To Be Me - Free MP3

I am playing around with Bandcamp.mu for my Gen-Y Rock Stars Newsletter and well, I tested it on myself. Below is a never heard before track I did sometime early last year. If you like it, well, my gift to you is that you can have it! It's a free download in the format of your choosing:
MP3 128k
MP3 320k
MP3 Vo
MP3 v2
AAC High
AAC Low
OggVorbis
FLAC
Apple Lossless (iPod)

If you really like it, you can use that share button and throw it up wherever you'd like!

You can also choose to let your audience pick their price for the download, a la Radiohead style. The best part is that the artist keeps everything. No sign-up fees, no percentages, nothing.

Pretty sweet concept. They also claim to have some analytics, so I am hoping that some of you listen and download so I can share some of the stats and tracking.

Enjoy the rest of your Friday and happy Halloween!

-Greg Rollett
(oh, I have video from last night ready to go - should be up around 5 or 6 tonight, some good stuff too)

My Freestyle Over Living on a Prayer - Rock For Hunger Show

Last night I put on my hip-hop shoes and put together a short performance for Rock For Hunger at 10,000 Villages in Winter Park, FL. It was a great night with performances from Emily Sessoms (I will get her video up on the R4H Blog asap, she was amazing) and Leo from Urbe Prima as well as some great food provided by volunteers that included some delicious meatballs, veggie ziti, a honey baked ham and a handful of Halloween cookies.

After our set was done we had a few regulars that wanted to hear some hip-hop Bon Jovi. I decided to spice it up and get the crowd involved in a little freestyle. You didn't think I still had it in me, did you?

Anyway, here is what came out.

Oh and we raised a ton of money, sold some tickets to Rock For Hunger Fest 3 and I even sold some CD's. Happy Halloween peeps.

-Greg Rollett

Generation We - WE are Change

I came across an awesome video from Generation We today and had to share it. Some key points that I took from the 5 minute clip and my commentary:

• If we spread out the national debt, every American would be responsible for $30,000 (not including their college loans, credit card debt, failed mortgages and everything else)
• Generation We volunteers in record numbers (like the concert we are throwing in less than 3 weeks in Orlando where we have over 100 volunteers, 100 Gen-Y band members, 2 local competing radio stations, 1,500 all-aged concert goers and sponsors coming together to make our community better)
• We are technologically advanced (walk through the mall and some kid will bump into you while texting)
• Amercia is an arrogant and greedy nation (yup)
• We are the largest demographic group in the U.S. and if unified we can control America's political landscape (that is if we can get the movement off Facebook groups and into offices, chamber meetings, PTA's, Boards of Directors and into the marketing campaigns of corporate America)

Watch the video now. Will you join us?




A few weeks back I posted the Generation WE eBook in my top 5 free eBooks to read now. Here is the link again to get a copy of the book by Eric H. Greenberg and Karl Weber.

I think this is another great movement by strong willed young people who are really standing up for our future. I think the video said that in the 2016 election, everyone in Gen-Y will be legal voters. Imagine what kind of impact that can have if political leaders are not looking at us as the future of this country.

Ryan from Employee Evolution said a few weeks back that:

us 20-somethings have been graduating into a world where we are buried in debt before stepping foot into our first job, and dealing with living expenses that are often more than average starting salaries. Our generation has inherited a world that needs some serious fixing.

If you do not believe that we are going to look to make changes in the way we live you have another thing coming. Everything must be changed to, from the government, to salaries to nonprofits to marketing.

Everyone is out to make a buck, right? The way we go about it is going to change. There has been an influx of green companies, organic foods and businesses giving back to the community just as quickly as they give back to their employees.


In the recent issue of GOOD Magazine (I love how they use DAMN in their tag line) they have devoted a special BETA issue to GOOD Businesses or those that have been listed as B Corporation. This is a fascinating concept. From BCorporation.net

B Corporations are a new type of corporation that use the power of business to create public benefit. B Corporations:

• Meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards;
• Legally expand the responsibilities of the corporation to include stakeholder interests;
• Build collective voice through the power of the unifying B Corporation brand.

I think this is an incredible initiative and as Gen-Y comes into power I really do believe we will see a shift in the dynamics of companies and government. The need for trust and communication are too valuable to us to let it slip away.

What do you think? Are we Generation WE or are we going to continue down the money hungry/hidden agenda path that is being sent for us?

-Greg Rollett

Gen-Y Rock Stars + Free eBook

Some of you already know this and some may not so here is my official/unofficial press release for Gen-Y Rock Stars.

What is Gen-Y Rock Stars?
I have officially launched a new site entitled Gen-Y Rock Stars, geared towards helping musicians understand and use Social Media tools to make their music careers better. I am trying to write 2-3 great posts a week and have some amazing topics, friends, interviews and sneak peeks into some great sites for musicians.

The site has a purpose for me as well. I am trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents. This site is a for profit site and I am using all of my knowledge in SEO, Social Media and Internet Marketing to help pay the car payment. Read about the full disclosure on this post from Gen-Y Rock Stars.

The methods behind the Gen-Y Rock Star is that the modern musician is changing. You no longer need a machine to pump your product out to a bunch of kids with allowance. While I am not totally offing the major labels, I am saying that by creating some kick ass music and working your ass off to meet, chat with , stumble across, digg, vlog, live stream and play for you can create an income that will let you continue playing music instead of beating your head into a desk and kicking your cubicle with your ADD.

The Free eBook
To kick start the promotions for the site, I have released a FREE eBook entitled, 100 Social Media Resources for Musicians. To get it, all you need to do is sign-up to the Gen-Y Rock Stars Mailing List and boom, you get the guide. Simple stuff here folks.

The eBook is filled with sites, blogs, communities, stores and more, ranging from larger than life to niche specific to everything in between. The goal is to open your horizons and see that you can meet a fan anywhere, on ay site at anytime. This doesn't just go for music, but everything and Social Media has been the catalyst.

But what about SkatterBand?
For some that are subscribed to SkatterBand or thought that was my Music Marketing outlet, well, times have changed. The project is moving very slow for my liking and I do have 2 great writers giving some great content that fovus both on music marketing and music reviews/interviews. My writing for the site though will be no more.

Will posts here stop or not be about music?
No and no. The music I write about here will be more personable and focus on advertising and social media aspects that people are doing with their music. That's kinda been the case for a while now. I haven't done many tutorials or site structures in a while, so don't expect anything new or old in that department here.

Just good ol' Gen-Y, Music and Social Media from the P. Diddy of Social Media.

Go sign-up and get your free eBook and spread it to anyone that may learn something from it. It's actually kinda good, minus the lame title.

-Greg

Passafire Rocking For Hunger

Last night I was fortunate enough to get backstage at the House of Blues to chat with Rock For Hunger Fest 3 co-headliner Passafire. They were in town rocking out with Law Records labelmates Pepper and Orlando hometown heroes the Supervillians.

The interview is about 10 minutes long and in typical G-Ro fashion it is uncut and very entertaining. I got to chat with the guys about the importance of every fan and building something with grassroots ethos. Then we got into hunger and poverty and how community stretches beyond your hometown and backyard and that is the reason they are super stoked to be rocking at the Plaza Theatre for Rock For Hunger 3.

Check it out!

We were also pretty stoked to see Adam Willis on keys rocking the Rocksophagus T on stage, thanks man!


Orlando people come say hi to Ted, Adam, Nick and Will when they make it back to Orlando on Saturday, November 15th for Rock For Hunger 3 at the Plaza Theatre.

Get your tickets here for only $10 before November 1st! Every $10 ticket will feed 40 people in need in the Orlando area!

-Greg Rollett

Myspace Music Goes Offline

I read a really cool book, ironically called, Chasing Cool, a year or so ago and it changed my perception of advertising. The book centered around companies looking to replicate the success of something that was perceived as "cool" and do it themselves. Most of the time it failed miserably. Now I am starting to see websites look beyond Internet Marketing for additional exposure and the results are similiar in pattern.

Yesterday I finally checked the mail and opened up the new copy of Wired Magazine. This is one of two physical magazines I subscribe to and I genuinely look forward to it every month. After the mind blowing articles I always look at the advertising and what they are trying to do with it.

When I got a few pages in I was surprised to see Moby hanging out and talking music with me. It seems that the artist most of us forgot about is now doing some promo for the new and heavily debated Myspace Music. In the ad, pictured below, Moby lets us know what is in his New York Playlist and that we can find it at myspace.com/moby.


I like the fact that is appears as if Moby hand wrote the note and picked bands and songs that he actually listens to. But is it enough to get me to sign into Myspace and either

• go listen to Moby's Playlist,
• browse through more artists and user generated playlists than I know what to do with or
• wait for 20 pages to load to create my own abbreviated playlist?

Having something offline to promote something online has always been a hard sale. The reason is simple, there are extra steps involved. If you are reading the magazine at the beach or at the doctor's office, you need to wait until you are in front of a computer and head over to the site. Even couch potatoes have to open their MacBook and surf their way into your network.

Another aspect is that anyone that is an active user on Myspace is probable aware of the New Myspace Music. It has dominated the homepage and the user backend pages since it launched a few weeks back.

Will the print campaign convert new users?
I don't think so. Do you?

Will it bring back old users who fled to Facebook?
Again, I don't think so. iLike applications work plenty well inside of Facebook and having Pandora, iMeem or Last.FM open in a 2nd tab has never been a problem before.

Did Moby play to the demographics of Wired Magazine?
Actually, I like that move. Moby is a bit of an underground hipster, a gadgetier and, well, a geek that fits right in. Was there someone more "now" that would be a better fit? Yea, probably, but won't that always be the case?

Will the campaign work?
It depends on what the idea of a successful campaign is. I believe that Myspace has done a great job of spreading the word on the service and what you can do with it. The reason for the awareness is that the more people that use the service the more money Myspace makes, duh, no brainer there.

We need to also remember that the record labels also have a stake in Myspace Music and want it to succeed. You cannot deny the power that 100 million users have, and how that can translate into not only music sales, but also tickets, merch and streaming of these playlists.

If the idea of the campaign is to convert new users or bring back those that jump ship, I believe that this will be an ill fated attempt. The reason is simple; if you are looking for new, groundbreaking bands, then you already know to go to Myspace. If you are also looking to spend a few hours waiting for music players to load, sort through 5 million+ bands in an unsearch friendly environment and get error messages and CAPTCHA's everytime you want to tell a band they are awesome, then you already know to go to Myspace.

I love how they are branching out. AdRants states that this is the first time Myspace is advertising outside of their own walls. My opinion would be to make those walls more attractable by getting the worker bees to make the site better, faster and more user friendly. While the updates have been more frequent in recent months, the overall perception and feel is that it's still a mess and the bandwidth simply cannot be handled.

The fixing of the site seemed to work for Twitter, I even forgot the name of that whale they used as a mascot.

My question today is, can a print campaign drive "new" users online or does it just serve as additional promotion to something users already knows exists? Let's get it going in the comments.

*Addition*
My good friend from the Daily City, sent over this picture they took from the Big Apple showing Lil Wayne aka Birdman Jr. aka Lil Weezy showing off "Beats That Stick With Me." How much does that cost Myspace out of P & D?


-Greg Rollett

Gen-Y Doesn't Need 1 Leader

It's a crazy time for everyone. The economy sucks. The election is making us all crazy and tearing us apart rather than helping us come together to make the country better. There are more small businesses to choose from, more products with which to do the same things and more bands than pretty much sound the same, look the same and act the same.

As more and more young people begin make their mark in the world, they are reminded of the past, when you idolized that 1 person that made everything in life better. Stars were larger than life and contact with them was deemed impossible. I am talking about the Michael Jordans, the John Kennedys, the Elvis Presleys.

Next Generation Of Superstars
Today's generation is producing stars, leaders and thought provokers that are more approachable than ever and each is taking over not the world, but a niche in their own version of the small world. Where every kid wanted to be like Mike, aspiring basketball players want to be like Kobe and LeBron, maybe Yao Ming or Dwight Howard. All these players are Michael Jordan in their own demographic. They make the kids they relate to smile and give them hope that they can aspire to be in their position. They are also approachable, with websites, fan clubs, Myspace pages, blogs and other means of dual communication.

Next Generation of Social Change Agents
Today the people changing the world are the people in your community making a difference. We are not waiting for government groups to bring help. We make the change ourselves. My good friend Chris from Rock For Hunger has never waited for a government dime to feed 150 people every week. Another Gen-Y'er, Chas Grundy has helped over 60 children go to summer camp through "camperships." These are the groups that will change the world, not 1 organization but many little ones helping make their part of the world better.

Next Generation of Musicians
I wa reading an article from the Sydney Morning Herald that said,

Gen-Y needs to find its own AC/DC.

The thing is, we don't want our own AC/DC. We have a million Sex Pistols and bands in vans that are getting our attention, hearts and thoughts. These kids that come to our town, pour their hearts out for $100 and a few CD sales mean more to this generation than any big band marketing machine that flows through our town, tube or radio.

Oh, and we are producing some Gen-Y AC/DC's of our own:

• Public Enemy - 10 albums and 25 years (Chuck D himself said they were the Rolling Stones of hip-hop)
• Dave Mathews Band - name any college student that doesn't have Dave in their iPod and I will show you a liar
• Snoop Dogg - love him or hate him but no one has done more for pop culture over a longer period of time than the Doggfather himself (he even created his own form of the English language that even David Beckham can't stop using)
• Green Day - After ruling the 90's with a new age punk rock attitude, they are bigger than ever with real voices and opinions that are inline with Gen-Y ethos and spirit

I am sure there are countless others, from any facet of culture, politics and leadership that are playing a role in Gen-Y development. They are doing so by mastering a niche. By giving into flaws, strengths, God-given abilities and even good old fashioned hard work.

To be a leader in the next generation you do not need to appeal to everyone, just the everyones in the groups that YOU can help become better people.

Who do you want to lead?

-Greg Rollett

Listen, Talk + Relate

Operating a business with tangible goods would sure be an awesome thing right now. Selling can openers to cooks and showing them that it "opens cans at a kick ass rate" would just be sweet on a day like today.

When dealing with SEO and Social Media, our two go to services, we are loving getting our point across to prospective clients. You see, organic results on Google are never guaranteed and results cannot be truly duplicated. A Social Media "project" or "campaign" cannot be replicated to the same success either. I cannot make another Chocolate Rain video work the same way the original did.

Beyond convincing them to spend money on a medium that was never in their sight, nonetheless their budget, is convincing them that it is "them" that has to be authentic and create compelling content. We can only be the tour guide, you have to get out of the Jeep and take the pictures.

photo by Adorenomis

At the end of the day, we as consultants have to showcase the value and return for these clients and how it all factors into keeping clients, finding new ones and getting people into their doors and drinking the kool-aid. So how do we do that?

We listen
When I go into a client meeting, I shut up and listen to the problems, strengths, beliefs, values, economic conditions, clientèle perception and anything else I can get my greedy ears to listen to.

No techie talk
This is a business you are talking to. One that wants to make money so they can feed their families and keep the office open for a long time to come. They don't give 2 craps about what software you have, what language you code in and how spiders crawl into their site. They care about how that stuff is going to affect all the stuff I listened for when I walked in the door.

We relate
I take everything I listened to, and apply the stuff in my brain that our business can accomplish and relate it to their business in terms they can understand. By knowing their search traffic is disappearing 40% a month and online sales have hit rock bottom I know its time to relate new ways of doing old tricks. The thing they did well are failing them and we need to look at how their customers are searching now online. Have them moved to social communities? Are they using larger eCommerce sites? Are they looking for new keywords or phrases that were not in the initial campaign plans?

By relating their pains, problems and strengths, we can then put value to our service based business. That value is the reassurance that after a few weeks of grinding, producing content and becoming better members of their niche community, not only will their see their business come back, but the customers they serve will become advocates and create additional business through recommendations, WOM, blog posts of their own and general good will.

In a recent Cone study it read that:

56% of people believe that a company is providing them with a better service by interacting with them on a social media site.

That's value. A better service from a brand through interaction.

It works for us, it works for community, it will work for you. Listen, Talk and Relate. Pretty simple stuff if you ask me.

-Greg Rollett

Create Chaos + BarCamp + doterati + Magical Insanity

photo by: Not Quite a Photographr

This is going to be one hellacious week here in Orlando. But a fun one. Let's run it down.

The Minute Muse, aka the Storm Brewer, aka my good friend Katrina Priore has been working all year on the Creative Conference to end Creative Conferences, Create Chaos. It goes down this week, well its going down right now and runs till Friday at the Orlando World Center Marriott, out by Disney.

Some highlights include:
Lee Cockerell keynoting on Tuesday @ 9am
My presentation on Recruiting 2.0 on Tuesday @ 2:30
Anthony Richardson on "Have a Say in What's Being Said"
Blake Discher on "Is Your Website Making You Money?"

BarCamp Chaos Tonight (Monday!)
BarCamp is coming to Create Chaos 2008, a five-day creative industry destination event produced to inform, inspire, educate, and connect creative professionals across industries through an all-inclusive event. This ad-hoc session invites participants to control the programming by preparing a 20 minute talk on any creative topic and presenting it to other conference attendees. (from BarCamp Chaos Eventbrite site)

doterati
Behind the scenes at doterati has been crazy lately, getting the site ready, planning a few parties and ironing out leadership and site structure. When the dust settles, I think the Orlando community will be happy with what we have come up with. Not just online but in some kick ass presentations as well. On Wednesday night the doterati camp presents: "Juggling Creativity and Business," with a panel that features Ted Murphy, Sterling Raphael, Scott Allen and Chuck Southworth. It's free and well worth the cover charge!

Rock For Hunger
Last night I was a guest judge and makeshift host of the 1st iRock For Hunger Battle of the Bands. It was a great experience with the bands bringing in over 500 cans of food and helping to raise a very cool chunk of money! The winner of the battle was Black Ship Sky and they will get a chance to rock on the main stage November 15th with Kardinal Official, Kap Kallous and other greats. In a twist of fate, Chris hooked Johnny Plastic and the Rubberband up with a slot at the festival as well. I have a really cool video that I should be able to get up tonight or tomorrow so be on the lookout, it features everything from a crowd surfing blow up doll to outrageous interviews to kick ass generosity!

Creating Magic
Oh yea, Lee's book, Creating Magic drops tomorrow. It rose to the top of the Amazon charts and now we'll see if our hard work paid off! Go get a copy now, like right now and start learning what leadership skills from a life at Disney can teach you!

Whew! Its going to be a huge week and it already started with a bang!

-Greg
(p.s. if you are going to be at any of this madness and want to link up, feel free to give me a call or a text 321.438.4442 or find me on the Twitter)

Why Endagon Innovations Loves Stuff

Over the past few months I have been tying to figure out how to handle Social Media clients, internal projects and music marketing and make it into one of those "legit" businesses. After those months of work we are officially a "legit" company, with real clients and projects, real employees, rent, overhead and even staples, paperclips and printers.

Oh, and we launched a shiny new site, EndagonInnovations.com.

Overall we have received some great feedback and support, and even got some super referrals in our blast out of the site. While I have been working on many projects for a long time now, its great to have a home base, a brand and a team helping to increase efficiencies.

So about the site.
I highlighted a few things in a previous post, but I wanted to explain why we went with the angle that we did.


We created our brand around the fact that we love what we do. It is a bit overwhelming, but if you have read my blog, seen me talk or chatted with me on Twitter, you know that I live and breathe this stuff. I really do love community. I am a part of Rock For Hunger, doterati, started the Central Florida Community Guide, chat on Twitter, use Facebook, Myspace and LinkedIn, help the local music scene, participate in BarCamps, setup and attend local TweetUps and everything in between. So yes dammit, I love community.

I love Google and so does EI. Not just because it is the overwhelming traffic driver on the web, but because they offer a great product that affects our business and the way we communicate. Our whole team utilizes GMail, Google Reader, GTalk, BlogSearch, Image Search and Regular Search. Our sites carry Google Analytics, blogs utilize Feedburner, some are built in Blogger and anyday now I am waiting to make the switch to Google Docs. So yes dammit, I love Google.

We love music. Being in the music industry for over 10 years now has put some weight into this one. We had to give back to the music community and now we can by assisting them with marketing, business strategy and setup, bank accounts and finance and so much more. So yes dammit, EI loves music.

I love the products we are building. I do not invest any amount of time into something that I do not wholeheartedly believe in. I believe in Tomorrow's Athletes, the Concerts I've Seen suite, SkatterBand and even jamblr. These are projects that I have spent many sleepless nights putting together and they show no sign of slowing down anytime soon. So yes dammit, I love our innovations.

Lastly, damn right I love attention. I wasn't a front man in the band for nothing. It's why I continue to speak, lead organizations and spearhead meetings. So contact me and let's chat, because dammit I love me some attention.

Endagon Innovations is officially open for business. We are a forward thinking social media firm that is looking outside of the traditional website to find ways for clients to interact with their customers, fans, adversaries and advocates. Our mission is to help you see opportunity in places that you haven't, because you are too busy running your business. We are here to open your minds to new thinking. Traditional media and marketing is not dead and social media, SEO and viral marketing is not the total package or a quick fix to your company's problems. It is however, a new frontier of opportunity that you have the opportunity to unlock, should you accept the keys. That is the essence of Endagon Innovations.

This blog in no way reflects the company's opinions and are solely my own. So come one, come all, let's start building this thing together.

-Greg Rollett

Why Record Labels Should Not Create Ads

I started another new site, Gen-Y Rock Stars, to promote a few music marketing e-books that I am launching. (Ahem, cheap plug, 1st ebook is coming on Monday and its ahem, free).

Anyway, I am monetizing the site and I was happy that Google is giving me image ads in AdSense vs. their traditional text ads with a mere 3 posts on the site. What I came across this afternoon was an ad for a musician's new single and I know he won't go Google bankrupt anytime soon.


The ad in question is missing at minimum:

• Name of the artist
• The name of the single
• The name of the album

I had no idea who this guy was, staring at me on the Interweb.

Upon clicking the ad, I came to the landing page that was built with Social Media in mind. With a mini site widget from Gydget, a link to a Facebook page, Amazon link and picture slide show, RCA is thinking viral. Only its for an artist that may not be reaching the tech-savvy younger demographic. The singer-songwriter crowd may be better suited for a different type of campaign. I could totally see RCA artist Scary Kids, Scaring Kids utilizing this type of Social Media techniques.


To go back to ad creation, I think the record labels understand the importance of visibility, search and the power that Google has to create traffic. I also think they know that they need to assist with building a buzz for their artists. What they need to do is remember that while a "call to action" is extremely important, it is also imperative that web surfers know what they are clicking on.

When launching any ad or AdWords campgin for a musician remember to try and include the following:

• Artist name
• Current single
• Album
• Release Date
• Upcoming tours
• Featured guests
• Call to action
• Website, blog or (so last year, but) Myspace page

Hopefully RCA will see their return (or lack thereof) on investment and start creating not just "cool" visual ads, but ads that create band and brand recognition.

Oh and how did I know this way RCA and not Ray LaMontagne himself? It has a little logo on the ad itself and links to and RCA Records landing page.

Better luck next time.

-Greg Rollett

Brazen Careerist + Creating Magic Contest

It is one week away from the release of Lee Cockerell's Creating Magic and we are very excited with what we have been doing to create awareness not only about the book but in learning about Gen-Y and their current leadership skills and accomplishments. Through the site, Creating Gen-Y Magic we have had the privileged to interview and hear stories from a multitude of Gen-Y Superstars, not for profit leaders, students and evangelists that are changing the world today.

Here are some of our most popular stories:
Sarah Burris on the Gen-Y Hot Seat
Ryan Healy on the Gen-Y Hot Seat
5 Minutes of Caring with Sam Davidson
The Future Belongs to Jun Loayza

Anyway, the folks over at Brazen Careerist have helped us launch a contest to give some of these book away. From the Brazen post:

To play:

1. Voluntarily download the 3rd chapter from Creating Magic, “Everyone is Important.” It’s free and a great read!
2. Write a quick post on why you think everyone is important.
3. Leave a comment on this post with the link of your post so we know to check it out.
4. Feel free to link to Lee’s site, the book or Creating Gen-Y Magic, although this is not necessary to win.
5. Join the conversation with other young professionals in the contest. We are all learning together. So comment away, spread the link love and Tweet away!

The prizes:

1. 1st Place: A signed copy of Creating Magic and a $25 iTunes Gift Card
2. 2nd Place: A signed copy of Creating Magic and a $10 iTunes Gift Card
3. 3rd Place: A signed copy of Creating Magic

So head on over to Brazen Careerist today and help be a part of Creating Magic! You do not need to be a Gen-Y to win, just someone who likes to change lives! The contest ends Friday, October 10th at EOB so hurry up and get to writing!

-Greg Rollett

Is It Hard To Decide What You Do?

In the midst of launching our New Media Marketing Agency, Endagon Innovations, we had our first slight arguement. It was in the copywriting and design stages for our company website and how we should:

• portray ourselves
• talk to our clients
• brand our initiatives
• interact with our clients and consumers

To me this was a vital area to our success. Logan wants to perceive a professional look and feel, and I don't blame him. That is the way every business before Social Media was ran. That is how every corporate website looks and reads, or so we thought.

I wanted to be inspirational, conversational and informational. These are 3 principles of Social Media, and an image that we can present to our clients wishing to utilize New and Social Media. I started looking at other agencies, from big shots like Cross Tech Media and Mindcomet, to locals like IZEA and NFi Studios, to truly awe inspiring and innovating like the Forty Agency and began to catch a pattern of short text, calls to action and showcasing your brilliance!


Here is how we ended up (hopefully you will be able to see it on Monday)

Homepage
We wanted to showcase what we do and who we are. What we do is cliche, but we innovate. By using New Media Strategies, and looking into the heart of a business, we listen and engage with tactics that will increase awareness, visibility and controllable noise that will help our clients grow. We are also in the music industry.

We added personality. The 4 core-members of the team will be displayed on the homepage with links to their personal e-mail, twitter accounts and facebook profiles.

We added fun in 4 lines that will tell our stroy:

1. EI <3 Community
   
2. EI <3 Google
   
3. EI <3 Music
   
4. EI <3 Innovation
   

Contact page
No contact form! This is something I fought hard for. While they look nice and neat and can be directed to the correct personnel, it takes away personal touch. When I send an email I want to send it to a person, not a form. I want to know that Jim, Jill or Jackson was responsible for reading that email and getting back to me. Putting a name to a project gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling that a real person will get back to you. So every rep for EI will have their personal contact information on this page, from name, title, email and phone to personal likes and dislikes so when you come to the office you will know to bring me a Monster Energy Drink and a free t-shirt!

Services Pages
This was another sore spot for me. I eventually gave in and we went for a corporate feel with a dash of personality (my favorite line is in Social Media Services; Tweeting, Powncing and Plurking - oh my!). In the end it makes sense to present your prospects with something that they can easily digest, understand and take action. I think we got it great.

So what do we do?
For those that have no idea what Endagon Innovations is, well, its no surprise there. Until IZEA Fest weekend we really didn't know either. We knew it was going to mesh my social media consultancy, Rollett Marketing and the entertainment aspects of Endagon Entertainment with the additions of our late night projects.

So, we are considered a New Media Marketing Agency, yet we are really a conversationalist community helping businesses listen and talk online. Sounds simple enough.

Yesterday, October 1st was supposed to be our first official day of business. It was, but it wasn't. I am hoping for Monday the 6th now, prepared for battle of juggling the 9-5, a start-up and a speaking career that stops at Create Chaos on Tuesday, October 14th on Social Media and recruiting.

Enough about me, more on Gen-Y, Social Media and Music Marketing tomorrow!

-Greg Rollett