11/12/2009
Just Thoughts for a Friday the 13th afternoon ...
Over the past few years I've asked hundreds of people what they thought social media meant.
- Duncan Wardle's, VP Global PR for Disney, response was typical of most. - "Creating dialog with consumers."
Spent the last 2 days at social media events in Atlanta. Blogwell,
complements of Gaspedal, and Atlanta Interactive Marketing, sponsored
by an alphabet soup of Atlanta marketing groups: AiMA, AMA, AAC, BMA,
PMA. The format for both was case studies which always makes for great
learnings. I had the opportunity to see work from some big brands in a space that we mash-up and simply call "social media."
Although fun and creative, several of the strategies shared were not traditional social media in the sense that Duncan described. Let's call them Consumer Engaged Digital Events. The goal didn't seem to be for people from the brand to develop relationships with their customers but to provide a playground for customers to upload their own media photos, videos. Of course there was the proverbial for popularity voting and social bookmarks included.
Although these elaborate campaigns wrapped around peer-to-peer available conversations options, social media channels like Facebook and Twitter were used more as a vehicle to present messaging than conversations. Social media tools became the back drop to play against not the focal point. Think of it as putting social media in the role of as a support character. 
Are these mash-up or hybrid campaigns "social media?" Are they digital WOM? Are they new media advertising campaigns? Does it matter?
Just Thoughts for a Friday the 13th afternoon ...
Consumer Engaged Digital Events
Nikon D500
Honda Musical Road
2010 Olympic Advertisers
Tide
11/03/2009
A thought inspired by too much Halloween candy.
From social media networks to blogs, widgets, tweets and hot mobile apps marketers are faced with more choices than we ever could have imagined.
It seems every day brings a new shiny toy to try .. and to confuse. Add a few traditional tactics .. PR, email, advertising and search and the job becomes overwhelming. Overlay that with an internal structure where functions are silo-ed by departments and you have a frightening disjointed marketing program.
One of the benefits that social media brings to the enterprise is a critical need to ensure cross functional communication systems are in place. As we're seeing social media does not live only in PR or Marketing or Customer Service.
Over the next few days let's take a dive into creating a Social Media Marketing Plan. The first step is to align internal stakholders and understand the landscape. What I call the P-I-E-C-E conversation is a process that helps develop a foundation for The Social Enterprise and sets the stage for developing an integrated marketing plan.
PIECE Conversation
Step 1: Prepare: educational component. as it relates to social media: competitive analysis, customer activity, industry trends
Step 2: Invite people who perceive they have a stake: C-suite, marketing, legal, technology, customer service
Step 4: Encourage people to talk openly
Step 5: Confirm and prioritize issues (including objectives/goals)
Step 6: Engage next steps create a Red Flag Memo
10/30/2009
Friday
Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to Jack to
lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
In the spirit of David Letterman's Top Ten ...
13. A zillion landing page blogs are pretending to be social media .. take off the mask and you find a search strategy built on a blog platform
12. A comment that lists a company name instead of a person is likely looking for link treats not a relationship.
11. Facebook "fan" pages with posts lifted from corporate brochures and press releases is just another tricky search strategy.
10. Nondisclosure of paid posts or reviews of comp'ed products services comes with tricks of its own .. a big fat FTC fine Make sure you are up to date on the law or your compensation treat will pay for your legal fees.
9. The trick is on the Twitter automatic followers .. no one cares about you - BOO!
8. No @s in your Tweet stream is a sign that you 1. have few friends to play with or 2. don't know how to share treats with others.
7. Not linking to sources sites or including RT (re-tweet @s) is another signal that you don't know how to play well with others.
6. Barbs on the "Back Channel" that don't help move the conversation along in a win-win for the audience and speaker is a clue that you want all the candy for yourself.
5. Not listening to your customers' who take time to express their pleasure and concerns in the social world is a sad trick for both customer and company.
4. Not building social enterprise processes to ensure the impact of social media lessons are shared across multiple departments is like not sharing your Halloween candy.
3. Emphasizing measurements that don't align with your objectives and goals are like getting socks instead of candy.
2. Discounting the relationships you build and networks that you (and your customers) participate in are as real and valuable as any offline is like wearing the same costume year after year after year.
And the Number One Reason To Halloween Toilet Paper A Social Media Strategy ...
1. Forgetting to say "thank you" to your customers, employees, fans and friends who shared their Halloween candy with you.
Max and I wish you a Halloween filled with lots of treats and few tricks!
10/14/2009
Max and I were taking a walk yesterday. A big yellow and white cat came over to Max and he stopped to play with her. Yes, Max likes cats. His little tail wagged so quickly. His concentration on his kitty friend was total and complete. He was in the moment. When he was done he walked happily away to his next important thing to do. Max is a very busy pooch.
I thought .. social media is an in the moment way to conduct marketing. Then I thought .. the idea of responding to an external influence at the time the incident occurs is foreign to traditional marketing. Marketing is based on strategy where research, plans and how to figure it all out comes before a formal execution of tactics is achieved. Even PR whose charge it is to 'manage' the reputation of the brand rarely responds in the moment.
Social media goes against the grain of how marketers including PR, sales and to a great extent customer service professionals have managed their responsibilities as stewards of the brand. Or does it? Can the two concepts happily co-exist? Can marketing maintain a strategic focus while still being in the moment?
Let's first define what in the moment marketing means in terms of social media. In the simplest of ideas it takes into account only four steps: Monitoring, Understanding, Interacting, Integrating
1. Monitoring the discussion occurring in the digital world of blogs, tweets, forums, social networks, etc.
2. Understanding the challenges of customers and stakeholders to what they feel impacts the brand promise; as well as appreciating the people who say nice things.
3. Interacting with the people who take the time to have digital discussions about your brand.
4. Integration of ideas into your company and into the brand.
The complexity and sophistication of social media in the moment marketing occurs behind the scenes in the How where traditional marketing's strong suite comes into play through building the foundation.
Questions to help you think through the process of in the moment marketing for your organization.
1. How will monitoring or listening occur? Will you use a free tool like Google Alerts or RSS key word feeds or will you contract with a social media monitoring company?
2. How will understanding or hearing what is critical information be determined? How will the information be sent to the right people at the right time .. which may be real time? Who are the "right" people?
3. How will you reach out to customers and stakeholders? Will that occur in public through comments on posts or in tweets? Will you take the conversation offline in an email or phone call? Who will be responsible for follow-up .. both to the individual and to the community at-large who has passively heard the remarks?
4. How will you integrate the learnings into the fabric of the brand or into new processes for your enterprise?
It's all a part of developing the new social enterprise .. but it takes so much more to be in the moment for a brand than for a dog!
09/06/2009
Dos
1. Do understand that social media marketing is most effective when it is an authentic, transparent dialogue and not a vehicle to push promotional messaging.
2. Do take the time to listen to the unfiltered voices of your customers and people who are engaged in digital conversations about your brand before you jump into the game.
3. Do give social media the respect it is due as a credible marketing strategy and develop a plan that includes goals, objectives, success measures and a value-added content direction.
4. Do realize that resources will have to be dedicated including time, money and most significantly human capital.
5. Do understand the benefits, as well as the limitations, of the tools or tactics such as blogs, social networks, Twitter, etc before creating your initiative.
Don’ts
1. Don’t assume social media marketing is silver bullet which will transform a poor quality product or service into a super brand.
2. Don’t launch a social media marketing plan unless your organization (including management, PR, legal, etc.) understands the risks, as well as, the rewards and has defined its social media direction because social media will change business dynamics.
3. Don’t launch a social media strategy unless you have processes in place such as internal communication plans to field information to the appropriate departments for resolution.
4. Don’t place a person in charge to oversee the initiative who does not understand the impact of the culture of social media (honesty, transparency, authenticity) and has a spirit of generosity.
5. Don’t start a social media marketing strategy unless you want your organization to be perceived as innovative, customer-centric and forward thinking.
Bonus: Social media marketing is a work in progress! Keep in mind - There are as many opinions as there are experts. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
08/31/2009
This weekend I was writing a post about how people are using Twitter as a marketing tactic (coming soon). As often happens I got lost in the research. This time the sidetrack was on @marthastewart. Girlfriend, did you know she's posting 140 character recipes? Before I knew it I had copied most if not all of them.
For your cooking and dining pleasure a tweet merged blog cooking post!
Sidebar: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Marketing VP feel free to "steal this idea" and post on marthastewart.com. If I were the social media diva at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia a cute twitter recipe book would be in the works complete with tweet recipes from our followers. Perhaps I'd turn it into a video cook-off contest. What a great idea Toby ;-)
Martha Stewart's 140 Character Tweet Recipes
Soups. Appetizers. Others
Salads
Entrees
Veggies
Desserts
Beverages
08/26/2009
Are the people within your organization aligned with your social media strategy and do they understand how social media will impact the enterprise?
When most enterprises develop their social media plans the work usually begins with defining goals/objectives which leads to how to measure success and of course defining the tactical execution.
Few companies begin their internal social media foundation with HOW social media will impact the organization, the brand and the people. By people I mean those who actively participate in social media whether through interfacing directly in blogs or social networks AND those whose job now includes analyzing how to (or how not to) integrate the information from consumer generate conversations into product development, customer service, PR, etc. etc. etc.
I also mean your customers and stake holders. Is there a disconnect between your Twitter response time and your telephone customer support hold time? Social media adds dimensions to our business relationships that go beyond negative comments.
Opening the enterprise door to social media impacts the entire
organization from the way communication is handled to customer service
to hiring decisions. impacts the entire
organization from the way communication is handled to customer service
to hiring decisions.
Update Note: It seems to me that a new model is in the making .. let's call it The Social Enterprise.
Last week I had a wonderful opportunity to join marketers and friends at the first social media conference held in Birmingham, AL - Social South or as it was fondly called .. #SoSo. My presentation played off a Southern theme .. I called it Social Media Southern Hospitality Style.
I used the lessons from the culture of Southern Hospitality as the foundation to discuss this critical aspect of a social media strategy that is too often overlooked .. organizational alignment.
- How can you be your authentic "self" while staying true to your company's value and culture?
Through a series on interactive questioning we worked (we really did this together!) through four pillars:
Relationships. Values. Culture. Change 
You can find the deck which includes all the feedback, along with many other presentations from the conference on Social South Slideshare.
In keeping with Southern Hospitality we begin with discussing how "Front Porch Conversations" develop relationships and build community. When you visit on the front porch, or on a city stoop, you extend your world from inside your house to outside into your neighborhood. Sometimes it's neighbors you know who drop by but sometimes it's a stranger new to your community. Southern Hospitality teaches us to wave Hey to everyone.
Question: How do you bring that type of interaction and relationship to the digital world?
Responses: Sharing – always make relationships beneficial for both parties. Invite them to connect. Make it safe for both. Minimize fear. Must be a part of where the people are online: leaving comments, posts, etc. Have a plan. Use personal relationships to refer counterparts, friends and family to your digital world/networks. Build a community: blog, email, Twitter, Facebook.
We spent significant time discussing culture and values. Fried green tomatoes or Bubba's jokes may not appeal to everyone. Each of us has a unique personality and our own approach to social media. The challenge is how to be true to yourself, project your authentic personality while still coloring inside the lines of your company's culture.
Questions: Is it okay to “vanilla down” your personality to fit the culture of your company? How do you remain true to yourself?
Responses: Believe in what you share. Values begets values. What’s in it for them? What’s in it for me? Values, ethics, morals, honesty, transparency, listening. Keep part of yourself to yourself. Remember you’re always on the stage. You have to take your company’s culture to represent them in the social world. Be an advocate at all times for your company. React positively to good and bad feedback. Don’t work for dicks. Exhibit your personality as long as it stays in the guidelines of your brand.
7 Tips For Preparing An Organization for Social Media
1. Create cross functional teams
2. Identify impact on specific areas
3. Are the right communication processes in place?
4. Do employees have the right skills and experience?
5. New job descriptions -> new evaluation criteria may be needed.
6. Where does social media reside? Can it have mulitple “homes?”
7. Who “owns” the customer relation? The answer may hold some surprises.
- Social media will disrupt the way you do business .. but if you're prepared it can be a very good thing that helps not hinders the growth of your organization.
Thanks to the great people at Social South who played along with me. @seankelley, @southernplate, @jasonfalls, @ikepigott, @treypennington, @takinpitchas,@bethharte, @mackcollier, @kdrewien, @resultsrev, @kellyecrane, @navistarlpga, @barbersindy, @billpowell, audreypannell, @charityhisle,@annehearnhuff, @sailingbo, @betsyfgray, @sweetsheets, @anwith1n, @thomascook, @dennispillion @ScottSchablow. There were lots more but unfortunately I don’t have their @s. 
08/03/2009
Don Schultz's articles in the AMA Marketing Management are always thought provoking. This month was no exception.
Product. Price. Place. Promotion. The Marketing Four Ps: The nursery rhyme of most marketing 101 courses. The foundation of so many strategic plans.
- The only problem is that the four Ps totally ignores customers. The concept assumes the marketer controls the system. Customers and consumers are simply pawns in the gigantic marketing system that the "marketing masters of the universe" have devised and now control. - Professor Schultz
On the other side of the equation is Peter Drucker's view of marketing and business.
- We need to get back to what marketing was suppose to do in the beginning: Determine customer needs and wants, and fulfill them efficiently for Both sides.We need to revisit what Peter Drucker was saying in the 1950s: The only purpose of a company is to create and maintain customers. - Professor Schultz (Note: caps on the word Both are mine)
Could it be that social media will lead us back to our roots? To remembering that the customer experience is the heart of what marketing is all about? To dropping the facade of control? Who really believed that one? To understanding that strategy and customer relationships are not mutally exclusive? To creating Corner Grocery Store Relationships?
07/22/2009
The more I read about social media campaigns without conversations .. The more I watch companies expand marketing departments to include social media positions that put a premium on tech skills versus marketing experience .. The more I see social media consultants focus on old/traditional messaging wrapped in new/social media Web 2.0 ..
The more I wonder .. I wonder if along the way marketers created a hybrid which isn't social media in the traditional sense of building and nurturing relationships or providing added value to the customer. Let's call this - Social Media Hybrid Marketing.
In interviews I've asked many, many people what social media means to them and the over riding response was two words: people and relationships. In the world of Social Media Hybrid Marketing people and relationships seem take second or third place. The emphasis is on driving traffic, creating buzz, sending the message further into the virtual world where if the digital goddess is kind it will go viral. Consider the following in terms of this new model ..
4 Social Media Hybrid Marketing Tactics
1. Videos - It's leveraging technology to send messages like How Stuff Works YouTube video - that by the way pairs up with TV spots. Or FedEx's series also on YouTube. Sure there may be a social element like YouTube's comments .. however, the emphasis not to develop or build relationships with the customer and the people behind the brand.
2. Blogger Relations/Sponsored Conversations - It's using the relationships/influence of others who are active in social media (bloggers, tweets, vloggers, podcasters, etc.) to serve as the messenger for your products or services. Pulse of the Industry Blogger Relations Series explores the expectations from the point of view of bloggers, brand managers and agency folks. The brand manager often forfeits the customer relationship since the social media content provider is the gatekeeper to her community.
3. Contests - It's contests that capitalize on technology using platforms like Second Life where Coca Cola asked people to design a Virtual Thirst Machine. Or rent.com's video contest where the best voted promotional video won $10k. Similar to video messages the media many have social components but they are rarely utilized by those on the brand side of the equation to chat with customers.
4. Digital Idea Management or Viralsourcing - It's when a company solicits customer suggestions on a platform designed to capture intellectual concepts to improve its products/service or company. Frequently there are social aspects from comments to voting that digg it up or down. Dell, Starbucks, Best Buy have incorporated this approach. Some companies seem to be challenged with how to talk to their customers even to the extend of saying "thanks" for your ideas.
Where does that leave us? Are these simply old marketing programs with technology twists and turns? Or additional ways to view social media? Or is social media changing to where the people/relationship side is not the heart of social media but a nice to have on the way to counting the number of views or clicks?
07/16/2009
Imagine this scene - You've invited me to your home to discuss my ideas that may help you .. fill in the blank .. do your job better/make a better product/write a job description, etc. You also invite lots of other people. We find our way to your house. Instead of drinks together in your living room or coffee around your kitchen table you show us to separate rooms.
Then you walk away. However, naive that we are, we assume you are listening, care about us, that we matter to you. So we happily share our creative ideas. Although our thoughts echo in our empty rooms we smile pleased to be of service to you. Every once in awhile some one wanders by and chats briefly. But rarely if ever is it you. Not even to say "thank you."
Where are you? You're sitting behind an online dashboard gathering our intellectual capital as if it were digital diamonds. No girlfriend, it's not a focus group. Or maybe it is. Maybe this is the social media version of a focus group but with less honesty and less transparency. It's called IdeaXYZ or IdeaFireStorm or My(your brand) or ShareYourIdeas ... But don't expect anything back other than the satisfaction you derive in a bit of ego boosting on a brand site with some people who might vote you up or vote you down.
Are The Brands exploiting customers in the name of "engagement?" Are we so excited that The Brands have given us a way to directly and easily express our opinions that we clamor to give mega brands our creative ideas without even expecting a "thank you" in return?
Or is this simply the way that Brands approach the interaction of social media. Is it the way they view their role in the "conversation" of social media? Is it naivety or is it digital social media ineptness on how they perceive what is appropriate to build and nurture relationships?
Social media has two aspects. The first is digital research. That simply means reading posts and tweets of your customers to better understand who they are, what they care about and what they say about your brand. I think of it as raw, informal, qualitative, real time or what should be the "first listening post" in your marketing research strategy.
The second aspect is something that is unique to social media. Other than trade shows, there are no business initiatives that I know of where marketers can hang out with their customers. Like any person-to-person exchange it's rarely structured. It can get messy and to make it work there has to be genuine interest on both sides.
- Establishing an authentic presence in social media is where many
marketers fall down. "Most brands aren't doing it successfully." Shiv
Singh, vice president/global social media lead Razorfish (study)
Then there is a new kid on the block - Digital Idea Management or Viralsourcing - which seems to me a mash-up of these two concepts. Although based on the user group experience this has a stronger social media overlay. Customers are invited into a special company-based website to talk about what would make a better computer or latte or retail experience.
It's highly social since comments are open, often voting of each idea is encouraged and of course every post comes with the opportunity to be Dugg, Tweeted, Facebooked (new word) etc. One would naturally assume that the people who are on The Brand side would pop in to offer encouragement, provide feedback, say thank you. In other words to join in the conversation or as Shiv Singh says, "Establish an authentic presence." Rarely happens.
If I were a bettin' diva I would say that Digital Ideology sites will become more prevalent across industries and sectors. Maybe even to engage in real exchanges. For now it seems that companies are using it in a traditional media/marketing way.
Dell is exploring this model and sharing learnings. This presentation from Dell details their Idea Management strategy behind IdeaStorm. On slide 12 Dell outlines customer expectations as positive experience, action taken on ideas and recognition. With tactics on How To Address including: timely feedback, clear status updates, thank you mechanisms.
Happy to help you out dear brands but I expect you to join in t
he conversation with me and at least say
