The Power of Social Media: Educate Embrace and Empower

There are things (thoughts, opinions, and ideas) that need to be talked about… hashed and rehashed over the course of months… to years. Implementing a successful social media strategy is one of those ideas. How do you implement something internally? How do you implement an idea… how do you push it to gain traction and succeed?

Educate. Embrace. and Empower.

Embracing: The first step in implementing a social media strategy (as part of your overall marketing strategy) for your business is to embrace the concept of communication in the online environment. It is simple. It means you recognize the change that is transforming the way millions of people communicate on a daily basis. As a brand, you are embracing social media as a way to create a marketing message and tell a story to thousands of potential clients. You do not need to be particulary comfortable with the notion of open communication but you DO need to understand the concept of implement a strategy into your business.

Educating: Once you have embraced the concept of using social media as a communication platform.. it is important to educate yourself and your staff in the philosophy and practical use of the platforms. Whether you are debating on using tools like Twitter or Facebook it is important to educate yourself in the simple and complex workings of the social media world.

The first step in education? Listening. Listen to what people are saying on the Internet about your company, product, or industry. By listening to the masses you will be able to adapt yourself to the world of online communication.  There are also great seminars and learning environments to immerse yourself into.. every city has them… search and you will find.

Empowering: After embracing the tool and educating yourself (and your team) on strategy and usage it is time to empower the actual implementation of a social media strategy. This could mean with money, time, and other resources. Use the strategy plan you have written (or had written from an outside firm) and empower your team to use the tools.

Remeber that pig headed discipline always wins out in the long run. Empower yourself to have the discipline to stick with the strategy you have crated whether it surrounds blogging or a use of a social network.

This is just the start to great journey that is unfolding in front of us. Use the Internet to communicate (both internally and externally). I think you could be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

The Power of Douglas Karr and DK New Media

Who is Douglas Karr? If you don’t know, you should.  Douglass Karr is a Social Media consultant, United States Veteran and the CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company. His company helps implement social media into large technology companies. Doug himself is a professional speaker who does on-site strategic consulting or private blog coaching. This doesn’t do him or his company justice. Let’s get to know this guy and what he does a little better. Doug has helped hundreds of companies realize the power of blogging through his Corportate Blogging book due out in August. He is also the founding father of the Marketing Technology Blog which features many informed authors. Douglas himself has written 1,513 posts with his latest being How to Generate A YouTube Thumbnail. To say the least… this guy knows a thing or two about social media, blogging and search engine optimization.

The way DK New Media serves its clients is through a process. (taken from DKNewMedia.com)

1.Analysis – of the clients in terms of their current resources, strategies and implementations.
2.Implementation – of the tools and processes necessary to measure success.
3.Optimization – of campaigns to continuously improve the results as opportunities arise.
4.Automation – development and integration of tools and processes to reduce resources.
5.Education – of client’s staff to assume control and execution of the strategies developed.

This process ensures the creation of a successful strategy plan. They fully embrace the ideal of being partners with their clients versus consultants, developers or subcontractors. DK New Media has helped companies from all over the world. It is a company known for being innovative, creative and experts in this field. The Marketing Technology Blog showcases these very attributes  by acknowledging other like minded experts and being as current as possible. This blog, in short, leaves nothing out. It provides all the technology and marketing advice you could ever want (or need). The blogs alone offer rich, relevant content from experts who have experience and know how…..not to mention these blogs are also interesting. However, don’t just take my word for it. Visit yourself and discover something  new and valuable. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know Douglas Karr…you can call him Doug…he and his company are one to read about.

And not to mention… he is the one who started me in the world of social media!

5 Reasons Why Whole Foods Knows Social Media

Thanks to Mike Heffner at Express Employment Professionals in Greenwood, Indiana for sending me this story on Whole Foods. Whole Foods is giving their managers and their employees the ability to make their own “brand” on social. This shows an extreme trust because Whole Foods is switching from a centralized to decentralized brand messaging model.

If you go to Whole Foods’ site and click “Facebook,” you see a hub page that lists not only the main Whole Foods account, but all the individual stores’ accounts. This is a smart move, for 5 reasons:

1. It says that Whole Foods trusts its people. The company empowers its managers to speak online about their favorite beers, store events, jobs, you name it.

2. Potential applicants get a genuine glimpse of their local store’s culture. Knowing the culture of the Company-with-a-capital-C is only half of the story; future employees also want to know what it’s really like to work for their neighborhood store.

3. Allows Whole Foods to become a community. By creating these pages Whole Foods has embraced the idea of creating a community. Where customers begin to think of their trip to Whole Foods as a community experience rather versus just a trip to the store.

4. Through empowering its managers it empowers its customers. How? Customers now come in anxious to try what’s being talked about online. This gives credibility to its employees and allows the customer to engage offline.

5. All the information is in one spot. Future employees or customers can search for Whole Foods and find all they need to know without having to extensively search. The research is done for you; all in one stop

Whole Foods serves as an example of good online branding. They have successfully blogged about their industry, set up social networks where people can engage directly and empowered their current employees.Whole Foods sets a tone for other stores to follow. In this day and age no industry is left out, which even means grocery stores. They have been innovative with their online quest and serve as a good reminder on what to do.

10 Ways to Build and Focus on Passionate Content

I was reading a post by Jay Baer titled the 14 Things I Think I Think About Social Media (Great title huh?) and one of the fourteen points hit me pretty hard.

“Social media is fueled by passion, and too many companies try to take elements of their company that aren’t passion-worthy, and attempt to build a social media program around it.”

How do you go about defining passion-worthy elements within your company? What does it mean to have passion filled content to share across the expanse of the Internet and the tools afforded through social media?

I don’t know if companies knowingly choose elements that “aren’t passion-worthy”… maybe they have no idea? They have been rooted for years in this centralized brand strategy… rooted in the belief that they (in the ivory towers) understand what makes their product or service passionate.

How do you go about creating passionate content or choosing “passion-worthy” elements within your company?

10 Ways to Build and Focus on Passionate Content

1. Tell the story of founding the company or your first week at the company. What sites and sounds did you experience? What made you love what you did that first 72 hours?

2. Tell the story of a client. Who is your best client? Who makes the world go round for your company? We all have them. Tell THEIR sorry… now THAT is passionate content.

3. Better yet.. get your client to tell the story for you! Ask your best client to write a guest post. They are the passionate user.

4. Include your own opinions and arguments about popular trends. Great writing moves people and inspires them.

5. Ask your employees what makes them passionate. Does it have to do with the overall company product or service? Heavens no! Your employees are as much of the brand as your overpriced logo on the side of your overpriced building.

6. Remember… your customers and employees are the most important part of your passion worthy content. Let them tell the story for you.

7. Great user/customer experience creates passion-worthy content. What does it feel like when an individual walks into your store? What is the experience when someone clicks through your website?

8. Check out the 4 cornerstones to creating great content from Rand (SEOmoz).

9. Keep tabs on your blog content creation guidelines. How are you creating your blog content? How are you systematically telling your story?

10. Leave no question behind your motives.  Create transparent content that elicits a response. If you have multiple writers in your company… be very sure you have a system and policy in place to allow them to write authentically.

Hey Execs: It’s Time to Embrace Social

I had the pleasure of contributing content to an excellent report released yesterday by email/direct marketing company, ExactTarget. The report is called Letters to the C-Suite: Getting Serious About Social Media. Here is the breakdown:

You know social media is a big deal and that you brand should be engaged. But you still find yourself questioning how to monetize social media and where it fits with your other marketing activities. Sound familiar? Here is what is covered:

1. The importance of planning and implementing a social media strategy

2. How to build stronger customer relationships using social media outlets
3. Operationalization of social media marketing and how it directly impacts your bottom line
4. The value of social media testing and optimization efforts

I was joined by eleven other consultants in the report. Please check out their sites and join in the conversation:

Jay Baer – Convince and Convert

David Baker – Razorfish

Sergio Balegno - MarketingSherpa

Olivier Blanchard – The Brand Builder

Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer

Ann Handley – MarketingProfs

Joseph Jaffe - Powered/Flip the Funnel

Valeria Maltoni – Conversation Agent

Shelly Palmer - Advanced Media Ventures Group

Trey Pennington – Spitball Marketing

Jeffrey K. Rohrs – ExactTarget

It is all about navigating through the wonderful world of social media. If you would like to download the report please click the follow link and enjoy > Letters to the C-Suite: Getting Serious About Social Media.

The Beauty of Humanizing Content

There are random times throughout my life where I have the pleasure of sitting down with Chris Baggott. Chris is co-founder of ExactTarget and now co-founder and CEO of Compendium Blogware. Our meetings always consist with some type of beverage and spirited discussion around the world of direct/internet marketing. Yesterday, we were talking about the future of online marketing and where social media, email, blogging, podcasting, search and mobile fit into the discussion. After arguing about a few things here and there we came to the conclusion that everything is about content. Now, it does matter what type of tools you use and how you use them… but that more important thing in marketing is about creating content that moves.

Chris made the comment:

Above all, it is about taking your story… your company stories… your client stories… your employee stories… and humanizing content. It is about telling your story to improve search and the sharing of the content. Simply put… get other people to tell the story for you.

This is a conversation that happens (quite a bit) on this blog. I say it all the time… I don’t care about your clients. I care about their friends. Your clients are already your friends! Leave customer service and client retention programs to keep them in the loop.

Create content and marketing strategies that encourage your clients to talk to their friends.

Because the truth of the matter is…

The only people who can truly humanize your content are the people you have already served. They are also the only people (and marketing voice) that will cause potential clients to act… and buy.

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Corporate Communication on a Non-Profit Budget

My day job is to manage communications for a tiny program in a tiny non-profit. For those of you familiar with the non-profit world, you read into that exactly what I meant to imply—small budget. In my experience with corporate and private sector communications, it’s not unrealistic to expect a budget of several thousands of dollars per project. If you work for a non-profit, you’re lucky to get that much for all of your communications projects for an entire year.
If I was being honest, I like the challenge. Every day I am tasked with effectively communicating important messages both internally and to the masses in a way that is engaging, exciting, and essentially, well, free.

This is why I am shocked at how few non-profits are utilizing social media. When it comes to my organization, I’m not updating Twitter and Facebook daily—but hourly. We also have a blog and are putting time and a portion of our budget into redeveloping a website. Has it been effective for us? Absolutely. And better yet—it completely fits my budget.

Since beefing up our project’s web presence, there has been an increase in clients, public awareness, and media interaction. In an organization that grows by reputation, typically an increase in one or more of those categories yields something: A BIGGER increase in clients, public awareness, and media interaction.
Even though non-profits are organizations not all of them are always organized. Utilizing the web has also helped me streamline messaging and collateral. Because my project is so tied into Colorado’s non-profit network, it’s important that I can easily send messages and materials to other partners, sponsors, funders, etc.
And let’s face it: Not only are non-profits not organized, they can also be living in the dark ages. Still, current and potential funders love to see new, innovative systems in place that will effectively maximize the dollars they’re granting. I’m pretty sure we all want happy funders.

Here’s the other thing that all those groups are seeing: the same thing. Regardless of the medium, an online presence allows you to create a voice, or a brand, that can be communicated consistently to a broader group through different resources. Constituents reading our blog might not follow us on Twitter, but they’re receiving the same messages overall. And I bet they like choosing how they receive those messages.

So, to recap, I have found a way to effectively streamline messaging, brand the project, and communicate to the public, the media, internal groups, statewide partners, and current and potential funders for free.

Did you get that?

Therefore, non-profit or not, my question to you is, “Are you utilizing social media to further your company’s mission?” If the answer to that question is no, I have to ask, “WHY NOT?”

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How Intuit Stays Relevant Using Social Media

Christen Wegner is a former journalist turned resident Gen Yer on the communications team at Intuit. When not on Twitter, she is usually texting, on Facebook, or writing for various blogs like Small Business United and TurboTax.

One of the hottest topics for any business, from the small to the large is social. So my first thought when Kyle Lacy sent me a tweet asking me to write a guest blog post I was like “Oh cool, Intuit is doing so much, yay, let’s share.”

So I started collecting info regarding all out campaigns, events, and information and started sharing that with friends and family. But what floored me was what I would find out after talking with a couple former coworkers. Companies are actually still banning their employees from social media – things like Facebook, Twitter, and gasp, personal blogs.

I guess I live in a little bubble and take for granted the fact that at Intuit, we are trusted that we will do what is right as THE voice of Intuit on social channels. And without those social channels there is no way Intuit could have done anything fun, interesting or relevant to what small businesses want and need.

One of those conversations was with a former colleague who told me her company has just blocked Facebook and MySpace from their computers stating employees were “wasting too much time on the social networks.” Of course, her IT department didn’t account for the mobile applications and now employees are frequently seen gripping their Blackberry’s and iPhones.

Thriving with social

When I joined Intuit, social media wasn’t new but it was this undiscovered territory. We were trying to find the right balance between keeping our employees happy and keeping them productive. Happily three years later I can sit here, write this article, have TweetDeck running in the background, and occasionally check out Facebook.

In fact, Intuit encourages employees to do just that. We have employees who train customer service reps, engineers and developers how to start interacting in such social channels. On our Intuit Community dozens of different employees interact every day answering questions, solving problems and simply act as a sounding board for our customers. And what is even better is the Community is where customers go to talk to other customers as well.

And our Small Business team was one of the first teams at Intuit on Twitter. Today we have more than 50 teams and individuals out there. What they learned early on meant a change in strategy for Intuit and insights into how we can help small businesses succeed.

Much of that success led to a desire for other social networking events like town halls, small business events, and a blog where regular experts discuss their tips and tricks (http://smallbusiness.intuit.com/blog/). All of this to help small businesses succeed in business and thrive in the social realm.

Over the last eight months we have managed the Love a Local Business Campaign in which Intuit is putting small businesses on the map. The idea is that fans, including customers, vendors, employees, and the community, determine what small businesses deserve some love with winners receiving small business grants.

That’s right, free money for doing what these small business do every day – take care of their customers and being social.

A big part of our strategy reflects a changing world where people and businesses are increasingly connected. We want to arm all small businesses and employees with tools , ways to listen, and create strong customer engagement as one small business community.

I don’t think any of this could have been done without access to our social channels. So thanks Intuit for letting me and my team stay relevant. And the hope is that our work helps small businesses stay relevant as well.

Why Aren’t You Integrating Your Marketing?

I need to rant. I picked up REACH magazine while hanging out in my apartment yesterday… do we all know what is inside the Reach magazine? Coupons… a ton of coupons from local

businesses…spreading their message and product across the city.

I am all about coupons. I use coupons to buy food, clothing, and services. There was only one problem with the hundred (or so) ads/coupons in the magazine. There were no links associated with social media on any of the coupons. I could not find one logo from  Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace throughout the entire catalog.

This does not make any sense to me… not one bit of sense.

Why wouldn’t you integrate the different forms of media on your coupons? Why wouldn’t you show every type of touchpoint to a buyer? Even the website addresses of the companies failed to show the social media connections on the homepage.

This is absolutely idiotic and ridiculous.

Setting up a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account, or Myspace page is FREE. The only thing that social media can cost you (initially) is your time. Why wouldn’t you setup different accounts to capture potential clients in multiple ways… multiple touchpoints… multiple places.

There are multiple levels of marketing to capture the interests of an individual. It is absolutely ridiculous that a social networking was not mentioned ONCE in the catalog.

In my mind… I would want to capture every single individual who was on social media and was ALSO picking out my coupons… why would I want this type of individual? THEY ARE THE BUYER. They are the influencer. They are the one that spends money with your brand. They are the one you need to communicate with on a daily basis. If they are on social media… why not connect with them on a completely different level then Reach Magazine or newspaper coupons.

And on a second note… their friends are with them on the social networks. Welcome to the best viral marketing you could ever possibly want, need, or desire.

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Does Your Employee’s Personal Life Matter to Your Company?

There have been a few conversations circulating among my network pertaining to the personal life of employees being spread through the social sphere. Here is the overall question:

Does your employee’s personal life matter to your company? Does it affect your company brand?

Some say yes and some say no. The way an employee acts and talks outside of the work has never been more scrutinized than right now. We are living in a world where a mis-sent email, random tweet, or Facebook picture could damage a company and the guilty employee. Let’s run a scenario:

Employee A sends out a Facebook status update to their friends about a club they attended the night before (this could even be a tweet). The status update reads:

I had such a good time last night at Club XYZ. We were really boozing it up and I might have went home with a somebody, but I woke up at my apartment. So we are okay!

Now, I’m not saying that anyone would actually send this… it is only for this scenario. Let’s say that a follower took offense to the comment because the employee worked for a company that touted “ethical values” and shared the comment with their friends… which in turn was shared by a few other people.. and a few other people.. and a few hundred people.

Now the question is… does that affect or hurt the employer? Should employers be more conscious of their employees use of social media? I am torn on the issue and because of this… I decided to ask the opinions of Abbie Fink, Jay Baer, and Jason Falls.

Abbie Fink is Vice President and General Manager for HMA Public Relations :

It is important to remember that there is a very fine line between personal and professional when you are in the social media space.

At our office, I want my team to have some personality and encourage that, in fact.  But knowing that they are representing a variety of different clients, we periodically remind them that any statements on their personal pages must reflect well on us as a business and that of our clients. It is also what I advise when working with clients who are finding their way around Facebook, Twitter, etc.

My guess is that one such post from one employee on their personal page would not damage the employer’s brand. But again, it will be important for that employer to have guidelines in place and monitor what is being said.

Jason Falls is Founder and Tough Guy at Social Media Explorer

That’s why employers and employees need to have social media policies. It’s disappointing that an educated adult would say something offensive or potentially damaging to their career or their company in a public forum, but people mistakenly think that protected Tweets or certain privacy settings mean no one will see it. If you post it, people can see it, capture it, index it and even replicate it so it never goes away.

I tell people they should assume everything they post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on can be seen by their spouse, boss, priest, rabbi, minister, children, grandmother, employees and competitors. If you know that and then post something foolish you get what you deserve.

Companies need social media policies for instances just like this. It can take me less than a minute to see the Tweet, find out who sent it and who they work for. Even if things are private the individual can be found on LinkedIn and Google is really smart and connects the dots. If the individual had been through social media training and been given a company policy it may have stopped the offending tweet.

Jay Baer is Founder and Consultant at Convince and Convert

The lines are continually blurring between personal and professional lives in the online environment. Does it affect you if your employee is a closet dominatrix and readily shares that information to world? Of course it does! It didn’t matter ten…twenty…thirty years ago but it matters now.

It is important to educate your employees on the use of social media and without a policy your dominatrix sales person could sink a client or your bottom line.

There you have it. Jay, Abbie, and Jason are thought leaders in the industry of digital communication and I highly value their opinions. It is important to have a social media policy in place when you encourage your employees to start using social media. The world is an open book and your employees could harm your brand or potential business.

For more information on social media policy development check out Jason’s blog : What Every Company Should Know About Social Media Policy