Comments for Working From The Basement

Comment on Facebook Ad Experiment – Local Band Review by Les Robertson

Les Robertson — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:50:57 +0000

Good article!

Im waiting for FB to develop a third option… one that would make it affordable for a band to advertise individual gigs.

My band Fatgrip has a great facebook presence/following, so ads would work for us. But at this point in time…. they arent affordable.

Comment on MERG CT closes its doors. by JK Designs

JK Designs — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:34:33 +0000

We agree with Mike that the failure of MERG to mobilize the micro community does not lie with any one person. MERG did as much as it could with the volunteers available. Micros generally wear so many different hats as a normal part of their daily tasks, that they just don’t find the time for anything extra. We read this post yesterday & didn’t have time to comment until today. We still hope that when there is a particular issue that affects an individual business, they will speak up, maybe to their own rep. or their chamber legislative committee and be sure that their opinion is voiced. There was no one in the organization who worked harder than Leslie to promote MERG’s mission. Btw, 5 years ago the word “micro enterprise” was not even heard at the CT general assembly, today there is a committee to study the effect of bills on small business. Progress has been made, but there’s still much to be done.

Comment on MERG CT closes its doors. by 2ndot - Michael Lawson

2ndot - Michael Lawson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:44:43 +0000

Leslie no way is it your fault trying to organize micros is like herding cats. I agree with Tim though great send off. Maybe people will comment here with some ideas of creating a community.

Comment on MERG CT closes its doors. by Tim Tracey

Tim Tracey — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:18:51 +0000

Leaving with flair!

http://www.mergct.org/ –

“Sha na na na … Hey hey … Goodbye”

Best wishes!

Comment on MERG CT closes its doors. by Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:48:45 +0000

Thanks for your kind words on the passing of MERG.

I think part of the reason we get so little attention from Hartford is because we are the bedrock of the economy, and as such, we will always be here. They know this about us, and rely on us to endure through bad times. You can’t say that about the big guys, who will pull up, move away, and layoff hundreds with no warning. Those events get all the attention, not the fact that there are thousands of us working from our basements, paying our taxes, and keeping the state afloat. We’re dependable, and placed-based for a reason. No need to accommodate us.

As for the community question – MERG wrestled with this, and I don’t have an answer. We blogged, we started a group on LinkedIn, we sent out a monthly newsletter, and we had legislative updates mailed to members while the legislature was in session. But we were never able to engage members successfully. I’m willing to take responsibility for this failure, since I did all of these things, and it could just be that I wasn’t very good at stirring the pot and keeping the conversation going. Perhaps someone who is better at this would have more success. Time is such a limited resource for micros.

I will certainly support any effort to promote community spirit among micro business owners.

Comment on Facebook Ad Experiment – Local Band Review by 2ndot - Michael Lawson

2ndot - Michael Lawson — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:20:30 +0000

Thanks Ted

Comment on Facebook Ad Experiment – Local Band Review by Ted

Ted — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:06:44 +0000

Very nice, thanks.

We work with Google ads for clients but I have not looked at Facebook ad’s at all. I keep thinking about making a plan for fan pages, but like everything else…..need more time

Comment on Facebook Ad Experiment – Local Band Review by 2ndot - Michael Lawson

2ndot - Michael Lawson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:06:09 +0000

Also I want to note that if you treat your Fan Page like an old style landing page I think that would be an effective strategy to get people to visit your website. You could then measure the conversion using standard techniques.

Comment on Facebook Ad Experiment – Local Band Review by 2ndot - Michael Lawson

2ndot - Michael Lawson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:01:17 +0000

Leslie it is actually about 300 fans added due to the viral nature of post notifications in Facebook. Like I mentioned I was not selling anything and the target was easily defined, I have two other fan pages one dedicated to this blog and the other to my business. Even without resorting to Facebook advertising I have gotten more business off Facebook than either Linkedin or Twitter, so for a very small investment it was worth testing.

I’m glad you liked the article and commented, it’s glad to see people are reading the blog and deriving useful information.

Thanks Mike…

Comment on Facebook Ad Experiment – Local Band Review by Leslie

Leslie — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:31:45 +0000

I’m really glad to have this information, as I’m often looking for ways to help my clients improve their fan pages. For my own business, I’m not so sure, since it doesn’t really lend itself to fandom, and I haven’t yet figured out a plan to make money from fans. So if I were to spend $55 to acquire 42 fans, I’m not sure I could justify that expense (and the time involved) if I didn’t then know exactly if or how those 42 fans would contribute to my bottom line. I know there are never any guarantees with marketing expenditures, but at least Google allows you to track conversions to sales, which gives you some way to measure success. Have there been any studies on how many fans it takes to get a bump in sales, or is it all just theory?