I’ve been reading a lot of blog posts talking about business and the economy and it seems most of them are all about reacting.  A certain amount may be necessary in some instances, but in my opinion now is the time to put full efforts into social media.  It is this grass roots type of movement, that if you can get it going, can really help a business by utilizing word of mouth.  A recent post of Jermiah Owyang’s shows all of the recent layoffs in the social media industry.  This scares me to think that businesses are quickly going to extreme measures.  What do you guys think?  Am I totally off?

The first commercial was just Jerry and Bill at a cheap shoe store similar to Payless where they argue about what shoe is better.  The next episode has the two living with a family in order to see what life is like outside of their own.

In the end they are selling Microsoft Vista, but I think it is great to do something so different.  It’s getting guys like me to blog and talk about it all over the internet which is social media at it’s core.  I think the true point they are trying to make is that they are stepping out and getting in touch with the average person.  I hope there will be more to come.

I’ve just started reading “Yes!  50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive” and so far it is very interesting.  One of the first couple of chapters in the book describes how inconveniencing your audience can increase your persuasiveness.  An example the book gives is one where a commercial changes the call to action line from “call now our operators are waiting” to “if the lines are busy call again.”  I think in certain situations this is true, and others not so much.  I recently heard about a sneaker head shop that is very discrete and hidden in the Bronx.  The appearance of the outside said grocery with miscellaneous kitchen and housewares goods on display.  The word of mouth worked like a charm in this situation.  The difficult part is deciding how much inconvenience should be present.