Sep 18 2009

Jackasses, F-Bombs and Incivility

September 18, 2009 – 7:55 am

Guest Post by Mike Mulvihill, president of CRT/tanaka

 

 

Much ado has been made this week about America’s growing lack of civility.  Kanye dissing Taylor Swift; South Carolina Congressman Wilson calling our President a liar; Serena Williams dropping the f-bomb; Obama himself calling Kanye a jack-ass.  Is this something new?  Has incivility been escalated by social media because now we can – and should – say what is real whenever we feel like it?

The seeds of negativity have been sown for years.  Abortion, religion, politics – well before social media emerged from its primordial ether, we’ve been practicing a lack of tolerance on things we don’t all agree on.  But social isn’t helping the issue. 

 As Geoff Livingston said earlier this week, it is easier to grab a following around negative commentary than a positive post simply because we’re human.  I don’t disagree (in Shakespearean times that double negative was meant to show emphasis) that social media makes it easier to be uncivil, to sow negativity as we hide behind our keyboards. So like most things social, it exacerbates a situation for good as well as bad. 

 I’m not a conservative, but I like some of Thomas Sowell’s writings (see his columns link) – though perhaps less so as both of us have aged.  One column he penned a few years back asked, “What has happened to debate?”  You know, you have a point of view.  I listen to your POV.  I disagree, but perhaps I learn something by listening.  And vice versa. 

 I feel like we have de-evolved to the point where if I disagree with your point of view, it is incumbent upon me to tear you and your position down, to denigrate, annihilate and alienate – sometimes the more viciously the better.  And that’s a whole lot easier to do sitting behind my keyboard at the coffee shop than when I can hear or see my adversary.

 So what’s the point?  Let’s decide to re-evolve.  How about posting a point of view without a cheap shot?  Accepting that we may agree to disagree – and that’s OK.  Step away from the keyboard.  Step away from the abyss of the jackass.  Despite war, global warming and ACORN brothel loans, the world will be a better place.  If nothing else, you may actually feel better about yourself.  It’s a start.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (7)
Sep 17 2009

FourSquare Makes Its Move

September 17, 2009 – 10:09 am

blogpotomac_rgbweb.jpg One of the three main topic areas of the Final BlogPotomac this October 23 is the evolving mobile web. I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing with Valeria Maltoni, and the uber hot GPS based social FourSquare came up. In my mind, FourSuare is the epitome of the future, mobile social web. From the interview:

[Four Square is] a location based social network that lets you tell your friends what restaurants, clubs and other sites you are visiting. Unlike its larger competitors BrightKite and Loopt, it seems to have caught fire here in the U.S. and is providing a Yelp-like referral to what the hot spots are.

Further, it recommends places based on which ones are most frequented. This is particularly helpful for travelers who are not in their native local network.

If I was a local business, I would see Four Square as the ideal type of mobile word of mouth. How can I get people to say they visited my place of business on Four Square? This is the Holy Grail of location-based mobile marketing, and creating applications and intelligent ways to get people to use their mobile phone in reference to your business while they are there is just smart marketing.

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FourSquare is smart in that it not only lets people check in, but it also rewards them for frequenting certain places. Loyal customers feel a sense of pride at being dubbed the Mayor of their favorite restaurant or haunt. In fact, you often see people lauding their Mayoral status on Twitter or Facebook.

If you maintain a physical public place, it’s impossible to pay for this kind of mouth! But you can encourage it, say by providing free drinks or goods to your mayor.

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Most importantly, from an adoption standpoint, FourSquare just released its Google Android app, and has Blackberry and Windows apps in development. Complimenting the iPhone app is smart, as it fosters interoperability between disparate operating systems and positions FourSquare to dominate the mobile location social network market. The company is also trialling in a few dozen cities, but is planning wider crowdsourced expansion in the near future.

It’ll be interesting to watch this hot mobile network as it develops. I’m looking forward to more mobile, local and social conversations at the Final BlogPotomac, too.

Here are some additional Tweets on FourSquare:

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (9)
Sep 16 2009

Why Seth Godin Needs to Do Field Work

September 16, 2009 – 10:46 am
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Perhaps you’ve seen the controversy over Seth Godin’s “The problem with non” post. Nonprofit leaders like Beth Kanter and and Peter Panepento are rightly calling Godin’s position to task.

Beyond the whole purple cow argument about the name of the biz (zzzzz, PASS), the real issue is calling to task nonprofits for not engaging in social media, that the mainstream commercial market is surpassing the cause industry. He points out new brands are rising up to take their place, but that the traditional nonprofit industry has taken a pass. In general he laments, “When was the last time you had an interaction with a non-profit (there’s that word again) that blew you away?”

My response to this is when was the last time Seth Godin did actual work in the field? Because I work with both nonprofit and commercial entities, and I can tell you which sector is getting it faster: Nonprofits. Much faster. If Seth did actual field work — instead of promoting his personal brand and ideas — he might have practical experience to cite in his lament. Instead, we have an uninformed opinion.

Consider the Humane Society’s efforts or LiveStrong’s or Live Earth’s and the National Wildlife Federation. These are all big brands that I’ve talked to in the past two weeks! Then there’s the CDC actively engaging to combat H1N1.

Further, in the 100 Twitter brands Seth cites as an example, almost all of them are personalities or media outlets. Only a handful are actual brands, mainstays like Dell and Whole Foods.

Seth’s defense in a comment on a critical post by CauseWire’s Tom Watson :

I was actually overwhelmed with mail (about ten times more than I usually get) and every single piece from a frustrated person inside of a non-profit.

Well, of course you were, Seth. When we complain, all of the complainers get on board; when we focus on the positive, we are joined by the positive. And everyone in social knows that negative comments — while often representing a minority — tend to greatly outweigh the positive.

But, in reality big nonprofit brands are engaging, and while they are struggling — just like the rest of American entities — successes are emerging. In reality, I see them making a lot more progress than Fortune 500s. They have much less for-profit baggage, like hard-selling, or a psychotic need to control the message for brand image purposes.

Why We Need to Practice

Seth’s erroneous post demonstrates an increasing weakness I’ve seen in his writing (in fact, I took him out of my reader for this reason), and other senior executives in the business. Without actual field experience people are just citing ideas. So what’s the difference between a thought leader and a so-called social media expert if neither of them have pragmatic field experience?

Parroting and/or reporting what you see on the Internet does not equate to actual savoir faire. Nor does it make someone fit to offer insights or counsel.

In his book Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy noted that he always maintained one account to keep his skills fresh. It’s for this very reason that I, too, stay engaged with actual field work. With such a rapidly moving media landscape, how can any of us claim to be of service to our organizations, clients and readers — much less “thought leaders” — unless we are doing actual work.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (58)
Sep 15 2009

Live Earth: Love, the Climate

September 15, 2009 – 9:45 am

Cross-posted on my personal blog, GeoffLivingston.com.

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As part of the social media team at Live Earth, I am thrilled to announce the “Love, the Climate” campaign launching today, and continuing through Friday, the 25th (landing page coming later this week). Before the Climate Bill goes to the Senate floor, Live Earth is calling upon Americans to set aside partisan politics, and join together for a fun, positive and mind?changing effort. For more information on the Climate Bill, see this Huffington Post article.

love_climate2.jpgAce Blogger and Thought Leader David Armano agreed to help, and created this fun alternate logo for the effort.

We need your help, too! Please, demonstrate your optimism and faith. Make our senators feel like environmental rock stars. Encourage and motivate them to support a greener future!

Here are three ways you can Love the Climate:

• Leave us a voicemail thanking a senator for improving the world and letting everyone know how much you love the climate. Call 347.422.6392 now to leave your message on the Live Earth message line (this is not a toll?free number) or go to www.liveearth.org and we’ll call you! Live Earth will highlight the best voicemails on our website and forward the best ones to the senators to whom they’re addressed.

• Add to the “Love, The Climate” Facebook Page with a note, a message, a photo, or a link to content that shows how fantastic the climate will be after senators have taken action by passing the Climate Bill.

Here’s my cheesy video ;)

• Make a video for the climate demonstrating to senators how amazing life has become in a future where the environment is protected. Submit your video at video.liveearth.org. Live Earth will promote the most creative entries, and forward the best videos to the senators to whom they’re addressed.

Your creativity can help you as well as the climate: all participants who register for the campaign will be entered into random drawings for one of our awesome “Climate Love Packs,” as well as our grand prize, a Schwinn road bike. In order to be eligible for the prize drawings, you must submit an entry form to Live Earth at http://joinliveearth.org/page/s/lovetheclimate.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (3)
Sep 14 2009

Final BlogPotomac Happy Hour Set for Busboys and Poets

September 14, 2009 – 11:35 am
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The final BlogPotomac will begin with a happy hour in Washington, DC proper at the 5th Street location of Busboys and Poets. Joining us for the final happy hour will be one of DC’s finest networking organizations, DC Media Makers, cofounded by Women Grow Business Editor Jill Foster and NPR’s Social Media Wonk Andy Carvin. Join BlogPotomac speakers as they mingle with some of DC’s finest and brightest social media minds for what promises to be a fun evening.

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sponsor-novalabel.jpg Thanks to our kick-off event sponsor NovaLabel, Inc., hor’ d’ouvres willbe provided for free. Attendees will have to pay for beverages. The event begins at 6 p.m., and ends when it ends! You can register on Eventbrite!

Introducing Our Hosts

Amber Naslund had a conflict and could not attend. In addition, I decided to sit this one out and simply manage the event as opposed to manage it and cohost it, too. As a result, we have two new hosts, people that regionally represent the cross-pollination of social across our communications industry: Shonali Burke and DC Hughes.

Headshot personal small.jpgShonali Burke is the IABC-accredited principal of her own firm and adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University’s Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Her 13+ years of experience include a stint as the ASPCA’s Vice President for Media & Communications, where she instituted its award-winning measurement program, and both small and large agencies on both coasts of the United States. In 2007, PRWeek named her to its inaugural “top 40 Under 40” list of U.S. public relations professionals. She blogs at Waxing UnLyrical, under the watchful eyes of Chuck, Suzy Q. and Lola, her three rescue dogs.

2_dchughes_by_m_andriano-1.jpg D.C. Hughes is a Photojournalist/Multimedia Producer for Lemur News Images and Lemur News Audio (and a principal of the corporate parent DLCI). Before that he was a Marketing Specialist/Brand Planner (ADSW) for the State of Maryland, Military Deparment, Maryland Army National Guard Headquarters, Baltimore, MD. He has also worked as a Web/Multimedia Producer for EEI Communications, Alexandria, VA and as a
Brand Planner/Information Designer for Boston Gas. D.C. also served with the U.S. Army for 14 years, including a stint with the Special Forces Group.

Register for the Final BlogPotomac here. Full details about the Final Blog Potomac are available on the main BlogPotomac site. You can also follow BlogPotomac on Twitter.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (14)

Open Letter to PR Exec X

September 14, 2009 – 8:07 am
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Dear X:

People say we’re the same, an ironic statement given how often we disagree. Our polarized views on communication leave me wondering if organizations will ever be able to understand their stakeholders, and develop true relationships with them.

It seems we both want the same thing: Better outcomes, just our methods are so different. In fact, we do things so differently that I have often given up on you. As life so often does, it’s when I give up that you seem to show a little promise; that maybe, just maybe, you’ll get the concept of open, honest and transparent communications.

If my time were to end on this earth today, I would not do so with my back turned to you. So I am writing this letter. You may not be ready for it. You may never be. That’s OK.

Brand image is important, and in this world of many media forms — established and new — manifesting a good image can be quite a challenge. Your method to address this has been message control. But I want to tip you off on a little secret. It has much less to do with posturing, positioning, controlling, and saying the right thing, and much more to do with simple, right actions. In fact, if you focus on communicating organizational actions and initiatives, and specifically how they impact your stakeholders, then you may be surprised how strong your image is.

I know how scary this is. By its very nature, the human condition will cause all organizations to be fallible. That means our images are subject to self deprecation, or worse, permanent damage at our own hands.

Lord knows my own personal fallibility has caused me great pain on and offline. But being honest about those fallacies, seeking to correct them when I could, being willing to accept progress instead of perfection, and yes, upholding the many assets I bring to the table has allowed me to by and large overcome those fallacies. And so it is possible to move forward in spite of my fears.

You must be thinking, “But, what about those naysayers, the ones who are still angry?” There will always be detractors, those who do not agree with us. It’s impossible to please everyone, and in fact trying to do so will only make you crazy. Instead, focusing on your positive actions and mindfully addressing errors will allow you to fortify the majority, and even attract additional allies.

Courage, my friend, is the ability to act in accordance with one’s beliefs in spite of fear and criticism. In this brave new digital world where word of mouth can spread like wildfire, courage is needed. With courage and a willingness towards honesty, openness and transparency, your communications with stakeholders will strengthen. In fact, you will be amazed by this brave, new world.

But if you keep trying to make these new tools play by your old rules, I fear for you. Not that negativity will happen, but instead continued poor relations with your stakeholders. They see through the contrived imagery, and they reward you with silence, contempt, and once in a while, public scorn.

Worse, because you publish “social” content you may actually think you are successful. That’s the saddest part. The relationships you have will be shallow and vain. You will never know how great your relationships could be.

So, in parting my friend, please consider your actions and not your image. The image will follow your actions. Go forth courageously with progress in mind and a willingness to build relationships. And yes, if you stumble, correct your wrongs openly and keep your assets in mind. You may be surprised how people will become attracted to your strengths and look beyond your shortcomings.

May your faith grow with every step you take,

Geoff

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in PR Industry Trends | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (44)
Sep 10 2009

The Zen of Tweeting

September 10, 2009 – 7:50 am

Given it’s Twestival weekend (see those of you attending DC Twestival), I decided to share a little experiment I’m engaging in on Twitter. Specifically, I’ve been incorporating Bhuddhist ethics into daily Twitter activity to create a better, more mindful experience. Here’s how:

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (6)
Sep 8 2009

Case Foundation Post: Bridging Between On and Offline

September 8, 2009 – 5:36 pm

The Case Foundation launched its Gear Up for Giving: Social Media Tutorials for Nonprofits initiative this week. As part of the series, the Foundation is featuring “Giving Gurus,” including me as the opening act this Thursday, Sept. 10, at 1 EST. To prep for the session and your questions, I was asked to kick off a discussion via a blog post. Here’s a preview…

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With causes, we seek to create movements using word of mouth tools, and in particular, tools within social media. It’s very easy to get stuck in the mindset of a single track effort, such as Twitter, or even an online multichannel effort that involves several tools. Yet, to be truly successful cause-based movements bridge social media, traditional media, as well as good, old-fashioned, brick and mortar offline life.

No one eats their dinner and says to their partner or self, “Hmm, I think I’ll go play on social media for an hour tonight.” They just go online and surf. Social sites are part of their lives, but so is their favorite magazine, the office bulletin board, tschatkes they pick up at events that they attend, perhaps church or synagogue, etc., etc.

A movement means they do more than click on a tweet! They bring it into their life and talk about it. They tell their friends, both on and offline, and their friends tell more friends!

At the heart of creating movements are word of mouth marketing (WOMM) principles. Social media represents just part of the mix; some — not all — of the tools that facilitate conversations and discussion about our special movements. Andy Sernovitz in his soon to be released entertaining light read, “What Is Word of Mouth Marketing,” notes tools are just part of the five Ts of WOMM. Those Ts also include Talkers, Topics, Taking Part and Tracking.

Read the whole post, including a case study about Bat Nha Monastery on the Case Foundation blog. And if you feel so inclined, please participate in the discussion on Thursday. Here’s how.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (2)

WIRED’s Chris Anderson Preps DC for Free

September 8, 2009 – 8:00 am

9877eec6f12a43f0919ecf13c4b9f460 The first-ever GrowSmartBiz Conference in DC this September 29 will feature  keynote speaker Chris Anderson, of WIRED, The Long Tail and most recently, Free fame! As part of the Network Solutions team on the event, I got to participate in an Anderson interview, and asked him how his principles apply to small businesses and nonprofits.

Before I highlight some of Anderson’s answers, a little business..  If you are interested in attending the conference (which has tons of great content), save a ton of cash and get two registrations for $99.  The offer is only good Wednesday, September 9 from 12 a.m. EST to 11:59 p.m. EST. REGISTER NOW by using the promo code: GSB999 and clicking here! After 9/9, friends of the Buzz Bin can get one ticket for $99 by using this code: Potomac929 (for BlogPotomac).

The following answers are just a few of Anderson’s responses. You can enjoy the whole Chris Anderson interview here.

Q: How long should a business wait before its models start catching fire with its stakeholders? Basically, is there a point where you should look at it and say, ‘hey, this isn’t working’?

CA: I think it’s really difficult to applYou can get the whole interview here.y general models. The one thing we’ve really learned about business today is that no business, no market, no community is alike, no product is alike. You really need to think for yourself and come up with what’s right for your own products. I don’t know what stakeholders mean. Is that your customers, is that your investors, is it your employees, is it your wife?

Q: I would say your customers. Say you employ a free model, and you’re a small business, and you’re about three months down the road and you it’s just not working. Do you think that you really should evaluate that, or is it just because people are not used to this kind of thing.

CA: Again, I have a bunch of companies on the side. I’ll talk with that hat on rather than the author. So we do this all the time. The two companies that I’ll talk about in particular, one is BookTour.com, which we just sold to Amazon, and one is 3D Robotics, which is a robotics company.

We deploy about a product a week on these companies, and no product works right out of the gate. Sometimes the product needs to be modified; sometimes the product needs to be marketed better; sometimes the product needs to be augmented; sometimes the price needs to be changed; sometimes it’s a complete disaster and we need to eliminate it entirely; sometimes the product works but it’s a tech-support hassle so it’s not economic; I do this every day and I can’t answer that question.

Q: Chris, we have a question from one of our folks on Twitter, Nedra Weinreich. She asks, “How would you apply some of the principles from the book to nonprofit or government?”

CA: Well, those are two very different questions. I mean government is based on a variation of free, which is to say that… indirect subsidized. So our taxes subsidize government services which are then provided for free. So we’re paying, but we’re not paying directly for the services that we get by and large. An indirect subsidy is what I call a cross subsidy in the book.

Depending on how progressive your particular tax regime is, it may be the few subsidizing the many. I wouldn’t call that a business. So that’s an example of redistribution of money so that product and services can feel free to many people, but I don’t think of it as a business model.

When it comes to non-profits I guess one of the best examples is associations, which tend to serve new members, attending membership organizations. They basically tend to support their biggest members, their smaller members less well and nonmembers not at all.

And their challenge is always getting more members. So the question is, if you can tern some more of your services into software, and you can offer those for free to nonmembers, that becomes a form of membership acquisition. That becomes a form of marketing for the service.

It allows you to (a) explain to people what you do better so that more people become members, and serve those smaller members better rather than neglect the small guys in favor of the big ones. So it basically allows you to get bigger and do a better job of serving the community by again using software economics to serve the more marginal, besides the membership market.

You can enjoy the whole Chris Anderson interview here.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (5)
Sep 3 2009

Why Environmentalists Continue to Fail

September 3, 2009 – 7:28 am

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While beautiful with rings of lilly pads, this photo of Cub Lake demonstrates the effects of global warming on Rocky Mountain National Park. On both sides you can see the dying trees that are present throughout the region. More details on the topic: tinyurl.com/n3enko.

A few months ago I wrote a post dubbed, “Green + WIRED = Sexy” discussing many of the ills facing environmental communications. In the post, “eco-marketing” to date is criticized for its failures in compelling people to adapt green lifestyles. There is no greater example of this than the stumbling and bumbling environmental orgs seem to be mired in currently. 

With the Waxman Markey bill coming to Senate floor in the next month, green orgs can’t rally the American public, according to the Washington Post.  Their efforts consisting of tickers and panels about climate change represent more of the same old, school-marmish, conservation finger wagging. Meanwhile, conservative oil and coal lobbies are drawing crowds by giving away T-shirts, and lunches, and hosting concerts.

Beyond simple common sense, the tragedy lies in America’s inability to participate in global climate change movements such as the  Kyoto accords.  With another UN convention slated for Copenhagen this Fall, will the United States go in sans a new environmental bill?

If environmental organizations – and for that matter green technology companies — sincerely want their ideas and products accepted by the American public, it’s time to take off the gloves. Marketing means making your ideas attractive, and right now, green is performing like a 13 year old boy at his first dance.

Saving the world because of climate change reality should be obvious, but people are human. We need more to succeed. That means getting into the actual discipline of marketing products and services, delivering meaningful value propositions, and creating ideas and products that stir people’s hearts. Otherwise, we really will need to wait until the crisis accelerates and threatens human populations across the world.

As a communicator, I find this problem to be fascinating. It’s an issue many of us will be called upon to resolve over the next decade. Are you ready?

Live Earth is planning an effort to help get Waxman Markey passed. If you are interested in receiving updates first hand, join us on the Friends of Live Earth site.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (16)