Dec 28 2009

The Battle for the Mobile Internet Begins

December 28, 2009 – 8:10 am

DroidDoes

War was declared a long time ago, but now the battle finally begins in earnest.  2010 marks the year that Google Android and its many manufacturer and carrier partners took on Apple and its exclusive wireless carriers. The final prize?  The primary determinant of the third web boom, the mobile Internet.

All the other handset manufacturers had their chance, but no one, not even Nokia or RIM (Blackberry) could unseat Apple’s dominance.  It took another Internet company to truly bring networked functionality to a second mobile operating system.

Now there are omnipresent signs that the full fledged competition has begun:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been here before.  We all know how the closed MacIntosh OS did against the open Windows OS in the 90s. The question for Jobs is what will you do differently this time?

The long-term impact on communicators cannot be questioned. We will all need to communicate with our stakeholders on two inch screens in meaningful ways.  How that changes best practices for both traditional and social media communications remains to be seen.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (8)
Dec 21 2009

The Lowest Common Denominator

December 21, 2009 – 7:28 am
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by Geoff Livingston

To get social media adopted in a conservative organization — a.k.a. a highly regulated company or government body — one really needs to research the entity’s culture and laws closely (Little Known image by victorrjr). In many cases, the battle comes down to identifying incorrect preconceived notions about social media and then doing an in depth analysis of the many barriers and procedures that will prevent social media from adoption. One must find the lowest common denominator for these barriers and facilitate change.

Change management requires an in depth understanding of the many barriers facing organizations. While there are many general barriers, such as control, one can systematically explore departments that are known to cause problems.

In the past we’ve looked at corporate examples, but this time let’s take a government organization as an example:

  • Elected leadership and management misconceptions
  • Public affairs
  • IT
  • Department responsible for transactions w/ public (i.e. Driver’s License procedures)
  • Legal barriers (Freedom of Information Act, etc.)

In all of these cases, a bare minimum level of what can be communicated via any social tool needs to be identified. Once you know the bottom, you can only move upwards.

The next question must be: Can we fit social within these parameters? Are there any forms of conversations that can occur publicly or behind a private wall that will meet these requirements, yet fulfill and enable the basic function of the organization in its relationships with stakeholders? This sometimes requires out of the box thinking. Instead of the first items on the shelf (Twitter and Facebook), perhaps a collaborative wiki is in order.

Sometimes the barriers are too great. As Brian Ellis likes to say, then management needs to make the decision: Do we want to win in the court of public opinion (with our stakeholders), or do we want to keep the rules in place? While rules are important, sometimes better relationships or collaboration is more important. If so, then procedures need to be modified to raise the bar of the lowest common denominator.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , | Comments (9)
Dec 18 2009

Facebook Privacy Suit Holds Caution for PR

December 18, 2009 – 12:07 am

There is nothing quite like a social media dustup. Most are literal tempests in teapots. Even if the teapot represents 100s of millions of participants, and even if thousands and even millions get all bent out of shape about something, there’s usually not so much as a ripple created in the analog world by events in the rarified world of social networks.

FacebookunderglassI’m wondering if Facebook will be the first social media network to truly jump into the public consciousness by enlivening the debate about privacy. Kashmir Hill’s recent post about the possibility that Facebook may have actually broken the law in its recent privacy setting changes is an intriguing look at the evolution from privacy to wherever it is we are going. People who are in the practice of public relations should be especially concerned about the implicit permission versus the intended permission that users of Facebook and other social networks are granting in their participation on the popular sites.

True/Slant reports on the suit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center [EPIC] and other groups just this week alleging that Facebook violated federal law. The complaint asks the Federal Trade Commission to take a look. And, while the FTC has not been a particular friend of privacy in this regard, it did take a nibble out of Gateway when it changed its policy in 2004.

Megan Erickson in her blog this week also focused on another significant aspect of the Facebook case, noting that the company had pitched the privacy settings as giving users more control when the “recommended” settings actually may signify giving up control. She and others report that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even had some difficulty, allowing his whole profile to go public for a period of time. PC World via Jared Newman gave us this (Facebook Privacy: Zuckerberg’s Profile Unzipped) earlier in the week, based on another True/Slant post.

The principle behind all of this is solid. If I tell you I’m going to keep something private and then later change my policy to make that information public, then I’ve done you wrong. And in that, there is an important caution to public relations professionals — not just the ones who are answering troubling questions on behalf of Facebook and Gateway, but for all of us who are searching for ways to reach our various audiences.

Even in a time when individuals are willing to squander their privacy by appearing on “reality” TV or by revealing TMI on various profile pages, all of us maintain our right to be indignant if the information is used for some corporate gain without our permission. Props to the Public Relations Society of America for taking on anonymous posts in its advocacy program, but it’s time to take the Code one step farther down the path. We must forge a set of standards that address the increasing ability of tools to search the web for personal information and the increasing predilection to put personal information to work to influence those who have not “opted in” to the conversation.

This important ethical issue will only become more complex as situations such as the recent Facebook actions are duplicated across the Web. The continuing, widespread dissemination of personal information is lamented by many, and most have been content to post an indignant comment or just note ”that cow is out of the barn.” Public sharing of private lives has provoked some revisiting of conceptions of privacy, but the mere fact that were are so naively open shouldn’t give license to commercial use of personal information.

The Facebook case and others to follow will set some legal precedents, but the public relations community should move now to address this rapidly evolving challenge.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michael Whitlow | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (16)
Dec 17 2009

Is Santa Real? Searching for Santa in Social Media

December 17, 2009 – 12:24 pm
Photo courtesy of Andre'-Pierre

Photo courtesy of Andre'-Pierre

by Jenn Riggle

Christmas is right around the corner and once again, my nine-year old is asking me the age-old question: “Is Santa Claus real?”

I’ve told her that like every good manager, Santa delegates some of his jobs so he can focus on preparing for Christmas. She understands that the Santa at the shopping mall isn’t the real Santa, but he works for him. By the same token, parents also help Santa – and that we have his cell phone number in case we need to let him know that we’re staying at a relative’s home for the holidays or, heaven forbid, we need to tell him to skip our house this year because we haven’t been good.

I think it’s wonderful that my daughter believes in the magic of Christmas and secretly believes that a gnome lives in the tree in our backyard, but I don’t want her friends at school to make fun of her. So I did what I always do and went to the Internet to look for answers.

I read Chad Skelton’s blog that asked the question: Is it wrong to lie to your children about Santa Claus? I thought his article was insightful, but I don’t want to be like Maureen O’Hara’s character in the classic movie, “Miracle on 34th Street,” a hard-working divorced mom who wants to protect her daughter by teaching her not to believe in fairy tales – or Santa.

I found a couple of sites where you can send a letter to Santa, but they hadn’t been updated in a couple of years, so that didn’t help my cause.

So I looked elsewhere and learned that @SantaClaus is on Twitter, and according to National Public Radio, he’s not using Twitter lists to help him track who’s Naughty and Nice. Although I have to admit, I wouldn’t mind it if he gave lumps of coal to the scantily clad women on Twitter who randomly follow people. I also found @MrsSantaClaus on Twitter and it turns out she has a lot more time to talk to kids at this time of year.

Santa Claus also has over 1 million followers on Facebook, but most of them seem to be adults asking Santa not to forget them this year.

But the best evidence we’ve found that Santa is real is that you can follow Santa’s travels around the globe on the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site. In fact NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), an organization that works to protect the U.S. and Canada from air attacks, has been tracking Santa since 1958.

I found an article that quoted Canadian fighter pilots, who are going to escort Santa as he flies over the region. And on YouTube, there’s a message from U.S. Air Force General Gene Renuart, Commander of NORAD, that explains how NORAD tracks Santa on Christmas Eve.

Children of all ages can call and e-mail Santa trackers for updates beginning at 4 a.m. MST on Christmas Eve. You can also track him on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr – and if you’re an OnStar subscriber, you can get updates in your car.

According to my daughter, if the U.S. government believes in Santa, that’s good enough for her.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (20)
Dec 16 2009

The Ghost of Christmas Future

December 16, 2009 – 2:20 pm

The holidays are fast approaching, and with it, the time of year known for selfless generosity.

While social media is helping shoppers avoid in person holiday sales and still get a great deal, it’s not all about buying the gifts, which is on a strong surge. With the true spirit of the giving season, the act of giving, social media is making an appearance to make giving front and center.

In the past, the big organizations brought the holiday giving campaign to the people with in-person, crowd based campaigns. Now, organizations like the Salivation Army are using social media to extend their reach with a personal touch through Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. They even offer tools for dedicated volunteers to help spread the message.

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The Baltimore Sun has an interesting article about charities using social media to add another avenue for giving:

Organizations such as the United Way, Salvation Army and the American Red Cross are using Facebook pages and Twitter accounts to reach younger volunteers and donors.

Facebook fans of the Salvation Army can create virtual kettles on their pages and ask their friends to make donations without ever visiting a real storefront kettle. The United Way and Red Cross are tweeting their latest news of families helped and fund drives launched.

No one can yet say whether the new social media are effective ways to raise money, but that’s the goal, charities say. “We’re hoping to get this new audience, and we hope in the end there is a fundraising component with it,” said Amrit Dhillon, communications director for the United Way of Central Maryland.

Taking into account that the economy has been hard on everyone, Beth Kanter articulates a good process for making your holiday charitable giving decisions. The Red Cross found in a recent study that in spite of the economic downtown that most people anticipating donating more than $25 this year during the holiday season. Maybe by using Social Media these charities have a chance of getting those donations by interacting with their audience when they are at their computers, more able to donate online.

All year we’ve heard of social media is being used to change the world: Make Your Mark, SM4SC, 12 for 12k, Social Media for Social Good, Twestivals, Tweetsgiving and countless others. I think it is exciting to see these efforts extend to our holiday traditions and continue the support of those around us in need. Using social media for holiday giving is making it’s mark – but lets not forget that it’s all about the impact.

For a sprig of humor for your holidays, David Alston wrote a great post about transitioning the tradition of Santa into the modern tech world.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Dave McNamara | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)
Dec 14 2009

Ten Things I Could Do Without In 2010

December 14, 2009 – 7:21 am
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by Geoff Livingston

Last post I waxed poetic about the new decade and what it could bring. Of course, one could simply focus on the New Year. Conversational media forms have changed our world for the better, but with the good comes the bad. Here are some things that have worn out their welcome, in my opinion:

1) Conversation about Twitter as new and innovative. It’s not new, and other social networks have at least mimed the stream. In fact, new features like lists and RTs are just adaptations of client interfaces like Tweetdeck into the Twitter interface. In my opinion, there is nothing new about this.

2) The concept that everything is free: I hear this more and more frequently, and to some extent this is true with content and value marketing for thought leadership. But it’s not true with time or products and services and events. You get what you pay for in these cases.

3) Twitter-only conferences. They had facsimile only conferences in the late 80s, and today folks snort at the idea. Yet, here are the same people paying $600-$1200 (at least at face value) to attend a conference about a singular communications tool. Uh, yeah.

4) Social media legends in their own minds. Now that the real stars have arrived, can we just get over this?

5) Taking instead of giving. So many folks want something, and in fact will publicly demand it (see #2), and too few give in our social worlds. Let the return to quid pro quo values begin anew.

6) Personal brands. Still drinking the kool aid? Look out for the morning after hangover. Substantive actions mean more!

7) Closed Facebook messaging. I realize some of this dates back to the way the network was originally architected, but the closed contacts and inability to easily export my data makes Facebook somewhat unattractive. This would be a great feature change.

8) Journalists and conservative types complaining that bloggers are not an authoritative source of information. Neither are newspapers. If newspapers were doing such a great job, there wouldn’t be such demand for more “authentic” news sources. For that matter, just about any source of information can be questioned. Just accept it and start competing more effectively.

9) Drama every time a pointed conversation occurs online. I’d rather see hard questions asked and answered rather than run from such dialogue because people can’t handle any kind of negativity or hard dialogue. Let’s encourage difficult, challenging discourse, and move our world forward.

10) Undying faith in the crowd. Yes, more minds are better than one, but just because the crowd votes yes does not mean it’s right. Keep in mind that’s how George W. Bush came to be president. Checks and balances for idea markets are needed just like most things in life.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (15)
Dec 11 2009

Trouble Lurks in Social Media Guidelines

December 11, 2009 – 12:58 am
FTC on Social: Balanced?

FTC on Social: Balanced?

In October, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonial in Advertising. The new guidance is game-changing, as many have commented upon. Some have even said that the FTC, particularly in its comments about “typical” results claimed in advertising and other promotion, has changed the rules in the middle of the game. Regardless of your take on the new “guides,” it’s prudent to review your social media guidelines and consider revising them to match up with the new advice, muddy though it may be in some areas. The new effort at the FTC to increase transparency in endorsements could greatly complicate the work public relations  people do every day.

So, here are some ideas for revisions to your social media guidelines:

  1. The claims you make on behalf of (company/client) must be substantiated by information you have reviewed or that has been reviewed by a teammate in the case of reTweets, blog comments, etc., you pass along. (This has always been good policy, but even more important under the guides. A recent Virginia governor’s race covered by VirginiaTomorrow.com pointed this out when one worker tweeted about his candidate’s opponent:  BREAKING NEWS: McDONNELL HAS CONFEDERATE FLAG POSTED IN HIS BOOTH AT GUN SHOW IN RICHMOND. Trouble ensued when the McDonnell campaign replied “not our booth; not our flag.”)
  2. You must note your connection with the product, service or other information presented in any social media or other public comments. Promoting or endorsing the (company’s/client’s) products, services or other activities, are covered under this requirement, whether or not you are on the team responsible for the product, service or other activity. (This is particularly important with companies or their consultants where highlighting the relationship is sometimes treated casually by other offices or teams not specifically focused on promoting the product or service mentioned.)
  3. Your claims on behalf of (company/client) may not be qualified by “results may vary” or other disclaimer, so take special care in presenting information of a scientific nature or other information that is outside your expertise. A safe approach is to never make a claim without presenting the source via a link or other method. (Again, this has always been good practice, but may not be explicit in existing social media guidelines.)
  4. Any “celebrity” or other spokesperson engaged and paid (in any form) to speak on behalf of (company/client) is also required to disclose the paid relationship to the (company/client). It is not sufficient to disclose a relationship to (the public relations, advertising agency or other promotion support firm), for example. A spokesperson who acknowledges a service or product in a forum not organized by the company or its agent and neglects to mention the relationship with the client is in potential violation of this guideline.  It is the responsibility of the team assigned to the product or service to alert management so that corrective actions can be considered for the protection of (company). (The importance of tracking what your spokesperson/celebrity endorser is saying or doing is greater today than ever.)
  5. If you provide any inducement in the form of a product or service to a blogger or others who might endorse the product, you should keep in mind that any “material” connections should be revealed by the recipient. The FTC will consider any direct or in-kind payment or transfer of product or service to classify the recipient as an endorser.  Less clear is the “materiality” test, and the FTC indicates it will review events on a case-by-case basis. It is the responsibility of the assigned team to track any product, service or in-kind payment provided bloggers or others with the intent to generate editorial content and to assure that any resulting endorsement discloses the relationship with our (company/client). If the relationship is not disclosed, it is the responsibility of the team to alert management so that corrective actions can be considered for the protection of the (company/client). (The materiality issue aside, this and other aspects of the guide make it important to monitor social media mentions in order to assure transparency.)
  6. The use of “typical” experiences in promotions or advertising featuring consumers who reveal their use of a product or service must disclose that results were unique to the situation depicted. (Short and sweet, but critical to pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and other similar firms, as well as other organizations that have operated under other rules for reporting results of trials of all types.)
  7. Every mention of research used in promotion of (company/client) should clearly state the sponsor of the research. In cases where this is not done, it is the responsibility of the assigned team to alert management so that corrective actions can be considered for the protection of the (company/client). (In the age of social media, this traditional approach to attribution can sometimes be forgotten or left behind in a character-limiting environment. Just because you only have 140 characters or so doesn’t make the obligation go away, though.)

The revisions to social media guidelines are just the tip of this iceberg. I like the way John Cass, who wrote “Strategies and Tools for Corporate Blogging”  posed the question on his post the other day, where is asked “Big Change or Storm in a Teacup?”  Having worked for a long time in the corporate investor relations world, I’d suggest that the changes are just beginning. While we don’t have a Sarbanes-Oxley-like law that codifies much of this for “endorsers,” the FTC has greatly expanded the things over which it will exercise influence. Endorsers (and influencers of endorsements) beware!

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michael Whitlow | Posted in Digital Marketing, PR Industry Trends | Tagged , | Comments (20)
Dec 10 2009

No Pain, No Gain: Lessons Learned From My Year With Twitter

December 10, 2009 – 7:06 am
Photo courtesy of dearbarbie

Photo courtesy of dearbarbie

By Jenn Riggle

The end of the year is a good time for reflection. And since Christmas Eve marks my one year anniversary on Twitter, I thought I’d write about the tips and tricks I’ve learned about the social network over the past year:

Three is a Magic Number: Like exercise, walking your dog and drinking water, it takes time to add anything new to your already busy schedule. That’s why it’s important to make a concerted effort to tweet at least three times a day during the week. To do this, I’ve created a tweet schedule: 1) send out my first tweet early in the morning when I’m checking my e-mail and catching up on the morning’s news; 2) send out a second tweet during lunch, when I’m reading list serves that populate my e-mail box; 3) send out a third tweet sometime during the day, whether it’s an observation, conversational tweet or another article that interests me. Granted there are days when I tweet more than three times, but by scheduling tweets into my day, I don’t go days without tweeting, even when work and life get crazy.

The Power of Hashtags: A hashtag is any word in Twitter that is immediately preceded by the ‘#’ symbol (a.k.a the hash). By using a hashtag, you’re signaling that you want people to find your tweet and associate it with other tweets with the same hashtag. While this may seem esoteric, hashtags are a great way to target your tweets so they reach a specific audience. For example, #hcsm is the hashtag for healthcare communications and social media, an active community of healthcare marketing folks who meet every Sunday night from 9-10 p.m. Eastern. By adding the hashtag to your tweet, you mark it as being something that would interest this group. The same is true if you mark your tweet with #social media or #parenting – you’re labeling your tweet as something that will interest people who follow these topics.

Direct Messages Are More Than Spam: For a long time, I thought Direct Messages (DMs) were just the annoying automated messages people sent to thank people for following them. However, recently I learned that while Twitter is all about conversation, there’s a second level of conversation happening behind the curtain. If you follow someone (and they follow you) you can send direct messages to each other. This is a great way to send personal message to friends, pitch a story idea to a reporter (provided they follow you) or have a side conversation during a seminar where people are “live-tweeting.” It’s amazing the snarky comments and giggling going on behind the scenes.

Sharing Is A Good Thing: You’ve probably watched the Verizon commercial that shows teens telling their parents they’re frustrated that their mom writes “I love you” all over their Facebook wall and their dad tweets about sitting on the porch. And while status updates are fine, they can make a boring Twitter stream. Instead, it’s more interesting to use Twitter as a way to share interesting articles, observations or engage in conversation with colleagues. I’m a news junkie who loves to stay on top of the latest news. There’s no way I can possibly read everything, so I use Twitter as a way to supplement my reading and find articles I wouldn’t find otherwise. And by the same token, I share articles I find interesting with my followers.

Why It’s Important to Retweet: Social media is all about listening. And retweeting is a great way to show you’re reading what other people are saying and find it worthy of sharing. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t find the article first – simply put a RT before the person’s Twitter handle (i.e. RT @riggrl) either before or after the tweet so you can share information with your followers, while at the same time acknowledge the person who sent the tweet. It’s great to see people share your tweets, so be sure to do the same for others. It’s also a great way to begin to form a relationship with other people on Twitter.

Sometimes You Don’t Have Anything Clever To Say: And that’s okay. I’m not sure how coherent I am at 5 a.m. But if you work in PR and marketing, chances are, you spend a lot of time reading. That’s why I love sharing news stories with others. Or it’s another great reason to retweet someone else’s comment or tweet. Or maybe you can dust off your copy of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations and find an interesting quote that is relevant or thought-provoking.

TweetDeck Can Change Your Life: Until I started using TweetDeck, it was nearly impossible for me to track conversation about topics that interest me or see what my friends were tweeting. TweetDeck has made Twitter more manageable, allowing me to create lists of people who I think are interesting and follow hashtags so I can see what’s being said about an issue. Now I feel like I’m managing my Twitter usage, rather than the other way around. I imagine there will be a new paradigm shift once it’s easier for people to follow the public lists people have created and I’m excited about that prospect.

Manners Are Important, But You Don’t Have To Thank People for RTs: There are a lot of people who thank people for retweeting their messages. And while this helps to add content to your Twitter stream (and hopefully attract more followers), some people view it as spam. I read an interesting article by Valerie Merahn Simon that said that people RT information because it teaches them something or provides interesting perspective and that they are sharing the information because it provides value, not as a favor – so people shouldn’t feel compelled to thank others for RTs.

Do you have any other Twitter tips and tricks or words of wisdom? I’d love to hear them.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (123)
Dec 9 2009

Don’t Think – Live Your Questions

December 9, 2009 – 3:00 pm

I am the ultimate perpetual kid, fascinated by how things work and known to take anything apart especially if it isn’t broken (yet). If you’ve followed my posts in the past, you know that I am obsessed with the concept of search. Thankfully, I’m not the only one. Apparently the engineers at Google are dedicated to bringing new features to the table for the Google product line. This week they announced two fascinating new features.

Google launched the Real Time Search service enabling users to discover breaking news the moment it’s happening by animating new results into the search results. Using the trends page you can now see what’s hot and watch the results flow in.

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It seems they cut their teeth on Google Wave, a viable product with virtually no delay between composition and publishing to a specified group. Now, they are able to provide search results in the same fashion, but rather than control the entry and consumption points, they bridge the delivery gap between “publishers” and “content consumer”.

Initially, in contrast to what some users are demanding for real time results, I feel that the results seem to be watered down. Mixing tweets with blog posts, dilutes the content over brevity. Each has a unique purpose and the combination of both in my opinion hurts the full story because of how the typical web user absorbs information. In crisis management, since timing is everything. Has Google made a mess of things pushing the responsible message out of conscience when a topic is trending and further responses or thoughts are possibly negative to the brand?

While I have hesitation over the display of content in the real time search, I think Google has done well to provide relevance to the search query. By providing a way for users to turn on/off the real time feature, it allows for easier consumption as well as shows the commitment to usability that Google is known for.

The second feature was announced this week when Google hinted at their new Google Goggles project with flair typically reserved for Steve Jobs.

We have also made some new strides with mobile search. Today’s sensor-rich smartphones are redefining what “query” means. Beyond text, you can now search by a number of new modes including voice, location and sight — all from a mobile device. So we’ve been working to improve technology that takes advantage of these capabilities.
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This is the one I am really excited over. While the focus has been towards the mobile web, no one has really pushed the boundaries of a “real-time” mobile web. Apps like Shazam, SnapTell and Evernote are wildly popular because they allow the mobile user to search in other ways besides text and finger inputs. Even with the new Nuance Dragon Dictation app taking it a step further with voice, Google trumps the deck by allowing search by life-streaming. Fire up your mobile camera – and query. Real time search by voice, location and sight.

So what’s the next step? Combining Latitude, 411, and Goggles services into real time search by mobile device – the ability to life cast and query became a reality. The real question becomes what impact does your message (brand or personal) suffer or succeed by real time influences.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Dave McNamara | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Golden Rules for Twitter: Interview with Shel Israel

December 9, 2009 – 12:25 pm

By Priya Ramesh

ShelNot a single day goes by without us hearing the word “Twitter” from friends, colleagues or on TV. With 18M Twitter users by the end of 2009, it makes perfect sense for a company to invest sometime maintaining its visibility on this social media phenomena. But is it just enough to add Twitter to your marketing mix or is there a game plan to how we should effectively engage on Twitter? I sat down with Shel Israel, author of “Twitterville” and a well known silicon valley social media pundit to find out more about Twitter. Download the podcast here.

I have summarized the key messages from Shel Israel’s podcast below to help you with your 2010 Twitter efforts:

  • What Twitter’s really about, and why it’s caught on so well, is that it allows conversations. It allows you to meet people faster than you can just about with anything else. And it allows words that are interesting and useful to other people to spread very, very quickly.
  • My advice to people and to companies is to use real people talking about their jobs. And let them show that the company is not this massive monolith marching forward in lock step, but just a bunch of real people trying very hard to do a good job with some level of integrity, and hopefully some level of passion.
  • Companies that are using social media, who are moving from one form of company, one form of management structure, one form of marketing, to a more conversation headset, these are the companies that are now prevailing.
  • Counting Twitter followers is a mass media model, and if I broadcast a message, what will the response be? That was a very good way of measuring in olden days. But for me the number of people who follow me – it’s good for my ego – of course I get to write books because publishers look at those numbers, but I’m much more interested in the other end of this, and that’s who do I follow? I follow people in a diverse number of categories because I have diverse interests. They become my 24/7 newspaper. They give me the information I count on.
  • Here’s my advice to companies: You need to look at what politicians do. They go to the funerals of famous people because that’s where the voters are. Well that’s where the customers are going. That’s where the conversations about your company and your marketplace are being held, and Twitter, as much as I love it, is just one tool.
  • Singling out Twitter as the tool is not something I’d advise a company to do, but using it as a way to enhance participation in other conversational media tools is the best way to go.

Two words that Shel repeatedly mentioned during my interview with him are being “useful” and “interesting” when it comes to disseminating information on Twitter. Companies like Dell (@dell), Comcast (@comcastcares) and Network Solutions (@netsolcares) have been very successful with their Twitter strategy by putting a human voice behind their Twitter handle and having real conversations.  I hope the podcast will help you understand what works and doesn’t work on Twitter. I also strongly recommend Shel Israel’s book “Twitterville” to hear first hand experiences of how companies and individuals have benefited from Twitter.

Good luck Tweeting in 2010 and tell us about your Twitter success.

Photo Courtesy: Brian Solis

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Priya Ramesh | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (29)