Sometime back in during the Tour of California, I was doing a lot of blogging and Tweeting about the cycling world and social media. That’s when I found and followed one of the best “corporate” Tweeters and bloggers out there. If you’re on Twitter, you might know him as @JakesJournal. His real name is Jake Jacobson and he’s the official blogger and Tweeter for Garmin International. I love Jake because everything he does is sincere and personable. In this guest post, Jake shares his experiences from the past year. It’s an awesome post and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Guest Post from Jake Jacobson
Jake Jacobson with Jim Felt of Felt
Bicycles in Monaco prior to the start of
Stage 1 of the 2009 Tour de France.
Flashback one year to July 2008, and I was faced with an exceptional opportunity and exciting challenge as an outdoor/fitness PR specialist and blogger for Garmin International . I was sent to the first week of the Tour de France to promote and chronicle Team Garmin, the world-class professional cycling squad founded by Slipstream Sports that had just taken us on as title sponsor the month before. Armed with a laptop and the assumption that every worldly hotel has wifi, I set out to share news and insight about Team Garmin’s Tour debut.
The first of several shortcomings in my quickly hatched plan was clear from the start. Though it ends in bustling Paris , the Tour often starts in much smaller towns. And we were in an even smaller town outside of that small town. The hotel lobby had wifi. But not the hotel I was staying in. So the morning of the first stage, while I was feverishly mooching wifi, Slipstream chairman Doug Ellis made a short, prophetic suggestion. “You should try Twitter.” He explained that with Twitter, you don’t need a laptop, a global aircard or a neighboring hotel lobby. All you need is a phone and something to say in 140 characters or less. For a username, we landed on @JakesJournal as a reference to a familiar section of Garmin.Blogs.com and a reminder that readers were following the actual person doing the talking. My crash course continued as we loaded into the van until I finally felt comfortable typing my first safe but somewhat intriguing Tweet: “driving stage 1 of tour de France with Team Garmin”.
That first day, six people started following me. I was elated. Someone was listening. I tweeted from the finish line, the pressroom and helicopters high above the peloton. By the time the Tour wrapped up, I had around 60 followers. I cheered when another would sign up. I cringed when the number would drop. With each emotion I wondered what I had said to cause the action. Fortunately I had Ryan Ressler – good friend, brilliant writer, dedicated colleague and early adopter – to help. He reminded me that personality and transparency are crucial in social media, while salesmanship and advertising are better left to their respective departments.
With the Tour finished and no new specific agenda in mind, we started listening to the Twitterverse. If someone had a question about their new Garmin Forerunner fitness watch, or wondered which Garmin nüvi to put in their car, I would reach out to them with answers, suggestions and an offer to help. While not as technical as our product support team’s expertise, I could at least offer an insider’s insight and credibility. I directed people to the sort filters on our product pages. I pointed them toward the YouTube tutorial videos that form the foundation of our new learning center. I told them what products and features worked best for me when I was hiking the Rockies , running a marathon, biking over lunch or driving across town. Before long, people started steering other Tweeps in my direction, impressed that Garmin was active on Twitter and apparently appreciating what they learned from @JakesJournal.
But the beauty of Twitter is that it’s a two-way street. Or a two-way stweet if you’re one of those people who loves Twitter puns. By following the top journalists and media outlets in my line of work – traditional, online and new media combined – I have a constant, tailored newsfeed at my fingertips. And by listening for keywords – specifically Garmin – I can respond to people’s questions, whether they’re brand-new on Twitter or a Hollywood star. So I don’t follow the million-Tweep celebrities, and I don’t reciprocate for every person that follows @JakesJournal. It’s nothing personal, I swear. But just as what I write is as much for work as it is enjoyment, the same is true for everything I read.
While in Boulder for Team Garmin’s November training camp, I did a Tweetcast of the 2009 team presentation. I had started integrating pictures into my Tweets, as well as more personality. When I finished the New York City marathon, my second marathon in two weeks, I shared my experience with everyone as I hobbled back to my hotel. A constant work in progress, I try to remind myself that there needs to be a balance – between personality and product, avoiding both the long droughts and the flash floods. Just as Garmin serves many markets – automotive, aviation, marine, mobile, outdoor and fitness – I strive to reach more than just cycling fans and fellow runners, though I’ll be the first to admit that I have a tendency to go with what I know.
The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show allowed us to reach a broader audience. The famous January trade show – and the new products we announced there – boosted @JakesJournal from 202 followers in late December to 346 a month later. But I had cycling and Team Garmin to thank – as I often do these days – for the biggest multiplier. Shortly after Tweeting and blogging from February’s Tour of California, I woke one day to see new followers flowing in faster than ever. I e-mailed Ryan and said, “For some reason, I gained 40 people since yesterday – all without saying a word.” And though I actually gained 100 that day and set him up perfectly for his response about my unusual silence (“Telling, isn’t it?”), I found out what had actually happened. Blogger Chris Spagnuolo had named me as one of 48 people on Twitter to follow for pro cycling. So in nine months, I had gone from Tweeting in desperation as I tracked my first tour to being listed alongside the top pros, experts, journalists and teams in the peloton. Thanks to Chris and Mashable.com, I had momentum on my side. After starting February at 400 followers, I hit the 800 mark by March, 900 the next week and 1,500 by mid-May.
Now I know that these numbers won’t get the attention of Ellen or Ashton, but Garmin’s Twitter presence started on a whim and was only given the green light because it’s fast and free. After seeing what Ryan and I achieved on no budget and a little hustle and creativity, Garmin now has several Twitter accounts for different purposes, including HR (@workatgarmin), our online training community (@garminconnect), our UK offices (@GarminGirlUK) and others.
Just before returning to the Tour de France on July 1, @JakesJournal prepared for its first birthday by hitting 2,000 followers. But now, as I share behind-the-scenes stories and pictures from France , I’m steadily adding as many followers per day as the number of total people I had last year when the peloton reached Paris . There are more pro cyclists – and people in general – than ever on Twitter, and major news outlets turn to 140-character news reports with regularity. Yet here I am in France , appreciating that I’ve gone full circle. Though I can Tweet from various platforms, I’m again mooching wifi from a quiet hotel lobby to write this blog post. And though I’ve expanded to new Twitter tricks and topics, I’ll always get a kick out of how we created Garmin’s voice on Twitter – and how I joined the original list of people to follow for pro cycling.
2 comments so far ↓
1 Jocelyn // Jul 8, 2009 at 9:25 am
I’m married to Jake, and he really does love his job at Garmin, running, cycling and talking with people!
2 garmin watch // Nov 30, 2009 at 7:25 am
nice post very Inspiring. thanks for sharing this valuable Information.
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