Monthly Archives: September 2011

Agency helps companies capitalize on social media 

By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter
Thu, Sep 29 - 4:55 AM

You say you want a revolution? Rob MacArthur is your man.

The co-founder of Halifax co-work space, The Hub, recently launched a new technology consulting company, A Quiet Revolution, which he’s dubbed a social disruption agency.

The agency is designed to help businesses capitalize on the sometimes wasted potential of the brave new world of social media, MacArthur said in an interview.

“It’s causing disruption, but there are great new opportunities,” said the Sydney native and Dalhousie University science graduate.

MacArthur said social media like Twitter and Facebook and online sharing have turned the way people connect upside down, causing confusion and uncertainty for many businesses and organizations.

But those new media technologies can be tailored and focused to work effectively to “find the others,” he said, citing one of ’60s guru Timothy Leary’s favourite maxims.

Rather than simply helping clients set up social media accounts, MacArthur said A Quiet Revolution will work with them to maximize the benefits of social media and give them a competitive advantage.

He characterized the agency’s approach to clients by posing a question he would ask in trying to help them.

“What are you trying to do and who are the people who want to do the same thing?” he said, suggesting it is more effective to connect with 300 like-minded people online than it is to have a million Twitter followers.

A Quiet Revolution offers social media site and strategy development, web and mobile application development, new business model development and related advisory services.

It also plans to stage new technology events and draw on MacArthur’s experience as a musician, a rehearsal space operator and co-founder of the crowd funding website, IOUMusic.

The site gives fans the opportunity to make donations to bands they listen to online.

“It goes back to our focus,” said MacArthur, who noted that the music industry in particular has been transformed by the advent of new technology.

IOUMusic will be part of the new agency, as will a quarterly magazine, SPIDER, which will address new technology issues and focus on local entrepreneurs.

( berskine@herald.ca)

Our Social Media & Business Philosophy in 3 Quotes

September 28, 2011

AQR Ventures, Values

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“If you want to learn how to build a house, build a house. Don’t ask anybody, just build a house.” - Christopher Walken

No matter how many books I read on business, social media or music – they never deliver the lessons that actually doing something has. Nor can one say they are an expert simply because they have read everything on a given subject – though I imagine for some fields that IS how you become an expert. One can not be a musician though if they do not make music.

This is why we also run our own projects – to learn by doing. This is why we are eager to take on projects unlike those we have done in the past – that too is a great way to learn. As Plato said: Necessity, who is the mother of invention*.

“Without deviation progress is not possible.“ - Frank Zappa

While there are set standards for business and social media practices – blindly embracing them is not suggested. We`re willing to look at what the norms are, look at the what is needed and decide if the norms offer the best approach or if it is time for some of that invention.

By not focusing on any one industry we are able to cross-pollinate ideas from one industry to the next as well – helping innovations spread.

“Find the others.” - Tim Leary

One of the greatest inventions of our time is the ability to find the people – where ever they are – that share a belief in your cause or a need for your product or service. No matter what it is you are attempting to accomplish, the people you need to do so are out there. Thanks to social media networks, mobiles and technology not yet widespread the ability to find and connect with these people will only become easier.

So with a purpose, we can get to work finding the people to make it happen – innovating along the way where required. That is our philosophy on how to operate.

That is a quiet revolution.

* We already like you if you picked up on that segue

Email Announcing AQR’s Launch

September 27, 2011

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The initial email I sent out had some link issues. There are also a point or two I would like to refer to in another blog post later so here is the orginial email I sent to some folks annoucinng our launch.

Please allow me a moment to proudly introduce my latest venture.

Times are tough and likely to get tougher. There is great uncertainty for many people and businesses today. There is constant change and new technologies to wrap your head around every day it seems.

Yet the folks that have come together with me as part of “a quiet revolution” (AQR) – a new social disruption agency – we see great opportunities in this uncertainty and climate of change and we want to show them to you.

If you are a person or organization with a mandate to actually help or benefit your clients – you have greater opportunities today than ever before.

We choose the descriptor social disruption agency over digital agency due to the opportunities we see and the direction we aim to take in our work. The social aspect is simply putting people first. It also represents our ability to connect, share and collaborate unlike any time before. Going forward we believe companies that put profits before people will continually be at a disadvantage in our now social media connected world.

Those social media connections – including mobiles and new technologies built on and around sharing – are disrupting every industry. If you think your industry is safe because you do not offer information or digital products, you should start researching 3D printers (including the ones for kids…) and change your thinking now . The day when I can trade digital files with friends and turn them into physical items I need is on the horizon. If you have yet to be impacted by these disruptions, it is only a matter of time. These disruptions are creating new business [model] opportunities for those willing to embrace the changes taking place.

The combination of putting people first and new technologies is democratizing industries. These changes are even playing a hand in powerful political revolutions.

You can look at these times as scary and uncertain, or full of potential and opportunity. We are in the latter camp and we welcome you to join us.

a quiet revolution: listen carefully …they’re happening everywhere

HERE’S HOW WE CAN HELP YOU

* If you need help understanding possible impacts of social changes or new technology on your organization – we can provide reports, presentations or act as ongoing advisors alerting you to trends likely to impact your organization

* If you need help with social media specifically – we can train staff or manage social media for you

* If you see the opportunities available today and need a partner to implement your ideas – we are the open-minded, forward looking creatives you are looking for

* If you need to reformulate your brand in today’s new environment – we can write your new brand story while addressing your brand icons and touchpoints

* If you need amazing design, illustrations, print materials or infographics to sell you services or ideas – we have a team of visual designers that will wow you

* If you need programmers to build a site or app – we have the experience creating complex systems that make life easier for the end user

If you are struggling with change – we can help you.
If you want to cause some social disruptions of your own, we really want to help you.

On behalf of Isaac, Jeremy, Chris, Ryan, Spencer and myself thanks for reading, we hope to hear from you in the future.

All the best,

Rob MacArthur – Principal responsible for strategy, stories and social media
902-402-1828
rob@aquietrevolution.com

WHAT’S COMING NEXT:
SPIDER our quarterly magazine – get a peek at what we are trying to do with this

http://aquietrevolution.com/blog/2011/09/spider-our-quarterly-spinning-a-new-web-of-influence/

WE WALK OUR TALK
Most of our team are musicians and/or have experience in the music industry – thus we know what it means for an industry to be turned upside down – and find the opportunities in that chaos. Learn more about our view of internal projects and the crowdfunding site for musicians we are developing.

http://aquietrevolution.com/blog/2011/09/first-internal-venture-crowdfunding-service-for-musicians/

WE TEACH YOU
In October or November we will be holding an intensive two-day workshop on social media.

http://aquietrevolution.com/blog/2011/09/two-day-intensive-social-media-training-session/

THE HFX50+
A celebration of the kinds of people, organizations and companies we need more of. Learn more then make a submission

http://aquietrevolution.com/blog/2011/09/hfx50-submissions-the-shining-lights-leading-the-way-forward/

WE WANT TO WORK WITH – NOT FOR – YOU
If you are looking for a partner, someone to develop a relationship with to get through the challenges facing us all, please consider us when the time comes for you to take positive action in making things better for your organization and those your serve.

If you know anyone else that could benefit from learning about us – we appreciate you sharing this message with them.

Mentor Camp

September 27, 2011

Events, Startups

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A great opportunity is being presented to 6 Nova Scotia based companies in a few short weeks.

With the right advice and connections, Digital Companies can scale up very quickly and achieve their growth targets. On many occasions, the advice and the connections can be worth a lot more than simple passive investment.
Having trialled a mini-mentor program in Halifax, all of the main agencies, ACOA, NRC, Innovacorp and NSBI have come together to bring more than a dozen world class mentors to Halifax and allow six companies to benefit from their vast knowledge and experience in one intense day on the 11th of October

For the agenda and details on how to apply visit the Mentor Camp blog

Lessons: MailChimp “It can be confusing…”

September 23, 2011

Lessons, Social Media

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“Lessons” will be anything I learn in running AQR, working with bands, running the crowdfunding site/others projects, things I remember from past business expereinces or life in general that I think may be of use to you pursuing your own opportunities.

Mind you I am not sure what lesson I am personally taking away from this experience, but it can serve as a heads up for others, and is most certainly a critique of designing applications.

One Off Mailing List
Earlier this week I created a one-of mailing list of people I wanted to reach out to and inform them about AQR being open for business. The plan is [was?] to use MailChimp for AQR’s ongoing newsletter. So this was to be the first time I used the service. I had used other services – online and software based – in the past, but wanted to try MailChimp and compare. There are many good aspects of MailChimp I have seen in my brief experience. But this is not about their positives.

MailChimp “It can be confusing…”
So yesterday I sent that introductory email. I added the names to the list I was going to use. I wrote the message, edited it, added some links. The service allows for a test message to double check everything – I sent a test message – everything looked good, all the links worked – it was time. Message sent.

Link Error: “No URL found for this tracker ID”
Emails all go out fine. Then I start hearing back form people. Thanks to Trevor for alerting me to this error message when he tried clicking on a link: “No URL found for this tracker ID”.

WT….! Right. I sent a test, the links all worked. So I open the live version and see what is there now/going on and find the following in place of my links:

http://aquietrevolution.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=8e1ff55e1f2da922cfbb2b573&id=4f779de5c9&e=*|UNIQID_TEXT|*

(The actual links were all to blog posts – HFX50+, SPIDER, a social media training session, and the crowdfunding site- so you’re here now).

Headscratching commences. A search of their help section takes me to the following link:

http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/link-error-no-url-found-for-this-tracker-id/

At that page I find these amazing sentencse:

Once a second test or the final campaign is sent, the first set of test links expire and, again, the links don’t have anything in our system to reference against.

It can be confusing at first to tell whether or not you are looking at an expired test message versus a copy of a final campaign.

MY ISSUES
I just ran another test and email to my own addresses. No where is this expired link possibility noted or warned of. On their page Email Campaign Testing Tips – neither under general nor specific tips – does it mention that after you test, your links may not work.

I have two serious issues about this:
a) My test messages do not accurately represent – it turns out – what the final message will look like – it kind of defeats the point of a test message.
b) If, on your site, you have to note an aspect of your service is confusing – you should probably fix that part of the service!

I also do not understand why a test message forces links to expire in the first place. This is a 10 year old company – confusing should not be part of their product at this stage.

I 110% guarantee that if you hire AQR for any type of web or application development you will not find the word confusing in any of our documentation – and you will not end up with a product that fails to do what end users are expecting. And if by chance a bug/issue slips past – it will certainly be corrected immediately for the end users’ benefit.

Note: In their defence, maybe I *did* miss something – I can’t see what in trying more test/mailings but I am going to contact them and see if I own some fault here (though that still doesn’t excuse them for point b above).

BONUS LESSON
Thanks to Josh Hogan at Red Tentacle for the heads up on a typo on the main site. No matter how many times you look at something – always have fresh eyes look it over. And then another set or two.

We mentioned our love of music right…. check out the music festival that is apparently quite on our minds

2.5x

September 22, 2011

Startups

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This is the lesson I have learned after:

opening a rehearsal space for bands
launching an indie label and working with bands
co-founding a co-working space
launching a crowdfunding site for musicians
and now starting AQR

Almost everything takes longer than the initial estimate. Almost without fail it has come close to taking 2.5x longer than expected. Whether that was a small project that should have wrapped in a week, leaseholds on a space or hitting revenue targets. No matter how well you plan – if your project involves other people – you can not control the timing of your plan.

So what I do now – and my advice to you – is make your initial estimate, then multiple it by 2.5 and tell your clients, yourself – whoever needs to know – that`s how long it is going to take. With luck you hit that target, at best you hit the initial target and look great to everyone who was expecting the later date. At worst? Well you may need to find a multiplier of your own.

That gives you a taste too how long I have been waiting to share AQR with you

HFX50 Submissions: the shining lights leading the way forward

September 21, 2011

AQR Ventures, Events, New Ideas

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One of our goals is to celebrate those able to embrace change and drive change for the better. We will highlight the unique and innovative in our home city of Halifax that can inspire us all and serve as (role) models.

Thus inspired by All Day Buffet’s NYC100, we are launching an annual list called the HFX50+.
There will be 5 categories for the HFX50+:

Food, Health & the Environment – we love good food, we want more, thus we should probably look after the environment – who’s providing any of that?
Technology & Innovation – the implementation of new ideas
Art & Culture – be it individual artists or orgs that support local arts & culture, who is making an impact and showing us the way forward?
Business & Non-Profit – best businesses and NPO that represent what we are seeking [see below]
Social & Design – for those bringing people together, connecting communities, doing it with style or creating the objects we covet or the places we want to live and work

We will be looking at a number of factors covering everything from their mission, work they actually do, how they spend their time/money, who they work with, their contribution to the local community, wider contributions, and their pursuits of new ideas/innovations to name a few.

SUBMISSIONS WELCOME
While we have started compiling names ourselves, we know there are folks and organizations out there we probably aren’t aware of or may be forgetting – don’t let that happen. If you would like to submit an individual, business or organization for consideration please send an email with their name to: HFX50@aquietrevolution.com

Deadline is October 16th @ Midnight
The list will be part of our first issue of SPIDER available in late October.

SPIDER – our quarterly – spinning a new web of influence

September 21, 2011

AQR Ventures, Interviews, New Ideas

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THAT’S JUST A MOCK-UP
The above is a quick mock-up I did for a team meeting. The logo is a font created by Isaac. While the monkey is a painting from his extremely talented brother (Isaac is the Danny Devito from Twins in this sibling rivalry – I kid I kid….he knows he is loved). And wait til you see the actual magazine – eventually Isaac will have developed a font specifically for it, and is responsible for designing the sharp layout (that is not evident in MY mock-up and you need to see the inside).

The first issue will ideally be out in time for Halloween. Via http://issuu.com it will be embeddable and available for all to read, but there will also be perfect bound print copies available directly from us or online.

Each issue will feature a cover story interview subject who gets the – well monkey treatment from Jeremy (as thanks we will also be sending the actually painting to them).

THE USUALSPIDER CONTENT
Each issue will address topics based on the acroymn that makes up teh name with an overarching theme for each issue:
Social: issues exploring the ways and opportunities people come together
People: profiles and interviews with doers
Information: covering the internet, bringing you the info you need. In each issue you will find a infographic center-fold from our own infographic wizard Spencer.
Design: from print and the web to the real world, we explore great design and provide tips on incorporating it into your own projects
Entrepreneurship: we believe it improves communities, beats a day job and we hope to show you why and sell you on trying it for yourself while celebrating those who have
Rock n Roll: we mainly come from music backgrounds. There is ample experience and antidotes from the failing music industry to apply to any business or industry. Plus, we think you could use some better music in your life and have no shortage of suggestions.

ISSUE ZERO PREVIEW
Our first issue, actually Issue Zero – will have the overall theme of addressing failure and if failing is really such a bad thing to begin with.

Besides music, the RnR section will address the opportunities presented by constraints and how limited resources are no excuse for failing (or not even trying) via a look at rock icons such as the Ramones and the White Stripes.

Spencer is working on a infographic spread addressing the failures of the music industry.

The design section will address user vs. company innovations and who is likely to be more successful. We may highlight some amazing failures from the design field as well.

The entrepreneur section will be focused exclusively on our home town of Halifax, NS – and highlighting the kinds of companies and people we hope don’t fail and can inspire others. This will be our inaugural HFX50+ list. Click the link for more details on HFX50+.

The social and people sections are still in dvelopment but should hopefully entertain and enlighten you at the same time on the opportunities present in failure while showing you other views on failure.

UPDATED: Two Day Intensive Social Media Training Session

September 20, 2011

AQR Ventures, Events, Social Media

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In late November we will be holding an intensive two-day workshop on social media. Whether you are just starting out or looking to improve your social media efforts we are confident you will walk away with more ideas and info than you will be able to fully use. Within that information though – we know you will find what you need to make the most of your efforts.

GEARED TOWARDS
These sessions are general in nature in that they are not focused on one industry or size of organization. The sessions are suitable for those just starting or even exploring the opportunities for social media, to these with established efforts looking to improve upon their results to date.

Content is delivered in a manner that employees or business owners, managers or artists should find the information useful and more importantly actionable.

Included follow-up sessions are there to allow attendees to gather additional information on areas of specific interest e.g. a corporate manger needing more info on analytics than was addressed in the sessions.

Case studies used in the sessions come from musicians, international companies you will know by name and small businesses from various regions you will be unfamiliar with. Creative examples from non-profits and government are included as well.

In short, if you have goals that you think social media can help you achieve, this session can help you do so. [Though we are glad to develop custom sessions for your company/industry. just get in touch].

DAY ONE: WHY – WHAT – WHO

Day one focuses on goals, strategy and “finding the others”.

a) Intro

b) Why should I use social media? Is it right for me? – You learn: stats, case studies, potential uses

c) What are my goals? How can social media help me achieve them? – You learn: Goal planning how to, examples, metrics/measuring, ROI, tying social media to business/organizational goals

d) Social media audits – You learn: How to do an internal and external overview on measuring and comparing your industry effort’s against your own. Existing social media users learn how to monitor ongoing efforts.

e) Strategy, taking business goals and identifying opportunities in social media – You learn: via examples and cases studies, what goes into developing a digital/social media strategy and examples of social media being used to achieve specific goals [increase sales, awareness, branding, customer service etc.]

f) Content creation and curation – You learn: tips for creating tweets, blog posts, videos; how to find sources for new ideas and manage it all

g) Who are we trying to reach? Who do we need? Who is going to do all this? – You learn: social media is about being social; hiring/management/policy tips for social media staff; convincing staff (frontline or higher-ups) on benefits of social media; how to identify your users and find out what forms of social media they are engaged in.

The top 10 most frequently asked questions about social media will be answered during Day One.

Ideally you walk away after Day One able to:

develop your own strategy – we cover this during the day and provide you with worksheets
audit your practices against the best in your industry and across industries
measure your progress/ROI and adapt accordingly

DAY TWO: HOW – WHEN – WHERE
This day is focused on actual social networks, related services and tools you will use to implement your strategy. It is not geared towards showing you how to set up profiles on sites discussed – though info and links are included in our materials explaining how to do so. These sessions are geared towards quick overviews and exploring better ways to use each service once signed up.

For each site/service we will cover:

General overview
Pros/Cons
Best Practices/Case studies/Ideas
What NOT to do
Tools/Analytics
Time Management tricks
User Demographics

Services addressed will include:

a) Google services

b) Your website/Blog

c) Mobile

d) Twitter

e) Facebook

f) Youtube

g) LinkedIn

h) Niche services
Day Two is geared towards the idea that now you have your strategy, this is how you go about implementing it with best practices/tools.

THE GOAL
The hope is that if you are just starting in social media you will be able to determine your goals, how to use social media to move them forward and where to reach the people you need. If you are already engaged in social media we are willing to offer some type of guarantee that what you learn in our sessions will improve what you are already doing.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Due to the amount of info being covered you will also get:

a workbook summarizing ideas, with worksheets, case studies and resources;
two free 1h calls or meetings for follow up questions, seeking additional resources etc.;
an email containing a list + PDF of all online resources mentioned for easy visiting of such sites and;
access to a private feed of targeted social media info for attendees.

DATES
Wednesday Nov. 23rd and Thursday Nov. 24th

COST
For either two day session the prices is $1200+ HST.
A single day is $750 + HST.

Cost includes additional materials noted above, lunches as well as snacks/drinks.

LOCATION
The Hub Halifax – 1673 Barrington St – Second Floor.

PRESENTER: ROB MACARTHUR
Rob started his first business 7 years ago. Shortly thereafter he started his first blog – also called a quiet revolution – and quickly learned the benefits of sharing ideas on issues he was passionate about. The blog initially was used to promote local music while also exploring the disruption the music industry was facing thanks to P2P networks and file sharing.

That blog connected him to people and opportunities at Wired.com exploring citizen jourlism, brought him industry contacts from the U.S. and U.K. to his inbox and played a significant role in launching future ventures – AQR being the latest.

After blogs, his next favourite social media tool quickly became Twitter. After an initial failed period of using it, with some clear purposes for the service in mind – it quickly became his go to network.

Having worked with bands for the past 6+ years developing social media strategies, in addition to his own ventures and consulting with others on the side, he decided his internet addiction could be put to good use when exploring options for his next venture.

Thus, welcome to a quiet revolution.

If you have any questions or would like to confirm a space in advance, please contact Rob @ 402-1828 or via email at rob@aquietrevolution.com

PRIVATE TRAINING/WORKSHSOPS
We also do private sessions whereby we focus specifically on the needs and issues your organization is facing. This could include training on specific social networks or blogging or sessions on topics of managing staff and policy development. We provide a full list of topics we can address and use that as a starting point to develop your session. Again, please contact Rob @ 402-1828 or via email at rob@aquietrevolution.com to discuss such sessions.

First Internal Venture: Crowdfunding Service for Musicians

September 20, 2011

AQR Ventures, New Ideas, Startups

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One of the initial ideas that spurred V0.1 of the site

Most of our team are musicians and/or have experience in the music industry – thus we know what it means for an industry to be turned upside down – and find the opportunities in that chaos.

Besides doing client work, we also aim to put our beliefs into practice via internal ventures. The first is a complete reworking and relaunching of a crowdfunding site specifically for musicians.

Besides highlighting the programming, design and social media marketing skills of our team – we also see an opportunity to profoundly impact the lives of musicians for the better. Our mission for the site is more money to more musicians – the antithesis of the current music industry model.

We think our mix of crowdfunding, direct-to-fan options and a system that walks artists through the process from setting goals to reminders for follow-up contact with their segmented fan base will achieve our mission.

Watch the blog and newsletter for more on this project relaunching by year’s end.

(Not naming or linking to it as the site is live but not with the brand spanking new look and features we are excited to share – BUT if you are really curious, some snooping around the AQR world will find it).