5 Tips On How Business Professionals Should Engage Socially! November 2, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Best Practices, Random Schmoozing.Tags: focus, humble, Niche, serendipity
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This question was posed to me on Friday night: “How does a professional ethically use Social Media effectively?” Then as fate would have it, an experience on how to not be socially active shined like a big flashing beacon – and here we are.
The following are 5 suggestions to consider when traveling social media channels:
Stay focused-I try to be as human as possible with my posts and talk about Social Media from a bird’s eye view. However it is important to be a real person and talk about hot topics (Bubble Boy, H1N1, Sports, Movies, etc). But for the most part, stay on task with at least 60% of your posts being on topic. However, don’t be a bot and beat your chest incessantly about your product, brand or what you are peddling. Find a balance between being on topic and a real live human. Warts and all!
Be humble- I think it is safe to say that self love is a very undesirable human trait. With a fair amount of success in the Social Media space it is easy to get a giant melon! Don’t do it. No matter how successful you are, be humble and stay accessible, even if you think someone is small potatoes. Social Media has leveled the playing field, even the smallest marketing budgets can be successful in 2009, and allowing your brand to be elitist is the kiss of death!
Be open to serendipity- say yes often –A few years ago Jim Storer used the word “serendipity” as a benchmark for Twitter. The amount of serendipitous business opportunities that land in his lap was how he qualified the amount of time he spends on Twitter. I agree. I have met some truly fantastic people. Most of which are open to networking and learning about new opportunities. While some, well let’s just say they have fallen prey to No.2 and have let their ego get in the way! So say yes often, meet people, share with people, send out opportunities to connect with complete strangers, most of them won’t be strangers any more.
Don’t be judgmental – The social space is still in its infant stages and not all professionals or businesses are going to get it right out of the gate. Don’t turn your nose up at them, and don’t force your opinion on them, help them! Be ready to answer questions when they ask. It is really easy to judge in these channels and I can tell you it is also another kiss of death. Serendipitous business opportunities will close quicker than you can say “serendipitous” if you are judgmental.
Engage as much as you share- You need to comment, share and engage with others as much as you share your own unique content. I am guilty of this and have to actively make sure to not be a 2000 marketer. Making time to comment, read and engage is something you need to be cognitive of. Commit the time!
I hope this is helpful for new companies and a good reminder for the veterans out there. Feel free to share your suggestions in the comments. Happy chatting!
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What Is Your Social Media “Hot Spot”- What is Your Worn 6? October 28, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Random Schmoozing.Tags: Constant contact, data, Hot Spot, social media
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Over the weekend I travelled home to Vermont and stumbled upon this picture. Why is it relevant? Why should you care?
One of the lessons I have learned over the last 10 months is to let the data dictate your course of action. Excuse me while I put in my pocket protector and slide on my thick rim glasses. There we go! Yes! Data is indisputable! What I have found with many businesses is that they feel the need to build a community or engage socially, but do so without looking at their business need first. What is the data telling you? What products are down and why? How can SM help spike those numbers? Has your competition eaten into your market share? How can your social media presence help you suck back the lost market and then some? I could go on for hours with questions like these!
The worn out 6 is a metaphor for being the hot spot for all business. In the case of the Chittenden Bank in Chelsea VT, we learned that a large percentage people take $60.00 out of the ATM per visit. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how I came to this conclusion, knowing all ATM’s spit out money in multiples of $20. But that kind of epiphany has happened to me several times upon looking at data for companies. The data will tell you the who, what, how and why. Data a lot of times shines the spotlight on where you need to engage socially, as brightly…as…well…the missing 6 in the picture above.
Confused on where to engage? Start with the traditional marketing data. Simple things like what are the items being clicked on in Constant Contact (or any mailing list service you use). Research the industry by keywords, what are the keywords most prevalent in the Social Media channels? These are just one of many actions you can take to research. I am happy to talk to you further about how to find your sweet spot!
OPINION: Social Media Should Not Replace Traditional Marketing October 23, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Random Schmoozing, Thought Leadership.Tags: business process, investment, mashable, Resource Allocation, social media, unique content
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I have said this line to a number of executives of late, and they are “Social Media helps make your traditional marketing more effective! It is supposed to complement and enhance your traditional marketing campaigns, not replace them!”
Look- the economy is lousy! With a lousy economy, business executives are always looking to cut costs. But cutting back on traditional marketing in favor of an engaging SM is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Social Media is an investment of resource allocation! SM takes planning! SM takes man power. It takes unique content. Traditional marketing is the vehicle by which you can deliver the good work you are doing in the social avenue.
I wanted to nip this in the bud now! Social Media is an investment, not a cost cutting maneuver! It can be a cost cutting maneuver if engaged successfully. For example; many companies have been able to shorten their speed to market with new products, within social media channels. Quick sales and new revenue in a fraction of the time traditional marketing takes! Other companies have let the users answer customer service questions, and many times been even more helpful than a normal customer service representative would be. The results? Saving on customer service costs! Again, these are not examples of successfully cutting traditional marketing, but rather enhancements to business process and marketing efforts.
For more case studies visit the fine chaps at Mashable!
Have a great weekend everyone!
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5 Alternative Social Analytics Solutions To Radian 6 & Techrigy October 21, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Social Networking Technology.Tags: Brand reputation, Buzzlogic, Nielsen NetRatings, Radian6, scoutlabs, Social Analytics, Techrigy, The Search Monitor, yacktrack
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It is 6AM and I am already a third of the way through a pot of coffee. What is early occasion? Brand awareness tools! Thrilling right? Well actually – yes! For many executives, being able to show their brand penetrating the market is vital. So for the last few days I have been researching and playing around with some of the cheaper Brand Reputation tools for those companies with smaller budgets.
NOTE: Let me preface this post by saying, I am a firm believer that Techrigy and Radian 6 are the market leaders and the best value if your organization has the bucks to spend.
The following are the 5 tools I recommend for those with a slimmer budget:
Scoutlabs- A fantastic little service that I have used in the past. Their official quote is “A powerful, web-based application that tracks social media and finds signals in the noise to help your team build better products and stronger customer relationships.” $100 dollars a month for track your brand in Social Media channels, analytics and a platform that helps you assign actions based on sentiment.
YackTrack – A free service that lets you monitor the chatter of any URL. I use this as a quick reference often. Certainly is not a service that you should hang your hat on as being “the monitor service for you”.
Nielsen NetRatings – I have been monitoring their service for awhile. They have been diligent about rolling out more and more bells and whistles. It is an ala carte approach to buying what you need, as you go. This makes it cost effective and simply works. I would just like to see the website be a little less cumbersome!
The Search Monitor – I feel like this service is great for monitoring not only your brand, but also monitor competitive intelligence and an entire industry. For $99 dollars and a free white page, you can’t go wrong!
Buzzlogic – The buzz around this service is very high. The client testimonials are solid and the customer base is fantastic. There is one issue- the issue of cost is vague! It doesn’t show, which makes me believe that they might fall into the Radian6 and Techrigy category instead of the services above.
Have a suggested service? Leave it in the comments? Are you a analytics solution provider? Same deal, drop your value, website and digits in the comments. Have a great hump day!
VIDEO: The Social Media Guru October 15, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Random Schmoozing.add a comment
This made me laugh, just watch out for the R rated language. If swear words offend you, don’t watch! Thx to @hilarymarsh for posting.
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Chris Brogan & Success-Benchmarks, Business Objectives & Balance! October 14, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Random Schmoozing.Tags: balance, benchmarks, Business Objectives, Chris Brogan, facebook, social media, success, Twitter
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I woke up this morning to this post from Chris Brogan and the accompanied video:
I found myself responding to Chris with “Chris, I think success is finding balance in life between professional success and family time. Just saying…” Success to me is finding balance between professional success and being a good son, significant other, friend, sibling and when I get married- a great husband and father. From there I looked at some official Chris Brogan stats:
- Blog Ranked 11,725 in the world of Alexa.com
- 4,865 friends on Facebook
- 103,325 followers on Twitter
When I look at those numbers I think “critical mass”. Chris has in fact reached critical mass! Any brand that builds and maintains a following such as above is sure to have success. Yes, getting up at 5AM is necessary, but at what cost? Your family, your passions, your time on this earth? It is one thing to work hard (I work many 12 hour days), but I also feel like I do well by the people I care most about- including myself. Which leads me to why I wrote what I wrote to Chris. Success is balance. Not only in life, but also your profession. We live in a complex world where technology is invading our humanity if we let it. It is up to us to focus on the bottom line which is making a living with Social Media being the enabler.
These observations got me thinking about the obvious need to having a brand strategy. Burnout can happen if you don’t set:
- Project benchmarks (what do when you have critical mass)
- Map every action to qualified business objectives
- And once you have critical mass- focus only on your bottom line which is new recognized revenue and reaching attainable business goals
From where I sit, Chris has reached critical mass and should only be spending time where his valuable time is paid for. And maybe that is the case, maybe he is getting up after 3 hours of sleep and the next 18 hours he is getting paid for. Who knows, but the valuable lesson is Social Media takes time, commitment, resources, unique content, a plan (realistic benchmarks and business objectives), execution and inevitably the need to find qualitative business value – or recognized revenue or business opportunities. If you and your organization execute on all of those items, I suspect you will be able to find the balance I alluded to already. If you don’t, your life can be lost upon you and you spend much too much time working when you should be enjoying being young and capable. Trust me, I have worked late and on weekends, more then I would like to admit. I have yet to find the balance either, but I at least can recognize that my success benchmark is balance. A novel goal for any business or professional working with the social business realm!
Do yourself the favor and spend some time with the people closest to you today. As for Chris, best wishes buddy- hopefully we can plan out that Trust Agents book signing at the Andover Bookstore. I know how you love your indie bookstores! Be well and safe travels.
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Poll Results & 3 Reasons Why You Need A Twitter Strategy! October 10, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Best Practices, Case Study, Thought Leadership.Tags: 3 Reasons Why You Need A Twitter Strategy!, Twitter
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We recently conducted a poll asking if companies have a Twitter strategy? 156 votes later, here is the results. 
If you look at the numbers closely you will find that a little more then 67% of the voters either tweet without a reason, don’t tweet at all, or see no reason to in the near future. Yikes! With that being said, if you have a brand- you should be tweeting. Here is why.
1) Courtesy Penn State Facebook , Penn State found:
Twitter Connects People to Brands, Companies, Products, Services
- 20% of the 500,000 tweets “contain requests for product information or responses to the requests” about companies and their products and service
- “People are using tweets to express their reaction, both positive and negative, as they engage with these products and services”
- “Tweets are about as close as one can get to the customer point of purchase for products and services.”
- “. . . people were using tweets to connect with the products”
- Many of the brand comments were positive and not negative as many companies initially anticipated
2) Brand Research- Real Time – Reports are showing that smart shoppers are researching positive and negative sentiment for brands ranging from professional to retail within Twitter. Your brand needs to be answering to the negative sentiment, especially if it is customer service related. I have case studies that back this point and can share.
3) Build Trust-If you are transparent, engaging, and rolling up your sleeves to interact with your customers and prospects- you will garner respect and ultimately trust. It is been proven over and over. Transparency and engagement builds brand awareness and trust. Yep- I have case studies!
So to the little over 100 folks who entered our poll and are not currently engaging Twitter effectively, please keep these 3 points in mind and reconsider utilizing Twitter with a strategy in mind. I am happy to help you set that strategy up based on resources and business objectives.
NOTE: My apologies for the spelling mistakes in this post yesterday. I wrote this while waiting for my car repairs at the dealer and was tardy in spell check. To er is human!
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Social Media, Ernie Harwell & The Future Of Broadcasting October 5, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Random Schmoozing, Social Networking Technology, Thought Leadership.Tags: social media, itunes, Ernie Harwell, Detroit Tigers, Vin Scully, Bob Murphy, Howard Stern, rush Limbaugh, XM Radio, Sirius Radio
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Social Media is going to change the broadcasting landscape in the not too distant future. Recently Detroit Tigers Hall Of fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell, announced that he has inoperable cancer. To a roaring crowd he came out to wish the city of Detroit goodbye and delivered an incredibly classy and moving speech. In the face of the unknown he recently said his “voice had always been around. Day after day! Year after year! Barbecue after barbecue, booming through summer thunderstorms…it’s just there!” His statement about his voice being an icon for Detroit and the surrounding suburbs, got me thinking about technology and Social Media.
Ernie Harwell, Vin Scully and Bob Murphy are the end of “the voice of baseball teams”. As technology becomes more readily accessible, the future of broadcasting will involve several voices calling games. It has already begun with podcasting and a number of notable unknowns growing in notoriety for their commitment to sharing and broadcasting. Look at iTunes, the robust list of radio stations grows daily. I suspect we are just months away from iTunes introducing a number of independent broadcasters to the equation. Eventually, anyone will be able to login their feed.
XM/Sirius Radio has already started a push where the listeners pick the new songs that are “cool”. It is only a matter of time and technology that can organize millions of feeds via keyword that there will be independent broadcasters broadcasting anything and everything. Soon, you can be Rush Limbaugh! Soon your neighbor can be Howard Stern, and as these independents grow a following, they will start getting fantastic guests- thus giving Rush and Howard competition. And yes – anyone can become Ernie Harwell! It will then come down to creativity, content and over time traditional marketing coin.
So what is the point Derek? The point of this post is to hammer home the need and commitment to unique content. From March to September, from 1960-2002, Ernie Harwell broadcast the Detroit Tigers games with his flair. Unique content and a commitment to bringing that content to life is the key to making money in the business world and yes…Social Media! The future of broadcasting will be driven not by the technology (technology is leveling the playing field for everyone to deliver information and content), but by the value and creativity of the content being delivered. Brands of ALL kinds need to find their voice in these channels, add value to the world to help get their brand recognized and maybe even evolve the product to the voice of their prospects and customers. Ernie Harwell is nothing more than an old school community manager for the Detroit Tigers. He delivered the brand in the format technology allowed at the time. Today, technology is allowing brands to deliver their message and value in a multi faceted approach. So the question begs to be asked, who is your organizations Ernie Harwell?
Best wishes Ernie Harwell and his family. May the last days of his life be as fruitful as the first 91 years.
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Expect The Unexpected! October 1, 2009
Posted by derekshowerman in Random Schmoozing.Tags: Professional. Lemons, Set off course, social media
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Something happened today that 6 months ago would have seemed absurd. I am not going to get into it on a professional blog, but what I will do is share this lesson! Expect the best laid plan to go awry! Whether it is in business (social media project) or in your personal life, outside forces or changes in the wind will set you off course. You have two options:
- First- struggle to stay the course!
- Or ride the wave where it takes you
I have found that acceptance of the situation is the way towards righting the ship, while riding the wave will take both your professional life & personal life in exciting new areas. In many ways your social media project isn’t much different than your social life, it is up to you to pay attention to the signs, or in SM’s case- pay attention to the data and analytics. Kind of a nerdy metaphor- but it serves its purpose.
So when life or business throws you lemons/ unexpected challenges- expect it ahead of time, be honest and go with the flow. It makes getting back on track that much easier! Trust me!
Happy October 1st!
