Established social media presence of Orange County Register newspaper and rolled out social initiative at newspapers throughout the U.S. Also: speaker and coder who built web sites before there were tools for building web sites.
I trained journalists at the Orange County Register to use social media for research and marketing, organized one of the biggest Social Media Day events in the world, using Twitter and Facebook to market the event. I was schooled in software engineering and wrote a daily business column. No matter my title, my coworkers have always used the word "helpful" to describe what I bring to the table. I have an inexplicable passion for solving problems.
Find people on Twitter who are experiencing a problem that your app can solve. For example, if your app brightens photos, search on twitter for ["too dark" camera] (without the brackets). You'll quickly find people who could use your app. Reach out to them by replying, making sure to express your sympathy, and offering them your solution. With a little work, you can quickly spot "influential" Twitter users, and focus on them, making sure to maintain your relationship with them and sharing their success on your site or through your Twitter accounts. You can use Twitter to convert frustrated people into happy customers, and then share their story with your followers.
Great idea.
If you plan to create a social network that would be used for roadside assistance, then your biggest obstacle will definitely be competition from existing social network giants. People can currently use Twitter or Facebook to reach out to friends for help.
If, instead, your service will use existing social networks, I think your big obstacle will be ensuring the safety of users. A user will need to share his or her location to get assistance. You have to figure out a way to prevent criminals from taking advantage of that information to find easy victims for theft or worse. Also, criminals could pose as distressed travelers to lure unsuspecting good samaritans into a position where they could become victims. Once you solve that, your'll have to market your service as both reliable and safe.
Good luck to you!
Since the product requires a shift in thinking, I would go with face-to-face marketing.
Kevin is a 'can do' person. He has helped lead the Register into a bold new world -- called online journalism. Besides his tech work, he is also a skilled manager -- able to deal with various personalities in any situation.
Kevin is the guy that will do anything you ask him to. And, he will do it cheerfully and willingly. He very creative in his approach to problem-solving. I enjoyed working with Kevin, because he is easygoing, extremely intelligent and he has a great sense of humor. I believe that any company looking to hire Kevin should do so right away because his skills and abilities and his wonderful personality make him an excellent associate for any company.
Kevin's ingenuity and service-oriented approach to problem-solving led to sophisticated answers that enhanced our online presence and eased the workload of colleagues. He is a personable, positive contributor to meetings and brainstorming sessions. His lighthearted attitude toward the work engaged others in the effort.
Kevin is a multitasking wizard who keeps several platforms functional all at the same time. We'd be lost without his quick help managing our Web site and his adept and quick editing for the print edition of The Orange County Register. He is affable, calm and easy to work with.
Kevin is one of the most creative and energetic people I know.
It's one thing to have great ideas and quite another thing to be able to turn them into real innovations. Kevin does both.
Kevin is a creative person with an unusual ability to work within many different frameworks. He is adept with issues of content, work-flow and technology. He can be an ingenious problem-solver. A terrific person to work with.
Kevin was an incredibly valuable person to the Marketplace (aka Business) section at the Orange County Register. He brought us into the internet age. He developed programs so we could post charts fast and helped us learn other tools to speed up our postings. He was an early adopter of using measurement tools to assess what was working and what wasn't. He has a clear vision of how people get information online. He is a voracious consumer of news and new sites, stealing ideas, learning from mistakes of others, turning his ideas into reality. Kevin is great at cutting through -- or working his way around -- corporate red tape and BS. He gets things done and does them well. I'd hire him.
Kevin is without a doubt one of the most knowledgeable and proficient web experts I've ever had the pleasure of working with. He was instrumental in helping launch an entirely new web site for the Register. Not only is Kevin an authority on all things pertaining to the web, but he is also a straight-shooting team player whose cheerful, upbeat manner was infectious. He'd be an asset to any organization and I'm looking forward to the day when we might work together again.
Kevin is a dream co-worker: smart, thorough, organized, hard-working and -- best of all -- fun to be around. Kevin never lets his many, many responsibilities dampen his boundless humor and energy.
Kevin was absolutely essential to the Marketplace team's drive to go "web-first." For example, when I created a map showing sharp geographic disparities in subprime lending, he built a user interface that let readers explore the map in depth, finding specific information for any California county they chose. He also has helped me expand my technical skills.
Kevin has an amazing ability to adapt to circumstances in whatever role he's given. He is very good at explaining complex technical concepts into terms easy to understand without condescending. Kevin knowledge and skills prove him to be a valuable asset to any team or project.
