Even if your tolerance on the social networking scale is low, you’ve likely heard of and may have even set up a free account with LinkedIn.

If you do have a LinkedIn profile, I hope you’ll take a moment to include me in your network.

Should you need to know more about LinkedIn or how to take better advantage of it as a tool, here are some valuable resources.

Christopher S. Penn on Using Linked In to Build Your Personal Network

Jan Visser on 3 Reasons LinkedIn Won’t Help You Sell

Linked Intelligence on 100+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn

Jill Konrath’s e-book “Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales?”

For those of you unfamiliar with LinkedIn, it is an online, primarily business-based social networking hub – you create your personal profile with employment history, education and you start “linking” to people on the site that you know.

It’s that last part, “people on the site that you know” that frustrates me a bit.

When it comes to social situations, I err on the side of being outgoing. I introduce myself and ask question about other people’s lives, businesses etc. because I am interested.

If it’s a business networking situation, I want to know if there’s an opportunity for a business networking opportunity…in EITHER direction…I’m always willing to help a quality concept with connections even if there’s no business in it for me.

But I will dive head first into a group of people with whom I am unfamiliar. In fact, I prefer it.

LinkedIn pretty much wants you to stay with people you know, getting introduced to new folks only via the people you already know. They feel a lead like that will be more effective and less obnoxious than going in cold.

I agree with all of that…to a point.

Far be it from me to want to be seen as a spammer or someone who wants to connect with everybody on LinkedIn. I want only quality connections but sometimes the only way into that quality connection is the direct way.

Some folks don’t like that direct way, they are shy or private or reserved or suspicious or too darn busy to be dealing with strangers. I respect and honor their right to be one, some or all of those things and it’s not my desire to break down that wall if that’s not what the recipient wants.

My intent doesn’t always translate on the internet. LinkedIn got mad at me once a while back for my direct way as some people said they didn’t know me. Yes, I said, that was my point but the system is set up to honor the subtler approach. I try and be more respectful of the system even though I know there are many people who are direct like me (that’s how they’ve gotten thousands of connections…I don’t want that).

If you’ve ever participated in a social media meet up, which is like a networking event only with people who are all involved in one particular channel of social media, you know how valuable the connections you make there can be. You start the event knowing a few people from your network maybe but leave knowing 10. It is a welcoming environment in the very way social media should always be. But my way is not always the right way nor is it for everyone. I get that.

It just seems that there should be a way for LinkedIn participants who are open to more direct connections to indicate that in their profile so that the shy or private or reserved or suspicious or too darn busy folks aren’t bothered by the rest of us who want to make direct and quality connections.

That all said, I think LinkedIn is a great tool.

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: commentary, peter o'connell, social media, social networking by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I know the Smartest Man in the World and his name is Saul Colt. I know he is the Smartest Man in the World because he had a business card that said he was.

Well, that was good enough for me.

I met him about a year ago at a Geek Dinner in Toronto along with Eden Spodek (she of Podcamp Toronto 2008 fame, among her many credits) and we had a very enjoyable time. I follow them both on Twitter and I subscribe to Saul’s blog.

Today Saul had a blog post about a bad experience he had at a movie theatre over the weekend when he went to see Iron Man (which is getting some great buzz). He posted about everything except the name of the movie chain that was responsible (note that) for the problem and dealt with it ineffectually (note that too).

I posted a response as such to the post (though I respect his choice and it is his to make) and noted that blogs are the new complaint letter. Why?

We end users (are we “customers” any more in the digital age?) can spend hours pouring over just the right prose to convey our anger, displeasure and frustration over a problem we encountered from a company and couldn’t properly get resolved. We send it off, throwing our letter in to the mail box or pressing our email “send” key with just the right touch of righteous indignation, knowing we’ll get our desired outcome.

We don’t, usually.

While many companies have a complaint department and some may actually resolve an issue satisfactorily, in my experience many more companies don’t have a complaint or customer service department as much as they have a form letter or pleasant but helpless voice department.

An example. This past Thanksgiving Day, I flew AirTran Airlines to Atlanta…a direct flight from Buffalo. I took the 6:45 a.m. flight so I could get down there to enjoy that day and next few days with my family.

I won’t bore you with the details (certainly AirTran didn’t care) but because they failed to safely maintain the plane I flew, I left Buffalo at 2:00 p.m. and got to my destination at 4:00 p.m. Their response from start to finish was poor, even after I wrote them multiple, spiffy complaint letters. I got a form back. It’s the second time AirTran has screwed me. I avoid that airline whenever possible and flinch when I have to fly them.

There are many schools of thought about outing companies on blogs or complaining about customer service – ranging from effectiveness or usefulness to how it reflects on the blogger (am I now just a big whiner?) Well, if I am seen as a patient man who sometimes gets ticked off on occasion when someone or some organization treats me poorly, I’m OK with that. Otherwise, people haven’t done their due diligence on me

Maybe the company I’m frustrated by could be my customer some day, huh? No they won’t, no matter who the “they” are.

My company has a simple code of conduct that we’ve always operated under but only recently published. If I know from personal experience that a company can’t do what it says it can do, I won’t work on the account. Yes, I have turned down work on such accounts before.

They can screw up their brand all they want but they’re not going to infect my brand (me, my voices, my company) with their poison.

The other side of it is that if we (you, me, whomever) are always complaining on our blog, no one will read the blogs and we will be ignored…by the company, by subscribers etc. That makes sense which is why I don’t complain on blogs a ton. We also become “the boy who cried wolf”.

But if we all don’t step up occasionally (when the situation calls for it…see earlier “notes”), companies – clearly already lazy in their customer service departments – will get even lazier and the downward service spiral will accelerate. Then we will have no one but ourselves to blame.

Please feel free to disagree in the complaint box below 😉

On the upside, let’s not be shy about singing the praises of companies that wow us either!

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: blogs, commentary, social media, social networking, technology, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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My thanks to everyone who voted, who advised, who hated and who opined. I appreciated all of it at its universal root: the desire to help me when I asked.

You can see it all in use here.

Whether we are friends virtually or on terra firma…we are friends.

Thank you.

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: advertising, audio'connell voice over talent, blogs, commentary, international voice talents, internet, logo design, marketing, social media, social networking, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Last year, as I made mention in this space, I attended Podcamp Boston 2. There was an expected attendance of 1,000 at the home of the original Podcamp (which really interested me) but many fewer than that showed up (including some no-show presenters). I spent both time and money to attend the event and came away generally disappointed from the educational and interpersonal experiences I had. Looking back now, I wish I had spent that money elsewhere on my business. Ouch.

Compare that to my experience at the first Podcamp Toronto, which was a tremendous event for me professionally and personally and another impetus for me making the Boston trip. With the birth of my son coinciding with Podcamp Toronto 2 this year, I wasn’t able to attend but was still a sponsor, so committed was I to that event.

Now, Brogan and Penn, two of the founders of the original Podcamp event have announced that Podcamp Boston 3 will charge $50 a head. While this changes part of Podcamp’s original manifesto and will likely upset somebody (big deal, even the United States Constitution has been amended) I think it’s the right call. Podcamp is growing up and I think it needs to.

A free event asks no commitment from prospective participants, so who cares if on Saturday morning, an attendee decides to sleep in and not go to Podcamp. But multiple that a few hundred times and you’ve got fewer fannies in the seats than you had promised your paid sponsors. That’s a serious business problem.

For Podcamps to truly succeed they have to attract businesses as part of their audience, it’s a financial imperative. Businesses who attend will pay to do so and businesses who go further in their commitment to Podcamps by sponsoring them want a fairly concrete audience commitment. The free model, as it ages, offers more quicksand than concrete.

A fee more strongly encourages commitment without sacrificing quality or content. Producers of Podcamp Boston 3 aren’t making any money off the fee as its plowed right back into the event. It’s a good business decision that will truly test if Podcamps have staying power and real impact on both social media and business.

I want both the idea and actual Podcamps everywhere to succeed. Having real investors in each Podcamp bodes a lot better for its future than relying on pie-in the sky hopes and walk up traffic. Charging a small fee for Podcamps is a smart move.

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: commentary, podcampboston, podcasting, social media, social networking by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Sometimes I am such a schmoe.

Back in March Stu Gray tagged me (which is blog speak for taking a topic one writer has started and either responding to it or building on it “tag you’re it”) about how voice talents become successful.

Well, I missed the tag…it totally blew by me for reasons I cannot explain (or as has become my truthful response “blame the kids”) and were it not for Kara Edwards response to Stu’s tag in her blog, I would have totally missed it.

So thanks Kara and sorry Stu.

But under the heading of better late than never I shall offer my usually long and fairly self effacing answers (I don’t want/like to sound all puffy) to this multiple choice essay test which will prove yet again why everyone in my family was amazed I graduated high school and stunned when I graduated college (both were on the “pity the poor stupid bastard scholarship”….oops, can you say “pity” on the web).

I’ll do this daily (it should wrap up Thursday) so what I lacked in timeliness I will try and make up via sheer bloviating.

1. What habits have enabled you to become successful?

Is there a better word than passion to describe the professional sensation I feel working in the voice over field and managing my business? I get a rush every time someone calls with a new project and the rush is not money based…truly!

It’s a new project, a new creative start. When I get to work with other voice actors in the studio or during a training class, there are endorphins that kick in that are just blissful. When I get to visit with other voice talents and talk about the business I find pure enjoyment. I’m lousy at articulating it (I’m a VO, I need a script!) but I know it when I experience it…maybe you do too.

So to look to habits or tricks to be effective seems to miss the core of anyone’s true success (in my dictionary anyway). You must have a passion for what you do, it must consume you (in a non-addictive, not-so-much-a-hermit way), almost a part of your central nervous system and drive you to succeed. If you love something (voice over) that much, your success isn’t guaranteed but it is more assured because of it.

But I do mean to answer the question.

So with passion as your base, you must have true talent to succeed in voice over and one must be honest about whether that is the case. Talent isn’t a habit but the best habits cannot replace talent. Do you have it? Please try not to fool yourself because our business has too many fools already (see this blog’s masthead as exhibit A).

Just because someone says “you have a nice voice” or because you did the voice for your company’s in-house video doesn’t mean you have talent. Heck there are some radio announcers that aren’t very good but the station needed a warm body (consistent quality has long ago left the radio station biz). Most people, if they are honest know if they really have talent. But if you’re not sure, find an honest, reputable teacher and have a heart to heart. Here’s the puffy part: I have talent and it’s a key part of my success.

Calling on that talent, growing it, requires preparation and training (here’s some habit talk). While I chide radio, it was my great training ground back when radio offered some flexibility. Finding a group or one on one voice trainer is critical. In person is best but phone training is ok too. I don’t go near enough to my classes but every time I do I get energized.

I also often tell the story of being a teenager and reading magazine copy out loud in my room and having my parents peek in quizzically. I still do that today when I have the opportunity and people (well, mostly my wife) still look at me funny. At least I think that’s why they look at me funny. Basically, if you’re a voice talent, use your voice whether someone is paying you or not. Practice.

Then there’s the sales and marketing aspect of the voice over business. While you cannot succeed without passion, talent and training, all of that will get you no where if you don’t know how to market and sell yourself. I focus on it relentlessly (which I think qualifies as a habit) but breaking it down to a habit or trick is difficult except to say you need to scour the globe for leads, you need to track your leads and you need to manage your leads. One could quite seriously write a book on each of those three tasks. But you must learn how to do each of them or your business will fail (was that tough love or just too tough?)

If you had to focus on just one aspect of sales and marketing to make your VO business thrive, it is this: learn the internet. Every damn thing about the internet.

Voice over has become a virtually industry and you will never meet most of your clients (which I think is kind of shame). Your web site is your office. It’s the most construction you’ll likely ever have to do. Make it as easy and effective a place to access and operate as you possibly can. Or find people who know how to help you.

More tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

If you haven’t already, we’d be honored if you subscribe to voxmarketising – the audio’connell blog and podcast by clicking the “subscribe” button on this blog.

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Tags: blogs, commentary, peter o'connell, social networking, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Some of my fellow voice professionals who loiter here may have seen my postings on VO-BB, Voice Over Savvy and Yahoo’s Voice Over Group requesting foreign language voice demos.

Well Mr. Social Media VO here neglected to post the darn thing right here! (Babies, no sleep, you know the drill)

I would like to secure your professional foreign language voice demos (male or female) if you can read and fluently speak the following languages (in your versatile pro voices of course):

• French
• Italian
• German
• Polish
• Japanese
• Chinese
• Korean
• Russian
• Hungarian
• Czech
• Portuguese
• Indonesian
• Hindi

Please send your :60 demo and complete contact info to me at peter at audioconnell dot com.

If there is a language you think I’ve omitted (and you’ve got an awesome demo for it), let me know too.

Further, as voice acting instructor Nancy Wolfson did, if you know folks who do foreign language VO very well, let them know about this possible opportunity.

Thanks.

Tags: commentary, social networking, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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