Social media professionals are a fascinating bunch. Sit with them and you’ll realize that there are at least 4-5 different disciplines represented. In my immediate circle, there are those with PR, Marketing, Tech and Software backgrounds, Web and SEO, wait, I’m not done..Journalism, Digital design, and I even know someone with a scientific background. Phew! That’s an awful lot of talent wrapped up into one type of marketing. Why are there so many distinct backgrounds in social media? Because social media is new (Twitter is only 5 years old!), meaning professionals have migrated from different backgrounds. But it isn’t just that – social media combination of skills (marketing, PR, web, technical) and philosophies which merge together to create the social media field.

That’s why no one “owns” social media

The awesome thing for me about having this diverse group of people around me is that they each bring a different insight to a challenge or a campaign. The tech guy is going to help me understand whether my dream of actually having

Creative Commons by PSD

someone live inside the computer can come true, while my web guy is up to date on all things SEO and programming, my science friend is going to remind me that before I do much else a process should be in place. My PR friends will strive to find ways to connect or create community and journalism friends are going to remind me about the need for great content and the digital design camp is going to say it won’t mean anything if it isn’t attractive to the eye. As for me, as a marketing professional, I bring the creative juice and the desire to track and measure the results. Several of us bring a multidisciplinary approach including agency or entrepreneurial elements, both of which are valuable insights.   If you could wrap us all up together you’d have the ideal social media professional. But “that person” doesn’t exist…even in the most brilliant of us. But there IS brilliance in each of us.

Its takes a village

Raising a successful social media campaign takes more than one person. And, it takes more than the social media professional, it takes commitment from the client as well. As soon as you start discussing social media within any organization, you realize that it will have significant touch points into other areas of your business besides marketing: it will involve Customer Service, PR, Marketing, your “Web Guy”. So it is with social media, its unlikely that any single person can do an entire campaign soup-to-nuts alone. And there’s no shame in asking for help, support and or assistance. As social media professionals we can support one another in a way that makes everything we do better. Collaboration is a sign of strength, not weakness and we can make each other and our clients even more successful. In fact, social media in itself IS collaboration.

So when you find your chief:

Despite that wide range of professional backgrounds, social media professionals tend to be very collaborative. We reach out to one another for advice and assistance. We pay one another for formal or informal brainstorming sessions. We watch, we listen, we read from one another. When you hire a social media professional, ask them: “what areas of social media do you collaborate with others on?” that will help you understand their strengths. You should be more concerned when the person you talk to says they do it all themselves. For a true social media campaign or launch, several skill sets WILL be required.  I have yet to meet a single person who can do it ALL on their own, in fact, the more I see collaboration, the more successful I see campaigns.

What do you think? If your a social media pro, do you collaborate much? If you are on the client side, how receptive are you to having your social media pro bring in others to support your campaign?

Its not that I don’t like Google+, I do. I think its elegant. I think its a brilliant integration of Google’s products. I think there are both useful and fun elements to Google+.

Will it replace Facebook? I really couldn’t say. I think it will be DIFFERENT from Facebook. For example, right now, there isn’t an official brand presence on Google+, that hasn’t stopped brands from setting up their presence, brands just don’t have a different presence than people right now. There also isn’t direct advertising on Google+, though there IS a handy search tool called “Sparks”, but its completely organic without any advertising.  Will that change? I don’t know. I suspect it will, but that depends on what Google’s end goal is with Google+. That goes hand in hand with the question of whether Google will monetize Google+. Aaaaand, before I could even post this blog, Google announced that there will be a way for businesses to officially have a presence, later this year.

I think that Google+ will have some interesting effects, I think collaboration may happen more natively on Google+ than on other social media sites, which may endear it to creative thinkers who also often happen to be early adopters.  I think its going to allow us to better see the information we want to see, while sharing the info we want with who we want. In essence, give us more control. I could go on and on about the “Hang Out” video conferencing feature, but again, before this post could even be posted, Facebook responded with that. So, you see, Google+ is already a game changer. As I said to a friend yesterday: a week ago if I wanted to video conference for free, I had one choice, today I have three. And so it goes.

There is a lot of conversation on the blog-o-sphere and Twitter-sphere from people who I respect, about what you should and shouldn’t do on Google+. Should you follow back? Should you create a brand page? (Google says it will shut down non-person profiles with the introduction of its business solution). Should you blend personal and professional contacts? Is creating “Circles” to limit conversation the essence of social media? It’s a little wild-westy there right now..and I love it. Google+’s culture is evolving. Its in the hands of the people – its the ultimate intersection of social media: the blending of digital tools and humans. I love watching the different approaches to integrating Google+ into the rest of our social presence. The social element is missing some “OOMPH” right now, but that’s because I think there is more “doing” than “watching” and “responding” right now. That’s to be expected to some degree, lots of us learn by “doing”. I’m one of those people. One thing I have decided to “do”/try is adding #pp to posts that are public in Google+. I think it lets people know that their comments will be more widely read and also lets them know that this is info I’ve shared with lots of people. We’ll see how its received and if something similar catches on.

But having had a week to “do” I think  I’m going to follow my own advice. I’m going to watch and listen.

What do YOU think of the Google+ experience thus far?

Eureka. I might have finally “gotten” it. I may now understand why people think its OK to buy Facebook fans. These same people have been buying direct mail and email lists throughout their marketing career and they equate buying Facebook fans to buying email lists.

I thought we were “done” with the organic relationship vs. the purchased relationship. But I guess not. If I may tell you a story: about a month ago, I received an email encouraging me to sign up for Private Jet partnership. You know, those gigs where you basically timeshare a private jet. Now, what’s wrong with this picture? First of all, the email is a pathetic attempt. At first, I thought it might be a slick email scam akin to sending someone in Africa $1,000 on the promise that I will get $10,000 back. The email isn’t personalized, and whoever wrote it didn’t even TRY to make it look or sound professional. There’s absolutely NO “benefit” “promise” and even the call to action is weak. I mean, its so disappointing, you’d think that a high-dollar pitch like this could be a little more craftier.  After fits of laughter, I erased the email, but I didn’t opt-out. I just wanted to see if it was a fluke. Guess what – it wasn’t! Jets.com STILL wants me to come fly with them. I WOULD like to fly with them, but I left my American Express Black Card in a previous life. So I finally opted out.

But here’s the thing: When I DO start buying time on private jets, it won’t be with these guys. I’m not impressed with the way they run their marketing program, and I fear that it may trickle over to the maintainence department. So, by buying this list of unqualified email addresses, they’ve actually lost what they considered a lead and done damage to their brand, and they don’t even know it.

Buying Facebook fans is like that, only worse. Because at least when you buy a random email list, you KNOW you don’t know those people. On Facebook, you can kid yourself into think these people are genuinely interested in your product.

So let me say this: If you are a social media “expert” promising thousands of Facebook fans in weeks, then STOP IT. Just stop it. You’re damaging YOUR reputation, your CLIENT’S reputation and the reputation of reputable social media professionals. Misleading your client into thinking that these thousands of people are “leads” is just..icky. Smarmy. These “Fans” are no more potential clients of theirs than I am of Jets.com

If you’re a business who is knowingly buying Facebook fans, then you’re misleading yourself into believing that a fan=sale. Fans who are organic, who truly appreciate your product and service can equal more sales. High numbers of random  Facebook “fans”  who don’t know your business is a tactic about as effective as dropping a marketing piece out a hot air balloon. If you advertise on Facebook to get more fans, then be prepared for higher fan numbers and low engagement especially if there isn’t a strong brand and content strategy. If advertising brings them to your Facebook business page, its up to you to turn then into advocates, and that’s a tough challenge. Not impossible, just not as easy as you likely think.

But here’s what makes buying Facebook fans worse than buying an email list. Social media is about genuine connections, not sales pitches. When you see those stats about how valuable a Facebook fan is, or how much more they spend, notice that the real value is customer engagement. Engagement happens through conversations, not sales pitches. Period. End of story.

So if you’re building a Facebook Page or starting to put some thought into finally giving your Facebook page life, please remember that buying fans is a waste of money and probably a threat to your brand. Organic relationships have value, even when there are fewer of them.  There are no short cuts to organic relationships. So save your money and your reputation and go organic.

What do you think? Are buying Facebook fans worse?

Photo Credit: Creative Commons Crazytales562

Remember when LinkedIn started “Recommendations”? Recommendations had and have powerful implications. In fact, rather than check a person’s references, many recruiters just review recommendations as a PRE-QUALIFIER for potential jobs. One reason Recommendations on LinkedIn hold some influence is that its often easy to see the source of a recommendation particularly if the two people concerned shared a common employer, which gives context and weight to a recommendation. This works especially well for those looking for a job and recruiters. For independent consultants, or small business LinkedIn is still useful, but in different ways.

But “Recommendations” can be challenging. I clearly remember the first time that I was asked to give someone a “Recommendation” for whom I wasn’t comfortable giving one. It was awkward and difficult, not only because I liked the person, but I didn’t feel as though I could write a professional recommendation for a variety of reasons. But even that many years ago before Twitter, I was aware of the “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” nature of social media. However, I had to draw the line and I felt like I’d be doing a disservice to others I’d written recommendations for if I wrote one that wasn’t completely honest. None the less, it was an uncomfortable situation.

Move forward to today: If we’re using social media to its fullest potential, we can create and sustain engaged and relevant relationships online. To have relationships, it usually helps to have manners.  For example, I’ve written  that I am proponent of following those who follow you on Twitter.  I really see very little reason NOT TO.  I don’t necessarily feel that way about Facebook, although I’ve been pretty liberal in my own case.  But I know people who just aren’t comfortable blending the professional and the personal and that’s OK  too. But I’ve written many, many posts here about the “manners” of social media, I usually say that “everything you need to know about social media you learned in Kindergarten.” I stand by those posts and the fact that we can all benefit by raising the bar on social media manners. But it IS a fine line between manners and “social media climbing” and let me be clear: I believe that if you don’t feel comfortable writing an endorsement/recommendation for someone, you shouldn’t. If you don’t feel like following a particular person for whatever reason, that too remains your right. However, there is an undeniable culture of “backscratching” on social media platforms.

But the recent emergence of “endorsement” type sites including Namesake and Connect.me, I’ve become challenged and conflicted.  I’ve been participating in these sites quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. I’ve given and received a variety of endorsements. Most of my endorsements have been from those who either have worked with me or can at least speak to my reputation; and I’ve returned the favor for those for whom I can say the same. In other words, the endorsements have been genuine. Yet, I have this sinking feeling that as these sites grow, there will be an inevitable flow of “social media climbers”. When this happens  “Endorsements” will be more about how many a person has versus the quality of said endorsements or even who gave the endorsements.  Interestingly, in this interview last fall, the founders of Namesake say they want to become the Linked in for the “Self Employed”  presumably to help the self employed connect with one another and to give further credibility to self employed people who may or may not use LinkedIn (because they aren’t searching for a “job”). This would suggest that endorsements would become an integral (and protected) part of the network.  They also said that they want to “build out the expertise graph” as opposed to the social graph. There is definitely room for this model, in fact, I personally dig it.  But Namesake’s recent blog post on the topic about differentiations of Namesake vs. other social platforms (Quora, LinkedIn, Twitter) says essentially that their purpose is to create topic based conversations in real time, with those you may or may not know. This is slightly different from being the “LinkedIn of the Self Employed” So, have they changed direction or lost focus? I don’t know. Right now, according to the participants in a Namesake conversation I started on this topic, there are a number of values to endorsements, including being able to search in a particular topic and “weight” a person’s opinion on a subject based on their expertise. But won’t it be fun to search on conversations when certain topics become over run with “experts”, not to mention the fact that the categories are filled with misspelling and duplicates. And to what of the quality vs. quantity of endorsements?

From a professional branding standpoint, if this is to be a site that helps small business owners connect with one another, and help potential clients evaluate potential vendors, then how do we VALUE the endorsements others have? How do we sift through the endorsements people received as a “back scratch” as opposed to the genuine endorsements by those who know?  Users on Namesake are just starting to address this challenge.  I agree with the sentiment that there should be weighting involved in valuation of endorsements on a site like Namesake, but I’m thinking the weighting should be tied to some kind of social graph that (attempts) to verify the strength of the relationship.  Particularly as the site grows and there is an inherent threat to the quality of endorsements. But Namesake is a (relatively) new website, so if technology and social media have taught us anything, its only a matter of (short) time before it changes and/or evolves.

Connect.me is actually still in beta, so we don’t fully know how they plan to utilize or empower their users with the endorsements that they are actively and currently giving.  To date, they haven’t been exactly transparent about their business model or intentions to either the media or those who have signed up. Their blog is geared toward the technical side of their business, rather than engaging potential users and community. They aren’t really off and running on the transparency or social side of things in my book. However, what I do like about Connect.me is that endorsers can choose their OWN descriptions of a person and they can include professional and personal attributes, so if you don’t know a person’s work authority, but you DO think they have particular individual characteristics (generosity, responsibility, etc.)  you can say that as opposed to being forced to endorse someone on a category you may or may not feel comfortable endorsing. Again, however, its a very open concept and how we will address the “back scratching” urge to create value in the endorsements? We have yet to see.

For me,  it comes down to this: for these sites and others like them that are sure to follow,  either the site communities or the sites themselves will have to develop ways to create or maintain value for endorsements. Because collecting endorsements just for the sake of having endorsements is as valuable as collecting Twitter followers for the sake of increasing your numbers. Ultimately, these actions devalue the potential and power of the idea behind the very idea of influence. Endorsement sites are ultimately another way to help social media users navigate the waters by identifying influencers; they work differently than Klout and Peer Index, and thus provide different types of information. Ultimately, having several different resources to identify influencers is good for the socially networked world, so long as there is value in the endorsements.

Do you agree with my concerns about these sites? Are the endorsements valuable for you to receive, give or in helping you navigate the particular site offering endorsements?

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, there was a business named Alice. Alice had lots of marketing avenues to explore, and one day, while Alice was pondering her next marketing move, she saw a White Rabbit. The White Rabbit was talking to her, but much of it was non-nonsensical, Alice was intrigued, so she began to follow the talking White Rabbit, until she found herself falling into an endless, cavernous rabbit hole, when she finally stopped falling, she found herself in another world.Wonderland, also known as Social Media.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how social media compares to Alice in Wonderland. If you’re up for a journey – join me on the exploration of Alice, the business, in the Wonderland of Social Media and what we can learn from Alice’s experience.

The elusive White Rabbit..telling you EXACTLY what he thinks.

The White Rabbit:

In our story, the White Rabbit is the elusive and often confusing customer; yet the White Rabbit is the key to much of our story. Alice followed the White Rabbit into the rabbit hole without knowing where she would land or whether the White Rabbit wanted her there.Further, she wasn’t even sure it was a rabbit!

The Moral of the Story:

Before you follow the White Rabbit, talk with him some more. Yes, your customers are PROBABLY using social media platforms everyday, but before you follow them into the rabbit hole, find out which platforms they are using and how.  Determine who you’ll be talking to in social media; current customers, potential customers, people who don’t know you? Once you know WHO, then you can decide HOW (platform) and WHY (content) you’ll be conversing with them. Be prepared to test the market, and don’t be afraid to fail. Even when you fail, you’ll learn something: just like Alice in Wonderland.

Be Prepared to LISTEN to the White Rabbit: The White Rabbit isn’t all jibberish, in fact, if you listen closely and ask some questions, your White Rabbit customer will tell you exactly what they think and feel. Unlike the White Rabbit, your customers are NEVER late, in fact, they are right on time. While the White Rabbit can sometimes be perceived as rude, this is often because he feels threatened. If your customers are rude to you in the social sphere, as why.

Would you eat or drink these?

Eat Me/Drink Me:

Alice finds herself in a room. There is a cake that implores her “EAT ME” and a small bottle that instructs her to “DRINK ME”. Alice does both. When she eats the cake, she grows so huge that her head hits the ceiling. When she drinks the elixir in the bottle, she grows too small.

The Morals of the Story:

Be prepared for unintended results and stay flexible and dynamic within your social media program.  EAT ME and DRINK ME have similar if opposite effects (that Lewis Carroll guy was a wiley one), much like the cake and the elixir (hence forth known as the kool aid). In Alice in Wonderland, Alice learns the effects of shrinking and growing over and over, its a regular ground-hog day experience. Instead of rushing into it, learn to embrace measured, strategic social media maturity rather than explosive growth.

Tactics vs. Strategy: Simply following directions (EAT ME/DRINK ME) means you are employing tactics in Wonderland (Social Media), but you haven’t mapped out your plan. Strategies are created with tactical ingredients. Don’t drink the kool aid until you know the ingredients – got it?

The EAT ME Conundrum: Occasionally, a company who is jumping into social media will get lucky and land in the viral vortex. Viral is good. But without a strategy, there’s no second chapter and you won’t be prepared to capitalize on the opportunities of getting lucky right off the bat. Getting too big before your ready is in many ways worse than starting small.

The DRINK ME Reality:  More often than not though, businesses feel frustrated by how small they feel when they drink the social media kool-aid and aren’t flooded with fans and followers. Building up your social media presence will almost definitely take time. Allow yourself time to grow.

"We're ALL mad here"..indeed.

The Cheshire Cat:

Truly a character this one. All smiles and teeth and gums with no body to show for it..until he wants you to see him, yet he seems practically omniscient.

The Moral of the Story: The Cheshire Cat is like a social media program without human characteristics, except a cheesy smile. Who can trust that crazy cat? That’s how PEOPLE view MARKETERS. Let your community see the whole Alice, even with your idiosyncrasies (how DO you keep your hair perfect on this grand adventure?). Tell your story. As your community learns to trust YOU, they’ll see that you’re real and no Cheshire Cat, this will make relationships easier to develop. Real is better. The real real, not the real you’re used to polishing, brushing and over airbrushing…leave that “real” in the advertising world where it belongs.

The Mad Hatter Tea Party:

Alice stumbles upon a tea party hosted by the Mad Hatter and a range of other curious characters. All of the characters are very sure of themselves and quiz Alice with nonsensical riddles. Alice gets frustrated and leaves, saying it was the stupidest tea part she’d ever attended.

The Moral of the Story:

The Tea Party Culture

The Tea Party Culture: No, I am not talking about the political movement – I am talking about the distinctive styles with which social media uses communicate; this can be abbreviations, shortened links or simply expectations. The social media sphere is a culture onto its own, with mores and expectations, moreover, each platforms users have unique expectations and communication styles. These communication styles make perfect sense to the users, but if you’re new to the social media sphere, it can seem baffling and create the very frustration Alice experienced. Before stomping off from the “stupidest tea party ever”, be sure to ask yourself if you are making the most of the communities in which are participating; for that matter, ask yourself what you are CONTRIBUTING that is of value.

The Mad Hatter: This guy has a tea party all day, every day because its perpetually tea time in his non-time world. Confused? Yep. But the Mad Hatter is sort of like lots of so-called social media experts who are experts because it is the thing to be. These same people were mortgage brokers 8 years ago. Ask your social media consultant to speaker YOUR language and help you interpret the social media’s language. And, ask your social media expert to be a professional, not just the one wearing the biggest hat.

I'll take the heads off EVERYONE in Wonderland

The Queen of Hearts:

The Queen of Hearts likes croquet, but only played her way: with hedge hogs and flamingos.Quick to solve problems through her favorite order: “Off with their heads!”

The Moral of the Story:

Slow to change and stuck in her ways, the Queen of Hearts represents those who are unwilling or unable to rule Wonderland without screaming “off with their heads!”. When social media platforms or communities don’t behave the way marketers expect or want, its easy to call it quits. Instead, this should represent Alice’s opportunity to consider her presence in Wonderland and the curious White Rabbits that she’s reaching.  Ironically, the Queen of Hearts has a hard time actually executing the Cheshire Cat because she can’t find the body, only the head. Alot of marketing is this way – its hard to make heads or tails of it – but social media is a continuum and if your real and strategic, you’ll be able to find both the head AND the tail.

Sometimes the Queen of Hearts is an angry customer, taking out their frustrations in the social media sphere. When the Queen is venting, sometimes you have to address it, sometimes you don’t. But what ever you choose, remember, the Queen isn’t likely to stop screaming unless you give her a head, or at least a nod.

So – what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with this comparison?

Patience is a virtue..but business rarely has that virtue. Especially small businesses whose OTHER virtue is flexibility and the ability to be dynamic. Its that willingness to be dynamic that makes social media such a great fit for small businesses. Alternately, because social media is perceived as “free” many companies jump in without a strategy. Whether you are an existing business or a new business, planting the social media tree takes time, care and patience.

Since so many are starting the year off right with a desire to implement social media in 2011, I thought now would be a good time to review what planting the tree of social media can look like. Here are my recommendations on what to do before you get started and then what to do the first three months.

Plant the seeds in soil that will allow it to grow:

What to do BEFORE you start your social media program

Get your garden in order:

Make sure your website is up to date. If your thinking of doing a web redesign, now’s the time to do it. While your at it, consider a WordPress site, there are many advantages including easy integration with other programs and social media platforms. Whether you have a blog or not, WordPress is a great way to kick-off a social media campaign. You might not have considered this, but you’ll see why when you get in to it. Make sure you have at least one dedicated landing page for social media visitors that will include an email capture and links to all your social media profiles.  Finally, make sure your Google Analytics is installed. You’ll want that for later – trust me.

Consider Content: So many social media platforms do better when there is content to share. Content isn’t the only thing you’ll be distributing, but its a good place to start. This might be a blog, industry news, video, pictures, it could be anything, but definitely consider your content strategy and what you’ll use for content.

Go through your customer emails and databases. Make sure they are up to date and accurate. Its likely that at some point you’ll want to integrate your email program with your social media program, so be ready!

Define your goals. You’ll be surprised at the information you can mine from social media and there are many resources out there to do so.  You’ll get quantifiable and quantitative data. You’ll learn things. Define your audience, will you be engaging current customers in a community sense? Will be looking for new customers? Both? What will you define as success? Its likely you’ll have several goals, but this is where you Google Analytics will come in handy. There are many other ways to measure success in social media, besides conversions and traffic (which you’ll measure in Google Analytics), you’ll probably want to measure some other items. Define your KPI’s and measure from the very first day.  You’ll be quite frustrated you didn’t do this from the beginning if you skip this step.

Identify a social media team: Having at least one person be the social media liaison is a good idea. As your program grows, you may add others to the team, but if your social media program is to succeed, it needs someone to water it every single day. Choose a team with excellent judgment, a strong marketing (if not social marketing) back ground and most importantly, choose people who are “into it” and excited. These people will be the digital representatives for your company, you want them to be JAZZED. Along those lines, resist the urge to hire your Auntie’s sister’s cousin because she has a Facebook page. Social media marketing for businesses is more complex than most people give it credit for, there are nuances that you’ll want to learn and want your social media team to share with you.

Plant Your Seeds

Start building your assets and your community.

Pick your tools: Identify which social media tools work best for you. Everyone gravitates towards Facebook and Twitter because they get the most press, but they might not actually be the best tools for you. To get your wheels spinning, check out the Conversation Prism. Although social media tools are ever-changing, this is probably the single best resource to get the brain-cells thinking outside of the “Facebook/Twitter default” state of mind. If you don’t know what some of these tools are, that’s ok, dig in, have some fun. Ask your customers where they hang out in the digital world.

Water the garden: Once you know what your goals are and which social media tools are right for you, you can begin to build your assets. This isn’t a “build it and they will come” scenario. You will have to let your customers know you are there. Whether you choose to do this through promotions, email, advertising or through reaching out to them through social media, be prepared: your efforts should probably be integrated and strategic. Be prepared to spend at least 3 months listening and creating some content or sharing content on your site before you start to see results. During this first few months, you should be listening and learning. Watching what your customers or potential customers talk about. Identifying influencers and industry leaders. Spend at least 80% of your time listening during this phase.

Get out your measuring stick: Watch your garden grow, slow but sustainable growth is OK. It takes time for an oak tree to grow, as it is with your social media program. None the less, start tracking your results right away so that when you determine its time for campaign, you’ll have a baseline to measure from. There is inherent experiment in social media, so don’t be afraid to test some things out and see if you get a “blip” on your radar.

Prune & Fertilize: After building your assets and communities for 3 months, If certain social media outlets aren’t working for you ask why. If you’ve identified the reason, don’t be afraid to either eliminate it from your mix or give it a little extra push to give it the chance it needs. Alternately, now is probably the right time to develop a campaign. What your campaign will be, depends on your goals, your resources and your customers, but when you decide to develop a campaign, go back to the top and start again so that you’ll have the ability to measure success within the communities that work right for you.

Remember: a tree only grows as tall as its roots are deep. Social media is dynamic and exciting, but it takes time to grow and mature.

I’d love to hear from you on where you are in your program and if you skipped any of these steps and why!

Now that Facebook CEO has recapitulated his “Transparency is the default” stance on the world’s largest social media site (with more members than there are US residents), will the discussion about privacy die down?

Unfortunately, probably not. All social media sites will now be scrutinized with the same lense that Facebook was. Twitter who just launched its new in-house advertising team is likely to see this discussion resurface as advertisers demand more insight from Twitter as well. Start watching for your Twitter profile to change.

The Facebook changes were a triumph of the free market, after weeks of pressure, Facebook finally realized that its advertisers (who are its paying customers) wouldn’t be happy if users (who pay nothing) left in droves. But this is an important turning point in the evolution of social media and indeed the internet. Whose responsibility is it to protect user privacy? Do we agree with Zuckerberg that they backbone of the internet and in particular, is transparency and openness or are we not quite there yet? Most importantly, do we  think this is something the government should be involved in or would we prefer to continue to use our collective (and much faster) power as users? Or should social media companies adopt their own set of ethics by which all users who choose to participate can readily read?  Ethics being a “do no evil”-type mantra, a philosophy by which the company agrees to abide, not because its forced to via the law, but because they think its the right thing to do for everyone involved. An ethics agreement should look significantly different from the User Agreement most people skim when agreeing to use a social media site, an application or even software.

Further, the space between what is ethical and what is legal in this country continues to occupy a gray sinkhole in our collective imaginations. Advertisers will continue to push the envelope for more personalized, relevant ads. Arguably, there is even a benefit to users for relevant ads. But by drafting an ethical behavior models and practices, social media shows the its users that it isn’t afraid to be transparent about its motives.  Instead of the government getting involved with creating complicated, loophole-ridden legislation, social media companies who are proactive will head off government intervention that has almost never benefited delivery systems of advertising.

Perhaps this idea is Utopian, but not too long ago, the idea of Facebook was too. Maybe Zuckerberg has a point, maybe transparency should be more prevalent, but in return, maybe social media could follow the lead of “Do no evil” Google and change the face of corporate America and in fact, ensuring trust and therefore a more open community for both users, companies and advertisers.

What do you think the next step for social media should be? Should the government be stepping in? Should the free market continue its swift justice? Should social media companies adopt an ethics code?

More commentary on social media privacy from Mashable’s CEO Cashmore