.ly/w2aCvA

Smart: A Man. A Van. A Surprising Business Plan. – http://n.pr/w5KGsB

Good interview with Mike Samson by @butleronbizabout biz w/ friends – bit.ly/wBFfBv

Small Businesses Spending More And More On Social Media – http://bit.ly/wvg6rw

Worst Use Of Social Media of 2012: Boners BBQ – http://bit.ly/zcrHYf

It’s no secret that visitor data measured by Alexa, Compete and others is flat our wrong – http://mz.cm/wXaQ4K

Good LeWeb talk by Jeremiah Owyang about scaling your business to leverage social media – http://bit.ly/x1g7t9

PR to come to grips with Data (or not) – http://bit.ly/yLg6ca

Interesting and good read, especially for women … Confidence is a Numbers Game – http://bit.ly/w1zaqB

Pinterest for Brands: 5 Hot Tips – http://bit.ly/wZETZN

Google’s Results Get More Personal With “Search Plus Your World” – http://selnd.com/ynKBiD

Wow – $99,344,382 pledged on Kickstarter in 2011. The Year in Kickstarter – http://j.mp/xmuEHu

New High-Quality Free Fonts – http://bit.ly/ybWRte

40+ Fresh And Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials – http://t.co/Ip3CGZBY

50+ Creative collection of business cards – http://bit.ly/xuaAIJ

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