Jeff Cutler – columns, essays and opinions

Yesterday I took part in a Webinar titled “Avoid the Post-Launch Flop” and thought I’d share it here for you as well.

Enjoy. Let me know if you thought the info was helpful and if I could use a stylist.

EditMe Webinar: Avoid a Post-Launch Flop, with Jeff Cutler from EditMe on Vimeo.

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Gabe Norris is in charge of the Columbus Clippers’ Facebook page. To that end, he has to put up with loud, righteous and annoying folks like me.

I’m in Columbus Ohio to perform some social media training for the journalists at the Columbus Dispatch. While I was planning the trip, I got it in my head that I should have some local beer and see some local baseball. That’s where social media comes in.

Instead of going to my phone and calling the Clippers’ ticket office, I started shouting to the team in Twitter -they’re at @clbclippers if you want to follow. But I quickly got annoyed.

It turns out that the team only uses Twitter to broadcast their Facebook statuses. That immediately irked me because my mantra when I train businesses is to make it easy for anyone to contact you. The Clippers were forcing me to bend to their communication choice, not mine.

So I went off. I tweeted like mad – madly – to my 6000 followers about how I might as well go see a play or sit in my hotel room and pout.

Needless to say, the Tweeple were divided.

“Just call them,” said some.

“Boycott!” said others.

But the balance told me not to waste a great night in Columbus and try the Facebook Fan Page. It worked.

In merely an hour, Gabe Norris had been in touch and we came to an understanding. Facebook works for the team. They’ve got almost 7000 fans (now including me) and they’re running regular Facebook nights at Huntington Stadium.

So what’s the big reveal? Gabe told me he was leaving a ticket for me at will-call. So now I’m sitting in the park fostering a bromance for Gabe and being astonished at this amazing ballpark.

Did you know that Huntington Park beat out all new baseball stadiums in 2009 according to Baseball America?

I walked in the gate and I immediately got permagrin. And I’ve been to 30+ pro ball stadiums.

Now what? First pitch is 25 minutes away and I’m gonna get some food and keep on smiling.

Mostly because my fun night, just beginning, was made possible because one organization paid attention to the power of social media.

What’s your favorite social media success story?

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Hi, I’m Jeff Cutler from JeffCutler.com. I am sometimes Jeffrey Cutler to my parents and my siblings when they’re annoyed with me. My first name is actually something different than Jeffrey and a bunch of people know what it is. But this isn’t a column about who I am. It’s a commentary on who I am not.

In early December 2009, I saw a tweet go out (a tweet is a 140-character missive that is carried on Twitter.com) saying how excited someone was about a meeting I was scheduled to attend. I panicked and played the skilled investigative journalist.

Sending back tweets like, “Where are we supposed to be meeting?” and “Who are we having the meeting with, again?” I was able to ascertain that Jeffrey Cutler was going to be speaking to the Greater Boston Food Bank about social media later that week.

I didn’t remember making that appointment, but chalked it up to having thousands of Twitter followers, a social media career that went back to 1999 or before when I started blogging, and an increasingly packed training schedule (as I regularly give talks to corporations, learning institutions, nonprofits and even national conference groups on how to leverage social media tools in their jobs, study and operations).

So, I made a phone call. The gentleman at the Greater Boston Food Bank was thrilled to hear from me. We chatted for three minutes before I decided to clear some things up for him.

“No sir. I have not received ANY of the scheduling emails you’ve sent out.”

“Yes sir. I am Jeff Cutler, the social media journalist and new media trainer. But I don’t think I’m the Cutler you have scheduled to speak to you.”

“Yes sir. I do this for a living, but don’t work in PR. I actually am a 21-year journalist and have run my own writing services firm for 18 years.”

“Yes sir. That may very well make my career older than the Jeffrey Cutler who you are meeting with this week.”

Once we clarified that I was NOT Jeffrey Cutler from Fama PR we compared notes. It was decided that the meeting with the other Jeff Cutler would go as planned. Then, if the Greater Boston Food Bank wanted some additional help, they would contact me and I’d come speak to them about social media tactics. That call came quickly.

This past Tuesday, Gradon Tripp and I went to the GBFB offices and spoke for about 75 minutes on the topics of social media, community, listening, marketing and more. Fun stuff. But it hasn’t helped stem the flow of Jeffrey Cutler incidents.

In fact, tonight I was at the #140Conf Tweetup and meeting at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. I was approached by my friend Alexis who thanked me for agreeing to come speak to her company. Turns out they got the Jeffrey Cutler with 140 Twitter followers to help them mold their social media strategy.

So what should I do? I could send Mr. Cutler a tweet with a link to this post and start a conversation. I could monitor the Internet and see where “I’m” speaking or training next and just show up. Or I could worry unnecessarily about the damage the other Cutler might be doing to my brand and public image by selling people his social media training sessions. Then I could write about it on Things To Worry About and then go get something to eat.

What do you think I should do? He’s not (I don’t think) purposefully presenting himself as me to land jobs. If he is, Jeffrey Cutler deserves at least some credit as a salesman. But if his clients are hiring him based on my experience, prominence and aptitude, that’s a fraudulent path and maybe something the courts would suggest he be careful about clarifying when he signs on to train folks.

Or maybe it’s just caveat emptor. He has an impressive list of PR and marketing coups. He’s done something right to build up his list of clients. And he’s also been in startup land for a while – having been with Going.com from the beginning.

Maybe there’s room for two Jeff Cutlers….errrr, one Jeff Cutler and one Jeffrey Cutler…in this social media space. Only time will tell.

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Monday – June 29

Boston Wordpress Meetup – 7-9PM
Microsoft Cambridge, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA
RSVP Appreciated

Tuesday – June 30

MediaBistro – 6-8:30PM
The Vault, 105 Water Street, Boston, MA 02109
RSVP and Preregistration Required

Realize the ROI of a Social Media Community – 6PM
FELT Boston, 533 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
Eventbrite Link – Preregistration Required

Girls in Tech – 6-10PM
38 Cameron Gallery, 38 Cameron Avenue, Suite 100, Cambridge, MA 02140
Eventbrite Link – WOMEN ONLY (“Issues involved in being a professional women in today’s world”) – Preregistration Required

Subversive Supper Series at BetaHouse – 6:30-10{M
BetaHouse in Central Square
Eventbrite Link – RSVP, Payment and Preregistration Required (Sold Out as of Mon. June 29 – Waiting List started)

Wednesday – July 1

Open Coffee – 8:30AM-???
Cafe Andala, 286 Franklin St, Cambridge, MA 02139
Meetup Group – RSVP Appreciated

Thursday – July 2

Unemployed Networking Meetup – 4PM
Bloc 11 Cafe, 11 Bow Street, Somerville, MA 02144
Eventbrite Link – RSVP Appreciated

Sunday – July 5

Boston Media Makers at Doyle’s Cafe
3484 Washington Street Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA, 02130
Link – RSVP Appreciated – Bring Cash for Brunch

Please share events I might have missed in the comments.

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Here in Boston we have a few organizations that help you identify and track worthwhile events. But these tracking services still sometimes have gaps in their coverage due to their mission of only relaying Tweetups or Business events. Therefore, when it’s convenient and I remember I’ll be posting my Week Ahead notes right here on the blog.

Feel free to share these notes and to update my listings with your comments.

My notes for June 29-July 5 will be up soon. Yes, Monday to Sunday seems appropriate as this weekly listing will appear each Sunday – hopefully.

How do you keep your event calendar up-to-date?

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Earlier today, I retweeted a post about the ways in which Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and Oprah Winfrey (@oprah) were using Twitter incorrectly. This caught the attention of Ashton Kutcher – who I’m fairly confident does all his own tweeting – and he sent me a note.

He asked why I felt that his Tweeting technique was wrong. In that astonishing moment I was frank with him that I thought he was actually playing in the Twittersphere correctly but Oprah was naive and untrained in her use of this social media tool.

Be that interpretation what it is, the thing that surprised me the most was that this celebrity took the time to interact. Ashton Kutcher sent me an @ message and then he followed me.

That’s right. The King (nay Jester) of Twitter – with 1.2Million followers added me to the list of people he’s following. I’m number 82.

Now this situation might change when Ashton realizes I like to talk about journalism and the Red Sox and that I’m barely versed in the nuances of today’s music. He might dislike people from Boston who ride scooters and sometimes report for NPR. And that might be the end of this journey and conversation with Ashton.

But I am a tech reporter and he likes to use technology, so I might linger. And this lingering might be a direct result of our open exchange on Twitter.

You see, within moments of his note to me, my email box became full and my own Twitter following count jumped up by 2%. That was within seconds. I wonder what might happen when we talk again…on a weekday…when more people see it.

How very crazy that the very power Ashton talked of during his interview with Oprah on Friday is manifesting itself right here in this very personal way.

What are your thoughts on this real and remarkable exchange?

What would you share with Ashton – or with Oprah – if they were following you?

What would you want them to share with you?

For now, I’m going to see what I can learn about the challenges of celebrity now that the walls have been removed. It’s intriguing and exciting to share some of that power Ashton spoke of last week.

I hope he keeps the conversation going.

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