Those of you who are active in social media can probably relate to what I am about to describe. It’s a question many of my non-social media active friends, co-workers, business partners seem to be asking more and more often: How can I take advantage of Social Media? This is of course a very valid question and I am always happy to chat about the strategy to get them started.
The recipe for success that I provide includes four steps:
- Identify what your goal is. Are you interested in selling products, retaining customers, activating fans, spreading your philanthropic message? Be specific. Stick to 1-2 goals, no more.
- Listen. Begin by monitoring social media channels & identifying the what-who-where-and-why for topics that interest you. There are tools that will help you get started in identifying relevant conversations. Free tools include: Mentions.com, Twitter search, Technorati blog search. Paid tools (starting at ~ $500/mo.) include Radian 6 or Scout Labs. Remember to listen for needs and pain points you would be able to help resolve with your expertise, products or solutions.
- Contribute. Begin slowly. Your focus should be on providing value & being helpful. This might include writing a comment for someone’s blog post, contributing to a discussion within FB group, answering a question on LinkedIn). As you become comfortable with contributing to other’s posts think about setting up permanent social media outposts for yourself (LinkedIn account, Twitter account, your own blog) to maintain presence within relevant Social Media channels. What channels to participate in will depend on where the conversation you are interested in is happening. Remember you must fish where the fish are.
- Engage. Develop and maintain online connections and relationships that will result in building your social capital and becoming a trusted expert people turn to for thought leadership and advice.
- Measure & repeat what works. Keep the goal you set up in step 1 center stage when setting up your measurements.
When presented with this recipe some folks are eager to get started while some are skeptical from the get-go. The main objections I am hearing are:
THIS TAKES A LOT OF TIME/EFFORT
Absolutely right. It does take a lot of time and effort to actively participate in Social Media. And in addition to that you must be consistent and persistent to see the results you are hoping for. The truth is Social Media is NOT a magic bullet and you should not expect extraordinary results unless you work for them. That’s why I don’t sugar-coat this for Social Media want-to-be’s. Unless you are ready to work hard, participate and contribute, don’t bother. People will see right through you if your are in it to make a quick buck.
Of course while working hard you should also make sure you are working smart. There are plenty of ways to keep your Social Media journey manageable in terms of time commitment and effort. These include understanding the power of RSS feeds and a concept of writing once but publishing across many Social Media channels. Read this post on “Tech Soup” blog for more tips.
MY EFFORTS ARE NOT MEASURABLE
I agree, but not entirely. Social Media efforts are hard to measure, but not impossible to measure. Don’t forget Social Media just like Web 2.0 is a brand new phenomenon, hence there is no manual to tell you precisely how to monetize your efforts. You are right however that at the end of the day you must find a way to measure your activities. How will you find out whether it’s working unless you measure, right? To do that go back to your initial goal setting in step 1 and find a way(s) to tie your Social Media activities to your main goal you set in that step. If that’s lead generation start by counting # of people who signed up for your newsletter or filled out your online form as the result of your efforts in Social Media. If it’s cause related measure Word Of Mouth and engagement and compare that with the results you get from other cause activation efforts. You get the gist. If you are more interested in Social Media measurements take a look at KDPaine’s blog.
MY BOSS WILL NEVER APPROVE OF THIS
Really? Have you asked? Your boss might not be familiar with ways to use Social Media channels to advance your business goals which does not mean it must stay that way. Consider recommending a few good blogs for him to follow (e.g. Jeremiah Owyang or yours truly) or buy him one of these books for Christmas: “Groundswell” by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff or “Tactical Transparency” by Shel Holtz to get him started.
WHAT IF IT DOES NOT WORK?
Agreed. There are no guarantees, but believe me once you get started and develop some initial relationships through Social Media you’ll find there are plenty of people eager to help you succeed using these channels(myself included). You see, in many ways Social Media is a kinder, gentler place where folks are willing to help you once they see you are genuinely trying to contribute to the community. Take advantage of their expertise which is often given to you for free through their blog posts or webinars.
One thing you definitely want to avoid is quitting prematurely after just a few weeks of trying. Consider setting up a timetable for your efforts and stick to it. If, at the end of that timetable you are not seeing the results you were hoping for go ahead and disengage, but don’t quit prematurely!
My final piece of advice on your journey to Social Media success comes from a recent webinar with Beth Kanter, a very successful user of Social Media who figured out a way to earn a living while helping numerous others and teaching non-profits how to take advantage of Social Media for cause activation (Beth’s blog here). According to Beth the number one reason to make your social media efforts a success is YOUR PASSION. Social Media is not about just getting leads or scoring sales. It’s about you interacting with other people. When you are passionate about your cause, your product, your message others will notice and be inspired. Right on, Beth. Thanks for that advice!
Below are my notes and comments on Jeff Jarvis’s presentation on “What Happens Next – the ongoing beta world” given yesterday (11/18) at the Web 2.0 Conference in NYC.
Please forgive my typos, etc. in the process of cleaning it up 
Jeff Jarvis left his footprint on this year’s Web 2.0 Expo even before his presentation started when his quote “Do what you do best and link to the rest” was used by Tim O’Railly in his keynote address. What was the quote’s interpretation? Companies (both small and large) need to concentrate on developing what they do best (their key solution set) and becoming consumers of products that others are good at developing rather than engaging in competitive wars that led to what we now refer to as “browser wars.” Nicely done!
Hierarchical vs. Linear presentations (aka take a look at PREZI)
Jeff used a cool presentation making tool called PREZI (prezi.com) with pretty dizzying yet cool visual effects. But Prezi is not useful because of its extensive animation. What Prezi does well (and Powerpoin doesn’t offer at all) is allowing you to look at the main concepts and hierarchy of thoughts in your presentation through the zoom in/out functionality. Very clever departure from linear hirerarchy-less way we are used to in MS Powerpoint. I sure intend to give Prezi a try!
Old book: done. New book: what about?
Jeff is an accomplished author of a successful book “What would Google do?”
Now he is working on a new book and used his presentation as a live launching pad & a brainstorming session encouraging the audience to brainstorm along with him and offer suggestion. Pretty powerful stuff considering the fact that everybody wants to be the proud owner of bragging rights of helping Jeff Jarvis brainstorm his latest book!
What struck me about Jeff as well as many other accomplished writers, successful developers or business people who presented at this year’s conference was the fact that for the most part they do embody what Chris Brogan would refer to as being “one of us.” They are very approachable, really interested in learning and dialog rather than just pushing their agendas. Very impressive and despite of often large audience in the presentation room there is a feeling of collaboration rather than being lectured to. read more…
Tim O'Railly during keynote address at Web 2.0 Expo 2009
This year’s Web 2.0 Expo NYC is surely an experience for me since I AM PHYSICALLY THERE in PERSON and enjoying every minute of it.
Let me start my day one highlights (11/17) with some general observations
- Web 2.0 Expo is one of the largest events I’ve attended and unlike the cozy feeling of smaller events such as MarketingProfs Digital Mixers or PodCamp Boston events it is easy to feel quite lost in the sea of people.
- Spotty wireless connectivity was a big issue for me during day one (hoping for a better day tomorrow)! I usually tweet a lot from my netbook. I could not since I cannot get online from any of the meeting rooms. It definitively took away from the experience I am used to having with a virtual attends. Sigh.
- This was my first attempt to participate in a conference w/o taking single page of written notes. If it was to be recorded it needed to be recorded electronically. I admit it did not feel right at first, but I am really hooked now. I am paper free and have been able to accumulated over 8 pages of typed notes. Hurray! Feel so liberated.
Comments/notes on three sessions I attended: read more…
Many of my friends know that I have been struggling with maintaining a healthy weight for several years now. I am a strong believer in the motivational qualities of communities. That’s why the concept of Weight Watchers (WW) meetings where you interact with other members is very appealing to me. I am a lifetime member (meaning I successfully lost weight with WW in the past) and go to meetings every week at my local WW center. I find these meetings very helpful in motivating me to stay on track in terms of healthy eating and exercise and I depend on member interaction to get me energized and ready for next week. Today’s meeting was no exception. In addition to my weekly dosage of encouragement I also got a valuable lesson in staying true to myself and my believes. read more…
Did you know that my husband, Jeff, is a veteran? I also have a brother in law who served overseas during both Iraq wars. Holiday Mail for Heroes is not only a program I am deeply involved in because of my employer, Pitney Bowes, but because it is important to me.
What is Holiday Mail for Heroes?
The purpose of the program is to make it easy for you to send a holiday card to our men and women in uniform, veterans and their families. It works in three stages. You send a card to a designated PO Box address, Pitney Bowes processes the mail and ships it to over 300 Red Cross Chapters across the country and oversees where Red Cross volunteers sort it and deliver it to servicemen and veterans overseas and in hospitals across the country. read more…
I’ve been reading Brogan & Smith’s book, Trust Agents, where Chris and Julien spend a lot of time talking about influencers in Social Media developing a habit of daily blog reading and commenting as the best way of incresing their social capital and drawing attention to their own blog content. I agree completely. I still remember the rush of reading the first comment I received on my blog. The very first thing I did afterward was to go and check out the commenter’s blog and I ended up leaving a comment there myself. This is exactly the behavior you want to attract by leaving comments on other people’s blogs.
I get a lot of question from corporate blog owners who complain that their blogs (usually B2B blogs) don’t get a lot of comments and often don’t get a lot of traffic despite frequent posting of quality content. My response to that: having a blog is one thing, but socializing with others in the blogosphere is another and very important component of your journey as a blogger. Reading and commenting on other people’s blogs is a key part of something often referred to as blogger outreach which, in my opinion, is as important as writing blog content itself. Why is it so important? Because it take what starts as a casual reading of each other’s blogs to the next level of developing a lasting relationships with bloggers who, just like you, are producers of content in social web. Knowing them and interacting with them will benefit both of you and might lead to a partnership similar to the one between Chis and Julien that lead to writing the “Trust Agents” book. read more…
A friend of mine developed a Halloween-friendly app for iPhone that kept me busy tonight.
You can use their funky Halloween background and superimpose your photos on them and make them look like ghosts.
You can then email them right from the app. Cool!
Happy Halloween!
Best Social Media for Marketing content Twitter-style from MarketingProf’s Digital Mixer
Truly enjoyed my first day at Marketing Prof’s Marketing Digital Mixer. I did not bother taking notes, just tweeted and many of the particiants did the same. What a perfect way to keep one notebook full of great bite-size notes! Tweeps, YOU ROCK!
I also want to recognize MarketingProfs for live streaming portions of their event as well as Matt Grant for live blogging.
DO NOT FORGET to vote for best ideas from the event I did!
(BTW, I learned how to create this Tweet button from Michael Stelzner’ presentation today)
FUNNY
- MarketerBlog: Anyone else at #mpdm feel like a SM stalker today? I might have squealed more than once after seeing a “celeb”
- iamseanmcdonald: New fond term heard at #mpdm “google juice”. Everyone wants the google juice. (I’ll take mine spiked with rum).
- anwith1n: Talking tech, servers, security… sooooo tech awesome. What do you do when you’re Symantec & acquire a community? #mpdm
- TravelTrev: The air con here at #mpdm makes me feel like I’m at home in Canada. Where is my touque?
- bcarroll7: My teenagers think Twitter is stalking. They would never use it. Good reminder to understand your audiences tools. #mpdm
- anwith1n: Social Media is like a long term relationship, not casual dating #mpdm read more…
I am excited to be experimenting with a different way to produce content this week. Valeria Maltoni’s Conversation Agent blog post afrom Inbound Marketing Summit inspired me. The main message of the summit: it’s all about valuable content, baby! The more content the merrier particularly if you are willing to try a different way of producing that content. Enjoy and let me know how you’ve been experimenting with new content creation.
Show Notes
MICROPHONES
- Snowball by Blue (USB plug-and-play for both Mac and PC) Cost: $65
RECORDING SOFTWARE
- ePodcastProducer by Industrial Audio Software (easy to use with no prior experience with audio recording or editing) Cost: $199
- Audacity (open source software for Mac and PC) Cost: FREE read more…
