Are we sharing solutions or soundbites?

Something’s been gnawing at me lately, and it’s taken some pondering to figure out exactly what it is. But I think I’m frustrated that we’re not doing a better job of carrying social media into the places it really matters: the businesses that don’t understand, don’t believe, or both.

We’ve established some traction and a rather comfortable community around social media now, replete with some gurus and thought leaders, figureheads, even some who are willing to rock the boat.

We have collected a mantra of sorts, and a series of social media truths. We may even be right about some of them. But our translation skills sometimes leave a bit to be desired.

It’s comfortable in the echo chamber, because we can put one of our sound bites on Twitter and readily and immediately have the comfort of a bunch of replies saying “Amen”. We can put a post on our blog that outlines the truths we hold to be self evident as social media advocates, and we can be confident that there will be a trove of comments lauding us (or at the very least, merciful silence).

But what good is any of that if we aren’t moving anything forward? What are we doing for those who are not yet sold on any of this?

If we’re going to claim that we possess knowledge that others don’t about the possibilities of social media, it is not okay to sit smugly by and play the “if you don’t get it, shame on you” game. It is not okay for us to say that we understand these things, and that companies had better get with it or perish. It is not okay for us to declare things dead without suggesting – in practical, applicable terms – what may replace them.

Businesses are listening and wondering how all of this affects them, but what they’re most often hearing in return are our generic sound bites instead of answers. What, exactly, are we doing to carry our causes to their doorsteps and accept that there are answers we must be able to give? Answers like:

Why should I care? Not theoretically or philosophically, but how is this affecting my company and my industry and what are the real implications of my business adopting this or not?

Is our current method of communication and customer service really broken, or is it just not the “ideal”? Are there incremental changes that can be as beneficial as earthshattering ones?

Is the additional work we’re creating to adopt these practices going to bear out in terms of increased *something*? Is that “something” going to grow our business?

What of our current practices are enhancing our ability to succeed with social media, and how do we integrate them? What of our current practices are hindering same, and what are the consequences to eliminating them?

If we’re successful with this, can we sustain it and meet the increased expectations for our brand?

If we fail or stumble, can we reasonably expect to repair damage and move on? What risks are we taking? What damage is irrevocable, and how do we avoid it?

Will our company be more committed to itself through these efforts, or are these changes unwelcome? If they’re unwelcome, why is that, and should we be examining that first?

I don’t claim to have all of the answers yet, but I’m sure as hell working on finding them for the businesses who are asking, even when they’re uncomfortable. To me, the answers to these and other questions (and the ability to ask them in the first place) are what is going to separate the difference-makers from the people who are working from their same, tired script waiting for someone to feed them the next line.

Stump speeches about the virtues of social media don’t convince me anymore, and I can sure as heck tell you they’re not convincing business owners who are faced with crises of revenue, sales, operational efficiency and human resources.

What impresses me are the people who are eschewing a one-size-fits-all approach and finding new ways to frame these challenges in ways that make sense for the companies – and the people behind them – who are taking all the chances.

Photo credit: eleaf

Deconstructing Social Media Theory

As I’ve said a couple of times before, my mission for now and ever is to pull back the cover on the social media engine and get greasy. I want to tinker with the moving parts and figure out how they work, and map all that out for businesses that are really trying to understand how to apply all this STUFF we keep talking about. No preaching. Real work.

Here’s some of the stuff I’ll be thinking about. Will you add yours?

Bridging Online and Off

The online world is teeming with life, but there’s still a big analog world out there. 2.0 brands are going to have to learn how to keep a foot in both universes. Up for consideration will be how offline communication in person and print can perpetuate cycles of communication, instead of being stopping points.

Can we effectively use concrete brand experiences – like tangible products, collateral, and in-person events – and bridge them back and forth to digital? How?

Building Without Walls

Flexibility is going to be key in a nimble digital world. Plans are going to be made, reworked, and all out broken. The days of the tabular marketing and communications plan are long gone. What’s next will be frameworks, scaffolding. Structure without permanence so that communicators like me (and you) can adapt and mold to the shapes that the conversations are taking online.

So what, exactly, does that plan look like? What factors need to drive our goals and objectives? That’s a big thing for us to chew on this year. I’m already doodling…

Inside Baseball

The foundation of external social media success is internal. It’s having the right mindset, the right team in place, the right resources allocated (and waiting in the wings) so that social media becomes part of the culture and operation of a business from the inside out. It just doesn’t work otherwise.

As more team members are using social networks in their personal lives, we’re going to see a gradual but distinctive bleed into business. Employees are going to expect that they can work with these tools to do their jobs better.  So how do we structure the flow of information, empower and educate employees, engender trust between believers and skeptics? Are we meeting the needs of our internal clients – our bosses, our colleagues, our teams – and putting our own social media money where our mouth is? What does this mean for roles and responsibilities in tomorrow’s companies?

Information Workflow

Listening, learning, participating. All of our favorite buzzwords for social media. But from an operational business standpoint, just what are we doing with this new found wisdom? How are we adapting and evolving our operations and communications based on what we learn? Are we creating best practices and making our companies leaner and better at serving our customers, or are we preening?

The only way social media will be sustainable is to integrate the effective parts into the way we build businesses, and jettison the crap that weighs us down. Critical issues to think on will be how information flows through the business and exactly how those touchpoints affect day to day work.

You’ll note that there’s not a thing above that’s specific to using blogs or Twitter or Facebook advertising or RSS or anything else. The reason is simple: the tools come last (or close to last),  only after figuring out what, exactly, we’re trying to accomplish. I’m going to keep thinking about the tools themselves, but from the angles of how they plug into the pieces above. Not for their own sake.

The questions above may be masquerading a bit as theory, but there will be no answers without practical application. And the answers are going to be different for each and every company. So I’m sketching blueprints right now. You’ll see them this year, because together, we’re going to figure out what works.

So you’re going to work every day, trying to assimilate this stuff. What should people like me be keeping in mind for people like you? What do *you* need on these blueprints so that you can take them to work with you and start building?

Photo credit: Ralph Bijker

15 Blogs You May Have Missed

I read a ton of blogs, and my reading list varies from time to time. I have some standbys, but I also love coming across blogs that aren’t yet discovered by the masses. I find smart people everywhere (thanks to things like Google Shared Items or Twitter or Facebook), and every once in a while, I’d like to make sure you find some of them, too.  So here, in no particular order, are some of the blogs I’ve been reading that I hope you’ll check out.

Servant of Chaos

Gavin Heaton is decidedly one of my favorites. He always has a fresh voice and a new take on something, and I never get tired of hearing what he’s got to say. The only thing keeping me from stalking him and hanging out on his doorstep is the very long plane ride to Australia. Connect with Gavin on Twitter at @servantofchaos.

Press Release PR

Danny Brown has come blazing onto the social media stage with a rock-solid blog that’s always thought provoking and interesting. He’s also a favorite Twitter peep of mine at @PressReleasePR, and I’m particularly excited about his 12 for 12K initiative for 2009.

David Mullen

Always a sure bet for great conversation in the comments as well as the blog itself, David has put together one heck of a pile of good thinking here. Mostly trending toward social media and PR, David clearly digs beyond the surface of issues floating around the fishbowl and makes them into sage discussions about the topics that are really at issue. Good stuff. (Find David on Twitter at @dmullen)

Masiguy

Tim Jackson is the brand manager for Masi bikes, and he’s a living, breathing case study for the power of social media for small business. Tim is a passionate cyclist and a smart marketing mind, and he smashes both together in this very warm and welcoming blog. He shares his travels, his love for Masi bikes, and has built an amazing brand and community by being a great conversationalist. I admire the heck out of Tim. (Tim’s on Twitter, too, at @TimJackson)

Web Business by Ken Burbary

You can tell that Ken is one of those guys that chews long and hard on a post before he writes it, and lucky for him he’s got a knack for picking apart some meaty topics. He’s one of the blogs that I often have to read and then sit and think about a comment that’s worthy of the effort he put into the post itself. It’s one part social stuff, one part web technology, and all sorts of smart. (Find him on Twitter at @KenBurbary)

Media Emerging by Scott Hepburn

You want it told like it is? Scott’s your guy. He’s a PR pro by trade but he writes about a little bit of anything new media related. His posts are always insightful, thought provoking, and articulate. And if you haven’t met Scott on Twitter (@ScottHepburn), he’s a riot and a half.

Insights and Ingenuity – Heather Rast

Heather is another new (to me, anyway) voice on the scene, and I met her through Twitter, which led me to her blog. Heather’s writing style is punchy, succinct, and vocal, and she’s got pithy things to say about the worlds of branding and communication in today’s world. Check her out on Twitter, too, at @HeatherRast.

New Media Lisa – Lisa Hoffmann

Another PR wizard, Lisa is emphatically about the human connections behind social media technologies. I’m always refreshed by her common-sense perspective, and she never follows the crowd just because. I love the fact that Lisa posts about what’s on her mind, not just what’s floating around the collective blogosphere. Lisa is on Twitter at @LisaHoffmann (don’t forget the second ‘n’).

Solo PR Pro

Kellye Crane is actually someone that I met first on Plurk, and she’s become a trusted friend and colleague. Kellye finally caved to the pressure to start her own blog, and it’s a great one at that. Kellye blogs from the perspective of a solo PR practitioner, and she’s got sage advice about the worlds of PR and entrepreneurship with a good dose of humor thrown in for good measure. Check out Kellye on Twitter at @KellyeCrane.

The Brand Builder by Olivier Blanchard

I don’t hold it against Olivier that he’s French. Really. And I wish he’d bring back the bad-ass mustache. But aside from those two things, Olivier is a brilliant mind to get inside, and his blog is the result of all that STUFF happening in his head. I love that Olivier doesn’t have any qualms about diving down a rabbit hole and exploring every corner. I leave each read with something new to chew on. You can find him on Twitter at @thebrandbuilder.

Annarchy

You probably know Ann Handley as @MarketingProfs, and as the chief content officer of the jam-packed site of the same name (for which I’m also a lucky contributor). But Ann is an amazingly talented writer in her own right, and when she posts on her personal blog, I literally drop everything and go read.

SuzeMuse

Sue is another one of my recent-ish Twitter connections (@SuzeMuse) and boy am I glad I found her. She’s not only incredibly personable and conversational, but I’m really liking what I’ve read from her blog thus far. You’ll find a little of everything at Sue’s blog, and her personable writing style makes you just want to hang out and chat for a while.

A Thousand Cuts by Adam Cohen

Adam is finally blogging, much to the relief of his Twitter community that have been dying to get into Adam’ brain beyond 140 characters. He’s got sharp insights about his work in social media and interactive stuff, and again I’m fond of his writing because it’s not “me too” blogging, not by a long shot. Meet Adam on Twitter if you haven’t already at @adamcohen.

And as bonuses from outside the fishbowl:

Books on the Nightstand

From outside the world of anything related to social media comes one of my new favorites for finding books to read. I’m an admitted bibliophile, and Books on the Nighstand is giving me fodder for my Amazon wish list in spades. Plus, they’ve got a kick butt podcast. It’s coauthored by @AnnKingman and @MKindness. Be prepared to stay a while.

Levite Chronicles

Do you know Jon (@jnswanson)? I find his writing incredibly peaceful. Jon’s a pastor, and without getting too personal, suffice it to say that he’s a wonderful breath of fresh air to people like me whose spirituality is very personal and not necessarily traditional. I relish Jon’s writings on faith, relationships, community, understanding – his perspective is far beyond his faith and his writing is eloquent. He never ceases to open my eyes or encourage me to embrace a new perspective. Worth a read.

So then. What blogs have caught your attention lately? Shine the spotlight on someone that deserves it and let us all enjoy along side.

What Wires Will Never Replace

I’m as plugged in as anyone. I’m what you’d call a power user; gadget laden and tethered to my laptop more than most people should rightfully be. I’m immersed in the online world, which means that I’m as passionate about its possibilities as anyone.

But there are some things that no wires – no matter how social they are – will ever replace.

Pen and Paper

Writing is an act of patience. Writing is more time consuming than typing for most, and there’s something intensely personal about seeing someone’s handwriting on paper as an alphabetical slice of their personality.  Writing is incredibly human, as you see the scribbles through words that just weren’t quite right, or an overzealously crossed ‘t’.

There’s still a use for a scratch pad next to your desk, a thank you note to a friend or colleague, a whiteboard even to do a big brain purge.

Personal Contact

An email or a tweet will never replace eye contact and a handshake. ((((Parentheses)))) will still never replace a hug for someone on a down day. And there’s still no substitute for sitting down and sharing a drink or a meal with someone. Conferences are successful because business still gets done in hallways, on the golf course, and across dinner tables. And social media has become, on a large scale, about facilitating that personal contact.

The Human Voice

The ability of the human voice to carry subtlety and inflection is what will forever make a phone call more personal than an email or a tweet, no matter how close that friend may be. Voices can convey what the mere words cannot, and tone is everything. And there’s nothing quite like putting a face and a voice to a name you’ve only ever seen in pixels. It’s instantly and profoundly humanizing, and will forever bring that person to life on your computer in a new way.

For as much as I am an advocate of the power of connecting and humanizing people online, I hope businesses never lose sight of the things that can’t ever be replaced through a computer screen. The tools are the gateway, but the most human elements of people – and the most enduring connections – will be found offline.

Image credit: tanakawho via Flickr Creative Commons

Starting Social Media: Building on What You Have

You don’t have to turn your entire world on its head to adopt social media. It’s not about taking everything you’ve already done and chucking it wildly out the window in favor of a revolution.

Instead, look at your existing communications through a social lens. Instead of viewing them from a corporate perspective and projecting outward, investigate ways that you can take an existing outbound communication, and create a cycle with it that brings customers back to talk to you.

Here are a few examples of what I mean.

Your Collateral

Typically, your marketing pieces are all about touting the benefits and advantages of your company, service or product. On paper, it’s how you describe what you do and how you do it.

Try this: Make your collateral into an invitation for discussion and feedback. Go ahead, outline the benefits of your service. Then ask questions. Give your customers a way to respond to or make comments about what you’ve shown them. Ask your prospects to share with you what they look for in a company like yours. If you can, make that feedback mechanism visible to the community – say a forum on the website. Let your collateral be the catalyst, not a finite statement.

Media Releases

I like the idea of social media and optimized releases, possible by using services like PitchEngine or PRWeb. But at the very least, we know you’re putting your releases on your website.  Most often, you’re probably parking them there with a link to a PDF file that folks can download.

Try this: Invest in the capability to make your news releases more like blog posts in your newsroom. Use open source software like WordPress that you can integrate into your press page, and post your releases there. Allow comments, and include plugins like Sociable or ShareThis that allow folks to Stumble, bookmark, email and otherwise share what they find. The key is to make it EASY for people to pass along the information. Today’s media releases are as much for your individual customers as they are journalists.

Your Email Newsletter

This seems obvious, but I mention it because I see it missed all the time.  If you’re sending out a newsletter, don’t miss the opportunity to get a lot of traction from all the work you put into it.

Try this: Make subscribing to your newsletter ridiculously easy, and provide subscribers with archives. Give them a way to share the newsletter liberally. If you’re doing something cool like blogging already, don’t miss the opportunity to cross-pollinate by pointing folks from the newsletter to your blog and back again. Start a conversation or broach a new topic on the newsletter, and send people to your blog or forum to discuss it. Feature a case study in your newsletter, cross post it on the blog, and give your readers an opportunity to comment where it’s most comfortable for them.

Testimonials

Everyone loves to show off the nice things people have said about you. It’s fine and dandy to have a page on your website that has the comments you’ve asked people to make. But how about using a social bookmarking tool to help others find that news across the web?

Try this: In addition to putting static links on your press page about the coverage you get, use Delicious.com to bookmark them out on the web under a corporate account. If folks have blogged positively about your product or service, bookmark those too. Use Twitter Search or Social Mention to see if anyone has said that you rock, and bookmark those tweets. Then, include a link to your Delicious page on your website to let people click through and read for themselves what others are saying. (Bonus: if you’re really brave, instead of asking merely for a quote from your clients or customers, if they’ve got a blog, ask them to blog about their experience working with you instead, and share the link love.)

The key to all of the above is remembering that you want each piece of communication you put out into the world to not only be representative of your brand, but you want it to spark and facilitate interaction with the folks on the other end. Give them ways to talk to you. Lots of them. Include options for the traditionalists (like phone and email) and the plugged in (like blogs, forums, wikis, or even instant message or Twitter).

So what are you doing and experimenting with to get your existing practices to evolve more socially? What about your email campaigns or your webinars? Are you thinking in terms of dialogue instead of monologue? I’d love to learn more from you.

Image credit: fdecomite