How many Facebook fans do you need to make a living out of your "product"?

Photo by Toni Rosado [toni@scannerfm.com]

I recently read a great article on "What The Number Of Facebook Likes Says About Musicians".

Even though musicians may not be comfortable with comparing their music to a product, it is interesting to see the correlation between the number of likes on their fan page and their success.

The above article orders numbers of like with success of the band. Here is how it is split with real-life examples:

• less than 1000 fans: "Unless someone comes along to shake them up and makes them pay attention to their business, they will not be going anywhere anytime soon." That's the case for most amateur bands (like mine with 319 fans) who plays for fun.

• 2k-5k:"They’re a local band who care enough to put some effort into their career." Like for the parisian band "The Parisians" who is at 3k and has recently ceased to exist as they didn't make it through.

• 5k-10k:"They’re a touring band or have had some licensing or YouTube success". Right now, no bands in that scale comes into mind

• 10k-50k:"Either they have been beating the road touring for YEARS or are starting to kill it somewhere on the interwebs." For example, the french band, Deportivo with 12.5k comes here but they are still far from making it a real success.

• 50k-100k:"This band can headline national tours and bring a few hundred to every city they visit." For example, the french band, Plastiscines has had several successes and press coverage. I am still not sure they can be considered successful.

• 100k-500k:"They’ve had a big hit. Either radio or YouTube, but their numbers are strong. They have YouTube views in the millions. They are touring internationally. They can pack theaters wherever they go. They are on the brink of mainstream. Their fans are hard core." Most of the indie bands I like seem to be in that range (The Dandy Warhols with 120k, The Vines with 250k and the Libertines with 505k). The "brink of mainstream" seems to be the reason why I like them ;)

• 500k-1M:"Multiple hits. Die hard fans. Life is good. Touring internationally and they have it figured out."The french band Air with 700k falls into that category, yes they seem successful.

• 1-5M:"The superstars of the industry. Label support. They’ve either had their day or on the up and up fast. They’re on the brink of mainstream or were hot last decade." I can think of Jack White with 1.5M and the Strokes with 4.5M. 

• More than 5M:"Mainstream. Your mom’s heard of them." Close to 5M you have the Arctic Monkeys and far ahead Guns N'Roses with 30.5M

From what I know of these different bands, it appears that to start making a decent living out of your "product", you need to go over the 100k fans milestone.

Before that, you are just one in a million and this is a struggle.

What would be interesting is to see whether the same ranges apply for other types of product.

Chineze Hanzi Mnemonics #13: 要(yào) / want

Are all women crazy about handbags? :)

Today's hanzi is 要 (pronounced yào) that means "to want, to desire". In the hanzi, you can recognize 女(Nǚ) that means woman.

Above that, you have something that looks like a handbag. So if I look for the link between women and handbag, what is it? They all "WANT" the latest fashionable handbag!

10 ways to be better organized

image credit: Mike Savad

These are some tactics I use for my personal organization, maybe some could be useful to you.

1. Handle your tasks and goals with a calendar (I do it with google calendar so I can easily switch from my Mac to iphone)
2. A task should be doable in 45min (like this post :))
3. Your goals and tasks are SMART (Specific Measurable Assignable Realistic Time-related)
4. On every Sunday night, make a review of the past week goals (achieved, failed) and set new ones for the coming week.
5. Every Sunday night, start to allocate important tasks you need to do for the coming week
6. Every month, on sunday night, review your past month goals and set new ones for the coming one.
7. Assign each day of the week with a main topic that is in your goal list
8. Every night, look at your task list, review and prepare the tomorrow's one
9. Have a color code in your calendar for task status (red: not done, green: done)
10. Activate SMS notification for your tasks

If you have any suggestions, I would be happy to read them, always ready to improve my efficiency.

Product Management Mistake#2: In B2B2C there is C

Here in France, restaurant booking services such as La Fourchette or Restaurant Michelin are quite popular and it is really great to be able now to book a restaurant directly from your mobile phone or your PC without having to make a call. But not every restaurant enables that online booking and that is how I came across this product mistake.

So there is a very nice restaurant near my home called "Chez Marcel" and I wanted to book a table, so I went on Google on my mobile phone and looked for "Chez Marcel Saint-Mandé" (this is my town). 

Strangely, Google sent back a similar named restaurant in Central Paris whereas as specified "Saint-Mandé", anyway I arrived on Michelin restaurant website with the place I was looking for.

You arrive on the restaurant page and
need to click on "Voir le numéro" to
display the phone number

Now you see the number and cli..Wait!
Nothing actually happens when you try
to click on this button....

So there, I clicked on the button "display phone number" and that actually displayed the "phone number", so far so good.

Then I naturally clicked on the number to call the restaurant (as it is done everywhere else) but nothing happened! You cannot even copy the phone number to put it in your dialer!

This UX is so bad here because as a final user, I am sure I won't go there anymore since I know it is useless.

Since I remembered I liked the restaurant on Facebook, I went on FB to look for the restaurant and saw the same number. I clicked on it and...TADAAA! it worked!

The Facebook page of the restaurant,
you notice there is all important info

When I clicked on the phone number,
I can call the restaurant to book

So now, I know that it's better for me to go on Facebook to book restaurants I like (and LaFourchette for all those who have online booking). That's too bad for Michelin!

I guess one reason Michelin did not check it, is that their business model is based on people displaying the number. The more people display the number the more they can charge the restaurant showing they brought people in.

But apparently they got too focused on that and forgot that, OK, you display the number but to call the restaurant (personally I don't care to display the number, just connect me with the restaurant, please) is the final "scenario".

Calling the restaurant to book is the final goal and apparently Michelin forgot that...

So product managers, please remember your value proposition not only for the B but also for the C!

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #12: 工/work,worker

Today's Hanzi is 工 (gōng) that means work or worker depending on the context.
My tip is to think of a table/desk that is viewed from the side. Since I work at a desk, it's pretty obvious that when I see a desk, I think of work :)

工 (gōng) is a desk from the side

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #11:土/soil,earth

Today's Hanzi is 土(tǔ) that means soil, earth, dust.

No need to do some drawings here.

When I see 土, I immediately think of a cross on a grave. From there, I remember the Genesis 3-19 quote:
"Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return."

How can you be more explicit than that? :)

Day-to-day Product Management #4: 55% download increase with Facebook ads

Based on my previous experiment, I decided to run a Facebook Ads campaign for my mobile application I decided to spend 30$ to check whether the 25c per download would be linear.

Therefore, by spending 30$ and estimating a cost of 25c per download, I was expecting to get 120 new download. At the end of the campaign, I got 113 new downloads.

That's actually not far but I am quite disappointed because I was expecting some magic to happen but that was not the case :(.

Now I am going to try iAds (in-app ads from Apple) and a website.
Stay tuned!

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #10: 叫 (Jiào) / "be called"

Today's Hanzi is one you will rarely write and is mostly used verbally.

It is 叫 (pronounced jiào) and that means "to be called". The basic use is for presenting yourself (your first name only, there is another word for the surname).

ex: 我叫玛丽 （Wǒ jiào mǎlì）translates literally "I am called Mary"/"My name is Mary".

To remember the Hanzi, just imagine the left square as a big open mouth (remember ...) and the right kind of 4 as a hand placed next to the mouth. 

From there you can easily imagine someone calling someone else.

Product Management Mistake #1: Linkedin "Do what I say, not what I do!" (and 3 ways to solve it)

Recently, I was browsing job offers on Linkedin and I got quite surprised by what I discovered:

"LinkedIn sells a job posting/application service but does not use it for its own job vacancies!"

As you can see below, these 2 job offers (offer1, offer2 and I have put the screenshots because the links might soon be invalid) are for the Linkedin Parisian office and surprisingly you cannot apply to Linkedin positions directly on the current page!

Linkedin job offer in Paris

Linkedin job offer#2 in Paris

To apply you need to go the company website. I can understand why several companies do that (even though I hate it as an applicant) because it enables them to get more information about you and feed their information system. It is also a way to check about your motivation.

Nevertheless, I find it is a mistake for Linkedin to do that (they don't do it for their US-based position ;)) because it indicates they do not totally believe in their own application system.

As a potential customer, I would find it disturbing to have the job board selling me its application system and finding out that it does not use it itself!

To make some analogy, it would be like Apple enabling its appstore for 3rd-parties and using a dedicated appstore for its in-house applications (such as Garage Band). 

Nevertheless, Linkedin is great for networking and suggesting job opportunities. I find their application system great and it's a shame they do not use it for their own job vacancies.

In addition, here are some suggestions I have regarding their application system to make it even greater for job applicants:

• Be able to add more than 1 file in your application. As you can see below, you can only add 1 supporting file (either CV or Cover letter, not both :()

  

  Linkedin job application pop-up

  
  
• Store cover letters and be able to modify them inline. To make the Linkedin application system even more efficient, I would suggest to enable applicants to store cover letters from past applications. From there, you could edit them inline while applying to a job and send them to the recruiter. I would love that, especially for the mobile application!

• Filter jobs offers with apply now feature. I can understand recruiters would hate it because it would force them to use the full Linkedin package but as a job applicant, especially when I use the mobile application, I would love to be able to display only offers I can apply directly from the Linkedin app. 

Indeed, having access to offers I can only save to my account is really, really frustrating! Do Linkedin people really think I am going to click on the "apply on company website" button from my mobile phone? REALLY??

There is no way I am going to apply through company website on my phone!

As a conclusion, I would recommend Linkedin to stop forwarding its own applications to their company website and enhance at least their mobile application so it would really take into account the context you are in when using your mobile phone.

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #9: 手 and Mickey Mouse's glove

Today's Hanzi is 手(Shǒu) that means "Hand".

The way I remember it is by figuring that the three strokes on the right are fingers, the three strokes on the left are the 3 joints you have on your hand and the vertical one is for the thumb that is opposite to your other fingers.

But really? Only 4 fingers? Just remember Mickey Mouse has only 4 because Disney said it was easier to draw and my mnemonics are all about drawing so why would we want to put 5? :D

Even better, the three left strokes are also pictured in the Mickey's glove, so for 手, just think of Mickey Mouse and you are good :)

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #8: 女,子,好

Today, 3 hanzi for the price of 1!

•  女 (Nǚ) means woman: think of a pregnant woman
• 子 (zi) means child: think of a baby in its cover
• 好 (hǎo) means good, fine: a woman and her child together is good, right?

Even easier is to associate all these 3 hanzi and meanings with famous representations of Saint Mary and baby Jesus such as the following ones (a classical one and a chinese one :))

 

THE big difference between Product Management and Project Management

The Product Manager checking whether the Project Manager builds the castle he asked for. 

Here in France (maybe in your country too), product management is often confused with project management mainly because there is the word management in both. In addition to that, in software companies where the Agile Scrum methodology is used, the product owner is a kind of hybrid making the distinction even more complex.

Please note, that I am not saying that one is better than the other. We need both and it is important to really understand what they mean.

In France, management often implies managing a team (even if no hierarchical ties exists). The relationships involved in product management do not seem to be understood as managing a product team whereas a project team is often clearly identified.

As a reminder, the product manager is responsible for defining the right product to sell, at the right price, at the right time, at the right place and at the right cost to ensure his business is profitable.

On the other side, the project manager is responsible for producing the defined product, at the agreed time by using the agreed resources.

The main difference I see between product management and project management is that the first one is strategical while the latter is tactical.

That has several consequences:

• 1 Product can contain several projects. 1 Project is in one product (most of the time).
• Product is about outwards success (company vs rest of the world). Project is about inwards success (within the company)
• Product management is central. Project management is peripheral.
• Product manager conceive and plan. Project management execute that plan.

What do you think?

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #7: 飞(Fēi)/Fly(in the air)

To remember the hanzi 飞(fēi) that means "to fly", I try to picture a kind of goose/chicken.

Pretty obvious, isn't it?

Day-to-day Product Management #2: 2 months after launching an iPhone game

Since the last month post on this topic, I did 2 actions for promoting the iphone app I developed:

• ask people I knew to provide feedback on the game on the App Store: The game is now 5 stars and has 3 comments.
• put some links (5) on French news websites comments section for relevant articles and relevant audience

The impact is very limited since in one month I got only 11 more downloads :(

For the coming month I will try the following advertising platforms and let you know about the results:

-Facebook ads

-Google Ads

-iAds

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #6: 电 (Benjamin Franklin involved :))

Today's Hanzi mnemonic is for 电(Diàn) that means electricity.

Look how the 电 hanzi looks like a kite. To associate it with electricity, just remember how the famous Benjamin Franklin's experiment turned out.

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #5: 车(Chē)/car

Day-to-day Product Management #1: 1 month after launching an iPhone game

Today, I want to share with you my day-to-day experiences on distributing an iphone app.

In my previous product management roles at HTC, distributing and advertising mobile apps was handled by dedicated marketing teams. Therefore I want to enhance this part of marketing skills , the P of promotion :).

In order to do that, I chose to do a very soft launch (almost secret one!) to have a reference point of what happens when you only share the link with your friends on Facebook and talk about it around a beer.

As you will see in a bit, there is no free lunch and miracle did not happen!

Firstly, I chose to do a copycat of the successful Flappy bird game because from a product perspective, millions of users have shown interest in it and copycats have been downloaded thousands of time. So why not use it as a basis and add a funny twist to it?

As a French, I have been amused by the affair our President had earlier this year and I used this funny story as a basis for the game.

So after developing the game, I pushed it in iTunes Connect, which is the tool you need for publishing your apps on the App Store. Once released officially on the 29th of May 2014, I shared the link on several channels (and did again after a minor update on the 13th of June 2014):

• 2nd of June 2014: 
• Twitter share:

Look! I scored 0 points in Flappy President! http://t.co/S80PZmoPDG pic.twitter.com/q39mmNWbNu
— PA Antonini (@pierreantoine) June 2, 2014

• Facebook share:

                                     

• 11th of June 2014: I posted a brief article on the game on this blog and shared the article on Google+ account (but who cares, no one uses Google+ ;))
• 13th of June 2014: I asked for help on Facebook for translating the game description for iTunes

• 16th of June 2014: I shared a score on Twitter

Look! I scored 11 points in Flappy Prez! http://t.co/S80PZmoPDG pic.twitter.com/5D5E950wUp
— PA Antonini (@pierreantoine) June 16, 2014

19th of June 2014: I share updated version on Twitter and Facebook

Iphone4 bug solved https://t.co/tlLuIIIXhX
— PA Antonini (@pierreantoine) June 19, 2014

To help you visualize my network, I mainly use Facebook (around 500 friends) and I am not a big fan of Twitter (around 150 followers and use it mainly as news feed for tech and entrepreneurship).

So what are the results? Wait for it.... a stunning 123 downloads in one month!!! Youhou!!!

As you can see on the graph, main downloads are around the 13th of June 2014 (when I asked for help on Facebook on this project).

It appears that sharing update on the new version had very low effect (if any) on the 19th of June and after. Since then I have not communicated at all on the app.

So with this, it appears that with no clear promotion strategy, nothing really happens!

From this point on, I need now to test several other channels to measure their ROIs and see whether I can reach the 10K target :)!

So the plan is (and you will soon see the reports):

• Facebook ads
• Google ads (since it's a mobile app, not sure it really makes sense)
• Links in newspapers and forums
• Landing page for the app with a well-formated SEO
• iAd campaigns
• Linkedin share

Stay tuned, more to come soon!!

--Pierre-Antoine Antonini

Chinese Mnemonics #4: 唱 (chàn:to sing)

Today's mnemonics is the one for 唱 (pronounced chàn and meaning to sing)

As you can see, the 3 squares can make you think of 3 open mouths. That's convenient because when you sing you have the mouth wide open but why 3 mouth and why 2 with tongues in the middle (you see them, right?) and 1 without?

My personal way of remembering it is to use St-Augustine's quote: "To sing is to pray twice".
So now, I have one mouth wide open on the left that is for "to sing" and two mouths with tongue on the right that come closer to talk twice and in our case "to pray twice"

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #3: 人(rén:person)/大(dà:big/tall)

Today, 2 simple hanzi:

The first one 人 (rén) means a person, people. The first time you see it, you may think directly of a man walking from left to right (without arms, don't ask me why :)).

The second one 大(dà) means big,tall. For me, it's like someone telling you the story of his fishing party and telling how "big" was the fish he caught by extending the arms : "Look, this was an enormous fish, I promise, Big like that!!!"

My HEC MBA interview presentation: "The Long Tail"

During the HEC MBA application process, I was asked to do a presentation on a topic I was interested in.
In this presentation, you will find a summary of the long tail concept coined by Chris Anderson and some contradictions to it (superstar effect for example).

My HEC MBA Interview presentation (2008): The Long Tail from Pierre-Antoine Antonini

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #2: 一二三/123

一 yī: 1
二 èr: 2
三 sān: 3

Well, this one is pretty obvious :), think of Latin numerals rotated 90° and you are all set!

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #1: 买/Mǎi => buy

Thanks to HTC who offered me some Chinese classes 2 years ago, I have decided to continue learning it even though my department closed down.

Since I have always been interested by Chinese culture (especially their literature classics), I am quite dedicated to it now and have even taken the HSK2 test 2 weeks ago (a kind of TOEIC).

While learning Hanzi (Chinese ideograms) is very difficult, I have come up with some Mnemonics to help myself remember them better.

Since my Mandarin teacher find them funny, I decided to share them with you. Please be aware that I am only learning simplified hanzi and not traditional ones. Please also don't be shocked if I am not always using the Hanzi keys in the right way, sometimes it just works better for me another way. (Native/Advanced Chinese speakers will understand what I mean).

So here is my first one:

This is the Hanzi 买 (pronounce Mǎi) that means "buy/purchase" ("acheter" en français).
When I see this hanzi, I see a hand holding a chicken and since buying chicken to prepare chicken curry is one of my most frequent purchases, you can imagine how holding a chicken means "buy" :D

Recruiting via Facebook: The Work4 business case

Hereafter is a small business case I recently did, hope you find it interesting.

Flappy Bird inspired game: Flappy Prez

Hi everyone,
Since my HTC subsidy closed down at the end of year 2013, I am now looking for a job in Product Management in Mobile/Telecom/Web sectors.
While applying to different jobs, I am going back to coding a bit and I have recently published on iTunes a Flappy Bird replica based on our beloved French president.
You can have a try here :)