David Alston of Radian 6, who is a good person, and will be hosting an upcoming session of our #socialmedia discussion on HashTag Socialmedia, cranks out some pretty good content every once in a while. This slide deck is no exception. In this deck he puts together the top 11 reasons to put off social media and the top 10 conversations to listen for.
Tag Archives: social media
What should the definition of social media be for the layperson?
Last week, I was at another baseball game, I go to a lot of them, and someone asked me what I did. In this situation a couple of things have to happen very quickly. The first of which is that I have to size up the person I am talking with. Can I give them the high level deep answer or do I give them the “lite” version?
For example, my 75 year aunt gets the, “I’m in computers” answer… which she then yells to my 82 year old uncle, “He’s in computers”…That’s the “lite” version.
If I have someone who I think might understand what I do, I then have to decide how “deep” do I go then? Do I go the route of the, “I work with the internet, internet marketing, online marketing, marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, social media consulting, branding?”
If I do go that route.
What will best describe what I do to the layperson, who may actually “get it”, so that I don’t get the following question: So you’re a webmaster?
I digress. So last week I’m talking to this person in the stands and I decide to go for it. She’s a lawyer, she’s smart, knows her stuff. Who knows? Right? I tell her about my company and how we are all about search and social media and marketing, and how awesome social media is and continues to be etc. etc. and I decide to try and give her a suitable yet understandable definition of social media. I stumble a bit but think I’ve done a pretty good job and she looks at me and says…
So you’re a webmaster?
What is YOUR lay-person definition of what social media is? Help me out.
A sense of responsibility in a transparent environment
As I was walking out the door yesterday, I still had the news on when I had heard that Jack Kemp had passed away. I always liked Jack Kemp, and not so much because of his politics, but mainly because he was a former athlete turned politician. You see, he could have easily walked away and had a wonderful life as a “former athlete/pro football player”, yet he decided to pursue the not so always friendly environment of politics. I can dig that.
Some athletes, not all, have the unique perspective of understanding what its like to have their every move watched, scrutinized and questioned-and Jack Kemp was not exempt. Which leads me to the title of this blog post. It is pulled from something he said:
Football gives you a sense of responsibility in a transparent environment…
Shouldn’t we all have a sense of responsibility with the way we engage in the the transparent environment that is social media? The way we converse, create, share and exchange all things?
We should. But not all of us do…
The social value of your relationships
This has been on my mind lately. It was amplified yesterday by a tweet by David Armano who tweeted the following:
Have you ever bought something from someone you felt you had a relationship? That’s the ROI of social business…
At which point I responded back with:
@Armano Value..think about your offline relationships-the ones that mean the most, are the ones that carry substance.-same with buying habits
So here’s the deal. In your offline every day world, what relationships mean the most to you? They are the ones that are not superficial. Right? The relationships that have substance, meaning, and value.
Less chit and more chat
The ROI of social business. the ROI of your relationships, as hollow as that might be, are both the same- The ROI is the value that you have built up in that relationship. Both from a business and personal standpoint. If you have cultivated a relationship, then you place a high value on it and what it might return. The less that you have put into it, or what you have received, should be consistent with your expectations and effort.
The same applies to any “online” social network or offline. Though it may seem shallow at first to only say that you only put stock in the people that bring value to you and what you do-it’s actually the truth. It has nothing to do with the technology, the platform, the hardware or the software.
Whether we care to admit or not. We all look for value, we may not say it, but it’s true. Online and offline, value in the people that we connect with, drives our relationships.
Thoughts?
Twitter Angst
It’s tough to avoid writing about Twitter, it’s everywhere, but you know what? That’s ok. We did the same for Facebook too. As more and more N00bs flock to Twitter, I thought it was important that right out of the blocks, some things are done right. Here is a vlog promoting some of the things that you might want to think about. In short, I talk about tweeting as yourself, using your pic as an avatar,understand why you are following and why you follow and lastly-it’s all about value.
What Social Media is Not
After a few client meetings over the last few days, I found myself going backwards. so I decided to throw this slide deck up. I’m thinking of just pointing any and all future clients here.
We 2.0 is better than Me 2.0
I was just reading a blog post by Paul Dunay in which he waxes on about Dan Schawbel’s new book Me 2.0 Paul recommends it to anyone who is looking to build a personal brand.
I think that the onset of social media and social networks has allowed people to certainly increase their levels of exposure and their personal brand awareness, but it only works if others care to notice or pay attention to you. In other words-Your personal brand needs other people. That’s not a “me” issue, that’s a “we” issue.
I think my personal brand would grow and does grow more when I give more, share more, and basically act in a selfless manner towards others. I feel better about myself. Again though, even my attitude about my “personal brand” doesn’t fly unless there are others present. Others need to be there. Wherever there might actually be at that moment. Could be Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, my Blog, a Seesmic or You Tube video, doesn’t matter.
Rather than doing things that made me look good and position me better. I feel better about myself when I’m able to give of myself instead of giving to myself.
In fact did you know that Altruistic acts can improve your quality of life in several ways, and are absolutely worth the effort? Here’s another great question for you: What makes Chris Brogan more happy? and what does he do better than anyone else? He gives, he shares and provides for his readers and followers- tips, pointers, guides, e-books, links and resources that can make them better at what they do. He doesn’t sell it. He gives it away, every day!
And why is Chris in the position he is in today? Is it because he took from others, because he was more concerned about his personal brand? Because he’s makin’ bank on others? No. Actually Chris is, where he is, because of what he shares and because of the people that it has affected, and has impacted. Chris will be the first to tell you that without the people that read his blog or follow his tweets or watch his vids, he’s just another hack. Actually he might tell you that anyways.
But my point is this, if you pay it forward. Or if you think of others more than yourself that that can have just as much of an impact on your personal brand as it would be if you solely concentrated on your personal brand.
I like what Dan is doing, don’t get me wrong. He has picked a niche and has cornered the market on personal brands; and right now social media, in all of its wonderous technicolor glory, can do amazing things for you and your personal brand. I’m merely saying that you might also want to think about the why, the how and most importantly, “the We”.
Social Media PSA
In this age of user generated content and the rise of personal brands, I think people are forgetting that without others, things cease to be social. Perhaps we need to think about the following:
10 reasons why the Unpanel worked.
Beth Harte recently asked if I would write a guest post on her blog and this is the post that she’s getting based on yesterdays first Twitter based Unpanel
So Tuesday was the first official Unpanel event on Twitter. A one hour, once a week, no holds barred, fast paced moderated twitchat. Or to quote Jason Breed, one of the founders, “an Unpanel is a purposeful interaction with individuals around their industry or business on Twitter….”
This Unpanel was significant on a few levels and I want to highlight ten reasons why you might want to make a point of blocking off the time each week to participate in a truly engaging and elevated conversation about social media.
1. We had a moderator that absolutely drew out of the 100, yes that’s right, 100 participants, more than just the cursory “social media is all about transparency” comments. Did I mention that Beth Harte was the moderator? We could not have had a better “first” moderator/host.
2. Pre-set questions; but not your normal “what is social media” questions. Below are those questions..
Q1: Where are the deficiencies in business around People, Interactions & Technology? In other words, where does social media make sense in a business setting when addressing those deficiencies?
Q2: Play the “What if” game. Addressing the above deficiencies, remove all barriers and let the imagination roll. (For example, what if CRM systems were filled up by buyers not salespeople) Use the “In a perfect world” scenario when plugging in a social media solution. What does that world look like?
Q3: Combine the identified needs in business with the “imagine if” comments and let’s create a high-level road map
3. Incredible discussion. Powerful give and take. Amazing connection with people on social media issues that we can all relate to that get beyond the echo.
4. A discussion on Twitter with actionable takeaways.
5. Value. I harp all the time on the value of a tweet or the value of a persons tweets, and in the span of one hour, there was more value in what was being said than what might be gleaned from a week of following a so called social media expert..
6. The website Hashtagsocialmedia, provided a forum to follow the tweets right on the site. It also provided Beth’s tweets on the side panel so that we could see Beth’s insights and followup questions. Key and critical to pushing the discussion to a higher level.
7. People worth following AFTER you’ve had conversations with them, Not before and not based on who they are following, I cannot tell you how many times I said during the Unpanel, “Wow what a great point”…
8. As awesome as Beth was, the Unpanel will have a different moderator/host with a different perspective every week and thats an important aspect. They don’t have to be rock stars to bring value to the discussion.
9. A compilation in one place, of potentially the best minds in social media, that SOME people might not know. And we’re able to talk with them. Only through the power social media is this possible. How cool is that?
10. It’s going to get better as more people participate
The Unpanel is a very atypical event and that was a good thing, so maybe it should be that it was “un-typical?”. I dunno. Huge shout out btw, to Beth Harte, Jason Breed and Terry McKyton
The UNPANEL
Ok, so the previous post was about our new project for Twitter. Hashtagsocialmedia.com, which revolves around targeted conversations-in this case, social media. Well here is the off-shoot of that project that bubbled up from those conversations with Jason Breed of Neighborhood America. The Unpanel.
Direct Marketing Observations 