Eric Ungs

Photo courtesy by Liz Jones

I am definitely one to stray towards the new and shiny tools that seem to be popping up on a daily basis. Maybe it’s the “grass is always greener” thing or one tool has a few key, and convenient, features the other doesn’t. So, for me, there’s a lot of trial and error, re-inventing my processes, and fine tuning my productivity habits to be just right. But, once I’ve been attracted to a tool that just ‘works’ for me, it’s hard to abandon.

I’ve created a list of tools that I use on a daily basis serving my various productivity and management needs. These give me sanity, convenience and organization. They allow me to focus and concentrate on shipping and creating.

So here they are…

Connected
Relationships are the foundation and backbone to everything we do, whether it’s for business or personal. Connected is a Relationship Management tool that connects with your existing networks – Email, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Connected at it’s basic form allows me to view my contacts from a holistic perspective. When viewing one profile I am able to see all of the conversations we have had regardless the platform it took place on. I am able to leave notes about the contact, it allows me to include how we met, add additional information, set reminders for when we should next connect, message them directly within the Connected platform, etc. Among the many other integrations, analytics and features it provides – depending on your needs – the most convenient is the notifications email. Set it and forget it. This email informs me of any job changes, birthdays and reminders to connect with specific contacts. Connected at its basic form and function is a powerful and necessary tool. There are many other integrations and third party apps that tie in nicely to manage relationships.

Plus, Connected was acquired by LinkedIn last fall. Very curious to see how this will integrate into the LinkedIn ecosystem.

Buffer
Most days I do majority of my online reading within one sitting. So instead of bombarding my social feeds with articles and thoughts in a narrow time frame Buffer allows me to space them out during designated times throughout the day. It allows me to fill up my Buffer bucket with status updates without having to schedule the send each time. Buffer will automatically post depending on my predetermined time slots – found in settings. The goal is to keep the Buffer bucket topped off with content to keep a consistent social media presence all day long and all week long. In addition to the web app, Buffer has created simply mobile  apps and browser plugins for easy sharing.

Asana
My latest love affair. @HeatherRast referred this project and task management tool to me a few months ago and I haven’t looked back since. First off, the team behind this has a pretty solid track record. Majority ex Facebook and Google rockstars. The UI is gorgeous and beyond user friendly. The drag and drop makes for creating and prioritizing task lists a breeze. The platform is made up of workspaces, projects and tasks. Each task has essentially a profile; task owner, due date, comments and notes section, tags, attachments, activity feed, etc. I am currently utilizing the free version at the individual level but has robust capabilities to use with a team. It has conveniently allowed me to stay on track and focus on increasing daily productivity. you must give this a shot.

Hootsuite
I’ve been using the social media management and monitoring suite for a couple of years now and am a huge advocate and fan of the tool. It allows my to have multiple streams based on social networks, keyword searches, lists, etc. In addition to streams there are multiple tabs that house more streams making it easy to monitor multiple brands or identities within one account. The integration of Google Analytics, along with their native analytics, team monitoring and assigning of tasks capabilities and the constant evolution of the social dashboard equates to a pretty powerful tool for managing ones social presence – not to mention the accessibility across all screens – iPad, mobile and web.

SimpleNote
This is fairly new for me, but I believe in love at first sight. This is an extremely ‘Simple’ note taking web and mobile (AndroNote for Android) app. There are no bells and there are no whistles. Just strictly Plain Text. It uses tags and dates for easy filtering. That’s it, no less no more. It’s excellent for real note taking and writing as it cuts out all of the options – distractions – for text styling and such. It allows pure concentration on the written word. (This post was actually created in Simplenote, I just copy and pasted into WordPress)

History – I previously used Evernote but after a few major hiccups I abandoned ship. I was having difficulty with the offline/online sync across multiple devices. I was losing valuable notes on a regularly basis.

Simplynoise
Do you where ear buds at work listening to white noise? I do! I need to drown out the noise around me and it must be white noise, it can’t be music. I’ve been using Simplynoise for years and it does just that. It’s simply a white noise player. You can select between White, Pink, and Brown noise – flip on oscillation, set the sleep timer and you’re off.

Notebook and Pen
As much as I love the new and shiny tools – nothing beats a good notebook and pen. I am a pen fanatic, I always have been. Currently I am using a Moleskin Hardcover Notebook along with the Pilot Precise v5 rt black ink pen. The only  leak in this is it’s extremely difficult to find this pen in blue ink. I really like to mix up my ink colors – especially for differentiating notes.

That’s it! These are the main tools I use on a daily basis allowing me to stay organized and on track.

What tools do you find yourself using regularly?

If you have 30 or so minutes please watch the video below, if you haven’t already seen it.

It’s a short documentary. You’ll find it quite interesting, moving, and powerful.

Plus, while watching, keep in mind two different perspectives.

1. The movement and the story being told in the video.

2. Why Facebook, the Internet, and other social networks online are truly good for humanity.

Facebook isn’t so much about big data or breach of privacy or posting something you shouldn’t have or even advertising. It’s much much deeper and much greater.

Facebook connects the world much easier at a much quicker rate.

At such a rate there is no way to replicate it through traditional means. It connects the world not to do bad, but for the people to stand up for humanity and do good. To stand up for something they believe in, an idea. It connects the entire globe to do good, most importantly, to do good together, no matter where we are on this planet.

The invisible man, women, the child half way around the world, now, because of Facebook and the social web, become visible. Because of real people connecting, growing online communities that spread a shared message, belief, an idea, together, allowing voices to be heard.

Content will remain the catalyst for a brand’s online success (or failure) and ultimately having a tremendous effect on their overall digital return on influence (ROI).

John Bell (author of The Digital Influence Mapping Project) wrote a fabulous piece (which inspired this short writeup and graphic) on this shift in marketing and communications – content marketing finds its value (head on over and take a peak, come back, and we’ll continue on).

Examine the intersection between user and brand.

Content marketing goes beyond the products and services (it touches them indirectly) your organization possesses. It takes a look at who makes up your core demographic and then directly speaks to that user group about that shared interest. You have to examine the intersection of a user and brand. What’s the warm and fuzzy for the user, what’s the shared interest, what’s that one thing that makes both brand and user tick together? What’s the value you posses to help shape that user groups way of life? Speak to that topic.

Though I wholeheartedly agree on everything John is saying throughout his post, I think there’s one piece that’s being left out, or maybe that I would alter…

Creating content for users instead of consumers.

First, users aren’t customers. Users simply absorb your relevant and valuable content. This user group is your brands targeted audience but has a far greater reach than speaking to just consumers. Think about this for a second (refer to the graphic above as well or click here for a larger view). You are able to speak, with adding high levels of relevant value, to a user group that is five times (I have no idea how big, but it’s bigger) the size of your costumer base means huge opportunities. Though a user may never become a customer of yours, what this means is you have created a brand ambassador indirectly. This new ambassador is sharing relevant content that is deriving from your brand. This user group has become much larger making your brand (content) much more visible in an instant. By speaking to a community of users, this eventually will produce consumers who will want to give you some cash for your product or service. Users have now joined the group of brand ambassadors along side consumers. The larger the user base, the greater opportunity of obtaining customers. But, content must remain relevant and valuable. There is still a targeted direction, it’s not the masses.

American Express does it best.

American Express is a financial organization that offers credit card solutions for both personal and business use. What they have done with their content marketing strategy is created a hub that speaks to a core of their demographic. This platform is called American Express Open Forum. Their content consists of how to operate a small business – “powering small business success”. What it doesn’t consist of is how to operate a small business leveraging their credit card solutions. Instead it’s simply a forum. A place where top influencers and thought leaders in the small business space offer their advice, via guests posts, on running a successful small business. From managing, to marketing, to design, etc. This is the true kicker – it’s powered by the small business experts outside of American Express. They seek to the SMB expert to produce the content. They have even gone to the extent of declaring their own day of the year called “Small Business Saturday”. It’s the day after Black Friday that encourages shoppers to shop small and local. When a small business owner thinks about financials, they instantly gravitate to American Express. Through persistence they’ve molded their brand to become the “all things small business expert”.

Keep the platform in your control.

What must be remembered is that the content hub needs to be in your control. Meaning, don’t use third party platforms to create content. Instead, establish your own platform that both creates and distributes relevant content by means of social channels to your targeted user base. Refer to the graphic above for the path a user and customer takes. The idea of this platform and content marketing strategy is to always be creating. This results in shareable links and high SERPs. It’s constant, consistent, and filled with fresh content and conversation. Conversation and dialogue that takes place in your living room – your brands controlled environment.  This large group of users are continually returning to your content hub, it’s only a matter of time before they themselves, or one of their SWYN (share with your network) recipients, meanders to your website to research your product/service and then filters to the bottom of your sales funnel.

As John Bell stated at the end of his post – it’s definitely a marathon.

January 2, 2012 – #01

Each week I want to share with you the interesting things I come across. It could be anything; blog posts, tech products, new apps, quotes, etc. If you’ve found any interesting tidbits or news, please share in the comments below, I’d love to hear about them.

First, Happy New Year! Can’t believe it’s 2012.

1. Gympact. Is your New Years resolution to hit the gym? Do you have a weekly gym goal? Are you willing to put money on it? This app is about tough love. Each week you develop a goal on how many times you’ll go to the gym. You then attach a price you’re willing to pay if you don’t meet that goal. The app works on check-ins. If you don’t meet the goal, you have to pay the dollar amount you had tied to that goal. If you meet the goal, you see some green from all of the other users who didn’t meet their goals. Gympact collects a 3% fee on these transactions. Read more of Mashable’s coverage. P.S – you can’t do drive by check-ins. You must be there for at least thirty minutes.

2. ToutApp. Curious on the activity within your email inbox? ToutApp is a pretty slick tool that produces data on your Gmail activity for all of 2011. It produces a pretty neat infographic with various levels of data – it shows you how many emails you dealt with (received) over the year and how quickly you responded to them. On the flip side it shows you how many emails you sent, to whom, how many were replied to, the time of month, day, etc. Read more of Mashable’s coverage.

3. Steve Jobs. I completed the tale of Steve Jobs written by Walter Isaacson. One of the greater books I have read. It portrays the true side of Jobs. It’s truly a tell all kind of book. Though the printed version may seem overwhelming by the thickness, you won’t be dissatisfied. As I was nearing the end of the book I wish there was more. It truly is fascinating the impact this man had on our society and the industries he flipped upside down. Simply put, he’s a genius. Check out my full review  here.

Now it’s your turn to share… Go.

Steve Jobs is one of the most fascinating individuals of our time, therefore, this is one of the best books I have ever read. Walter Isaacson does it Pulitzer Prize style in delivering the true colors of Jobs. You know the saying, “the truth hurts”, absolutely, but the truth is what made Apple what it is today.

From his very first beginnings to his final breath it’s truly an inspiring and fascinating tale. I’ll leave the guts for you to read. Here are just a few highlights to dissect.

Apple is Steve Jobs.

The DNA of Steve Jobs poured into everything Apple – from employees to product design to the architecture of Apple properties to running and leading a business to advertising. He simply was Apple and he could con anyone into becoming a believer in his vision. He had a way with words and people.

Seeing the light with LSD.

Jobs credits taking psychedelic drugs for making him more enlightened. “Taking LSD was a profound experience. One of the most important things in my life”. It allowed him to gather a sense of what was truly important in life. It was ultimately a catalyst for his deep passion in changing the world. It wasn’t about getting rich, it was about making great products that would put a ripple through a lot of industries. It was about making something you believe in and creating a company that will last. There’s an admiration for those whose drive is to change people’s lives for the better – and not to mislead by just wanting to cash in. The green will follow.

A perfectionist to the Nth degree.

At a very young age Jobs’ father taught him that a drive for perfection meant that caring about the craftsmanship of the parts unseen. Jobs instilled this into everything he could put his hands on. From Apple to his living room – Jobs went with no furniture in his home for months because nothing suited his perfectionists drive. But it’s fairly easy (but mostly extremely difficult for a lot of people) – simplicity. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” This shows from Apple hardware to software. The amazement that non-techies (young children!) can pick up an iPad and fully comprehend how to use it. It’s a matter of instincts and it’s path from simplicity.

Reality distortion field.

Jobs would stare at his employees (or anyone for that matter) without blinking until they basically took a sip of his kool-aid. This notion of his reality distortion field is essentially summed up like this: “you did the impossible, because you didn’t realize it was impossible.” People found it empowering as Jobs believed it truly inspired and motivated his team. He would change the course of computer history with a fraction of resources Apple’s competitors were working with. Why? Because of this notion of belief. He would slash a 3 month ship date to 2 with his employees working tirelessly. In the end – they did the impossible and shipped in 2. In addition to this inspiration for his employees, he believed that the rules simply didn’t apply to him. He had this sense that there are few people who are truly special, that are the chosen ones, the enlightened ones. He believed he was one of them.

Jobs had a way with words and a way of luring people into this distortion field. During board meetings the others had signals for when someone was being caught up in Steve’s world and needed to be tugged back to reality.

A true knack for business

One of Jobs greatest strengths was his ability to focus. “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” When he was invited back to Apple he simply came in and slashed 70% of the products Apple was creating at that time. Apple simply lost focus on the core product and was competing too much with its own self. It’s amazing the vision this man had and his intuition for operating a successful business, but yet, he had to sell himself (and his vision) during each one of these episodes.

Even to this day you see companies changing their model, features, systems, spending millions on market research to meet consumer demands. Jobs didn’t believe in market research because he knew that customers don’t know what they want until they’re shown. By having “A” employees and those with a real drive and passion for what they’re doing, they built products they wanted to use.

Apple products are truly revolutionary – they are the intersection of technology and creativity. Apple will go down in history as one of the greatest companies and brands of all time – turning many industries upside down.

Conclusion.

1.) He definitely was the chosen one and 2.) read the book for yourself. You’ll be in awe. Enjoy!

Quick Response Codes (QR Codes), defined by Wikipedia, is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data. The 2D codes are able to hold much more information and data versus the more commonly bar code generally used for tracking inventory and products.

The QR code technology has been around for almost two decades but is now only starting to gain traction with widespread adoption here in the U.S. It’s origination can be tracked back to 1994 in Japan where Toyota created the code to track manufacturing parts.

Its use has evolved immensely since its conception with marketers across the globe finding creative uses in finally connecting the web (particularly the mobile web or via applications) with traditional print media. There is no longer this gab between both medias. Today’s consumers want immediate and relevant access to the brand. The  QR code allows for immediate interaction with the destination of the scanned code. A printed flier essentially comes to life with an abundance of interactive information.

How do QR codes work?

Create: First you’ll need to find a QR code generator (Kaywa, QRstuff.com, Kerem Erkan) which allows you to input actions (capabilities vary between QR code generators) on what you want the QR code to do when scanned. The QR code generator then outputs a 2D image with your actions (data) encoded into it.

There are different kinds of QR code generators that do different things. QRstuff.com allows you to create a shortened URL that gets encoded into the QR image. Once the image is created you can swap out the destination URL to be able to use the same QR code image for different destinations. The thing that stays constant is the image and the shortened URL, you’re able to change its destination.  TappInn allows you to build mobile smart sites so when a QR code is scanned you’re directed to a mobile site with your data and information. PingTags allows you to link your business card to your LinkedIn profile mobile site where one can acquire all of the necessary information. From the LinkedIn profile you can make a phone call, check your other social network sites, your blog, etc. From just one scan of your business card you have immediate access to their entire profile vs just the contact information that’s normally on a business card.

Direct: You can create QR codes that direct a user to a webpage, “Like” a Facebook fan page, SMS, text message, phone number, vCal, google maps, etc.

Scan: QR readers are applications (apps) that you’re able to download from your smartphone’s app store (iPhone - i-nigma; Android – Barcode Scanner; Blackberry – comes with the phone or QR Code Scanner Pro). Upon downloading and opening your QR reader app hold the phone’s camera over the QR code image until it is able to read the data. It will then direct you to the specified destination.

Where to use QR codes?

• Business cards
• Fliers
• Vehicles
• Ticket Stubs
• Magazines
• Billboards
• Thank you cards
• Window signage
• Buildings
• Mailings
• All printed marketing materials

Where to point a user from the QR code?

• To a website URL
• To a coupon
• To “Like” your Facebook Fan Page
• To a contest
• To an interactive application
• To a YouTube video
• To an iTunes download link
• To a vCal, vCard, etc.
• To a Google Maps location
• To a PayPal buy now link
• To post and share a tweet
• (Tip: be sure to have the destination be mobile friendly)

QR codes are now able to connect the traditional print media with today’s digital age media and allows for immediate interaction with the user. Most QR code generators offer a robust analytics platform to track your printed materials that house the QR code image. I’d say expect to see these everywhere as the uses begin to expand and become simply more convenient.

Have you see any creative uses with QR Codes?

January 24-30, 2011 – #5

Each week I want to share with you the interesting things I come across. It could be anything; blog posts, tech products, new apps, quotes, etc. If you’ve found any interesting tidbits or news, please share in the comments below, I’d love to hear about them.

1. LinkedIn Maps – “Your professional world. Visualized.” This is currently an experimental project in the LinkedIn labs that puts your connections in a stunning visual. The visual sifts through your network and puts them into clusters based on the types of relationships. Take my LinkedIn Map for instance, it generated 7 different clusters in which I had the opportunity in naming them. This is a neat way to visually understand how your connected and to which category (relationship, industry, profession, etc.). It defines who your key influencers are by the size of the dot and font. It really is a beautiful visual. Make your own LinkedIn Map. Once generated it creates a landing page of your map in which it gives you several sharing options to share with your social peers.

2. Hyper Alerts – Facebook page administrators, it’s finally here, though not within Facebook, but via Hyper Alerts. You can register to receive alerts on any type of activity that takes place on your Facebook fan page. This new free service is extremely easy to setup. Simply; open an account, add new alert, input your page vanity URL, set frequency, and sit back while your email keeps you in the loop of any page activity. Via HubSpot, this service can also be used to stay on top of what your competitors are doing within the Facebook space. There’s no limit to the number of alerts you set. Nifty tool hugh.

3. Facebook Sponsored Stories – Facebook just recently launched a new ad platform of what they’re calling Facebook Sponsored Stories. Basically, when you either check-in to a brands physical location, engage on their page, or interact within their custom app that brand is able to grab those bits of content and use them in their Facebook ads. Not too long ago I posted a tweet about having dynamic photos instead of the brand uploading their own and the only thing being personalized is if your friend liked the ad. So whomever has previously interacted with the brand their photo would appear when someone in their network stumble across it. This is exactly what Facebook Sponsored Stories is doing but instead they’re using content that users have created. I think this is a great direction for the ad platform within Facebook. It creates a more trusted and personalized advertisement (not even sure you can call it that). As always there are two sides to every coin, some preferring to have users opt-in.

January Read: Referral Engine by John Jantsch

January 17-23, 2011 – #4

Each week I want to share with you the interesting things I come across. It could be anything; blog posts, tech products, new apps, quotes, etc. If you’ve found any interesting tidbits or news, please share in the comments below, I’d love to hear about them.

1. Why Entrepreneurs Should Care About Google Suggest – Now, more than ever, brands from main street to wall street need to listen extra carefully and respond more quickly. In a recent post on Open Forum it talks about Google Suggest and Google Instant. Both basically filling out the rest of your search query for you. This may lead consumers to seeing negative ‘suggestions’ when it wasn’t their initial search intent. Leaving little to no control for the brand in its online reputation management efforts. The control; to listen intently and respond quickly. The post shows an excellent example of Google Instant gone wrong for Comcast.

2. Sean Parker Says “The Social Network” Is “Fiction” – via Mashable. Napster founder Sean Parker comments on the movie “The Social Network” during a panel conference in Europe with Paulo Coelho. Sean lashed out in saying the movie was a complete work of fiction and was dissatisfied in the way he was portrayed in the film. Sean and Paulo discuss “The Social Network” only for a brief moment, but the 23 minute video is worth finishing out. They touch on social media and the future of publishing. Quite interesting.

3. What Does Google Offers Mean for Groupon? It was only a matter of time for Google, after Groupon politely declined a $6 billion acquisition offer, to step into the group buying ring. It will definitely be interesting to see how this plays out. Google obviously has the infrastructure with their existing AdSense and AdWords products in their arsenal. But, we all know Google’s social efforts don’t really take off and with not having the men on the streets to compete with Groupon’s sales force leaves a competition that will be closely watched.

So, as Mashable ends the post, is there enough room for both Google Offers and Groupon to be in the group buying space?

January Read: Referral Engine by John Jantsch