Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Jason Alba on The Future of Work

I met Jason when he linked to one of my posts on career months ago. In our conversations, I learned that it was the difficulties of a job search he experienced first hand when he was downsized in 2006 that led to the creation of JibberJobber.com. Given his extensive software and IT experience, he was able to build a tool that was more suitable to managing not just a job search, but a whole career. In addition to authoring four blogs, one of which is at JibberJobber.com, he has written two books: I'm on LinkedIn - Now What??? and I'm... Read more →

The Myth About Change

If change were easy, we would have new marketing that is interesting, new topics at conferences and events, and plenty of new ideas and novel executions to feed on. We would also have little room for echo chambers. The truth is that change is easier to talk about than it is to do. Execution is vital, and willingness is crucial. A few years ago, Fast Company was undergoing a lot of change. In many ways it and plenty of other publications still are. Change was one of the topics they chronicled. There was a whole series of articles and conversations... Read more →

Is Your Business Lifestreaming?

Can you tell when someone just wants to extract a benefit from you and then move on? Well, so can your customers. Individuals who are interested in connecting are more focused on interests, and tend to stick around. Companies and businesses that have a relationship-based approach tend to be in it for the long haul. They look at conversation very differently than just running a campaign or a program. In fact, they see the whole conversation as an aggregate of lifestreams - the connection of the many entry points that the organization has throughout its online (and off line) presence.... Read more →

Do You Have a Relationship With your Digital Publication?

Seriously, I know that many of us had a relationship with our newspaper. From the favorite journalists, to the editorial imprint, the layout, the sections, the political persuasion - down to the feel for the recyclable paper. When the Wall Street Journal redesigned its print publication again (Jan. 2, 2007), the new layout was dissected by many. The narrower and more colorful format for the print edition was greeted with mixed feelings. David Pybas was the lead page one art director and lead designer for the new print edition of WSJ. Print was to concentrate on analysis stories and to... Read more →

How to Read the Groundswell and Increase your Business Success Threefold

Want to increase your business success threefold? Tap into Groundswell. According to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff a groundswell is: A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations. Social technologies are enabling tools, so forget technology for a moment and ask yourself "Why do I want to be participating in the groundswell?" "What are my customers ready for?" and "What are my objectives?" In other words, do a POST and figure out the: People - before you start, find out your customers' Social Technographics... Read more →

Engaging Detractors

Today I am facilitating a conversation on engaging detractors in social media. We're at the Blog Council unconference hosted at the Catalyst Ranch in Chicago. [image of the Cha Cha Room] The big opening idea I submitted for consideration by my peers is: Conversation won't change a detractor's mind - it may create the conditions necessary for the detractor to change his/her mind. Here are some questions I'd like to extend to you here: Why is doing nothing so bad? Might they just go away? What is the cost of doing nothing to you? How can you move from monitoring... Read more →

I've Done it My Way

The advice is to pick a unique name, I came up with Conversation Agent - that was still when the term conversation had not tipped, and I knew it would. Thank you mom and dad for giving me a pretty rare name, it will come in handy. Conversation Agent is an accurate expression of my personal brand vs. an aspirational concept. It came after years of work with organizations and community filling that role. This is who I am. It will evolve thanks to the connections and interaction. I welcome that evolution. They say that writing short posts is much... Read more →

Make Your Web Site Sticky: 10 Ideas

This is the prepared left brain part of our conversation at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum yesterday. I created an guide you can download here as a way to take some resources back to the office and share with your team. Whether you were in Boston or not, we can extend the conversation here. If you were in Boston, you would have also gotten the right brain side of my presentation - with all the accompanying Italian-style body language, visuals, and marvelous participation from the audience. ______________ About Your Web Site Web users are becoming more harried. The annual report into... Read more →

How to Love the Stuff You Market

The following is a post I wrote for Marketing 2.0. [The Juggler is at about minute 5:30 of this 7:36 minute video] ____________ The other week, I attended KOOZA, an experience in intense storytelling by Cirque du Soleil. It was the shortest two and half hours I ever spent - that’s because I invested them. My return was a full immersion in the passion and joy of the actors and athletes who shared the product of their love for the art of movement and skill. Plus one insight. The Juggler Who could not identify with someone handling multiple items at... Read more →

Publishers Beware, User Experience = Circulation Online

Scott Karp over at Publishing 2.0 has an interesting discussion going about the unnecessary frustration users experience at the sites of main stream media publications. In a previous post, Scott attributes the problem to the fact that stories are written with the print mentality even for the online version. That is probably one of the reasons why many new media networks are starting to gain ground over online Websites of main stream media. They are designed for online user experience. Yet, quality news reporting is the reason why the online versions of newspapers still have a healthy readership. The conversation... Read more →