Reznor (@trent_reznor )says:  “The reason no record label knows how to market anything to new media is they don’t live there. They don’t get it because they don’t use it. What you’ve seen happen with the marketing and presentation of NIN over the last years is a direct result of living next to you, listening to you, consuming with you and interacting with you. Directly. There’s no handlers or PR people here, it’s me and my guys – that’s it. There’s no real plan, even – it’s just trying to do the right thing that respects you the fan, the music, and me the artist. That’s the goal – a mutual and shared respect.”

He is right! In a perfect world he could engage his fans transparently and be free and clear of negative sentiment. But the fact remains- transparency will lead to as much negative as positive. But to combat it, businesses need the resources to answer to both the negative and the positive. Reznor’s comments are nothing more than a call for help- not a white flag!

Here are 5 action items that Trent can do to remedy his troll problem and create a solid foundation fora  true Social Media Strategy Plan:

1. Hire a Social Media Director – I am sure there are a great deal of recent college grads that would kill to put Nine Inch Nails Social Media Director on their resume. I am also sure this person would work on the cheap! They would be in charge of monitoring, responding, engaging, and consistently push/pulling relevant content to Nine Inch Nails. Essentially being the overseer of the NIN brand in Social Media channels. Instead of Trent doing it, this person will carry out  tedious tasks and put the most important content in front of Trent daily to respond to. Everything between the good ideas to negative sentiment!  This essentially removes the trolls and lets Trent focus on making great music. Lastly, this person will work under NIN’s PR folks.
2. Purchase a Social Analytics tool- these tools help track, reply, document and recognize real ROI. For $500-$750 per month a business can have a birds-eye view of their social media presence. I recommend Techrigy – although the marketplace is becoming flush solutions. I would suggest demoing several and deciding what would work best for a music artist.
3. Migrate to Modlife: Because Modlife is fee service for fans to join, it eliminates trolls and allows musicians to create almost their own safe market research community. They can share, test, and interact with passionate fans. My suggestion is to utilize Modlife as a musicians center location, and use Myspace, Twitter, Facebook and Social Bookmarking sites to push information, take information- but most importantly to draw in the “real fans”. The innovators if you will- NIN’s very own market research community. Look no further then what Angels & Airwaves have done here: http://modlife.com/angelsandairwaves Perfect for NIN!
4. Create a Recognition Rewards Program- Use meet and greets as a way to build a group of online body guards. Dangling a “meet Trent Reznor opportunity” is a stellar reward for being a pro-NIN presence that pushes the band in the social channels. This is enabling and empowering and can be done with nothing more than a bit of organizing and a brief shining of the spotlight on these do-gooders electronically. It is amazing what a simple tweet from rock star can do from an ego perspective.
5. Build a Content Schedule & Engage- Start doing chats on TinyChat. Conduct monthly webinars and podcasts where fans get to hear new material or offer feedback on what artists NIN should tour with. The content schedule should be focused on the business goals of  fan feedback and innovation to their voice. When you give your customers what they want, you will win their business repeatedly. Once again, the content schedule is geared towards enabling, empowering and organizing NIN’s own market research community. It is no different then what Barack Obama did to get elected.

My life as a social media consultant consists of creating plans such as these-although much more in-depth than this blog. But every business is different in their needs, desires, and objectives. In fact, how each business measures ROI is vastly different.  In Trent Reznor’s case, his ROI is to be able to engage Social Media effectively so he can listen to his customers (the fans) and innovate his music based on their feedback. His desire is no different than a billion dollar corporate empire- to be able to go direct to consumer with new products-thus lowering marketing churn, while having a product that is created based on the voice of the customer. Trent just needed a strategy plan….

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Thank you to numerous Twitter folk who made recommendations on what apps I should put into lights in my humble little solar system. Pondering….I came to the conclusion that this mission was far too large for one episode. Instead I am going to break it down into a trilogy with an eye on 5 in each post.

I set up three rules:

1. No reading anyone else’s blog posts on iPhone apps!
2. Limit of only 5. Any more than 5 bullets is blog over kill!
3. Find new apps-not pointing out the Twitterfon’s of the world. We all know the “must haves”.

With that I was off!

I decided to focus first on the Social Media & Social Networking apps. With all of my Social Media Consulting clients, I make the recommendation to have any staff who is working on a destination community to have an iPhone. After all, when you are the mayor of a community, you should be wired as much as possible. So it made complete sense to focus on a blog I can refer my clients to:

1. Nimbuzz – Allows you to chat with your co workers, peers, partners and customer on AIM, Facebook, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, MySpace, Skype and Yahoo.  It will also provided VoIP calls via Wi-Fi. Keep in mind that Skype requires Wi-Fi as well.
2. iCloseBy WiFi – A location-based way of meeting folks  whom are accessing the same WiFi hotspot as you.  It is a great tool in that it doesn’t discriminate on what laptops and other WiFi enabled devices the users are using. This is a great way to break the ice with locals and share the social channels you are passionate about. You never know what serendipitous business opportunity exists within your friendly neighborhood coffee shop!
3. ShoZu – Love this app. It allows you to work with well over 50 different social entities -Facebook, Flickr, Twitter being the big guys! Whatever channel you decide to tread in, this app is likely to tee up easy access.
4. Evernote- Note taking goes mobile and social. Share it to the people that matter as soon as you are done. You can even record audio. I haven’t been able to figure out if you can podcast yet. But I will comment here if I am suave enough to figure it out!
5. OmniFocus-If you are a community manager, this is a must have app for task management. I have started using it when I am on the road with clients. It keeps me on task with my “gotta do’s” by EOD. If you are a project manager-this is for you as well.

In the end, all of us Social Media types have loaded our laptops with the tools we need to be successful. Chances are, we also are under the impression we have the most  pimped out  iPhone of them all. But in case you haven’t heard of these “off the beaten path apps”-give them a whirl! I have little doubt they will make your life easier.

My next post will focus on the Real Estate industry and how iPhone apps will have a game changing effect! Till then-live long and prosper!

I had to show this fantastic Photoshop work!

Home- The General page harbors access to my blog page, weather, stocks, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, and Twitter. Although I use Digsby for my IM, Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter needs, it is nice to be able to click on a tab and see all services from a birds-eye view.

Social Media – I have a social Media tab that holds all of the fine folks I follow on a daily basis. I additionally added the RSS feeds of keywords that are of interest to me on Twitter. I highly recommend this course of action through: http://search.twitter.com I also, have key Twitter folk RSS’d.

News – I love the CNN news widget. I also have a FOX widget up to get the conservative perspective. Slate has a stellar widget that is quirky and different. I am also very fond of WorldNews.com, and immediately added Whitehouse.gov to watch what Obama is up too. I have a Reddit widget that keeps me informed of hot topics being bookmarked. Wallstreet Journal widget is there too!

Sports- I have the ESPN Widget and the RSS feeds for the Mets, Giants, Islanders, Celtics and Duke Basketball from Sportspyder.com

TV, Movies & Music – I won’t bore you with what I have here. But I have organized all the nerdy sites I frequent into one spot. One nerd site I should mention is Aintitcool.com. If you are a movie buff it is a fun site that is not politically correct.

Tools & Technology – I loved the Wired and Techcrunch widgets. I have a few other RSS feeds that are interesting to me, such as platform providers, etc.

The net sum is:

1. The assortment of widgets that Netvibes provides is robust and they all work splendidly.
2. It takes a 30 to 45 minutes to set up.
3. I save at least an hour a day being able to read only what I want- instead of having to surf to see what is new at the destinations that are important to me.
4. As I mentioned earlier, Netvibes is the perfect birds-eye view of what is important to me online.

I hope this recommendation helps folks become more productive with their day! It certainly has deeper functionality than Google Reader does. Thanks AJ!

1. Create an Ideas area  like Dell’s Ideastorm. This can be open to anyone who wants to share ideas that will help America get out of this financial mess. As I mentioned in the video, it could be sharing something another government has had success implementing. Or maybe there is a brilliant nugget in the mind of some 10 year old political whiz kid. Either way- the “we” has been proven to be smarter than the few. Might as well give the masses the vehicle to present the American Government with the nuggets that could really instill “change”.
2. Events- Conduct live Chats with Senators and key members of the Government. The purpose of these chats is to give people a chance to ask tough questions. Obviously not all of the questions can be answered. But within those questions is valuable Intelligence. Intelligence the Government can use to understand what is really on their citizens minds. For the citizen, it is a way to be heard. For the very reason ESPN is successful using sports chats, so too will the Government. Use Recognition Rewards to drive participation.
3. Instill empowerment through the use of Recognition Rewards- Great participation should be rewarded in the form of their very own blog post on the WhiteHouse.gov website. Also, Barack Obama is very popular right now. I am sure there are hoards of folks that would share their thoughts for a right to dine with the big guy!
4. Live Chats During Speeches & Press Conferences – This gives folks a reason to come back to the community. But for the same reasons outlined above, it will give the Government an unfiltered look in the minds of the citizen. It is also would be great if 3 questions from the chat are asked after the speech or during the press conference. I never understood why the media was the only people allowed to ask questions. And I understand that many of the questions are seeded questions. Let’s put an end to that! Every day I get asked questions from customers off the cuff and I am no worse for wear. Government officials are paid a hell of a lot more money then I- they can handle it!
5. Profiles – Each Citizen can create their own profile. This way they can favorite the topics that are important to them. They can track the progress of the agendas right from their profile. They will also be able be ranked as citizen, and will be able to set reminders to return for events that are important to them. Lastly, they can buddy up with other citizens to create and organize events to push the causes or candidates that they are passionate about.

In the end this takes money. Tax money! But  much of this can be outsourced away from the Government. Community management and moderation can be had! Just ask me and I will send Barach & Co. in the right direction. Come to think of it- wasn’t Macon Phillips hired to be the Director Of New Media for the Obama Administration?

Chris’s kudos to @northernchick immediately made me think back to Barack Obama’s victory speech in November when the name David Plouffe was met with a roar of approval.

What is the connection? Obama is now the most powerful man in the world while Mr. Brogan is your friendly neighborhood social networking guru. But the connection is simple-both men are master motivators. They reward great contributions through recognition, acknowledgement and a boost to the ego. It is psychology 101- rewarding acceptable behavior will stimulate similar behaviors in the future.

The fundamental success of both business and entertainment social networking projects revolve around the leaders of the projects ability to stoke the egos of its members to contribute and stay engaged. Forget hammering the value proposition of the community home (that falls in line with brand recognition-a post for another day), once they are involved- how does one keep the members engaged and empowered? It starts with empowerment and recognition. All great leaders are able to rally, empower and motivate. Both Obama and Chris Brogan are successful in the same way.

If you are starting down a social networking path or having limited success with your existing project, start thinking about a Recognition Rewards program. I will have future posts about how those rewards programs can motivate and empower the egos of your constituents. Before you know it, you might be as motivational as the fine chaps I referenced in this post and acheiving the business objectives you set out to conquer.