Tag Archives: social media

Collaborative Cooperative Environments

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Is there a difference between a collaborative environment in social media versus a cooperative one?

The definition of collaborative is to …

Work with another or others on a joint project.

The definition of  cooperative is…

“Done in cooperation with others”,  “a cooperative effort is marked by willingness to cooperate; compliant”

How does this apply to social media?

We can see the action words in this being “to work with another” and “done with others”…Pretty simple, right?  The essence of social media is content driven conversations fueled by the exchange and sharing of ideas, of thoughts and points of views with others. Isn’t it evident that the two words are interchangeable in the world of social media? Looking toward 2011 and beyond though, we can also see that those 2 words also add a texture, or an additional layer of meaning to the world of social media and will continue to futher define the space that we all continue to play in.

Content Versus Conversation

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Chicken and the egg?

Tom Martin blew the lid off of this topic and I’m going to add my 2 cents. But let me ask 2 questions. Does content drive conversation? Does good content drive good conversation? The answer is yes and yes. Tom pissed off a bunch or people when he said that social media isn’t all about conversation and you know what? He’s right. Conversations are a derivative of social media. Conversations are not social media.

Some people think engagement for a brand has to revolve around the conversation-No… Conversations are derivatives of engagement. Conversations are the bi-product. If I had to choose how I was going to engage it would be built on great content across multiple platforms-that’s what’s going to create conversations.

Let me quote Tom:

The simple fact is that long-term success in the social space is about more than just being a great conversationalist. Especially when you’re looking at this from a brand perspective. According to numerous research studies, consumers choose to follow, fan and like brands in the social space primarily to get insider deals and to be exposed to cool content. If engagement or conversation is even mentioned, it’s very far down the list.

Why is this so shocking?

How do you Leverage your Personal Data on Facebook?

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Sometimes it’s the little things that really can drive a point home. Take for example a small conversation I had-actually it was an exchange of about 2-3 tweets between myself and Adam Cohen of Rosetta that occurred late Friday afternoon. It started with this:

It is a good post in Adweek about how food marketers  are trying a new approach when it comes to winning followers on Facebook by using online coupons and incentives that grow in value as more consumers “like” a brand on Facebook.

It’s sort of a Groupon approach but with a twist.

My tweet back to Adam after reading it was that, “Isn’t that really why people/consumers- fan/friend/like a Co.? Hoping for what they might get on the backend? Not always but..” My point to Adam being that Facebook friending, following, or liking a brand is all predicated not necessarily on brand devotion and loyalty, but more on what might that person “get.”-In the form of an offer, a coupon, a special, some swag, some recognition, some money, a job etc. etc. The “whats in it for me syndrome…”

I’ll like you as long as you kick me some…

There’s nothing wrong with that except when marketers and thought leaders want to paint the consumer following the brand on Facebook as an “Uber brand loyalist”- as something more pure than what I have just mentioned. But leave it to Adam to add a layer of levity to this though:

Great point. A value exchange. One to one. His point, the value of the consumers data in exchange for what you have as a brand. A trust level and brand affinity developed through traditional channels which can now be taken online into Facebook where the relationship can be deepened and enhanced. My value for yours…

In actuality, it’s still a “what’s in it for me” yo type situation but you, the consumer, really have an advantage, you just don’t know it.

Your takeaway? Value what you have as a consumer( your data) and leverage it-understand how important your data is to the brands that you like. How could you leverage your affinity to the brands you like online? Who’s benefiting the most from the brands that you follow or like? Is it a one off for them? For you?

13 Soft Skills Needed for Companies Selling Social Media

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Do you ever stop and think about how much you’ve actually read and heard about social media? Especially the “how-to” stuff, or the all encompassing “list”? There’s one every day. Yet one of the things that is often overlooked in a lot of the blog posts and conferences I attend, are the soft skills needed to achieve success. What are those?

We talk or you hear all the time about C suite alignment in order to drive some type of momentum in rolling out social media, but has anyone ever explained or told you about the soft skills that are needed to get you over the top? Last night I was on a plane in the middle seat squeezed between Kevin Smith’s twin, and a poster child for Nyquil thinking about those “soft skills”.

When you get your foot in the door, know that integrating social media into the organization will take many meetings with many different opinionated, passionate, department heads who will have their own agenda. There is a reason it’s called “ducks in a row”, but have you ever tried to physically get ducks in a row?  Here are 12 soft skills that might help you.

1) It takes the touch of threading a needle and knowing when you might need a bigger needle. Or someone with better touch-don’t be afraid to ask for help.

2) It requires that you have an argument with use cases. Think Tom Cruise in the movie, “A Few Good Men”, or maybe Jack Nicholson? Just don’t act like jack.

3) You better have more than just your words. Use cases go a long way in proving out your argument.

4) Hopefully you have the oratory skills of a a Socrates or Abe Lincoln. Why? You’re going to need to strike a nerve with lots of different personalities who will be relating to different pain points. The same “spiel” doesn’t work with everyone-know your audience.

5) Let’s not forget that you must have the skill of a diplomat-Per my point in #4. Every one has a different agenda, some will have P&L responsibility. You must have the ability to let each department know that you have their best interests at heart..

6) Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee-Can you achieve the goal with the deftness and impact of a Muhammad Ali jab? You’ll need it. You cannot get bogged down-stick and move, but be effective-just like a boxer. Know when you’re getting bogged down.

7) You’ll need to possess the sales skills of a Zig Ziglar or Og Mandino. Or is that the pitching skills of the Phillies Roy Halladay?

8) Have the passion of Rhett and Scarlett-Remember this is new to them!

9) You will have to have the foresight to anticipate not only change in social, but change within the organization that you are dealing with and how that might affect what your pitching.

10) The hindsight to know what doesn’t work anymore even if it affects what you are proposing and the honesty to admit it.

11) You’ll need the insight to make it happen

12) Leave your temerity and ego at the door.

13) Trust what you know-believe it, but then listen and be able to adjust.

 

As you can see, the person who just sits in front of a computer screen and or just writes blog posts and articles is going to need a whole lot more under the hood should they happen to get in front of a client. Just because  someone graduates from medical school, doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to be a good doctor right?

What other soft skills would you add to this list?

7 Tips for Staying on Top of the Social Wave

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Often times you have to step in it to realize you are in it. With social media, you would have to have lived in a cave on an island in the Pacific to not know how ubiquitous it is. It’s permeating every part of our daily lives. With that being said, here are 7 “things” you should be aware of as we go forward in this digital world that can carry you and your company towards Web 3.0.

1) Look for more content to be produced by “others”. This means look  for the rise of the professional content creators masking as citizen journalists. They will blur the lines so much-you won’t know where the value lies. We used to marvel at UGC, but what is it when large organization start to pass their content off as UGC? Think of Wal Mart or Astroturfing. Know the difference between “real” UGC and professional content.

There’s a reason why Twitter is killing Facebook in CTR rates. Marketers are realizing that Twitter is a consumption vehicle for content and thus they are catching on in continuing to push out content- but they realize they must disguise the content in a way that is appealing and doesn’t seem hook ladened.

2) There will be a continued increase in the value of communities but you will also see more splintering of those communities into niches. Face it, we all have a niche, and connecting to those people via an online community, certainly drives a good portion of our searches. Knowing that people are searching for their tribes will help you in your understanding of market segments. Focus on focus-Want to grow your product? Find the niche, it’s there.

3) Mobile will be THE social platform.The global mobile market is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2015. What are you waiting for? Your competitors? What are you doing about it? Get serious about mobile.

4) Social data will determine your next move in your future business engagements, don’t ignore it-Social data will be driving consumer engagement.

Companies are mining the social web to build dossiers on you. Information posted publicly on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, forums and other sites is fair game

5) Engagement strategies will be different on every channel because of the data returned from #4. Don’t assume that your social strategies will be the same across all BU’s. Each has it’s own nuance and needs. Be mindful that your social solutions will be different-understand their capabilities and their deliverables.

6) Mitigating loss of control in social media will continue to be underserved and undervalued. What seems to be common is that people don’t do anything from a crisis communication and loss mitigation standpoint until after things hit the fan. Create your social media worst case scenario plan, don’t wait.

7) Search will still rule, but social search will drive future customer engagement. How are you currently addressing the fact that people will be using a mobile device and could be doing searches through their social network of choice for products and service and companies? For starters, think local and then learn how it works.

If there were a way to etch these in pencil, I would do it. Things change so quickly in the digital social media world that nothing is finite and everything is fair game. But as an organization, agency or marketer trying to make heads or tails over what might happen-this is as good a snapshot as any to start from.

The 7 Fluid Absolutes of Social Media for 2010

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I think a lot about measurement.  Not only measuring my efforts during the workday, but also away from the office like in working out or where my money goes, or why I can’t lose weight- You know, the traditional stuff. But I also like to measure the collective efforts of both large companies and small when it comes to social media and social media marketing as well, and how it all plays out into today’s economy and how it utlimately affects you, the consumer. Thus, I came up with a couple of “fluid absolutes” that for now, make sense to me.

  1. Social media measurement will continue to adapt and evolve with the constant change of external markets and it’s influencer’s. It’s not always about ROI, I’m sorry.
  2. The rules of engaging the consumer and marketing to that consumer are changing at light speed with the advantage shifting towards the consumer and with the enterprise constantly trying to catch up.
  3. Social media engagement should be measured differently in tough economic times. But some rules will still apply when the dust settles.
  4. The tone, the fabric and the nuances of marketing and social media marketing is changing, but sadly, marketers are not.
  5. Consumer expectations of social media will not change during  the current economic woes because they still don’t know what to expect.
  6. The importance of social media optimization, SEO and it’s relationship to mobile has never been larger, yet some still don’t get it.
  7. Some Social Networks have less chance to thrive now,  than they did at this point last year.

As we wind down 2010 with essentially 2 1/2 months to go. What have you seen? What did you predict would happen and did not? What do you think will change? What didn’t change?

What Are the New Defaults of Social Media?

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Before this post got  accidentally erased, I was waxing poetic about we really need to do to get past the current defaults of social media. It all started with a podcast I was on last week with Geoff Livingston, Toby Bloomberg and Nancy Pekala of the AMA, and we were discussing social media and the enterprise, and I was asking out loud, what it would take to get us to the next level. You see, in the last ohhh… 3-5 years much has been written about these defaults of social media and more has been said, but you probably know them better as:

  • Transparency
  • Authenticity
  • Openness
  • Being real

But, before we can move ahead though, what we really need to do is educate people on not the old defaults, but what the new defaults might be. Or better yet, what happens when we are:

  • Too transparent
  • Too authentic
  • Too open
  • Too real

For a lot of people, they can readily see what social media can do and what effect and impact it can have on their immediate social circle. But what they don’t see, is what the effect can be on people they don’t know. They find that out the hard way. Am I wrong?

The Enterprise Conundrum-Adapt, Adopt or Do Nothing?

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Recently I had the pleasure to do 2 things that I enjoyed tremendously: One, I got to participate in a podcast with Geoff Livingston and Toby Bloomberg on Social Media and the Enterprise and Two, I got to speak to a bunch of relative neophytes with regards to Social Media. What struck me about this group, was how little they knew and how little really had an impact on their day to day jobs. Social media either did not figure into their day to day activities or was restricted so much-what was the point?

What struck me about Toby and Geoff? Just how smart they are and how they both see the big picture of social here. Now back to the other group.

For them, social media activities consisted of basically going on to Facebook and either doing a status update or reading others. Social media from a channel usage standpoint within their organizations had nothing really to do with marketing activities, recruiting and vetting of candidates in HR, addressing the needs of customers or monitoring the activities of competitors.

Social Media within the walls of their companies was viewed as something “we know about” but we don’t know enough about to figure out how it can positively affect our company, let alone how it can be used in a positive way on an individual basis to move the dial for our company.”

This dove tailed nicely into my podcast with Toby and Geoff.

Where does the Enterprise start?

Does your organization adapt by just becoming social? Or does the enterprise merely adopt certain social media practices into certain elements or departments within the company?

Am I splitting hairs here? Is this just semantics? Or are adaption and adoption just so large and time consuming that it’s just easier to say-“No social media in the organization, do your Facebooking at home!” Is there a win for stakeholders who do not necessarily move the needle?

Is that flawed myopic thinking on the part of the enterprise? Or reality?

What or Who will Continue to Shape our Social Media World?

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It’s cool to think about the future. especially when it comes to digital, social media, and marketing. With that being said, I started to think of who or what will continue to astound me in regards to pushing the social media envelope. Here are 10 things or people that will continue to move the dial for us. These are not in any particular order.

  1. Video-The number of videos viewed on YouTube every day is 2 billion. Let’s just say that people would rather watch video then read or write. Video continues to be the ties that bind us beyond our borders and generational and demographic differences. It’s social messaging at it’s finest.
  2. Smart phones-As we continue to move away from the desktop, and as the cost continues to drop and functionality rises, pretty soon, everyone will be armed with a device that will replace the television, the theater, the land line, the desk top computer and email. The smart phone is and will be the ultimate connector.
  3. Facebook-500 million users and still growing? Facebook continues to astound the doubters and envelope the adopters. To have a Facebook account is akin to having a cell phone-it raises eyebrows when you declare that you do not have either one. Enter the age of hyper connectivity and hyper communicating. Does it have a shelf life though?
  4. Apple-Apple continues to set the standard on how we “should”  and do consume our media, though don’t be amazed at their seemingly disinterest in applying branded social tools and functionality to their devices, just be patient. They may be Apple, but they aren’t stupid!
  5. Google-Though Google insists on trying to tap into our “social” lives with it’s ill fated attempts with Buzz, Sidewiki, and Wave- they still are the standard bearer in search. Search still dominates our everyday online activity and that will never cease. Stay tuned as to how Google starts and continues to weave social elements into our search results. They know that social and search is the NBT, (next big thing) they just seem to have trouble convincing others at the moment.
  6. Lady Gaga– 6,132,774 Twitter followers. That might be all you need to know. She is the #1 person on Twitter. As of August 2010, Gaga had sold more than 15 million albums and 51 million singles worldwide. In May 2010, Time magazine included her in its annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.  In June 2010, Forbes listed her fourth on its list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also ranked as the second most powerful musician in the world. Now think what she can do with that power and notoriety?
  7. Entertainment– To justify Lady Gaga, did you know that the average American consumer spends over $2,700 per year on entertainment? As social continues to evolve and weave us more into the fabric of “participating” and interacting with entertainment, look for this number to continue to grow. We want to be part of the entertainment as much as we want to watch it! The power of community is built into every facet, nook and cranny of the entertainment industry. They know this and they will continue to build this out.
  8. Social Media for social causes or social change-This area could see the biggest impact on the collective conscience of future generations. Why? Because of the ability to tell a digital social story both visually and textually. As well, having the ability to quickly appeal for immediate action has added a dimension to fund raising and “acting now” that has never existed before. Think Haiti. Think Iran.
  9. Millenials– The trail blazers, the digital natives and the connected. All of these terms define the 18-28 demographic that will be shaping and determining our digital, social  habits for years to come. They might not necessarily be the one’s creating the platforms, but they will determine usage habits. According to the Pew Research Center, Three-quarters have created a profile on a social networking site and One-in-five have posted a video of themselves online.
  10. This one is yours. What do you think will continue to move the dial for social media? Will it be LBS? Social commerce? Augmented reality?