Tag Archives: marc meyer

Social Media is the Platform for Bad Relationships too…

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There are people out there, that don’t like you. I know,  shocking isn’t it? For some of you, it might be. In social media we talk about,  and write even more about  how social media creates these magical relationships  of synergy, business alliances, and friendships. But what people rarely talk about, are the relationships that have originated from social networking-that have gone sour.

On the Today Show recently they did a segment about “friending” people on Facebook. And you don’t have to look too hard to find blog posts  about people who have written about breaking up via Facebook.

As you should know by now, relationships that are played out through social media channels take on another dynamic. There are many layers. The most prominent layer now being that all aspects of it, are out there for all to see. Warts and all. Sometimes I wonder if part of us wants everyone else to see whats going on. Of course we can  “choose” to make it or take it private, but a lot of us don’t. We want others, should things take a turn for the worse, to participate in the drama. We want people to choose sides.

What I’m talking about above  are truly personal relationships. But what of.. the business relationships that have occurred from social networking? Or the blossoming relationship? What are the business rules for that? What if your paths cross with many of the same people and your relationship with one of them has just turned sour? What do you do?

How are you going to play it?

Better start thinking about it.

I know I am, because it’s happening to me.

Social Media and Community Mistakes I’ve made

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As the VP of Marketing for a dot com start up geared towards IT professionals and major corporations, I assemble multiple focus groups consisting of average Joes to get their opinion on the UI. Not realizing until after the site is built, that perhaps it might have made better sense assembling the typical actual user of the site in garnering user feedback. Huge error.

After having started my first user based community wrapped around a very popular consumer product, I manage the community as if I am a dictator. I say no to everything and listen even less. Big mistake!

These are but 2 of the mistakes I’ve made in my journey through marketing, communities and social media. Encouraged by my friend Mack Collier who has a similar post right now over on his site The Viral Garden, I decided to recount some of the mistakes I’ve made in social media, marketing and managing communities.  I think this is a very viable topic right now for a number of reasons, as you will soon see.

Mack mentions that people who are entering the space for the first time-be it social media, marketing, managing communities, blogging, or whatever-may fear that doing anything, any misstep, will be met with criticism, or perhaps a stiff rebuke. Which is not the case at all, in fact Mack’s point is this:

When it comes to social media; no one knows everything, and everyone makes mistakes. I’ve made more than my fair share

Don’t buy into this ‘I don’t have anything to say/tweet/post about’ nonsense. Get out there and make your mistakes, because that’s the best way to learn. And besides, one of those ‘social media experts’ has probably already made all the same mistakes you will

So along with the other 2 mistakes I made above, let me highlight some of the bigger ones I’ve made.

2002 I set up a knowledge base, a BBS, and an instant chat function all to allegedly help our customer service dept. Results?  Customer service didn’t know how to use the complicated KB and neither did the customer. The BBS was too complicated as well and the chat function crashed constantly. 0 for 3.

2002, I created an online community that instantly becomes popular and balloons to 3,000 users. At which point, I endear myself to no one as I kick out some of the brand champions for what were in hindsight, petty transgressions. It’s at this point that I am called out for the first of many times, and issued my first death threat as well. Major screw up on my part!

2003 I’m still not listening to the customer.  Thinking that perhaps silence is golden as a community manager, I participate very little when the complete opposite was needed at the time. FAIL.

2004 A new product and business unit is created. I create new sites that get tremendous traffic but do very little analysis of the trends, the topics, the hot buttons and customer suggestions flowing in from email and I funnel them to Customer Service, because “I’m too busy!”   Apparently, they never read them either. Product tanks. My fault for not listening, at all.

2005– I start blogging to create better brand recognition. But I know nothing and blog/spam with zero regularity. The only gain I see, is a minor SEO bump, but realize that it came from me commenting. So rather than genuinely read blogs, I decide to just lamely comment for hyperlink purposes. It works for SEO but I get nothing out of the exercise.  At which point I’m just an SEO loser/hack gaming the system. FAIL

2006 I start blogging again but this time it’s out of a need to communicate with customers better. Obviously I’ve seen some light somewhere.  But I read very few other blogs and comment even less. Not realizing that blogging is a 2 way street. It takes a full 6 months for that fact to sink in.

2006-2007 I engage in a full blown reputation management endeavor utilizing  social bookmarking, blogging, and participating in multiple social networks. Only problem-I’m not engaging earnestly. Another problem, I create persona’s in the name of the company but not in my name. I’m not transparent, not even close. Apparently I realize the SEO implications but still don’t get that its all about you being you and the conversation. I’m everywhere and I’m not. The reputation management campaign has worked and yet I have zero traction. I still have not understood the basic principles of social media. FAIL

2007– The light is starting to go on a bit more, but it still has not dawned on me to come out from behind the curtain and be myself. It takes the last 6 months of 2007 to realize that transparency actually works in creating better conversations. In the meantime I start joining social networks on behalf of products instead of myself, and continue to push the message as a brand marketer instead of engaging and listening as a person. Mistake

2008– I was very active but not always in a good way. In 2008 I created “more” social networking accounts instead of concentrating on the few where I have become part of the communiy. I blog about too many different things not realizing that my traffic came from being consistent and on point. I also sometimes still forget that traffic comes from participating and reading other blogs. I also forget that the best way to create value and more long lasting relationships and perhaps derive business, is to go beyond thinking like a marketer and to think more like a friend, a peer, and a colleague. I realize now that from all of my mistakes that, as I told my friend Paul Chaney on his Blog Talk Radio show:

Active listening leads to active relationships that translate to real opportunity..

So you see, I’ve made a ton of mistakes, and those were just the one’s that come to mind immediately. The key though, is that I learned from them, and kept trying. But if you never step outside, you will never truly know what’s out there.  Bottom line is don’t be afraid to make mistakes. I have to think that regardless of your backgrounds , you have all made mistakes. Don’t let the mob mentality, or some random blog comment or snarky tweet,  sway you from trying and experimenting  in social media. Let it be a motivator.

The only 2 questions an SMB will ask about Social Media

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I had been throwing the following around in my head after meeting with a quite a few business owners and talking with some respected thought leaders in the social media marketing space and I want to know what you think.

As an SMB you need to ask two primary questions when pitched with incorporating some aspect of social media in to your business and they are:

#1  What is in it for me and my business?

#2  What’s in it for my customer?

Simple enough right?  But we’re forgetting someone. Someone as critical to the business as the customer is. Do you know who it is? One of the beauties of social media is that there are so many layers, aspects and dynamic components that allow it to address people it all levels of an organization. Including the sometimes forgotten and under appreciated employee.

So Mr. or Mrs. SMB, what we are really saying is that, if social media is pitched or considered then, the pitcher/social media practitioner, should be focusing on 3 aspects of the business:

  • The business owner
  • The customer
  • The employee

For the business owner you will want tangible hard core proof of “If I do this, this is what I can expect for my business and my employees and If I do this, this is what the customer can expect or will do, or this will be the customers reaction. It’s that simple.

If you are a social media marketing…person,  show the SMB what the expected results will be. Give them examples of either what you have done, or… if you are in the majority and are just starting out as a social media marketing N00b, utilize the many URL’s that are starting to crop up citing examples of other companies using social media components within their organizations.

Here is a list of links that SMB’s can utilize that may help them in at least understanding more of what is going on should they be approached by a “social media marketing consultant” or are thinking about doing it on their own. At the least, you will get a better understanding of what’s in it for you, and whats in it for your customer!

Why Executives Don’t “Get” Social Media This is a good article on executive level mindsets as they wrestle with including social media into their companies.

The Ultimate Small Business Twitter List This is not only a great list but it also includes a list of Orgs. and their employees or Reps. that serve the small business market.

Here is a great link on Facebook titled, Social Media for Small Business that some of you should check out.

Why Social Media Is Worth Small Business Owners’ Time Taking advantage of all the Web has to offer is like eating your vegetables or getting exercise — most of us don’t do enough, and even those that do could always do more.

My friend, Amber Naslund, who now works at Radian 6 has 2 posts that I think are worth reading. here is the first Getting a social media foothold and The social media starter kit. Self explanatory right?

Lastly we’re going to finish with some video. I encourage all of you SMB’s out there to watch it, as well as newcomers to social media marketing. It includes a number of my friends and colleagues and thus, I would put a lot of stock in what they are saying. They are the genuine real deal:  Brian Solis, Rohit Bhargava, Tim Ferris,  Toby Bloomberg, David Alston, Liz Strauss, and Paul Chaney,

Lastly, let me say this. IF, you are a social media marketer, wannabe, or whatever… At the end of the day, you better do a pretty damn good job of stating your case. Because no one, and I mean no one can afford to screw up right now and the last thing an SMB wants is for them to be your test case!

15 reasons why companies may fear social media

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Last night I was talking with Rachel Happe and Leigh Duncan-Durst on Twitter  and we were discussing  the following statement I made:

Some industries have built in fan bases and thus are naturals for social media implementation, so .. why the delay? Fear? Lack of expertise?

Fear of social media.  It’s more prevalent than you think. Sure some will say they are waiting for the true ROI to shake out. That might be true, but I doubt it’s the main reason.

Leigh brought up some great points:  “Is it Fear? Resources? Ignorance? Unwilling to be transparent?” She goes on to add without mentioning industries, “that some large orgs. are terrified of the VOLUME of feedback and detractors so much they can’t see upside.”

Can you imagine being so burdened with the fear of negative press or negative reaction, that you, as an organization, are paralyzed into doing nothing?

Leigh concludes: “They are just not comfortable with that level of transparency. Turning a  blind eye negates the opportunity to turn around negatives…Treat customers with respect, respond – and identifyadvocates too!

Rachel then adds: I think the biggest inhibitor of adoption of new tools is that people are overwhelmed and don’t have time to play with them. Sometimes I think you have to drag people into a room and make them play around with the tools until they are comfortable.

I couldn’t agree with them more!  So lets review this. Are these the things that are holding companies of all sizes back from utilizing social media?

  • Fear
  • Lack of experience
  • Ignorance
  • Waiting for ROI
  • Lack of Resources
  • Unwilling to be transparent
  • Lack of time
  • Confusion
  • No Money
  • Unawareness
  • No expertise
  • Lack of leadership
  • Terrified of feedback/truth
  • The “newness” of  it, going to wait.
  • High degree of skepticism

What else can we add to this list? How many of these are really legitimate?

The Virtual Street Cred of Twitter

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about virtual credibility. I guess because a lot of the people that follow me on Twitter have some interesting bios. Some that would have you thinking or believing, “wow this person is impressive.” They say they  do this and they have x amount of followers etc. etc.

Simply put, at some point your bio, your connections and the number of followers you have are going to mean nothing unless you can back it up with true hands on experience and knowledge. I will venture to say though, that you can learn a lot about someone via 140 characters  or less. Consider that the ice breaker or the get to know someone phase if you will. And you know what? It can become pretty obvious after awhile, when actually talking to someone whether they have the “chops” or not.  That’s the difference between virtual credibility and “virtual street cred.”

“Virtual Street Cred”

I could refer you to the urban dictionary for the loosely defined version of “street cred” but attaching the word “virtual” to it simply means that it’s one thing to talk it in the virtual space that is the blogosphere or Twitter, but it’s a whole nuther’  thing to walk it.

So yesterday I tweeted that I was thinking about virtual credibility, when Rachel Happe, whose views and opinion I respect very much, asked the following question:

Is “virtual credibility” like virtual currency…it’s not really money but it looks like it on the internet? 🙂

Bingo!  So, over the past few months, I’ve been having actual conversations with people I’ve gotten to know from Twitter. This is significant on a number of levels. Not the least of which is the virtual relationship has become something other than “tweeting” back and forth. Another significant aspect, is that before Twitter, I might have still been able to talk to people in the marketing, social media, PR and decision maker space but…It would have taken perhaps a cold call or semi-warm one at best to engage them. And many more to get to some type of comfort level.

Twitter has allowed us ways to create amazing relationships and opportunities at a rapid rate. Prior to Twitter we would have had to work twice as hard to get to know each other.  As Brian Solis puts it in his most recent post:

As Twitter gains in relevance and prominence, its conversation platform will ring the alarms of any business that monetizes relationships, connections, and information exchange

From Twitter I’ve received opportunities to work on projects. I’ve also, on a daily basis been privy to a massive stable of talent that I can refer to for help, perspective, resources, advice, knowledge, expertise,  partnerships and wisdom and most of all friendship. I have gotten to know people from so many diverse backgrounds that would have never happened otherwise. The majority of these people are a mere DM away.  That is an amazing aspect that is not overlooked by me.  Some of these people now have, in my eyes attained.

“Virtual Street Cred”

In the comments section of a post by Radian 6’s Amber Naslund, Marketer Beth Harte says the following.

I used to think Twitter was silly (hated it really), but now, it’s invaluable. All those tweets really build a character of the people you interact with. And then when you meet them in person, it’s like you already know them well and you can move past the ‘getting to know you’ phase into a deeper relationship. Imagine that from a business perspective…wow!

I feel that way too.

How about you? What has happened to you since you’ve embarked on Twitter? Good, bad, or indifferent?

10 Twitter Links that mattered to me this week

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Below is a quick compilation of links that I received or found this week that I either tweeted or retweeted that mattered to me or to the people that are in the  Twitterspehere.

I received this this morning and it immediately raised a question for me in regards to whether Fortune 500’s should be on Facebook,  The question:

1) Can Enterprise Social Networks Gain Traction? My point being, perhaps we really need to define or look at what traction is.

2) Came across this and it seems interesting  so I’m gonna give it a test drive later Eyejot

3) For job seekers Adobe Acrobat is looking for a part time Community Manager

4) I’m wondering if this should surprise anyone? Colleges are using social media more than Fortune 500 & Inc 500 in the area of blogging…

5) There’s probably a few here I have not used but perhaps you have not used any of these 33 trend tracking tools

6) Mashable came out with a great post yesterday about 40 of the Best Twitter Brands & the People Behind Them And I thought it interesting to see how some use or view the power of Twitter. Who do you think uses it most effectively?

7) Valeria Maltoni and Geoff Livingston did a duel post on Top 25 Ways to Stop Wigging Out and I have to tell you, I might have to tape it on the monitor or on the fridge, because to be honest right now, there is so much happening in all of our lives, I get the sense that we all are scramblin’ for scraps sometime.

8) I got such a tremendous Twitter RT reception for the following Tweet and post titled “Create the change“:

My advice to you is to not wait on Barack Obama 4 change. Create the change yourself, in your own lives

9) How timely and “in the mix” are your tweets? Check out Twitemperature I know, it’s one of those hit and run type of Twitter apps. But still.

10) This is a must think piece here How Twitter Can be Corrosive to Online Marketing

I think I’m going to start doing this on a regular basis, simply because there is so much info that I miss and that you miss, maybe this will help. Send me one that is worth sharing that I might have missed. Educate me, please.

5 life lessons I learned from social media this week

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Last night I was wondering what I was going to write about that hopefully someone new or old in the marketing, social media and PR space would understand. It’s been a crazy week but there were a few posts that caught my eye that led me to this topic.

The first was by Todd Defren about the value of modesty in which he mentions that some of the solid thinkers in the social media space are truly humble  about themselves and about what they have accomplished. Imagine that? The people that you admire in the space, have no idea how good they are and in the grand scheme of things, it’s not as important, as it is to help others. Humility in social media.

Another post that caught my eye immediately was authored by Steve Radick essentially stating that social media is scary and the reason is, social media gives everyone a voice, whether they want it or not. It can instill fear and it can intimidate. Which made me ask via Twitter if some felt intimidated or scarred to talk to some of the other better known Twitterati and the answer was a collective yes. Which made me immediately wonder if I did and how can I change that? How can you change that perception if it exists? it’s unacceptable so thus I learned about-Fear of social media.

So in 2 instances we have humility and fear bubbling up from social media. I wanted to write about respect and how we, as social media practitioners may not give newcomers enough of that and that stemmed from the following:

I did a vlog  on how I was going to start viewing social media differently; and the more I look back at that vlog, the more I realized that it’s not that others have to do anything different it was me. I complain about the echo and the people that repeat things but fail to really consider who might be the person behind it. Or really who is listening? I’ve judged, I’ve deliberated and I’ve executed before even doing any legwork to justify some of my criticism. For that I apologize. Though I still want to see more from both the N00bs and the sage veterans in this space, I certainly see that not everyone came aboard at the same time. And, they’re still coming aboard! I welcome you with open arms. I apologize with all my heart. Contrition in social media.

Lastly I want to tell you about the good in social media and the good that can come from community and how quickly people can open their hearts for others. David Armano for those of you who don’t know him has a friend that you should meet and get to know. I’m not going to steal David’s thunder but if he doesn’t do anything the rest of the year, he can rest assure that what he did for Daniela will have changed her life forever. Impactful. Social media can be love, can be generous and can be impactful.

So you see, even when I said I had nothing to write and  was struggling, it was there all along, right in front of me. To be honest, it’s always there,  sometimes it just takes the community we’re in to point it out to us in an ever so subtle manner. I thank you for that. and thus I have gratitude for social media.

Time to view social media differently

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Last night I could not help but pause and think after every sentence of Peter Kim’s most recent blog post. Even more compelling were the comments that followed. I’d suggest you read it.  Because of this and because I had been thinking that it was time to change the way I viewed and written about what I have experienced in marketing and social media marketing, I have decided to turn it upside down.

I want you to start thinking like that now. Instead of repeating everything that you read and just slapping a new title on it and linking to everyone else. Give me your thoughts with perhaps just one or two links. Forget about link juice for a minute and write what you really think about Twitter- Does Twitter piss you off? Are you tired of bullshit tweets? Well tell me. Don’t like what Chris Brogan says? Then say it.  I’m not asking you to completely look for the flaws and problems in everyone and everything, I’m asking you to step outside of that and look at things from 3 feet instead of  30,000 feet, and then give me your real thoughts and your perspective. If I’m full of it? Fine, tell me why, and if it makes sense then I will adjust.

It’s time for our discussions and our thoughts to be elevated. I would think that now might be a really opportune time for fresh thinking, what do you think? And for the record, Peter I may be echoing what you have just written but the more people that can spread that sentiment of less echo and more thought, the better.

Social Media could be the savior for SMB’s

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6 days into 2009 and I’m sure we all have our goals set or we’re busy finalizing what we are going to do. I make these lists and I write down thoughts at a furious pace and still, in the back of my mind, I’m constantly wondering what everyone is collectively thinking right now. By everyone, I’m really referring to small and medium sized business owners. The economy sucks and business is wayy down..

They have to be wondering where the business is going to come from or how they are going to get business utilizing their existing forms of advertising, sales, and marketing. The problem is,  how effective do those continue to be? Were they ever? Do they know they are not working? Do they utilize metrics or do they fly by the seat of their pants to measure their effectiveness? Do they understand that there is more for less out there right now? Or is it less for less? Their heads have to be swimming. I know mine is.

Initially I would have said No,  SMB’s are not aware of their advertising, sales and marketing effectiveness, but in that sense I was referring to “as it pertains to social media”, as in how effective could all these initiatves be if they were using social media, and that is completely true. SMB’s do not know much about how social media might be able to turn the tide.The power. The effectiveness. The impact.

But they do know plenty about what is and what isn’t working in regards to their  sales and marketing initiatives. I love what Christian Maurer says about this:

In today’s business climate, sales organizations think that they have to increase their activities to counteract the increased reluctance of customers to buy. These increased activities will however not necessarily be rewarded by higher revenue.One might end up trying to get more juice from an already squeezed out lemon

So enter Social Media. The darling of the last few years. We go from product centric to customer centric. But how do you articulate that social media could be just what the doctor ordered? Well I could wax eloquent on that question for awhile but I’d like to refer you to Kyle Lacy’s 4 part series on social media marketing for the small business as a primer. It’s a wonderful piece and more so, it exposed me to a great blog for small business called The Marketing Spot. I highly recommend you add it to your list in 2009.

Ok so back to you Mr. and Mrs. SMB how do you go about learning whether Social Media is the cure for what is ailing your business? And how do you do it quickly because you don’t have time to ramp something like this up. WHAT DO YOU DO FIRST?

-You could try and learn about “It” on your own but you need to know what “it” is. This might help.

-But then after you figure out what it is, you then need to know who you can trust or what to look for in a social media consultant, because you don’t have time to be doing this, right?

-Once you figured out what to look for, then you need to decide “who to look for”

-So now that you have “that” person or agency selected, now you have to have a strategy and they have to share that with you, so that you know exactly what they are trying to do for you and your business.

–A blueprint of how that person works is a good thing to have, it lets you know exactly how they work and it is a key component that we talk about all the time and that’s transparency in social media. Amber Naslund does a great job of discussing her “blueprint” in this post.

-Now that we have the strategy and the blueprint, it’s time to implement. Don’t worry though, your accomplished social media strategist knows just what to do.

OK, so you know what it is, you know what to look for, you know who they are, you know what they’ll do and you know how they’ll do it. But the last thing we have to do is we still have to measure what they’ve done.

-We talk all the time about how to measure social media but here’s a simple framework for measuring it’s effectiveness.

With that in mind, I end with this; As long as you know upfront what you are trying to accomplish and you adhere somewhat to these steps above, you may just have figured out how to incorporate social media into your SMB marketing  plan! But don’t stop there and don’t rely solely on your social media expert/strategist. Take the time to learn as much as you can as you go, so that you can understand the sea change that is happening within the worlds of PR, marketing, advertising and communication.

–


10 websites to get you started in 2009

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In the new year its all about doing what we do better, streamlining it and being more effective, here is a list of websites and blog posts that just might help you get that ball rolling.

Lee Odden whom I respect very much has just posted an article about 6 social search engines. The great thing about this, is that I have not heard of any of these before and I love when there are new shiny things out there that might make what we do better. Let me know what you think.

Contrary to how some of you might use Twitter or better yet, the way you add followers, I like to check out who’s following me before I follow them back. With that being said, Taly Weiss started following me the other day, and as I’m wont to do, I checked out her bio and then checked out her  blog site, Trendspotting, This site has so much cool data that it can only help to shape your opinions to make you smarter. I’m glad we found each other.

So staying on the topic of Twitter, if you don’t know what Mr. Tweet is yet, I’d suggest you investigate. Do so at your own risk since it helps you determine who you should follow. You could end up using it all day. But even better, check out Mr. Tweet’s blog too.

And while you’re at it, read this article about the 10 ways that twitter will be changing blog design in 2009. I’m not sure I totally agree with it, but you can definitely see how Twitter is weaving it’sw ay into the fabric of what do online.

I haven’t used this yet but at $139 a year for online  computer and technical support, it isn’t a bad deal. Although iYogi led me to think it was a yoga site.

Here’s a great list of the up and coming companies of  the 2009 Social CRM/CRM 2.0 Space, maybe one of them might help you or your company?

Profilactic is a social media aggregator/lifestreaming service that pulls together just about everything you and your friends create online, it currently supports 190 social sites.

I came across Ennect somehow somewhere, maybe one of its web marketing components  might work for you?

A very good friend of mine Paul Chaney writes a great blog, check out what his 4 goal words are for 2009 and then go check out the company Paul works for Bizzuka

Ok, so now you have 10 sites or blog posts that can jump start 2009. You see if we can’t share the resources that we bookmark, then how else are we going to get better at what we do? I need to rely on you to help me get better. What sites or blogs would you suggest or recommend?