Network Businesses

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Scate Technologies is a great example of a Southeast Michigan company that has been nimble on its feet in tough economic times. We discuss how the company has moved from on-site training, to e-Learning, to social media learning infrastructure provider. Future conversations will focus on revenue growth associated with their social media initiatives.

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Filed under: Jeff Holth | Lake Orion, MI | Network Businesses | Scate Technologies | Steve Sadler

In this interview with Scate Technology's Steve Sadler and Jeff Holth, we learn how Scate moved from a company that did on-site training to e-learning to software development. Scate currently has successful businesses in screencasting, website development, and social media.

After 9/11, the move from onsite trainng to e-learning was natural. There was an economic recession, and the recent terrorist attacks had put an additional, natural brake on travel. One day, an e-Learning customer asked Steve Sadler, CEO of Scate, how his company produced e-Learning materials so quickly. Steve showed him an internal tool, and the customer asked him how much it was. Steve said it was not for sale. The customer retorted it should be.

A light went off, and Steve moved to turn his tool into a product, Ignite, that allowed customers to create their own e-Learning materials. Shortly after, Jeff Holth, currently CTO, joined Scate.

Jeff then picks up the narrative by noting how Scate has continued to expand its offerings, recently moving into social media. Jeff envisions social media as community development around a set of shared ideas and interests.

In future episodes, Steve and Jeff will discuss how they are using social media, particularly a new product, ScreenTweet, to promote their business.

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FaceBook is by far the largest social network. Charlie Wollborg offers advice on how to effectively use FaceBook in a business context. A key component of his approach is taking a less formal more human approach to interacting with people you interact with on FaceBook.

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Filed under: Charlie Wollborg | Curve Detroit | Network Businesses | Pontiac, MI | Social Media

The worlds of work and social life are merging according to Charlie Wollborg, Curve Detroit's founder and chief troublemaker. Devices like the blackberry bring work home, and business meetings often begin with personal chit chat.

Facebook is positioning itself as the network that allows people to achieve a balance between professional and social communication. With over 200 Million active subscribers (those who log in at least weekly), Facebook is the 800 lb. guerilla in this rapidly growing area. To effectively present a social business presence on FaceBook, Charlie recommends:

• Have a photo
• Present the human side, not just the business side, of who you are. Draw the line where you are comfortable.
• Make sure to promote your public corporate events there as FaceBook is very viral.

Some things, Charlie recommends you not do with FaceBook:

• Don't create content solely for Facebook. It's invisible to search engines.
• By the same token, don't store photos and other content there that you want to be publicly accessible. FaceBook prohibits access to outsiders.

Finally, Charlie recommends that you gear any FaceBook advertising to a soft sell wrapped in information. People come to FaceBook to socialize, not hear hard core pitches.

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With Web users spending increasing amounts of time on social networking sites at the expense of other destination sites, it no longer makes sense to think that users will come to your web site as the sole destination for your business. Charlie Wollborg of Curve Detroit outlines the major social networking sites where businesses currently need a presence.

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Filed under: Charlie Wollborg | Curve Detroit | Network Businesses | Pontiac, MI | Social Media

The original Web business strategy (circa late 1990s) was to draw people to your site as a destination. Now, for most businesses on the Web, that model no longer makes sense. Instead, as Charlie Wollborg of Curve Detroit explains:

• Companies need to go where the audience is and that means social networking sites. As many as one in every three minutes online is spent connected to a social networking site (see Nielsen for estimates as exact figures though significant are elusive).
• Facebook is the 800 lb. gorilla of social media. At the end of March, it had 200 million active users with 100 million users checking it daily.
• In addition to Facebook, there are two other significant networks where businesses should consider their presence:
  • LinkedIn, a business networking site.
  • Twitter, a microblogging site.

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Charlie Wollborg was "kicked out of every small and large, reputable advertising firm in Detroit" before founding Curve. This is the first in a series of discussions with Charlie on Social Media where Curve is a leader in the Detroit Area.

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Filed under: Charlie Wollborg | Curve Detroit | Network Businesses | Pontiac, MI | Social Media

Charlie Wollborg, Chief Trouble Maker at Curve Detroit and social media guru, often goes by the name Charlie Curve, just to keep the affiliation at the top of people's minds as they interact online. In this conversation, we lay out the philosophy behind curve and how social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn fit into their mix. Highlights from this short initial segment include:

• Curve bills itself as a media, marketing, and design firm.
• A key differentiating factor is that the firm is media agnostic.
  • Charlie tells the old joke of a man who gets shot and wanders into a traditional ad firm where they offer him a tv campaign to cure his ills.
  • Curve examines clients' goals, desired audience, and budget before suggesting any of a number of alternatives which may include traditional media or new media.
• Charlie founded Curve after "getting kicked out of every small and large reputable advertising firm in Detroit".
  • Charlie was always on the hunt for new and better ways to do things, a quality that might not fit with an agenda to sell the firm's main product line.

In future segments Charlie will provide Curve's overall take on social media and Facebook in particular.