Posted in Social Strategy, social media, social networking
2 comments
14/04 2009

Being Social is Better than Silence

It seems fairly obvious doesn’t it? The art of human interaction is built off of many things but mainly communication. You can define communication in a variety of ways but it still rooted in sharing of ideas between two individuals. 

We want to interact. We want to be heard. We want someone to listen. 

You have to be social in order to facilitate human interaction. The same goes with social media. 

When talking with business owners about using social media there are the metrics and values that are attributed to lead generation and customer retention. You can talk about the massive amounts of eyeballs an ad can hit or the customer service value Zappos and Comcast has delivered. 

But the main point is this…

There is someone talking about you somewhere. Wouldn’t you rather be involved in the conversation than not

Being social is better than silence and listening is just one key to success in social media.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Marketing, Social Strategy, social media, social media marketing
3 comments
13/04 2009

Why Banks Should Listen to Social Media

I was in a recent conversation with an owner of a local advertising firm in Indianapolis and we were discussing the merits of social media with banks. In my mind, any business can benefit in some way from using social tools on the Internet. Even if the only strategy is to listen and respond… that is better than not listening at all… right?

Nielsen recently partnered with NeuroFocus, the global leader in neuro-marketing, and released a study focused on the banking industry. There were some startling facts. You can find the entire study (here).

I read the report and here is what I walked away with:

  • Feelings of stability, solidity, partnership, empathy, and understanding scored highest.
  • Clutter free, humanized web interaction that was different from everything seen earlier scored the highest – time to invest in web site redesign
  • Empathy is most important: Consumers want to hear that banks understand their pain. Claims of “sacrifices” and applying “hard work” did not resonate as well.
  • Blogs work: Blog postings – even those written by parties with a vested interest in the subject – were deemed to be the most effective form of written advocacy among consumers.

If you needed any more evidence that now is the time to step up in the banking industry and take advantage of social media… there it is.. easy to read and right in front of you.

Partnership and human interaction can be accomplished by using social media as a form of communication with your clients. We want to know you CARE about what we are experiencing.

Take that cold outward demeanor and turn it into a loving embrace… and it will be welcomed.

“The strongest message consumers want to hear from banks is how much their bank empathizes with their pain. These are neurological insights that banks cannot afford to ignore right now,” said A.K. Pradeep, CEO of NeuroFocus.  Nielsen, 3/31/09

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Micro-Blogging, Social Strategy, business, twitter
9 comments
11/04 2009

I Don’t Care If You Are On Facebook and Twitter

There are hundreds of thousands of ways you can use social media.

Facebook… Twitter… Vimeo… YouTube… LinkedIN… SmallerIndiana… Plaxo…
They go on and on and on and on and on.
The tools are becoming universal. They are becoming secondary. The learning curve is dissapearing. 

Frankly… it isn’t unique anymore to just be on Facebook and Twitter. The world is hitting social media with a force and with that force comes millions of people using the same tool. How do you set yourself apart? How do you make a difference using the same site (Facebook) that upwards of 250 million people are using?

Put your heart into the content. Create an extreme value that PEOPLE and the masses cannot ignore. Only then will you cut through the noise. 

Gary Vaynerchuk has an excellent video blog that talks at length about the vale of content and the “2.0 hustle.” Do two things: 

1. Watch the video below

2. Follow the link above and subscribe to every little ounce of Gary Vaynerchuk content your little mouse pointer can handle..

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Corporate Strategy, Micro-Blogging, Reputation Management, Social Media Community, Social Strategy, innovation, millennial, small business, social media
15 comments
10/04 2009

Forget Social Media Measurement. Get Back to the Basics.

There has been a lot of talk about measurement and return-on-investment in the world of social media. Where and what do we measure? Is there any type of return on investment we can micro manage down to the point of dollars and cents?

Richard Stacy asked a brilliant question on his Social Computing Journal post called Social Media Measurement – Are We STaring At Stones? Are we measuring/looking at the wrong thing? Are we missing the point when we use Web 1.0 measurement tools and try to squeeze them into a Web 2.0 – 3.0 world? I think so. I would guess that Richard would agree.

Are we staring at the finish line without starting the race?

We are focused so intently on understanding the measurement model of social media that we fail to recognize the tool itself.  We fail to realize that a complete understanding of social media (as a tool) has yet to be accomplished. We need to back up and refocus. As a company, we are just as guilty.

It is hard for me to swallow the concepts of using traditional and web 1.0 measurements tools (traffic, click-throughs) to social media tools like Twitter.  What is the answer? Ad agencies are falling over themselves to gain as many viewers as possible to online videos. We can have 2 million views on a YouTube video but does that measure to actual growth in sales? It is hard to tell and becoming increasingly harder (Google aquisition of YouTube).

I don’t have the answer. Every interactive marketing firm on the planet is trying to measure this phenomenal new medium of communication… We all have case studies but there hasn’t been a proven formula for measurement.

Maybe we need to go back to the basics… refocus on completely understanding a new medium  that is changing our entire communication formula.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Micro-Blogging, Social Strategy, blogging, corporate blogging, microblogging, twitter
5 comments
2/04 2009

5 Steps to Deleting Your 3,000 Connections on Twitter

We talk a ton about quality over quantity. I need to take my own medicine.

I’m starting to see a shift in my own use of Twitter. I have been talking a lot about quality over quantity and the value of one-on-one relationships. I have realized I need to take advantage of my own advice.

It is time to purge the Twitter account. I need to start focusing more on the quality of the conversations I am experiencing on Twitter. What do you think about the quality over quantity approach?

5 Steps to Deleting Your STUPID Twitter Connections

1. I am going to unfollow all automatic feeds into Twitter. It doesn’t make sense… they do not talk back.

2. Keep following the people RT and respond to your posts. They are who matter! They are experiencing the value of communication and collaboration.

3. Pick 10 to 20 thought-leaders to follow. It doesn’t matter if they follow you back. They are there for education and sometimes “communication.” We cannot evolve unless we learn.

4. You can start to purge your connections by unfollowing people who do not follow you. Now, this does not mean you should be “upset” with people who do not follow you back. If they share great information… you should keep following them (See #3).

5. Do they have a logo as a picture. Eh? I would un-follow.

So remember the quality over quantity concept and start the process!

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Reputation Management, Social Strategy, Viral Marketing, small business, social media, social media marketing, social networking
4 comments
30/03 2009

When is Social Media a Primary Marketing Tool?

Let me be the first to say that social media is a brilliant tool. It can enhance every aspect of your marketing plan from Public Relations to direct mail. Although… there is a time and place for everything. It is extremely important to realize the potential of social media can either be a primary or secondary.

When should social media be used as a primary tool?

If you are building a personal brand, social media can be a huge driver to increase a following or “fans.” Many small businesses are run by so-called thought leaders… The visionaries behind the brands that are being built by the thousands. Small businesses must rely heavily on referrals and word-of-mouth marketing and what better tool to help the process than soacial meda. As you advance in a community of clients and customers you can use social media as your primary source of marketing.

Whether social media can be defined as a medium or a tool (later post) is not the point. Arguing over semantics hasn’t helped anyone in the past. You have the opportunity to build your brand.. both personally and professionally. Embrace it.

This is the first time in history when millions of people are just a click away. You can’t get any better than that. So how should you get start on your online brand development?

  • Do your customers even care? Make sure you do not negate your current clients. Keep picking up the phone. :-)
  • Research what others are doing in the area. What are your competitors writing about? How can you be different? How can you do it better?
  • Start a blog. Sign up on WordPress.com and start writing (after the research, of course)
  • Go to CommonCraft and get update on the more recent tools on the Internet. They will help you in your social media quest.

And remember… be conscious of your people. What makes them tick?

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Marketing, Social Media Community, Social Strategy, relationship, social media marketing
11 comments
23/03 2009

Get 30,000 Followers on Twitter. What is it Worth?

I search constantly on the web for writers and thinkers who display a chip on their shoulder. They are brilliant thinkers but they have a sarcasm about them that keeps my days interesting. One of my favorite writer is Alexander van Elsas. There are times when I completely agree with Alexander and also times when I completely disagree… there really is not a middle ground.

He has a post talking about the real value of Twitter ‘s suggest user feature which was made a little more valuable after Jason Calacanis offered $500K. Congratulation Jason and Alexander, you have pushed me to a crossroad on the purpose of quality over quantity.

We talked about the purpose of quality over quantity all the time on the web.

“I would rather have 200 devout followers than 20,000 kind-of listeners.”

There is a reason we do this. We are the social-renegades of the marketing world. What? You think we should send out mass mailings? Buy an email list? AHH. I am dying from heart failure.

The truth of the matter is this… I haven’t come to any conclusions yet on the value of quality over quantity. Jason Calacanis shows the absolute value of driving traffic from Twitter to his start-up, Mahalo. He was willing to pony up $250,000 to drive two-million visits a month to his site. I would do it too.

And yet, Alexander talks about the quality of the followers being below zero. I also agree with him when he says:

“It makes the reach you have on Twitter as good as any spammer that hijacked millions of e-mail addresses. There is always a sucker that falls for it. The real-time effect is pretty much worthless when put into comparison to the nr of followers and the spam being produced. To me the only benefit, if you can call it a benefit, would be that the audience that follows you remains persistent.”

So what is the answer? You can always give the quality over quantity speech but does that drive revenue? In the world of business there is absolute value to use social media but what is the strategy? Quality over Quantity?

What are 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 Twitter followers worth to you?

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Social Strategy, blogging, content, social media marketing, social networking
14 comments
21/03 2009

Is Conversation or Content King on the Social Web?

I am currently doing some research for my presentation at the Hoosier Hospitality Conference and I ran across this quote by Cory Doctorow from BoingBoing:

“Content isn’t king. If I sent you to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking your friends or your movies, you would choose your friends…. If you chose your movies, we would call you a sociopath. Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.”

It made me think hard about my opinions on content and the use of such tools to drive leads to businesses using the Internet. Sometimes the point of conversation is missed by many Internet marketers. It is excellent if you are at the top of Google search for your keywords but what happens when the potential customer clicks through to your site?

Do you have the necessary tools and systems in place to create conversations with the users influenced by your search ranking? Is it even necessary?

Absolutely it is necessary. We are seeing an overwhelming demand for the marketers and businesses of the world to call consumers… PEOPLE… and not the other way around.

It is important to creat excellent content in order to push the conversation but…

Conversation leads to Relationships. Relationship leads to Aquisition.

What do you think? Is Content king or did Conversation just take the throne?

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Social Strategy, blogging, social media, social media marketing, social media mission, social networking
12 comments
19/03 2009

Is Blogging for Search ruining Innovative Thought?

Let me preface this post by saying… I don’t know the answer… and if you are a social media professional or consultant.. you are at fault.

I have been debating with myself lately (you should try it) about the concept of blogging for search and how it could be affecting the . From a marketing standpoint it is brilliant to use a blog for search. I will be the first to say that my company, Brandswag, uses our corporate blog for organic search. The blog you are reading now is used for some organic search goals, as well as my own personal branding in the city of Indianapolis.

What am I struggling with?

If you are constantly focused on keyword rich writing and blogging for search is that taking away from building knowledge and innovation in your industry? Is it taking away from you actually writing your thoughts.. feelings.. and ideas?

Sometimes I get stuck.

We blog for many reasons. Maybe you want to learn and co-create interesting articles and discussions. Maybe you want to build your company brand in order to drive more revenue. Maybe… you just want to talk to other people with the same interest.

Blogging and the world of social media has created a spinning mass of information that is being consumed by hundreds of millions of people on a daily basis. Are we missing out on writing from the heart and helping industries/people become better?

Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know the answer.

If you are focusing so intently on the right keywords and such doesn’t that take you away from being truly innovative and thought provoking in your writing?

Maybe we are all at fault.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

 
Posted in Advertising, Corporate Strategy, Micro-Blogging, Social Media Expert, Social Strategy, Viral Marketing, blogging, business, small business, social media, social media marketing, twitter
32 comments
18/03 2009

25 Steps to Choosing a Social Media Consultant and Educator

I have been discovering many people starting to enter the world of social media marketing in Indianapolis. It can be anything from an advertising firm to a small business coach. It is probably pretty confusing for business owners trying to learn about the amazing new tools available on the web. I wanted to help you out with your first steps in choosing a social media educator or consultant.

1. They need to use the tools they are teaching.

It is extremely important that the teacher is using the tools. Before you decide to use a social media consultant… investigate! Make sure they are using tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, and Plaxo. If they do not use the tools on a regular basis, they are just riding a wave.

2. They communicate with their audience.

The last person you will want to hire is someone who throws content out on the bed and doesn’t allow for two way communication. The best way to test this? Go to their Twitter account and make sure they are actually sending “RT” and replies to people. 2-way communication is key.

3. Do they call themselves a Social Media Expert? Ask about the 10,000 hours rule.

The person that calls themselves a “social media expert” is the last person you want to hire. Read Paul Dunay’s post about 10,000 hours to become an expert.

4. Ask them their definition of social media.

If they give you a list of tools. Fail them.

5. They will run your Twitter account for you.

It is impossible to ghost a Twitter account. YOU either use it or you don’t. Ghostwriting for a blog is a different story and NOT for this post.

6. Their blog is less than six months old with no comments. (thanks Beth)

7. Ask them about social bookmarking. Do they know what it is? Do they use it?

8. Have they taught a class before on social media? Even a webinar?

It is important that your consultant or educator has experience in teaching or presenting on social media. The last thing you want to do is spend money for something that is going to be a DRAG. You want to know that you are not wasting your money.

9. Are they a Just-add-water expert?

10. They actually have a personality and GET people.

It is important that your social media consultant have a personality. What do I mean by personality? They are not stuck in an office all day pecking away at Twitter and have no sense of humor. ALSO, they are not overly bubbly and excited about everything under the sun. Sanity is key.

11. They blog more than once a week.

It is important that the investigation goes deeper into the blogging world. Your social media consultant should be learning on a daily basis and expounding upon what they are learning by blogging. This does not have to be catered specifically to a BLOG (wordpress or blogger). You can always check on Twitter on how they are communicating and learning.

12. They are linking and being linked.

Complete a Google link search and make sure your social media consultant actually has people and blogs linking back to their site. It is extremely important

13. Ask their opinion on viral marketing.

It is extremely important that your social media consultant and educator understand the concepts behind word-or-mouth marketing and viral marketing. Social media marketing is a relationship drive model. The evangelists and lovers of your product or service need to have the means to shout to the world… WE LOVE YOU!

14. Check out their website.

The first step to any Internet or social media strategy is the website. Do they have a communication drive website or is it a web 1.0 brochure driven site? Are they interacting with people? Are they talking about social media? Are they talking to YOU and not about their services.

15. What do other people think about them?

Mentors are one of the greatest asset to any small business owner. Who would they choose? Maybe they think social media is a waste of time. You need to take that into account. Maybe they were burned in the past? It is extremely important to get another perspective when entering into a relationship with any type of consultant or marketing professional.

16. They advise you to start a Facebook page as the first step.

It isn’t about starting in one spot. If you are new to the world of social media it may be smart to start USING Facebook other than trying to manage all 5 but the last thing you need to do is just start a Facebook fan page. SM strategy should be surrounding an integrated marketing approach. Period.

17. The instant success test

It takes time and knowledge to be successful at using social media as a small business strategy. If they promise instant results.. You should probably find another consultant.

18. What do they think about traditional marketing and advertising?

Ask them. If they come back to you and say that the traditional approach to marketing is dead. They are just riding a wave of no return. They will never understand the concepts of combining traditional and new media into an overall strategy.

19. Ask them about Radian6.

Radian6 is one of the better brand monitoring companies out there. If they have no idea about Radian6. FAIL.

20. What is their opinion of Quality over Quantity?

If your social media consultant starts talking about driving hundreds of followers to your social media account they don’t understand the concept of TWO WAY COMMUNICATION. Quality is so much better than quantity. Quality connections are the only way to succeed at using social media to expand your business.

21. They believe in actually listening to your problems instead of convincing you about the world of social media.

22. If they are still using an @aol.com, @aim.com, @comcast.net, or @att.net email. Fail them.

23. Listen for new approaches to strategy.

Everyone is offering to be a “social” consultant. Do they talk and think differently than anyone else you have listened to? If they do. You have a gem on your hands. Creative thinkers are the best social media consultants.

24. Are they a used car salesman? Do they seem genuine?

For the sake of argument I am going to list this. Do not work with someone you do not trust. Period.

25.Do they have any success stories?

Ask them about their history in using social media. The space is extremely new but there are people who are succeeding in using the tool. If they do not have case studies. Ask.

There are plenty more but this is just the beginning. Add to the list if you would like!