Inspiring Dialogue

Notes from @shelisrael @dmscott @dspark @dowjones panel on "How Social Media is Changing the Enterprise" #djconvo

Dow Jones & Company hosted on Wednesday of this week what I have to call a special treat. An intimate cast of leading technology brands and social media marketers gathered around an antique wooden conference room table in the Wall Street Journal’s former newspaper Board room to talk new media. How ironic. Here’s the video compliments of UStream (turn up the sound or get really close to the speakers),

 

and below my notes. 

David Meerman Scott, Marketing Strategist, Keynote Speaker, and Author of the hit new book, World Wide Rave; Shel Israel, Best selling author of Naked Conversations and the upcoming book Twitterville; David Spark, Tech Journalist and Founder of Spark Media Solutions; and moderator Daniela Barbosa, Business Development Manager, Dow Jones, opened up the floor to discuss the new ways your employees, the outside world and future generations will communicate and collaborate using “social media.”

“How do you get started? How long does it take to get it right? How do you build a following?,” were a few of many questions Barbosa tossed at the panelists throughout the chat. The first thing is attitude, Meerman Scott responded. People get wound-up in the tools they have to be on. The four ways to generate attention for marketers, communicators or innovators are

1) you can buy attention – advertising

2) beg for attention – PR

3) you can bug people – sales

4) social media - different because you get attention by putting yourself out there on the web and earn attention.

People are coming at social media with one of the other ways, not earning the attention, unfortunately.

Spark says the same thing. People ask for a video and want to know what it costs. Better to see whom the audience is and if the audience will want to consume a story in the video. His four steps are

1) assessment – assess the situation – what do we have, who are the smart people in this room, who are our customers / partners who are smart, where are our connections

2) harness that in our editorial, create our own voice – not begging for attention – we’re being seen as a peer for equal information

3) production – instead of five videos, let’s create one video for multiple outputs and

4) social media is the distribution end – being on Twitter and Facebook is not understanding the business.

People may be talking about your business on a list serve, and no where else…

Israel disagrees with both.

He looks at it differently. Begin by listening and respond when you care to. Social media should not be approached to get a goal. It’s a “telephone,” communications tool. He takes the long view. People are pretty much the same. Earlier he was joking about killing a mastodon as being the dawn of social networking, getting others to collaborate over the shared need to carry away the heavy pieces of meat. One person (obviously) couldn’t do it alone.

What it (social media) does, Israel explains, that previous “social” technology didn’t do is let people interact very quickly, interact online as they do in “real life.” It’s a natural phenomenon that sometimes leads to conversations, sometimes not.

Are you thinking about your 15K followers when writing a Tweet? Israel has “milked the cow” of social media to get ideas for his next books. He’s asking questions to get answers. Israel wouldn’t get all of this help if he were not generous. If you want something, you have to give something that may not give back, he returns.

From a business perspective, how you can give to get, Meerman Scott retorts is, “If you’re interesting, people will want to follow you. If you have a bunch of people paying attention to what you’re saying or what you’re doing, it depends upon what you want to ultimately get.”

Social media is a cocktail party, Meerman Scott smirks. You can be a loud mouth salesperson, an advertiser pasting up banners all over the party, pay a PR person to talk about you, or have interesting conversations with people to see how you can help each other.

The topic is authenticity.

Do you let your PR person blog on behalf of the CEO? How do you get a salesforce into the conversation? Meerman Scott says to think about it, it’s how do you behave. When you’re thinking about guidelines, the lawyers are one viewpoint. You should listen to the janitors, secretaries, etc. as well. Take a look at IBM’s social computing guidelines – publicly available on the web to get a clue on how to do it right within your organization.

Divorce the media from the behavior of communication. How do you teach salespeople to use social media? Israel says not to push the tool on anyone. Salespeople typically need to use social media the least anyways because they are on the frontline, talking to customers all of the time. Social media’s greatest power is bringing that conversation into where it’s being discussed – outside the organization.

It really takes a key person to get the conversation going in social media, Spark says. “How do you teach it?,” Israel asks. What kind of conversation do you want to have? First start listening to the conversation that’s going on, then join in, if applicable. The experience always evolves from start to finish - when executives first start with social media, it never ends as the way it began.

You won’t believe the results you’ll have doing the tiniest things, Spark says. Meerman Scott says it needs to start with the people you’re trying to reach. You should have meetings with your potential customers, if they’re on social media and what they’re doing. Kids are on Facebook, salespeople listen to podcasts because they’re in their cars a lot. Organizations fail in social media efforts because they start from egotistical efforts – it’s all about what they have to offer when it shouldn’t be…

Israel disagrees and points out that it’s “less of an audience target sort of way.” You go where your (potential) customers can be found, does make sense, tipping his virtual hat to Meerman Scott. Though, Dell finds comments, where people say they suck. The first group that won’t change their mind is forgotten, but the others who say Dell sucks -for a reason - are responded to with thoughtful answers that solve those customers’ problems.

Frank Eliason started ComcastCares on Twitter. The brand damage was on YouTube, when the Comcast service person was video taped asleep on the job, but the social media marketing program went to Twitter because that’s where the Company (Frank) chose to connect with the customers. Type “Comcast sucks” into Google and there’s a quarter of a million responses, but there are more than half a million ComcastCares comments on Google too. There may be a group not in a place you think there is, Spark adds. The San Francisco comedians are not grouped together on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else. They have their own private wiki.

And what’s the biggest barrier to social media - fear, fear of the unknown, fear of what the lawyers may say, Meerman Scott says. It does take time to do social media. Who’s going to do it? What kind of time is it going to take? But, it all comes back to fear. Spark adds that if you can’t get business done right now, work on this time to build your reputation. “Does the social media stuff get me business?,” he reflects. Prices for Spark’s services have gone up 200-300 percent since he improved his reputation through his own PR (and social media) efforts.

Quick aside from Terri Molini, Corporate Communications at Sun Microsystems:

You do have to provide your employees with guidelines and a direction to the platform. Companies also have to have a dialog with their employees so they don’t get afraid or get frustrated with the platforms, which leads to adoption of social media - teaching your employees to become empowered.

When a person does something inappropriate in social media, the community jumps on that person, before the lawyers do, because the community doesn’t want one person to screw it up for the rest, Israel adds. Social media is real life.

It’s ok to be a dork or screw up online too. Though, if you make a mistake, and if someone is really angry with you, let it go. It’s ok to make mistakes with social media. Spark covered this topic, the biggest mistakes made by social media gurus, at length on Mashable.

What should you write (blog) about?

Take inward facing information, that’s not proprietary, Spark says. People are looking for the information, and if you get it out there, non-proprietary info, then people will discover and make decisions on purchasing your product. Meerman Scott adds, never write about your own products.

Nobody cares about your products, they care about problems and answers to problems. Once when Meerman Scott blogged, he admitted, a simple blog post got thousands of hits and tons of comments, but when he talked about his new book, no one has responded.

Real estate agents are the worst - rather than talk about the 3 bedroom house on Twitter, they should talk about issues homeowners are facing, schools their prospective homebuyers should live near, etc. Blog posts are all about the houses. Why? Real estate agents should give their audiences give more value.

Social media makes conversations scalable, Israel says. ComcastCares reaches more people than all of the people in the call center. However, if you look at social media as a mass medium model, unless you’re Barack Obama, it’s not going to work for you. In the reverse, if you can collect information from Twitter streams and blogs, from live events - get the bodies in the locations that you want them to be, then you’re golden, Spark adds.

We don’t like marketing messages, Israel repeats. If a person joins a conversation and yells “buy my product,” the people in the room are gone, Meerman Scott adds. We like being listened to. We do like people asking us what we think. Questions like where do you live, what do you do? That is the natural evolution of a conversation. As far as scale goes, Malcolm Gladwell wrote, “little things make a big difference” and you can make a big impact doing little things with social media. 

Open Letter to Social Media Experts

Dear Social Media Experts,

You know who you are - all 4,000 plus and more of you. You are a marketer, public relations professional, hobbyist, developer, integrator, what have you - and you have no place within a marketing organization. So, go out and make one. That was the big take-away at last night's Social Media Club San Francisco / Silicon Valley Chapter. 

There's really no place for you within any organization. The brands aren't sure where to put you - in the marketing or public relations departments. The best you can do is to focus on creating social media "campaigns," right? Wrong.

This is our chance Social Media Experts. Social media can be the glue which finally (and firmly) binds marketing and public relations. And, as Ustrategy's Ravit Lichtenberg pointed out - your social media strategy should also get buy in from other departments as it will impact your organization on a much larger scale than you have ever experienced before.

You know your customers are in control. Your brand is in their hands. Do you fight to make it what you think it should be or join the conversation. The ladder of course. Of course you say? You're still thinking of social media strategies as publicity stunts, marketing schemes, and advertising campaigns? Am I boring you when I remind the lot that we are turning communication into conversation? No, but you don't know what to do, do you?

Here's what needs to happen:

1) Business objectives need to be identified and outlined from the top down, from the client, by the client, and for the client. Collaborative programs between client and agency are key.

2) Benefits need to surface from deep within the weeds. Encourage clients to tell you what they think they need and give them options on how to improve their bottom line, give value to customers and get value from customers, build marketing / PR / social media into the whole ecosystem of the organization to meet business objectives.

3) Get to know the culture of your client's company or you will never hit your target - or get a chance to execute your social media strategy. The client has to be happy. And, you know when he/she is, you just do. Tap into what - emotionally - drives them to work everyday and how that translates in products and services to their customers. 

4) Learn from your clients and don't think you know their customers. Ask them. Most companies have done some preliminary or in-depth customer research and have insight into their customers' interests and behavior. Develop strategies which speak to their customers, where they are, giving them what your clients' know they want. 

5) Analyze your results, and analyze them again, and again, and again, over time. Marketing / PR / social media is an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary process. It takes time to develop, mature a brand, and time can change your client's brand, in good ways or bad. Be ready for anything, and stay on top of what is going on...

6) Bring your best game to your clients and don't be afraid to take risks and make strategically sound suggestions. If you're armed with the right data, historical data that is, and you've studied your client's business, you will be able to make creative and intellectual recommendations, setting them apart from the rest.

7) Oh, and, by gosh man/woman, don't start a client thinking that you're going to win an award for your work. Put your eyes on your client. Focus your heart on helping them improve their business. This is NOT ABOUT YOU. It's about what you have learned and how you can apply your background to change or improve your client's business.

We all "get" social media. It's not rocket science. But, what I'm finding is that a lot of us don't know how to or understand that it's important to develop a social media strategy that fits within your clients' marketing and public relations departments, and speaks to reaching your clients' business objectives.

Now go impress those clients.

Warm Regards,

David Libby

Don't Be a Social Media Blow Hard

If I was "Tessie" in Annie, the broadway musical, right now my line would be, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness." Yep, hope you read that with feeling. Because aside from expressing any vulgarities in this blog post, that's the most passionate way I can communicate that there are a host of social media "blow hards" out there, and I hope you're not one of them.

What's a social media blow hard? You get the tools. You're an expert on everything and anything Facebook, Twitter (and all related tools), FriendFeed, yada yada. But, what you don't get is that without a background in marketing and/or public relations, there's no sustainable program for you, your client or your company. It's all about the tool.

And, it's really not all about the tool I'm going to say that again. It's not about the tool. It's what you do with it, and why. And, in some cases, hopefully more than I can count on my fingers and toes, a good number of you are working with clients or within your company to find ways to innovate beyond the limits of the current social media tools.

SO, there you have it, I said it. Don't be a social media blow hard. Though, I think it's best if I spell it out for you in more ways than one. Here's some tips to avoid being the blow hard in your agency or company. And, you can say I said so...

1) You're the tree, now branch out - You've had a few, five or fifteen years in marketing and PR and don't know what to do next. All of your new hires come with chips inserted into their brains and just get this social media stuff. You think you're obsolete, but your so absolutely unique because so few of you actually get the big picture and can apply that knowledge to executing with social media tools. You just need to branch out. Take a risk. Take what you've learned over the years in marketing and PR and apply it to social media to create sustainable word of mouth campaigns.

2) Get out more often - I know you're bedtime has become earlier as you've aged, but get over it, and get out, go to a select number of social media events, and listen and learn from those who have new ideas and books to share. Don't be afraid to admit (to yourself) that you don't know what the heck that new social media tool is, and take the time to put it all together as it may apply to driving revenue for your clients and increasing the number of personal relationships and brand awareness for your clients (or your company).

3) Get your hands dirty - Don't pass off any social media development to junior staff. Do it with them, and do it yourself. Don't get me wrong. I don't think you should marry yourself to the tactics of the medium, but don't divorce yourself from being that close to it either. You need to be as much in the weeds as everyone else in your organization, and hope that in 6-12 months you put yourself out of a job because you're onto the next great marketing discovery.

4) Oooh, you're strategic - Do the right thing and follow the right people and READ Forrester's book Groundswell and Adam Metz's book There is No Secret Sauce, among many others (which I'm not given' up on this blog post). You have to learn from the best to stay competitive and understand the breadth of what you can do with social media and how best to do it.

And, lastly, if you're a social media blow hard, admit it. There are those of you that excel at focusing on the technology and developing it. If that's what you do, God bless, we need you too. Just don't try to oversell yourself on strategizing and executing on everything and their mother. Sell yourself as part of a larger team, give your clients options and help them map out a plan. Play to your strengths and let others play with you, and focus on building the brand awareness and revenue of your clients or your company!

The Affects of Social Media on Culture

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Christopher Richards, an old friend and colleague, and founder of slownowdown.org, an idea originated from his post-graduate work on finding a balance between work and life. We talked about his latest projects, slowdown.org and how social media has (and has not) affected the rate at which we run our lives. 

“Coming to America (from England), I was surprised to see how hard American’s worked,” Christopher started. He was really trying to design a life for himself, allowing him to live a creative, more purposeful life. “Time is all we have,” he added. And, quoting “Why We Make Mistakes” by Joseph T. Hallinan, Richards pointedly asked me, “how do you want to spend you time?”

The pressures doctors go through studying to be doctors are extreme. They have to operate on four hours of sleep, Richards continued. But, there needs to be more rationality around it (the use of time). “The Promise of Sleep,” by sleep researcher, William C. Demnent, another reading list recommendation by Richards, has amazing stories about how stupid we become when we’re sleep deprived. We actually lose IQ points when we’re sleep deprived. Chronic stress can also blind you to your unique identity. You might be a good performer, some of the time, but you can forget who you are.

Richards went to art school in England. “I learned that in order to draw, you have to slow down. You see differently. A colleague once talked about how he needs to slow down and, in terms of sensory input, “you’re cut off from the body. What do your socks feel like right now?,” he asked. Nobody knows.

As educational guru, Sir Ken Robinson says: We’re educated from the neck up, and slightly to one side. We value the left-brain only. The right brain gets shut out and depersonalized.

To get back in touch with your creativity, “take a drawing class,” Richards recommends. “You’re slowed down, and paying attention to what’s going on. You become more aware of people, what’s going on in relationships, or just in terms of listening to music, observing if you’re a ‘painter.’ You will have a richer perspective of being in the world, your everyday moment to moment experience.”

“Everything we know is in the past.” Slowing down allows you to view things in a different perspective.”

Richards organically created slownowdown .org through his rich vein of humor, and an idea of play as outlined on Ted.org, by Dr. Stuart Brown. The more we work, the more we identify with work and cling, hang on to that, which is not good because if we’re let go (fired), we lose our identity. We’re kind of doing too much. Slowing down is not doing too much. It’s doing just enough. Like on LinkedIn, we see who has the most connections, but “who (really) cares? There is value to discovering a more vital personal self.”

Time is the real value. Everything needs time. Of course, we need money to get by. You can’t just kick back and be a lazy bum. Slow isn’t about being lazy.

There are a lot of people grasping at the bottom, who are so hungry, panicked, tightly bound, that they cannot be expansive and generous. Even if you have no money, you can be generous. Look at the sales model, where people are put into competitive, grasping environments. It’s not a healthy state of being.

You do have an identity on social media. People who take the time to view a person’s profile can learn a lot. “There is value in social media,” Richards exclaims. People can help one another using social media. There’s value in having a connection. It can be meaningful in many different ways. There are some people who just want to talk about the weather or what they saw on TV last night.

People will choose their level of engagement that suits them with social media. There is definitely a craving for face-to-face interaction. Things run a course of their own. You may be working in your office by yourself, and then you’ve had enough. You want change. You may want to get out and meet some people.

“I see the media as being very democratic.”

There are millions and millions of different viewpoints. In some areas, we have the same values. Social media has opened us up to seeing other people’s point of view. And, it takes time. If you can be doing something better, then do it, like learning a language, becoming better at bridge – like in the 50s when people supposedly had “hobbies.”

Social media may cause people not to have interpersonal skills, he counters. Coming back to slowing down, people used to focus on body language. That informs us, informs ourselves, and is where we began. Knowing the limits of social media is good. There are people out there with addictive personalities who are going to be addicted to social media no matter what. If it serves them, then that’s good. Some people make money on the Internet, others use it as a form of entertainment.

Either way, Richards says, he’s not for or against social media, and he himself is solely focused on having a richer, more satisfying life where he can be free to do the kind of work he finds interesting while also painting, writing humor, and slowly appreciating the world and people around him.

How to Build a "Circle of Influence" in Social Media

Working in "Hollywood," we had celebrity clients who had millions of fans, some who had thousands, others who had hundreds, and a few who were relatively unknown. All had one thing in common - all created a "Circle of Influence." Every star had an audience who surrounded them, supported them, and were loyal to their celebrity's craft because in one way or another, that famous person touched each fan in a very personal way. What each personality had in common was an uncanny, in some cases trained ability, to believe in their character, their purpose. And, that is the cornerstone of building a "Circle of Influence" in social media.

I've heard social media experts talk about being "down to earth," "helpful to others (not just for their own commercial good)," and focused on "listening, not always talking" in conversation. Those are all tools, some inherent in who we are and other traits which we can learn. But, the act of being "nice" or "genuine" can not bare fruit unless one believes in themselves and what they have to offer.

It's that foundation, that passion, that drives visionaries to tirelessly focus on what they can do to reach their end goal. It's that studying, that dedication, which helps us connect with others, build community, and work hard together toward a common goal. That is the power of social media and how you can build a "Circle of Influence."

I'll even go as far to say that the size of your circle will vary depending upon what you believe. Some people believe in some things (and people) more than others. It's just natural. And, you don't need to have thousands, even millions of people in your circle, to be influential. I would, as a matter of fact, advise you to be careful not to attract too many people as you may then cause them by nature to believe that you have a social responsibility to be the pied piper within your circle of unconnected fans.

It's a rare superstar who can manage that level of influence because to be everything to everyone all of the time is to be no one at all, but to appeal to the masses at a great cost. The cost of not connecting with those who are actually connected with each other - and to you - through a common purpose, whether they know it or not.

It's also important to take calculated, strategic risks within your circle to challenge your followers, make them think, encourage them to participate, allow them to attract others, become part of the conversation, and grow with you.

We have great influence over our peers if we take responsibility for our actions and act morally within our cultures and societies, of which many are not even the same across the United States. We need to tap into what we really believe and stop thinking about how we can influence others because of how many people we can attract. We need to stand up for who we are even if it means letting some people down. 

I'll say it again. We can not be afraid to take risks. We need to believe in who we are and what we do to create a "Circle of Influence." It's just not good enough to be a nice person. We have to have a great product too that many can believe in whether you're the product or it lives on the web. 

Either way, it needs to live within you.

The Power of Social Networks Panel @SocialMediaClub Event, Part 2

Here's my take from the 2nd part of the Social Media Club event at Duarte Design on The Power of Social Networks. Panelists included were Clara Shih, who wrote the Facebook Era; Tara Hunt, who wrote The Whuffie Factor (it came out today!); Adam Jackson of 140 Characters; and John Hagel.

The focus is on trust, Heuer leads. The rise of the celebrity culture, and the difference of strong vs. weak relationships. We need to be building the strong relationships. Isn't trust at the center? "Strong and weak connections are essentially important," states Hunt. That's important for our personal growth. We all had to build social capital from ground zero, doing good deeds. Oprah has an arsenal of "whuffie" aka likeability and brand trust. Now she's speaking at a conference on Twitter. "Expert," Heuer yells.

Oprah is the Godzilla in the Twitter City. All of sudden the context gets changed, and all of a sudden the bar is raised. Mainstream media is disrupting social media, Heuer adds. How do we express that better? Doing it from the Facebook perspective, the Facebook profile started with a trusted source. People are willing to give it up to get something back in value, Shih states. 

This is where I LOST my Internet connection at the event and LOST the next two paragraphs – so you will have to read Hunt’s book “The Whuffie Factor”…

The behavior of people on Facebook is not really to buy. Search is focused on intention to buy, Shih states. As we move off of Facebook, we are going to web sites where people do have an intention to buy. Ads are only shown to people who we know want products, people who are prime targets. Facebook is “hyper targeting” Shih continues. What’s really powerful is if a 13 year old girl shops for a camera and is shown age appropriate products.

Should we strengthen the weak ties? There is strength in the weak ties, Hunt says. In our strong ties, people that “have my back,” will help me move, I can cry on their shoulder. Reciprocity is important. You can ask a weak tie for a favor or an introduction for a job.

Final thoughts…

Your weak ties – your business relationships – is where most of your business will take place. Your friends and family are just that, friends and family, but not the source of your income. Facebook is more casual and more personal, because of the online identity template. Shih cold called people through her Facebook profile because it gave them context on who she was before they decided to buy her book “The Facebook Era.”

Business is not the be all end all, Hunt adds. Business and the personal has crossed over a lot. Her life does not revolve around how much she can leverage her personal relationships. Success has come to her. The most important thing is a friend who can bring you soup (when you’re sick). That’s what these social networks are all about.

Heuer adds, we have a different impression of the world around because we are consuming personal media from each other. We’re not consuming it from big media. Big media cares about the big numbers.

“People ask me if I should have a personal and professional Twitter?,” Jackson adds. How do I get the real big numbers in followers? If you’re going to go online, don’t be a big conglomerate, but “human.”

Hagel finishes, trust is a hugely broad concept. There’s a notion of situated trust. My doctor can give me good medical, not fashion, advice. The power of social networks is around talent development and learning, we have to holistically get to know people. The personal and professional need to be integrated - most of us compartmentalize each other. It’s important to create a presence and visibility. I worry about these tools which Facebook is using which “compartmentalize” our lives, Hagel said. 

How do we bring it all back together again and create trust?

The Power of Social Networks with John Hagel III @SocialMediaClub Event, Part 1

"Most people really don't care about privacy," started John Hagel III  at the Social Media Club's The Power of Social Networks event at Duarte Design in Mountain View, interviewed by Chris Heuer during a fireside chat.

What people really want is value. The point is getting value is getting value in terms of conveinence, and that which relates to you. Facebook isn't really an infomediary. The real potential is to become an advisory of what we're not aware of in terms of connecting with people and becoming aware of the right products.

Most of the social networks are having trouble harnessing advertising. Advertising is still seen as the panacea. The business model is advertising, Hagel adds. He's skeptical of advertising as the way to build a business on the Internet. It's "blasting them with your message" and marketing is more about attracting, getting people to seek you. Advertising will take different forms. The real necessity for businesses online is what is the value business can provide to customers, and what value will they really perceive as best for them.

"The Internet is at odds with the desire of the business world," Hagel was quoted by Heuer. 

Overall, the tendency is to focus on short term profits. Moving too quickly can undermine the long-term profitability of relationships. You really have to be focused on building the relationships, before you address building the business that relate to the relationship.

It's going to take a lot of lost money to drive home the message that if you're in it for short term profit, it's not the place to be. The Internet is a black hole for most large companies, Hagel continues. Metrics are tied to sheer numbers for impact, and eventually the lesson will be learned once they lose enough money.

There's a fundamental shift in society, from a world of push to a world of pull. What we're focused on, Hagel says, is how you're dealing with an uncertain world in a world of pull. How do you pull the resources to you which fulfill your needs. Search is the archytype of that. How do I create opportunities for me to be presented with opportunities and things that I didn't even know about. Most executives just say that's luck. 

"I think there's an opportunity to shape serendipity," state Hagel. 

Another level is achieving our most potential. How do you create environments where you build things and create things and build new knowledge in that process, so we all get better faster working collaboratively in these kind of environments.

"Not only how do you survive, but how you thrive?"

Most companies don't measure return on retention. Financial measures tell you how you did in the past. What you have to focus on are operational metrics which give you a view of the future. This return on attention is really critical, both from a customer viewpoint, 1) what am I paying attention to and 2) what am I getting in return.

How about return on information? How much time is a customer giving a company information? How much value is the customer getting in return for the information that he/she provided. The user needs tangible value for the information given, which builds trust. It's a return on information for the customer and vendor.

@SocialMediaClub Talks Big Issues Affecting Social Media with @briansolis @cathybrooks @chrisheuer

Cathy Brooks and Chris Heuer talk about the big issues affecting the social media industry today. This week, they are joined by Brian Solis to discuss his take on Social Media Club's Question of the Week #6, Is social media a popularity contest or is social media about genuine relationships? His blog post on Ashton Kutcher and CNN's race to a million twitter followers was a great exposition of this topic - "The Race to 1,000,000 Followers Sends Twitter and Social Media into Relevance and Irrelevance." You can listen to future radio shows by visiting http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Social-Media-Hour

Here's what I caught from their conversation...

"Things are changing toward the human," Brooks says. Are we learning to be better communicating using tech and how does that translate in the real world? Solis says that social media is opening new communication for many. Some haven't found their cadence or rhythm and others have. Some use social media to broadcast and self promote and many have used it as a way to pay it forward, spotlight others and for "good old fashion relationship building."

Heuer adds, "The more we use tech, the more we write, the more we Twitter - being forced to get those big ideas down into a Tweet have helped my writing skills." But, are you thinking in a 140 characters? Everyone is different, Heuer says, but, seriously, there are folks who don't even have a high school education and they're using these tools to communicate to friends and family. "We're expanding our overall media literacy."

Today's NY Times, front page of the science section, on "What are Friends For?" Brooks reads that friendship trumps friends and family. Now we're connected again to friends from high school, we're re-connected with our 9 year old friends. "For the most part," Solis adds, "I've used social networks to create relationships around social context, talking with people who share the same interests and passions." Consumption is an art of curating, an "attention dashboard - I still pick up the phone to communicate with family and friends."

"Social media is based on respect," Solis adds. Even if you have opposing views, you have an opportunity to express yourself, and you can walk away with different impressions and beliefs. Brooks says that a lot of her followers don't necessarily agree with her views, but follow her anyway.

Solis talks about the "race to a million" - @aplusk (aka Ashton Kutcher) wanted to have a million followers first on Twitter, to beat @cnn - and @oprah gets involved. Initially he was put off by the competition. Celebrities don't need to get that many followers to fund a charity. Ashton's video expressing the power of the experience was a good video. "You are going to be judged by your last 20 Tweets." Whether or not, these types of competitions might inadvertently change the culture of Twitter. It could change Twitter into a popularity contest, that is juvenile.

We have to talk about intent, Heuer adds. Though, celebrities are just now experiencing Twitter, and getting as excited as we did when we first came upon the tool. "Can you imagine if Princess Di had social media at her finger tips?" Another good reason for Oprah to join the social media fray. Interested to see if she will carry her brand onto Twitter.

We in tech are in a bit of a vacuum. But, actors like Ashton and Oprah are old school media types, Brooks said. Are they going to absorb us into the old school media world or are we going to drag them down into the weeds with us. "Can the statusphere save journalism?" Solis asks (as blogged about in TechCrunch). Instead of trying to get people to come to them, why not go to where the people are and build a community that represents them and get them to follow you. It's a great way to build a community around what you stand for, finishes Solis.

Top 25 Blogs on Social Media

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog

http://www.chrisbrogan.com

http://sethgodin.typepad.com

http://darmano.typepad.com

http://www.micropersuasion.com

http://www.conversationagent.com

http://www.webinknow.com

http://www.briansolis.com

http://www.pr-squared.com

http://www.scottmonty.com

http://www.beingpeterkim.com

http://www.mpdailyfix.com

http://www.livingstonbuzz.com

http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com

http://blog.guykawasaki.com

http://www.scobleizer.com

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com

http://www.twistimage.com

http://www.jaffejuice.com

http://blog.holtz.com

http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com

http://www.adliterate.com

http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com

http://www.craphammer.ca

http://www.conversationalmediamarketing.com

Making Social Media Work (for your business to business marketing)

If it isn't obvious to you yet, social media is becoming a great new avenue for speaking to, and with your customers. But, what about the businesses that want to connect to one another through social media. Sure, there's plenty of mass market social networks attracting and connecting business users like Facebook and LinkedIn. And, there's niche players including the AdHoles, and many others, that bring together the best and brightest in their respective industries. Though, search far and wide, and you'll be strapped to find the results of many marketers who have launched successful business to business social media campaigns. Are they just not talking?

Mary Sullivan, Co-Founder; Product Marketing; Leader, Clean Technology Practice, of KickStart Alliance pointed me to this article in Social Computer Magazine that highlights 130 social media marketing examples from major brands. In the article, Sullivan noted, there were only three brands which are using Facebook for business to business marketing including Ernst & Young – Careers; Forrester Research – Fans page; and HSBC - Business Network for Entrepreneurs.

To be quite frank, I believe there are quite a few good examples of B2B uses of social media, it's just that very few companies are publicizing them. All of the brands mentioned above are active on Facebook. Anyone can go there, type in certain keyword phrases and find three or more active B2B campaigns. What's missing?

Facebook is only one of many social media applications. Forget about Twitter not being able to monetize itself and use Twitter to monetize your business. Establish relationships through commenting on blogs, more than you just writing "great blog post" to someone who you know could benefit from your product or services. There's an ocean an opportunities amassing if you know where to float your boat, and how to do it. Here's some ideas to get your started:

1) Choose Your Battle - First set out with what you want to accomplish. What is your objective? What is your position, messages? Who do you want to reach? Answer all of these questions, on paper, and you'll be further ahead than your competitor who's just started another Facebook group page.

2) Grab Those Weapons - Like I said, there are far more tools out there than Facebook, just visit FriendFeed and look at all of the "services" you can add, then start exploring. Choose your tools wisely, matching them to what they can do to help you achieve your objective and those which will connect with your network. It doesn't have to be anything fancy.

3) Fight For Your Right - Stop trying to commercialize your wares, and start fighting for your right to join the conversation. Relate to your peers. Become an active voice in your community, even if you're not the loudest voice. Earn their respect, and in time, yes, none of this can be achieved overnight - and you will both prosper. Remember, it's a relationship you're building, not a bullhorn, so both parties need to benefit.

4) Go Niche - Stop trying to boil the ocean. I know what you're thinking. We can't all be the next Google. And, I'm not saying that you will not become the next Google. I'm saying, be focused on tackling one audience, at one time, or at most three, and gradually climb that ladder. One of the biggest challenges with social media marketing currently, is its mass appeal. B2B or B2C marketers all want a big piece of the big pie, because they think it's there for the taking. The reality is that an underground, grassroots marketing campaign in the B2B sector could expand your efforts beyond your wildest dreams, assuming it has all of the right ingredients, at the right time.

5) So Happy Together - Don't assume your PR team is going to run YOUR B2B social media campaign solo. You know your business better than anyone, and it's your voice, even if developed with a PR team. Once you've outlined your campaign, chosen your tool(s), and are ready to execute, then sit down with your entire marketing team, and those internal executives involved, and divide and conquer.

Now, go make new friends!