While using social media for business purposes has been around for the better part of 5 years now, we’re reaching a place where businesses are starting to ask “what should I be doing with social media?” Its a fair question. After dabbling in Facebook or opening a Twitter account, the next question is often, “what now?” And much of this questioning is driving the conversation for ROI. But before we dig into ROI, its worth asking some of the tough questions about why we’re even talking about social media.

Why Social Media?

Now, you know that I am an advocate for measuring social media, I also think its also time that we ask ourselves what we are really trying to accomplish with social media. What makes social media so special and how can we really achieve business objectives with it? Every single time I meet a new client I ask “Why Social Media?” I purposely ask the question very broadly, but I also usually get the broad answer of “we want to increase sales.” Its an honest answer. But its also the easiest. Without meeting a single client, without a single email, I already know this answer. But its time to dig deeper, I’m suggesting you dig deeper and I’m asking my clients to also. What are some of the questions we should ask ourselves about the social media opportunities before we get started?

What is our impediment to increased sales?

Do we need to create awareness? Do we need to distinguish ourselves from our competition? Do we want to create community? Do we need to drive traffic to a digital or real-life location? Do we have a PR issue to overcome? These are different goals and social media can be used in each case, but its best if we focus on one, at least initially. Depending on the ability for the company to support the objective, we may initially start with one channel. Its best to really narrow this down, because by answering this question as specifically as possible, we also set ourselves on the right track for ROI measurement.

How are we communicating with our audience now?

A strong mailing list is a great start to social media, as is a website  that supports social sharing and perhaps even a blog. If you are a new business, then its all the more important that your website have sharing capabilities and be integrated with social media. And building that email list will probably be one of your social priorities. If you are an existing business, your customers and clients are probably already using social platforms to talk about their experiences with you. Look into those platforms and start building relationships with people who are talking about you-its back to listen first, and then engage.

Who is our online and social audience?

Do we know who influences our audience in social media? There are certain audience segments where people have carved out niches for themselves, particularly in travel, Moms and B2B spaces. Its good to know and follow these people. Social media can help you create a relationship with these people who influence your potential customers. We tread lightly here because we are creating a relationship, not a promotional partnership. We may be choose to partner with influencial people in social media, but let’s start with identifying who they and why our audience is so passionate about them. Listen first. Talk later.

How can we use social media to support existing mediums and marketing channels?

How can we integrate social media into our existing marketing programs: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, social media is the farm not the silo. Don’t let your social media program live in the dark and don’t let your other marketing initiatives live without social media. Integrate! Let it work with the rest of your initiatives. If your using print, let’s find ways to integrate or even measure your print impact. Events and social media go together like two peas in a pod, there are lots of great opportunities for those two to work together. Look for ways to tie in a particular campaign across the board!

Are we ready for social media?

Are we open to a culture shift? Social media is more than a marketing channel, it really is a culture, a different way of looking at communication.

Its more transparent, more human than traditional marketing, its more individualized and very, very much about supporting customers so they can support you. Social media’s transparency requires that you consider how all your departments and staff can benefit from and participate in social media. Incorporating social media throughout the company is a great way to spread the work, and as we move forward, we truly are going to have to embrace the fact that each employee can and should take a role in marketing as so beautifully articulated by this McKinsey Quarterly article. Really ask yourself if there is any reason why your company’s employees shouldn’t be engaging current and potential customers. You hired them because they understand your business, shouldn’t they understand your customers too?

About a year ago I started advising my clients to “Stop Thinking Like a Marketer and Start Thinking Like a Human.” In other words, think about what makes YOU interested in companies and brands. Think about how you would like to be communicated with if you were YOUR customer.  Its hard to get out of our own heads sometimes, but start thinking about what would make you read more. That’s the essence of social media communication.

Are we committed or is this an experiment?

I strongly discourage dropping in and out of social media. Its sort of like not answering your phone…in both cases, it does nothing to create customer trust. If you just aren’t sure that you’re totally ready for social media, grab your handles and domain names on as many social media outlets as you can and leave a post or similar that directs people to the channels that you do monitor (your website for example). Also spend some time monitoring the social web for mentions of your company and products, this may help you understand the places you SHOULD go when you’re ready. BUT-and this is a BOB, big ‘ol but- remember that if you are going to start responding and engaging on social media that you should keep it up and also remember that the time to build community is NOT when you have a crisis, or a new product. You want community in place BEFORE you need them, which means you’ve already created the relationship.

Its really important that we get to the bottom of these hard questions before we leap into social media. You may find that answering these questions is a process of listening, learning and testing. Yes, these questions may unearth other questions, but if we’re to reap the full benefits of social media then we’ve got to plant the right seeds to get there.

QUESTION: What questions would you add to this list? Did you do this when your company started in social media? Please, let me know!

What’s needed for a successful social media campaign? That’s sort of like asking what it takes to create a success business. The truth is a successful social media endeavor requires hard work, time, commitment and a dash of good luck. But if your business is considering getting serious about social media with a social media professional, there are some things that you should know. The first of which is that no matter how fantastic your social media professional is, you’ll still be pivotal to the success of the campaign.  Here are 5 ways you can support the success of your social media campaign and your investment with a social media professional.

1) From the outset, determine if you have the man power for social media: social media is dynamic and fast paced. Communicating with your clients in this forum will require a willingness to be there when your clients are there too. If you decide to outsource your social media communication, you’ll still need manpower and here’s why: there will be times when a potential sale or compliment or complaint comes in through a social media outlet and having a process flow that is fast and internal is absolutely necessary. You’ll probably quickly get to the point where content creation becomes a topic. Who will create the content? Even if you outsource your content to a PR or video firm, you’ll still need to be involved with the topics and subjects.  The people in YOUR company understand the needs and views of your customers better than anyone else, why wouldn’t you want them to be involved.

Creative Commons Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/

2) Open up: The more you empower your social media campaign, the more successful it will be. Open up to new ideas. If each new idea or suggestion is met with a “we can’t do that”, then not only are you tying the hands of your social media professional, you’re limiting your own success.  Make sure your executive team is on board and enthusiastic. Find an internal champion who wants to see a social campaign succeed.  Be ready to share some of the nitty gritty of your company’s inner workings with a social media professional and allow them to help you through the process. Whenever I hear “we tried hiring a social media consultant, but it just didn’t work” I often ask “why?” Because while social media consultants are not all equally successful, some clients aren’t either. Some come to the table ready and willing to create magic, some come with a skepticism that limits the possibility of success from the outset.

3) Tracking Sales: If you are looking to track your sales directly from social media, be ready to invest in some additional tools. Google Analytics is a good start, but it won’t be enough. If you utilize non-digital forms of marketing, then let your social media pro in on the details. Let them understand your marketing cycle so they can support your over all goal, not just the goal of social media.  There are tracking tools which will help you identify multiple digital touch points such as email and web and social. But if you really want to dig deep, you’ll want to integrate your CRM with social media. If you don’t have a CRM, then tracking that insight will be considerably harder and more time consuming, you’ll have to rely on causation rather than direct attribution. No social media professional can make you invest in these tools, but if you wish to skip them, then it isn’t the fault of your social media professional.

4) Be ready to integrate: You’ll quickly find that elements of social media include touch points including marketing, sales, PR, customer relations and more. Social media shouldn’t be treated as a silo, I always say, social media is the farm, not the silo. I say that because its the fertile ground where the sun, the rain, the tender care all take place to create magnificent fruit. But without all the elements together, the fruit isn’t as magnificent.  Make sure you’re willing and able to have those touch points involved in the discussion. An audit will quickly reveal the areas in which you can have an impact, but at the very least, its likely to include some changes to your website, integration with your email list,  some communication with your executive team and support from everyone involved.

5) “What Have You Done for Me Lately”: Social media isn’t really a sales tool, its a marketing tool. Social media helps you create a stronger emotional connection with your customers, but few customers place orders through social media (subject to change?) The effects of social media are likely to be exponential, but perhaps not immediate and potentially difficult to track (depending on your choices of tracking). Give your customers some time to start communicating with you on social media..and give them a reason to communicate with you. You’ll find that things come into play together, over time.

6) Be Flexible, Be Human: What worked for your competitor may or may not work for you. You might find that something that has worked in the past isn’t working now. Be prepared to try something new, in fact, always be thinking of what’s next. Social media is dynamic and so are social media users. They expect you to be interesting, inventive and informative. If you aren’t one of the three “I’s” on social media, then its time to think about how you can be. And don’t forget, at its heart, social media is about communication. Be human, let your customers be human. They’ll think more highly of you and that will pay dividends for years to come!

As if Twitter and Facebook don’t have businesses and users scrambling to keep up, a new type of site is cropping up that engages audiences through Question and Answer format. Naturally, each has a unique twist to it, but if you are a business, what should you be doing with these sites? For most of the sites I’m going to talk about (except LinkedIn), there really isn’t a ton of critical mass, BUT, and this “but” is bigger than my own “butt” businesses should pay attention to these sites. Here’s why:

These sites engender honest, uninterrupted conversation. And the conversation can be shared, easily tracked and followed. People can search for questions or conversations on a particular topic.  Plus, in the case of Quora and Namesake you can tell a lot about the person whose opinion you are reading without having to do a lot of homework. Call me lazy. Go ahead. But I appreciate a little “at a glance” info. Each site in its own way is attempting to create credibility for the author/writer, in particular areas. At some point, I’m sure that PeerIndex will be utilizing Namesake as they are Quora right now, to get a feel for the “human” aspect of a digital personality, including area’s of expertise and influence. If Namesake gets some media love and some critical mass, it has a role to play in the influence market as well.  Right now, neither site seems to be influencing SEO all that heavily, but if you know SEO better than me (and I only know enough to be dangerous), then please feel free to weigh in on my claim. Regardless, if these sites do get critical mass, I’d be surprised if they don’t jump into the SEO game more heavily.

Also, if your product is at ALL geared towards early adopters, techies or social media users, its time to jump on the bandwagon and watch these sites develop. The folks on them now are still early adopters and in the case of Quora, which was all the rage in Silicon Valley before the masses got their hands on it, there are some interesting and (offline and online) influential people using it already. Finally, like all sites, its nice to have an audience when you need or want one, so develop connections on these sites now. Sure, its dynamic, sure, it changes, but its good to have a presence before you need one.

I thought it would be worthy to address some of the opportunities I see for these sites as they relate to business.

Quora:

A brand search on Quora.

A media darling a couple of months back, Quora is at its most basic, a question and answer site. But as with many social tools, its much more sophisticated than “just” a question and answer site. One of the primary differences in Quora is that well written, thought-out (read: longer) answers are appreciated and encouraged by the audience. The culture tends to be more formal, think: boardroom not bar. Sloppy ideas and concepts only the reputation and “being human” isn’t about being a jacka**. This also isn’t really a “follow me I’ll follow you” culture. Find those whose opinions you really value and follow them.

Quora also has social integration: Twitter, Facebook and the ability to share questions and answers through those portals. If you blog using WordPress or Tumblr, you can also post questions and answers to your blog. Potentially interesting, if your asking questions that are of interest to the blog audience. Its worth noting that the Quora audience may be veeeery different from your blog audience.

As I mentioned, early on, Silicon Valley peeps embraced the site and at that time, the conversations could become quite philosophical and technical. That isn’t AS true about the site even since I started using it last fall sometime. But that doesn’t make it less relevant for a couple of purposes:

Product Development: If you have an idea in your head and you’d like to bounce it off some smart folks, this might be a good place to do it. The feedback is likely to be more critical and analytical and less the “great job” type, so put on your big boy pants and get ready for constructive criticism.There are some VC participants on Quora..if your idea is smart, you come off as credible and you get a little lucky, you might even find yourself with more than an idea: funding.

Research: From getting different perspectives on trends and tools to doing a little competitive analysis, Quora is a gold mine. I use it to spur my creative juices for blog post ideas. Usually after scanning some questions, I’ll have developed a topic worth writing about. If your company has a blog, this is a great tool. Also, questions are open to everyone so it won’t be just your followers answering. Also, you can ask Questions and tweet  your question or put it on Facebook. If your audience digs Quora, they’ll dig that.

Listening: Do a search on your company and key topics or key words, here regularly. It will be interesting to see the discussions that are occurring. If there are discussions about your Brand, Quora isn’t QUITE like Twitter where the users expect to hear back from a brand, but if you do decide to respond, do so point by point with your smartest answers and by the way: be transparent. This audience will sniff it out if you aren’t transparent and the conversation will die. What’s the point in being the conversation killer? Better to create some discussion than to alienate an audience.

Create Conversation: In Quora, if a topic hasn’t been created about your company or brand, its a good idea to start one before someone else does. In an open, user-based site like Quora, users can edit your business description. But if you give a factual, non-salesy description, users are less likely to edit. Along those lines, its a good idea to create some advocates early on who will follow your brand or company as a topic – that way as conversations emerge,  there are already key users of the site who can speak to the experience of using your product – hopefully in a good way.

Celebrity CEO: Depending on your business, this is a great place for a CEO to have a presence. Every time I suggest CEO involvement with social media, everyone bristles, but this is one spot your CEO can appreciate. Unlike LinkedIn, where your CEO is reluctant to jump in because its just too much information, the CEO can carefully craft an image on Quora, by asking and answering questions of peers. If your CEO is the face of your brand, then its probably a good idea for them to have a presence and dialouge on Quora. But before turning a CEO loose on the Quora community, make sure he “gets it” that not every single comment has to be a “message”.

Namesake:

This is a more conversational question-answer site. The questions range from smart to silly. Answers range from smart to stupid.  So far the culture here is more like your living room than a boardroom. Its casual,

Namesake Search for "Hashable"

friendly, fairly inclusive. None the less, its still very much an early adopter crowd. T One of the distinguishing features of Namesake is the ability for other to “endorse” you in areas of your expertise. You choose the categories, people will decide to independently verify your expertise. his site is definitely developed for the user, not necessarily for business; however, that’s not to say that there aren’t business uses:

Influencers: Yep. There’s that word again. But if you’re looking for people influential on a topic, this is an interesting place to start. Namesake doesn’t guarantee that the influencers have a huge audience, but it DOES suggest that others have been willing to vouch for this person’s expertise.  The primary shortfall to this is that not very many people are ON Namesake yet, so there are probably some very talented people who don’t have a ton of endorsements.  Also, this is one of those “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” social moment, so endorsements could become tricky. However, with up to 5 expertise choices, people can always vote for the one you added to be human. But, you can search for a skill and talent and find those who are the “top” experts and as Namesake gets critical mass, this could be an outstanding resource.

Listening: Again, its worth popping in now and then to see if there are conversations about your brand or product. You may or may choose not to participate, but you should at least know what the conversations are. Don’t forget to checkin and listen for key topics or key words relevant to your community or your business.

Create Conversation: I could easily see community managers participating here with enthusiasts of not just their brand, but things their enthusiastic enjoy too. By jumping into other conversations a community manager gives themselves and even more persona, provides awareness of the community to others without self promoting. This last part is really important. Self promotion is just icky. Be cool.

So where does LinkedIN fit into these sites?

I think LinkedIn continues to be relevant. WallStreet certainly gave it the thumbs up this week. From a business perspective, LinkedIn remains a strong employee recruiting tool. And as  the economy turns around, recruiting will once again rise. Businesses should still give themselves a company presence and representatives can and should still participate in groups and conversations. The problem with LinkedIn is that its gone from being a genuine resource to a breeding ground for self-promoters. Having watched LinkedIn devolve into “Link to my website” I think Quora and Namesake users may be protective of their space and weary of self promotion. There are still social media opportunities on LinkedIn, but lots has been written about that and I wanted to share with you some ways to utilize some emerging opportunities.

So – what say you? Are you using Quora or Namesake? Do you agree with my assessment of these conversation site’s role in business?

Once upon a time if you wanted to start a company you have two choices. Hit up your Dad for the cash or shlep down to the bank where you would sign a second on your only real asset: your house (IF you had one). You also had the choice to go see a “Uncle Vinnie” or someone similar who always seemed to have cash and the requisite thugs laying around. In the 80′s Venture Capitalism took the dreams of Silicon Valley and entrepreneurs and funded  them into cash making machines with little respect to the original ideals of the founder.  Conversely, it used to be if you wanted to publish a book, you had to know someone. Or spend years in Paris getting to know other artists who might connect you accordingly. Then came blogging. Suddenly, being a writer was a very democratic opportunity. If people loved your blog, you might just get a book deal. Today’s writers can say “no thanks” to publishing houses if they want..but the truth is that there is still more money to be made in having a book published than there is on running a blog.

Its not news that lots of businesses are integrating social media into their marketing, customer service and product development goals. But today, entrepreneurs and writers are making social media part of their business model. In otherwords, if it weren’t for social media, the business itself might not even exist. Over the last month, I’ve come across three such enterprises, two in my home of Hawaii and one mainland writer who is taking publishing into his own hands in a brilliant way. I wanted to introduce them to you to see if it got your own juices flowing.

Begfor.it

Taking the idea of winning on an online auction to the social level. If you want an item, you say so, then ask your friends to support your cause. Brilliant really, if you think about it. The site is still in beta, but there are products up there for the begging already. Its highly addictive and pretty smart. The site’s idea is pure social – forget about the money, if you have the most votes for the winning bid, your in like flyn! BUT, you gotta work for it. You can use whatever medium you’d like, writing, movie making or photos, but you have to prove to the audience that your worthy. And maybe, just MAYBE your creative pleading and begging will go viral too..ensuring you win the item and giving you your 15 minutes of fame in the process. Can’t you just see “Begfor.it” stars being created?

The site is entirely self-funded by its founder, Tim Parsons, so he himself isn’t afraid to do a little “begging” if you like the idea this soloprenuer has put up, you can donate to support the further development of the site.  (full disclosure: I’ve done a little consulting work with Tim and Begfor.it) Twitter: @begforit Hashtag: #begforit Facebook Page: Begforit

Henry Wood Detective Agency:

As a character and a story get fleshed out on a blog, the author, Brian Meeks continues to push his development of a character, a brand and his own social media prowess, by creating a Facebook profile for the business of the main character (Henry Wood).  It doesn’t hurt that Brian’s writing is as wicked as a whip and the main character, Henry is the sworn bachelor you hate to love. The Facebook page currently includes updates from the author on various processes, but it has the potential to be the brand portal for the Detective Agency. I have a feeling that the only think stopping this Facebook from being completely fleshed out are time limitations for an author whose breaking new ground by publishing his blog serial to Kindle, Ipad and maybe even an actual book. If you want to read the book, you can shoot Brian a tweet or ping him on his blog. He’ll send you a copy if you’ll agree to giving feedback (full disclosure: I’m on chapter 3). But the thing that really sets Brian apart from the rest of the publishing world is that he gets social media and he’s challenging the publishing world to play by HIS rules by creating demand for his writing and stories before he is officially “published” but what does that mean to a guy like Brian anyway who goes beyond the blog to publish in a self-made socially empowered way everyday.

Twitter: @ExtremelyAvg Facebook: Henry-Wood-Detective-Agency

Juicies:

Starting a company that manufacturers a product in a sustainable/green way is gutsy. Raising initial round of funding exclusively through social media and a website called KickStarter is really putting it on the line. But Juicies is taking risks and making social media an integral part of the start-up process.  The product is actually simple: colorful cords that work with your Apple products like Iphone and Ipad. Founder Laurens Laudowicz started by asking for $5000 to get samples made from one of only a couple manufactures in China who manufacture in a sustainable way. But Laurens was shocked to learn what the minimum quantity is for the initial order (10,000 feet!), so even though over 1000 donors have blown away his initial request of $5,000, he’s leaving it open for another two weeks. Those who donate to get the company started will get their very own Juicie when they are released and you’ll get the feel good vive is helping an entrepreneur break the mold, literally . After you donate what you think you can give, don’t forget to participate in the product development cycle, by voting for the color you think they should develop by using the #juicies hashtag on Twitter. As an homage to the 12 year old girl in me, I voted for piiiiiiiink and glitter..I also revealed that I still believe in Unicorns too. But, I don’t think I’ll be able to plug my Juicies into a Unicorn anytime soon..I’ll have to settle for one of my many Apple products.

One of the cool ways that Juicies is using social media, besides the pleas for investment is that through KickStarter, Facebook and Twitter, you can really follow the development of this product. Laurens is  totally transparent about his ideas and his challenges and he’s as real on the content sites as he is in person. What’s super smart about using Kickstarter, and asking people for their color ideas is the opportunity to create advocates for the brand before the product even exists. When the product does launch (and I personally think its a matter if “when”, not “if”) then over 1,000 people will be take to their social media outlets to talk about their Juicie product and how they helped start the company.#Luvit

What other businesses have you seen using social media as an integral part of the start-up process? I’d love to see and hear about more! If I get enough, maybe I’ll do another blog post on this topic, I really enjoyed digging into these companies and sharing them with you!

Mom’s are full of advice. Along the way, we begin to realize that were actually right about a lot of it.  And alot of  Mom’s advice is about realtionships too. My wedding anniversary was a couple of weeks ago, so I couldn’t help reflecting on some of the advice I’ve gotten from my Mom over the years. And as I got started, I realized..”Hey! There are some social media lessons here too!”

As I started to think about my own Mom, I realized that long before I understood myself, she actually DID know what was best for me. For example, Mom’s help us define ourselves. At best, they are the cheerleaders for the real “us” fighting to get out. Finding what works for you, means being open to the real “you”. The idea that there is no other “you” and so no one can really give you a recipe for 100% success. What they CAN do is give you ideas, guidelines, encouragement. In Business its the same, and it also includes case studies and evidence of success…but at the end of the day, applying all of that wisdom may or may not work for you.

Social media is like that. Just like that. Let’s face it: if your gonna be married to your business, its high-time you gave some thought to how to make it really successful. So, today, in honor of my Mommy dearest,  I give you a mother-load of advice, and the social media lessons I learned from my Mom.

Find someone who makes you a better you. You. Only better.

Social media has the potential to celebrate your community, your business, your brand, but like a hen-pecking wife or a controlling husband, it can also take those things you love most about yourself and make you believe they aren’t worth celebrating. Finding the right social media mix will always start in much the same way as your search for the perfect “other”. First you have to decide who you want to be…then you can find the match that makes it you 2.0. So before digging into the social media dating pool, do yourself and your business a little favor and dig deep to find the inner brand. What makes your company special? What stories do you have to tell? Your social media match will take all the things that are great about your business and make them better. Take an inventory of all things right and exciting and think about how you might share those pieces …and why your customers might care or want to get involved with those stories.

Decide if marriage is right for you.

Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. But especially if you decide that it IS for you…its time for a little soul searching. What do I need to be a good husband/wife? What will my future spouse need from me so they can be the best they can be? What do I want my life to look like? Will it include kids?  You may or may not ever know all the answers to these questions..in fact, half the fun of the journey are the pieces that are revealed along the way. The important things about this particular soul searching is that 1) you seek to find answers 2) you understand that you don’t even know the known unknowns. Social media often reveals its potential in funny ways, but before that happens, you should be asking if you have the desire and resources to create a community and maintain a community. Are you ready to learn the answers to the questions you didn’t even know to ask?  What will you do if you get into it and decide it isn’t for you? Is building a community and abandoning it better or worse than never having built it at all? Ask yourself if social media is even the right fit for your objectives, audience and resources.

Be Kind.

This actually didn’t come from my Mom..it came from our wedding. The officiant at our wedding urged us to always be kind to one another. How simple. How quaint. But seriously, have you ever tried to be kind to someone you live with in every interaction..its a huge challenge. And..yes, so it is with social media. If you’re being kind to your community, you’re thinking about what makes it work for them. What can you do to make the experience more enjoyable…and even when they tell you that you are as rotten as a 10 year-old egg, you accept the criticism with grace, humility and apology with a commitment to rectifying the situation. Thanking people falls into this category too. Go ahead. Be Kind.

Accept the imperfections. Embrace them.

You won’t find the perfect spouse. You won’t be one either (unless of course you’re me…in which case you are doing a mighty fine job). But regardless of the imperfections, there is joy. Imperfections are human. If you want to really embrace social media and your brand, embrace your imperfections. Don’t expect that every moment is picture perfect. Its OK. People like the idea that behind a brand, are a real, unscripted person(s). When you mess up – say so. But don’t be so hard on yourself and expect that you’ll never have a typo or a unexpected reaction. In fact, much like a spousal argument can lead to greater understanding and strength, from imperfections, come some very interesting opportunities.

Listen.

Yep. There it is again. I’ve said it before I’ll say it again. My Dad always told me “you won’t learn a thing from yammering on.” Of course, he would then yammer on about all the things I had to learn (apples DON’T fall far from the tree do they?). Alas, he was right.  Its easy to listen, but hard to hear. Really hearing what someone is saying means actively participating in the listening process (instead of thinking about what you are going to say next) But the truth is, about 80% of the benefit you’ll receive from social media is from listening. So put your ear to the ground and prepare to be amazed to learn a lot about your community – current and potential customers.

Ask questions.  Make your significant other/spouse feel like you care enough to ask.

Sometimes, when we get into that comfort zone of a relationship, we assume we know how the other person feels so we don’t ask. Ahh yes. The old “ASS-out of-U and Me” syndrome. Well, we do it in business too, don’t we? We often assume expect that we already know our customer..after all..who knows better than us who are customers are? Haven’t we been having conversations with our customers all along? Didn’t we START the business knowing our customers? Perhaps.  But, social media allows you to take a deeper look and get to know your customers better. Sometimes the outlier view is the real headscratcher, but its a learning opportunity none the less. Go ahead – make them feel like you care. Ask them what they liked about the experience, product or idea? Your customers may just be the source of your next big idea. Its OK – you can give them credit. Hey, there’s a campaign in there somewhere!

PS: Yes, that really is a picture of my Mom. I think she’s cute as hell..even though she doesn’t read this blog. =)

Drawing to a close, I’d like to refer to my earlier post this week about the #1 rule in social media. Your Mom’s advice may vary from mine..and it might be better for you! The point is, think about the experience of engagement with your customers. Really think about it…and chances are…you’ll find your OWN mother’s advice in there somewhere. And tell me…what lesson did your Mom teach you that you apply to your social media practice today?!

Last week, I moderated a panel at the Hawaii Social Media Summit (#SMSHI) of Hawaii’s social media business users about their outsourcing – what they do and don’t outsource and what their best practices are.  It was an interesting conversation and their experiences are largely reflective of a Facebook Poll I recently initiated. The conversation is an interesting one with varying and strong opinions! While the poll I took is certainly no where near scientific, I think it raises some interesting points. As you might imagine – I have some opinions on these as they relate to small and medium businesses, so I thought I would share with you the results, a sampling of the conversation and my thoughts on each of the items.

There were a total of 52 votes, I did not limit the number of votes that each person could make. To get the party started, I voted for Strategy and Analytics. Here’s how the rest of the votes broke down and my thoughts about them.

22/52 Technical Integration: I totally agree with most of the respondents, having your social media program integrated with the rest of your digital presence is vitally important and its both smart and easy to outsource since there is usually no need for a permanent employee for this purpose. A business might choose to put a consultant on retainer, but unless you are really aggressively changing your digital presence regularly, then a consultant is the ideal choice.

13/52 Analytics: Since I already said I voted for this, you won’t be surprised to hear that I am baffled by the fact that this only received 13 votes.  Here’s why I am baffled,  over and over again, I get questions on what metrics should be used. Our panelists last week acknowledged that they too are struggling to identify which metrics work for them. The answer to what you should measure depends on what your goals are, but many social media consultants can help you identify which metrics are best for you and how to measure them. Unless you are a large business who can afford a Radian6 or similar tool, the gathering of this data can be cross channel and time consuming. I find most small business skip this crucial step and then become frustrated when they don’t know more about the success (or failure) of their social media program. A critical examination of metrics by a social media consultant can give you valuavle take-aways on changes you might make in your social media program, what’s working and what isn’t. If nothing else, you can outsource the initial set-up and development of your analytical program and take it from there. Whatever you do though, do skip the measurement of social media. But if you do skip it, please don’t say that social media doesn’t work for you…because my next question will be how do you know? I’d encourage small and medium businesses to at least consider creating a metrics dashboard with a consultant. Your internal social media person will thank you – even if they are running the reports on an ongoing basis. You don’t need to hire someone full time for this and since most companies don’t have a full-time social media person, this is an ideal outsourcing component.

11/52 Strategy: Again, one of my votes. Again, I am as confused as an epileptic dog in a maze. Maybe its because strategy isn’t fully appreciated. Maybe its because strategy seems too “fuzzy” but for me and my clients, strategy is the starting point. Without a well defined strategy, how do you know what you will implement and how you will measure? Social media is deceptively sophisticated and incredibly dynamic. Yes, you may change your strategy, but at least have one.The reason this is a great element to outsource is a social media consultant can give you examples of other strategies and work with you to develop one that suits your needs. Everyone’s strategy will be different, but its great to have some ideas to start with. You will then have a road map and metrics from which to measure the success of your social media program.

3/52 Implementation: The irony of this category is that its the single most popular thing that small businesses want to outsource – yet, its not the ideal element to outsource. Its also the most time consuming, which is why so many companies want to outsource. Listening. Engaging. Conversing. They all take time. I’ve seen estimates from 5 hour/week or more.  Having someone else speak for your brand (even if they are smart, savvy and exhibit good judgment) is challenging unless you (business) are really able to spend the time to immerse the outsourced social media person in your brand. Further, you should be willing to develop a process and a flow to assist the consultant in making comments and decisions on the spot, as that is what social media requires. Immersing a consultant in the right culture and voice of your brand is not easy. Can it be done? Yes. But my own personal experience in this area makes me give the following recommendation: if you must outsource this section, consider it a 3-6 month pilot until your internal users are up to speed on best practices and tools. What I normally do is have myself and a staffer work the social media dashboard together so we can discuss the opportunities and choices. Then I closely monitor and make recommendations. I personally love this graphic that breaks it down nicely:

1/52 SEO: I’m baffled by how few people saw SEO as a viable outsourcing choice. While I don’t personally do SEO, I work with several SEO pros in conjunction with social media programs and I have to say, I think this is one of the few areas where there isn’t much grey area. While SEO maintainance may be ongoing, an SEO expert’s job is to stay up to date on the every changing search antilogarithms, put your SEO consultant on a monthly retainer and call it a day. Few companies should have internal SEO and there are some incredibly talented SEO consultants available.

1/52 Content Development: I believe this one area that doesn’t get its social media respect. Developing content is an ongoing process and whether you choose to develop content or curate it, you’ll need to have a plan that fits in with your strategy.  Many small businesses need suggestions on what types of content (words, pictures, video etc.) and also the best way to utilize them to create discussion. Further, development of voice and tone is often something that many small and medium businesses haven’t done yet, so a social media consultant can help you develop your voice. What content to create, how to use it and best practices with content are all elements a consultant can help you with. When it comes to implementing it, I again suggest an internal advocate (or two).

1/52: Building Quality Followers: While only one person voted for this, I tend to agree, that this element can be outsourced, initially. I’ll even lump this in with working with influencers, both the identification and the outreach of them. But, ongoing development of followers will be contingent on your implementation among other factors, and unless your consultant has control over the implementation of these factors, its not a great choice.

So – what do you think? What do you think is most successfully outsourced? Leave us your thoughts..and if you haven’t already, take the Facebook Poll

PS:

Here are some sources about outsourcing I shared on my #SMSHI Twitter Stream last week:

Should #smallbiz consider outsourcing social media @AlohaSMM weighs in with some great stats: http://ow.ly/4zOzN

Another viewpoint: things you CAN outsource in social media http://ow.ly/4yWcs via @baekdal #SMSHI

Should you outsource your social media efforts? (via @mashable) #smshi http://ow.ly/4yV4Q

5 reasons not to outsource your social media http://ow.ly/4yVYf via @iMediaTweet #SMSHI

Corporate social media outsourcing has doubled according to @smexaminer ‘s mkting report – from 14% in 2010 to 20% in 2011 #SMSHI

Great advice from @TobyDiva regarding for biz & agencies re: outsourcing social media #smshi #smallbiz http://ow.ly/4yVbR

Design/Development, Content Creation & Analytics top 3 most commonly outsourced #sm elements via @smexaminer ‘s mkting report #SMSHI

Over the last year most of the social mediari have been obsessed with finding influencers for their clients (you). Several services have popped up to help companies cut through the millions of casual social media users and find those who supposedly have influence over others by way of their online authority. The most popular of these services is PeerIndex and Klout. Early on, Klout established itself as the “go-to-source” for online influence. Of course Klout’s algorithm is top secret, but it essentially weighs Twitter posting frequency+followers+mentions to develop a number on a scale of 1-100 (from what I can tell)

Klout is a great starting point, but I maintain that Klout misses several very important elements in its methodology. First and foremost, all influence is contextual. In other words, no matter HOW many followers I have on Twitter, I could never be consider an expert on aerospace engineering, and please trust me when I say, you would NOT want to sit in any plane that I designed. And to that point, a person’s Klout score is likely influenced by how popular their particular subject is on the social web, this can be good and bad. Further, Klout doesn’t (yet) help you really identify key influencers in specific topical areas (areospace engineers for example).  Finally – and this is the most entertaining of my examples (trust me), Klout can’t measure or weigh offline influence. While one might argue that offline influence should be reflected in online influence, let me give you an example where this falls short.

Allow me to enlighten you on Klout’s shortcomings with two examples.

Let’s start with MilSuckee. While I don’t know him personally, I’m just fine with that, to start with, his profile picture looks like a mug shot.  I am glad that there is a lot of internet space not to mention most of the continental US and Pacific Ocean between me and this guy. I don’t really want to meet him in a dark alley, even the friendly dark alley’s of Wisconsin (hey gotta give a shout-out to the state, it is where I was born.)

But it isn’t just his off-line persona that freaks me out. Oh, no. MilSuckee is into “owning” the F-bomb along with just about every other profanity in his Twitter stream. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been known to enjoy an F-bomb cocktail now and then, but, I am able to refrain from using it on Twitter, like, EVER. But, Milsuckee has LOTS of followers (to put it into perspective, 90% of Twitter users have less than 1,000 followers. This piece of work has 11,000+! Apparently, Milwaukee bashing is very popular, and thus, so is our character. Milsuckee is also very active  a Twitter (unemployment no doubt affords this opportunity) thus his Klout score is decently high and if he keeps up this pace, pretty soon, his Klout score will be higher than Chris Brogan. And you have to give Milsuckee credit for keeping it “real” and doing what the social media consultants are always begging their clients to be:  a human. I mean, his musings are definitely NOT bot generated, granted, his tweets might be 5th grade degenerative, but he’s a human. Whoot!  He even uses a real photo (presumably of himself) in his Twitter profile. He’s a regular best-practices poster child.

But does Miksuckee have any credibility? Is this an individual who you really want speaking for your brand? And does anyone really even care if this guy DOESN’T like your brand? How much influence can he really have? Sure, at first glance the Klout score might be intrigui

ng, but after 10 minutes of watching that stream, you’d probably abandon any relationship dreams.

But there is even more gray area to Klout than meets the eye.

Let’s compare this guy with another Twitter user, mcneilwilson, the Twitter presence of well known Hawaii-based agency, McNeil Wilson. But this isn’t just any local Hawaii company, its one with an outstanding reputation for its work with major brands both in the islands and around the country. Further, McNeil Wilson has won numerous awards and accolades for its work, in short, rheir off-line reputation is extraordinary. But, alas, their Klout score is a little..mmm..anemic. Why?! How could a company with such a stellar reputation not have a high Klout score? in the case of this particular company, they don’t have much of a Twitter following and they just aren’t THAT active and yes the stream is a little dry and maybe completely automated. So, their  Klout score suffers.

Now, let me ask you. All things being equal, who do you want talking about your company? EXACTLY. So, not only is offline influence still relevant, even to social media users, but the Klout score isn’t even the only measure of online influence. The other “beef” I have with Klout is that it doesn’t give any credit to those who actually create content and therefore have exponential influence ability outside of Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn.  AND it doesn’t really measure (that I know of) the ability of that influencer to create an action, such as clicking on a link.

So, dear business readers, when looking for influencials, use a Klout score as interesting baseline, but not as an absolute measurement tool.

Much like creating other types of business relationships, before you decide that your business should strike up a relationship with a social media influencer, be sure that the person’s reputation and relevance is on-par with your expectations – and for that, its likely you’ll have to do some good old fashioned homework. Never fear: Google and LinkedIn stand at your ready. (like my shameless links there?!).

Tell me: Have you ever had an experience where the Klout score didn’t tell the whole story?

PS: Don’t forget to join me @taracoomans, @rob and @tweetpea discuss Klout and its use for social media users and businesses at the Hawaii Social Media Summit. Moderated by @roxannedarling, our panel of professional Social Media Club members is sure to be an interesting discussion! If you can’t be there, follow #SMSHI.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “The best way to accomplish a large goal is to break down into small manageable tasks.” The idea holds water, or soda or a Belvedere vodka if your like me.  Essentially its an idea  “catch phrase” born from the Kaizen approach. Maybe you are familiar with the Kaizen method to change. If you aren’t – hold on to your shorts boys and girls you about to get a quick 101. THEN, I’m going to tell you why its relevant to social media.

Both US’s and Japan’s employed this methodology during their respectively most challenging times. The Kaizen method evolved from management training created by the US government to ramp up American manufacturing for WW2 involvement. There was no time for large scale innovation, manufacturing plants at that time had to work with the tools and time frame they were given (sound familiar?) After the war, General MacArthur introduced this concept to the Japanese to help rebuild their country. The Japanese coined the term “Kaizen” which roughly means “improvement” or “change for the better.” The tenants of Kaizen’s small steps are asking small questions, visualizing small success and taking small actions. Essentially, the Kaizen method is the process of small steps equaling big change, by taking small steps, the process essentially ignores the brain mechanism which triggers fear. Fear is so often the reason we do nothing, isn’t it? By the way, in business-speak the term for “fear” is “concern.” Think about it, next time someone uses their sterny-serious face to describe their “concerns” replace that word with “fear” and just try and tell me it doesn’t work.   The reason I dig Kaizen is that for an ADD-Creative like myself, its truly  manageable way to implement ideas, processes and concepts.

How does Kaizen relate to social media?

Consider the fear most businesses (yours?) have when beginning a social media program. If we’re honest with ourselves, the only reason businesses today don’t employ social media already is because they are afraid. Afraid that they don’t know how to do it.  Afraid of the time it takes. Afraid of the technology. Afraid of what they will learn. Afraid of what will and won’t happen.  FEAR. Useless fear.

Kaizen encourages us to ask simple questions of ourselves, our employees and within the context of social media, I would add customers. Start by asking your employees simple questions about social media. Why don’t you start with “why should we do it?” and see what you get back. Then you could ask them “where should we have a social media presence?” Give every employee’s voice equal weight, no matter if they are your VP of marketing or the janitor. You never know where revolution will take place…huh, just like some where else: social media. Now start asking your customers simple questions: “what is one thing we could do better?” that’s it. One question. See what you get. Its likely to inspire you to take action, even if that action is small, you’ve just harnessed social media using Kaizen. Once you get in the habit of asking questions, you’ll see how exciting the answers can be – and how simple ideas can take a mediocre situation and make it amazing. YAY!! YAY!! You’d like that, wouldn’t you?!

Let’s begin with the smallest of steps for starting a successful social media program for your business.

1) If you don’t already: jump on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and create an account for yourself (not your business, not yet).

2) For all the social media platforms you created an account for, find 1 interesting person or business a day to follow. Could be a competitor. Could be a famous person you are interested in. Anything. Indulge your curiosity. Do this for a week.

3) Spend 30 seconds everyday checking into the account and seeing what’s new, seeing what others are saying or doing. Do this for a week.

Pat yourself on the back, you’ve just started the first step in the most important part of social media: listening.

Before going to step 4, ask yourself “what type information did I most like seeing from people?”

4) Now, with these accounts, continue to use them as your personal testing ground. Spend an additional 30 seconds interacting with the people and businesses you follow. You might send them a comment, “like” something they said, ask a business a question. Ask a guru a question. Share information you think is interesting. Could be anything, a business article, a picture of your dog. Anything. Imagine rather than restrain.

5) Now, spend 30 additional seconds a day thanking people for commenting on your tweets, or passing them on.

Congratulations, you have just started the second most important tenant of social media: engaging.

Now, ask yourself: “How did it feel when someone responded to my question? How did it feel when someone thanked me?”

You now have the basic tenants down of social media: everything you need to know about social media you learned in Kindergarten.

But the really interesting idea of the Kaizen approach with social media is how well it scales. The more time you spend on your small steps, the bigger your change will be. Social media works the exact same way, you get what you give and a thousand small actions lead to big effects. Social media is rarely about “viral” its usually more about the day to day. Its rarely about tens of thousands of followers, usually its more about the 100 or so who communicate with you regularly.  But with social media your day to day reaches ever increasing potential. The more you follow and repeat the above steps for your business, the more you expand upon them, the more success you will have.

Now get outta here and start asking small questions and start taking small actions! Have fun.

Its hard to keep up with all the books coming out about social media for business. There are so many layers to this topic that entire (worthy) books have been written on social media philosophy, content creation or audience engagement. With all the dynamics elements to creating a successful social media presence, its sometimes hard to know where to start or even what books are worth the time investment.

But WikiBrands by Mike Dover and Sean Moffit ties all the necessary components into a social media strategy together with some helpful tactics.  Where WikiBrands differs is that it incorporates all those key subjects and more while also discussing the often ignored role of the brand. Branding is particularly relevant for small and medium sized businesses or start-ups who are looking to start or increase their social media voice. While most the examples within the book are of enterprise-sized businesses, the mini-case studies of numerous different types of brands ranging from WD-40 to Lunapads (a feminine protection product) to the oft-cited Zappos, Wikibrands proves that no matter the product, engagement can happen with a strong and willing brand. Businesses of all sizes can learn something from these examples and by implementing the FLIRT model that is roadmap to Wikibrand success, even the smallest entrepreneur can create a place for themselves in social media.

But before we get started: what exactly is a Wikibrand? According to the authors:

Wikibrand(s): noun

A progressive set of organizations, products, service, ideas and causes that tap the powers of customer participation, social influence and collaboration to drive business value.

It seems like a simple enough description, but the devil is indeed in the details of a successful Wikibrand.  The book begins with some branding 101 and then provides examples of the benefits of Wikibranding. Now, here comes the beef: it transitions nicely from the philosophical to the action plan with a concise roadmap called FLIRT, an apropos acronym according to the authors since flirting is “pulse raising, human and engineered to impress.” The other reason this acronym works is that each section represented is not only in order of steps, but importance. Each element has its own chapter: Focus, Language and Content, Incentives & Motivations & Outreach, Rules Guidelines & Rituals, Tools. I particularly appreciated the process of the FLIRT model. By encouraging businesses to start out with their focus and strategy and then move through to the other elements, the authors Dover and Moffit support what so many marketers know, but what so many companies ignore in their rush to create a program.

But understanding how to begin your social media presence is the first phase, building community then analyzing and measure the community and Wikibrands includes those very important topics as well. The community development chapter may seem intimidating to smaller businesses, but the chapter is a worthy read still since it articulates some of the motivations that people have for being part of a community. Understanding the needs of humans, rather than computers is the essence of Wikibrand success. Wikibrands even spends a chapter on personal brand development. I did wish that Wikibrands spent more time on measurement, but the authors do articulate some common measurement mistakes and make recommendations for measuring success based on your goals rather than more common tactics.

As you move through the FLIRT model, you’ll have lots of statistics that are worthy of your next powerpoint presentation along with research that is hard to get your hands on. While the road map of FLIRT doesn’t go into specific tactics, its a good brainstorming exercise for any marketer. Frankly, Wikibrands should be required reading for any business or marketing professional considering or executing a social media presence. For consultants Wikibrands offers an organized way to help your clients navigate through the complex choices in social media. I plan on giving a copy to my clients.

Resources: Register here for a Webinar with the authors on March 31st, sponsored by Social Media Club

Well, its official. If you thought that 2010 was a big year for digital marketing, you were right. The recent release of ComScore’s Digital Year in Review provides detailed information on search and advertising. The report is quite detailed and as you consider your marketing strategies for 2011 (provided you haven’t already done so), the report is full of tidbits that can help you make decisions. Most importantly, what the report says to marketers is INTEGRATE. Use different mediums and tools to support your objectives, don’t allow your campaigns or departments or objectives be funneled into a single silo. Let the mediums talk to each other and make friends with one another. Let your customers make friends with one another too.

While the report doesn’t directly address much about social media, it does make a case for some strategic choices that may impact your social media campaigns. Let’s look at some key points that may effect your marketing choices in 2011.

Facebook & Twitter Uses Change

Users in the 55+ demographic increased their usage of Facebook and Twitter. I expect that as the economy improves and people begin to feel more secure about retirement, we’ll see these numbers increase. While this crowd is hardly the “early adopters” crowd, if you are marketing to boomers or anyone in retirement age, this data suggests that increasing your visibility on social networks is increasingly important.

Meanwhile users in the coveted 35-54 demographic decreased on both Facebook and Twitter, but only slightly and in practically statistically insignificant numbers. This will be worth keeping an eye on over 2011, but hardly suggests that there is a mass exodus in this age group. I suspect that much of this is due to the hoopla earlier in 2010 about privacy concerns. This age range is not a group used to unknowningly sharing data with marketers. This does however, suggest that if your marketing to this group, you’ll need to be more creative and more present to catch their attentions, also you’ll need to make trust a primary component in your marketing strategies on both Facebook & Twitter.

It wasn’t too long ago that the myth that “only young people are on Twitter” was debunked but now it appears as though they really are embracing Twitter, they now make up 47% of Twitter users). In fact, the 18-34 demo is increasing its usage of both Facebook and Twitter. I believe this is due to increased usage by both celebrities and job postings online. Further, the importance of personal branding is increasing for all young persons, not to mention the fact that this group is extremely open and transparent and social media’s inherent “openness” culture isn’t frightening to them.  Also, its easier and easier to see only what you want to see in Twitter, so this age group can use the tool more specifically, rather than be inundated with information not of relevance to them. As this group moves into the 35+ age group, they will likely continue to use social outlets like Facebook & Twitter, particularly since its what they “grew up with”.

Finally, and most interesting is the difference between Twitter and Facebook users in the 2-17 age range. Despite the fact that Facebook requires its users to be 13, they saw a 1.2% jump  in this age group, while Twitter saw a 8% decline. At least some of this is driven by the fact that some of Facebook’s users really are younger than 13. ComScore suggests that the reason for decline in this area is increased reliance on mobile communication such as texting and if you’ve ever seen a 15 year old send a 30-word text in less than 5 seconds, this won’t be a surprise to you.

Mobile Content

And speaking of mobile use, according to ComScore 2010 was the first year when 3G/4G penetration crossed the 50% threshold in November 2010; its no surprise then that digital content usage increased, in fact, by December 2010 nearly 47% of mobile subscribers were digitally connected (using browsers or downloading content, including apps), but the most used feature was text messaging. Marketers take note, services like TextMyFans allow you to integrate your social media with this increasing trend.

Mobile apps aren’t going away – people love their ease of use. For productivity tools in particular, people are increasingly willing to pay for apps. If you utilize the app world, be very clear on your objectives and make sure that it integrates with the rest of your long-term branding objectives. The good news for small business is that app creation is likely to get more affordable, but that also means there will be increased “noise”  in the space, think very carefully about how you will promote your app to its intended users; it still isn’t a build it and they will come environment.

If there is any area that illustrates that importance of integration, its mobile. Social media, search and apps all need integration. With the increasing bandwidth of smart phones, marketers need to be sure they are crossing over and meeting their customers at the time and location where they are.

Video

Speaking of larger bandwidths, 20% of users used mobile to capture video. Video will continue to rise in importance. As you consider this trend, as yourself what about your company is interesting to others? Behind the scenes experiences both humanize a company and take advantage of the fact that we like to consume video and its getting easier to do. You can add Vlogging to your company’s blog when its appropriate and valuable. In 2011, I’d love to see more small businesses embrace video as a medium, because I think consumers are asking for it. Of course, the content has to be compelling and interesting…but that’s another (or every) blog post.

Resources: Download the entire ComScore Digital Year in Review here.