Web Strategy
Adam Franklin is a social media speaker and marketing manager of Bluewire Media – a web strategy firm in Sydney and Brisbane. Feel free to download the Web Strategy Planning Template – it's free and no rego is required.
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Five reasons why you shouldn’t write off social media
Read MoreAs incredible as it may seem, there are still small business owners sceptical about the benefits of social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
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Nine things you need to know about Facebook's new Timeline
Read MoreFacebook upgraded to the new Timeline format as of March 30. If you rely on Facebook, here are nine things you need to know:
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Tearing it up on Twitter in two minutes
Read MoreYou may have noticed Twitter is catching on with Aussie businesses.
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Spread your content by telling stories
Read MoreWhat’s the best way to spread your content? Simply tell your story. Need to overcome writer’s block? Draw on a personal experience and share what you’ve learnt.
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Three Lessons from web start-up legend Tony Hsieh
Read MoreIf there’s anyone to emulate when it comes to running a start-up, it would have to be the CEO and entrepreneur behind the Zappos success story, Tony Hsieh.
Zappos is an online shoe store that he sold for $1.2 billion after 10 years. Before that, he sold his first web start-up for $265 million after just two years. It’s safe to say that Tony knows a thing or two about the web and start-ups. And, thanks to Business Chicks , Tony Hsieh toured Australia last week.
Here are three key things any start-up can learn from Tony:
1. Corporate culture is everything
Tony told a story about his first web company, Link Exchange. He really loved working there while they were growing to about 20 people, since most of the people working there were his friends.
However, by the time they grew to 100 people, he didn’t enjoy going to work anymore. The culture had deteriorated so badly that he wanted out, and so he sold the company to Microsoft for $265 million.
In hindsight, it turned out to be a stroke of genius, as he sold just before the dot-com bubble burst in the late ‘90s.
But up until that point, he didn’t appreciate the importance of corporate culture.
Contrast this to Zappos, the company Tony runs today. His number one priority is culture and everything else is a by-product. He actually hires and fires people according to how well people fit the culture.
2. Social media helps build culture
Tony was an early adopter of Twitter and totally endorses social media. Zappos’ simple but empowering social media policy is to “be real and use your best judgement”. Trusting your staff to use social media responsibly is a huge advantage when it comes to building a positive corporate culture.
In fact, Tony has set up a webpage where all the Zappos employees’ personal tweets aggregate, so that everyone can ‘see’ the Zappos corporate culture with their own eyes.
Additionally, Tony encourages staff to spend 10-20% of their time doing “non-work” related things, as socialising with colleagues helps to build trust and increases productivity.
3. Invest marketing dollars into customer service
Tony proudly talks about all the money he “would have spent” on marketing that he has instead invested into customer service. This ensures his customers have a tremendous experience with Zappos and want to tell their friends. As a result, his customers actually do the marketing for him, with the positive word of mouth amplified through social media.
These three tips have helped Tony Hsieh turn Zappos into a billion dollar success story. Hopefully, these lessons can be applied in your start-up too.
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How to attract Gen Y superstars
Read MoreGen Ys are digital natives. They’ve grown up with the web and live their life on it.
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Social media is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration
Read MoreTo paraphrase Thomas Edison, “social media is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”.
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Six web tools to transform your start-up in 2012
Read MoreStarting up a business is so exciting because you get the freedom to choose when and where you work.
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Top three Christmas social media risks
Christmas, and the parties that go with it, are usually heaps of fun but if your celebrations get a bit too jovial, try to avoid leaving a permanent record online.Read More
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Social media in the workplace: To ban or not to ban?
Where do you stand on social media in the workplace?Read More
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