Mike & Mary Beth Krebsbach

Awesome - How to Reproduce the Old Spice Video Phenomena

Mike — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:37:29 +0000

Oh, you know its going to happen, brand marketers left and right asking their teams to “get me some of that Old Spice” social media magic. This recent campaign will be another benchmark of social media achievement. I know this because CNN (CNN International, actually) interviewed me on Friday to get my take on the campaign. As with previous, alleged big success stories - BMW Films, Subservient Chicken, Elf Yourself - this one demands that we answer three big questions:

1.Was it successful?
2.What about it made it so?
3.No, was it really successful like did it drive sales?

I found this at the ““Digital Influence Mapping Project.”

It has lots of great information!

House for Sale

Mike — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:10:11 +0000

Yesterday was tough. We just listed our house for sale. We have been here for 12 years. It is the best house we have ever owned and we will never have a house as nice again. The good news in all this is that when the house sells we will be able to leave Packer Land (Green Bay Packers football) behind! A lot of work to do to get a house ready to sell….

Social Media - Is it a “Time Suck”?

Mike — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:37:36 +0000

I have attended a number of seminars recently that have something to do with Social Media - Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, and the others. One comment that comes up from small business people is “Social Media is a major time suck”. I know how easy it is to spend way too much time on Facebook and Twitter. Part of the problem that some people have is simply that they follow too many people.

One of the best principles I learned was from Valdis Krebs who suggests following fewer people to get to the many in his classic post ““So Many People, So Little Time.” (The link is: http://bit.ly/ciOetE - I use the service at bit.ly to shorten links to use in Twitter and to track the link analytics. The actual link is: http://www.thenetworkthinker.com/2009/01/so-many-people-so-little-time.html) In this post he makes this observation:
The trick is to find the people that reach many social circles and follow them. Of course, we need to find more than the minimum of people to follow — you want some redundancy in your network so that there are multiple paths to places of interest for you. Finding these key nodes is what social network analysis is all about.

And this is why I follow so few people on Twitter! For the time invested, I want maximum return. I use the redundancy of connections, between the many social circles I am interested in, to my advantage. I follow a select group of people that give me the same access as following someone in every group. Follow the few to reach the many!

Because I have chosen them carefully, I want to actually read the tweets of the people I follow. A small part of my “following network” is always in churn, but the number of people I follow on Twitter never exceeds 100 [currently I follow about 70]. Those who follow thousands of people readily admit that they can not read the fire hose of tweets they get every day.
So if you are serious about using Twitter to keep on top of certain topics you should follow Valdis Krebs’ advice. I know that I will keep it in mind as I go forward with my own Twitter account.

A new Direction for this Blog

Mike — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:00:34 +0000

I am starting the process of changing the things I will be blogging about. The purpose of this blog was to help stay in touch with family and friends. Facebook has completely eliminated the need to use a blog to stay in touch with family! I really like the privacy that Facebook gives us. I know that sounds strange with all the news about Facebook’s lack of privacy. What I mean is that the only people that see the things I post are my Facebook “Friends”. The only people that I am friends with on Facebook are family and very close friends. That is it. No work people, neighbors, or people I just know who they are.

Over the next few weeks I will be changing this blog to talk about things that I am interested in that don’t pertain to family stuff. I will be writing about current events, interesting people, and my current passion - Social Media for small companies. The family stuff will stay on Facebook. I also have a Twitter account that will be used for non-family stuff as well. You can find me at Twitter.com/mikekrebsbach.

I hope you find the new postings interesting and helpful.

10 Marriage Rules You Can Break

Mike — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:02:52 +0000

Some idiot at MSN wrote an article (read it here after you read this post) that lists 10 fairly common “Marriage Rules” that you CAN break and still be happily married.

I completely disagree with the author. Mary Beth and I have been married for 36 years (in June) so I think I know a little bit about what it takes to make a marriage last.

For example, the author says it is ok to go to bed and sleep if you are having a major disagreement. This rule has been the corner stone of our marriage rules. I think that breaking this rule is selfish and indicates that you cannot address your issues. If you are going to sleep angry at your spouse often you are NOT going to last as a couple in my humble opinion.

I disagree with at least 7 of the 10 rules in the article. What do you think? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

Facebook Privacy Changes: 5 Can’t-Miss Facts

Mike — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:56:50 +0000

Facebook Privacy Changes: 5 Can’t-Miss Facts

Posted using ShareThis

5 Tips for Quick Social Media Success - Social Media Tips - Entrepreneur.com

Mike — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:52:21 +0000

5 Tips for Quick Social Media Success - Social Media Tips - Entrepreneur.com

Posted using ShareThis

My Birthday

Mike — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:31:43 +0000

I was born in ‘55 and today I am 55! Happy Birthday to me!

Also, I am now enrolled in the University of San Fransisco. I am taking an online certificate program in “Marketing with Social Media”. I will be learning how to help businesses leverage Facebook and Twitter in the marketing campains. This is an 8 week course that starts April 1st. I can’t wait to get started.

There is a seminar on March 18th put on by the Chamber of Commerce called Social Media 101. This is a half-day conference on understanding Social Media in business. This is looking more and more like the right career choice for me.

Update on my Heart Issues

Mike — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:46:22 +0000

Most of you know that I developed a heart condition known as Atrial Fibrillation in early 2000. Every so often my heart would speed up and I ended up having 4 angiogram surgeries. Finally, a year ago March I had an exciting new surgery. They used a laser to burn small holes in my heart. Since the operation I have not had a single episode! I am off the medications, I can exercise again and feel “cured”!

A New Chapter in My Life Came & Went….

Mike — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:50:48 +0000

It has been quite a while since this website has been updated. In June 2008 I got a job working in Mankato, Minnesota for Superior Edge. This company was founded by Jerry Johnson - the same person that started CWC / Firepond - where I worked most of my adult life - from 1984 to 1998. Since 1998 I have held a couple of positions - some more successful than others. So in June 2008 I had come full circle so to speak. My house was in Eau Claire - but my job was in Mankato and by February 2009 I moved into a small office in Minnetonka. Still quite a distance from Eau Claire (4am alarm clock!) but at least I was in my own bed next to my wife. I went into the job thinking it would be the last one I would ever have. Like so many others that have worked for Jerry, this time it only lasted until Thanksgiving of 2009. The layoff was not a surprise nor unwelcome given the cast of talented people that preceeded me. My head was high and I started down what is turning out to be a very wonderful path.