Let’s move beyond the tools in Social Media

Courtesy of Flickr - Zoom Zoom

I read a lot of blogs and microblogs every day. A lot. One thing that I see that I’m very disappointed in is the amount of people still talking about the “tools” in social media. Now, I’m not saying it’s not important to know how to use these new tools, but I think we’re missing the bigger picture here.

Social media has created a conversational structure that allows us to cut down the silos in our companies and our own lives. Yet, we still discuss this fascinating trend in the silo-centric mindset. We talk of Twitter or Facebook or MySpace and how to create good pages and build mounds of followers. But we fail to discuss the holistic approach of the actual conversations and the engagement that we should be experiencing with our closest customers and fans.

When we move past this silo-centric mindset, we will be able to dream of new conversational avenues and have the ability to adapt when the playing field changes again. I don’t want you to find yourself focusing and putting all your effort on a platform like Twitter, only to see that platform fail and leave you hanging.

Here’s my challenge…Let’s move beyond the tools.

Revisit: Transition of Real Life to Social Media Relationships

I’ve got a little case of “medicine-head” today and can’t think long enough to write anything of value. So I wanted to revisit this little gem…

In all aspects of our lives, we have different groups of people we associate with. We have family, friends, co-workers, etc. What’s great about human behavior is that we interact with these different groups in extremely different ways. There are boundaries between these groups that allow us to have different personalities within the respective group. We don’t really act the same way with our Grandma as we do with our college drinking buddies. It’s just not the way it works. Since we have these varying idiosyncrasies in our “real life” why wouldn’t we have them in our online “social life?” The answer is we do. Which is why there are so many social media outlets out there.

You share photos with family on Flickr, build business contacts with LinkedIn, keep in touch with your friends on Facebook, all while keeping everyone informed of your every move on Twitter. These individual sites and relationships are all tied together by the Internet, creating an interconnectivity that elicits more of a singular public individual. Basically this means that the boundaries that we hold between our different “real life” groups are being torn down in the online “social world” allowing everyone in our groups to see the same person (your Grandma will be able to see how you interact with your college drinking buddies). This singular individual creates a more powerful communication platform, where each “social” conversation furthers the impact of another.

The interconnectivity of our social groups is also allowing for more personal communication with those closest to us. It’s beginning to bring people closer together, regardless of what others might say. Basically, its constant communication on a non-committal basis, meaning you put a conversation out there and your “contacts” communicate back when they want, whereas in the past it may have been a monthly phone call or a once a year visit. We are all more up-to-date with those closest to us because of the Internet and these social media outlets.

By having these personal communications and interactions in a very “public” environment, such as the Internet, is creating some great opportunities for marketers. Marketers are now able to participate in these intimate conversations and build relationships with the individual; integrating the brand into the lifestyle of that individual and their social circle.

The future of social media is upon us and communication is going on as I type this. We are here to keep you informed of everything that happens. As always, feel free to continue the discussion by commenting or contacting us. We will be sure to communicate back.

Customer reviews on…YOU! Google Sidewiki

As many of you know, Google launched the Sidewiki toolbar last week allowing all of our corporate sites and organizational sites are now social, regardless of your reluctance to embrace this communication transition. Now, anyone who visits your site can comment and review your company for all to see. There are many people talking about this and many people brushing it off as “Just another stupid social tool.” But wait… Not only is your company open to social communication, but you, as a professional, are completely open to social discussion. Let’s take a step back and see where we’ve been the past week.

Wikipedia defines the Google Sidewiki as:

Google Sidewiki was launched September 23rd, 2009.[2] With Sidewiki you can view comments made by other users of the Google Toolbar made on a website. Google uses ranking algorithms to determine comment relevancy and usefulness using criteria such as users voting up and down a comment, and past user’s contributions. It is currently only available for Internet Explorer and Firefox, and they are working on a release for Chrome.

To sum up, the Sidewiki makes every site social. Mack Collier had a brilliant post this morning that points out that Seth Godin has spent years trying to fend off reader’s comments on his blog by not allowing them, only to see the Sidewiki come along and push all his efforts to the side.

What does this mean?

Companies: Many people have already discussed the benefits and downfalls of the Sidewiki at the business or organizational level. Below are some examples from IBM and Ford.

IBM with Sidewiki

Ford with Sidewiki

Professinalism: Not only is this being utilized for content and company-driven websites, but there is a huge opportunity/downfall in the personal, professional realm. As we’ve seen above, Sidewiki users can view related content to the site as well as allow them to actually comment on the content. The tool can also be used on personal social profiles… For example, the open social aspect of the Sidewiki will allow users to go to my Twitter or LinkedIn profile pages to comment about me as an individual or professional. If you’re a great, morally successful individual, you should have nothing to worry about; but if you’re not… watch out…You are now open for customer reviews.

Twitter with Sidewiki

LinkedIn with Sidewiki

Conclusion.

You are now social. Your company is now social. Everything you do is now social. Embrace and engage or be left in the dust. What are your thoughts?

Social CRM – Link it to customer data

There’s a lot of talk right now about SalesForce.com’s Twitter integration allowing the user to monitor what is being said about the company/brand/product/etc. Jeremiah Owyang discusses it in detail in his recent post “Salesforce Pushes Social CRM Technology –But Don’t Expect Companies To Be Successful With Tools Alone” so I won’t get into all the nooks and crannies of the story, but wanted to raise a question.

How can we truly continue a conversation and grow a relationship with our prospects, customers and stakeholders with the mere monitoring of what is being said?

I’m not saying this isn’t a great tool for CRM users to be able to see what is actually being said out on the social sphere, my only thought is this; “How can we truly continue a conversation and grow a relationship with our prospects, customers and stakeholders with the mere monitoring of what is being said?” If we truly want Social CRM, we need a platform to not only capture these conversations, but be able to append these conversations to the CRM to the correct individual to allow our company and social personalities to continue the conversations that are happening. Then, and only then, will we be able to truly say we are a social company building individual relationships and integrating into the lifestyles of our customers.

Then, and only then, will we be able to truly say we are a social company building individual relationships and integrating into the lifestyles of our customers.

What are your thoughts?

Social Media in Lifestyles

Here come the Leaders...

Welcome back to the work week. It was a great weekend in Kansas City, one that made me realize that Social Media is, not only playing a major role in my life, but also enhancing certain experiences. I’d like to share my experiences this weekend and how social media tied in.

Saturday: My alma mater, the Northwest Bearcats, played their annual “Clash of the Champions” football game at Kansas City’s Arrowhead stadium. This is a great annual event that gives me a chance to see some college friends that I may not have kept as close as I should have over the years. The day really isn’t about the football game for me, but the relationships that I can continue growing and reliving.

I noticed something different this weekend while catching up with these old friends… There was less time spent catching up with what’s been happening and more time enjoying conversations and growing these relationships. The reason for this change in communications, even after not seeing some of these folks for years… Social Media. By perusing daily Facebook status updates or Twitter feeds, I don’t physically have to hold a direct conversation with these people to keep up with their life. I simply see what’s going on. Then, when we do get together to hang out, we don’t have to start the relationship from years ago, rather we can start from yesterday. It’s really a great change and one that I’m glad is happening in our lifestyle communications.

Sunday: The Tour of Missouri concluded in the streets of Kansas City on Sunday. It was great to see my first professional race and see some of the great riders flying down the streets in the city I call home. A tremendous experience. During the race, I began pointing out riders that I recognized and spouting out personal information about them as if they were close friends. I felt a connection to these riders, even though I’ve never met them. It truly was amazing to see Christian Vande Velde handing over the trophy from last year to teammate David Zabriskie. When Vande Velde took the stage, I leaned over to my friend and actually made a comment, “I didn’t think he would be here, he was just at the PGA Tournament.” How it the world did this possibly come out of my mouth and how do I feel these close ties with these riders?

Social media. I’m a huge fan of cycling and follow many of the pro riders, including Vande Velde, on Twitter and Facebook. Seeing these riders being completely personal and real on these social platforms, allows me as a fan to feel a sense of relationships to these stars. This feeling enhanced my experience at the Tour yesterday. It was something I didn’t expect, but a wonderful addition.

As your company moves forward, think of these real world experiences and see where you might be able to enhance experiences for your followers. How can you surprise your fans and friends through social media? These surprises will make this weekend memorable for years to come. Keep in contact and keep the conversations going.