Social Studies « Greg Swan

October 26, 2009 • 9:09 am 0

BlogWorld 2009: What’s Next in Social Marketing

This was my third year at BlogWorld New Media Expo, and it just gets better and better.

Sure, there are plenty of cewebrities, blogerati and scenesters, but BlogWorld continues to bring out some of the best in social media and social marketing thought leadership.

Congrats to the show promoters, the speakers and attendees who got my brain running and thinking about new and exciting possibilities in social marketing.

My biggest takewaways from the conference (via notes I took in 140 characters or less):

Even the best businesses have negative customer comments. Don’t be the boy who cried “FAIL”
Humans don’t scale. We only have so much bandwidth. Humility and honesty go a long way in biz/personal
“By the end of the year, we’re going to talk about Twitter lists, not follower numbers.” -@scobleizer
Social isn’t just about marketing/PR. This is a cultural shift. It’s about people and relationships.
Twitter lists has mega-implications for PR/journalist relationships. @scobleizer already on 211 lists.
Kids are creating multiple MySpace profiles for friends and other ones for their “real” friends
Google Profiles, Sidewiki, Wave are part of a stealth social network. It’s not a destination. It’s a zen attack.
Corporate sites should be the hub of a robust Web strategy that goes to where the conversations are outside .com.
Develop active listening program AND THEN empower a customer advocacy program to tell your story, defend you, etc
PR is curating disparate SM monitoring databases that should be connected to corporate CRM for customer support
Five years from now URLs won’t matter. Information will come together in a new way we can’t yet fathom. -@jowyang
Entire crowd is focused/stuck on SM ROI, and you can sense the aggregate frustration at the implicit vagaries.

I want to touch on that last tweet. In Jeremiah Owyang’s “The Future of Social Media and Business” presentation (great breakdown here), the audience asked many questions about legal, ROI, lead-generation and the culture of fear that surrounds investing in new technologies and strategies without a guaranteed pay-off. Mr. Owyang didn’t have answers beyond his analysis, partly because the answers people were seeking aren’t easily answered in a large forum. The future of social media, by its very nature, will not and does not mirror traditional advertising strategies nor the metrics that fuel them.

Companies who today are seen as innovators in the social media space — whether it’s micro-media customer support, humanistic corporate blogs or social network engagement — didn’t get where they are by betting on a sure thing. Social media has changed the game. Even if Nielsen says X millions watched a primetime show last night, we know a key percentage had a laptop open at the same time. And although I can back up that assertion by pointing to the top Twitter trends on any given evening, most companies cannot quantify that “buzz” directly into sales to the point they can justify a spend with guaranteed results.

Rather, an online conversation is just as valuable — possibly more valuable — than a point of sale impulse display or a print and broadcast advertising buy with guaranteed impressions. The reason Mr. Owyang couldn’t give us the 1-2-punch for selling in social media is that 1) it doesn’t exist, and 2) even if it did, it would change tomorrow.

What can we do in the interim?

Innovate
Set measurable objectives
Benchmark
Evaluate and adjust

We must change this perception of fear into a lens of opportunity. The control isn’t coming back, and neither is the sure thing.

BlogWorld has me pumped and even more passionate about the possibilities. I’m not waiting around for the sure thing; are you?

- Greg Swan

Comments locked. Please leave comments over at Social Studies.

Filed under: Social Media, Social Studies , blogworld, bwe09, jeremiah owyang, social marketing, Social Studies

August 20, 2009 • 9:35 am 0

Social Studies: Favre’s comeback breaks via Twitter

As posted on Social Studies on August 18:

Michael Jackson’s funeral notice may have generated a CNN Breaking News Alert today, but the big news for us Minnesotans captured four of the top 10 trending spots on Twitter:

Brett Favre, Farve, Vikings and WCCO.

But why was local CBS affiliate WCCO-TV trending right along with the news of Brett Favre signing with the Minnesota Vikings?

Because they broke the story — via Twitter.

Via David Brauer at MinnPost:

Reporter Mark Rosen, preparing for a Hawaiian vacation set to begin Wednesday, got a call around 8:30 a.m. from a team poohbah. Fifty minutes later, the tweet heard round the world — well, at least the sports world — went out via @wccobreaking:

“A high-level source with the Minnesota Vikings tells WCCO’s Mark Rosen that QB Brett Favre is expected to sign with the team Tuesday.”

The station’s willingness to sit on a story that would quadruple its web traffic — producing a spike only exceeded by the 35W bridge collapse — reflects oft-derided mainstream newsroom values.

While the concept of news breaking online is nothing new, it’s exciting — and indicative of the changing landscape — to watch legacy journalists embrace new media channels, such as Twitter, for their breaking news reports.

The content mainstream news institutions gather, confirm and report is just as valuable today as ever before, but the distribution model must change to keep pace with technology, generational habits and the ever-quickening pace of the news cycle.

For example, although I don’t often watch local television news, I do subscribe to all available local TV station Twitter feeds, frequent their Web sites and read reporter blogs. I learned of Favre’s new Vikings deal via Twitter, sent it to a friend via e-mail, who posted it to his Facebook page.

News is news, in spite of the delivery format.

Now bring on the Super Bowl tweets!

Leave your comments on the Social Studies blog.

Filed under: Social Media, Social Studies , Social Studies, Twitter, wcco

August 3, 2009 • 2:39 pm 0

Social Studies: 5 New Social Media Things I’m Excited About

My new post on Social Studies today…5 New Social Media Things I’m Excited About

1. Foursquare
It’s like Twitter, except not only do you care where your friends are AT THIS VERY MINUTE, you all earn points for going to those places. I signed up for Foursquare long ago, but just like Twitter, it takes a good base of friends actively using it be fun. Local businesses would be smart to set up Foursquare nights/tours for their early adopter patrons. Are you the mayor of anything yet?

2. Google Voice
I finally got my beta invitation and locked in my Google Voice number with a personalized XXX-XXX-GREG, which I’m very excited about. You can set it up to forward all calls to cell, home and work phones or filter some folks to one or the other. Online voicemail with transcripts is fun, and I was able to install an app on my smart phone to make calls without using minutes and send SMS without using my plan’s allotted texts. The set up was very intuitive, and I’m excited about the future of this technology and integration with the Google cloud suite.

3. Stuff in 3D
I’ve seen some microsites and business cards utilize Web cam to 3D technology, but last week I discovered Best Buy (client) using the advancement in human brainpower to put graphics on their ads that turn into 3D images when placed before your Web cam. The technology is here, and it’s time to experiment. Can you imagine a tiny Trent Reznor playing a 3D show on your laptop?

4. TweetYourSenator
President O’s PAC is still spending all of those tiny donations leftover from the election, and this time he’s made it simple to “Tweet Your Senator” about healthcare reform. As if our elected representatives’ aides didn’t already have their hands full sending form reply letters and deleting voicemails from constituents, now they have incoming tweets to ignore. But wait! There are a surprisingly large number of congressional members on Twitter, and I’m excited to see ways to harness the burgeoning interest in tweeting.

5. Twibbon
If you were an avid Twitter user in the summer of 2008, you’ll remember Ze Frank’s Color Wars, where users chose a team, tweaked their avatar to show their team spirit and participated in challenges just like summer camp. I was on the red team and remember agonizing over my avatar in Windows Paint trying to get it just right. These days people pimp their avatars for more genuine reasons (green avatars for Iran, Stellan, etc.). And thanks to Twibbon, it’s easier than ever to tweak your avatar with a cause or image overlay. Don’t see a cause that resonates with you? Make your own. Very cool.

–Greg Swan

Please leave comments over at Social Studies.

Filed under: Marketing Tips, Social Media, Social Studies , 3d, foursquare, google voice, tweetyoursenator, twibbon, Twitter

March 23, 2009 • 2:44 pm 0

SXSW Report: Making Whuffie: Raising Social Capital in Online Communities

My new post on Social Studies:
Tara Hunt, from Intuit, spoke on the topic of how people interact and exchange information in online communities: through social capital, or as Cory Doctorow calls it, < a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whuffie”>Whuffie</a>.

Hunt gave a thorough deep dive into the importance of online communities – both through listening to what they’re saying about brands and also engaging with them. She encouraged marketers to join online communities – but not as a researcher or marketer. Instead, marketers should transparently join, listen, learn and participate in these communities to, “figure out why they would give a damn about your brand.”

One key area is seeking the community’s feedback on brand initiatives, campaigns, new products, etc.

Here are Hunt’s 8 Commandments of Receiving Feedback from Online Communities:

Get advice and input from experts, but design for the broader community
Respond to all feedback, even when you respond by saying, “No thanks”
Do not take negative feedback personally; remember that when people give feedback, they are doing so because they care and have taken the time to improve their experience
Give credit to those whose ideas you implement; nothing says “we are open to conversation” beter.
When you implement a new idea, make sure that you highlight it, and ask for feedback
Make small, continuous changes rather than waiting to implemtn everything at once
Don’t just wait for feedback to come to you, go out and find it; people are probaby talking about your product elsewhere.
No matter how much they like you, there will be haters. Mind the haters. Don’t feed the trolls.

You can view all 318 slides here.

Please leave your comments over at Social Studies.

Filed under: Social Media, Social Studies, digital reputation management, sxsw , social capital, whuffie

March 4, 2009 • 2:49 pm 0

Social Studies: Is your lawmaker on Twitter?

I have a new post up over at Social Studies: Is your lawmaker on Twitter?

Here’s the post, but please leave comments over at SS:

Back in July, members of the U.S. Congress fought for their right to Twitter with a Let Our Congress Tweet campaign. It’s success, thanks in large part to Texas Rep. John Culberson, helped modernize rules — letting representatives tweet from the House floor.

If you caught President Obama’s annual message last week, you may have noticed attendees typing on their smart phones. But they weren’t just replying to urgent e-mails pertaining to national security — a handful were tweeting the event:

“One tele-prompter appears broken. Still 1.5 hours to go but I bet they are nervous” — @jasoninthehouse: Representative Jason Chaffetz, Utah’s 3rd District
“How will he assure us that banks will make loans? Sounds like nationalization – very bad news” — @johnculberson: Representative John Culbuerson, Texas’ 7th District
“The President can certainly give a speech. So far it’s just a little long on promises and short on details. Spending does matter.” — @repbarrett: Representative Gresham Barrett, South Carolina’s 3rd District
“Some Republican Senators are standing and clapping, including McCain. Great!” — @repblumenauer: Representative Earl Blumenauer, Oregon’s 3rd District

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote, “Some members called it a new age of transparency, a bold new frontier in democracy. But to view the hodgepodge of text messages sent from the House floor during the speech, it seemed as if Obama were presiding over a support group for adults with attention-deficit disorder.”

And here is Keith Olbermann’s take:

Harsh words, and I can understand the sentiment that everyone, particularly legislators, should pay attention when the president speaks. However, I do disagree (and not just because it was recently proven doodling while listening improves cognition).

Mobile social networking is growing fast, and I’m no longer shocked at its popularity and permeance.

At the SXSW Interactive conference last year, I was struck by the presence of an unseen digital backchannel wherever I went. Whether it was in a panel about metrics, Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote meltdown or a sponsor party, attendees were sneaking a glance at their Twitter stream to see what others were thinking, saying and doing.

In the year since, the trend has now grown to the point Congress members are offering their real-time insights, feedback and criticism on public policy. It’s a heck of a lot more convenient (and entertaining) than watching committee meetings on C-SPAN or skimming a monthly eNewsletter detailing what pork your local legislator earned you this quarter.

In fact, the trend has grown to the point I rarely attend an event that doesn’t have a fledgling digital backchannel. People tweet about snowstorms (#snowmageddon), American Idol (#americanidol) and political debates (#debate).

Twitter has given a voice to the masses, which is challenging the long accepted “I speak and you listen” model. I don’t consider multitasking adolescence. Instead, it’s an unavoidable communication complement, and one that should be embraced and leveraged rather than shunned.

Do you ever watch legislative committee meetings that drone on for hours on C-SPAN? Me neither.

But if you’ve ever read your representative’s quarterly pork newsletter and wish you had a feeling for their personality, challenges and passions, now you can thanks to social media tools like Twitter.

What worries me more than the Congress members who offered real-time insights, feedback and criticism during the president’s address are the representatives who didn’t share their feedback with constituents at all. Now there’s something to question.

Is your representative on Twitter? Find the full list here at TweetCongress.com.

Filed under: Social Media, Social Studies , Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, United States Congress, United States House of Representatives, Washington Post

October 3, 2008 • 3:44 pm 1

Social Media Permeates Throughout Presidential Debates

Cross-posted from Social Studies:

The days of watching a Presidential or Vice Presidential Debate without a scroll on the bottom of the television screen is long gone. This year, CNN showed real-time results from dial testing focus groups, Bloomberg and CNBC scrolled stock tickers and Fox News featured SMS text polling and results (e.g., Text VOTE to 36288).

But that’s old news and still a one-way information flow (yawn!).

The year 2008 will be remembered as the year social media enabled anyone with an Internet connection to help add their perspective to the debates.

During the Presidential Debate last week, Libertarian Candidate Bob Barr — uninvited to the formal Obama/McCain debate — answered moderator questions and provided McBama counter-points in realtime through Mogulus. Comments were enabled on the online streaming portal, so viewers could participate and help shape the discussion.

During both the Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates, Current TV featured a bleeding-edge offering called “Hack the Debate.” With the aid of Twitter, Current integrated real-time Twitter messages (a.k.a. “tweets”) from users along the bottom of the broadcast window on Current TV. Anyone who included the word “#current” in their tweets had the chance to see their micromedia commentary aired worldwide.

Here are some video highlights from the Presidential Debate last week.

Sometimes the comments added value — “You know who I feel bad for? The “lower” class. The poor. Who is going to fight for them? It’s a shame. No one mentions them.” (@davidbadash)

And sometimes the comments provided comic relief when things were getting too serious — “The moderator might as well just say “BOOPITY DOOPITY WAKAWOOWOO” because they’re just talking about what they want, anyway” (@rightasrayne)

But with my laptop on my lap, phone at my side and television remote nearby, social media allowed me the opportunity to glean what people across the country thought of the debate question-by-question and afforded an opportunity to voice my perspective (and snarky comments) to the masses.

Social media spiced up the age-old, one-way debate format this year, and it will never be the same.

In the words of @mikethomas84, “the only winner in this debate is the internet.”

Filed under: Social Media, Social Studies , biden, mccain, obama, palin, presidential debate, Social Studies, Twitter, vice presidential debate

September 26, 2008 • 8:40 am 0

My Social Studies Posts Today

Twitter’s Election Tool (see link for post)

Blogger Outreach: The College Party Analogy (cross posted with Social Studies)

This was my second year attending BlogWorld & New Media Expo. Starting with the opening keynote on Friday, it was clear 2008 is the year marketers are formally staking their claim on social media. As more of us realize the power, permeance and influence social media has on both our clients and personal brand, the opportunities for creative, experimental, influential and fun (!) campaigns continue to present themselves.

Presented by industry guru Dave Taylor, the Executive and Entrepreneur Opening Keynote featured his “State of the Blogosphere.” As Dave traced the method of storytelling to the beginning of civilization, I appreciated his comments about bias and subjectivity – two of the biggest arguments we face regarding social media — tracing back to the first blush of communication.

As expression evolved — from Anne Frank’s diary to spray painted graffiti, blogs to social networks — Dave reminded us the future of social media is linked to the past and has its roots in basic 1:1 communication.

I have eight posts worth of takeaways to share from the conference, but I’ll start with something you can put into use today. This past weekend, Dave was first among many to talk about blogger outreach: answering the new age question, “How do I pitch bloggers?”

Most organizations (including ours) have an official blog outreach policy and plenty of expertise to share when it comes to sharing client messages with online advocates.

But the analogy Dave, Jason Falls and others were sharing – while not necessarily new or cutting-edge – will hopefully help you put your outreach responsibilities into perspective…

A best practice for engaging with your clients’ online stakeholders is for you, personally, to already have a relationship with them (yep, just like traditional PR 101). That means reading their blog, leaving comments, sending them e-mail feedback and tips when it’s not linked to a client. Because you are a valuable member of the community and the blogger (and his/her commenters) know you, they will excuse and hopefully welcome a bit of self-promotion or quick client heads-up. The best case if that you’ve knowingly added to the content and conversation at the most strategic time.

The worst case for engaging with bloggers on behalf of a client is finding yourself in a situation where you need to reach out to a blogger cold. You’ve never e-mailed the blogger, and they don’t know you from that businessman from Nigeria offering a lucrative business proposition. You’ve never left a comment on this blog and therefore have no stake or reputation in the community. The worst case is you pop in to naïvely “pitch” the blogger about something they’re not interested in and then disappear again.

The metaphor many were using at BlogWorld is a college party. You know, the kind of get-together where you may know a few people but are still on the lookout for a new friend or that special someone (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Now when you encounter a party, you walk in the door and say “Hi” to the host of the party first. You don’t immediately go up to a group of people talking in a circle, interrupt their conversation and say something like, “Hi, I’m Stingray from Giant Marketing Agency, and this is my client, Soap. Do you use Soap? Check out Soap.com.”

Instead, you walk around the room to get a feel for the party vibe. You may stand in the corner and wait for a break of tactful opportunity — your turn to introduce yourself. Eventually, you may mention where you work or what types of clients you work with, but it’s rarely the first thing you throw out there when meeting new people.

You can imagine the reaction if you walked up to a group of chatting football players and jumped into their conversation with a story about your painted bead collection. Now there will always be exceptions (Coco loves his beads and football), but I hope you can understand the metaphor.

I’ll even take it a step further. You don’t just find yourself at a party. First, you have to know about the party. You may have learned of it via a friend (word of mouth), a formal invitation (perhaps a flyer or e-mail?) or perhaps it was a listed event (calendar). You probably needed directions to get there, and you may have asked around before you showed up to research the dress code, what kinds of people will be attending (athletes? cheerleaders? A/V club?) and you might have prepared some talking points in advance to chat about.

To put it more simply, in the real world (IRL, as we geeks call it), you would do your homework before showing up somewhere you will be expected to communicate –- especially on behalf of a client.

Hopefully this metaphor better helps illustrate that social media outreach is no different than conversations at a party. A common theme at BlogWorld was the new importance of being part of the community in today’s PR.

And while the openness and variety of personalities, styles and opinions often present risks, the opportunity to face and embrace online advocate bias and subjectivity is more than worth the investment.

So get out and join the conversation (and save your beer cup for the next party).

Filed under: Social Media, Social Studies , #bwe08, blogger outreach, blogworld2008, dave taylor, jason falls, socialstudies, Twitter

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Greg Swan

GREG SWAN

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