Month: July 2011

Categories
Digital Strategy

Pegmo: Why I love it

Chicago is home to a few startup giants (e.g. Groupon, 37signals), and fast growers (Tap.Me) One up-and-comer is Pegmo, is a simple social media-based loyalty program for brands that may not have one; co-founder Wes Donohoe refers to as “a big game that isn’t built.”

There are a few reasons I like Pegmo:

– Pegmo rewards consumer behavior that already exists. When I created and led the KmartGamer project over at Sears Holdings, our end goal was to find a way to reward gamers for being gamers. Once a user signs up for Pegmo, they start earning rewards for things they already do: follow a brand or retailer on Twitter or Facebook or check into a store on Foursquare.

– Pegmo unifies brand-related social engagement on one platform. Users may follow brands and retailers on Twitter and Facebook, and check in frequently on Foursquare, but no other platform (that I’ve seen) makes it this easy for businesses to form a multi-layer relationship (unless there’s a savvy marketer driving the channel and content strategy, that is).

– For brands and retailers, Pegmo generates not just numbers, but actions. If users don’t already follow the brands or retailers that are listed on the site, Pegmo prompts them to do so for additional points, or “Pegs.” In addition, Pegmo prompts users to share their thoughts about the brands themselves. For instance, a restaurant could ask users to share their thoughts on the dishes or drinks they like at the restaurant, whether it’s directly to the brand, or posted on their Facebook wall. As a result — and depending on the feedback itself — Pegmo has the potential to be an interesting research tool.

– Pegmo can always evolve through new tasks. As businesses evolve, their goals and products do as well. (For instance, restaurants always change their menus, and retailers expand or offer new products.) This gives Pegmo a seemingly endless way to evolve, which is very different from, say, Foursquare, which relies on one basic action — the check-in — as the basis of its value prop.

Have you signed up for Pegmo yet? If so, what do you think of it? Please leave your thoughts as comments below!

Categories
Chicago Startups

The state of Chicago tech networking events

Yesterday, I attended a startup networking event, run by the Chicago Entrepreneurial Center. At the event, there was a great mix of startup founders, press and investor types. (Surprisingly, there were no social media consultants in sight — a good thing.)

In short, it was easily one of the best tech networking events in Chicago I’ve attended. The space was nice, I learned a lot from everyone I talked to and there was a great sense of collaboration, rather than competition, from everyone there.

There’s a great need for more events like this in Chicago. What other tech- and startup-related events in Chicago do you attend? If you’re not in Chicago, are there any you attend in your city or town? Why do you attend?

Categories
Hip-hop

A guide to turntable.fm etiquette

Turntable.fm logo

Outside of Spotify, Turntable.fm has been one of the hottest startups to have been launched in the last several months. It now has more than 300K users and is seeking more funding.

More than Spotify, Pandora, last.fm or Rdio, turntable.fm is a social experience, and as such, it’s interesting to watch how users interact in the rooms.

With that, I’ve put together this quick guide to proper etiquette on turntable.fm, in the form of do’s and don’ts:

Do:

– When you enter a room to DJ, get a lay of the land. Are DJs skipping outros? Is there a theme to the music? I DJ in a lot of hip-hop related rooms, but often I find the DJs are picking songs based on a theme (e.g. battle raps, emcees from Queens, etc.). If there’s no theme per se, just play songs that are consistent with the room title.
– Be social, but be respectful. The biggest difference between Pandora and turntable.fm is that turntable is inherently social. Talk to the other DJs. (You can even “fan” them, which alerts you when they’re DJing.) A lot of the folks using the service are in the internet or music business; if you are too, it could be a good opportunity to network with them, so don’t disrespect them or the music they like.
– Welcome new DJs to the service. When someone comes into the room, click on their avatar. If they have zero DJ points, they’re new to turntable.fm. Make them feel welcome; one easy way to do this is to “awesome” their first song, no matter what it is!
– Skip your outros, if they’re long. A lot of hip-hop songs have extended outros and skits that can last up to two minutes after the song is over. Be cognizant of the fact that not everyone wants to hear the outro – in fact, there’s a good chance nobody wants to – and skip it.

Don’t:

– Don’t click “Lame” unless you absolutely HAVE to. There are two reasons, really, for “Lame-ing” a song: if the song is inconsistent with the room’s theme, or if the DJ playing it is away from the computer. Otherwise, just hit “mute” and play something else. Either way, especially don’t lame at the very beginning of the song, as DJ Woooo said in this CNN article.
– Don’t cut the line. In the more popular rooms on turntable.fm, there’s usually a DJ list. To find it, click the “Room Info” button towards the top of the page. (The list is usually a Google doc.) If you want to DJ, get your name on there, and stick around.
– Don’t repeat songs. A big [analog] DJ faux-pas is to play songs twice, and there’s an easy way to avoid it on turntable.fm. Just click “Room info” and you’ll see a list of recently played songs you’ll want to steer clear of.
– If you’re DJing, don’t keep DJing if you have to step away from your computer for an extended period of time. Give someone else a chance to spin!
– A lot of aspiring musicians and DJs may use turntable to showcase new material. If you’re in this group, don’t play self-recorded songs if it’s of poor quality. (Thanks to TT user RyanTheMagnificent for this suggestion.)
– (Added 7/20) Don’t play songs that are too long, unless everyone in the room (or a majority of it) is OK with it. The other DJs want a chance to spin their tunes, which gets more difficult if everyone plays eight-minute songs!

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Have I missed anything? Do you disagree with something I’ve said? Please feel free to post any additional thoughts you have as comments below!