07/03/2014
During my time heading social media at Cox Media Group I had the pleasure of working with some great folks.
There was a special journalist, from California Bay Area KTVU, that was an inspiration when it came to understanding the importance of social media, how to build community and the critical nature of engagement ... especially on Facebook.
Frank Somerville, main news anchor, topped 100K Facebook Likes; in fact as of this moment he has 120,059k Likes. As anyone who has built out a social network page can tell you this is no small feat.
However, as we also have come to understand, Likes without engagement are simply a bunch of numbers. Left alone Likes do not necessarily lead to significant shares, community or brand loyalty. Which makes the extent of engagement Frank has nurtured even more impressive.
How did he do it? Why did he do it? And how does it relate back to the brand? Frank tells his back-story in this video interview.
Frank's 7 Tips To Succeed In Social Media
1. Be Authentic
2. Be Honest
3. Let people see who you are behind the camera… or behind your 'business face'
4. Respond to people
5. Don't follow all the rules...take a risk. This is new stuff don’t be afraid to experiment.
6. Try to find your own way and what works for you.
7. If people like you it will carry over to your brand creating a win-win-win (for your customer, the brand and you).
And I'll add one more ... have fun! It is quite evident that Frank is having a great time. The energy carries over to his relationship with the community and back again to their involvement with Frank and with each other.
Any brand, media or not, can benefit from Frank's insights. The video is worth a click and a watch.
Frank - congrats! Well deserved.
05/08/2014
The interweb and smart phones forever changed how we buy, what we buy, where we buy .. and who we take along on our shopping adventures.
What makes social shopping work is something so simple but at the same time it’s often a challenge for brands to achieve. The Social Share. Sounds like the next viral video dance!
One of the new ways to shop is taking your virtual entourage along. Your friends can be part of your shopping experience for seconds, a la SnapChat, or participate in in-depth discussions in Google Hangouts.
For some folks social shopping is an amazing adventure. Still don't know if it's really worth the extra money for the souped up camera? You have a way to bring friends, as the marketers might say, into the purchase decision. Girlfriend, are you in a quandary about which cute dress to buy? Through a few Snapchat photos of you modeling the potential new dresses you might justify buying them all!
If after their real time feedback you still can’t decide you can always create a Pinterest board, post on Instagram or start a Facebook or Twitter conversation. Upside: lots of opinions. Downside: lots of opinions.
If you can’t find the right ‘expert’ feedback from your family and friends, well there’s always the kindness of strangers. Odd as it seems, review sites like Yelp (www.yelp.com) influence purchase from the very important, your 27th pair of black shoes to the mundane, which dryer to buy. And then there is something in the middle .. Jelly a mobile app "knowledge search" from Twitter Founder Biz Stone. (It's my new favorite time suck.) Jelly combines your social network and your friends' network.
Retails both online and offline are launching mobile apps to complement our digial shopping experiences. Reseach from Internet Retailer indicates that in 2013 consumers on both major mobile platforms increasingly relied on mobile apps as part of the shopping process.
For others on-going opinions and reviews are a confusing maze of babble often resulting in a digital nightmare. Add to the mix input from brands and you have an over abundance of expert opinions.As Jimmy Fallon might say, “ew!”
Online and offline worlds collide in creating an important 360’ customer experience. For brands that have not built a digital community of people who will pass along reviews, photos, videos to their friends, social media is just another distribution channel. I ask you... why bother to invest resources in something that your website should accomplish?
Social Savvy Tips For Brands: It’s critical to monitor what customers and prospects are saying about their entire shopping experience from digital, in-store and of course the product. Often overlooked are hidden insights in comments on your own social platforms.
- With those insights gained take action beginning with thanking your customers for sharing.
Social Savvy Tip For Customers: Before you take out the plastic to make a major purchase read reviews from multiple sources. A Twitter search on a brand may turn up some interesting insights too. So many opinions, so little time.
How do you do The Social Shopping Share Dance?
03/24/2014
Part Two of a series of interviews with Adobe Digital and Social Media Summit Speakers & Attendees.
Tamar Rimmon, Conde Nast, tells us how her team provides meaningful insights to senior managment and internal clients that support the brand's goals.
About Tamar Rimmon - Tamar is Senior Manager of Analytics and Audience Development at Conde Nast. She works with Conde Nast’s brands – including The New Yorker, Glamour, and WIRED – helping them deliver unique brand experiences for their audiences and drive engaged users to their sites. Tamar’s career spans the television, publishing and digital media industries.
Toby/Diva Marketing: As Senior Manager of Analytics and Audience Development your days are filled with numbers. Often the people that ask for analytic reports may not live in your world. How do you tell the story of the numbers so your internal clients don’t get the ‘glazed over look?’
Tamar Rimmon/Conde Nast: My team’s goal is to help guide brand strategy by providing meaningful insights to our internal clients. I found that the best way to bring value is to get into my clients’ shoes and understand what matters most to them.
The story should not be about the numbers in and of themselves – it should be about what the numbers tell us regarding the things that are important to our clients, and how they can make better decisions by leveraging these learnings. I’m also a big believer in data visualization.
Presenting the numbers in a visual way is a great way to convey insights and make the data accessible and easier to grasp even to those who are not experts in analytics.
Toby/Diva Marketing: We understand that measuring success starts with goals/objectives. However, sometimes is seems like “data data everywhere and not a drop to drip.” (Apologizes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge). How have you determined which analytics to focus on in terms of demonstrating value to senior leadership?
Tamar Rimmon/Conde Nast: It's easy to get overwhelmed by data overload, but we have to be in control of the data instead of letting the data control us. Analytics must be derived from and aligned with the goals of the organization.
Conde Nast has always been focused on creating high quality content that caters to valuable audiences, so we structure our analytics around this objective. My focus is on harnessing the analytics to understand who our high-value audiences are, how they behave, and what we need to do to engage and delight them.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What is a must bring to Adobe Summit for you?
Tamar Rimmon/Conde Nast: A notepad! (mine is digital, though…) Adobe Summit is a great opportunity to meet fellow analysts and marketers and learn about all the innovative things they are doing. I like to keep track of the new ideas that I hear about and the thoughts they inspire in me, and I make sure to bring it all back with me to the office when the Summit is over.
Tamar's Adobe Social Sessions: Social ROI all star panel & The rise of the social analyst
This Diva Marketing post is part of an influencer Adobe Insider program for Adobe Summit. I receive incentives to share my views. All opinions are 100% mine.
03/23/2014
One of the benefits of a biz blog is sometimes 'fair trade' agreements. Recently Adobe reached out and asked if I would be part of a 4-member Insider group, along with Travis Wright, Elizabeth Osmeloski, Michele Kiss, that would help socialize their digital marketing conference next week .. Adobe Summit. Sounded like good learnings to share. With over 5000 attendees sounded like a biz carnival! Sounded like fun.
Adobe also offered introductions to speakers and attendees who are doing innovative work in digital/social. More good learnings for us. And I've never been to Salt Lake City so I said. "Yes" to the opportunity.
Part One of a series of interviews with Adobe Digital and Social Media Summit Speakers & Attendees. First up .. Cory Edwards from Abode who provides his insights about how to build a Center or Excellence that is more than just a shiny new toy.
About Cory Edwards - Corey is head of Adobe’s Social Business Center of Excellence. He is responsible for integrating social media into the way Adobe does business. Prior to Adobe, Cory was director of social media at Dell. Cory is also an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Social Centers of Excellence have become the new ‘must have’ for many organizations. How do you ensure that a company’s center of excellence is a true business tool and not the latest shiny new toy that is here today and gone tomorrow?
Cory Edwards/Adobe: Structure. And I agree with you, far too often companies establish a CoE but frankly don’t institute it with a framework to guide it successfully. While we often refer to our own group as a CoE, I often define it to people internally as an operations group.
If you think of more structured business functions like sales or marketing, they almost always also have a corresponding sales operations team or a marketing operations team. Thinking of social in that light isn’t a bad way to approach a CoE function. It is a corporate function that is focused on creating and maintaining a smooth operation for the social business.
There are a few things that need to happen in my opinion to be successful. First, businesses need to be social by design — that idea lends itself to having a CoE. Secondly, the business needs to parallel path the ‘doing’ of social media with the back-end internal social operation. For Adobe, our back-end social operation is built upon a foundation with 4 core pillars:
1. Governance (Policies, processes, audits, account management & security, alignment with business units, etc.)
2. Enablement (Training of social media teams & employee base, employee activation, consulting, working with regions, etc.)
3. Measurement (data driven insights, measurement frameworks, Dashboard, Listening research, etc.)
4. Innovation (disruptive pilots to existing business processes, vendor/tool evaluation, identifying needs within the business, POV on industry changes, close ties with the social networks, etc.)
Toby/Diva Marketing: Do you believe that an organization can become a ‘social business’ without the concept incorporated into the company’s overarching strategic direction? Please explain your response.
Cory Edwards/Adobe: That may depend a bit on the company and its industry, but from my perspective it would be awfully difficult to become a social business without that concept incorporated into the company’s direction. That doesn’t mean the company needs to come out and overtly restate its mission so that it includes social, but it does mean that social really is an influencing factor in corporate strategy and various functional strategies (marketing, support, product development, talent acquisition, etc.).
Executives who want to establish a social business should be aware of social trends, open to social insights and willing to explore how the integration of social within various business functions can potentially disrupt the normal way of doing business in a way that might improve it. At Adobe, it has helped tremendously to have two key champions of social: our CEO Shantanu Narayen and our CMO Ann Lewnes, both of whom have stated clearly that they want to see Adobe become one of the most social brands in the world. And believe me, it’s not simply talk, they regularly talk about it, ask about it, provide feedback and generally want to know what we’re doing now and next.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What is a must bring to Adobe Summit for you?
Cory Edwards/Adobe: Two things: 1- Evernote. I’m a big fan and user for both my work and personal life. 2- Fitbit Force. If I’m going to be walking all those long halls at Summit, I want to make sure I’m getting exercise credit for it. Just think of how many steps I can rack up each day next week!
Cory's Adobe Summit Session - How to operate a social by design business.
Follow Cory on Twitter @CoryEdwards
This Diva Marketing post is part of an influencer Adobe Insider program for Adobe Summit. I receive incentives to share my views. All opinions are 100% mine.
03/13/2014
Those who tell the stories well shape our lives.
Often stories are as much about the people who tell them as they are of the story itself. In 2014, websites, blogs, social networks influence how we tell and pass along our stories. We might even add videos, podcasts, an infographic or graphic or two.
"Those who tell the stories also hold the power." "Those who tell the stories rule society." "Those who tell the stories rule the world."
These three quotes have been attributed to both Plato and the Hopi American Indians. Quite obviously they were worlds apart separated by thousands of miles not to mention centuries of time. The universal truth remains dead right .. The influence of the story teller can be life changing.
For the past 18-months I have worked among and with professionally trained story tellers .. call them journalists or reporters. It's their job to identify, research and tell the most significant stories of our society. Until just a few years ago their stories were the only way most of us learned what was happening in our world. Then the digital world entered and changed the game .. for them and for us.
In the digital world traditional media (radio, TV, print publications) and brands share several common challenges. One of the most significant is the expectations of our audiences/communities for on-going content for our websites, blogs, social networks.
No longer can traditional media tell stories only on the 6p news with perhaps a repeat at 11p. To remain competitive content must feed hungry digital assets (websites, blogs, social networks) multiple times a day. That's a whole bunch of new stories .. or stories with new perspectives.
Oh and those stories must satisfy a digital audience whose interests and attention span may differ from what they want from the legacy product.
The challenges of our traditional media friends are not so different from what a B2B, B2C or nonprofit brand encounters. Brands must also provide the content or stories that are relevant to their audiences/community. In the digitall/social media world the prize is the same .. The Share. If we don't create for the share and interaction social media is just another distribution channel. And I ask you .. why bother?
- What I learned from my media friends is that stories are everywhere. The secret is to look behind the ordinary.
In one morning pitch meeting (where reporters present ideas for stories they want to cover) that I attended a smart news director said something that shifted my thoughts about telling stores in social media. A reporter was pitching Matt Parcell, WFTV. Matt listened as she presented a series of different angles of a story. No. Nope. That's not it.
- Finally he nodded and said, "That's it. Now I care."
The digital/social media world levels the playing field and we find ourselves completing with both brands and media for the golden moments of customer attention. Sometimes those are the same stories.
Social media has been around long enough to know that the stories you post can't be self serving. We've learned to find content that adds value for our audience/customers/community. However, value-add stories have become the price of doing business.
What content gets the most shares and engagement? Stories that go a step beyond value-add to "Now I Care." Think about it.
7 Tips To Create Now I Care Stories
1. Know your digital audience's profile .. it may be different then what you think opening doors to a new segment
2. Understand how to use each digital medium to its advantage -- what works on Twitter may not be the same for Facebook. Creating original video is a world unto itself.
3. Begin your content creation with the question -- "Will my customer care?"
4. Track and analyze the social shares and interactions -- Identify a few tools that track social media analytics. Social Media Today Post by Pam Dyer offers 50 tools!
5. Review what your competiton is doing -- Look at the posts that receive the most shares and interaction
6. Test new ideas -- social media/digital brand content/stories are still a new frontier
7. Images and video -- include graphics and video we're living in a visual world
Toss of a pink boa to BBF Geoff Livingston and the XPotomac peeps, Shonali Burke, Patrick Ashamalla who kindly invited me to present at their fantastic event a few weeks agon. This post is based on my talk.
Max is reading Sybil Stershic's book Share of Mind Share of Heart.
Seems appropriate to end this with what veteran news camera man and uber cool dude, Jim Long said at XPotomac - "Tell me a story .. make me feel something." B2B marketers - no excuses you can do it too!
Broadcast and Print Media Adoption of Digital xPotomax 2014 / Video
12/25/2013
"We'll be known as the helpful store. The friendly store. The store with a heart. The store that places public service ahead of profit. The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before."
Nope, it's not a new innovative social network strategy (that would be a miracle of miracles!). In the classic film, Miracle On 34th Street, Mr. Macy took chance on a different way to conduct business.
Customers would not be coerced into buying what they did not want; however, the real courage was if another store had a better or less expensive product Macy's would refer customers there.
Fast forward 66 years. It is now 2013, and as we close out this year, we face similar challenges of how to provide value for our customers. Technology can be the gift that opens the new digital door to an exciting way to build relationships with customers .. if we can be as couragous as Mr. Macy.
Pull off the pretty red bow and you'll find social networks with funny names like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. It's a world where to succeed we have to go beyond a one-off sale to opportunities where three entities: company, employee and customer create the brand experience together. That takes courage.
The miracle of social media is its impact reaches beyond just one customer. Digital relationships with the people who are the heart of your brand, both customers and employees, can set off a unique chain reactions.
My favorite act of couragous miracle making this season is from the Canadian airline Westjet that surprised passengers with presents that they wanted (not swag from the airline). Video is well done and worth a watch.
- Continuous listening -> learning -> understanding -> results in trust -> leads to loyalty -> leads to the cash register bells ringing. And every time a cash register bell rings a marketer gets a bonus or gets to keep her job (!) .. oops wrong film.
Corner grocery store digital relationships that are build not only with you and your customers, but among your customers and your employees could never have been imagined when Kris Kringle entered Macy's Santa Land in 1947. However, even as we approach 2014, for many organizations open conversations still seem like a Miracle on (insert organization name here) or like the ghost of Xmas future (oops wrong movie again.)
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible... consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
As we begin 2014, technology developments spin even faster taking digital business into areas that were impossible in '47 or '57 or even '2013.
Imagine a digital destination where you can include your review of the product, service or customer care that influences your or your friends' buying decisions.
Imagine a digital destination where you can talk to a brand employee who doesn't respond with a scripted answer.
Imagine a digital destination that allows for product and service customization.
Imagine a digital destination where you can start a conversation with a real person about what matters to you regarding a product or service.
Imagine a digital destination where you can actually help change the direction of a brand before it's even launched.
Imagine multiple digital devices from mobile to tablet and computer to wearable. How will you create unique content for all that is relevant? How will you respond on mulitple channels?
Imagine a digital destination where you can chat with people about their experiences and learn from each other .. in real time during your shopping experience. The result is smarter purchases.
Imagine an authenitc conversation, in real time, with your favorite actor, politician, author or reporter who responds to your comments not with platitudes but with thoughtfulness and courage.
Imagine an authentic conversation with your senior managmenet or an admired corporate executive where ideas are transparently exchanged.
Imagine an organization that works in partnership with its customers and employees to create a brand experience that is relevant, innovative and imaginative across multiple devices.
Imagine an organization that places its customers in the center of all decisions.
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
What a funny world we live in. It's interesting to compare a 1940's film, where finding solutions to customers' problems was perceived as unique, to 2013 where finding solutions to customers' problems is considered ingenious.
The techniques may have changed. New buzz words may be added to the mix. Bells and whistles may be a little louder. However, after all is said and done, the premise remains the same:
-Listen
-Understand
-Add value
-Do what it takes to go the extra mile to delight your customer
I believe that as we learn how to use social media it will change how we conduct business .. leading to creating an environment where people truly matter. And that my friends, is as courageous and innovative as Mr. Macy's Miracle on 34th Street.
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
And with that Max and I wish you a very merry holiday!
A classic Diva Marketing Holiday Post.
12/16/2013
This is the 5th year of Diva Marketing's Holiday For Small Nonprofits Series.
During December we invite nonprofits into Diva to tell their stories in their own very special way. It's our hope that you might find a new NPO that touches your heart. 
In between shopping, wrapping and checking your list twice, we invite you to take a breath and enjoy a few from the heart stories.
At the center of this season's inspiration for joy, is of course, the children. It's our pleasure the first story is from an organization, ISDD, whose mission is to improvie the the lives/health of children living in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage.
ISDD (Innovative Solutions for Disadvantage and Disability) focuses on practical projects that serve to improve the lives of children who are vulnerable to adverse health and developmental disabilities as a result of living in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage.
Our story teller is founder Leslie Rubin.
Doctor Rubin is a developmental pediatrician who is originally from South Africa where he learned about how health disparities in children were related to social injustice and has found the opportunity to make a difference for children in Atlanta and around the world.
The ISDD (Innovative Solutions for Disadvantage and Disability) Story
I have been working with children with developmental disabilities for many years and I have stared a number of programs over the years. The one that stands out for me is the Cerebral Palsy clinic that I started with colleagues at the Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital in Downtown Atlanta in 1998.
In 2002, with some funds from a family foundation, we did a survey of the 261 children we had seen in the clinic. As we expected they had a number of physical, medical and surgical complications but what struck us was the social context. We found that many of the children had been born prematurely to mothers who had smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol or taken drugs during pregnancy and that about half of the children were living with a single mother, about 30-40% with grandparents or in foster care, only a small percentage were living in 2 parent households.
This finding completely changed my view of children with developmental disabilities. I realized that developmental disabilities could be the result of social economic, educational, psychological and environmental factors and that the disabilities further aggravated the situation. Thus, I realized that these children then became caught up in what I termed the cycle of disadvantage and disability.
I then determined that I wanted to see what difference I could make in breaking that cycle and helping children lead more fulfilling and successful lives to become functioning and contributing members of society. Shortly thereafter, with the help of some friends, we formed the Institute for the Study of Disadvantage and Disability.
Our very first program was, in fact, called Break the Cycle of Disadvantage and Disability, which invited students from different disciplines in different universities to develop projects to Break the Cycle.
Break the Cycle Students and Faculty
Our second project was to provide support for the grandparents who were caring for their grandchildren with disabilities – Project GRANDD.
Project GRANDD Grandparents Monthly Meeting
The 3rd program was developed to provide health care for children whose mothers had problems with substance abuse and had been homeless – Healthcare Without Walls – a Medical Home for Homeless Children.
Now, in December 2013, we have had more than 80 students from around the country through our Break the Cycle Program along with 5 international journal supplements and a series of 4 books; we have served more than 100 grandparents with more than 200 grandchildren between then in our Project GRANDD and about 150 mothers with their children through our Healthcare without Walls – a Medical Home for Homeless Children.
Project GRANDD Family Zoo Outing
We have recently changed our name to Innovative Solutions for Disadvantaged and Disability to better reflect what we do, and we look forward to continuing to develop programs that will help our society’s most vulnerable children have the opportunity to become successful and lead health fulfilling lives.
More From ISDD
Facebook ISSD Website
10/21/2013
My mind is still a jumble of thoughts. My heart wounded and broken. I've written this post a dozen times in my head but nothing seemed quite right.
So, I decided to go in a direction that he would have liked. To tell the story in a way that will help others understand what matters in this world we call social media.
Last week when I was walking Max I popped into email and a message from Marianne Richmond almost caused me to drop my iphone (again!). The social web was a buzz with the passing of a dear and much admired gentle soul -- Wayne Hurlbert. Who was Wayne Hurlbert?
In my world ... Wayne and his mom were Max's orignial social fans. Wayne was one of my first BBFs (best blogging friend). I called Wayne (along with Paul Chaney) a true gentleman of the social web.
Questions -- Can you call a person you never shared a meal, had coffee with or met face-to-face a "friend?" Perhaps there were phone calls, Skypes and emails. However, can you build a "real" relationship when a significant part of your exchanges are on the social web in blog comments, tweets, Facebook posts?
Many folks will remember Wayne for his innovative music tweets and and art posts.
For me, Wayne and I shared another passion. We believed that blogs, and then social networks, could impact the way business could be conducted with honesty, openness, and transparency.
- Did you notice those are the words (honesty, openness, transparency) used when describing the blogoshere? - Wayne Hurlbert
One of Wayne's core business beliefs was the importance of business ethics. Several times he graciously shared his views with me to include in Diva Marketing.
I had the honor of being Wayne's first guest on his acclaimed BlogTalkRadio show, Blog Business Success. It was Wayne who encouraged me to launch a BlogTalkRadio podcast. Wayne, along with Jeneane Sessum, were my first guests on Diva Talks with the show The Ethics of Social Media.
- Every action that you take and everything you do should be made with fair treatment helping others in mind. - Wayne Hurlbert
Wayne also kindly contributed his thoughts about ethics to Social Media GPS an eBook I wrote based on 40 Twitter interviews. In Chapter Four, Social Ethics, Wayne and Mack Collier answered this question: Ethics in business is the hot news topic. In SM we struggle with what is black, white and gray. Why is that?
- SM is about trust&trust must be earned. Once lost trust is hard to recover. In SM there is no second chance to recover it. - Wayne Hurlbert
- Using tricks & tools to get more SM followes may add numbers but without engagment&trust, raw numbers mean nothing - Wayne Hurlbert
Ironically, the last question I asked Wayne on our BlogTalkRadio show was -- What do you want people to say about you after you write your last post or your last tweet?
- That I helped people as I set out to do when I orignally started my post. - Wayne Hurlbert
His response underscores what his friends know to be true. Thank you Wayne for the help you selfishly gave keeping true to your philosophy of putting others first.
And I suppose that brings us full circle to the question can you create "real" relationships in social media? The relationship I shared with Wayne touched my heart and added value to my life. It doesn't get much more real than that girlfriend.
Note: 10/24 8p Eastern BlogTalkRadio will host a tribute to Wayne.
08/01/2013
We came, we saw, we kicked its ass. ~ Ghostbusters
Just One Crowd Sources Question
Recently many of my social media conversations seemed to be about the perception that social is a young person’s game. Perhaps that’s true
to an extent as the Pew 2012 Demographic report indicates.
However, many of the people who began exploring social media
7, 8, 9, 10, 12 years ago were 30+ when they/we started working in this
industry. At the time we stepped into what was fondly called, The
Blogosphere, it was an unproven direction to take business communications.
In fact, some companies thought we were a bit crazed to
encourage brands to embrace concepts like transparency, authenticity, honesty
and the most radical of all … customer-to-brand, peer-to-peer conversations in
public forums.
I was curious to understand why the people, who I think of as the "real people" pioneers of social media, took a leap of
faith to work in a field that skeptics and pundits said was just a fad. So I
reached out to a few folks from across the globe to discover their reasons for Why.
Some of the Whys
Business Applications - Several people saw blogs in a purely business context --a competitive advantage, opportunity to speak directly to customers and stakeholders, new avenue to expand networks and connect with industy thought leaders, easy way to share (business) information,
New Challenge - Other people liked the challenge of something new and wanted to experiment. Some realized that blogs could shape opinons beyond the influence and gatekeeping of traditional media .. they saw blogs as way to empower people.
Personal Expression - Others wanted to share not only information but their opinons. For other the satisfaction of personal expression influenced them to explore blogs.
Anita Campbell, Small Biz Trends - To set my business apart and gain national visibility. Blogs were the ticket to that.
Neville Hobson, Communication Consultant - Partly for that very reason: unproven, often risky! Mostly,
though, to try and figure out what blogs were and what they could do in
business. Today social media is pervasive and mainstream awareness is very
high.
It's a double-edged sword in business, requiring deeper understanding of
and sensitivity to people's changing behaviours and the complexities of those
changing behaviours in a workplace setting. A constant learning experience.
Nettie Renyolds, Nettie Ink - I was totally enthralled with how the new communication tools were going to educate and empower people online. I was also writing the Professional PR blog for Allbusiness.com. I was so blessed to get to try out these tools even in infancy.
If anyone who is under 30
and working in social media believes that everything they are using now will
apply in the same efficacy as it does in the next 24 months -they are misguided.
These tools are ever-changing so every tool and every piece of communication
must first establish context and then the best tool to use is secondary. Also -
keep your website as your central anchor!
Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer - I started as a
personal blog. I reviewed movies, theatre, books, and restaurants, among other
personal observations.
Once I shared a
restaurant review with some colleagues and saw that review spread across my
network and encourage dozens of people to try that restaurant I had what I call
my "peanut butter chocolate" moment about how blogging and online
community was a natural communications and marketing channel.
I really thought the
ability to speak directly to your customers, readers, audience, etc. was an
opportunity that organizations should not pass up. And even my early
experiments in marketing via the social web channels that existed at the time
(pre-Facebook, pre-Twiiter, etc.) showed immediate and quantifiable promise.
Rajesh Lalwani, Blogworks - As a student and
practitioner of public relations and communication, I saw the emergent change
where organizations and stakeholders could engage directly; where the role of
shaping opinion and influencing purchase would no longer be limited to
mainstream media, but everyone; the changed dynamics of a world where news
would be disseminated first by people on the street.
I could see it
clearly that this will change how communication, reputation, marketing,
customer service, research, content had worked thus far. I felt this was my
opportunity to participate in the future of everything brand and I jumped in. I
didn't think this was risky. I was clear, this would be mainstream
Merrill DuBrow, M/A/R/C Research - Someone very smart (you - Ms Bloomberg convinced me to blog - said it is critical to buisness and yes you were right.
Yvonne DiVita, BlogPaws, Lipsticking - I joined in
2004 and it gave me immediate results. I was connected to people in the
business world that I would never have known about, before using a blog.
I started blogging
because my partner had learned about blogging in his college course (adult
learning) and thought it was a fantastic tool to connect people from all over
the world. And, he was right. It connected me to dozens of people in the
marketing world I was just then venturing to enter.
I think the younger folks
can learn a lot from us 'old timers' - including how to bring tried and true
business practices to a social media world. And, we can learn a lot from them -
such as learning how to apply some of the new tools being invented. This
shouldn't be a "them" or "us" kind of thing.
It should be an open
conversation about life. Isn't that what blogs and social media are all about?
And, isn't that how you build connections?
David
Berkowitz, MRY - I got into digital media because I wanted to write and
not be a journalist in any traditional sense. Before I was blogging in 2004, I
was already writing a lot for eMarketer (my full-time job), and then started
contributing to MediaPost.
Blogging was a natural extension, especially when I
decided to focus more on establishing my own voice through my blog. After
the fact, I came to appreciate the community of bloggers that I was part of
just by blogging.
B.L. Ochman, Whats Next - I had
been publishing a print newsletter called What's
Next and then moved
it online to my website as a weekly. When it became possible to switch to a
blog, I didn't hesitate for a second.
Started in 2002, and only took that long
to blog because it took me a long time to find a designer who could create it
to have the same design as my website. I wanted a graphic identity for my
content.
Paul Chaney, Chaney Marketing Group - It was an
outlet for personal expression, and a way to scratch my writing itch. My first
posts didn't have to do as much with business, but that's the direction it
turned pretty quickly.
Brendan Hurley, Goodwill of Greater Washington - When we
launched our social media/blogging initiatives in 2007, research data supported
the fact that at the time it was a medium dominated by a younger audience, and
that's who we were trying to reach and influence.
Our adoption was purely a
strategic business decision. However, we didn't go about it without some due
diligence. We consulted with Geoff Livingston, a well-respected social media
expert, who helped us develop a comprehensive and integrated approach.
Social
media is a powerful tool and has become a critical and growing component of our
overall marketing strategy. But in most cases, I still recommend taking an
integrated approach. Even Zappos is using TV...
Brent Leary, CRM Essentails - Just was looking
to share my thoughts and experiences in the CRM industry.
C.B. Whittemore - Opportunity to
experiment and explore firsthand with online tools when every sign I came
across said that marketing and business would head that way. I could do it on
my time, at minimal cost other than my time. Plus, the more I got involved, the
more cool smart people I came across - with Diva Toby being one of the very
coolest.
Barb Giamanco - My background
is in technology, so I saw these tools as the next evolution of technology to
support business processes.
It isn't about age. It is about attitude. Social
media isn't a young person's game - whatever that's supposed to mean, and I
think that the people who say that are using it as an excuse not to learn new
skills.
These new technologies and approaches impact business in the same way
that fax machines changed up business. So did being required to know word
processing or how to use presentation software. People resisted computers.
They
said we'd never do business using email. They also said that people wouldn't
purchase products over the web and that mobile phones wouldn't be a big deal. THEY
were wrong and still are if they think that social media is a fad.
Kevin O'Keefe, Lexblog - To help
people, specifically to help lawyers understand how to use the Internet in a
way that could enhance their reputations as a trusted and reliable authorities.
Marianne Richmond - At
first it just seemed so incredible to be able to connect directly online with
thought leaders, true experts and people working in same business. Then the
light bulb went off that businesses could connect directly with consumers and
vice versa.
Drew McLelllan, McLellan Marketing Group - I was curious
-- and it seemed like the right time to jump in. It was new, everyone was
making mistakes so I was free to experiment and explore, knowing that others
would be forgiving if I wasn't perfect at it.
There was also a professional
necessity. I own an agency and knew our clients would be need to consider
social media as an option. I couldn't counsel them if I wasn't fluent myself.
Rather than read about it or watch it, I jumped into the deep end, launching a
blog and creating a profile on all of the major platforms of the day.
Des Walsh, Business Coach - In 2003, there was a convergence of my enthusisam for networking, my keen interest
in communication technology (for communication's sake, not so much for the
technology itself) and my then new involvement in coaching.
At a coaching
conference in San Francisco early 2003 a session "become
an e-celebrity through blogging" opened my eyes to blogging as a way to
promote my coaching business beyond my relatively limited circle in Sydney,
Australia. As I went on I learned more about blogging and became an evangelist
for business blogging.
Too many mature age people see bloggng and social media
as being about technology. For me it is about people and communication. My life
has been immeasurably enriched through the friendships I have made worldwide
through social media and my business has benefited continually from my
engagement with and knowledge of social media
Sybil Stersjic, Quality Service Marketing - I
developed my business blog to share and further develop my professional passion
for employee-customer care. My blog also gave me a web presence since I did not
have a website at the time.
Jane Genova, Executive and Marketing Pro - It got me into
the "conversation" without having to be admitted by the
gatekeepers (editors) in media. I had a hunch that there were others like
myself who wanted to be in and be able to bypass the gatekeepers. Stay with
what's working. Be aware how your medium is changing. Change with it.
Shel Israel, Author - Are you aware that I spent about six months in 2011 writing a book
called Pioneers of Social Media? It never found a publisher, nor did I sense a
groundswell of interest that would have made me willing to take the risk to
self-publish.
Anyway, many of the pioneers are my age, we are 60s kids who believed
in power to the people and transparency and lots of sex. Some of them, A few
include Howard Rheingold, host the The Well, first online community; Randy
Farmer, co-developer of Habitat, first use of avatars, so that you could have
an online presence, Dave Winer, father of the blog, RSS and more, are all from
the 60s. Each had an interest in using technology to empwer people through
networking.
I am not a pioneer of social media. I'm more like a witness. I was in
the right place at the right time to see the revolutionary aspects that social
media promised. These people were talking about improving the structure of a
global society. I doubt that any of them ever envisioned cute cat photos.
I remain, a camp joiner more than a pioneer. I like to write about
people who see how technology makes life, work, health, learning, entertainment
and communications better.
The technology of the pioneers has done much to change the world. But
I'm not sure the current trends are what they had in mind. It's pretty much
like when television came in in the 1950s and NBC's Sarnoff dreamed of opera
for the masses. Around the corner, Bill Paley, was formed CBS. He looked at
Sarnoff and said "screw that shit. We'll give them I love Lucy and sell
cigarettes. Guess who won?
~ and me. I launched Diva Marketing in 2004, because my friend Dana Van Den Heuvel told me I had no credibilty talking about blogs, in training programs, unless I was actively involved. Diva Marketing was to be a way for me to learn. I had no intention of keeping it going for more than a few months.
Almost as soon as I wrote my first post people reached out to welcome me to the blogosphere. I quickly realized this wasa far different world than websites The potential to build and nuture relationships and talk directly to customers in this funny thing called "comments" was the missing link of the business internet. So I stayed .. and as they say, the rest is history.
Update
Beth Harte - I jumped into corporate social media in 2006 (it wasn't even a term then). I saw it more of an extension of PR than marketing. It was a tough sell back then.
Toss of a boa to these amazing people who were among the first to set the wheels in montion for an exciting new way to bring brands, employees and customer together.
Anita
Campbell - Small Biz Trends @Small Biz Trends Began blogging 2003 (USA)
Barbara
Giamanco - @BarbaraGiamanco Linkedin Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Beth Harte - The Harte of Marketing @BethHarte Began blogging 2006 (USA)
B.L.
Ochman Whats Next Blog Pawfun Blog @WhatsNext Google+ Y2006 (USA)ouTube Whats Next Blog YouTube Beyond Social Media Beganblogging 1996 (USA)
Brent Leary - Brent Leary.com @BrentLeary Began blogging 2004 (USA)
C.
B. Whittemore - Simple Marketing Now Simply Marketing Now Blog @CBWhittemore Began blogging 2006 (USA)
David
Berkowitz - Marketers Studio Blog About David Berkowitz @DBerkowitz @MRY Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Des
Walsh - DesWalsh.com @DesWalsh Began blogging 2003 (Australia)
Drew
McLellan - Drew's Marketing Minute @DrewMcLellan Began blogging 1999 (USA)
Elisa
Camahort Page - BlogHer G+ @ElisaC Began blogging 2003 (USA)
Jane
Genova - JaneGenova.com Law and More Over 50 Began blogging 2005 (USA)
Kevin
O’Keefe - LexBlog @KevinOKeefe Began blogging 1996 (USA)
Merril
Dubrow - The Merrill Dubrow Blog @MerrillDubrow Began blogging 2006 (USA)
Marianne
Richmond - Resonance Parntership @Marianne Began blogging 2005 (USA)
Nettie
Reynolds - Nettie Ink LinkedIn @NetReynolds (1999) (USA)
Neville
Hobson - Neville Hobson.com @jangles Began blogging 2002(UK)
Paul
Chaney - Chaney Marketing Group @PChaney Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Rajesh
Lalwani - BlogWorks @RajeshLawlani Began blogging 2005 (India)
Shel Israel - Shel Israel on Forbes Facebook LinkedIn @ShelIsraelegan blogging 2005 (USA)
Sybil
F. Stershic - Qualty Service Marketing Quality Service Marketing @SybilQSM Linkedin LinkedIn (USA)
Toby Bloomberg - Diva Marketing Blog Pinterest Bio Board @Tobydiva Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Yvonne
DiVita - Lipsticking @lipsticking BlogPaws @Blogpaws Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Just One Crowd Sourced Question is an on-going series that taps the knowledge, experience and yes opinons of people who believe that one of the core values of social media culture is learning together.
07/04/2013
In my adopted home town of Atlanta, Happy Fourth of July begins with people waking before dawn.
Well...not so much for me or Max but for many of my friends who run, jog, walk and sometimes skip (well someone must skip!) down Main Street in Atlanta to participate in the Peachtree Road Race. 
For the awe inspiring 88 year old Betty Lindberg this year marks her 24th Peachtree Road Race. Toss of a pink boa to you Betty!
Update! At 91 years of young Betty Lindberg set a world record for the age group 90-94. As she said, "Hot Diggity!"
People find their own pace.
Thousands line the sidewalks along Peachtree and cheer the runners on making this very much a community event.
People find their own pace.
What often begin as a rite of passage turns into a must do July 4th tradition for runners, volunteers and cheerer-ons. However, this year threat of thunder storms had people thinking twice and three times before making their way to the starting line.
Perhaps it was the influence of Atalanta, the Greek goddess of running, but few rain drops fell during most of the Peachtree Road Race. The weather for the 44th AJC Peachtree Road Race was cooler than usual Atlanta July temperatures. The drizzle of rain made the race as my friend Bobbi told me more enjoyable and an easier run.
People find their own pace.
Celebrating Happy Birthday America, running or watching the Peachtree Road Race or even stepping into a social media world the most successful find their own pace and rewards.
Tips To Find Your Social Media Pace
After your topic direction and goals are established here are a couple of next steps.
1. Determine which social platform you're most comfortable working in. Is it a longer format like blogs, are you a 140 character diva or perhaps your world is visual? You'll find more satisfaction and way less stress (!) if you choose fewer networks and commit to doing them well.
2. Determne which media you enjoy most when it comes to producing content. Do you love to write, create videos, shoot photos? How about social radio a la podcasts? How do they integrate and support the social platform/s you chose?
3. If you're beginning a new social platform it's important to give yourself the time and resouces needed to find your voice keeping in mind that it must always be authentic for the culture of the network. For example will your current tonality on Twitter work in MySpace? How can you "fit" in multiple communities while retaining your brand's values?
The reward of running the Peachtree .. coveted 2013 Peachtree Road Race T-shirt - 
This posted is dedicated to my friend Paula whose broken arm prevented her from running in what would have been her 11th Peachtree. Here's to 2014 Paula!
Diva Marketing Collection of Fourth of July Posts Lessons From The Peachtree Road Race - 2009 Twisted Recipes - 2010 Live The Life of Your Choice - 2011
