What does social networking have to do with selling boats?

Bill Basler · Post by **Bill Basler** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:45 pm

By now, some of you may have gotten an early glimpse of the U22athon going on now at the Antique Boat Center. This is an experiment of sorts. As good as we feel the Brass Bell is, and as much as we all love Boat Buzz, we owe it to our advertisers to be as effective as we can be on their behalf.

Enter, Web 2.0. Social Networking. Hocus Pocus. Call it what you want. The goal of this experiment is to see how effective we can be on the behalf of our advertisers. If this works we'll continue the experiment.

Because of the "no sales transactions" policy of Boat Buzz, you can see more about the U22athon right where sales transactions belong—at www.tradingdock.org. Just click on the banner ad on the left sidebar.

If you mention, you're a Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club member, you'll get 5% off the sale price of any U22. If you are a frequenter of woodyboater.com, you'll get, yet another 5% off. Wow.

On a $47,000 U22, your Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club membership saves you $2,350.00.

Our hope is that we gain a few new members in the process!

THE RAZZ · Post by **THE RAZZ** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:22 pm

Bill,
Just one more good reason you're the Director of Marketing. Very nice.

Matt Smith · Post by **Matt Smith** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:09 pm

We are all part of Bill's master plan on having 2 cars and a Chris Craft in the garage. Of course that requires a three car garage, and well while your at it, a boat house, on a lake.... Oh and a theater room in the basement... And a king size bed that twirls around... better yet a round bed.. with a fur... fake fur... blue fake fur bed spread... Hey wait a minute. It's Bills dream that we are all on MTV cribs....

THE RAZZ · Post by **THE RAZZ** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:25 am

Matt,
The master plan was updated- 2 cars PLUS 2 Chris Crafts :)

Matt Smith · Post by **Matt Smith** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:34 am

ha, i am on that plan as well

Wilson Wright · Post by **Wilson Wright** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:31 am

Have no idea what catagory this falls in but while scanningBoating magazine between innings in last night's ball game, I noted a big spread on Lake Tahoe restorer and club member Herb Hall. The writer asks Herb among other things, "What's a Liberty engine" Herb, I'm sure has at least one boat in his stable of toys.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:59 pm

Wilson,

That reminds me of the "What Others Are Saying" segment or column that was always included in the Brass Bell. I miss that. It was always enjoyable.

Al

drrot · Post by **drrot** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:08 pm

Matt,
Maybe you can talk the boss into "His and Hers" U-22s

Matt Smith · Post by **Matt Smith** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:09 pm

Let's create one. Great idea Al...

Wilson Wright · Post by **Wilson Wright** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:00 am

Al:

You are too kind... not only to me but to all the newcommers you welcome and the responses you offer.

While I thought it of interest to publish what other publications were saying about our members and their boats, it is now up to others to follow their own instincts and desires...and when they are gone, there will probably be more changes....As the butler said, after dropping the Waterford punch bowl, "Nothing is forever".

Matt Smith · Post by **Matt Smith** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:03 am

We are in the hobby to preserve timeless things. Like waterford .. I think its a great idea.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:09 pm

Wilson,

It would be "mission impossible" to be too kind.

Even the fate of the Waterford punch bowl can be looked upon as leaving fond memories. It's a matter of one's prospective of things that change.

The Brass Bell has changed recently, leaving behind fond memories, but at the same time giving all of us a new prospective, a new appearance, new content and a quarterly publication that we can all be very proud of.

Al

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:33 pm

Matt,

I guess we sort of hijacked the thread for a while. Sorry about that.

The U22athon is a great idea. I'm sure it's getting lots of folks to look for a bigger drool cup though. I had to look into that myself, when the smaller cup overflowed it was either get the check book out or find a bigger cup. I'm sure that some of us will go for the check book though. Too much drool is disgusting but a U-22 for the boat house or garage would would certainly solve that problem. Oh geese, here we go again, I may need one of those "big gulp" cups from 7-Eleven.

Al

Matt Smith · Post by **Matt Smith** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:41 pm

The U22athon is marching on and is seeing very nice traffic increases. More importantly it's creating buzz and excitement for what would be a rather dull month. Right when folks are sick of there boats and want to tuck them away. As to things being brought back. Anything can be done with a new twist. A 2.0 twist. Thats part of the fun i suppose. I now have almost every copy of the brass bell and Classic Boating. In a funny way, nothing is new, because the subject matter is not new. Just the players in the game that bring energy and passion. I was amazed how much passion used to be in Classic boating. And not anymore. Its tired and kinda just delivering the mail...What happened to the brass bell was an infusion of energy and passion. Wilson and the crew had the foresight to see what was needed. That takes courage and an ability to set ones ego aside for the greater good. But we should from time to time reflect and see what we can use from the past. And i think your idea is a good one. maybe with a new twist. Now if we can just get the ACBS to be adults....

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:48 pm

Matt,

As you say, the subject matter is not new, in fact it keeps getting older (along with us). But, the fact remains that we love talking and reading about old wood boats, and now the subject includes old fiberglass, steel and aluminum ones that are getting old as well.

The good thing is that the well of knowledge in preserving their history while bringing these old boats back to life is practically limitless. As more and more of these boats come back to life, there's an equal number of new and interesting stories created. Every year there are more boat shows and festivals that are worthy of reviews. So there's no shortage of new material sources to keep it interesting.

The regular columns and format in the older publication represented unique passions of the folks that that created it, namely, Wilson Wright and his team. Likewise, the new format, layout, content and regular columns represent a new stream of passions from the folks that create it, namely, Bill Basler, Bill Baldwin, Terry Fiest, Don Ayers, Brian Robinson, and the countless other contributors.

Although I did say that I miss seeing something that WWW included regularly I don't mean to leave the impression that it would improve the Brass Bell by pressing the new team into including it. It was Wilson's passion, not necessarily any of theirs.

Now if we could talk Wilson into providing "What Others Are Saying" from all of the other publications he reads we could probably have more than enough content to include a fun monthly story on WoodyBoater though.

Al

Matt Smith · Post by **Matt Smith** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:54 pm

The beauty of Woody Boater is that we can grab stuff from anyplace at anytime, make news from it or fun of it. No strings, no politics nothing. So if thats something you and Wilson want to do. let me know. It will be fun.

dragonfly · Post by **dragonfly** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:51 am

I would say the beauty of Woody Boater is Matt Smith!

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:56 am

Well, just one look at that mugg-shot, even just a casual glance and..., you know, you might... NAAA!!!

He definitely is The WoodyBoater of the Year though.

Al

Matt Smith · Post by **Matt Smith** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 8:50 pm

Ha, that mug shot is actually from a 1941 shot of some folks in a barrel back. Ahhh the magic of photo shop.

Now. I have been do sum thinkin here on the subject of what others are saying. There are tons of places here on the Buzz to let loose. For example , I recall a conversation about a Barbi Chris craft on eBay and countless conversations of ad campaigns that use chris crafts. I also noticed while looking into it, that it is more timely and linkable here on the Buzz than in the Bell. Putting that sort of stuff in the Brass Bell, seems late in the news cycle these days with the speed of the web. The Bell has taken on a much more timeless quality with the freedom to have fast news... Take for example the stolen Racer. By the time it would have been reported it was already found. That is the danger of printed matter in the fast live world of 2.0 publications like the Buzz and Woody Boater. So here is a solution.

Start a thread. under Odds and ends. Folks will jump on and lets see what happens. If it grows then that tells the story.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:06 pm

We may try a couple of things. How's the U22athon going? I'm enjoying the great posts on WoodyBoater. The one today is amazing.

Al

Matt Smith · Post by **Matt Smith** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:09 pm

The U22athon for antique Boat center is going great. Lots of web traffic. not sure about sales yet... But the bottom line is its fun and focusing attention on the plane Jane of the catagory for once

What does social networking have to do with selling boats?

What does social networking have to do with selling boats?

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