Social Media Gestalt

Vote for Zack: video inspiration in three parts

2010-06-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Despite all the mediocre-to-scary stuff online, sometimes it's joy to see what people do with all-access media. This one is self-explanatory via three videos.

Background: Oprah is offering to produce a show that anyone can audition for via video submission. (Full details at Oprah's site.)

With more than 2.5 million votes, Zach Anner (make sure you watch the whole video) is currently top contender.

Humor and inspiration got Zack a ton of attention on major aggregation sites Reddit.com, Digg.com, and Technorati.com. It also received support from 4chan, whose members can be a little devious. However, I'd argue that Zack would have received enough backing without them. Then celebrity recording artist John Mayer backed him.

Here's Zack's response:

John Mayer posted a response to Zack's thank you, including an offer to write the show's theme song.

I'm sure we'll learn a whole lot more about Zach's as this plays out. Frankly, I hope he gets the show. Pretty much in agreement with what Mayer said in his video.

As often as we see contrived efforts to get attention online, this one's fun to spectate on.

Does the Internet make us stupid?

2010-06-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

I've posted Clay Shirky videos previously, but his essay "Does the Internet Make You Smarter?" (Jun. 4, 2010 Wall St. Journal) made a particularly strong point.

Excerpt:

Every increase in freedom to create or consume media, from paperback books to YouTube, alarms people accustomed to the restrictions of the old system, convincing them that the new media will make young people stupid. This fear dates back to at least the invention of movable type.

That always happens too. In the history of print, we got erotic novels 100 years before we got scientific journals, and complaints about distraction have been rampant; no less a beneficiary of the printing press than Martin Luther complained, "The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no measure of limit to this fever for writing." Edgar Allan Poe, writing during another surge in publishing, concluded, "The enormous multiplication of books in every branch of knowledge is one of the greatest evils of this age; since it presents one of the most serious obstacles to the acqquisition of correct information.

I link this blog to Clay's because I admire his ability to to see and explain real cultural trends within the context of the Internet's (and all related technology/platforms) effect on societies.

In the world of social media--where the media itself is incredibly self-referential and there are plenty of individuals proclaiming to know all the answers with any one technology as a panacea--being able to understand and articulate a larger picture makes you more valuable.

As Wired Magazine put it:

Shirky is one of the handful of people with justifiable claim to the digerati moniker. He's become a consistently prescient voice on networks, social software, and technology's effects on society.

More Shirky bio (and video) at TED.

Definitely worth a little of your time.

Musings: How to create an online arts community in your town

2010-06-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

Truth is, it's about relationships, which need to be established/nurtured as much old-school (in person) as they are via technology.

Keep it all technologically simple to facilitate reader sharing. Blog within an established platform like WordPress or Blogger, with postings accessible via RSS feed and pictures/video sharable and embeddable outside of it. I am a fan of Creative Commons licensing. Leverage readers’ social circles (i.e. email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr). Emphasize listening/responding to them. Become the growing portfolio/resource showing the breadth and inclusiveness of your community's arts circles.

Create regularly-appearing topics (i.e. visual arts Mon., music Wed., theater Fri.). Readers learn routines and tune in for their favorites. It keeps workload manageable. Layer special topics/features over this.

Have editors and reporters tweet as they work. Especially pictures: of an interview, behind-the-scenes (of the art); a piece/costume preview; or intriguing question/quote. Work hand-in-hand with other media. Leverage those relationships you already have; learn to develop the ones you need.

Help arts organizations participate directly, but not with a press kit or puffery. Give them a format and guidelines for submitting to a regular feature: 10 Pictures | 10 Questions. “Dear organizations/artists: Create for us a slide show that takes us behind the show/performance/work. Give your answers some real thought. No studio shots. Same questions for everyone. Answers must be 50 words or fewer.”

It’s art. Tell the story in images as much as in writing. Use video and audio when it tells the story. Nothing for technology’s sake. Avoid reviews (they’re everywhere). Ditch the “society” snapshot where the artist and benefactors hold glasses of wine during opening.

Instead, show the mess they caused: work jeans, dust, splattered paint, discards, and sweat. Tell the story leading to the work, including education, politics, and funding. Where do ideas come from? What is this show like during setup, chorography, costuming, and rehearsal? Why this (these) selection(s), artist(s)? What brought you to this medium, series, or set? What does the audience look like from the stage? How do differing generations or cultures react?

Make it a point to explore non-traditional arts, especially those challenging convention. Is graffiti art? What do officials or authorities naysay even as we appreciate it? What’s hot on skateboards, surfboards, custom cars? (Or Is that question outdated?) What wows at open-mic night? Is there breakout talent in quilting, weaving, welding, glass, or home-made musical instruments? Have you seen NYC's trash bag vent sculptures? More local, how about a respected UCSD professor of percussion?

Accomplish this via a network of sources and stringers inside the spectrum of creative circles. Tap into/include arts educators, especially those enlivening history, illuminating technique, or exploring new territory. Maintain a list of “must-sees” that do not appear on anyone else’s list.

Add events: attend, participate, and organize your own.

Rinse. Repeat.

What's your story?

2010-05-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

This Google Talks presentation by marketing wise-man/author Seth Godin is 45 minutes long and three years old. But its point remains relevant: Is your brand/product telling a story?

As many new toys as social media has given us (and continues to add), stories have increased importance. They are what stands out. They are what people remember.

Truth is, though the connectedness and mix/easy access to so many mediums changes our relationship to them, the primary communication elements of social media are not new: text, audio, pictures, and video. Though a YouTube video gone viral, a smart blog entry, or wit-infused tweet can grab a momentary audience—they go away just as easily. And forget as the next one presented by someone else catches their eye.

But a story told over time and re-iterated by your use of social media can weave your brand or products into your customers’ minds so that it rises to the surface when they need your product.

Example you might know: How many companies come to mind when you need a greeting card or collectible item? Hallmark has told stories for years that tug at our emotions. These range from 60-second, tear-inducing commercials to feature-length television specials that require a whole box of tissues. They’ve made the brand synonymous with emotional moment. But they never shout “buy Hallmark”. They make you feel the tug, then hint at where you can find them when you need.

You can see the same effect in how they’re using their company blog. (Notice how those 9 pictures immerse you in what happened, even before you read any text.)

It's the storytelling that makes them stand apart. It’s an effort that takes planning. Knowing who your real audience is and designing an ongoing campaign that reaches them. Used in concert, these collected media help infuse that story into our customers’ lives… right down to the email or Facebook reminder that tells us it’s time to buy a loved one a card.

So, it’s great that you’ve picked up that Flip camera and have a staffer running around taking pictures whenever possible. But what story are they trying to tell? We all have workplaces, so seeing people in meetings and offices--though they're working hard--isn't going to keep our attention.

Photos (and tweets, blog posts, and anything else media) work better when there’s a real reason behind them. Notice that this isn’t about the technology. It’s about the thought you’ve put into using the technology cohesively. What does what you’re selling really mean to your customers? Can you convey that plain language in a single sentence? How can that these tools then be built upon that notion?

Seth gives the thought a little more time and a number of other examples. It’s well worth the time invested.

Can Social Networks Be Generated Automatically?

2010-05-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

Article's good & concise, so I'll send you right to it.

It's more technical in nature than most of the PR-related social media discussions you see out there. However, this article gives some great insight into some of the complication inherent in creating software to construct the links between individuals. The difficulty stems from the fact that we're... well, people. The question asked: Just what comprises a person's connection to another?

My favorite part:

On the flip side of the spouse problem is "the ex problem," which was highlighted during the launch of Buzz. This occurs when algorithms connect two people who may have communicated frequently at one point but no longer do, and no longer wish to--such as estranged romantic partners.

Among the takeaways here is the reality that social networks people form are glimpsed in a shadow-like fashion by the tools we use to see them online. This is a constantly-evolving world. But we can also look back at older tools for figuring out who connects to who and what--such as Neilson-type surveys and demographics groupings--to realize we've made leaps in understanding these connections. Ever tried to define yourself solely by what section of the record store you'd visit if you could only select one section?

Use the tools as the shorthand they are, but don't confuse them with what's really going on. We'll be able to see even more clearly next year, or the next.

Here there be Trolls

2010-04-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

From a New York Times piece about news sites experimenting with eliminating anonymous comments on their articles:

“Anonymity is just the way things are done. It’s an accepted part of the Internet, but there’s no question that people hide behind anonymity to make vile or controversial comments,” said Arianna Huffington, a founder of The Huffington Post. “I feel that this is almost like an education process. As the rules of the road are changing and the Internet is growing up, the trend is away from anonymity.”

This is a pretty good summary of the debate. Having worked on several projects that sparked significant comments/debate, I've found the Amazon-style model that allows other readers to rank comments really helps. The crowd is damn smart and this frees "editors" from having to constantly police things. Craigslist is particularly good at this.

It helps also to have an "ignore" feature, allowing individual readers to avoid personalities they don't like. Facebook's "block" feature works this way. When you block someone, you can't see them and they can't see you. Even in searches. Most "Trolls" thrive off goading people arguing back... and when the arguments don't happen, they get bored and move elsewhere.

The article misses several things:

1) Anonymity also has an upside--in allowing honesty where it can't be put forth for fear of ramifications. This can be as simple as someone having a really bad experience at a popular restaurant. It can be as complex as an employee "whistleblower" at a corporation. I liken this to journalists protecting their sources. It's important even on the small scale. We don't want to squelch communication here just because someone might write something harshly critical or use offensive language.

2) I think some of these publications underestimate how many of their readers come to see/join in the fight. I've watched many sites shut down debate for the same reason and lose readers. It's like salacious gossip. Collectively, we like it more than we're willing to admit.

3) Given the history of anonymity from the earliest days of public use of the Internet, users always find a way around the system. Those who really want to play Troll will find a way to create fake/anonymous accounts.

That said, transparency rules the day in the professional practice of public relations. The downsides just aren't worth it. Just ask the CEO of Whole Foods.

Edit of one more thing: Adding #4 to my list of 3: There's also an element of audience managing their own reading/participation in the list. Though there are certainly Trolls and those who are hyper-sensitive to them, like all things human interaction, regular conversation participants (whether lurkers or posters) quickly learn to filter out the extreme messages. For instance, it's often reported that regular users of Amazons's comments system will ignore the extreme ratings (5 stars or 9 stars) to gravitate toward those who gave a middle-star rating and thoughtful insight into the value of the item they're reviewing. Audiences are more adept at filtering than we often give them credit for. Though we hear extreme stories in the news (i.e. a girl committing suicide because of mean postings on her Facebook account), those stories make the news specifically because they are exceptions. Not the norm.

Learn from Team Coco

2010-04-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

It helps to be a celebrity.

Even better, controversy, especially the salacious, gossipy kind that pegs you as the victim of evil corporate machinations is a surefire winner.

However, Conan O’Brien (and team) demonstrated a whole lot of social media savvy in promoting his current live tour. It’s best summed up in a single line from this NYT article:

Sometimes, it seems, it is better to embrace an existing online audience than to try to create a new one.

As the article explains:

Mr. O’Brien, who was the host of NBC’s “Late Night” for 16 years before taking over “The Tonight Show” last year, has never been known for his Internet prowess. He had a show Web site, maintained by NBC, but no site of his own.

In lieu of staring their own social media profiles, the team embraced and [helped facilitate] existing ones. It’s bolstered by a web site at teamcoco.com, which they do control.

Key takeaways:

A MAJOR part of smart social media strategy is paying attention to what is being said about (and to) you. You need to research a bit and set up tools for following these conversations. And you do NOT have control of them. In fact, attempting to exert control over them will most likely create a nasty situation for you.
Instead of trying to control the conversations, listen to them. This may be some of the most honest market research you ever do. Essentially, you become a fly on the wall when people are discussing you.
To facilitate, make it easy to share correct information about you. Don’t force it. You can’t barge into a conversation, as people will only tune you out (at best). Mock and/or tear you apart somewhere you can’t see (other side of the spectrum). However, the easier it is to share correct information about you, the more your supporters can play a part in getting that information where you’d like it shared. It’s communications jujitsu: let your fans do the work for you. Get your critics to praise you by...
…using what you gain from the conversation to adjust your behavior. Remember, this may be the most honest market research you encounter. Your organization exists to serve a market. Listening to that market is the greatest compliment you can pay them. Do this well, and they will reward you.

Thurs. April 29: Advanced Social Media for Arts & Culture Organizations

2010-04-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 29, 2010
2:00 – 5:00 pm

United Way Building
4699 Murphy Canyon Road
San Diego, CA 92123

Free to San Diego Foundation members, RSVP required

-----

You’ve tried the basics. Facebook. Twitter. Blogging. You have friends, followers, and fans. You update status, upload pictures, and may even share videos or podcasts.

But the big question remains: How do we find out if this is working?

In this follow-up to last year’s Survive & Thrive: Social Media 101 workshop, Casey DeLorme, APR, delves into this and related questions with numerous relevant case studies, colorful illustrations, poignant inquiries, and a dose of humor.

This workshop culminates with a “tabletop” simulation game, which challenges attendees to strategize and prioritize social media tools to achieve both impact and budget objectives by applying the day’s lessons. Participants say this simulation helps immensely in translating social workshop theory into their own real-world campaigns.

Attendees will come away with:

A map for developing and implementing an effective social media campaign.
Worksheets to guide you in making key decisions about strategies, tools, and campaign management.
Formulas for demonstrating the bottom-line (R.O.I.) impact of your efforts.
A guide to arts-relevant social media case studies.

Casey is an award-winning marketing and public relations consultant with significant experience with developing online marketing campaigns. His clients cover industries ranging from politics, higher-education, tourism, retail, arts, and entertainment. Attendees of previous workshops note Casey’s ability to make concepts easy to understand. His ability to evoke on-the-spot creative brainstorms means that you’ll leave the workshop with at least one—if not more—solutions you can implement back at the office.

RSVP to Kate Ridge at Kate@sdfoundation.org by April 27, 2010. Questions? call Felicia Shaw at 619-235-2300 for more information.

Sony vs. Sony: This One Could Be Done Better

2010-03-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

Note: This is part 2 of Sony vs. Sony

Project:Rocket is OH. SO. CLOSE!

I want to love this one. I really do. Hell, I grew up on a Radio Shack "Aeronautical Lab Kit". Greatest. Birthday. Gift. Ever. It taught the exact principles these kids are learning... and they get to use computers!

But what is a great idea--which even meshes wonderfully with showing off the products produced by all the sponsoring companies--falls short of capturing its audience.

As I tried to find my way through it, I kept thinking... um, I'm here for the rockets. But they’re hard to find. Despite the calendar/countdown layout, it’s difficult to navigate. And while I have no problem with showing sponsor logos and equipment, I don’t like being pounded over the head with it.

Sony logo. Sony laptop. Sony camera. Sony laptop. Sony logo... yes, we get it's a Sony project. And it's a Sony VIAO (Intel inside!) laptop. We also notice that the videos all zoom in on the Sony logo and professionally-done photography is of SONY something and everything else... is secondary.

We get it’s Sony. Quit telling us we’re stupid.

Stop. I don’t want to be a neg. Let me flip this around and share some thoughts on what might work better to pull the audience in AND entice them with Sony products:

START WITH A COMPELLING IDEA. SOMETHING THE RIGHT AUDIENCE WOULD LOVE TO FOLLOW/PARTICIPATE IN...

Wait, you nailed that one. We’re interested. In fact, we’ll ride right along and gobble up how great Sony VIAO laptops and other equipment are. But we’re here for the rockets. Weave the Sony message into the rocket journey, but make the ROCKET (and the drama of building it) the focus.

SIMPLIFY. SIMPLIFY. SIMPLIFY.

The idea behind that calendar/countdown concept is good, but it’s a really difficult way to navigate. Also, we’re not getting much from having a daily video. Might be more powerful to condense into once- or twice-weekly videos. Particularly if you can wrap each video around a concept or lesson the team has to lean/tackle/solve. We don’t have to follow each step. Just pull us in based on key ROCKETRY concepts.

Hell, we’ll even accept you wrapping the concepts around how the features of a Sony VIAO laptop helped in tackling difficult problems.

Did it’s processing power help crank the math behind the problem faster?

Did its blazing graphics chip make the animation of that difficult concept flow smoother so we better understand how air flows around aerodynamic shapes at subsonic vs. supersonic speeds?

Did the exceptional screen resolution help you catch something that we might otherwise have missed?

Even simpler: Did the battery life help students make it through a particularly long day of learning… ABOUT ROCKETRY?

They might actually be there. But we get bogged down before we get to them.

The deal is, we only have so much time/attention span. Even the smart ones. Don’t make us work for something. Current navigation does. A little extra planning would not only keep our attention, but would let you dish up those products in a way we’d accept hook/line/sinker.

To compare with my comments on yesterday’s Project:Report, I can’t find a single point on the page where I can really follow what’s going on. Project:Report gave me:

A single video that explained/introduced it all
A single link to everything I needed to know in detail (the rules)
Instructional videos on how to go about participation.

Now, I realize this one isn’t a contest… but I want to be able to follow along. Which leads me to my last two comment categories.

TEACH THOSE KIDS ABOUT COMMUNICATING VIA VIDEO (OR, HAVE SOMEONE WHO KNOWS VIDEO HELP TELL THE STORY)

These kids keep telling me how they had a hard day. Or a long day. Or they had to think a lot.

Yawn. Stop. Talking. At. Me. These are the answers moms get when they ask their teens how school was today. I hoped for more 4 videos in. Got truly bored around 8. Gave up at 10.

It’s not that the kids aren’t smart. They clearly are. I mean… ROCKET SCIENCE and all. However, communicating—telling a story of sharing useful information—via video is a different skill. I’ll give you that in the Project:Report, you were working specifically with participants who focused on telling a story via video. It’s a skill, usually learned through trial and error. What’s happened here is you’ve handed non-artists a pencil and paper and asked them to draw you a picture. A little guidance would go a long way.

Provide them with someone who can guide them in telling a story. Help them anchor it around something like a single concept (seem my list from “Give Us Access”, below). Show moments like:

The instructor/rocket scientist presenting the problem. Challenging the kids.
A clip of when the problem went really wrong for NASA. How about ON a laptop screen? (Most of the shots in the current videos show the kids with their laptops on their desks… but not a combo of the kids working at their laptops AND the screens themselves, letting the viewer know how useful the laptops were.
Kids reacting as they see the NASA rocket explode, go off course, or close-ups of the find vibration or nose wobble, or red-hot overheating or whatever the real issue is.
Confessions: The kids taking a moment to say how they feel about tackling this problem… i.e. “I’m worried, because this could cause the whole thing to fail.” or “I think this is a tacklable issue; however, we’re going to have to learn some math/physics/atmospheric science in one day if we’re gonna stay on schedule.” Wow… did I just set up… conflict? Drama? [Really, I was surprised at that one.]
Shots of the problem as it appears on web sites or in books or instructor drawings as the kids research it. Great opportunity to scan across a Sony (Intel Inside!) logo as they use their laptops for this purpose.
The kids working out problems on paper or whiteboard… OR GATHERED THEIR LAPTOP SCREENS, where software is serving as the amazing tool that it is.
The kids making a big ‘ole mess… pulling together the pieces/materials/models they need to solve the problem. Be sure to include faces of disappointment/failure and moment of triumph.
Heck. that might make a great music montage. I wonder where Sony could get some music for this? Or… if they could demonstrate the fact that it was playing on a SONY laptop, MP3 player, or even stereo system. How about a link where we could download the song?
The kids presenting the solution to their instructor/rocket scientist and his reaction as they did so. i.e. “Great job.” or “Nice, but did you think of this…?” or “That leads directly to tomorrow’s challenge…”
End-of-day confessions (clearly exhausted kids): i.e. “Wow, that was a lot of work… but now I understand why this is important.” and “I just need some sleep, ‘cause who knows what we’ll have to solve tomorrow?” and “IT’S SO COOL WE COULD DO THAT MATH ON THE SONY (INTEL INSIDE!) LAPTOP… THAT SAVED US A TON OF GRIEF!

Something like this could be edited together into a 5-minute piece each week, resulting in a 50-minute collection over the 10 weeks leading to launch. It would better invite/engage... and would be a whole to those who came to the program mid-way or even after it was over (which gives it legs leading to the next effort.)

You know who does this really well, while still maintaining that element of drama/excitement/discovery and general figuring-it-out? The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters show. In fact, their shows would be a great reference point for the whole project. (“Good artists borrow, but great artists steal.” – Picasso)

The point here: Though this requires a professional to help them video-blog, your audience will be much more drawn in by the story/drama of it all. Which will also make us appreciate the product placement/blatant ads along the way. We tolerate ads on TV for a reason… we love the story. It’s told well… even reality shows are assembled/edited by professionals.

Same thing in social media, where we’re more likely to quickly tune out if that formula’s not up-to-par.

And, if you better hold our interest in a single clip, image, or resource, we're more likely to share it widely across our networks. More traffic like that brings more people to your efforts, which exposes Sony products even further.

GIVE US ACCESS! I SHOULD FEEL LIKE I CAN BUILD MY OWN ROCKET USING SONY (INTEL INSIDE!) EQUIPMENT AFTER FOLLOWING ALONG.

This one nagged me a lot. I SO wanted to access that manual/binder they were referencing. It was huge. What’s inside there? (This will pull your audience in…)

PDF it! Hell, SELL IT.

Or, use social media to its full effect, and point us to the lessons themselves!

What is thrust?

What happens to aerodynamics when a vehicle exceeds sonic speeds?

Where can I find out more about amateur rocketry?

How can I mount a camera on a model rocket?

Using your Sony (Intel Inside!) laptop to solve math/physics problems.

You could even go so far as to partner with model rocketry clubs and/or teachers across the country... which would give this campaign an incredible reach! Give them a chance to be at the launch/meet the kids! Visit NASA! (Or even win free or discounted Sony gear...)

Just some ideas. But I think they’d help us appreciate both this effort and Sony products all the more, while inspiring us (and the kids) to want to pursue math/science… and possibly be Sony engineers one day.

Note: This is part 2 of Sony vs. Sony

Sony vs. Sony: Contrasting YouTube-centric case studies

2010-03-16T11:03:00.001-07:00

Watching larger companies experiment with social media allows us to explore what can/might/and doesn’t work while someone else foots the bill and/or throws whole marketing teams at the effort.

Sony is a big company experimenting with social media campaigns. Some good. Some… well, doesn’t quite make sense (maybe I'm not the... intended audience? But, then, who IS?).

I’ve been watching two projects that contrast well against one another largely because the premise behind each campaign is strong, but execution diverges in that way that makes a great list of “do this” vs. “this could be done better”. Because each is fairly long, I’m going to do this in two parts. Sony: Do More of This vs. Sony: This Could Be Done Better.

Sony: Do More of This - Project Report

Premise: “In partnership with the Pulitzer Center, YouTube presents Project: Report, a journalism contest (made possible by Sony VAIO & Intel) intended for non-professional, aspiring journalists to tell stories that might not otherwise be told.”

Launched in 2008, this not-quite-a-contest invites aspiring journalists/documentarians to produce a 3-minute piece that...

Document[s] a single day in the life of a compelling person that you think the world should know about and showcase how that person is making a positive impact in his/her community. (Video Submission subject must be a person other than the Entrant) Please Note: All video footage must be shot, and take place, during the same 24 hour period.

Note how easy that was to understand. Took me less than a minute to find that paragraph in their rules.

What works:

FIRST:

I say not-quite-a-contest to differentiate it from the often first-attempt-at-social-media contest many companies launch in hopes that friends/followers/viewers will provide compelling content to fill their social media pages.

This has worked well for some (i.e. Swiffer), but more often than not, the campaign confuses social media and running a contest. They are two different things. To make a contest work, you need some seriously compelling reasons for people to participate… especially once they realize that creating content is hard work. Thus, the prizes need to be both appealing and significant. (Though not a specific prize, momentary fame is also a motivator.)

To the participant here, the prizes include:

A $10K grants, Sony VIAO Laptops (Intel Inside!), SONY camcorders and a chance to work at/with the Pulitzer Center—one of the most respected organizations in journalism.
An audience of thousands (even millions) to see your work. Which is also a portfolio piece.
A chance to tell a story that really matters, but is not being told. (Big motivator in the journalism world.

Each of these are great motivators AND are completely in line with both the spirit of the contest and the aspects each sponsor wants to promote: Sony/Intel equipment for video. Pulitzer for excellence in journalism. To the point that it makes sense that the Sony/Intel logos come across as completely appropriate within the context of the contest page. Even the videos where finalists are showing off their new Sony VIAO computers and camcorders make sense.

Aside: I need to mention that contests also require significant promotion to the right audience. YouTube, Facebook, and other social media platforms aren’t magical. It is RARE that something takes off on its own. But Sony is a HUGE advertiser and Pulitzer an organization that communicates directly to journalists (aspiring and not). Let’s assume they have that part figured out. (I originally found the Project.Report page because of an ad that ran next to a YouTube video on my own page.)

SECOND:

The content users are creating as their entries is NOT built around Sony, Intel, or Pulitzer. It’s built around telling a compelling story about the participants own community. Thus, there’s a reason for viewers to view the videos. Not only will this be more likely to draw us in, it’s much more likely to get us to watch other entries. Each one introduces us to something new. Pulls heartstrings. Inspires us with the compassion in our fellow humans.

The contrast would be having a product name shouted at us over and over again… as entrants attempt to do it in the most creative way. Which annoys us with how contrived the whole contest is.

Here, we appreciate our program’s sponsors, as they made this all possible.

It also means the videos will have longevity and reach beyond the initial splash of the competition. Viewers will share these compelling stories via email, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. The videos themselves will rotate on YouTube probably for years to come. Each viewing will gently remind us of our sponsors’ benevolence.

THIRD:

It’s really easy to understand and access what is going on. It’s almost self explanatory. The videos grab your attention immediately… may likely be how you found the page. Sony even included several videos providing filming and editing tips for participants. Full entry rules are one click from the page. Most importantly: Videos are there to communicate WITH us, to draw us in. Even the one talking head (the main video on the page) is there to help us understand what is going on. Informing vs. talking AT us.

The one downside I found on the Project.Report page was that the comments were loaded with deleted spam attempts. However, that’s always a challenge for a high-viewed page and it can be quite a challenge to manage those on YouTube. So, minor fault.

BTW, be sure to check the popularity ranking and viewer count numbers in the left hand column.

On to part 2, Sony: This Could Be Done Better

Opera Costume Sale: A three-dimensional UN-case study.

2010-02-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

I’ve wanted to write this case study, but struggled finding one that distilled the idea to essence. Case studies usually look at what an organization has applied a technique or technology to excellent effect. Solved a problem, created an efficiency, or increased business. Here, I’ve found a glimmer of what I want to explore and project on that.

The glimmer comes from a collection of photos from a San Francisco Opera costume sale. Not professional shots. Just some snapshots posted on Flickr.

They provide a dimension to the Opera that we don’t always get. It’s not perfectly pretty (really, is that a storage container and razor wire around a parking lot?). The shots are amateur. But they tell us a story. Hint at a passionate audience behind the scenes.

I often repeat to clients: Give your organization three dimensions. There’s a lot about your organization that is interesting. You have a hard time seeing it because you’re too close to it. But even the non-glamorous sides of it have passionate audiences. Making it easy for them to share that passion… makes it easy for them to share your organization.

Photos shared via Flickr or Picasa make an easy way to explain the concept.

Back to the opera: It’s a costume sale. Those amazing costumes have to go somewhere when they’re done with a performance. Some can be displayed, but others get warehoused… and what happens when the warehouse is full? They hold a garage sale. There’s a crowd out there who will give them a good home.

Intriguing, isn't it. Is this the first thing you think of when you think of the opera? A quick search revealed this is more of a business than the pictures reveal.

That’s another dimension. Not necessarily something we think about as an interesting aspect of our daily business. In PR lingo, we call this a “story angle”. We write it up and share it with journalists in hopes they’ll find it interesting enough to send a photographer and do a report.

In social media, you often get to be your OWN reporter, as the audience will come to you.

To accomplish with photos, this you need to put several systems in place:

You have to get into the habit of taking pictures. A lot. Even better if you have other team members do the same. Truth is, stories are happening all around you. However, you have to get your mind practiced at grabbing them when they do. It’s a bit like learning a new word. Once you know it, you begin seeing/hearing it everywhere. You never know when that board meeting will have just the right combination of characters and debate to make a great visual. When that new shipment of materials or equipment will arrive, providing a great loading-dock shot. Or when an accomplished team will take a break, revealing the sweat and excitement of a job well done… in a moment of repose. Even a basic camera or the one on your phone will work, at least at the start or in a pinch.
Take pictures all the time. Put them in an easy-to-access place (a common directory or even a Flickr account). When you need to the story, give them access to look through them and choose. (This same concept works for creating ideas for newsletters or press releases.) Constantly be on the lookout for ideas, even when you don’t need them. Clip the article or make a note and add it to your “tickler” file for later reference. In the habit, you’ll find story ideas everywhere. When in search of an idea, go back to that tickler. You’ll never run dry.
Establish limits that help you edit. Remember that striking National Geographic cover with the green-eyed Afghani girl? Photographer Steve McCurry and his editors chose one shot out of many. The others aren’t nearly as striking. Any great photographer will tell you that—even with all the technical and visual talent in the world—their most important skill is picking the one shot from many to tell the story. It helps to establish limits. Most people won’t casually click through a photo essay of more than 10 shots. Work within that limit. Each shot should tell a different aspect of the story (not be another angle of the same thing unless it reveals something totally new). It’ll be a challenge to whittle it down, but the story you tell will be that much more powerful for it.
Assemble a story on a regular basis. I like to work with monthly. But you can adjust as you get in the routine. This keeps your ideas fresh and updated. It also distributes the work so that you can assemble 12 good stories a year—12 new dimensions to your organization—with efficient time investment. NOTE: GIVE IT TIME. I recommend making a year-long experiment of it. You’ll discover a lot along the way. How you tell the stories. Where you can share them. Different tools for sharing. Who else will share them… which leads to #5.
Embrace others’ stories. As with the San Francisco Opera here, it may be someone other than you who tells a good story. If you find one (I recommend inviting your board and organization members/sponsors/subscribers to watch for them), ask permission and add it to your collection.

To repeat: social media isn’t about technology. It’s about learning to be social using that technology. Other people are already out there telling your story. Sometimes it’s their version. If you try to control or limit them to your chosen brochures and web page, they’ll likely go elsewhere. But if you make it easy to share, they’ll carry their passion for you. Which means they’ll share their own audience with you.

Establishing a system and routine of doing this regularly means it will work efficiently for you across many audiences.

Quick Answer: Can we have the "intern" manage it?

2010-02-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

Our intern seems to have a lot of social media skills. Can we have them handle it for our organization?

No, the Intern shouldn’t manage your social media for you. UNLESS--and here’s the big reveal--you feel the Intern has the skills/capacity to interface well with your marketing team, understand your greater strategy, and both articulate and manage your social media efforts in conjunction with that strategy.

Think about how you would select for any other skill. Writing. Graphic design. There are plenty who can spout beautiful prose or produce stunning art... but you would have an impossible time getting them to connect with and further your communications efforts. How about media relations? Probably a lot more powerful to have someone who has an established track record of working with reporters and editors rather than the CEO's wife who happens to know a reporter because they met at one of her charity events.

Truth is, the technology’s pretty easy to learn. To relegate it to the “intern” because “they’re good with computers” is... well, in my presentations, I respond to protests about how hard it is to learn social media with “You’re telling me that you don’t have time to learn how to use a word processor because you’re too busy typing something on the IBM Selectric.”

So, my initial admonishment is: Get thee some knowledge. There are some nuances to social media that you really have to experience to process/manage. That will take some effort. (But, major. professional. development. cache.)

But to revise my initial answer: If you feel that the intern or assistant—or whomever you’re eyeing because they talk incessantly about their Facebook—has the skills to work as part of your marketing team and 1) understand what you are trying to accomplish with your marketing/public relations efforts 2) articulate to the team what they can accomplish via social media 3) understand/communicate what is working or not working with a particular campaign (and make appropriate adjustments), then, yes.

And ask them where you should start your learning process.

Oh, and a tiny little secret: This assumes that YOU have a solid traditional plan established and in execution in the first place. If you’re still in that state of “just don’t have time to update the media list…” and keep sending press releases to the wrong (and now ignoring you if they’re even still at the publication) reporters… social media isn’t going to solve anything for you.

How’s that for snark?

PRSA San Diego Resource List

2010-01-27T15:50:00.000-08:00

A thanks to the packed-house audience today at PRSA San Diego's 3 Minds 10 Questions presentation. Very special thanks to my co-panelists, who helped expand my own thinking on the topic. Greg Block and Caron Golden.

As promised, this is my list of favorite social media resources:

My YouTube how-to list covers some key concepts that are easier to understand in this medium than in print or lecture: http://tinyurl.com/getspine-PRSA
“The Epic Saga of the Well”, Wired Magazine, May 1997 (yes, 1997). Reminds us that—regardless of the technology—social media is about people and worked even when our screens only displayed one color. http://tinyurl.com/sagaowell
Book + Web Site: Here Comes Everybody (2008) by NYU's Professor Clay Shirky www.shirky.com. Solid foundation for understanding how social media behaves very different from other mediums. (A Shirky lecture is included in my YouTube list.)
The Brave New World of Digital Intimacy (New York Times): A great sense of how to think differently about Twitter based on a reporter’s year-long immersion in it. http://tinyurl.com/sdgnyt
Google Alerts: One of the most powerful and easiest-to-use social media tools. Self-explanatory from their home page. http://www.google.com/alerts
Google Reader: Your very own FREE clipping service. Allows you to efficiently follow numerous news sources, blogs, (and just announced this week—virtually ANY web site, regardless of how it’s underlying technology). By far, one of the most powerful and under-utilized social media tool. Learn it. http://www.google.com/reader (There’s a video about RSS feeds in my YouTube list. It relates directly to Google Reader.)
Google Analytics: Must be installed on your web site (which is a minor technical change) and requires some learning (free YouTube videos), but this is the single most powerful (free) measurement tool for determining how you social media efforts are working. http://www.google.com/analytics
ROI: See my blog comments on the topic at http://tinyurl.com/howthecount
http://mashable.com/ : One of the best blogs about the latest social media trends.
Web Strategy by Jeramiah: Written by an industry analyist, this blog gives an in-depth view of trends in contrast to Mashables must-publish-something-NOW approach. http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/
Hootsuite.com: Makes Twitter a whole lot more manageable; schedule tweets, track click-through rates, manage multiple accounts.
Social Media Gestalt, my own blog of course): http://smgestalt.blogspot.com

Simple Thoughts

2010-01-26T14:34:00.000-08:00

Hold the hype for a moment. The notion that this is all new ground and only “experts” can do it. That you have to communicate in totally different ways. That you have to do something big or splashy or in teenage slang, or wild-and-crazy. You can still be yourself. In fact, you’ll get further being authentic. (Ask any mom who’s tried to talk cool like her teen kid.) But you do have to transition to thinking in terms of conversation rather than broadcasting (the old model of mass communications).

Case in point: Question arrived from a major shopping center. They had been advised to do all sorts of specials and contests to get people to interact with them via social media. After initial excitement, they discovered there weren’t that many people following them on Facebook or Twitter. They wanted to know how they could better phrase their tweets so people would follow them. To get people to share their tweets and get others to visit their property. How they could build more fans on Facebook. How do we get them to talk about us?

Curious, I went to Twitter… just the home page and searched on the center’s name. It appeared in page after page after page. But not from what the center had tweeted. Instead, people who were using the center were tweeting to their friends about what they were doing…

I can never find the Starbucks here. What floor?
Are any stores here having specials on women’s jeans?
Know the best parking for the theaters? I’m going to late show. Don’t want to walk.

What they were looking to accomplish already existed. People were talking about them all over the place. But they weren’t using the center’s tweets. Might be that they weren’t aware of them. But more likely was that what they really didn’t look to a shopping center’s management as a source of conversation. The conversation here is different. You don’t lead it. But—if you respect it and learn to add constructively to it—you can earn the right to participate.

I’m a big fan of baby steps. Yes, get in there and do some things, but also crawl, then walk. No big “proclamations”. No giant campaigns. Learn to leverage the medium. It's different from what you've organized in the past.

Start by asking a couple questions:

Question One: How are we listening? Do we make a regular effort to pay attention to what people are saying about us? What are the most common things people say when they include our name? How can we assist with something useful in their conversation?

I was privileged enough to advise two different blood banks last year (different cities). One of them was eager to tweet all about their blood drives in hopes that it would get more people in the door. Extensive discussions about who would be in charge and how they would word and schedule the tweets in hopes people would forward (retweet, or RT) them. Lots of “how do we manage this conversation?” discussion.

Then we looked up their name… again, just from the Twitter home page. Someone had tweeted they were donating blood from their donation center WHILE we were holding this discussion. Someone else answered them, asking where the donation center was so they could join them…

Eureka moment: You don’t have to run the conversation. But you CAN contribute to it in a meaningful way. Solution: In their donation centers and buses, we put up a sign offering an extra cookie to anyone who tweeted that they were donating. The sign also included a short link to a Google map of the center’s location. Staff and volunteers were also taught to mention this to all of the donors.

Simple. Several additional people per day were stopping in to donate because friends had mentioned it. All it cost us were some posters and a few cookies.

Question Two: What can we add to the conversation?

Being useful is the simplest.

To the shopping center example…

With that simple Twitter search, we can see that people are mentioning us.
There are several options for being alerted whenever your chosen keywords appear on Twitter.
People constantly look to see if their Twitter handle (i.e. @getspine) is mentioned.

Experiment: assign someone in the office to monitor to see when your center’s name is mentioned. In most cases, you don’t have to be following or followed by the person to see what they’re saying. If the mention includes something you can contribute to, do so BY NAME. Thus, if you see that @getspine is asking about parking for the movie theater, you can immediately respond:

@getspine For best parking option, follow this map [include a link to a Google map with your garage’s entrance clearly marked and any notes about one-way streets]

They’ll very likely see it. If not immediately, you’re likely to add another dedicated follower when they do.

Case in point: Comcast—who got bashed repeatedly on Twitter for poor customer service response time (i.e. STILL sitting here four hours later and Comcast hasn’t shown up.)—turned monitoring Twitter into a science. There are now stories of Twitterers knocking Comcast (by name) and receiving a call within the next 20 minutes from Comcast customer service asking how they could correct the problem. Talk about turning something bad around.

You can even develop a list of FAQs that can be immediately answered. Just ask your receptionist for a list of the most common questions he answers by phone. I’ll bet they’ll include:

Hours.
Location.
Specials.
Parking options.
Nearby attractions.
Special events.
How to apply for a job.
If your facility has special bathrooms for diaper changing.
If you are pet-friendly.
Your store directory.

Answer those quickly and you’ll earn fans. In many cases, you’ll just send a link to the right page on your web site.

No, it’s not a fancy campaign. No viral video here. But you are getting to people right when it counts. And earning that right to be part of their conversation.

Then you build from that foundation. Marketing is, of course, an iterative process. Meaning, you put forth a strategy, implement its tactics, and see how it worked. Then you adjust. (My favorite version: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.)

Survey Says: Answer This

2010-01-25T10:56:00.000-08:00

Response was fantastic (50%+)...

Leading up to tomorrow's 3 Minds, 10 Questions PRSA San Diego panel, we surveyed our attendees and this is how they ranked the questions we'll tackle Wed.:

I’ve organized them in priority order (the rankings were pretty clear):

(Not surveyed, but our moment to talk about whatever we each want: What’s the one thing that you, as a panelist, would hope the audience comes away knowing?)
How do we measure ROI?
What can you recommend in the way of moving beyond social media basics, such as setting up a Facebook page, Twitter account (or even the ubiquitous YouTube "video contest") so that we can turn social media into a worthwhile tool in our marketing/PR arsenal? [NOTE: This was not an original question, but one emiled early on by one of our attendees. It was solid enough that I added it to the list… and respondents clearly liked it.]
How does social media relate to our traditional efforts?
How do we engage in and manage all the conversations?
What are the demographics of social media?
What efficiencies can we realize using social media that can help lessen our workload? (Or, how do we manage the time devoted to social media efforts?)
Where should we start? (How do we prioritize the various platforms and tools available?)

With very low rankings, we'll drop these two questions for time’s sake:

What if someone publicly criticizes us?
Who should be in charge? (Can't we just have the intern do it… they seem to be pretty good with computers?)

Finally, here are questions submitted by our respondents:

How do I convince my boss that social media is worthwhile and get him to get the rest of the management team on board?
As a public agency, there are many legal issues (public forum, public record, employees participating, etc.) How does a public agency address these issues when entering the social media realm. Policies help but but how can we participate without facing public scrutiny or controversy?
How do you do it! Specifically, how do you send invitations from a Fan Page? How do you link Twitter and Facebook? How do you post a Twitter feed on your website.
How do I increase my fan base, and how do you view advertising on Facebook?
Can you give us examples of companies that have used social media right and those that have used it wrong?
Kind of a corollary to the criticism topic - overcoming the fear from older execs who think that you'll lose control over your message by engaging in social media. WE know that engaging is better, but how can we get THEM to see that?
How have IT Departments and legal been involved with policies, procedures, etc. for Social media?

An ROI Rerun

2010-01-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

Getting so may questions about ROI, I'm going to refer to an earlier (two-part) entry. It spells out my philosophy: http://smgestalt.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-counts-or-how-hell-do-we-know-weve.html

3 Minds; 10 Questions. PRSA San Diego Presentation Jan. 27

2010-01-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

“Where ya been?” you ask. "It's been since... August."

Right here, implementing and experimenting with exactly what I blog about. But I’m using an upcoming presentation as launching point for a new series of entries.

San Diego’s PRSA chapter invited me to facilitate a social media panel for their Jan. 27 meeting. Mighty broad topic. More than we can cover in the allotted hour. Working with the other two presenters, we figured out a way to prioritize and maximize our presentation time.

First, we’ve eliminated the facilitation role – dispensing with the time-draining “game show host” function and devising another means of keeping the discussion organized. It’s easier to show this than it is to explain it. You’ll just have to be there.

Second, we’re limiting ourselves to just 10 question. Each of us has both a traditional PR background and real experience developing and executing social media campaigns. Thus, we were able to agree on 10 high-level questions clients/organizations/companies ask us most often (or SHOULD ask most often).

To each panelist: If you came away from today's session having learned only one thing, what would you want it to be?
What efficiencies can we realize using social media that can help lessen our workload?
Where should we start? (How do we prioritize the various platforms?)
What if someone publicly criticizes us?
Who should be in charge? (Can't we just have the intern do it… they seem to be pretty good with computers?)
How does social media relate to our traditional efforts?
How do we engage in and manage all the conversations?
How do we measure ROI?
What are the demographics of social media?
How do we figure out what to say/decide what to share?

Third, we’re asking for your input: Are these the questions you want to hear addressed? What others would you ask? Is there a different priority to the ones listed here.

Don't expect us to agree on the answers. Just as with any other area of public relations, we each have different philosophies and approaches. But hearing these can better help you grasp the key concepts.

Conveniently, these questions give me an excuse to focus back on my blog for a while. I’ve been quiet here, but that’s because I’ve been focusing on helping clients and making presentation (twelve since my last post). That takes time, but it also means I’ve been knee deep in the muck of making social media work for clients. That’s what helped devise the list of questions in the first place.

Here’s an interesting note that I’ll theme on: Clients are struggling more with the fundamentals of traditional marketing tools—such as planning, calendars, and writing—than they are with the technologies of social media. The technologies can be learned pretty quickly. Using them in a strategic sense takes a bit more. In any effective effort/campaign, the two go hand-in-hand.

More on that in a moment.

Lupus Does it Well

2009-08-14T10:20:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted in many weeks, primarily because I was nose-to-the-grindstone with clients and work. Work, then post.

However, this article by Ragan Communications awakened my posting slumber because it hit on social media as a fundraising tool, which numerous nonprofits are asking me about right now.

This is a well-done piece which I think provides some insight in a very compact presentation. I particularly like its discussion of two factors:

1) The team doesn’t create all the material. There’s a lot of posting/sharing information that the staff was already using internally (journal articles, etc.), which provides a constant stream for those who want to be “in the know”. This is of value to many supporters of a cause/organization. It takes little time, but does require some up-front organization to ensure that it gets done.

2) He taps into/leverages the “network effect” aspect of the medium (friends bringing friends) to grow the followers organically.

However, I want to point out some factors they don’t overtly discuss:

1) This is a single-cause group that draws on a national audience. That level of focus many organizations lack, but is a powerful gatherer of like individuals, which is evident here. Those dealing with Lupus now have a vast community dealing with extremely similar issues.

2) Of the money raised, a cut is going to the credit card companies and Facebook groups, so discount it from direct donations. The question then becomes, are we losing any because those who would donate directly are donating through this system? Is this offset by the increase in donations?

3) It discusses social media-based fundraising without discussing the wider relationship-building that an organization MUST do to achieve this. Social media is a fantastic tool, but should not be thought of as a panacea for fundraising. It’s just technology. The organization has to be adept at building and cultivating relationships before social media can accomplish for them... OR accomplish on a long-term, regular basis. If you find an organization who is using social media well to this effect, digging deeper will reveal that they were already doing relationships well (or found that social media was the opportunity to fix that).

Personal Note: What social media is about

2009-06-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

I wrote this almost a a journal entry. The kind I trade back and forth with a close friend on a regular basis. However, I realized what an important reminder it was when we're caught in all the technology of social media. Whether you're Facebooking for yourself or your managing a large account for a company or organization, this is what it really comes down to...

Looking for a card to send my father for Father's Day this weekend.

I have a box of blank cards I've collected for all occasions. It sounds like I'm being really prepared, but it's more that I get enamored with a card, often in a museum gift shop, and have to have it. It goes in the box.

In this box is a collection of cards featuring Washington, D.C. landmarks. I laughed at myself because I bought these in 1994 while I was living there... with the intent of sending them as thank-you cards to all my aunts/uncles. There was lots of excitement that the eldest cousin had completed college, so I had received lots of congratulations from them. Procrastination... and they never went out.

All of those aunts/uncles and cousins are with me on Facebook now. There are a lot of them. I'm from the distant part of the family (the rest of them grew up in the same community), so it was like being suddenly included after being an outsider for years. Though I'm already one of them, now I'm one of them. They share their inside jokes here, so now I actually get them instead of just smiling and laughing along. Well, at least the ones that aren't just stupid.

Ironically, being involved in PR, marketing, fund raising, and sales, I have spent a significant portion of my career nagging others ("advising clients") to send thank-you cards. I've gotten much better at it since. D.C. was where shy, young Casey also received one of the best pieces of (obvious) advice ever. "Take people to lunch, especially people you don't know." Bob Maynes, known as one of the U.S. Senate's mast amazing press secretaries, and also as a strange guy (read: wasn't a clone of everyone else). I really liked Bob. He was the boss who knew exactly how to work with me... some good guidance as to what he wanted to accomplish, then leave me alone to figure things out. So I did... 'cause that's how I roll. (Bob also paid me the ultimate compliment. "You get shit done. You'll go far.")

I wish I'd taken all that advice earlier. Done more of the cards (though Facebook has eliminated the need to send them to quite a few folk... now they're just reserved for those I really need to touch... and they make a big statement in that). Taken a wider variety of people to lunch on a more regular basis. It's amazing what those two actions can accomplish. What a personal network can do for you. Earned by letting others know you care enough to pay attention and remember them. So simple.

Though I'm no slouch as a networker, I raise my foot for a good, hard kick for all the times I've neglected those actions. Then I remember... regret is how we learn. Do it different from now on.

It's also about going beyond your circle of like-minded friends. Seek out, break bread, and follow up with other as unlike you as those you immediately like. Take a chance and ask someone who intimidates you. Networks are how entrepreneurs build their businesses, how great fund raisers find donors, how journalists break that next story, how artists find audiences, how anyone who works for a living finds that next great gig, and how politicians get to the Whitehouse.

Ignore the hype and the next shiny new thing for a moment. Social media's just a tool for what great networkers already know.

I need to send Bob a card. Wonder if he's on Facebook.

Social Media is Not an ATM For Nonprofits

2009-06-10T09:43:00.001-07:00

Came across this article today by Ken Okel, who does a lot of work with nonprofits. I'll give you the first paragraph and then link directly.

If you think your organization is going to make a wheel barrel of cash from social media, then you're very wrong. Social marketing is a tool that can help raise the profile of your nonprofit but you'll be disappointed if you think it's an instant cash machine. Let's go through some of the myths associated with online fundraising (continue...)

He nails some of the key myths about using social media as a nonprofit fundraising tool.

This is NOT to say that social media can't be a tool for fundraising. However, fundraising is about developing relationships with organizations and individuals who can identify with and be persuaded to support your cause(s). Key point: it's about relationships. Social media is a tool (and a powerful one if used effectively), it is not a panacea. If your organization is struggling with fundraising, social media will not solve the problem. You need to learn how to fundraise.

It can be a teacher, though. I'll do another post on that.

Webcast Your Brain Surgery?

2009-05-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

Because I am curious to see what others are discovering, I read quite a bit about social media. Though the majority of it looks similar... different industries discovering elements of how to reach and interact with customers, suppliers, funding, and fans... there are some gems out there that remind us that social media isn't just some marketing schlock. It's a tool for industry upheavals.

This New York Times article--Webcast Your Brain Surgery? Hospitals See Marketing Tool--about hospitals learning to use social media as a marketing/communications tool stood out for a number of reasons.

I am impressed that this bureaucracy-laden industry has ventured this far in untested waters.

On the other hand, the untested nature of social media (yes, we’re all still experimenting) makes it a perfect place for the medical world to venture. This is especially true in one particular theme from the article:

Faced with economic pressures and patients with abundant choices, hospitals are using unconventional, even audacious, ways of connecting directly with the public. Seeking to attract or educate patients, entice donors, gain recognition and recruit or retain top doctors, hospitals are using Twitter from operating rooms, showing surgery on YouTube and having patients blog about their procedures.

Market forces are causing the traditionally difficult to navigate world of medical services to open up.

Social media is serving as a significant factor in arming those market forces with better informed consumers. We used to have to accept what doctors and other medical “experts” told us. They were the only ones with knowledge/easy access to the right information. This was agonizing. We felt helpless. Ever spend time with someone who has been diagnosed with cancer? Undergoing treatment? A survivor?

They ACHE for information. For understanding. For connection with others who have undergone the experience. They describe themselves as "students of the disease".

Now we can access the research, other patients, and other medical opinions. We'll go around you if you're in our way.

The hospitals that help us break through these barriers—even if they’re clunky at first—will be a step ahead. They will have a better sense of how to integrate the tools into their internal systems. How to work within ethical and practical considerations. What consumers, researchers, lawyers, and others might do with the information they share. Where to go next.

That step... that willingness to see what can be achieved with the technology now. To figure out how audiences will respond. To listen. That will put them miles ahead in knowing how to weave social media into their integrated marketing efforts. Doesn't matter if they're a huge hospital or a small dermatologist office.

What are you doing?

How to Manage Your Social Media Campaign

2009-05-26T11:38:00.001-07:00

While I'm at it, here's another post that's so well done I'm better off sending you right to it.

Managing Your Social Media Campaign by Larry DeVincenzi (his blog is DEFINITELY worth following, so add it to your reader).

There's so much overwhelm in attempting to grasp everything social media, so this one brings a particular moment to breath deep, particularly in item #3

Let go of the need to read everything. Learn to scan.

Feels better already, doesn't it?

How to Get Recognized in Social Media

2009-05-26T11:03:00.001-07:00

Somebody else said it so well, I don't feel compelled to rewrite it:

How to Get Recognized in Social Media by Brett Borders (a Social Media Rock Star post)

What I most love about this list is:

It's actually a great breakdown of key social media skillsets. As in, not the technical "I know how to run Facebook or Twitter", but the more strategic skillsets that apply across all of social media
If you take out the specifically social media references, it is a list of how to become known as a consultant in any industry with pretty much any collection of expertise.

Understanding Social Media Playlist

2009-05-14T11:06:00.001-07:00

Delivering a presentation Saturday to a classroom of professionals studying for a University of San Diego certificate in Nonprofit Management for Visual and Performing Arts Organizations.

Whenever conducting workshops, I like to cite my resources, especially the ones widely available via social media. I compiled this playlist of some of my favorite YouTube-based videos that help explain social media concepts and platforms.

You could watch it all right here (navigate between videos using those arrows on the sides) or click through to see the whole list at once on the YouTube site.

Here's what's in it:

Social Media In Plain English by Commmon Craft (3 min. 44 sec.) Excellent conceptual overview
Twitter in Plain English by Common Craft (2 min. 25 sec.)
Blogs in Plain English by Common Craft (2 min. 58 sec.)
RSS in Plain English by Common Craft (3 min. 44 sec.) Explains why/how to use Google Reader to consolidate regularly-updated resources you follow online.
Social Bookmarking in Plain English by Common Craft (3 min. 25 sec.) I believe this is one of the more powerful social media tools... the video focuses heavily on del.ic.ious and explains "tagging", which del.ic.ious invented.
Social Networking in Plain English by Common Craft (1 min. 48 sec.) Social NETWORKING is distinct from Social MEDIA (the first video), as it refers to web sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, that are specifically intended to connect individuals.
Hey Oprah! An open letter from the YouTube community (3 min. 15 sec.) When discussing the conversational nature of social media, I often cite Oprah's education when she first started her YouTube channel (the YouTube community expected her to play by their rules, NOT the ones she was used to in broadcasting). This is one of their invitation/protest video responses to her.
Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law (19 min. 7 sec.) In discussing the fact that information "wants to be free", I often cite mashups as one benefit of this. Collectively, we can turn individual creative efforts into something more--and often more useful to all of us. This delightful presentation by Stanford professor Larry Lessig goes into depth on this concept. (Definitely worth your time.)
The Machine is Us/ing Us (4 min. 33 sec.) Thought-expanding conceptual video produced by a professor teaching classes in digital ethnography at Kansas State University. This was a major YouTube hit in 2007. (You'll understand why.)
Clay Shirky - Where do people find the time? (Part 1: 7 min. 18 sec.; Part 2: 9 min. 29 sec.) Author of the blog (and book) "Here Comes Everybody", Shirky is one of my favorite thinkers about social media and its effects on our lives, organizations, and culture. He focuses less on the technology and more on what we do as people who use it. It's a much better way to grasp what's going on.
Introduction to Google Analytics Webinar (47 min. 5 sec.) For those who really want to geek out... this is a full class in understanding how to use Google Analytics and how you can employ it to understand building online traffic for your organization.

Is this about more than Twitter?

2009-05-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

How about a rant?

A friend who's blog I follow because it pokes around the Tucson, Ariz. political scene (one I know well, as it's home) published an "I just don't get Twitter" post. His blog is a journal of personal growth and thoughts rather than topic-focused. He does a great job of moderating spirited debate among a collection of fairly articulate and opinion-diverse followers. After watching numerous "...yeah, Twitter is stupid" comments, I elected to share some of my takes on the platform.

His original post: http://x4mr.blogspot.com/2009/05/talking-twitter.html

The reason I've re-posted here is twofold:

If you're really wondering about twitter, this is a good overview of current possibilities.

For those who are attempting to bring social media into an organization, read the original post and comments as a good representation of the resistance and objections you encounter along the way. That's what I was responding to. That it was a friend's blog let me do so without the usual filters I'd use when presenting to a group on their first social media encounters.

I'll also note that, though this particular conversation focuses on twitter, you hear the same EXACT conversation about blogs, Facebook, YouTube... we used to hear them about web sites and email... name the new technology, you encounter the same resistance.

My Rant:

Wait, wait, wait, wait... wait!

Twitter's really one of those you have to use for a while to get any sense of its rhyme or reason.

I'm currently ranked among the top 100 most-followed Twitterers in San Diego. That's after about a year of use with an intense focus on seeing what I could accomplish with it since November. I even landed mention in a front-page article in our major paper earlier this year by suggesting--via Twitter--that San Diego’s mayor do more to harness social media to reach constituents.

(Note: It helps that I'm an experienced public relations professional who focuses his work on Internet-based communications.)

I ghost-write a second Twitter account for Volunteer San Diego. We just passed 2,000 followers. They talk to us... asking questions, making suggestions, and spreading our message with the whole of the San Diego Twitter community. It's like having a conversation with the biggest, most receptive focus group you could imagine.

As you go, you begin to get a real feel for the platform:

1) It's different for everyone. On the surface, it appears to be 6 million people all text messaging at each other with nobody listening, that's akin to saying that blogging is 50 million bloggers writing nothing to each other and nobody reading. There's a lot more happening there

2) Most begin by posting drivel. Like, when they're eating. For the first several months I tweeted lines like "Doing nothing." and "Thought I was doing something, but... nope." Then I caught on to the systems plethora of smart information.Sound familiar? We all learned our way into the blogging world by jumping in and sorting things out until we knew where to look. But now we're participating on blogs like this one.

YouTube is similar... seems like a world of sophomoric humor or a place for posting stolen movies until you realize the likes of Berkeley, MIT, and Yale are posting full courses. X4MR likes statistics, how about a full Yale course on game theory?

Think back further and email was the same way. Everyone first sent a few messages to figure it out. Then we spend some time forwarding stupid jokes that we think nobody else has received... hopefully we grow out of that. Now it's a tool for work. For keeping in touch with loved ones. You even subpoena emails when you've got a court case.

Someone once sent me a picture of "rules for the telephone" that were posted when phones were first installed in companies. There was a time limit, a suggestion that only business be discussed, and a reminder that you didn't have to yell. Each new technology goes through this kind of growth period before proving its real value. Great thing is, we catch on...

It appears, from X4MR’s Meghan McCain quotes here, that she doesn’t really get it yet. Could she be a still-vacuous 24 year old that the Republican Party is using to project themselves as “not just fat old white guys”? (I hope not...)

Really want to get it? There's a fantastic article from the New York Time Magazine on this learning your way onto Twitter, with the reporter stating up front that he thought it was stupid, then sharing his experience as he caught on to the Twitter ambiance.

3) Nobody who follows that many people is actually paying attention to them all (I follow 2,171 at the moment). With some practice, you learn to use twitter-based tools that allow you to pay attention to just certain people... or even specific keywords and topics. I'm also able to catch trending topics, many of which I can apply directly to my life or work.

4) It's a bit like having a service that watches the news for you and points the direction the stories are going. The swine flu was a good one, with a major twitter trend being to point out the real facts about the story (internationally, mind you) both outpacing traditional media AND calling traditional media on the carpet for fear-mongering. There are some genuinely intelligent individuals on twitter... posting unfiltered AND from everywhere in the world.

5) It's also breaking news faster... with reports from the scene. One of my favorites was when a plane ran off the runway at Denver International. The first news was from a passenger who tweeted "Holy Fucking Shit! I was just in a plane crash!" (I posted to my blog about that one.) The first pictures and news about the plane that landed in the Hudson earlier this year... also sent via twitter (from someone on a ferry that diverted to help rescue the passengers).

6) People hold extensive and widely participated-in conversations. I've had blog posts go as far as 22,000 (yes, that's thousand) readers because twitterers shared what they viewed as worthwhile with overlapping circles of followers. (Serious network effect there.)

There are two three basic ways to converse on twitter.

a) Talk to everybody (just send a tweet). You can also forward a tweet (it's called Re-Tweeting, or RT) that someone else sent.

b) Talk to everybody, but direct your tweet at a particular user. (done by using their twitter address with and @ symbol. i.e., to talk to me would be @getspine.)

c) Talk privately via direct message, the equivalent of an email.

6) Totally creative uses (as in, it's a new medium... and thinking about it in terms of an old medium--like text messaging or blogging--can be limiting).

During the Oct. 2007 wildfires in San Diego, whole communities were panicked about if/when they had to evacuate their homes. The American Red Cross set up twitter accounts by Zip Codes and sent regular updates. If you were being ordered to evacuate, you actually received a text message (a Twitter option) on your cell phone letting you know. Wow!

There are numerous instances of twitterers using their large followings to raise funds (called micro-fundraising) for good causes.

Or to make their voices heard with governments and corporations (again, the New York Times):

Last month I gave a presentation on the future of public relations at a Public Relations Society of America conference. Audience members LIVE tweeted my presentation via iPhone and Blackberry. I came back to find more than 100 comments, quips, and quotes from my presentation. Even had people following on Twitter ask questions through those in the live audience. Talk about interactive. I was everywhere at once. I also found out what they agreed with, argued with, and what they thought was particularly funny or pithy.

And, yes, sometimes I miss Tucson. However, between blogs (thanks, X4MR), my Facebook account (you're welcome to "friend" me), and Twitter (@getspine), it's a little like I never left. I even talk to city council members and local reporters this way.

Cool tools.

Oh, and though I'm definitely an omnivore in all other respects, I find video games really boring. But that is NOT to say someone couldn’t write a whole comment (or even a book) on how they’re useful tools, too. Where do you think they get the pilots for those drones?

Muscled Measurement: From baby-steps to (dare I say?) ROI

2009-05-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

(post 2 of What Counts: How the Hell do we know we've accomplished anything?)

Previously, I wandered through a system for taking action and measuring your first steps into social media. It focused on the concept of declaring measurable objectives, doing what you theorize will achieve them, then establishing whether you had achieved the objective. You repeat this cycle, building each new declaration on what you learned from the previous. I also shared a sample list of objectives.

Today I want to add muscle to the concept. Talk more details so that we can establish a real Return On Investment (ROI) and align it with your organization’s mission/strategic goals. (I’m not ALL about bashing ROI. I just want to be able to show it intelligently, especially when dealing with a new/experimental medium. Don’t let ROI “hard core” types keep you from trying new things. Without the new things, your business/organization gets run over by others who will experiment.)

Let’s sort out some types of objectives:

Production Objectives

We did something. This is usually where people/organizations start. We wrote a press release. We sent it to our WHOLE media list. We built a web site. We built a building. It is, in fact, achievement. It’s definitely measurable.

However, in the marketing/public relations world, we want to affect opinions, attitudes, and behavior. We want to get our friends/followers to DO something, whether it be to better understand an issue (or our organization), change a behavior (i.e. volunteer, recycle more, see their doctor regularly, consider our city as a travel destination), purchase a product/behavior, or contribute to our fundraising campaign.

Production objectives CAN (and do) contribute, but I make a distinction between this and Impact objectives in a moment. So, while writing a press release, even landing a story in the news (or even a big pile of press clippings) IS an achievement AND is measurable, it doesn’t qualify as having changed behaviors or opinions. They simply mean we did something.

I’ll even go as far as to say that getting conversations to happen online (which I’ll parallel with holding an “town hall” meeting in real life) is a production goal. (Note: We can argue endlessly about these... and MBA students often do. That, in itself, can get in the way of achieving your objectives. Avoid pointless navel-gazing.)

To get 500 “friends” on our Facebook page in the next month.

To publish one post to our blog each week.

To get five article placements in major newspapers prior to our event.

To guest post to three industry blogs this quarter.

To attract at least three comments to each blog post this year.

To post all of our future events to our MySpace, Facebook, and blog calendars this week.

To launch within one month an online newsroom that makes it easy for journalists to acess our press materials.

To install Google Analytics on our web site and begin delivering/discussing traffic reports to our board on a monthly basis before the June board meeting.

Each of these is you producing something. These kinds of objectives are great. You move forward. But don’t confuse them with having bottom-line impact.

System Objectives

This is actally an advanced version of a production goal. Systems help make us more efficient. Since I already wrote about it, I’ll give one simple example:

To establish in the next 30 days a media calendar such that we are aware of our media relations needs (press releases and distribution) a year out AND that we are producing just 12 pitches per year AND that we are preparing media materials and distribution lists at least a week ahead of their use.

That’s a big fat one, but it’s creating a system to accomplish several other production objectives more efficiently. System-oriented objectives make your life easier. They help your organization accomplish more with limited resources (time and personnel being two of the most limited). System-oriented objectives usually mean you do a lot more work up front (like planning), but that you can crank out a lot more work once you have the system in place.

Impact (Results) Objectives

This is where we get back to Econsultancy's "10 Ways to Measure Social Media Success" piece I mentioned in my previous post. They were exploring where/how to apply results-oriented measurement:

Traffic
Sales
Leads
Search marketing
Brand metrics
PR
Customer engagement
Retention
Profits

This is where goals and objectives have impact on your organization’s reason to exist (and what feeds it AND you). The real ROI question:

Are the people/entities we’re supposedly serving getting what we’re supposed to be serving them?

Bonus: How do we know?

Bonus bonus: How can we improve on that?

One of the hazards to getting to ROI objectives is that you often need several production-oriented sub-objectives to achieve them. In fact, I’ll admit that when I fail to offer a solid ROI-oriented objective, it’s often because I’m trying to get that objective to do too much at once. Or that I’ve failed to break down what it is I’m actually attempting to measure.

Let’s play with examples:

Traffic (from Econsultancy's list. Note: this one toes the line between a production and ROI objective... but, navel-gazing, mind you.):

To raise our site traffic 5% (based on Google Analytics reports) by the end of the third quarter of 2009.

Let’s make that more specific:

To raise our web site’s Facebook-referred traffic 5% (based on Analytics) by the end of 2009.

How you gonna do this? With some sub-objectives:

[Production-oriented] To increase our collection of Facebook friends to 2,000 in the next 6 months.

[Production oriented] To post at least one article per week of interest enough to our “friends” to entice them to click through to our web site.

Remember, these are examples. You’ll need more than this to actually achieve that. You have to think through and establish objectives for all the major parts of this endeavor. (i.e. How are you going to get all these people to “friend” you?)

Careful here, you don't want to get mired in more naval-gazing or "paralysis by analysis". Strike a balance between clearly actionable objectives and details. You don't have to detail every bit of minutia. Think in terms of what you could provide as instructions so someone else... and know the job would get done 'cause they're pretty smart too.

How about sales objectives (another example drawn from Econsultancy's list)

To generate, via our social media platforms (Twitter, blog, and Facebook) a 3% increase in sales through our online storefront in the next year.

That’s a tough one ‘cause you have to figure out the details of how you’re going to do that... but also how you’re going to separate those sales from other factors that might affect your sales numbers. (Could the increase be due to a newspaper article? Or better Google rankings?)

You need sub-objectives here to get to that point. Consider elements like how you’ll get Twitter followers to click through directly to your storefront... or how you’ll use customer testimonials and case studies on your blog to show prospective customers how your products will improve their businesses or lives.

There will be many parts. However, linking each part to its impact on your major objectives, you have a framework for how you’re going to make social media (or any business effort, really) a worthwhile resource (staff, time, and money) investment for your organization/company.

By figuring out how your objectives support each other... and, especially, your results-oriented objectives, you now have a logical—and actionable—plan. The kind you can share with your big boss (even the CEO) because NOW it demonstrates you theory of what social media can achieve for you.

(Oh, and by going through this planning process, you typically end up proving it to yourself.)

Realize that you probably won’t hit all your objectives... especially not the first time. However, by using this logical structure, you can analyize where your plan failed (as well as where it did even better than expected). From there, you can adjust your plan to fix those elements.

Wait... did I say “adjust”? Working with objectives makes “Do it. Screw up. Adjust.” all kinds of fancy. But I still like the raw version.

Yes, it’s rigorous thinking... but that’s how we succeed in business. Or non-profits. If it wasn’t work, nobody would pay us to do it. By measuring what counts (how you can support your company’s mission and bottom line) and building a series of measurable objectives to achieve this... you’re delving into actual ROI.

...here are some other results-oriented objective samples I created when writing this:

To get 100 people to RSVP for our next event via our Facebook group.

To get at least one Twitterer per day to live tweet about our services WHILE they are using them.

To get 100 individuals to forward/share information about our new program with to/with others via Twitter (or our blog).

To get one blogger who has posted misinformation about our organization/industry to correct this misinformation in a post.

To increase subscribers/users of our web-based database 10% via social media involvement over the next six months.

...or, even better... To raise through-the door customer traffic 5% as a direct result of social media in the next year.

To reduce telephone-based frequently asked questions 10% in the next year by providing the answers via social media platforms.

To recruit, via our social media platforms, 30 volunteers who show up at our next event.

To get each of our friends/followers to bring at least two other friends/followers to join our group/account within the next month.

Though I dig the attention, it's time for you to go write your own. Go kick some impact.

What counts? (How the Hell do we know we’ve accomplished anything?)

2009-04-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Those of us baptized in the holy water of formal PR or marketing training (in my case, granted the ring-kissed title of Accredited Public Relations, or APR) use (or are at least aware of) a process for our profession. My choir above is singing it to you.

Most organizations—even those with trained professionals—skip steps and end up in a cycle of occasionally doing research, barely planning, and mostly execution. As they mature, so does their cycle. I hope.

But real, honest measurement ends up being the bugaboo. That’s the saddest part, as good measurement is the key to adjusting your organization’s actions to get the results it actually seeks. Namely, customers, clients, and/or donors. Without good measurement, how do we know we accomplished anything? How do we know where we really are so that we can tweak our efforts to accomplish more?

The part that really bothers me is that we either don’t measure at all or run to Return On Investment (ROI). It sounds wonderfully authoritative... but I find that this form of measurement is used so much as a management chest-beater, it overshadows what is measurable and what should be measured. It all too often dismisses a new idea or direction (i.e. social media) because we haven’t yet figured out what to measure about it.

So we continue doing what we’ve always done. We already have spreadsheets for that. In PR and marketing, we know how to count clips/mentions, how to tally the value of advertising space/time based on circulation/audience numbers.

Anything new, we first seek the the almighty “case study”. We want to see how someone else has accomplished something with the new tool... so that we can emulate it. The problem is, when we emulate others, we’re often placing ourselves permanently late to the punch AND failing to embrace the uniqueness that brings our customers/clients/donors to US.

I could go on complaining, but I think the point’s made. What I’m juggling when it comes to social media results:

Barriers to social media entry are virtually nill. Anyone with basic Internet skills can set up accounts, upload files like pictures and videos (yes, the technology has gotten that simple), and send messages to friends (or other lists... got an email newsletter?) inviting them to connect to their new profile. You probably have several people on your team who are doing this for their own entertainment. This is why social media keeps decimating industries... the technology is non-technical enough that anyone with real talent or drive (i.e. bloggers) can take on established industries (i.e. newspapers) with a little ambition/passion.
You already know my social media philosophy for “Do it. Screw up. Adjust”. Everyone’s learning at once. It is more important to get moving than it is to get it right. The most important aspect is establishing the skillset on your team. Social media is not a “department”. Yes, you need someone who pays attention to it on behalf of your company, but it’s everyone’s job to participate now. Even your accountants should be connecting to their peers and professional associations via social media tools. It’s fast becoming a key aspect of their professional development.
In March Econsultancy published this excellent post on social media measurement. It not only starts with the notion that measuring social media is a new science... it digs down to offer elements we can/should consider in measuring our efforts.

I'll let you read it yourself, but it considers:

Traffic
Sales
Leads
Search marketing
Brand metrics
PR
Customer engagement
Retention
Profits

I’ve read this one several times. Liked it more each time, but it’s missing something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on until now.

A starting point.

Most of the organizations I’m working with—both big and small—are just getting started in social media. That makes high-level metrics 1) nearly impossible and 2) intimidating to the point that they don’t want to try anything. What if I do something wrong? What if I can’t show any ROI at the beginning? We’re dealing here with (or we are) professionals who are accustomed to being able to make real waves. They (we) don’t like to screw up.

"Do it. ~~Screw up.~~ Adjust." just doesn’t have the same horsepower.

We need baby-step metrics to guide us as we take the plunge. So I propose the baby-step social media adoption process.

Really, it’s the same process. All I’ve done is dumb it down so that it’s no longer executive-level esoteric and made it applicable to virtually any level of social media (or other marketing) effort.

Wait, Casey, why are you spending all this time rambling about process? I thought this post was about measurement.

It is.

The biggest thing we miss about metrics is that it’s directly connected to what we declared we would (attempt to) do. Benchmarks—the point where you start—are meant to give you a sense of where you're starting and where you might be able to go. Without that, you're wandering without a map... or, if you have a map, you don't know where you or your destination are. Equally useless.

Yes, you can gather case studies and other research to help put those in perceived attainable zones—or to find industry-standard units for measurement—but the real measurement is all up to you. To what you declare possible. In that, you can be cautious or bold.

Using the baby-step process as a tool, let’s choose one of the four platforms I recommend any organization begin with: Delicious, Facebook, Twitter, Blog.

Declarations:

Within 6 weeks, I want to have an organizational Facebook group with 500 friends with whom I share one interesting posting about our organization per week.

Note: You’ll notice that I have two elements present in that declaration:

Measurable goals: 1 Facebook group. 500 friends. 1 item shared/week
A deadline: 6 weeks.

This is important in driving our efforts forward. It’s clear. We can check to see if we accomplished it. (In executive language, this is considered an "objective". In contrast, a "goal" doesn’t have the measurable elements, particularly the time element.)

What actions can get us there?

Figure out the type of Facebook account to set up. A “group” seems to fit well for our organization. It will allow us to post our logo and key information about our organization. It also allows us to post news updates, pictures, and links to our own web site or other interesting sites or blogs. Individuals who “friend” our group will receive updates whenever we post something. We can also email them directly through the system.
Organize and post the initial materials: logo (which can likely be taken directly from our web site), company summary (can lift that from our press materials), some pictures (I could take a digital camera around our facilities to get those, plus we have others from our press materials), a few links (definitely our web site, we were in the paper a couple weeks ago, and there’s that one piece on our industry from the New York Times).
Postings: I can cannibalize past issue of our newsletter for good material. I also have a big collection of smart articles and blog postings I’ve been bookmarking for the past year. I can post those whenever there isn’t something new to report about our activities. Plus, there are several great trade journals that cover our industry online. I can watch those and post links to their articles.
500 followers: Aha, staff first. How about our board? Let’s get them on there... and see how many of their friends they’ll ask. We also have our newsletter database of 20,000+ names. We should make sure to ask them to “friend” us. We should also put a mention on our home page. Plus, we can add it to the signature line our all our company emails. That way every message we send will include an invitation to join us.

Take those actions: Better get moving. You’ve got six weeks according to your declaration.

Six weeks later: Did our actions accomplish what we intended?

From my experience, executing a focused action plan like this will get you at least in the vicinity for that 500-friend goal. Assuming, of course, that you have/used the items listed in #4 and that you put real effort into your program.

But now you have several key things in hand:

Real experience at a social media platform. (Yay! You got started.)
A feeling for how you can leverage your existing resources to accomplish your objectives.
A social media presence with a significant following.
A “system” for maintaining that presence (i.e. a weekly calendar for posting new material).
Most likely some “friends” interaction/contribution with your organization.
A benchmark for your new objectives.

Where do you go next?

Repeat the process, but step up the goals.

We have a Facebook group with 500 friends. We also post one item to it per week. How about some new objectives? Let’s step it up in order of difficulty. Baby steps should progress to actual walking. But we also want to make sure to pad sharp corners on the coffee table and clear the floor of objects on which we might choke.

New declarations:

To use our Facebook account as part of the marketing for our upcoming fundraising event and receive at least 25 RSVPs from “friends” through the system.

To start a Twitter account and gain 300 follwers there with five tweets per day within 6 weeks.

To link our Twitter and Facebook accounts so that a Twitter message also updates our Facebook group... requiring a lot less work on my part.

To automate (via HootSuite.com or a similar service) our Twitter posts so that I can log in once/day (or once/week), schedule my tweets, and not have to think about Twitter for more than 15 minutes/day, yet still be “live”.

To incorporate a basic digital camera into my daily routine to the point that I can tell (via Facebook or Flicker... even on our web site’s home page) a story of our organization that brings our “friends” into our organization in a way we couldn’t to via text or other explanations. (Yep, that’s a personal skill-oriented goal.)

To align our traditional media relations efforts and our social media efforts to the point that they are both reinforcing—as well as prompting new results—each other (and saving me time).

To query our front-line team (anyone who delivers services, answers phones, or otherwise greets new customers/clients on our behalf) and discover the top 25 most commonly-asked questions and turn those into regular tidbits we share via Facebook posts. ROI challenge: To use this knowledge to reduce the number of times those questions are asked of front-line staff.

To attract 1,000, 2,000, even 5,000 Facebook "friends" within nine months.

To experiment with (and track) what we post in Facebook until we can develop a theory on what will prompt at least one inquiry/comment per day from “friends” via the platform. Challenge: This could be about the information itself OR the way we share/word our postings. Key: Experiment.

To get at least 10 of our Facebook “friends” to donate $10/each via our Facebook group. (Keep raising the stakes here as your skills advance.)

To provide a “social media dashboard” to our board, demonstrating to them the progress we have made in social media and secure their support for this ongoing effort.

Just a sample. You’ll definitely come up with your own as you move forward in the social media arena.

That is DEFINITELY a full post. I’m going to come back ~~tomorrow~~ later with some other elements you should consider in creating honest measurement of your progress. Consider this post 1 of 2.

Just leave with this: Creating metrics is powerful... even in baby-step form. Especially in baby-step form.

Zoom Out for Bigger Picture

2009-04-29T08:22:00.001-07:00

Social Reef: An Industry Perspective

View more presentations from jeremiah_owyang.

Jeremiah Owyang is a social media analyst for Forrester Research. Basically, he takes a big-picture look at the social media industry and advises investors and others with stakes in the game. I've followed his Web Strategy blog for quite some time. It is very good at providing a view of what's on the horizon, as well as clarification (through numbers!) of trends and what's really happening in the social media world.

I found this slide show, while kinda cute (really, did I just say 'cute'?), gives a 3D element to understanding what the world looks like from 30,000 feet. (Like being able to see the layout of a large city from an airplane window.)

Jeremiah says he created to slide show to explain his job to family/friends. He appears at the end. Most likely, your organization is invested in the technology (content management) described on slides 11 and 12 to run your web site. I pretty much operate as a starfish (slide 15).

Enjoy with a helping of "This helps paint the big picture, but I really don't have to understand everything here."

Edit of Side Note:

While posting Jeremiah's "Social Reef" presentation, I noticed another "big picture" moment in the sharing options available on the Slide Share page.

If you select "More", there's an additional line of options. This is STILL just a sampling of the big ones. All the places where you can share this particular bit of digital content with friends, family, colleagues, readers... and the world at large. Just as I've done with this blog. It's overwhelming, even for those of us who think about social media all the time.

What you can see here, though, is that five are listed at the very top. To get to the rest, you have to click the "more share options" link. For Slide Share users, those are the five that REALLY matter. Being that Blogger and WordPress are both blogging platforms (you need to choose one of the two), these are the four platforms I recommend any company/organization start with in beginning their journey into social media.

How to Pick Up Chicks, Friends and Followers: Be the Draw

2009-04-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Made this list Friday and have stared at it on and off since.

Probably best to relate it to dating. Some friends and I all ended up single all at the same time a few years ago. Pretty much everyone can relate to the situation. You wonder where you’ll find your next amour, whichever definition you may want to use for that.

We sought resources... and came across the “pick up artist” genre. Guys who had proclaimed themselves experts at picking up women and who shared teaser tips as email “newsletters” to get you to buy their ebooks and seminars. Most of what they said was total schlock. In fact, it often amounted to “...take a shower, get a haircut and some decent clothes and actually go where you’ll meet women.” (Is there a female version of this?)

However, in all this there was one sliver of wisdom that stuck with me:

Be the draw.

The essence: Instead of going out and spending your energy pursuing a mate, go find stuff you’re interested enough in to be passionate about. This can be your career, a hobby, or something new to which you’ve always been drawn, but never quite tried. Maybe pottery or flying or rock climbing or travel or reading the world’s 100 best novels. It didn’t matter except that you were putting yourself forth into something that interested you... which, inherently, makes you interesting. We are drawn to people who have an interest that drives them. A passion. It also gets you among others with whom you share this passion. The idea wasn’t changing who you are. It was taking who you already are and amplifying it. By challenging yourself, exercising your intellect and other talents... you bring out your essence, which is "the draw".

A mate would follow. It would happen because you were out there. Because you’d run into chances to interact and connect along the way. In the meantime, you were constantly improving the one who you’d always have... your self.

I see this being applicable to the way many individuals/organizations/companies approach social media. There’s a whole lot of trying to be just like the big guns... those with incredible follower numbers. This includes Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV), Darren Rowse (Problogger), Mari Smith (Facebook guru), Jason Alba (wrote the book on LinkedIn).

But, truth is, your organization/company has its own purpose and passion. You exist to accomplish something. Go back to look at that mission statement. From that, what do you REALLY want to share with your like-passioned community? Not your social media friends... but the community you already have. What about your staff, your board, committed volunteers, those who benefit from your services (who are your customers?). This is your first set of friends/followers. Those who are already passionate enough about what you do to have an existing connection.

The second group is that big list of email addresses to whom you send a (regular?) newsletter. They’re connected, too. Some are customers. Some signed up on your web site. Some you don’t even remember why they’re there. But they might.

Move out a step and think of those other companies/organizations/individuals who have common interests with you. Do you have strategic partnerships with others?

Think of it in terms of overlapping spheres of influence. You cannot reach everyone. But these primary circles of directly-involved passionates will help share your message with others. If the message is particularly relevant, useful (think in terms of to whom it’s useful), or otherwise pithy, even the others will share it. It will bring those from even far away to friend/follow you.

All you had to do was focus on being the best you you could be and share that with those who share the passion.

Which brings us back to my list... How do you be the draw?

Years ago—before the term “social media” existed—I heard Shel Holtz describe what caused a person to subscribe to your email newsletter: Relevancy. Accuracy. Value.

I think it still applies:

Relevancy: It fits within the scope of what that person actually cares about. Though this can limit your audience (don’t we want EVERYONE to be interested?), I think more in terms of it concentrating them.

Accuracy: Your information has some level of authority to it. It’s coming from experts or those who are doing something about the issue. If I come back to the same source, I can get even more—and better—information on the same topic. I know it will be right (and corrected/updated when needed). Reporters deal a lot in this. There’s a reason we turn to the same newspapers/publications... and now blogs, even twitterers.

Value: I can actually do something with it. I’m more knowledgeable because of it. People can turn to me as a resource now because I pay attention to it. Personally, I hate company/organization newsletters because they are often filled with useless information that is either meant to appease egos or simply fill space because there was a deadline. Please, only share stuff that’s of value to ME. Better yet, put great information where I can find it. Or, even easier, point me to great information even if you didn’t produce it yourself. But make sure it’s of value to me.

To go beyond that, I’m finding a more extensive list applies within your social media circles. It takes a slightly different approach on each platform (i.e. resources you post tend to hang around longer in a blog or Facebook than in Twitter). But you should also be using the platforms together: Combining the immediacy of Twitter, the long-term discussive nature of blogs and Facebook, and the medium-specific nature of resources like YouTube, Flickr, even Google Maps.

That's the list I've been staring at:

Focused Topic: Your organization has a mission and that gives it a set of topics related to that mission. If you’re about preventing cancer, then you can share resources on diagnosis, treatment, prevention, nutrition, even related clothing options (bras/prosthetics for breast cancer survivors; head wraps for those undergoing chemotherapy)... but it all needs to relate back to your mission: preventing cancer.
Stay pithy: Yes, you can share humor related to your mission. Engage in conversations with friends/followers. Even be irreverent (if your personality warrants). However, bring things back to what your audience/customers are concerned with. This doesn’t mean being so narrow that you get boring. There’s a world of material to explore in any profession. Just ask yourself, is this who we are?
Interact: Your friends/followers have questions. Comments. Some will even (eventually) offer to guest post. Revel in this. They’re telling you exactly what they’re interested in. They’re letting others know of their passion related to your organization. Your job at this point is to be a conversation facilitator, not a cop. Provide the resources they ask for. Participate right along with them... converse. Let them know they’re important to you by engaging with them.
Keep things current. I do this with a schedule. If I’m running a blog or Facebook account, I like to post at least one thing per week. On twitter, I like several tweets per day. I carry a camera with me pretty much everywhere to get in the practice of capturing that moment when it happens... then posting it to my accounts. This way friends/followers know I’m alive and thinking of them. Remember, each time you post, much of your audience is notified that something new is there. (Oh, and you don't have to post just stuff you created... share links to relevant materials, whether they're in something like the NYT, your trade association, or even an academic publication... remember, these are passionate friends/followers. Some DO want to geek out.)
Make it really easy for friends/followers to find and add you. This doesn’t mean working on your Google rankings, that’s another issue (though some of that happens automatically when you post frequently). This means that your blog address, twitter address, and other relevant social media platforms are listed on your web site’s home page, your email signature, even your organization’s newsletter. (And, yes, once you’ve started yourself on a platform, you should both promote that fact on other platforms—announce your Twitter account on your blog, for instance—and email your closest followers to join you there.)
Make it extremely easy to share/forward your posts.
Calendar for time management. Did a whole post on it. A calendar keeps it manageable, postings regular, and me sane.
Automate to save time. Two introductory thoughts (you’ll learn more as you go): a) Most platforms can be cross-posted. My Twitter account automatically posts as my Facebook status message AND to my blog (top, right hand corner if you haven’t already seen it). b) I use HootSuite (there are other options) to schedule when a tweet goes out. This means I can post a bunch at one sit-down session and they’ll send out over... heck, the whole month, if I want that. For blogs, both Blogger and Wordpress have similar functions. This helps consolidate your workload.
Be responsive. Check your accounts at least daily and make sure you’ve answered any queries or forwarded any great comments, etc.
Ask your existing passionate fans to invite others. This works serious magic for friend/follower numbers. Those most passionate about you will be happy to share that passion with others (and they’ll often know exactly who will appreciate this enough to join you).

Long post. But the bottom line: Be the draw. With a passion and this outline as a guide, get the girl... er, the friends/followers.

Opinion Leaders: That Magical 8%

2009-04-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Before we dive in to this entry, let me squelch that endless argument about what professions should be “in charge” of an organization’s or company’s social media efforts. Is it marketing? Public relations? Advertising? Human resources? Legal? IT?

The answer is that social media blurs all the lines. It’s all of those professions and more. They each have important tools and other elements to consider. I happen to come from a public relations background, so I have a big focus on how to develop influential relationships for an organization or company. The better the tools I have at my disposal, the better I am at using them, the better my ability to accomplish this important function.

To that end, there’s an important element of influence to consider. You can’t possibly talk to everyone. I don’t care how good you are at building relationships, you just don’t have infinite time and resources to dedicate to that. I’ll argue that even the best social media tools—which serve as forklifts for relationship building and maintenance—won’t accomplish this for you.

Relax. You don’t have to. You want “opinion leaders”.

I had the good fortune to see Patrick Jackson speak shortly before he passed away in 2001. He was a great public relations innovator. So much so, that a significant public relations industry award is named for him.

In his presentation, he shared his spectrum of American opinion. It is a tad oversimplified, but it makes for a great tool for understanding your “influencer” role. It also makes your life easier.

On any issue that has two possible extreme viewpoints—for or against—there is a common spread of opinions. Of the whole population to whom the issue matters:

3% will immediately and absolutely be AGAINST the issue. You ain’t changing their minds.

43% will lean toward being AGAINST the issue, but not committed to that position.

3% will immediately be absolutely FOR the issue.

43% will lean toward being FOR the issue, but not committed to that position.

8% have not yet formed an opinion. These are the ones who will listen, read, and digest the available viewpoints on the issue prior to articulating an opinion. They’re going to think it through.

This 8% is the group that the 86% not committed to their stance turns to for a recommendation. They might be community leaders. They might be professors or other experts or intellectual leaders whom the larger group sees as “expert”. Sometimes it’s someone they simply turn to because they always have... a wise “elder”, for instance.

This 8% = opinion leaders. As in, if you can convince them, they’ll steer the 86% not-totally-committeds your way.

That is, if you can identify them.

But that’s usually not difficult... just ask the community who they turn to for wise consideration of an issue. Even easier online, they’ll often be you most-followed/friended individuals. Ask around... on Twitter, for instance. Ask you followers who seems to be the most knowledgeable on an issue and they’ll point you the right direction. Often, you get multiple replies telling you the same one or two individuals. Those are the ones to whom you want to pay attention.

Remember, social media is social first. It’s people. It doesn’t matter how we organize ourselves. We tend toward the same behavior as a group, a crowd, a community.

Yes, opinion leaders matter online. What’s fun is you can actually see their influence in friend/follower numbers. When one suggests that their friends/followers friend/follow you... your numbers climb fast. It’s pure network.

How do you influence an opinion leader? Gotta make friends. Gotta earn your way into their sphere of influence. My previous entry gives some insight into that. We’ll work on it more later this week.

Meditation on Networks

2009-04-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

I have a whole week’s worth of posts in my head right now—all about how we can build, influence, and measure our social media friends/followers. Some is actually numbers. But most of it is about... well, influence.

As a presenter, the best part of doing a free-form presentation with a smart, inquisitive audience is that, you come away with as many great thoughts and challenges as you delivered to the audience. Since Thursday’s discussion with 50+ Public Relations Society of America colleagues, my head’s been swirling with thoughts on how to value the connections we make via social media.

Add to that a weekend spent with a close friend who has been in pharmaceutical sales for 10 years. He’s tops in his field... and we talked a lot about how he initiates, nurtures, and maintains relationships with the doctors and medical teams to whom his company’s products make a difference.

I also considered a Twitter thought out a couple months ago that was RTd (re-tweeted) a few thousand times. Initially I thought it was just a throw-away idea, so I was surprised. But the world of peers and followers sometimes helps you see the value of something you missed.

RT @getspine thinks social media tools reveal to the rest of us what talented real-world networkers knew all along.

Real-world networkers. Good salespeople. Fundraisers. Any decent politician. Social climbers. Reporters generally have a large network. I consider myself one... but it’s one of those things that your network would have to vouch for. These are the people we turn to because they know how to build a collection of friends and colleagues they (in most cases) care about and who care back.

The caring... that’s the real part.

The majority only turn to a network when we need something, like a job. Suddenly we start thinking of who is in companies that might have or know of open positions. We call them up and clunkily share our resume.

But the real networkers have nurtured these individuals all along. It’s simple, take them for a cup of coffee or a beer... make a point of stopping and talking to them when you run into them at a party or even the grocery store. You don’t have to be their best friend. You just have to show that they’re worth some of your brain space and attention.

You also keep a mental note of things they’re interested in. Family is always first. But also their field of work—especially projects they speak excitedly about—and special interests within it. Hobbies.

I know a commercial real estate developer who built his business through freakish focus on this. Anyone he met, he would immediately note these elements. Family names/ages. Birthdays if he could get them. Interests both business and personal. He kept a database of these notes. We’re talking 1,000s of entries. He happened also to be a voracious reader. In spare moments he scoured newspapers and magazines, clipping and filing articles that matched the interests in his database. He then spent Monday mornings sending these clips—each with a personal note saying “This made me think of you...” This helped nurture a massive network that kept business coming his way. Lots of referrals. He even tells the story of a client who came his way FIVE YEARS LATER, saying, “This property’s been in my family for decades, but I think in this market it’s time to sell. You seem to be everywhere and you also care about us, so we wanted you to represent us.”

Everywhere? No, just where you are. In your mindspace. Showing I care.

That’s what we (I hope) want to accomplish with social media. It’s going to keep changing. In fact, Steve Rubel just posted an entry I whole-heartedly agree with on the future of social media—give us five years and we won’t think anymore of MySpace or Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or YouTube as separate entities. The whole Internet will become our social network. Simplification of the technology will allow us to each cobble together the best social media bits and pieces out there into our own personal pages.

This will include the network-specific management tools. The ones that allow us to gather, manage, and interact with our friends/followers. Our contact lists.

It will also include same form of status update... much like Twitter page or the Facebook home page. Where you can easily check and see what an individual is interested in and shares with the world. Imagine if my real estate broker friend had access to that...

For those who have reconnected with old classmates (the ones you SHOULD have or ALWAYS MEANT TO keep in touch with, but didn’t) via Facebook, think for a moment about how that makes a tiny little change in your life. I have an ongoing presence now of these individuals. I don’t wonder what they’re up to, I actually know. Sometimes I even comment on it.

But that’s the machine. It can give you access. YOU, as the networker. YOU, as the company or organization must put together an effort, and plan... a SYSTEM to help your friends/followers understand that you care. That’s where the value of your efforts will derive from. Having people actively paying attention and read to act is a powerful thing.

To justify your effort, you also need to develop a means of tracking and measuring your influence. (Influence = technical public relations term).

But the key question is, how do you earn that right to call on your network when you need them? Those who know you care... they'll do a lot for you. In fact, if you nurture your network of relationships well, you usually don't even have to call them. They'll call you. To show they care, too.

That’s what I’m thinking about right now.

And, please, send me your comments/questions. I’ll incorporate them into my thoughts.

Flux - What do you do?

2009-04-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

Spent an hour with 50 or so fantastic friends at PRSA’s Western District Conference 2009 in Newport, Calif. yesterday. Our task was to wander through thoughts and challenges for our future as professionals. We had fun. We cover some esoteric PR stuff, but I discuss social media quite a bit, as that’s a serious re-writer of PR. (Full seminar write-up here.)

Numerous attendees asked me for an electronic version of my program handout so that the links were easy to access. Thus, I put it here. (http://www.getspine.com/Flux.pdf)

Additionally, I recorded the presentation so that I could review it. The audio came out well enough that I added the slides and created a YouTube video. Please note that, as a recording of a live audience, you lose a lot of the dynamics of being there. But you can get a sense of what concepts and questions we were playing with.

Because it’s a 47 minute presentation, I had to cut it into parts to fit the YouTube upload limitations. If you click through to the YouTube page, parts 2-5 can be found in the playlist in the right hand column.

I do a lot of presentations (50 in the past year). It’s fun to do one completely free-form like this... conversational (vs. rehearsed) where the whole point is to pose questions more than teach a subject.

If you do take the time to listen/watch, I would love your feedback.

Casey

P.S. Thanks for all the live tweets! That was fun to come back to. If you're so inclined, please connect with me via Facebook.

Make it Easy to Talk About You

2009-04-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

A simple means of stepping into social media (no Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, or any other account needed...). You don’t even have to ask your boss for permission.

Teensy Bit of History

Times were, the press release was king of the public relations arsenal. There were oh, so many versions. Fancy formatting. Debates abound as to the right elements, spacing, formatting, content length... anything that might make it more likely that an editor or reporter would take notice.

All kinds of crazy schwag was delivered with them in hopes of getting reporter attention. Sometimes reporters would pay attention to the piece for this. Others—because of ethics rules at their publications/stations—had to return the schwag because a “gift” might be perceived as tainting their impartiality.

When first entering the U.S. market, The Beatles sent radio stations records of the band members answering questions that arrived on a corresponding release. Radio DJs could then hold an “interview” with the band by queuing the turntable and asking the questions. There’s also the “video” press release where you prepared and delivered (on tape, then DVD) the elements a television reporter would use would use to tell your story.

Though you can find innumerable seminars and consultants who will teach this and more, journalists generally cite an effective release as having three key elements:

It’s short, generally one page max.
It tells the story as directly as possible. This takes writing practice, to eliminate all the extraneous or “fluff” language. Just. The. Facts. Ma’am. We don’t care how “excited” your CEO is about the “breakthrough” product/service. We can judge that for ourselves. (Trick: Write your story out, then cut it down to one page—Times New Roman, 12 pt., 1.5 line height, standard margins—by taking out all the unnecessary words. Edit harshly.)
It tells them where to go for more information. Generally, they will seek that if they need it.
The release also needs to be delivered to the correct reporter. The trends/fashion editor is not interested in your reinvention of the staple gun unless it goes well with Louis Vuitton’s spring line.

Many reporters keep a “hall of shame” collection of press releases... the really bad or outlandish. They’re funny. You are being mocked.

PR firms—in a stab at recognition—are touting various versions of a “social media release”. Some of these are ingenious, some are just silly.

But the core of the press release concept translates well to social media: setting your information free in a concise format that makes it easy for an editor/writer/journalist to recognize its worthiness (in THEIR view, not yours), gather any other information, and share it with their audience.

People Are Talking About You

Let’s set aside for a moment the raging debate over what does/doesn’t define a “journalist”. Instead, let’s accept that everyone is talking about you. Take a look.

To keep track, I highly recommend setting up Google Alerts on key phrases about your organization. (To keep from getting flooded with emails, I recommend using some Boolean operators to make sure only the most relevant alerts are sent to you.)

Some are blogging. Some might mention you on their Facebook or MySpace pages. Others are using comment systems... even review pages. Especially twitter. Tweets go out from everywhere. As does a picture posted to Picasa or Flickr.

It’s only going to become more prevalent. A few, yes, will criticize. However, unless you’re screwing up, most of those who will do write about you are likely fans. But pay attention to the critics... some might have a good point and you can adjust your firm’s activities accordingly. Or you can answer them right in their own comments section. “Thank you for the comment. Wanted to let you know we changed that.” or “Thank you, but we wanted to address some misinformation...”

This is scary for some organizations who like the curtain between them and the rest of the world. But, like I said... look who’s already talking.

Truth is, we are ALL the media now. So make it easy for us to get the story right.

Back to the Press Release

I believe the core of the press release... your story told, as concisely as possible (think 200-300 words*), assembled with the least amount of formatting possible (plain text is best), and kept somewhere it’s as easy to deliver it quickly as possible. Truth is, the real work of the press release should be focused on the writing and especially the editing. Short and to-the-point.

Some organizations like to keep “online press rooms” where they link to all their press releases. This makes the information readily available to anyone at any time. That’s good, ‘cause not everyone wants to contact you first. They just want to write... or copy & paste.

But also keep a version handy that you can drop into an email at any moment. This way you can have very rapid response whenever you get a request... a sign of professionalism.

Hazards: We all want to tell every last bit of our stories. This is bad, as your audience has limited capacity to absorb the information. You really have to simplify it... and that 200-300 word limit really forces you to do so. Note: If you are not practiced at writing (be honest), this will take work. Ask: what MUST the reader take away from this piece? (When you’ve told a story well in a concise format, the writer will be more likely to contact you for more information. You proved yourself a good resource.)

Have more to say (or even a story independent of your organizations main story)? Perhaps you have more than one story. Those can be other 200-300-word releases. Collected into an archive, these can do a pretty effective job of telling the larger story of what your organization does.

You also want to make sure that wherever you use one of these “releases”, it includes your contact information: your name/title as contact, phone number, web address, email, and any social media platforms on which your organization can be found (i.e. http://smgestalt.blogspot.com and http://twitter.com/getspine). Remember, you’re making it as easy as possible to for the writers to access the right information... which includes reaching you if they need.

To sum up:

Set up a Google Alert on key terms related to your organization.
Participate where appropriate. Thank commentators. Correct actions if the criticism makes a good point. Correct information where it is appropriate. (I'm trusting you'll keep your cool and refrain from posted arguing... that's bad form.)
Create very simple press releases to share your story: 200-300 words with key contact information.

You can also find appropriate journalists, bloggers, and other interested parties with whom to share your releases. Ideally, you'll see your own efforts pay off in future Google Alerts.

Really, getting started on using social media can be this easy.

*By comparison, this blog entry is approximately 1,000 words.

Naked Social Media

2009-04-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite personal social media success stories took place from 1995 through 1998.

Wait, social media wasn’t around then.

True, but it gets even better: It was accomplished on a network of Wang word processors. That’s the computer you see pictured above. It ran Microsoft DOS, had no mouse, and the screen showed only black or glowing green.

But it had an email system that could tell you when messages you sent had been opened and when they were discarded.

That + Personality + Ingenuity = Perfect recipe for “naked” social media.

The company I was working for—the Tucson Airport Authority—employed approximately 360. Just prior to my joining them, they had started an email-based employee newsletter. (Very forward thinking in 1995. This was before email addresses were standard on business cards.)

We had an existing printed employee newsletter, so there was room to experiment. We did... and we figured out a magical mix:

Our CEO was fairly laid back about what we could do with the newsletter, so we were free to be playful... even poke fun at ourselves in an irreverent way. We’re all in this together. We work hard. Let’s have some fun.

We had an existing system for gathering information in one place. It was my “in box” (the real-world version). All our press releases, board updates, other newsletters, and whatever anyone came across that might be interesting was deposited here.

We focused heavily on our networks... the real world kind. Essentially, our team had their tentacles in pretty much everything the company was doing. This ranged from the top level board-oriented stuff to all the way to the gossipy clerks who worked in hidden offices. Truth is, the gossipy clerks often know more about what is going on. This is true of your organization, too. If you do not get out of your office (and out of “important” meetings) to talk to those who labor in the trenches... you don’t know what’s really going on... and you ain’t doing PR.

I had an agenda. A chip on my shoulder. I was a young pup with a real taste in how the Internet could be used in a business (I had spent some time with AOL). One of the executive managers had specifically told me that the Internet would never be anything but a toy—a waste of time—so we were wasting our time to use it in a business. I was out to prove otherwise. I was going to replace the printed employee newsletter with the email one. But I needed evidence. Numbers.

We could see through they system that we were getting an 80% reader rate. But I needed at least 90% (the number at which we could convince the HR department that everyone possible was being reached).

Then two things happened...

First, a reader we weren’t sure was reading pointed out an amusing typo. We especially wanted to know this reader was paying attention because they fit the “gossipy clerk in the hidden room” category. Before you read that as demeaning, let me translate: Key node on the grapevine. If this person had the right information, we knew that it was being broadcast (and corrected) throughout a large chunk of the organization.

Of all the unexpected... typos and mistakes in the newsletter became a game with our readers. We rewarded our “editors” by including them by name as the source of the correction.

We also solicited for input—any kind of input—from our readers and published it in the next edition. With encouragement and a little wit... we included jokes they shared, notes on something department innovations (one department hand-fabricated a new riding painter to put lines on the runway... pretty cool), even notes on concerts they were performing in (one of the engineers was a gifted tenor). This reached a point where we had a backlog.

See where this is going? It’s no longer a newsletter. It’s a conversation. It’s a community. Social media in ASCI characters alone.

But numbers were showing that we weren’t quite at 90%.

One department was noticeably absent. So I went to talk to them.

Turns out their team worked primarily in the field and didn’t have much use for a computer. But the supervisor thought they’d be interested in the newsletter. She suggested printing a copy and posting it on the inside of the stall of the one restroom they all used. Genius... to the point that they soon asked for a second department computer so they could participate in the community.

95%. No more printed newsletter. Conversation beats paper.

Moral of the story:

Yes, pictures, video, file sharing, profiles, and links can help you tell your story. However, don't confuse the trappings with your mission.

Social media is about connection. Conversation. Community. That's the prize on which you need to keep your eye.

Think "naked" first. How would you find connection if were forced to strip down to green text on a black screen?

Cursor's blinking at you...

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?

2009-04-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

Drives me nuts... I keep seeing all these first social media attempts at the “viral video”. Many of them are taking form as “contests” trying to get YouTube or other users to submit videos for varying levels of prizes.

Yes, I have to admit that I’ve been part of the planning team for more than one of these. I agree that they can help companies/organizations/clients take their first steps toward the conversations and community that are social media. It’s straightforward. It’s clear to the mind (and the sales process that gets the CEO and board to buy in).

But it’s getting crowded. I find that the contests often divert attention from what the organization is actually about by attempting to be cute/cool/funny rather than digging in and helping your audience/fans/friends get more involved with/connected to you.

You can only consume so many attempts to be cool/hip/crazy before you realize it’s just more cotton candy when your audience/friends/customers are hungry for substance. Additionally, cool/hip/crazy does not fit the personality of many (most?) organizations. That’s okay. We don’t expect our banks, research institutions, or hospitals to be thus. We come to them for other reasons.

Then this came along... written up in perhaps its most concise/readable form in Time Magazine this week. YouTube (owned by Google, of course) has sponsored/created the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Aspiring performers were required to audition via YouTube-based videos. Those chosen via audition videos are in New York City this week to rehearse and perform in Carnegie Hall. As one of the performers quoted in the article put it:

For Moe, who believes that "orchestras need to figure out how to be relevant and reach new audiences," the most fascinating aspect of the YouTube orchestra is its vision of community. "The purpose of music and maybe even the purpose of life is to connect with people and create," he says. Whether that will work musically is anyone's guess. But it is undoubtedly, as Moe puts it, a "really fun experiment." And for the performers, there's not much to lose. "I'm so glad someone is footing the bill!" Moe says.

Let's embrace the fact that this is sponsored by Google and comes with some major PR powerhouse thinking behind it so that we can milk it as a case study for our own purposes.

Essentially, they embraced social media to realize an efficiency in something that has to happen to create an orchestra: auditions. Previous options were to send scouts into the field, invite the musicians to travel to audition, or to ship recordings (audio or video).

In embracing YouTube for this process, they open up exposure to a much bigger audience. What was once "behind closed doors" is now accessible to all of the musicians involved, to aspiring musicians (imagine inspiring your kid this way - beyond just their school orchestra and occasional city-wide or regional "ad hoc" orchestras), to both existing and future Carnegie Hall programs/event participants/audiences.

Think of that. Classical music has an air of exclusivity to it. It's elitist. On a pedestal. Not for the masses. It also has a much smaller audience than mainstream pop music. Providing access leveraging widely-available technology both reaches the smaller audience despite geographical separation... but it also provides education that grows future participants AND audience.

This doesn't require a bunch of fussing around with demographics. This doesn't require a "zany" campaign... it can be directed right at and delivered to the audience involved based on their collective interest. In fact, they will hear about it from others with the common interest and be drawn to it. (That's the core of true "viral" marketing.)

They simply created a single, attractive opportunity based specifically on auditions. Then let the musicians add their own creativity. It doesn't even require editing the videos. Just be yourself.

So, when you're thinking about what to do with social media... before you create a new campaign... ask yourself (your organization) questions along these lines. But first, set aside the notion of "perfect". Instead, imagine it through the lens of a digital camera that's been balanced on a kitchen counter:

What do we already do that could be made more efficient or done better through social media tools? (Think in terms of pictures, videos, or one of your customers/constituents sitting down and talking directly to others like her.)
How can we embrace those we serve, those who are already passionate about us or our cause/mission, or those with whom we already have a relationship with? What do they already tell us or wish they could?
What do people already come to us for or want access to that could be shared via social media tools? (Note: Some of this may already exist. You don't have to always produce your own... you can share something someone else produced.)
Can we embrace social media to provide access and openness where we might be considered clique-y or "overly exclusive? (Bonus: Are there "myths" about what we do that could be "busted"?)
How can we use social media to accomplish something that takes up a lot of (unnecessary) time? (Ask your front-line people on this one...What questions do they repeatedly answer that could be simplified if they could send a quick link to a quick-and-dirty product demonstration or other information?)

Some quick random brainstorms:

I'm always intimidated by casino table games. I don't play them often enough to have any skill. So, I avoid the tables. If you're a casino, make my experience more rewarding by providing me with a how-to tutorial (even recommending I ask for a "beginners" table).
Got a piece of machinery or a procedure (say, a medical procedure) that your customers could understand better via video. YouTube it.
Deal in a disease, such as cancer? Video 10 patients each answering the question "I've just been diagnosed, what should I expect?" I'm no longer alone with my diagnosis and I'm meeting people who have made it through.
Deal in volunteers? Ask 100 volunteers why they volunteer. Compile the top 20 different answers into a video to inspire people visiting your site. We each have our own reasons. (BTW: Most typical digital cameras now have a video mode. The files transfer to your computer via the same cords. Plus, most computers sold in the last three years come with free video editing software that is perfect for YouTube.)
Want to thank a sponsor? Put their name and logo up in a video showing who/what their money went to. They might even share that link with other prospective donors.
Hand a few cameras over to staff, volunteers, even customers. Tell them to show you how they experience your organization. Ask them to be candid. The raw footage is a great way to view your organization through their eyes. Edited footage can tell other staff, volunteers, and customers what to expect when they interact with you.

Comments?

2009-04-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

I just added the comments feature to this blog. It was something I didn't originally include because I didn't like the way they formatted in the template I customized (based on one from the Woork blog). This had the unintentional effect of forcing my readers to comment via email, Facebook, and Twitter. I interact quite a bit that way.

But a debate I've been following (it's all over the place, not in any one online thread, so I can't really point you to it) says that no blogger worth his/her salt would have comments turned off. The harder-edged pro-comments advocates argue that social media is all about conversation (sound familiar?) and if you aren't holding your conversations in the open, you're just using your blog platform to publish the equivalent of an old-school newsletter.

Interesting. I'll bite. Let's open the comments and see what happens. I'll even publish comments I get on the other platforms.

That brings me to an important distinction in social media that I believe the harder-edged presenters of an argument like this miss. There is no such thing as a social media "expert". It's all being invented as we go along. There are definitely those who have found an element of success in one part of it or another, but the technology and its uses change constantly. People keep finding new ways to use the tools. (Think of it... Twitter's really only two years old.) Much as my Law of Simplexity attempts to capture, that's not going to change any time soon.

Just ask the owners and operators of newspapers that are crumbling around us. We're getting back to the roots of journalism. Guess what... it's not about the technology of ink printed on paper. It's about ferreting out the story, finding the right sources, getting the facts straight, and getting it to your audience. That... and the interaction with the audience and what happens as a result of the story. Sometimes it's just interesting. Sometimes it can ring loudly in the halls of power.

The ONLY element that remains common regardless of the technology is people. Writing. The printing press. The postal system. The telephone. Radio. Television. The Internet. Now social media. Each advancement in how we can reach others changes the flow of dynamics. Industries change. New players are created. Some old ones crumble. Others adapt and thrive.

Same for marketing, advertising, public relations, publishing, and similar industries.

But people... even with the new technology... remain people. Yes, there are some new tricks to learn. There always will be. But the real social media "experts" are those who can adapt them to embrace the way people want to use them. Technology is flattening hierarchies created by mass communication, getting us closer and closer to being a gargantuan village.

People = the real technology at the heart of it all.

Operate from that platform.

(Do it. Screw up. Adjust.)

Calendar Power!

2009-04-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

Shhh... I'm sharing with you a secret. Possibly the most powerful social media tool available. The one you cannot do without. It requires that I say the same thing twice:

There’s so much buzz/excitement/confusion about social media that we sometimes overlook old-school tools/techniques that make our lives easier.
Sometimes we get so bogged down in our day-to-day operations that we neglect tools that can really make a difference in how we manage our time and workload.

Doesn’t sound like the same thing? Pull back the curtain so you can see the puppeteer:

The PR calendar.

This is where you outline the topics you need to cover in a year. I recommend that you always plan 12 months out. As soon as January is done, you add the next year’s January. Same with all the other months. For a small organization, I recommend working with 12 topics—one per month.

This strikes a balance between always having a good story angle to share to your media list and being annoying. As in, be persistent, but don’t be a pest.

It also simplifies your workload. Now you know the 12 topics for which you need to gather information, devise a story angle, and produce/distribute press releases. It also tells you when. Doesn’t that feel a lot better?

Caveat 1: There are, of course, variations of complexity to this concept. Larger/more complex organizations require more involved your calendars. I’m outlining a really simple version here. Great for individuals, small businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations. Start here and add complexity as needed and as you gain momentum in using this strategic tool.

Caveat 2: When I speak of a press release, I’m talking about the story, the writing/text that communicates to someone what you are talking about and why it is interesting. I tend to write a one-two page abstract that is then chopped up for various purposes. One version can be formatted for journalists and sent to my media list. Another version gets tailored for a blog posting. Yet another can be shared in a letter to customers or the board of directors. Though each is tailored (Note: I said TAILORED, not re-written) for the specific audience, they draw off the same core. Consistency is a beautiful thing. It’s also efficient. But so is letting each audience know you care about them.

First thing to put on the calendar: Date-specific activities.

Do you hold an annual event (or semi-annual) that you need to promote? Calendar.

Do you have (or always kick yourself for not having) an annual holiday tie-in? Say, you want to promote your holiday-related fundraising effort or remind people to choose energy efficient lights. Again, calendar.

Do you have other date- or season-dependent messages? Say, you want to remind people to child-proof their swimming pools as the summer comes around. Or, did you know that April was National Volunteer Awareness Month AND National Oral Health Month? (Volunteer dentists, anyone?) Here’s a calendar of all those national awareness dates. Calendar.

How about checking in with your team’s marketing or fundraising folks? (Assuming you’re not already both.) They must have campaigns that you could (or should) support. It’s amazing when an organization brings its efforts in line. Marketing industry parlance has dubbed this “integrative” marketing. Do I need to say "calendar"?

Some companies/organizations can fill their whole calendar this way. But wait...

What about the non-date-related topics you would love to promote? Maybe there are topics that are just plain interesting (careful: think in terms of interesting to your AUDIENCE). Or, if you’re an affiliate of a national organization, they probably send you materials all the time (possibly even at the last minute). If you have months remaining, fill them with your favorite non-date-related topics.

You probably have a few topics left over at this point. We ALL have more topics we’d love to promote than we do time to promote them. That’s what “tickler” files are for. Store these topics away. You will have more months in later years. Remember, we’re simplifying our lives.

Calendar full? Excellent! Now shift everything to the left so that it’s a month ahead of what you originally wrote.

Huh?

You just turned your PR calendar into your production calendar. You’re going to begin producing things a month ahead. This gives you time to actually produce the items, but also to distribute them.

Rule of thumb: Though you can sometimes (even often) get lucky and get a journalist to cover you at the last minute, you will be FAR more effective in “getting the word out” if you are well ahead on the calendar. My personal preference for a calendar-based event is to work six weeks ahead, sending two separate releases. The first is a 200-or-so-word summary “alert”. The second goes one or two weeks ahead of the event serves as a reminder. I also like to put more details into that one.

Oh, and when working with the media, you can often find or request a calendar of topics they will be covering throughout the year... and the deadlines for materials they will consider for those topics. This is particularly important for holiday-related topics. The traditional media (AND bloggers, in particular on the social media side) typically produces materials well ahead of the holidays. Remember, you’re not the only one vying for their attention. Your preparation and attention to their calendar increases the possibility they’ll cover you. Key: Make their job easier.

What’s all this talk about journalists? Isn’t this a blog about social media?

Yes. Remember, I said this was old-school. HOWEVER, the principal works to your advantage in social media, too. I’m doing two things with this calendar:

Focusing you on just one topic per month. This is paramount. It simplifies your workload. It ALSO simplifies what your audience encounters. You only have so much of their attention span. Staying focused helps you use it efficiently. Yes, you have many other topics... but you also have many other months coming up. If someone (i.e. your boss, your board... whoever) insists on a new topic at the last minute, get out that calendar of topics and ask which month they’d like to replace with this higher-priority topic. (This is a powerful workload management technique. It helps you communicate that there is a plan of action and resource management in place... you embrace their input, but refuse to allow their railroading of the process. Hold your ground. It’ll be fun. Oh, and ask yourself the same question when you’re tempted to change topics.)
Preparing materials a month ahead. This requires discipline on your part. But doing so ALWAYS makes you more efficient and better at your job. You got no self-discipline? I’m sure there’s a self-help blog out there for that. (But you’ll probably spend all day reading it instead of doing the work on which you should be focused.)

How does this apply to social media?

Truth is, social media done well is an ongoing conversation. With the platforms (i.e. MySpace, Facebook, a blog, Twitter, etc.) on which you are running your own profiles/accounts, you are serving as facilitator. Yes, you should follow the flow of what individuals are asking/discussing with you. (In fact, these make great calendar fodder, as you know there is interest in the topic.) However, as facilitator, you need to provide conversational catalyst. Having a topic for which you have done research and prepared materials is a major tool here. Your PR calendar is your guide to the topic. You then customized what you’ve done at the “media relations” level to fit the needs of each platform.

Yes, this requires understanding the needs and nuances of each platform.

However, the calendar is particularly powerful when applied while you’re gaining an understanding of these needs/nuances. It gives you a topic that you can use across all the platforms... and I already mentioned the power of consistency. Once you have the calendared topic in place, you can riff on it all you need in the social media conversations.

To bookend, the old-school PR calendar is the new new-school tool. Go make one. Use it. Then come back here and tell me what else I should have said.

Where do we find the resources?

2009-04-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

This question pops up in every seminar on social media, but someone articulated it particularly well and succinctly to me last week:

Where do we find the time/people/money to embrace social media?

My instinct replies, "that’s an organizational, not a social media question". But it’s not entirely.

The question stabs right to the heart of what social media is actually about: people.

They’re the most difficult part of the equation.

You’re working with two major issues here:

Gaining Buy-In: Getting your team (including those both above and below you on the hierarchy) to embrace social media.
Getting social media to become a priority.

On Gaining Buy-In

One of the major barriers to embracing a new tool/technology is understanding it. People resist. Might be your CEO, the HR director, or even you. Social media is a particularly weighted by this issue. There is a learning curve before individuals truly grasp the concepts. At the same time, the tools themselves are still proving themselves. The interesting element here is that these tools—particularly in the hands of an individual or organization willing to experiment—are both inexpensive to engage/experiment AND are showing themselves capable to producing real results during the experimentation.

It echoes the late 1990s as companies were figuring out whether this new “web” thing was worth investing in. Managers scream for measurement—for ROI—before they’ll budge. Call it fear. Call it a conservative approach. Call it other priorities. Truth is, articulation of social media ROI is still being figured out. One of my favorite discussion of this is the econsultancy blog’s 10 ways to measure social media success. Note that I said ARTICULATION of ROI... NOT that social media lacks ROI. Important distinction. You will want to read through it yourself, including the comments. The best summary is a paragraph from the discussion itself:

Rather than focusing on the smaller, campaign-specific metrics, such as traffic from Twitter or the number of fans on Facebook, wouldn’t it be better to look at how it helps to shift the most important business KPIs, such as sales, profits, as well as customer retention and satisfaction rates?

In many cases, organizations and companies put “new idea” blinders on until the idea proves itself, endlessly frustrating the enterprising individuals inside. This ying-yang battle between the conservative and the enterprising frameworks/approaches exists in virtually any group of humans you assemble. Families, organizations, companies... even religions and governments. It's the root of all politics. Think Copernicus battling the Catholic Church over whether Earth orbited the sun. Think Abraham Lincoln declaring the end of slavery in the U.S. Think Bill Gates realizing that the operating system would have more value than the IBM PC itself.

Every new idea has to survive this battle between the angel and the devil. The conservative side keeps us from running amok and blowing resources on every whim that occurs. The enterprising side keeps us from becoming dinosaurs. As much as they are contentious, each side relies on the other for survival of the organization.

Chink in the armor: Often, the conservatives among us find erecting the ROI barrier is a handy means of keeping the enterprising from distracting or annoying them with a new idea. The enterpriser backs down and everyone can be on their merry way. When used without truly considering your idea, it verges on a level of conservative laziness. One of my favorite forms of this is reciting all the bad stuff online... from crazy people who might criticize the organization, to the questionable nature of blog content/authors, to dismissing it as “toys for kids”. (Really, I heard a VP or HR director dismiss the entire Internet for that reason.)

The trick is that you, as the enterprising individual, need to find a way short of grand-scale ROI to illustrate for the conservatives among us the value of engaging in social media. I suggest two solid starting points:

Think in their interest. Think selfishly on behalf of those you have to convince. Were you them, what interests and resources available via social media would be of the most interest to them? A hobby or passion? Something that makes their job easier? Something that can better connect them with loved ones? How can you get them to sample this? The idea is to pull them in. Get them to experience it first-hand.
Start a small-scale experiment. Try just one platform for a moment. Are there pictures you need to share from a recent event? Flickr them. Do you have an existing newsletter? Begin sharing it through a Facebook group... and suggest to readers that they can find you there. Do you have a following of passionate volunteers? See if they are willing to connect through the same group. This isn’t a big project. It doesn’t take a lot of your time. You’re just giving it a try and using the social media tools for their efficiency.... This builds a tiny little case study. Then two... and so on.

Bottom line: In absence of “official” ROI, getting small buy-in can help you move your case forward. (BTW, I'd love to hear your variations on these two ideas.)

Raising Priorities

Back to the original question: Where do we find the time/people/money to embrace social media?

Not that I want to answer with a question, but the most poignant response I have is: How does your organization find the resources for everything else? If you see the social media light... it might be an opportunity for you to expand your own skills of persuasion and political maneuvering.

Do you have a strategic planning process? When is it? How do you get something discussed/considered in this process? What elements discussed above could lend themselves to being included?

What other organizational endeavors could social media efforts augment or even displace?

For example, where could social media help you or your organization realize efficiencies? I know from a public relations standpoint it is exceptional in that it connects directly with your audience/market rather than going through another resource, such as the media. You can receive direct feedback. Your friends/followers are individuals who have specifically said they would like to know more and interact... to a point that makes even opt-in email newsletters pale by comparison.

A well-run Twitter account allows you to both regularly share company announcements and resources with a large circle of people... but also to solicit your followers for feedback (instant focus group).

Facebook, MySpace, even blogs allow you to share information you would normally share via a newsletter or press release... but with an audience who has asked to be included. (This goes beyond the opt-in newsletter concept.)

Flickr and YouTube (and similar image/video sharing sites) allow you to visually bring your audience/market into your fold. In a skilled communicator's hands, this adds power to your ability to share your story with them. Again, this builds relationships with those who are most connected to your organization... which lead to business. (And funding, in the case of nonprofits.)

Brought together--and used with a smart calendar (for efficiency and topic organization)--these social media elements help you effectively manage the conversations with your organization and participate in the ones that are already happening without you. Your working through this might actually make your whole organization more efficient in the way it interacts with those it serves. Big thought... but new technology tools can often have this kind of an effect.

In your organization, where does that fit in the list of priorities you plan for?

Second San Diego Foundation Seminar April 17

2009-03-31T12:57:00.000-07:00

Social Media Gestalt: Seeing the Forest for the Trees

MySpace, Facebook, Podcasts, Blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Web 2.0… new stars appear in the online universe. Some fade, some fizzle and others change the landscape. Stare too long and it’s blinding.

What role should “new media” play in your organization’s marketing and fundraising? This program provides a big picture (and non-technical) exploration of social media truths to help you determine which tools fit your marketing needs.

You’ll gain:

• An understanding of social media marketing strategy and tactics.
• Case studies revealing how nonprofits have successfully embraced social media.
• A checklist to develop your social media expertise.
• Tips on social media tools to make your work easier (yes, easier...).
• The best vantage points to see what’s coming next.

Date: Friday, April 17th
Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: United Way of San Diego, 4699 Murphy Canyon Rd, San Diego, CA 92123
RSVP Required: Lori@sdfoundation.org

Space is limited to the first 40 respondents with a maximum of two people per organization. Note: Organizations that sent someone to the first session and would like to send more people will be accommodated one space if there is availability.

Program brought to you by The San Diego Foundation, United Way of San Diego and City of San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture as part of the Nonprofit Economic Recovery Initiative.

Our Speaker

Casey DeLorme, APR is an award winning 15-year Public Relations industry veteran with extensive experience in online/social media marketing, presentations/presentation coaching, special events, media relations, creative strategic planning, and crisis communications.

He has developed effective communications programs for nonprofits, health care, university, municipal, military/aerospace, telecom wireless, software, commercial real estate, tourism, and entertainment clients.

In addition to operating San Diego-based Getspine Communications, Casey speaks extensively, including delivering seminars on social media (online marketing), applying artist-developed creative techniques in business, personal/professional networking, media relations, marketing for artists, and leadership.

It's Not About the Technology

2009-03-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have to credit Alex at NeatORama for inspiring this post. He made such a great point in describing Alfred Sirleaf (the guy in front of the chalkboard) as an "analog blogger", that I was inspired to riff on it today.

Mr. Sirleaf's chalkboard is a major news source in Monrovia, Liberia. In this war-ravaged country, he scans newspapers, selects the top issues and news and writes it on a large chalkboard on one of his city's major (relatively speaking) thoroughfares. He receives "breaking" news from friends via text message. He even developed a collection of symbols to display to help the illiterate (major issue in Liberia) understand what is happening. His chalkboards are widely-read to the point that local leaders have on occasion taken offense at his editorials and imprisoned him.

As the New York Times puts it:

Mr. Sirleaf is something of an information evangelist, fervent in his belief that a well-informed citizenry is the key to the rebirth of his homeland, ravaged by 14 years of civil war. As the nation slowly comes back from the brink of annihilation, he said, he wants to make sure every Liberian can keep up with the news and play a part in the country’s young democratic government.

That reads to me as true journalist. As NeatORama said, he's essentially a blogger. I'll take it one step further... Mr. Sirleaf is a master of social media. His chalkboard (actually, his whole collection of hut, chalkboards, signs, and other paraphernalia) fit the bill.

Someone in the area should start taking a picture of the chalkboard on a daily basis and posting it as a blog. Think of it... technology is the last piece. Everything else is already in place.

Those decrying the closing of newspapers could take a lesson here. Journalism is a profession, not a technology. You do your work and find a means of getting the story to the right audience. Doesn't matter if you are delivering via paper, radio, television, internet, telegraph, smoke signals, or even town crier. Ask Mr Sirleaf.

How to Undermine Your Social Media Efforts

2009-03-12T13:42:00.001-07:00

Ah, the power of sarcasm. Slather it on like so much sour cream.

This list was tweeted by Twitter friend/colleague willconley777.

I’ve kept it intact as it appeared on Twitter, which means you have to read it from bottom to top.

------

1. (Your way to undermine your social media marketing efforts here)

2. Avoid humor in your advertising campaign.

3. Obsess over details.

4. Fear much.

5. Control everything the eye can see.

6. Come up with your favorite buzzwords and try to force them into every marketing message.

7. Post long, excited, obviously biased essays about how great your product is.

8. Try and conceal your identity.

9. Avoid all bad press and poor opinions of your company. See them as a threat and worry about them. Blame your problems on them.

10. Don't let anyone else decide what your brand is. You own the company, your opinion is the only one that matters. Right?

Ten Ways to Undermine Your Own Social Media Marketing Efforts...

Two Damn Good Social Media Presentations

2009-03-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

I promised at the outset of this blog that I'd share and celebrate when someone else said something really well.

Been researching nonprofit-specific use of social media. Both for clients and for my own role on Volunteer San Diego's board and marketing committee.

These presentations = pithy. To the point that you almost don't need the narrative to grasp what's sinking into your brain.

They also make excellent use of social media themselves. Both are available via Slideshare.net (it's like YouTube for PowerPoint). The presentations themselves link back to the original authors.

An Introduction to Social Media for Charities

View more presentations from Steve Bridger. (tags: reciprocity participation)

Social Media for Non Profits

View more presentations from Primal Media. (tags: 2.0 primal)

Blogging as Professional Meditation

2009-03-05T21:27:00.001-08:00

Came across this American Express Open Forum video tonight while researching social media for nonprofits.

It features Seth Godin, everyone's favorite online marketing guru. (He was the driving force around Yahoo's marketing for a while and is known for quick-read books on marketing. They're so quick, quippy, and direct, it's like reading a 100 tweets in a row.) It also features management consultant god Tom Peters.

What I love about this video is that he makes a completely different case for blogging. It glances over the "world's gonna beat a path to my door if I do this" mentality to get to what I have discovered for myself and others have told to me. There is a clarity that comes from regularly sitting down to think through elements of what you're doing, what you're working on, ideas you're exploring, and just plain having the discipline to talk to yourself on a regular basis in a way that you'd explain your thoughts to others.

It's meditation that also churns out solid marketing and communications materials. Speeches. White papers. Case studies. That kind of stuff. There's also the side where you discover an idea really didn't work... or that it needs more tinkering before it's ready for daylight. (There are quite a few posts I start but never publish because they didn't quite reach full birth.)

Definitely worth the 90 seconds or so it takes to watch the conversation.

Look at that, it's Me

2009-03-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

Social Media Gestalt: Seeing the Forest for the Trees

MySpace, Facebook, Podcasts, Blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Web 2.0… new stars appear in the online universe. Some fade, some fizzle and others change the landscape. Stare too long and it’s blinding.

What role should “new media” play in your organization’s marketing and fundraising? This program provides a big picture (and non-technical) exploration of social media truths to help you determine which tools fit your marketing needs.

You’ll gain:

• An understanding of social media marketing strategy and tactics.
• Case studies revealing how nonprofits have successfully embraced social media.
• A checklist to develop your social media expertise.
• Tips on social media tools to make your work easier (yes, easier...).
• The best vantage points to see what’s coming next.

Date: Thursday, March 26th
Time: 1:30pm – 4:30pm
Location: United Way of San Diego, 4699 Murphy Canyon Rd.

RSVP Required: Lori@sdfoundation.org by Monday, March 23rd to confirm your space.

Program brought to you by The San Diego Foundation, United Way of San Diego and City of San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture as part of the Nonprofit Economic Recovery Initiative.

Our Speaker

Casey DeLorme, APR is an award winning 15-year Public Relations industry veteran with extensive experience in online/social media marketing, presentations/presentation coaching, special events, media relations, creative strategic planning, and crisis communications. He has developed effective communications programs for nonprofits, health care, university, municipal, military/aerospace, telecom wireless, software, commercial real estate, tourism, and entertainment clients.

In addition to operating San Diego-based Getspine Communications, Casey speaks extensively, including delivering seminars on social media (online marketing), applying artist-developed creative techniques in business, personal/professional networking, media relations, marketing for artists, and leadership.

Reality Check: Thanks John Stewart

2009-03-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Twitter Frenzy

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Are You Master of Your List?

2009-02-15T09:24:00.000-08:00

Note: This is a continuation of yesterday's post Don't Be an Ass.

Old-school PR-ers know the list well.

It's the core of your media and community relations efforts.

Media: You have spent years developing, cultivating, and honing a list of reporters who cover your industry, company, and related topics. You start by finding as many key reporters as you can, getting their contact information, learning about them by following their work, talking by phone, and even meeting them in person. Often there are different reporters/editors for different purposes. Some are focused on just your industry. Some might be more focused on a geographical area (local newspapers and electronic media). Some might have a particular niche like an events calendar for when you hold public meetings, the hirings/promotions column, or a highly-topical radio call-in show.

Community/Industry relations: These folks aren't reporters, but they still have influence over your organization. Could be politicians, public officials, donors, investors, or even the neighborhood associations near your facilities.

There's also your internal list... how you reach those inside your own organization or closely related organizations who need to be kept up-to-date or contacted on short notice.

Your list ends up being your core tool. All of the people you've spent years cultivating. You know them. You know their likes and dislikes. You have them neatly organized and categorize. Rarely... almost never, do you contact your whole list at once.

Using a contact management tool like ACT allows you to group them into often overlapping groups. Some get just product announcements. Some get industry-related materials (the business reporters, for instance). Some get community-oriented materials. The idea is that you only distribute material to those to whom it is relevant.

There are entire companies, such as Bacons Media, who specialize in compiling lists of all the media outlets they can find, surveying the reporters, and listing what they cover (their "beat") and how they prefer to be contacted.

You can often tell a PR hack or neophyte because they have not yet grasped list mastery... and they send press releases (often poorly-written ones) to entire lists. Or even to lists that have been generated without thought to whether or not the "pitch" is relevant to the recipient.

In hearing popular bloggers lately slam "PR types" for this practice... I cringe. It's a bit like hearing about a hack doctor who botched a treatment plan and blaming the entire medical world for this. All industries have their hacks, as well as their consummate professionals. I would love if bloggers would speak more about the "PR types" who excel at identifying and pitching relevant stories. These "PR types" have long been a staple of the media business. They actually do bring great stories to the journalist or blogger. Yes, the do have the agenda of promoting their organization's or client's image. But the highly-professional "PR types" also help journalists/bloggers identify interesting stories that would otherwise be overlooked. Turns out that organizations that use "PR types" are often doing interesting things worth reporting.

But the lists... they have always evolved. Used to be it was a stack of typed sheets with a staple in the corner. I knew one old-school PR maven for whom the annual updating of her media list was such a ritual, she continued to update it well past retirement. (They even found it on her desk in the process of being updated after she died.)

Then we got computers, which made updating the sheets easier. Then fax machines into which we could enter reporter numbers en mass. Then databases, which became progressively sophisticated.

There's a lot changing rapidly in PR these days. We're inextricably linked to the media and it's changing to the point that old institutions like newspapers and magazines are crumbling.

But the list remains a core tool. Albeit, it's a little spread out now. While I won't go so far as to declare that, universally, bloggers are journalists. Some are, some aren't. Journalism is a profession that includes a lot more than just writing the article. Not all bloggers practice it. But they are still excellent conduits to reaching an audience. One they get to know very well through dialogue and cross-participation with other blogs and other online resources. But "PR types" can develop and maintain relationships with bloggers just as they did with reporters and editors. Bloggers definitely belong on the list.

There's also a new twist to the list. It started with email newsletters, where your audience registered (and canceled) their own inclusion in your list. This further honed the "relevancy" part of your relationship. Deliver good, useful information and people will subscribe. If you delivered drivel, you got canceled.

Take that further to social media sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. In these cases, your friends/followers are adding you to THEIR list. The same goes for blogs, especially when you consider that individuals subscribe to your blog's feed.

Think about that with a touch of oversimplification: With the two-way nature of the social media list, you've eliminated the need to keep a list (they subscribe to you... no need to revise it). Now your list is based ENTIRELY on delivering relevant, useful information via the constraints of whichever platform you're using.

Your list is now you. Have you mastered it?

Don't Be an Ass

2009-02-12T12:13:00.001-08:00

Old School: There’s a bar in every community where those “in the know” like to hang out. Often, this is where reporters will congregate. PR types and other influencers learn where this is and go to hear the latest scuttlebutt. To share the latest scuttlebutt. The hushed conversations are meant more to attract your interest than to keep information private. This is the origin of the best true rumors. It’s not always a bar. The rumors aren’t always true. You get the idea. There’s an element of this to Twitter.

Lately Twitter's been buzzing about how bloggers are frustrated with crappy pitches. The kind where the email begins “Dear Blogger...” at best and has the completely wrong name at worst. Where the idea being pitched bears no relevance to the blog’s topic(s). Where the person pitching the blogger is clueless, condescending, rude... sometimes even threatening. The more amusing ones include a press release that is so poorly written it’s comical.

This is not new.

Every reporter I know keeps a “hall of shame” file of bad pitches and press releases.

Every venture capitalist I know has a story about the “entrepreneur” who just didn’t get it.

Every woman (and a few men) I know has horror stories about men (women) who delivered the nightmarish pickup line... or worse.

Basically, it’s human. There are lots of asses out there. (And we’ve all been one, at least once. I've been one twice... okay, three times.)

But each of these individuals also has stories about those who approached them with wit, charm, or (surprise!), what they were actually seeking.

Here’s the simple way to not be an ass:

1) Find out what’s relevant to the individual you are approaching. Emphasis here on individual. Whether blogger, reporter, venture capitalist, prospective mate, or... well, use your imagination... this is a person you’re approaching. They have a job to do. They are likely a professional (stop with the imagination). They have interests, agendas, and passions. Learn what they are. Reporters call this a beat. Read a few of their articles and you’ll get what they write about. Bloggers, even easier. Read some posts. Not just the last three... go back a year. Venture capitalists, prospective mates... listen to them. Quietly (and politely) stalk them. Are they presenting somewhere? Do they talk about something regularly? Can you locate/meet some of their friends? You can find just about anything with Google. Use it.

2) Find out how they like to receive materials. Bloggers will tell you this outright. Reporters... check the contact information at their publication or station. Or, check Bacons or another directory. Don’t have the budget, college libraries can work wonders. (This seems like too much work? What’s the article really worth to you?) For VCs or mates.... turn your imagination back on.

3) Present it that way.

4) Be ready with your follow-up. Really, if you’re going to pitch someone, it’s essentially opening a conversation. If they respond positively, do you have enough material to follow through? Answer this by creating a list of the 10 things they’re most likely to ask. Can you come up with 10 completely different things you’d want to know about what you’re pitching. (Imagination challenge: Different to THEM, not to you.)

This doesn't mean YOU have to provide all the answers. Do you have supporting materials that helped YOU understand the concept (articles, research, even videos). Those are valid support materials. Use just the ones that helped you get it in short order.

5) Move on if there’s no interest. As in, know when to say when. There will always be another... opportunity or prospect.

I got to the end and thought... is that really all there is?

Yes.

That and... Don’t be an ass.

Don’t understand what I’m talking about? Netflix “A Night at the Roxbury”. If it doesn't make you uncomfortable at least twice, you don't get it. Ask someone else to handle the pitch.

5 Ways to Incorporate Social Media Into Your Campaigns

2009-02-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

Part two of yesterday's 5 Reasons Your Staff Should be Allowed to Play on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter...

A perfect blog entry came to my attention via Twitter while I was assembling this post. It was a survey of marketing professionals, which revealed that lack of experience-based knowledge of social media. It included the statement:

A danger to the effective adoption of social media as a marketing strategy is the large percentage of those who consider themselves knowledgeable – but have no social media experience. (http://tinyurl.com/marketers-know)

Truth is, hands-on experience in social media is critical to understanding it. But you can develop that knowledge by folding social media into what you are already doing. Introduce clients to it gradually while you build a solid social media presence on their behalf. Once there, you can build campaigns around social media. That leads to a happy client with realistic expectations. Here are 5 ways to begin:

Become a research jockey. Social media is a fantastic tool for getting up to speed (and demonstrating that you are) on your client industry/business. With a little searching, you can find (and quietly subscribe to) bloggers, Facebook/MySpace groups, Twitterers, even YouTube channels on pretty much any topic out there. Making a routine of finding a few great resources related to your client can put you on top of their industry staples, debates, and trends. This is material you can use to better position yourself as vital to your clients needs. You can even deliver it to them via social media tools, which will help both of you better grasp the different platform nuances. (Oh, and a secret... social media is also the best teacher of social media. In this case, incest is good.)

Find and join conversations. Closely connected with the research bit above, this will be the most-repeated social media mantra: Conversations and community. It is what makes social media vastly different from other media. These are the social media bread and butter. They are everywhere and on each platform (YouTubers even conduct entire conversations by re-editing and re-posting each others videos.) Conversations are how you can follow virtually any topic out there (back to research). But they are also a conduit to building a following for your client. But there’s a protocol to follow. You can’t go storming in or just add names to a database. You have to earn it. It’s a bit like joining a conversation at a cocktail party. If you (on their behalf) or they begin by finding and lurking in the conversations, getting a feeling for the personalities and the flow, then by gradually joining so that you’re a natural part of it, you earn credibility. Especially if you have something worthwhile to offer. This takes some time. But the result is that you become a respected part of the community... and they will come to listen to you. Once you establish that, reaching even further to having others carry your torch for you is a very short step. (And isn’t that what your client wants to achieve?)

Cannibalize. There are two ways to do this. If you’re producing press releases or newsletters for a client, the text can be easily adapted for updates on blogs, MySpace, Facebook, and even Twitter (among other platforms). Posting a press release is not necessarily the best way to go. Each platform has its own quirks, nuances, and community, which you will quickly discover and (if you pay attention) adjust to. The same thinking applies to pictures, graphics, and videos you have produced for a client. Doing so will help you (and the client) provide content via the social media platforms while you better grasp becoming part of the conversation. It will also help your team develop the systems it needs in place to feed the social media machine. Clunky at first, but you have to start somewhere. Cannibalize what ya got.

Quick FAQ Delivery. Beyond cannibalizing existing newsletters or campaigns, social media is an excellent conduit for addressing a client’s Frequently Asked Questions. This is unique in three capacities: 1) By nature, FAQs are more conversational than a typical campaign. They get to the heart of what customers are seeking from that client. 2) FAQ’s are evergreen (as long as you update them according to what customers are asking), so you can put a list up and maintain it for extended periods in various platforms. 3) Customers will add new ones and/or update your answers for you (if you pay attention), which puts your client in the position of being responsive, which furthers your social media conversational standing. If you really want to figure out what FAQs to begin with, talk to the client’s front-line personnel (not the executives). Take their best suggestions and include these in your social media conversations. (Twitter is an especially efficient and effective means of learning how this can work, as Twitter is essentially pure conversation and question/answer.)

Pick one platform. Truth: Social media is incredibly incestuous. Virtually every platform, from blogs, to YouTube, to Twitter, to MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and untold more are linked, embedded, and otherwise referred to by all the others. But you need a starting point for creating a client campaign. This can be as simple as a Flickr-based “snapshot” contest or Facebook group (my personal favorite starting point) or a focused Twitter presence. You will find that 1) this is easier to communicate your value to the client and 2) will provide the education needed both for your firm and the client how to incorporate other social media platforms in to the next campaign. (Read: Pick a manageable starting point to assemble a sellable/realistic proposal and expand your relationship with the client from there.)

Bonus: Measure. Everything in social media is measurable. You can count friends, followers, views, downloads... whatever you do, there’s a way to tally how you’re doing. This gives immediate feedback to experimentation... and, if you are honest with yourself, lets you experiment your way to successful strategies and techniques. But you have to START by measuring. (My mantra, and I’ll repeat it again: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.)

Those who read my blog regularly will realize that I'm repeating myself in a number of places here. Consistency might be a sign of personal integrity.

You can get more ideas for getting started here >

5 Reasons Your Staff Should be Allowed to Play on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter...

2009-02-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

"I don't want my staff wasting their time playing on this stuff, so I've banned it from the office."

Three times in two weeks. THREE! I heard this statement. From smart, experienced, successful marketing leaders and agency heads. It echoed the HR manager of a company I worked for, oh, 12 years ago or so, declaring that the Internet would never be anything more than a fad or a toy... and recommending a policy against having it in the office.

I know these people are smart. They wouldn't be where they are if they weren't. Plus, well, I've talked to them. Take my word for it: smart. However, it's difficult to see the real value in a new technology-related tool until you've experienced it in action. The sweet, sweet nougat is hidden inside.

So I created two posts. Today 5 Reasons Your Staff Should be Allowed to Play on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter... or Some Other Social Media Platform During Work Hours. (This is goal-oriented play, mind you.) Tomorrow I give 5 Ways to Incorporate Social Media Into Your Campaigns.

Get a handle on what’s possible – You cannot understand social media in theory. You have to experience it. The way individuals relate to one another on the various platforms. The way communities grow. The ways all platforms interact with and reference one another. What audiences will support and help you broadcast vs. ignore or outright reject. Though it may seem frivolous or confusing initially, your team’s use of social media platforms will develop critical knowledge required to employ social media in a real campaign. This requires play... but it can be directed play. Challenge your team to turn their personal use of these platforms into focused learning that establishes new skill sets into your organization (and, hint, hint... their individual careers.) Set time limits. Establish goals. Hold regular discussions about what you discover. It will bring your entire team up to speed in short order.

Research tool - Social media is an efficient research tool. (Yes, the research purists among you will argue with this statement, but I'm talking about quick & dirty, can-I-get-some-quick-feeback research, not the formal stuff.) Platforms like Twitter allow you to sample a quick focus group for thoughts, ideas, and feedback. Social bookmarking sites like del.ic.ious, Digg.com, Reddit.com, and Technorati.com categorize and prioritize sites, information, and other resources according to user votes, giving you quick access to gems that search engines overlook. Blogs, MySpace, facebook, and many other platforms allow you to poll your community to gather their thoughts. How-to videos on YouTube and on myriad blogs can bring you up-to-speed on esoteric topics on short order. Platforms like SurveyMonkey take this all the way to complete surveys with instant feedback. A secret: Social media is also its own best teacher, providing endless resources that show you how the various social media platforms can be used effectively.

Establish your presence - One of the keys to gathering large audiences, followings, and search engine rankings is longevity. Online, people inherently trust someone who’s been around a while, even if the early days were not that interesting. By establishing accounts for your clients, team members, and your firm, you put them in a stronger position even if you do not really use the account a lot initially.

Build your own following - Now that you’ve established accounts, the next key to gathering large audience, following, and search engine rankings is to actively use the accounts. This can begin with something as simple as cross-using press release text in these accounts. Truth is, that’s a crude, rudimentary step. But you are already producing the information and crude, rudimentary is where we all start. As you further your skills, you will also further your following. This means a circle of friends or followers who have actively chosen to pay attention to what you have to offer. Who will also further pass along that information to influence an even larger circle.

Make yourself more efficient - Many of the social media platforms are or incorporate tools that can make you (and your team) more efficient. Social bookmarking platforms, del.ic.ious in particular, allow you to save and share links to sites and other resources you have researched—complete with annotations explaining why you chose a particular resource. Readers (like Google Reader) serve as personal clipping services and can help you track everything from major media to important blogs to individual Twitter accounts. Collecting friends on Facebook or LinkedIn allows you to maintain and communicate with collections of individuals far more efficiently than a traditional email list... they subscribe at their own will and the system automatically updates their contact information or preferences when they change it. On that note, though, I’ll bring you back to #1... you have to use it to get it.

Those 5 things said, you may want to visit my post Getting Started: Basics, Redux post for some directions.

Thanks for playing.

Getting Started Step 7: Just One Thing

2009-01-30T16:44:00.001-08:00

This is not meant as an inspiration message. It is intended to serve as a kick in the pants. So many organizations naval gaze before moving forward... never really getting anything done because they cannot figure out how to think about it.

One of the keys to social media (and anything online, really) is actually establishing a presence. This builds community (and search engine) awareness. The earlier, the better. Remember, Do it. Screw up. Adjust.

This leads to the Shortest, simplest recommendation I have. If you want to start a campaign of some sort, pick just one platform to begin with. Try one of the ones I recommended in Step 1. Try a Facebook or LinkedIn profile, a YouTube channel, maybe a Twitter account or a blog.

This accomplishes three things:

1) Gives you a solid starting point for developing a presence, which can lead to a campaign.

2) Helps your organization work through the nuances of that medium.

3) The elements I describe in steps 2 through 6 will reveal themselves as you work through this campaign.

Begin by answering the following:

Who are we trying to reach? (Define your audience, just as you would with a traditional campaign.)

What material will we share on this platform (think in terms of messaging)?

What will be interesting enough about what we are doing that it will draw readers, viewers, followers... and, importantly, interaction? (Think about why people interact with you in the real world.)

How will we promote our participation in this platform. Don't be mistaken, people won't find you just because you're there. You have to promote. Some of this can be done via the platform you have chosen. Some can come via other platforms (does your web site mention your efforts?). Some can come from simple email campaigns, media relations (if your idea is unique), or even direct mail.

What do we want our audience to do?

How will we measure our success?

Now open that account and start customizing your profile. Keep working at it until you have something to show.

Feels like you have some direction now, doesn't it?

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Getting Started 1: Basics, Redux
Getting Started 2: Embrace the Conversation
Getting Started 3: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.
Getting Started 4: Get a Feel for Interconnection
Getting Started 5: Begin With What You've Got
Getting Started 6: Think Landing Pages
Getting Started 7: Just One Thing

Getting Started Step 6: Think Landing Pages

2009-01-27T07:25:00.000-08:00

A concept to consider as you develop a strategy.

In all your social media communications, how are you getting people back to the right resources for information? This can be as simple as including your organization’s web address your standard email signature (yes, email is part of social media). It can be through a protocol of including links directly to key information in your communications. (A note: be personal wherever possible. Rather than just linking a person to a general site, can you bring them directly to the page or even the portion of the page you want them to see?)

The bottom line is twofold:

1. Always be connecting your friends/followers/customers/constituents directly to the resources they need.

2. No social media tool should be considered a silo, which also saves you work. Rather than repeating information you have already produced, you embed it into your communications.

Embedding became standard practice in blogging and rapidly found its way across all the other tools. Do not confuse this with cutting and pasting the information into your communication. Embedding literally draws the original source video, image, page, or other file into your communication. (This is what the second line of code available on all YouTube video pages is for.)

Simple examples:

Whenever you are sending someone to an address, include a link directly to the address on Google maps. They provide code for both direct links and embedding the map directly into pages.

Social bookmarking tools like del.ic.ious, Digg, Reddit, and Technorati allow you to organize and comment on links you collect. You can send/share specific collections others. This means instead of just summarizing or telling them about what you have found on a particular topic, you can hand your research to someone else (or several others), annotations and all. (Take a look at the column to your right on this page. You will see my del.ic.ious bookmarks. Above that you can see that I link most of my Twitter entries directly to a resource I am discussing.)

A company I worked with produced machinery that worked as part of a factory conveyor line. Often they would be asked how a particular part moved (say, a swing-arm or a piston) so that factory engineers see specifics that didn’t appear in technical drawings. The company’s engineers began answering by uploading video of the parts to YouTube. Before long, they had compiled a “Frequently Asked Questions” video library for the sales team. All a sales person needed to do was provide the link.

Ask: How can I deliver information in the most efficient, seamless, and easiest-to-find method possible, even from an email or a page outside our site? How can I take them right to what they seek (or I'm encouraging them to seek)?

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Getting Started 1: Basics, Redux
Getting Started 2: Embrace the Conversation
Getting Started 3: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.
Getting Started 4: Get a Feel for Interconnection
Getting Started 5: Begin With What You've Got
Getting Started 6: Think Landing Pages
Getting Started 7: Just One Thing

Getting Started Step 5: Begin With What You've Got

2009-01-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

Video: Taking this concept to the extreme. Professor Michael Wesch, Ph.D teaches Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University. His classes have produced numerous videos that explore the nature of online communications from a community(rather than machine) standpoint. This one takes a look at what happens when you break down the traditional barriers we have used to keep information organized.

When you are just getting started, there isn’t a need for a large campaign. If you’re still developing organizational knowledge of how to embrace social media, re-appropriating information you have already produced can help you navigate the system and provide something useful.

If your organization already produces a regular newsletter, you likely already have a “system” in place for gathering materials for articles.

Your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are another great entrée. Your front-line people know these. Your webmaster (or whoever is assigned to answer email inquiries) knows these. The person who reads the comment cards knows these. They are, by definition, the information your customers ask for the most. If you make a point of making this information very, very easy to access via social media you’ve taken a big leap.

Organizations with any sort of publicly-presented video should put it up on YouTube. It is simple. You may not know who wants it, but it is most likely there is someone who does. There is an entire genre of training videos on YouTube. Might seem silly, but it establishes your presence. You will get feedback. And questions... possibly FAQs.

Take that a step further. If your CEO or any other members of your team make speeches, upload them. For colleges and universities, this is an excellent way to establish a video channel with pieces that showcase the best of what you have to offer. You don’t have to give away the shop. Just a few well-selected classes will grab interest.

Create/manage a facebook or MySpace group around your topic or expertise, particularly if it can be a proprietary aspect of it. Many has-been celebrities are maintaining a cult following using this. Why not your organization? (Yes, requires a sense of humor.)

Truth is, I'm giving you a nudge here, using that "Do it. Screw up. Adjust." mantra. This is where the video above comes into play. What you have already been doing makes for a great entry point to embracing social media because you already have the material at hand... but it also shows you that social media breaks down and re-defines many of the ways we organize information. What you are already doing is organized the old way. However, do it. You will quickly discover what does and does not work. As in, screw up. You likely have information gathering/production systems in place that can be adapted. You will quickly learn how you need to adjust.

Believe me, the process of learning and adjusting will quickly teach you how you want to build social media into an integral part of your future campaigns.

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Getting Started 1: Basics, Redux
Getting Started 2: Embrace the Conversation
Getting Started 3: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.
Getting Started 4: Get a Feel for Interconnection
Getting Started 5: Begin With What You've Got
Getting Started 6: Think Landing Pages
Getting Started 7: Just One Thing

Getting Started Step 4: Get a Feel for Interconnection

2009-01-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Simple concept... powerful in practice.

Very few social media platforms are islands. In most cases, items created/hosted on one can be included on another. The primary forms of this are linking (where someone clicks to navigate to the linked page/file) and embedding (where the file is part of the present page).

For example, pictures hosted on Flickr or YouTube videos can be embedded into a blog post. The blog post, itself, is a feed that will show up in your readers’ news readers. This allows a blogger to include and commend on the image or video. A reader can click the embedded picture or video to navigate to the host site and discover other related pictures or video. The reader can also include and comment on the video on his/her own blog. The same pattern repeats on MySpace, facebook, Twitter... virtually every platform.

This creates an interconnectedness between the various social media platforms that transcends any one of them.

This leads to a powerful truth: anything you add to a social media platform can be embedded in someone else's work and commented on with or without context. This is an inherent part of the ongoing conversation. Sounds scary at first, but once you get a handle on this, it is a very powerful aspect of social media communication. Your feeling for this effect will come from using the platforms I recommend in item #1 of this document.

Above I’ve repeated a doodle I used to figure out how we connected various platforms for a client. It gives you a sense of thinking about this interconnectedness and how to manage it. You'll notice that we've also included traditional news media in this diagram (the telephone represents traditional media pitching done using a well-managed database of reporters and editors). I'm planning on posting the written case study based on this sketch after I've finished the 10 steps I'm outlining here.

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Getting Started 1: Basics, Redux
Getting Started 2: Embrace the Conversation
Getting Started 3: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.
Getting Started 4: Get a Feel for Interconnection
Getting Started 5: Begin With What You've Got
Getting Started 6: Think Landing Pages
Getting Started 7: Just One Thing

Getting Started Step 3: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.

2009-01-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

No video today. No illustration. Just simplicity in the form of an unofficial social media mantra.

Unlike traditional advertising and public relations, there is no long-held tradition or protocol in social media. Even the various tools available are constantly evolving and leapfrogging each other. Twitter, the current new rage, is only two years old. Everyone is constantly experimenting with ways to use the tools, some with “gaming the system”, and others with completely new ways to express themselves. Thus, every aspect of social media is in a constant state of rewrite.

At the same time, you can delete, re-post/upload, and edit/revise pretty much anything you put up online. If you get partway down a path and decide it is not working, you can revise or delete it and start over. You can even upgrade parts that ARE working, but that you would like to do better.

The one area to be careful of is to not post anything you would not want re-published. This includes photos and videos. They will get saved and re-distributed independent of your posting.

Otherwise, take the opportunity to experiment and revise your materials as you go. It is the nature of the media.

Jump right in.

Do it. Screw up. Adjust.

-----

Getting Started 1: Basics, Redux
Getting Started 2: Embrace the Conversation
Getting Started 3: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.
Getting Started 4: Get a Feel for Interconnection
Getting Started 5: Begin With What You've Got
Getting Started 6: Think Landing Pages
Getting Started 7: Just One Thing

Getting Started Step 2: Embrace the Conversation

2009-01-21T11:15:00.000-08:00

I've been working through a document on how to get started in social media. I start with some basic technical skills in Basics, Redux, but I look more in-depth at the human interactive nature of this phenomenon.

Today I focus on the conversational nature of social medium. I delved into the topic last year in my 7 Laws of Social Media Gestalt. For those experienced with traditional media, this is a mind-shift. (If you're human, though, and can get past all the technical talk, it will feel strangely familiar.) I will continue to post these topics for the next week or so (as I tighten up the document itself). Follow them and you'll have a good grasp.

Conversation—engaging in dialogue is the cornerstone of social media. This goes beyond messaging. This goes beyond making information readily available in digital form. It means you listen, participate, and engage in organizational behavior that is responsive to their needs and desires. Done well, they can serve as an ever-on focus group willing to share their reactions to your organization.

Even Oprah found this out when she first set up her YouTube channel. She turned off the reply function (YouTuber’s coment in both text and videos) and the YouTube universe had a fit, posting all kinds of comments elsewhere criticizing her for thinking she was too good to participate like everyone else. She adjusted her approach... and turned it into a positive engagement with that audience.

Most every social media tool—from blogs, to YouTube, picture-sharing, social networks, and Twitter—are constructed to facilitate the conversation. (For YouTube, this involves video-based conversations.) This is one of the many ways social media transcends technology so that you must think in terms of human interaction. There community grows as interest in a topic grows. They will talk back and talk to each other.

Conversations form around topics, common interests, and the issue of the moment. Most tools also allow you to manage settings on how you want to be notified if someone comments on your contributions so you know when someone has added to the conversation.

This invariably leads to concerns about what others will publish online about your organization. There are two aspects to this:

a) They are already saying this about you, is just was not in a forum where you can find it. Now you can either respond with correct information or change what you are doing to address legitimate criticism.

b) Online forums tend to be self-policing (much like a real-world conversation) where other participants will confront/correct an obnoxious nay-sayer. (Online they are referred to as “trolls”.)

The bottom line is that you have to begin thinking and acting in terms of conversational communications. Technology is merely a conduit toward this end. This is why I emphasize becoming practiced in the tools recommended in Step 1. It familiarizes you with the conversation.

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Getting Started 1: Basics, Redux
Getting Started 2: Embrace the Conversation
Getting Started 3: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.
Getting Started 4: Get a Feel for Interconnection
Getting Started 5: Begin With What You've Got
Getting Started 6: Think Landing Pages
Getting Started 7: Just One Thing

Sitting Alone Together

2009-01-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

On personal experience...

I've noticed two interesting trends via Twitter today.

The first is experiencing today's inauguration of President Obama from my home office, totally alone, but with 15 friends and several hand-picked commentators. I listened to NPR. Popped in to hulu.com's live stream for Obama's speech. I also followed the myriad of commentators floating by on Twitter.

This included commentary from all sides, both in support of W and Obama. Pictures of the action via Twitpic.com. Notes on the stock markets, Mrs. Biden's fashion sense (apparently she was wearing some wonderful high-heeled boots), a security alert in Dubai, and other news arrived right along with many who were gushing over the rhetoric, commenting on choice of speakers (pastor Rick Warren was a big topic), or those who engage in the Twitter version of singing along with the lyrics.

Some of the more surreal commentary came from John Hodgman (yes, the "PC" from the "I'm a Mac ads and a comic, author, and Daily Show "Resident Expert") and MC Hammer, both of whom I've been following on Twitter. Hammer managed to tell me (well, us, really) that, because he was at the actual inauguration, I was (we were) essentially there, too. (I'm one of his "tweeples", after all.) Hodgman provided the gems I compiled in the photo above.

Besides several (actual) friends I follow on Twitter, numerous others joined me directly via instant message or added comments to my facebook page (feel free to "friend" me there. Even more began text messaging. It got difficult at points to take it all in and respond... and became much like the ongoing conversation we'd have were we at a bar together to enjoy the event.

I blog all the time that social media is really more about people being people together than the technology. It's fascinating when it literally feels that way. 15 of us together, alone.

The second phenomenon I noticed was while I sat at a Starbucks writing this post. Lots of conversation going on around me about the inauguration. Hope. Critiques. Questions. Commentary... but nobody said "I had to work... I missed it." Instead, lots of "Oh, I'll watch it on YouTube when I get home."

You don't miss much anymore. It's all on a hard drive somewhere. Time-shifting. It's second nature now. So, not only can we be together. alone... we can all do it at the same different time.

One question, though... what's it going to be like at the 2012 inauguration, when streaming video FROM thousands of phones gives us not just commentary, but literally thousands of camera angles from which to choose?

Picture This: A social media case study in doodles

2009-01-18T10:49:00.000-08:00

Been wanting to post a case study on how we brought all the elements of a social media campaign together for a client... finally drew the damn thing instead of writing it and it made sense.

Thought I'd share this with you now (see if it makes sense). I'll put the narrative up later today.

Casey

Edit of "didn't you say later today": Yes, but several people wanted to review what I was putting here before it went out. Give me a few more. I promise, I'll keep giving good stuff in the meantime. Read the next post.

We The Media

2009-01-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

Continuous footage of the US Airways plane landing on the Hudson river through the first ferry arriving to assist survivors. Posted on YouTube yesterday by the U.S. Coast Guard. (Plane appears from the left side of the screen at 2:01)

Again it was Twitter.

Again it was a plane crash (well, controlled landing).

Again we have to realize that everyone is now a cameraman/writer/reporter.

I was on twitter. The news appeared there many minutes before any other outlets (CNN being the first) had it. The first pictures appeared via twitter, including a close shot of of the plane and escaping passengers taken by an individual on the ferry that diverted its course to help.

The reporting came from all angles. It included written reports, testimonials, question/answers, commentary, and photos. It was right there on the scene... because it was PART of the scene. Twitter even told us about the the mass of news media mobbing the shocked, dazed, and freezing passengers as they arrived on shore.

There is an interesting side note to the attention we pay to a plane crash. It creates mass rubbernecking. In this particular situation, amazing piloting skill, quick and decisive crew action, standers-by willingness to help, and not a little luck saved 100+ people in a perilous situation. But a plane crash is concentrated drama... and will receive heavy coverage even though statistics will tell us that car crashes and domestic violence caused more trauma and death in the same day. We still focus on the plane... it's concentrated in one place, it's (fortunately) rare, and it taps into collective fear (of flying). This was true with traditional media... and now individual/social media shows us that it's people, not the media that creates this phenomenon. We can't help ourselves.

Yet another argument for why you need to incorporate social media skills into your communications efforts. It surrounds you. It permeates your organization, your facilities, and your team. You can't order it not to exist. Information wants to be free. It will be. That's a reality. How do you behave when EVERYONE is a reporter?

Getting Started Step 1: Basics, Redux

2009-01-13T09:24:00.001-08:00

This is a long post. But also one with specific instructions and worth a read if you're just getting a sense of things social media.

Whenever I give a social media seminar, I am asked "Where do you start?" I have a handout to answer this, but it needed updating. Social media evolves fast and we who advise on it are constantly learning, as well. Here's today's list, complete with links to resources.

Step 1: Use it yourself. There is no other way. It's tempting to delegate to a younger staff member who knows the technology. But you have experience and knowledge of strategy. You need to know what is really going on.

Truth: There are a ton of ever-changing tools and toys under the “social media” umbrella. From blogging (Blogger and Wordpress) networks like MySpace and facebook, to image (Flickr, Picasa) and video sharing (YouTube), to completely novel concepts like social bookmarking (de.lic.ious and Digg) and Twitter (part text message, part blog).

Fortunately, many of the concepts inherent in these overlap or even embed in each other (adding a YouTube video or Flickr picture to a text-based blog, for example). The skills for accessing accounts, design, editing, and uploading/manipulating files, as well, translate between platforms. This means that you can learn the concepts of one social media tool to more easily/rapidly understand other tools. In the long run, you will be using many of these tools in conjunction with each other to achieve greater means. For example, Twitter is a great tool for sending traffic to your blog, where you have included a YouTube video to show something your company is working on. The blog can also include a series of links to additional resources you have compiled using de.lic.ious.

However, I'll repeat my main theme: You have to USE the tools to understand them. The knowledge goes beyond the technology (it’s not enough just to know how to access, search, or upload) to developing a sense of the community. This is about learning how people use it to interact with each other. This means becoming part of the conversation. Each social media tool has many. Some will be drivel. Some will very relevant to you. You might even be relevant to some. This is where strategic experience is critical.

You might recoil at the thought of adding more work to your already full plate. However, learning to use a new social media tool can actually make your life easier. They facilitate research, organize materials for you, make it easy to share files, and give you an instant audience/focus group with whom to test ideas. Be selfish, too. Use social media to access other hobbies and interests in addition to work.

This is my list of “must learn” tools and how you should begin playing with them, along with notes on why and what each will do for you and goals you should consider in starting with each.

1) Google Reader (one example of a reader). This compiles all the blogs and other resources you are following into one place. It’s essentially a personal clipping service.

Goal: Open an account at http://www.google.com/reader

Goal: Add five resources you typically read to your reader (include newspapers and magazines in addition to blogs)

Note: Though security experts will lynch me for this, I recommend that you use the same username/password for each account I recommend here. This just makes your life easier. Do NOT do this with your banking accounts or anything sensitive.

2) de.lic.ious (one example of social bookmarking). The single most useful research tool out there. Takes a little practice to get yourself in the mode of using it, but this is a means of storing and organizing interesting/useful materials. Two things make it powerful: a) It’s online, so it’s independent of your computer. Use the same account at work and at home and you always have access to your research b) “tags” are mind-blowing in both their simplicity and power in organizing massive numbers of links easily.

Goal: Open an account at http://www.delicious.com

Goal: Install the browser toolbar buttons. This lets you save/tag without leaving your current page.

Goal: Try to get past 100 so saved pages that it becomes routine and the tagging feature reveals its power.

3) YouTube. Though there are many video systems out there, YouTube is the most prevalent. If you have only used it for amusement to this point, it’s time to get serious. First, with an account, you can keep track of and organize videos you want to access later. Second, there is a plethora of videos on serious topics. Universities are putting up whole courses. There’s a video on “how to” do pretty much anything, from car repairs, to kitchen knife technique... to just about anything social media.

Similar to my recommendations with de.lic.ious, you have to make a point to use YouTube this way until it becomes routine. That’s when it becomes a powerful tool.

Goal: Create an account at http://www.youtube.com

Goal: Add five videos to your favorites (or create playlists to organize these videos). You may want to include the social media how-to videos I recommend here.

Goal: Find and subscribe to two “channels” covering interests you have (just search on them).

Advanced goal: Upload a video. This is to see how easy it is. If you have a laptop with a built-in web cam, you can likely record direct to YouTube. If you have a digital snapshot camera, it likely has a video mode. If you need instructions, Google for them. The information is all over the place.

4) LinkedIn (or facebook). Because of its limited formatting options, LinkedIn is the easiest to master of the most-trafficked social networks. (Facebook is a close call, but LinkedIn is more focused on the professional crowd.)

Several things to note: These networks begin to have real effect when you have 20+ connections established... see that theme: This stuff just feels like a toy until you really use it. Then it’s a tool. But so is the telephone and email. It’s not about the technology. It’s about the people.

Goal: Create an account at http://www.linkedin.com/

Goal: Develop your profile (including uploading a picture).

Goal: Find 10 colleagues/friends to connect with on the system.

5) Blogger. First, I do NOT want you to start blogging unless you have a good reason to do so. Writing a blog is hard work. Anyone familiar with producing a newsletter knows how much time and effort are required to generate story ideas, research, write, edit, and publish. However, you should be familiar with two things a) how easy it is to set up a blog and b) the incestuous connections between blogs and the other social mediums. Rarely is a blog stand-alone. When you add comments, cross-linking, and embedding (of videos and pictures), a single post is suddenly part of a universe of information and conversation on that and tangential topics.

Goal: Set up a blogger account at http://www.blogger.com or http://www.wordpress.com These are the two major competing blog platforms and there are zealots for each the same way there are Mac zealots and Windows/PC zealots.

Goal: Successfully publish at least one post. You can say anything you want. It’s easy to delete a post or your whole blog if you desire.

Goal: Use Google to find five blogs on a topic that interests you. Add these to your Google Reader. (See if you can add your own.) Find a competitor’s blog and add it.

Goal: Publish a comment on one of these other blogs. Be sure to check back to see if anyone else commented on your comment. Note: In many cases, you can add the blog’s comment feed to your reader.

I’m using that third goal to take you somewhere else. If you read a few blogs regularly, you get a better sense of how connected the “blogosphere” is. One blog will cite another, which will lead you to another. Much like newspapers or magazines, you will begin to get a sense of who is producing quality content versus who is just publishing because they can... but does not have much worthwhile to say.

With the discipline to check your reader at least several times a week, you will develop this sense. You will also realize how much is currently being blogged. This will help you decide whether publishing your own is worthwhile or whether your time might be better spent developing relationships with existing bloggers much the way you do with journalists who cover your industry.

6) Twitter is what I would put next. However, the five I have listed above is plenty for anyone getting their start in social media. Twitter is a hybrid between a text message broadcasting system (send to all your friends at once) and a blog where your posts are limited to 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

That should keep you occupied until I post the next in this series.

-----

Getting Started 1: Basics, Redux
Getting Started 2: Embrace the Conversation
Getting Started 3: Do it. Screw up. Adjust.
Getting Started 4: Get a Feel for Interconnection
Getting Started 5: Begin With What You've Got
Getting Started 6: Think Landing Pages
Getting Started 7: Just One Thing

It's Funny 'cause It's True

2009-01-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

Note: The video above uses a bad word and makes satirical reference to internet porn (but doesn't show any). Just know that I warned you.

Oddball post, but we can learn a lot from satire. This is what I want to say when asked (and it's a legit fear) by a CEO or marketing manager... But if we do something online, people might criticize us.

Yes. They might. But, truth is, they already are. They're just doing it in a bar with their friends. When they do it online, you can find out and correct either your behavior (yes, that's the bottom line of smart public relations... behave well and people will like you) or correct the mis-information.

Second observation: He's using the conversational nature of the medium. He specifically asks viewers to write the final version of the song. Click through to see what they're suggesting/saying. (As in, clicking on the video itself will take you to his YouTube page.)

Final observation is that I love that this guy's writing a song a day for all of January. That's the hallmark of true creativity. Hard work. You keep working at it (along with a few other factors, like developing real knowledge of your craft and experimenting with completely new ideas), and you'll find that "luck" or "creative flash" that everyone's always hoping for.

i.e. Do it. Screw up. Adjust. Somebody should use that as a philosophy for approaching social media.

I'll remain a man of few words today. Song pretty much says what I needed.

Esoteric Bliss: Colbert/Lessig Mashup

2009-01-11T06:39:00.001-08:00

I posted about mashups a year ago and included a video of Larry Lessig speaking to the TED crowd.

Lessig is a Stanford law professor and a leading advocate for updating intellectual property laws to match changing technologies. Included in his advocacy is sampling/remixing (yes, like hip-hop DJs) and "mashups" (like sampling/remixing, only these include text, images, and video).

This page is considered a mashup. I've embedded other people's videos and added my own writing and formatting to augment them. If you really want to geek out on this topic, just Google Lessig and the top entries pretty much tell the story.

Lessig founded Creative Commons, a licensing protocol that you'll encounter online, including on photo and video sharing sites and on many blogs. It provides for degrees of licensing according to the artist's desires. Contrast this with copyright law that only allows for one degree: you can't use it without paying me.

Lessig recently appeared on the Colbert Rapport to promote his new book, Remix. Colbert, of course, plays Colbert... half way between satire and brilliant questioning. In a stroke of mocking invite, Colbert dared anyone watching to remix the interview... and, let's geek out.

The original interview:

Paper is a Social Medium, Too

2009-01-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Point 1: There's so much social media out there that it's pretty much impossible for anyone to be an "expert" at it. You can know a few platforms pretty well... but there's a new one every day. And the old ones constantly upgrade. Personally, I focus on this blog, facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. For clients, I use the platforms that make the most sense in meeting their objectives.

Point 2: With embedding, pretty much all social media is... incestuous. i.e. We combine blogs and spaces like MySpace and facebook with photo sites like Flickr, videos, and bring in feeds from other blogs, Twitter, even our personal contact lists.

Point 3: The real world is still important. There's still an important role for a written note and printed materials. Business cards, even.

Can't tell you how many times this situation has repeated itself...

Doing an e-mail internal newsletter for an employer. There's a segment of the population that refuses, ignores, overlooks, or just doesn't read it. Turns out, computers aren't central to their day/life. In this case, we had a concentrated audience and we could identify who it was and where they spent their day/daily routine. Mostly it was in the field, which was many, many acres (this was an airport). Supervisor noted that they all used the same restroom, which was in the building where they congregated for meetings, breaks, and lunch. She suggested that printing and posting the newsletter to the inside of the stall door might be a way to reach them. Funny at first, brilliant in action. They soon requested a computer for their use so they could talk back (which was an important part of the newsletter's material, so they wanted to participate).

Each story looks different, but each story is the same. People still like personal contact. Social media can accomplish some of that, but, in a world immersed in social media, a note, a call, or a personal appearance... they carry real weight. You had to go to the trouble. People get that.

Bottom-line point: Embed the real world in your efforts. Printed material is also a social medium. It should be part of your mix, right along with your web site, email, blog, and twitter.

Ask, how can I really reach who I'm trying to reach? Get creative. Don't let the ease of online social media make you lazy.

Even better, how can I use print or phone call to augment what I'm accomplishing online?

Some of your customers or donors (or whoever you want to connect with) still write checks instead of swiping a debit card. They're likely also the ones with the biggest accounts. Don't you want one (even though it's on paper)?

Yeah, me too.

Tiny Epiphany: Social Media is About People (Really?)

2008-12-30T06:30:00.000-08:00

In working on yesterday’s post about Twitter, I had an epiphany of sorts.

I was planning to share Guy Kawasaki's post "How to Pickup Followers on Twitter", which outlines how he keeps himself ranked as one of the most-followed twitterers (the Twiterati). Guy is a venture capitalist, writer, speaker, and social media guru (with the popularity to back that up). That's one of his companies in the vidoe.

The basics of Guy’s formula...

1) Figure out who is already popular/powerful.
2) Start participating in a way that puts you in their orbit.
3) Repeat until you’re one of them.

You can read the details for yourself. It’s definitely worth the read.

As I worked out a summary for the post, Guy’s article redirected my thoughts to two specifics among the original explorations I set out to make with this blog more than a year ago:

1) The element of community and conversation.
2) Simplexity... and the fact that the more technology becomes part of our life, the more we humanize it.

Focusing on community...

The slew of comments following Guy’s article is as informative as the article itself. Many of the commenters spew the typical praise and platitudes. However, there’s also a debate happening. A discussion of Guy’s logic, disagreement with a few elements, and retorts to the disagreements. They also add new directions and dimensions to what Guy put forth. I got more out of the article because of the comments.

I thrive on this same dynamic whenever I give a talk or seminar. Social media is one of several topics I do... including Networking for Sales and Sex (that’s tongue-in-cheek, mind you), Strategic Planning That Doesn’t Suck, and Secrets to Successful Publicity.

Truth is, even though I might have 4+ hours worth of material at hand, I am only half the equation. The audience is the other half. The audience teaches me as much as I do them. Yes, I provide the framework, but if I encourage discussion and debate between the attendees, they get more out of the program that I could ever bring. This takes practice and a relinquishing of ego. The more I let it be a room full of smart people with me as a facilitator, the more everyone gets out of it. Truth is, I don’t feel a new topic is truly ready until I’ve conducted the seminar several times to see what the audience is going to bring to it.

There’s an important lesson here. Companies are frightened to give up control and embrace the conversational nature of social media. They’re worried about what their customers might say. There might be criticism. Confrontation.

But, truth is, if you listen and acknowledge that your customers are pretty smart, they’ll share with you every bit of market research you could ever want. They’ll tell you what you’re doing well. What you need to work on. And—this is the magic one—they’ll self-police. If someone’s truly getting out of line, the group will often take him/her to task so that you, as the company, don’t have to.

That’s conversation. That’s community.

Focusing on humanizing technology...

Guy’s recommendations echo those in an article I shared the other day about achieving high rankings on Digg.com. There are two reasons for this. First, many of the top-level players are the same across blogging, social bookmarking, and Twitter. Second, this all involves people.

It takes me back to Simplexity, one of my original Seven Laws of Social Media Gestalt. The more we embrace technology in our lives, the more we make that technology easy to access and use... the more human we make it.

Stature in online communities looks more and more looking like stature in the real world. Take a look at any community, whether it’s your city, company, or even the PTA:

1) Many who have stature have it because they do something important... often this is those who build something, such as entrepreneurs or major fundraisers in the nonprofit world.

2) Others who have stature have it because their job or title comes with it or they’re just pretty, exotic, or inherently interesting (it's called charisma).

3) Others create their own stature by knowing or seeming to know the right people in the community.

Paralleling this, Guy paraphrases an unnamed PR practitioner, who quipped “It’s not who you know, it’s who appears to know you, that’s important...”

This is just a thumbnail of the whole thought. I’m sure there are (or should be) graduate thesis on the whole thing. (Or maybe we just need to pick up a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince.)

We’re turning our technology human. The more we do that, the less we need to think about technology and the more we need to think about sociology.

Twitter is Stupid... Errr... wait for it...

2008-12-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

"That's stupid."

I would be embarrassed that it was my first reaction upon hearing about Twitter in 2006, but it turns out I'm not alone. It's most people's reaction. That, or maybe, "Why would you want to do that?"

To the rescue, another CommonCraft video that gives you Twitter's essence. Worth a watch even if you're already familiar with Twitter's basics.

In my initial reaction to Twitter, I neglected to take into account a truism I share with clients... tight rules are the best inspiration for creativity. Truth is, unlimited choice causes deadlock... writer's block. When you force an enterprising individual to accomplish something with limited resources, ingenuity comes in spades. Just ask any prison guard about the engineering inmates pull off with virtually no resources.

As for scarce resources, Twitter gives us:

* Messages of 140 characters max. (This includes your user name, so pick a short one.)
* People you follow. You control this.
* People who follow you. You control this.
* Limited (and intermittent) search capabilities.
* Space for one small personal image.
* Extremely limited page formatting/wallpaper.

Three "fancy" features:

* You can receive/send messages from your wireless phone. (Everything goes to your twitter home page.)
* The ability to send a "direct" message that only the recipient can see.
* Twitter will automatically convert a 13+ character URL to a tiny URL (but the 13+ character URL must fit within your 140 character limit.

Oh, and links which include http:// will be clickable within a browser.

That's really about it.

Limits.

But it's also where the ingenuity begins.

Ask not what you can't do with 140 characters, ask what you can...

Many bloggers turned it into a mini blogging platform. Some using it to direct readers to new material. A few gave up blogging altogether and now just tweet (Steve Rubel Lives being one example from the social media marketing community.)

Others have defined new territory with it... from using it to replace the focus group (asking for immediate feedback on product ideas from followers) to replacing tech support (how do i fix this?) to tapping their network for outright creative idea generation.

Clearly, it's working, as twits have signed up in droves, with the major wave beginning in the last quarter of 2008. Current stats show 5,000 to 10,000 accounts are created daily. Some users have followers in the tens of thousands. Even the Wall Street Journal took notice and provided a handy guide to Twitter basics (well worth the read).

After using it largely with a group of close friends, I've been experimenting with a new public account myself. You can find me at http://twitter.com/getspine. If you tweet, let me know and I'll follow you.

Of course the marketing world is on board in droves, talking about using it as a branding tool or to deliver coupons (just saw a tweet from Whole Foods on that one). The marketing community is also prone to hype, so it's hard to see what's really going on in the onslaught of brilliant possibilities.

One of my favorite social media-specific blogs, Web Strategy by Jeremiah just posted a detailed survey that sheds some major insight. His post is here, but some highlights:

* 70% of Twitter users joined in 2008
* 35% of Twitter users have 10 or fewer followers
* 9% of Twitter users follow no one at all
* There is a strong correlation between the number of followers you have and the number of people you follow
* Most users have a smaller inner circle they communicate with
* On Average, most Twitterers have 85 Followers, but 80 "friends"
* About One Tweet a Day is Average Frequency
* 68% of Twitter accounts are actively used
* Most members have been on twitter nearly 7 months
* A quarter of tweets (@) are directed at specific other users
* The more followers, the more they tweet –up until a point (about 500 followers)
* Despite having large networks, a smaller circle is maintained
* The real value (if you're trying to have influence within this community) is reaching each users' "inner circle". (This, of course, brings us back to the PR concept of influencing "opinion leaders" to reach a larger community. I'll have to do a future post on that.)

I'm most intrigued by the completely novel uses of Twitter... the ones that bend your mind. As with much of social media, they tend to come not from the "professionals", but from people who are just tinkering with the technology or using it for fun.

The first one that really caught my attention was during the Oct. 2007 fires here in San Diego. Whole communities were having to evacuate. There was a reverse-911 system that would ring your home phone to let you know. However, wireless phones are not included in the system. So the American Red Cross set up Twitter accounts based on zip code. If your area needed to evacuate, you'd get a tweet. You decided, via your Twitter account, where those tweets would go. Brilliant. This, combined with the Google maps mashup of where the fires were, helped me (a very new resident) keep up with what was happening.

I'm working with Volunteer San Diego on a similar concept. How to mobilize a cadre of disaster-trained volunteers via Twitter.

A recent post on the zenhabits blog articulated an approach to Twitter that helps in coping with the sense of information overload. It's true, add a few followers and you're tweet bombarded. However, users discover that you don't try to read all the tweets. You drift in and out at your leisure and just let them go by... like water in a river. It's not a checklist. It's an ongoing bar conversation that you can visit for a bit, then leave, then return to a few days later. Think pulse, not report.

A New York Times reporter Clive Thompson also found this. He writes about a whole year immersed in Twitter... begining with that initial question of "Why would you want to do that?" Among his major observations about "microblogging" (he writes about facebook and Twitter)...

It’s sort of like when you’re sitting with someone and you look over and they smile at you. You’re sitting here reading the paper, and you’re doing your side-by-side thing, and you just sort of let people know you’re aware of them.

This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating.

BTW, Clive's article is one of the best I've seen on the personal effects of social media. If you're already immersed, it will feel like home. If you're not, it will clue you in.

This entry by Mashable on How to Build Community on Twitter gives a quick overview of some of the more advanced elements of growing, monitoring, and influencing a larger circle of Twitter followers. She reviews some of the software you can use to monitor multiple Twitter accounts, offers some simple (oh, yeah, that's right) tips like including your Twitter address in your email signatures to gain more followers, and delves into Twitter etiquette it's better not to learn the hard way:

* A conversation which will consist of multiple “tweets”or a lengthy discussion with more than three posts. (Many people on Twitter will “unfollow” someone who sends multiple “tweets” in a row. Trust me.)

* Asking multiple questions to the same person or the same question asked to multiple people. (Your content becomes less valuable when people see the same thing repeated too many times…especially right in a row.)

* Correcting a mistake you’ve identified in someone’s blog post or “tweet.” (This isn’t required, but it is considered a common courtesy. The person who made the mistake will thank you.)

* Making a request to someone(Want to ask someone to write a guest blog post or partner on a project? Don’t put them on the spot in a public forum. Once you agree on a partnership, then by all means, tweet away!)

Those are my favorite discoveries thus far. Along with many new friends/followers. I'm immersed and learning right along. We all are. The entire Twitosphere.

Seems more fascinating, brilliant, unexplored than stupid now. Join me?

Social Bookmarking Rankings Exposed. Ya Digg?

2008-12-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

Common Craft again... plus, I have an earlier post on the social bookmarking concept.

Social bookmarking sites are worlds unto themselves. That toes on literal. Digg, Reddit, Technorati, StumbleUpon, del.ic.ious (my personal favorite)... and many more are each their own communities. Several tools, including Popurls (highly recommend) aggregate many of these aggregators.

Most users are content to check in and see what's the buzz at the moment. Not surprisingly, highly ranked pages/articles/pictures/resources are often similarly ranked on all of them. That's because people are involved and are all clamoring to gain popularity and/or get their own stories to the top.

One of this weekend's highly-ranked stories was submitted by a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm. Of note because it outlines one power Digg-er's path to being highly ranked on the site. This is outside testimony to a question clients ask a lot... how to we get ranked high.

"How I became a Digg Power User with a 75% popular ratio" requires a little time to read, but it answers the question. Each bookmarking site has its own user personalities and underlying computer algorithms, but this does a good job of exposing the basics of how the mob works.

Author TheDataWhore (yes, that was his user name) makes two key points up front:

I hope this article can help those normal diggers understand just how it is the power users got that way and why digg is not a democracy.

And

I will say up front that once you start doing this, it will take time...

Then he descibes in detail the process I outline here:

1) Build up a large circle of digg user "friends". He does this using direct requests via instant messaging... a TON of it, including using tools like pidgin to manage multiple IM accounts.

2) Build up relationships with these "friends" by voting up and commenting on their stories.

3) Strategically finding and submitting stories from sites that are consistently ranked highly within digg. (This increases your own ranking.)

4) Requesting that your "friends" help push your story at key moments (in an unspoken quid-quo-pro manner).

I'll add two thoughts:

1) In Warren Buffet's favorite book on investing, Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor, the author comes back to a refrain... yes, finding a way to make good money on stocks is possible. You're not the only smart person looking for that way. There's lots of competition, which causes what might be a great opportunity cost more, which makes it less of an opportunity.

Same applies here. There's lots of competition to be popular.

2) This echoes the same way professionals and social climbers build up a circle of popularity in a community (the in-person kind). There's lots of kissing up to the power brokers and lots of "I'll scratch your back..." to it.

Wrap Your Head Around Social Media

2008-12-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Look at that... TWO posts today. I'm getting prolific.

These CommonCraft guys are brilliant. I have posted their videos several times because they do an amazing job simplifying knowledge and how-tos on difficult-to-grasp concepts, such as social bookmarking.

This one takes the cake (or ice cream cone). There is a core concept to our rapidly-increasing collection of social media platforms. Whether it be blogging, MySpace, facebook, YouTube, Twitter... or a host of others, regardless of its various manifestations, there's one thing we're doing at heart...

(It's in the video. Watch it to complete the above paragraph.)

In short, Hi there.

If You Love Your Customers, Set Them Free

2008-12-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

A short video for a change. Just under 3 minutes.

Danah Boyd approaches social media with Anthropological eyes. In this short clip, she makes some subtle, but important observations/distinctions that should affect how you invest your social media resources.

1) Users (in particular, teens/twenty-somethings, who are early adopters and bellwethers as to coming social media trends) don't want to be tied to their screens. Thus, they don't want to spend all day playing with MySpace, Facebook, or any other platform that anchors them to a desk or a laptop.

2) Though there are groups who will play intensely (in games, in particular), the majority of users don't want to be tied to a platform where they're at one level of skill while their friends are at another. This exists heavily in online gaming, where the whole point is competition. It also exists to a lesser degree in MySpace (design is difficult), facebook, and similar platforms that require some learning to use.

An interesting note she makes on this is about Second Life, the best known of the virtual world platforms. Because it's whiz-bang cool (really, it is), Second Life is often touted as "where things are going to go." But Second Life requires a significant amount of learning and time investment (you're immersed... and it's addicting... I once stayed there for 8 hours straight... it was that good).

Second Life hits points 1) chains you to your screen and 2) requires lots of learning.

3) This group prefers going mobile... where the technology is integrated into their lives, but they can live life normally. Think wireless phones. Think constant Internet connectivity (iPhone). Think texting... and the omnipresence you can maintian in everyone's life via Twitter.

More on what's going on with Twitter in a later post. It's such a simple tool (part broadcast text message, part blog where you can post a max of 140 characters)... yet we're pushing the technology further as we come up with more and more creative ways of using it.

Instead, I'll leave you with another video, this by New York Times technology columnist David Pogue. It's his 2009 collection of tech trends... which focuses heavily on what's happening in the mobile arena. There's some eye-opening technology demonstrated, particularly using voice-recognition. This shows you just how much these devices we once called "phones" can set us free. Think of it as a pointer for 3), above.

It also includes his affinity for showtunes.

#*&%^! I was just in a plane crash!

2008-12-22T08:07:00.000-08:00

The twitter feed i captured above is that of a passenger on the Continental Airlines flight that had to abort takeoff in Denver yesterday. He also took a picture. Full story and feed here.

I have three quick thoughts on this.

1) That FCC debate on where profanity is appropriate. Yeah, whatever... It's the moment-by-moment thoughts of an airline passenger who just survived a crash (38 people were hurt, no fatalities). Cussing and praying are part of the moment.

2) This TOTALLY changes news reporting. I touched on that in an earlier post on the 1995 tsunami and how we embraced social media to circumvent the traditional media. Live feed direct from a participant to our pocket devices.

3) I'm sure Continental would love to have better control over information about this story... but (and this is a Social Media Gestalt law) information wants to be free. Each of us now carries a camera (some even video), twitter feed... and many of us full-QWERTY keyboards for blog posting. Your customers, clients, even your friends, are talking about you. All over the place. You can't battle that.

Control ain't gonna happen. Given that, how will you adjust your approach?

EDIT OF INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: Read the comments on the story. They're as revealing about online behavior as the story itself.

Horse. Trough. Water.

2008-12-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

An upside to the current handbasket trip to financial Hell is its revealing that new media ubiquity gives us constant and unfiltered access to our smartest minds (along with everything else). If we pay attention, it's basically a live case study in how global economics, our nation's fiscal policies, and human behavior all fit together. I've learned more about finance from what's going on than any course ever taught me. Great place to start: NPR's Planet Money is the best explanation short of an international finance degree. (Very accessible, too. It's created for the layperson.)

Though unabashed in his political opinions, Krugman is one of our smartest economic thinkers (he's an award-winning professor) coupled with an ability to articulate concepts in accessible language (he's a New York Times columnist). Right here via YouTube you can spend an hour with him giving a lecture. Pop over to his NYT column archives for more...

Education is hands-down the best investment. YouTube, fora.tv, TED.com and similar resources deliver smart thinking right to our laptops. Add in your own initiative to harness google, wikipedia, and to seek out answers to your own questions... and education is fast approaching free. ('cept for that pesky "opportunity cost" thing.)

Client: There's so much social media... so many things to learn. It's overwhelming. Where do we start? What should we put up?

Casey: Start by using it in your everyday job. Your life. Start simple... need to learn something? Go to YouTube and search on "how to..." anything. How to use del.ic.ious. How to wrap a present. How to make a great cup of coffee.

Encourage this. This might seem trivial... but it quickly teaches you and your team two things:

1) Just how much is out there in veins traditional marketers don't even think of.

2) Where the starting points are for participating. For example, have you put up quick-and-dirty videos showing how your product works? Ones your sales team can easily send to customers who may have questions? Very useful.

Social media is a participant's sport. Using it will reveal how connected it all is, as well as how it fits with your duties.

Take a step further... and you have FREE professional development seminars right on your desktop. (I imagine that's why you're reading this blog.)

Even further... and you get into lifelong education. Not just professional, but...

Want to learn a language?
Want to learn to cook?
Photography?
Ride a motorcycle?
Something (mostly) useless, but fulfilling... like glassblowing?

Start there. But that's the trick, really... YOU have to start. Go back to that "how to" on del.ic.ious. Perfect starting point. Now drink.

Urban Art is Good for Viral

2008-12-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

Turn your speakers up and watch all the way to the end.

urge to gain attention via "viral" campaigns + highly-creative (and clever) urban art = a lot more support for urban artists (who will develop real savvy at garnering sponsorship).

It's the Red Bull model. Rather than sponsor just one big-name athlete (ala Nike/Michael Jordan), Red Bull uses sponsorship dollars and put their name on all kinds of "extreme" athletes from paragliders to bull riders to snowboarders. These sponsorships come cheaper. They can get more of them. Think about it... they're everywhere.

Don't know urban art? Get a clue at weburbanist.com. (Personally, this is one of my favorite blogs.)

Oh, and thank you to my friend and fellow Volunteer San Diego board member, Linda, for the video.

Love the Mess

2008-11-29T06:41:00.001-08:00

Don't watch the video until you read today's entry.

Interactive Video Object Manipulation from Dan Goldman on Vimeo.

Refrain: Do it. Screw Up. Adjust.

I repeat this often. In life and business we want to ignore the fact that... things are basically messy. The stress of a mess causes heart attacks.

Unless you embrace it. Then it's a damn good time. Think artists. Writers. Pure creative work. Mess. Drama, even. But that's how you create new things. Broken eggs and omelets if you yearn for cliche.

I once describe this as my "two-part plan": First we show up (toss a few eggs on the pan). Then we see what happens.

Social media brings a lot of this. When I give seminars on social media, I constantly get questions from marketers who want to do two things:

1) Organize everything so that it's neat and tidy. This is normal. This is how we are taught to understand new topics and ideas. Open any textbook. Table of contents. Chapters. Index. But when I start dancing through how YouTube (and other) videos can be embedded in a blog, how blogs can refer back and forth to each other (as well as any web page or resource, really), how pictures can be automatically updated via flickr so that any blog or other page using them in a slide show is automatically upadated, or how Twitter can automatically update facebook... Well, some people start to cry.

2) Use social media to do what they're already doing. ("Well, we can take the text from our brochure and put it on our MySpace page...") This is actually a good starting place... but it has limits. You're hamstringing what you can actually do with social media, which is think completely different.

One example...

Now, Adobe is no slouch to social media, but this video (besides showing some really cool technology) is a great example of Do it. Screw up. Adjust. taken all the way into their Research & Design labs. They showcase several technologies with which they're experimenting. They don't have any specific plans to include these in their video products. They're not even quite finished. But they're showing them (via a web-based video) to the geeks and professionals who use their software... or lust for it. Then they ask... let us know if you like these and would like to see them included in future products.

You just invited ALL of your best customers into your R&D labs to give you feedback. A few will find it and share it with all the rest. (I found this video on Digg.com, which has a massive community of video geeks all sharing the coolest new stuff with each other. It also has extensive commenting capabilities... so you see the full debate on what they like or don't. They're honest. They'll ridicule. They'll also suggest other ideas.)

Time was, you hired an expensive research firm to gather a "focus group" to gather in a funky room, eat donuts and coffee, and give feedback to people with clipboards. Not no more.

Now you toss the raw stuff to the lions and let them do what they will. Log in, read the feedback, and apply it.

It's not perfectly scientific. But neither was the focus group or collecting comment cards.

Let your customers become part of your mess. They'll thank you for it. You'll thank THEM for it 'cause they'll tell you how to make the product they want to buy. Seems scary... messy. But who else knows better what people will buy?

Quit trying to think of the perfect way to enter the social media realm. Just pick one place to start... and show up.

Do it. Screw up. Adjust.

You can watch the video now.

50,000 words is a lot.

2008-11-11T08:29:00.000-08:00

It’s National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo for those who participate or who just happen to like cumbersome acronyms. (If you truly want to exclude outsiders from your tribe, make sure your acronyms are both confusing AND require a tutor to pronounce.)

NaNoWriMo participants take on the task of producing a 50,000 word novel during November. It’s under the philosophy of the only way to get it done is to do it. Doesn’t have to be good. It’s funny to listen to participants moan about the temptations of editing while they write. (They form an online community at www.nanowrimo.org) Just get it down. Fix it later. Focus.

50,000 words...

I’m impressed. This blog’s entries vary from 200 to just over 1,000 words. I noticed that, a year after I started the thing, I’m closing in on 40 posts. Plus the 20 or so I haven’t polished to the point of making public. For good measure, I’ll throw in the 20 speeches I’ve written in the same timeframe. They’re 1,000 words each. So, 50,000 in a year.

That’s a lot of writing. You have to factor in that it’s not just the writing part (which comes easy… I have a career’s worth of practice), but the more difficult task of finding good stories to tell/points to make. Coming up with the right framework for telling the story. Oh, and they all have to fit a particular theme.

This brings me to my first point: Producing regular, audience-drawing material is a lot of work. I spent three years as the head writer/editor for several newsletters. That’s a full-time job. Once you’re in the routine you keep filing cabinets of good ideas. You collect and regularly touch base with people who are in the company/industry/science so that you have a good flow of material bubbling to the surface. You compose articles in your head during idle moments.

A blog is EXACTLY like that with one major addition… your audience talks back a lot more. You can instantly measure and know how big your audience is. When you’re good and have gathered a following they’ll even produce pieces for you. Debate right there on your page. Bring ideas your way. That was a rare thing with newsletters, where you measured success by the fact that you could pile stacks of the finished piece in mailboxes and the receptionist’s desk.

Short version: blog = newsletter where your audience talks back. Oh, and you have to earn the audience first. They're fickle.

I have to hold my face straight these days when a client says “We want to do a blog.” I also have to refrain from asking, “Why?” The answer is either a blank stare or a variation of "that's what everyone else is doing." Instead, I’ve stepped back to the four core marketing questions:

Who are we trying to reach?
What will they hear?
How do we reach them?
What do they want?

I want to explore these over the next few posts. They dig down to the essence of what you’re trying to accomplish. I’m a stickler for making the effort count… as in, have impact. Too much is done in marketing that just produces stuff without insisting on effect. You measure by the results you generate (and adjust from there). It doesn’t rule out experimenting. In fact, when done right, it specifically embraces it. “Do it. Screw Up. Adjust.” isn’t just a cool tagline. Done with focus, you can produce some amazing results on a shoestring.

50,000 words… gah! (Oh, and keep at it. You're almost half done. Just stop editing.)

He who tells the stories rules the world.

2008-11-09T10:41:00.001-08:00

This TED presentation provides insight into an important shift happening in our culture.

James Surowiecki pinpoints the moment when social media became an equal player in the world of news-gathering: the 2005 tsunami, when YouTube video, blogs, IMs and txts carried the news -- and preserved moving personal stories from the tragedy.

I argue, not an "equal" player, but a re-definer. The tsunami helped reveal this. One of my own personal experiences with social media's power to exceed traditional media was The Command Post blog, which consolidated news reports (from the gossip level on up) in real time as the U.S. invaded Iraq. It drew on field reports, comments from readers (many of whom were in contact with troops), news feeds, and other blogs to circumvent traditional media sources. You could see it all without channel flipping or surfing. It even included a ticker to announce when traditional media was picking up the same story (usually hours later).

Last week's presidential election was another moment. Ever had someone ask you where you were when Kennedy was assassinated? When the space shuttle exploded? Along with the "where were you when?" question about Obama's victory, I now hear "how did you find out?" Some were watching TV together. Others were on a web site, text messages, instant messaging, email, or Twitter. It came from all directions... and often right into your pocket. I watched the victory speech on a friend's iPhone at a wine bar. Several of us gathered around that tiny screen... toasting.

We've also moved from "did you see last night's speech?" To "I'll send you the link." Our entire media experience is time-shifted and infiltrated.

In addition to what we find elsewhere, we have added serving as our own camera operators, reporters, and editors.

Have you felt the shift and noticed that far-away friends can be with us via picasa, flickr, or YouTube? On a recent trip to San Francisco, I skipped travel guides and turned to friends who had been and uploaded photos, videos, and written narratives about what they'd done in the same place I was headed. They knew my interests and could make recommendations just for me.

We can bring others to events they otherwise would miss.

I won a speaking contest last month with a recollection of my grandfather. An audience member posted it to YouTube. Family I wasn't even aware would be paying attention found the video and emailed me to thank me for the laugh... and the memory. My technophobe parents figured out how to view the video.

Even for ME--someone immersed in the technologies and counseling companies in how to use them--this had a sense of "tribe" to it. Suddenly my audience included family I usually only see at weddings and funerals. We were there together, enjoying common memory.

That's important to note. The medium was only a facilitator. A conduit. We didn't gather all around remarking on how cool an online video was... We were gathered by a story. One we all shared. As my sister wrote on facebook:

hey casey, saw your speech....i was crying!! it was very heart felt, it was as if i had been in the same room. i read aunt sandi's copy, saw them last saturday. luv ya (take care bro.)

Or my cousin:

Casey, Loved the speech. Mom sent me a copy, I giggled reading your account of a memory I had almost forgotten. Thor and Grandpa were funny to watch. You were not alone in your fear of Grandpa Ed. He was almost as scary as the photo you are sharing here.

Technology now allows us to be everywhere and simplexity is forcing down technology/learning barriers. Time was, you had to have technical skill to employ social media. Now the tools have become easy enough and ubiquitous to the point that even the neophytes are motivated to learn.

A wise friend once told me, the medium is NOT the message. It's just a tool. It lets us put a message, a story, in our pockets. Knowing how to select messages and convey a story is the NEW skill set. (And, as public relations professionals will tell you, it is also the OLD skill set.)

I have the fortune from a cookie taped on my fridge:

He who tells the stories rules the world. - Hopi proverb

Yes! I'm in!

Is that a projector in your pocket or are you just happy to present to me?

2008-11-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

No, really. This post is about social media. Definition expansion. Evolution. Plus a pocket projector and the sound of Japanese chit-chat.

Background:

1) The new coolest piece of technology EVER is a tiny projector that (literally) fits in your jeans pocket and will project up to a 60-in screen on the wall. Or the airline tray table in front of you. Or your shirt. Or the pocket in which you carry it. It's less than $500. As New York Times technology reviewer David Pogue says it:

A pocket projector? Are you kidding? This isn’t just a new product — it’s a whole new product category.

Want. Need. Drool.

2) I am a presentation geek. I LOVE to present. Give me an audience and I will love you and them. In fact, a couple years ago I wrote a series of presentations--as in, half- and full-day seminars--just so I could give them. (This blog, particularly the entries from 2007, is derived from one on social media.) I'd say I'm good, but that would be too much. I will say that practice seriously improves your skill. I won many trophies in high school and college on the speech and debate team. I write and coach presentations for clients. I participate in Toastmasters. (Yes, hokey, but we have a great group with many experienced speakers and an audience skilled at providing copious feedback... they're my "laboratory".) I'll offer also that I get asked back and have audience members who ask me to present to other groups. So, I at least engage, entertain, and inform my audiences enough that they want more.

3) Everybody hates PowerPoint. No, wait. Everybody hates how everybody USES PowerPoint. You know, the bit where you get endless bullet points, useless information, and the speaker drones on (basically reading from the slides that you could just read yourself). We all hate that. But blaming PowerPoint (or any other presentation software package) is a bit like blaming typewriters for bad novels. It ain't the tool. It's the operator. PowerPoint (with a projector attached) is just a projection tool. It lets you assemble all manner of slides, put them on a screen, and advance them. That's it. That a presenter does a poor job of preparing, communicating, or connecting with the audience has NOTHING to do with PowerPoint. Given the right imagination, a knack for reaching an audience, a tiny bit of skill with graphics, and practice... a speaker can leverage PowerPoint to absolutely wow audiences.

Case in point: Artist/author/musician/Talking Heads front-man David Byrne wrote an essay for Wired Magazine a few years ago in which he articulated discovering it as an artistic tool:

Although I began by making fun of the medium, I soon realized I could actually create things that were beautiful. I could bend the program to my own whim and use it as an artistic agent. The pieces became like short films: Some were sweet, some were scary, and some were mysterioso. I discovered that even without text, I could make works that were "about" something, something beyond themselves, and that they could even have emotional resonance. What had I stumbled upon? Surely some techie or computer artist was already using this dumb program as an artistic medium. I couldn't really have this territory all to myself -or could I?

I cite also the practice of Pecha Kucha. The word is Japanese for the sound of human voices engaged in "chit chat". The practice derives from an innovative solution a Japanese architect devised in the face of limited access to presentation space and equipment. (Full story at Wikipedia.) The rules: 20 slides projected 20 seconds each (advanced automatically if you're brave) for a total presentation time of 6 minutes 40 seconds.

Sounds difficult, but one of my own seminars guides clients through creative brainstorming. One of the truths you encounter when researching, interviewing, and studying true creative types... constraints foster the best creativity. By limiting the choices of what you can work with, you focus your effort on exploring and accomplishing your end.

Pecha Kucha is a fantastic exercise in simplifying how you present. It forces you to be creative. It's also a load of fun. Most major cities now have lopen-mic style evenings at coffee shops where fans get together and compete. Try the search on YouTube and you discover hundreds of Pecha Kucha presentations (varying quality, of course... but don't knock it 'till you've tried it).

Take that a step further and you get PowePoint Kareoke. A group gets together with a collection of random PowerPoint slides. Ones nobody has seen before. Then each member tries to give an impromptu presentation based on the slides. As described in the Boston Globe:

"In the hands of the wrong person [PowerPoint] and any presentation software becomes a dangerous weapon, a means of torture and incredible torments," says Holm Friebe, who invented PowerPoint Karaoke as part of the German artists' group Zentrale Intelligenz Agentur.

But in a bar, with a beer, PowerPoint becomes more Monty Python, less "Catch-22." Instead of being victimized by someone who insists on reading aloud Every Single Bullet Point in a grim death march to the final corporate-logo slide, you have a presenter who is just as lost as you are, if not more so. The playing field is leveled; the inmates are running the asylum.

I called myself a geek at the top of this post... but that's some funny, er... stuff.

Back to social media. We're using that term to talk about facebook, myspace, flickr, blogging, podcasting, and other tools that connect us online. However, I'll wield simplexity to point out that "online" is more and more moving to us. Got facebook on your iPhone?

Or, how about podcasting... I move both audio and video files to my iPod to listen to them at the gym or the beach or while I'm doing chores around the house.

If we can include those in our social media conversation, I'll argue that a pocket-sized projector is a leap. (The next step being an iPod-sized home entertainment system including the projector, storage, and sound system.) The technology is only going to become so ubiquitous that we no longer recognize it as technology. It's just there. Tools we use to connect and interact. To converse.

I know that my facebook account isn't limited to me logging on. Old and new friends connect with me there and we meet up at the local coffee shop or bar to talk in person. It's a tool, a conduit, not the end. Isn't a tiny projector coupled with PowerPoint making it easier to engage in a new hobby/competition like Pecha Kucha or Karaoke equally in the realm? Shouldn't "social media" include all media that is social?

To me, that's both a definition stretch and a good point.

Hey baby... wanna mashup?

2008-11-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

I've written before about mashups, one of the joys of online technology and just a fun concept. So fun, in fact, that I'm doing this entry just to play. It's a sandbox. But it also illustrates an important concept about conducting rather than controlling your image online. Embracing freedom, collaboration and interconnection.

Working with Volunteer San Diego (VSD), we're bringing together several online elements "owned" by different volunteers. This is both a good thing and a challenge. First, having volunteers who want to help you with projects is wonderful. With editors to handle podcasting, blogging, MySpace, and facebook, it really helps spread the labor so we can reach a wide audience. The challenge comes in making sure that all these elements are working in concert.

This means making sure you have a conductor. Someone who establishes "branding" and messaging parameters and guidelines. That role falls to the VSD staff and Marketing Committee. With planning and smart communication to their team, the VSD web site, printed materials, press materials, and even public presentations can have a uniform feel and message. This means that anyone encountering VSD, whether they were looking for it or just happened across it anywhere gets a sense of the organized, professional entity that they are.

In fact, they manage to match more than 35,000 volunteers per year with more than 800 community partners through a very impressive online database and calendaring system. Recently they converted their in-person orientation program (required before you can volunteer through them) into an online seminar. That cuts down on labor and makes things more flexible for those considering volunteering. (Today's volunteers LOVE the flexibility.)

The mashup concept comes in handy because you can bring diverse elements together automatically. Specifically, you use the technology to make your job easier, which is what it should do.

For example, with a tiny bit of web savvy, we can bring YouTube and podcasts to the same page so that whenever these mediums are updated automatically wherever they appear.

First, YouTube... the VSD's online version of a live powerpoint given to speaking audiences can be embedded in a page like so:

Their podcast, which has a significant following already, can be embedded the same way.

To see how this might work in a final form, you can peek at our "sandbox" MySpace page where we are testing concepts.

This goes two ways. Besides bringing these elements together, individuals who may want to include the podcast or slide show in their own blogs or other collections (such as those who collect favorite podcasts via iTunes or google reader).

It all comes from the same source. Which we coordinate.

Now it goes beyond having five volunteers singing from the same page... we can literally have them all singing ON the same page. Wherever that page may form.

(Oh, and that photo at the top of this entry... another mashup example. It's Creative Commons licensed by photographer Lepti, who posted it to Flickr.)

Oh, Good, Seth did it again!

2008-11-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

Seth says it so well. Today he analyzes marketing by talking about religion and politics.

I particularly identify with his emphasis that stories sell. They do. It's powerful. But so challenging to convince organizations.

Seth Godin's Blog

Tweet Me of Obama and The Mac

2008-11-04T05:53:00.000-08:00

Let's be honest now. This is more "cool factor" and future glimpse than it is useful data at this point. But, yeah, cool factor...

A group named Setfive Consulting has cobbled together software that tracks Twitter feeds (which are publicly-available) and updates a U.S. map whenever a Twitter-user tweets that they voted for one of the candidates. As they say it, their system tracks tweets...

...for certain content, to determine if people are stating they are supporting a candidate or if they voted for a specific one. As the states get darker red or blue, you can see who Twitter is saying is going to win the state.

You have to visit their page to see the map, which updates every 10 seconds.

This means absolutely nothing. Except:

1) Setfive is getting an enormous amount of attention for this idea. Attention that demonstrates a little software engineering prowess... and they happen to be software engineers.

2) It's a hint of what's to come. Think interconnection and evolution. There was a point at which someone thought that calling people on the phone or talking to them on camera as they exited polling places to find out how they voted was a crazy new idea. Now those two methods deliver us statistically valid indications of how we voted even before the actual tallies are announced.

Useless (for now), but fun. You just re-checked that map, didn't you.

Taboo + Freedom = Lots of Views

2008-11-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

A little accidental viral of my own. I tell the story in the photo essay. But the simplicity of it is what's remarkable. I had a camera phone with me at a very creative event that raised money for breast cancer survivors. I put this together on facebook for Amy, whom it's about. Then facebook friends began sharing it... and more than 300 people have viewed it. Lots of "thank you" comments.

It relies on simple concepts:

1) The event was a very interesting concept that both played with a taboo, beauty, and a dramatic and heart-tugging situation. That gives us a real story to tell, which is what draws us, as humans, in. (Public relations types will recognize this as a solid "story angle". The kind that gets reporters to pay attention... because it gets people/readers to pay attention.)

2) Technology is everywhere. The camera was right there with me. It's smaller than my wallet. Simplexity and Interconnection right there in my pocket.

3) Telling the story on facebook tapped right into conversation and freedom, delivering my little mashup of pictures/captions (which facebook makes very easy to do) to a much wider audience than expected.

Thanks, Amy. For the evening and being willing to tell share story.

Step One: Re-appropriate

2008-11-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

NPR does an impressive job incorporating social media in its traditional offerings. A major reason for this is they subscribe to the "do it, screw up, adjust" philosophy. They're not only unafraid to experiment with the available tools, but they use them in all facets of content gathering, assembly, and delivery.

In a segment this morning they discussed the fact that the telephone, when it was a new medium accessible primarily to wealthy households, led to the mis-prediction of election winners. Surveys conducted by telephone resulted in statistically-skewed results. (It wasn't a truly random sample.) They went on to discuss how they will use Twitter to follow the action at the polls on Tuesday. Embracing the new medium/tool as well as its unforeseen limitations.

The programs This American Life and Fresh Air are consistently in the top three most subscribed podcasts on iTunes. Of course, converting an already well-produced radio program to a podcast isn't that big of a leap in any sense.

It's their re-purposing and re-packaging of programming that I want to note here.

The Planet Money Podcast is an excellent example. It's a random collection of interviews and segments drawn from across all of their programming. The commonality is the theme: explaining and dissecting what is happening in the now-global financial crisis. Of all news resources, this has been the best one-stop shop for non-finance types to wrap their heads around what's going on.

Think about that... they've compiled a collection of archive pieces that you wouldn't have encountered without listening to NPR 24 hours a day for weeks. They've assembled them into a themed collection and packaged it so that it becomes a completely new show. One that keeps listeners coming back (it's updated daily and delviered right to your iTunes account... oh, and it's free). While the listeners are getting the information they want they're also sampling programs they wouldn't have otherwise encountered. Gotta love it when your product is its own marketing tool.

Turn this useful: One of the first questions I ask clients looking to enter the world of social media is "What old material do you have sitting in archive? Old instructional videos? Ads? Sales materials?"

You never know who might be out there wanting some of that. Sometimes it's useful (maintenance or instructional videos) and someone who owns one of your old products might need it. Others it's sentimental or amusing. Who knows what other reason. But it's very easy to convert these items to digital format and upload them.

This might seem silly, but it accomplishes a few things.

1) It helps you clear out the archives and put them somewhere they might actually be useful.

2) It gives you a sense of how your team can interact with social media platforms (this is a critical point in institutional learning. This goes way beyond technical knowledge. You have to think differently in social media... and you can't do that if you aren't using it. Note: THINK DIFFERENTLY. It's not like a brochure that you write, design, print, and distribute. Social media is two-way. Remember, you're having a conversation now. You can't just farm it out. You have to think different.

3) It establishes a presence for your company/organization on the various platforms that you can follow up on with future campaigns. Presence comes with time... think in terms of search engines finding you. It's a perfect way to set the foundation for future campaigns.

4) You never know what you might discover... there might be a niche community out there. You might have a cult-like following. Feed them a little and they'll carry your moniker all over the place. It's as easy as figuring out what's on all those dusty VHS tapes stacked on top of the filing cabinets.

Speaking of that cult-like community... they may already be doing something with that material. Have you searched YouTube to see if you're up there? How about Google's blogger search. It's amazing what's being shared.

Re-appropriate. Do it. Screw up. Adjust.

A Scary Video for your Halloween

2008-10-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to write a lot about this one. You need to experience it for yourself. However, it's another little visit to the "viral" topic. I could theorize a formula here...

truly funny* + customizable + easy sharing (emailing) = effective viral

To see what I mean and to make and share your own version of this video, check out the MoveOn.org page.

This is a great example of MINE + Conversation.

Happy Halloween. I think this video's scary no matter which side of the aisle you stand on.

* NOTE: Though I like this particular soapbox, I'm not against "viral" marketing. The problem is that it's difficult for organizations (because of their nature) to actually be funny/edgy enough to pull this off. Additionally, many of the items we consider "viral" weren't designed as campaigns. That happened by accident.

What I DO advocate is using social media smartly to build an effective presence for your organization in the long term. Parallel: Yes, if you took the company payroll down to the roulette table, you could possibly double it. However, your finance manager would probably be out to cause you physical harm... Her job is to keep your organization financially stable for the long term.

Viral is Hard to Do Again... and Again

2008-10-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Regular readers will recognize my theme that "going viral" is hard work. Occasional or new readers... well, you need to catch up.

The New York Times just published Finding a Gold Mine in Digital Ditties. It captures the kind of work that goes into it. All those "make your own ad" contest going on, turns out a single talented and HARD-WORKING individual--Joel Moss Levinson--is winning a whole slew of them because that's what he does. Full time. Professionally. From the article:

He also began to bring his video camera on trips that he had won, exploiting the tours for the scenery. When he was sent to Australia for the wine contest, he filmed segments for Oreo and Nesquik contests. When he won a Nature Valley granola bar contest and his prize was a trip to the Arctic, he filmed the spots for Klondike and for the Israel Project, for which he dressed in a penguin suit.

He's doing it just for prize payments at the moment, but that won't last long. Mark my words. The price goes up on talent. It's basic economics.

Still fun, though.

Here's the real insight. You might have this kind of talent in or associated with your organization. If you give them the freedom and encouragement to experiment, you might just have a viral something on your hands. Takes different thinking and a little risk to make it happen. As in, the kind of risk that makes most companies cringe.

For more of Joel's videos, see http://www.youtube.com/user/happyjoel

Someone Else (Seth Godin) Says it Really Well

2008-09-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Seth just posted an idea I want to play off. I'll add more here in a bit, but you can read his posting now and get the backstory.

Because You Are Boring. (post 1 of 3)

2008-09-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Candor is a beautiful thing. I have had variations of this conversation with employers and clients for 15 years. Typically it revolves around press releases. But it applies to newsletters, web sites, bogs, powerpoint presentations, and "viral" videos.

Caption: The Large Hadron Rap... very popular with a limited audience. But the right limited audience.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the online world is the vivid mirror it holds up to us in the form of automatically measuring the number of visitors, views, downloads, and everything else we do there. I've already waxed eloquent on measurement. We have a lot to talk about, so I'll direct you to that entry for details.

You: Why are't we getting the articles, hits, visits, downloads, views, rankings, reviews... that we want?

Casey: Because you are boring.

This invariably creates a moment. Not everyone enjoys it. I even had one client walk out and fire me based on that answer.

But it's true.

For simplicity, let's talk just about trying to get media attention.

Honest-to-God professional journalism is a very hard job. Besides writing skill, research, interviewing, experience, networks of sources/informants, a very broad knowledge of the topics you write about, and real ethics (yes, really), a reporter must consistently come up with stories that are of real interest to their readers.

There are rules of thumb for this (controversy is always the top one, real heartstring pullers, things that affect your pocketbook, the highly unusual, catching the early signs of a growing trend... just a few), but it takes a real instinct and not a little trial-and-error (experience) to get good at it. And sometimes even the best of them have slumps where they just can't think of anything.

Think about it from the other side... take a major paper like USA Today, The Wall St. Journal, the New York Times. The absolute top-level journalists are clustered at these papers, yet how often do you (the reader) find an article so compelling that you tell other people about it?

The papers themselves keep lists of the most read and blogged articles. That's a popularity count... the best of the best as voted on by the public. Even if you watch these lists daily, I'll wager that you don't find an article that truly pulls you in more than a couple times a week. (Be honest... not the ones you like when you're procrastinating. The ones you really can't resist.)

Expand this to the major online popularity counts created by sites like Technorati (blogs), Podfeed (podcasts), del.ic.ious (everything), Digg (everything), Reddit (everything). How about YouTube's most viewed or Amazon.com's bestsellers? These lists are compiled and ranked by the interests of Internet users everywhere. So much interesting content that you probably shouldn't be visiting if you want to get anything else done this week. Even then, not everything on the list will be of interest. Really... give it a try.

So neither the most highly-qualified professionals nor the aggregated intelligence of thousands or millions of internet users can't truly grab your interest every time.

Now you, with a day job where you don't spend all day trying to be interesting, are trying to grab the world's attention? Relax. Even the most interesting among us is boring most of the time.

There's a lesson here.

Someone is interested enough to make all those articles, pages, images, and videos the most popular. My example here is a recent super-popular YouTube video featuring a rap celebrating the startup of the Large Hadron Collider, a massive physics research facility that begins operating this month. You are most likely peripherally aware of it (it's big enough to make the news), but haven't paid a whole lot of attention unless you're interested in physics. In that case, you're part of the niche audience who thinks this video is cool. (I'm on the very edge of that audience. I like physics. I have friends who are physicists. I can even do enough calculus to really appreciate physics... but it's not my everyday reading material.)

Bottom line: There's a specific audience who cares. They're enthusiastic enough to make this (relatively) obscure topic very popular.

Now, what were you saying about your company?

This is the point at which we become confused. By nature, we are geeks about what we do. We're good at it. We know all the ins-and-outs. Our products, services, suppliers, clients, customers, competitors (and their products, services, and customers). Our industry. Man, we are EXPERTS. We also hang out with others who geek out on the same topic. Our friends. They get us.

You ever listen to a geek talk? They are so passionate about minutia. Want to experience it right now? Tell your favorite computer guru you're trying to decide whether to by a PR or a Mac. Now try to stay interested in what they say. Booooooooooring! 'Nuff said.

That's you. Your company. To reduce the sense of pontification... it's me and mine, too.

The task at hand becomes tying to get a journalist interested enough in our company that she'll write about us in a positive light. Therefore, we need to find a story (a "media angle" in PR geek parlance) that will appeal to their audience and their sense of that audience to get their attention.

The same applies to any other form of communication, whether that be a press release, newsletter story, blog entry, YouTube video, a speech/presentation.... anywhere we're trying to get someone else to pay attention to us. WE MUST THINK IN TERMS OF WHAT INTERESTS THEM. We're boring.

However, with some effort, talent, and experience, we can be fascinating.

How?

1) By figuring out what about us/our company is, in fact, that interesting (hint: it's often in the way we present, or frame, it... this is different from SPIN, which is a bad, bad, nasty word that implies dishonesty.)

2) By figuring out who our audience REALLY is... then figuring out #1 within that context.

This is a good point to stop. It's a long post... long enough to require two or more entries. I'll pick back up here tomorrow.

Just remember, you're boring.