By 
I check what’s up on fruitbowl a couple of times a day. It doesn’t take too long to just have a quick look and if there’s something worth commenting on – I’ll either do it then or later that day.
I think there’s quite a few people that do the same – both in the public and private sector. What I am now finding facinating is that some people are reluctant to give their view on specific issues or to use fruitbowl as a tool to announce any key happenings.
What’s up? How can fruitbowl motivate people to have their say or to use it to update the community on important happenings?
Fruitbowl will only be a succesful social media tool – if it’s used – so why not start using it? Why not say something that get’s people writing/talking? Perhaps this article might even get a response…
11:26, 09.02.2010
Thanks for raising this Damon.
I think we’ve given it a good nudge and have done a lot of things right. We’ve had Lawrence and Barbara support the site.
I’m disappointed that the local design community, those who have plenty of great stories and would benefit more than others, just haven’t run with the opportunity. Al, why hasn’t Band contributed? You guys should be all over this.
I was hoping that putting the effort would get the snowball rolling. Instead it’s falling back to just a few.
So I’d like to understand why it hasn’t taken off. Why do people think?
Rod
12:04, 09.02.2010
Is it those nasty ‘Time Bandits’…for me the twitter feeds are useful alerts/reminders to articles/views I might find interesting.
I do find myself following so many commentators and subsequently have to strike a balance and go to the most relevant for my current focus. I follow Fruitbowl to gauge to local thinking/activity. This is a good community – it will mature over time.
12:34, 09.02.2010
I think some organisations and business people have been reluctant to put their head out of the trenches for fear of criticism.
Are we not bigger than that?
The regional council and the Hastings DC should be applauded for using Fruitbowl.
And you’re right re agencies – they’re doing some great stuff – but we also need to think about how should be telling others – em or their clients?
The right PR adviser can give them that advice!
12:38, 09.02.2010
I think the main reasons people haven’t been writing blog posts are:
1. performance anxiety/perfectionism. It’s easy to feel like you can’t possibly write an article worthy of publishing without spending at least half a day on it – and small business owners shy away from that sort of commitment.
2. failure to see the return on investment (ROI). Why should someone write a blog article when probably no-one’s going to read it anyway?
3. apathy. The novelty of Fruitbowl has worn off and the community is too busy getting stuck into a new year of business and trying to keep their New Year’s resolutions.
Of course, these are pathetic excuses and can be rebutted easily:
1. You don’t need to spend ages on writing a good blog post. Often the best ones can be banged out in ten to fifteen minutes. If you find yourself spending more time than this, then you’ve probably got too much material and you could spread it over 2 or more posts.
And the stats for Fruitbowl show that the quality of the most popular blog posts has actually been pretty shoddy. I wrote an article that simply listed what I thought were the Top 10 restaurants in the Bay and it’s in the top 5 most-viewed posts. All I wanted to do was get people talking, and it worked, so it generated its own traffic after that.
2. The stats show that Fruitbowl is stil receiving almost as much traffic as it did when we launched it – so people will be reading your articles. It’s free PR. No other media outlet gives you this opportunity to build your brand. A total no-brainer…
3. Again, the stats show that people are still interested in Fruitbowl. If you’ve got big plans for the New Year or New Year’s Resolutions, share them with us – get some discussion going and we can all benefit from the sharing of ideas and positive energy.
So, here’s your homework… I expect you all to write an article this week. Spend no more than 15 minutes on it – just make sure it’s provocative and generates discussion.
13:33, 09.02.2010
My two to five cents are piggy back off other social networks.
Does fruitbowl have a facebook page? If so I cant see the link on the site. I aint a twitter man.
Love Hawke’s Bay http://www.facebook.com/HawkesBay?ref=ts
has 5000+ members. Why not post some headlines on these pages to raise awareness.
We host 22,000+ unique visitors a month on our blog and nationwide directory – Most are looking for businesses and read the articles – some are brave enough to ask a question or comment on the blog..
We lead hundreds of New Zealand businesses to a big bowl of water every month – (paid advertisers can blog for free) – but only a few drink. For the ones that do they get great results.
While we can prove the benefits, apples with apples with other forms of marketing – internet advertising, branding and reach tools are very new to most Kiwi businesses.
I agree with Damon. People are somewhat scared of exposing themselves online.
But exposing yourself is the whole point.
Fruitbowl is a great idea and like most fruit will take time to ripen.
08:48, 10.02.2010
Hi, you boys should stop beating yourselfs up. You have done a great job getting fruitbowl to the level its at!
The unbiased informative writing is good and some notes from Rod make me appreciate what we have here in the bay.
Ben
13:03, 10.02.2010
I don’t know what the stats are, but in any online forum there will always be a large proportion of people who look in but never comment and most comments/discussion is carried out amongst a few core members.
I don’t know the answer to this – time probably and an atmosphere that encourages discussion . . .
I am surprised that more companies do not use it to publicise happenings/ events etc but I wonder how well known fruitbowl is? – I am a Hawkes Bay resident but only stumbled upon it myself in a random google search (perhaps I should get out more!).
Again I have no answer here, but somebody will . . .
peter
15:10, 10.02.2010
Based on all your comments it’s sounding like a boys club – “don’t beat yourselves up guys” – come on – I think you should have a bit of rough and rumble and flirt a little…
10:10, 12.02.2010
Don’t beat yourself up guys. Good things take time – just keep doing what you’re doing and it will grow.
BTW – We’re having a great January and February so it looks like the travel market is on the turn around. Plenty of last minute accommodation bookings and lots of new customers.
We’ll be launching a new promotional coupon system soon which will give niche groups extra discounts on their accommodation bookings and the Fruitbowl community will be one of the first to have one of these codes allowing for even better deals on accommodation.
We’ll give you more details when it’s fully tested and live.
Have a great weekend all!
19:48, 16.02.2010
As a foundation member and huge (yet mostly silent!) supporter I have checked out these comments with interest. So many of us are just so busy doing what we do well – and trying to have a life in between – and when there are only so many hours in the day it’s only usually late at night that I get a chance to take a look at the various social network sites I follow. I’m not sure about ‘boys clubs’ or ‘rough and tumble’ but voyerism certainly works for me when it comes to online communities!
20:51, 16.02.2010
Having just been introduced to ‘Fruitbowl’ by George Miller from Mogul, this is no fad – just the beginning!! This is my virgin blog -so slightly worried about performance anxiety… have to date avoided such social media, as like Amanda says – just trying to have a life in between. However, great to know there is a local blog to blah on. Also looking forward to first issue of ‘The Profit’ – a publication that should do really well.
22:23, 16.02.2010
Here’s to The Profit – a business publication well overdue in the region. However, will be VERY interesting to watch how that new mag and HB Today’s Business2Business compete on the local publication stage – limited advertiser pool, monthly versus quarterly publication, mumber of copies printed, distribution, reach… think I’ll just stick to my marketing/design/print ‘knitting’ and see what comes of it all.
The great thing is there are so many business stories waiting to be told.
Welcome Harvess – who are you and what do you do?!?
07:10, 17.02.2010
There are many business stories to be told and many vehciles for them to be told including Chamber Pulse, HBT’s normal business section etc. The Profit looks forward to getting story leads from agencies throughout the bay that are doing great things for their clients.
The Profit has started with a hiss and a roar – advertising space in the first publication is over subscribed! We now need to deliver a quality product that covers a wide range of topics to suit all business tastes. If anyone has any business happening/event please let us know as we will put this in the publication.
14:39, 17.02.2010
While some of us may like to wait and see how it goes, or stick to their knitting- if we all were like this no one would ever be first to the market – first to hook in sales and first to win business and grab opportunties that help business suceed – “if you’re standing still you’re going backwards”.
09:04, 18.02.2010
We got such good feedback about Fruitbowl from people at Accelerate yesterday (including the advertising guru Kim Thorpe), that I have no doubt that Fruitbowl will stand the test of time.
We just need everyone to take 10 minutes out of their week to chat about what they have been up to/what cool stuff they have come across/why the Bay is the best region in NZ. How hard can it be?