Influence, Perspective, and Emily

You want to uncover influencers, right?

Find those people that can carry your message, get heard, cut through the noise and get people’s attention? The ones with the most eyeballs, the most leverage, the strongest voice, the most accumulated “social capital”?

Let me tell you a story about Emily.

Emily was a donor to a non-profit organization I used to work for. She wasn’t an especially notable donor, but she was a consistently, quietly loyal one. She sent precisely $100, twice a year, to our annual giving campaign. By most fundraising “standards”, that put her neatly in a “nice but not major” camp.

Emily was also quite unassuming, but she was incredibly passionate about our work. She came to the events, but never stayed for the fancy-dancy reception. She talked with the kids. She was sweet, approachable, and kind. I talked to her often about music, books, and her grandkids who lived across the country. She taught me a bit of Gaelic. I taught her a bit of Spanish, and introduced her to comics (no I’m not joking).

We had a conversation once about the idea of “major donors” and she chided me a bit about how we development folks were so focused on the big gifts. But she mentioned that in her years supporting our organization, she’d always felt like her contribution – however small – made a difference, and that we valued her. We did.

Late one year, Emily died. She was mourned, and missed.

About a month later, I got a call from an attorney representing Emily’s estate. She had made some provisions in her will, one of which was that my organization was to be the recipient of a $5 million dollar endowment gift.

$5 million. That amount made an enormous difference to my organization in one shot.

In the traditional sense, Emily was never the person we would have identified as “influential”. Ever. She was a routine donor that didn’t make a lot of noise, insist on a board seat, volunteer on committees, or throw big money at capital campaigns. She cared nothing for having her name on plaques or lists. By our standards today, her social graph would have been rather paltry.

But she felt like she made a difference to us, and we cared about what that meant. We treated her in a way befitting her emotional commitment, not her financial one. And in the end, she made a more powerful difference to our organization than we ever could have imagined.

Your “influencers” are right there. In your customer database. They’re buying from you already, which means they have the ultimate currency of influence that should matter to you: their business.

They don’t have scads of followers. They might not spend tons of money. Some of them don’t give a rip if you have a fan page, and even if they’ve “fanned” you, they may never be back. They don’t have legions of fans commenting on their blogs, if they have one at all.

Yet they are the ones whose trust and evangelism you need. You’re much better off getting all of your own customers to love what you’re doing than try to convince a Jason Falls or a Tara Hunt or a Chris Brogan that they should care if they don’t already.

Deliver the best goods to the people that hold the keys to your kingdom, regardless of their social graph. Because if you are putting too many of your eggs in the fragile, fleeting basket of influence that’s based simply on today’s notions of popularity and visibility, you just might be overlooking an Emily.

Special thanks to Jim Long for sharing his post, which reminded me of this story and reinforces the need for perspective when it comes to influence.

image credit: Randy Son Of Robert

The Dots Need Connecting

Social media is grand, and yes, it’s proving to be valuable for customer service in some scenarios.

But it’s exposing a big disconnect: the companies embracing using things like Twitter or blogs aren’t necessarily taking those principles and applying them to their more traditional ideas of customer service and the operations that support it.

Best Buy’s Twelpforce

Yesterday, I had a small experience on that front with my local Best Buy store. I tried to call the store to find out if they had a product in stock. Four times. No one ever picked up the phone.

In typical social media fashion, I vented on Twitter, and headed out to the Apple store to find what I needed.

In rather short order, @Coral_BestBuy reached out to help. But of course, she couldn’t, at least immediately.

As awesome as Coral is (and she really was), she’s part of the corporate team, not the one at my local store that’s failing to answer their phone. She’s a couple of levels removed, and while she told me she was sending an email to store management, the problem is not of her construction. She can only rattle the cage on her end, apologize to me, and try to make things right the best she can.

(Aside: Let’s be clear. This was a minor inconvenience on my end. No one died. I don’t need anything to fix the problem. But to me it’s pointing to something bigger.)

The Disconnect

I love the potential of using things like Twitter for customer service. We at Radian6 use it too, and I’ve had some great experiences with folks like Coral, and the teams at Seesmic, Evernote, Comcast, and the Roger Smith Hotel.

Some of these companies are really taking the intent behind social media engagement – to improve their customers’ experience – and bringing it into the operations of their companies. Or, perhaps more accurately, they’re building companies that are equipped to deliver those kinds of customer experiences in the first place, and they’re deploying the social media tools as one way to do that.

The trouble happens when the companies are building something like a Twitter brigade as a surface treatment, or an isolated channel. The folks manning the accounts aren’t really empowered to do or change much operationally, and there are still some significant shortcomings in customer experience via the call center or the website..

It creates a disparate experience, and an inconsistent one that still doesn’t reflect well on the brand. It drives people to use Twitter, sure, but more because they are more certain of a response, and less because of deep affection for Twitter itself.

For the optimist, it can appear like they’re trying, but that the mainstream operations haven’t caught up to the new stuff.

To the cynic, it can look like they’re chasing the trendy tools, and ignoring the underlying problems they have, both culturally and operationally.

Life on the Front Lines

I live and breathe life in the social media trenches, along with a super kick-ass team. We are responding to and experiencing the front lines of social media on a daily basis. So I get it.

And we are fortunate, because our executive management team looks to us to actually inform process, operations, and product development to help align what we do with what our community tells us they need. But that’s not always the case.

How much are folks like Coral empowered to actually change the broken processes that are affecting customer experience? Can she really call up my local store and make sure they fix the phone answering problem, or does her authority end with a sternly worded email?

What happens when you just park an intern in front of the Twitter stream? The expectations for delivery on the part of the customer might not match the execution ability of that person.

I always talk about offering solutions instead of just pointing at problems, so I’m going to try and tackle the “so what can we do about it” question in a separate post. But do you see the problem here?

If we go about social media from the outside in, it’s going to have a really hard time taking root. If  the intentions of social media are not wired into the function and purpose of a company, and if those manning the social media posts aren’t able to help inform and drive necessary change, it’s just veneer.

What Can We Change?

I’ll be thinking on this and delivering some ideas. But I want to hear from you too. Let’s talk in detail about not just that we need to bring social media into the operations, but how we’re going to do that.

Do you have thoughts and ideas to share? What do you think?

image credit: Quinn-S

When To Take It Private*

A comment by Jen on my post about using Twitter DMs for business asked a specific question:

How do you know when to take a conversation into more private channel, versus continuing it out in the open?

In other words, you have a disgruntled customer on Twitter. Do you respond via @ reply or DM? You’ve got a negative post on your FB fan page. Do you respond there, or try to contact that person through Facebook mail instead? When do you address an emerging issue or question directly in a blog comment versus requesting a conversation in a different medium, like a phone call?

Something important to note: if the initial comment is made publicly, I always make sure there is *some* kind of public acknowledgment, even if it’s to indicate that I’ll be contacting them through other means, or providing my contact information. It demonstrates that you’re paying attention – both to the individual and the rest of the community (who may very well be watching how you respond).

But I have a few rules of thumb I follow for situations that might require a more closed conversation, and I’ll share them below. Would love you to give us your take, too.

“Boiling Point” Comments

Never throw gasoline on a fire online. Just don’t do it. Flame wars are far too easy to fan, especially in truncated social network conversations. If a customer or prospect is really angry, inflammatory, or derogatory, it’s always best to try and acknowledge the conversation publicly so they know they’ve been heard, but take the discussion elsewhere.

It’s much easier to calmly gather details and really get to the root of an issue in a quieter, more individualized venue. Plus, it communicates that the problem is important enough to you to address directly and personally.

Specific Account Issues

If you’re dealing with an issue that requires the exchange of any identifying account information or details of your work with a client, customer, or prospect, it belongs in a private communication. It might be okay to swap email addresses more publicly (using the [at] or [dot] conventions to try and minimize the scraping potential), but anything like phone numbers or account information should be taken out of the public stream. When in doubt, better to err on the side of private.

Proprietary/Confidential Business Discussion

This is probably the most obvious. If you need to discuss confidential business information – including trade secrets or competitive advantages – take the conversation off the public stream. That may include resolving troubleshooting or technical issues, too. Likewise for financial information that’s not public, discussions of personnel or human resource issues, or anything that your boss, client, or colleague wouldn’t be really happy to find in the public domain.

Need for Additional Details or People

If your conversation is specific to your one-to-one business relationship, and if it takes more than a couple of messages back and forth to resolve, it probably belongs in another channel. Your entire Twitter audience doesn’t need (or likely want) to see you hammer out your mutual calendars for a conference call. If you’re trying to resolve a business question, interview opportunity, or a customer service inquiry, you might also need to ask more in-depth questions or loop in other people on your team. All of that is probably better suited to a more closed network of communication.

Personal Conversation or Gossip

If you’re catching up with a friend or even a client or colleague about the family vacation or the details of last night’s date, a few pings back and forth might be okay. But depending on your audience and the nature of the network you’re using, the more extensive personal conversations might be better served in a one-to-one channel like IM or email. Regarding how and what you say to and about other people and businesses? The only answer here is to use your judgment. But in all cases, remember that words are awfully hard to retract.

So what else would you add? Are there other types of discussions that you think are better suited to private channels? What’s been your experience about what works well in public, and what works better in private? I’m sure there are more than I’ve thought of. Let’s chat?

* (aside: I hate the term “offline” to say “we’ll take this into a separate conversation”. That’s only a true statement if you’re moving from an online channel to an offline one. Taking something from a meeting to another meeting, or from phone to a meeting, or from a phone call to email is NOT taking it “offline”. There I said it. Carry on.)
image by tiffa130

7 Social Media Roles You Haven’t Considered

When you think of social media roles, chances are you think of a community manager or the oh-so-generic “social media manager”, which is usually some function of the marketing department managing strictly social media programs. But there are loads of other potential roles that can integrate or represent social media alongside other business areas.

Considering these is one of the primary ways to really integrate and entrench social media and its implications throughout the business, not just isolated in the communications department. Let’s take a look at what I mean.

Social Phone Operator

At Radian6, we have folks that help us man the front lines of what we call our Listening Grid. They’re responsible for manning the dashboard, picking up the alerts, and routing posts that require engagement or attention to the right people on the community, support, or account teams. In the case of mature organizations, this can easily be a full-time role, but for companies just getting started in social media, it can probably be part of someone (or several people’s) jobs.

Existing Roles that might incorporate this: customer support specialists, tech-savvy receptionists, department assistants or coordinators

Lead Generation

Yes, there are leads making themselves known in social media. By listening carefully to the discussions around your brand, competition, or specific market or industry, you can spot when people are seeking out the kind of products or services you provide. We call this Listening at the Point Of Need. There’s also plenty of opportunity to just track down where your prospects are present in social media, and start contributing and participating in the discussions they’re having to get acquainted in a non-threatening, friendly way.

These can even be more junior roles (if overseen by someone who understands the social space), wrapped into other kinds of lead generation activity like research or direct response programs.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: sales coordinators, sales assistants, community coordinators, marketing coordinators, development assistants

Social Business Development

Hush with you that social media can’t be good for B2B (I’ve been doing social media in B2B for two years and it’s working just fine, thank you). Yesterday, we just took people to the golf course or dinner to get to know them more intimately. Now, geography isn’t an issue, and we can have a meaningful conversation with a prospect via Twitter, or make an initial connection in the comments on our blog. (Remember, the tools are what you make of them).

If your prospects are out there using forums, blogs, social networks, or anywhere you can have a discussion, you can supplement your offline business development with some great online touchpoints.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: community managers, sales/business development professionals, account managers, development or fundraising pros, client service teams

Social Customer Service & CRM

Perhaps the most obvious role is that of dedicated customer service for social media channels. Whether that’s a Twitter fleet or a blog or forum posse, you can dedicate resources to handling customer service issues in online environment and either solving them directly, or getting them to more efficient and thorough existing channels.

You also have the opportunity to add social media channels to the arsenal of client and account management. And yes, this can be one part of a community role, but folks in your account, support or service departments with an interest in social media can also be outstanding resources.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: customer service or support roles of any kind, client services, account management

Internal Community Manager

It might be obvious to segment your community managers’ responsibilities into specific markets or verticals you serve, depending on the complexity of your company or organization. But what might be less obvious is that you have an internal community that needs support, too, namely your employees and team members. Having someone dedicated to listening to them, creating content, and providing a bridge to management and other areas of the organization can be a valuable consideration.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: human resources or training/professional development roles, internal communications

Social Logistics/Operations Managers

The social media work doesn’t always have to be on the front lines. For companies deploying more robust social media programs, there are information technology needs/requirements, guidelines and policies to be written and maintained, teams to manage and coordinate in varying disciplines, and budgets to manage. Perhaps you have staff that uses social media personally but not professionally, or they have an interest but on the more strategic side, rather than being out there engaging on their own. You might consider how to give some of the operational responsibilities to folks with those skills.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: operations managers, IT professionals, managers of departments engaged in social media

Analysts

You may or may not already have a research or analyst department, but there’s a whole slew of insights that come through the social media sphere. Looking closely at the data and extracting some key indicators and ensuing recommendations is what can really take your social media efforts from surface-scraping to wired into the business.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: data analysts, project/department managers with analytical skills

There are undoubtedly more, and I’m sure I’ve missed some potential matches in the existing roles.

But does this get you thinking? Are you experimenting with integrating social stuff into roles inside your company, or do you have ideas? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

image by David Spender

The Importance of Boundaries

The emergence of the internet, real-time web, and social media technologies have made the “work” day longer and longer. There’s no such thing as an 8-to-5 job anymore, and if you work in the web space, there’s an emerging expectation that you’re constantly available and immediately responsive.

But where’s the line?

As a community professional, I know that my customers and the social media community at large need me sometimes.  They have questions or are seeking information, and I’m helpful whenever I can be. The internet doesn’t sleep, and the international clock is always ticking.

Sometimes that means I can answer a question at 10pm. But does it mean that I should be expected to?

The folks that lead the Xbox Elite Tweet Fleet have an account on Twitter at @xboxsupport. Right in the bio, they have specified the hours during which that Twitter account will be manned. I think that’s a great way to leverage a corporate account and set very clear expectations for response time.

But it’s a little trickier to set office hours if you’re an individual, isn’t it? I’m on Twitter and blogs and email off and on the entire day. Sometimes, it’s for work. Sometimes, it’s because I’m working on a personal or a side project and I’m not wearing my community hat. Can I draw a line between those activities (even if I’m not sure I can draw a line between those personas)? Should I? If I’m online, is there an unwritten expectation that I’ll respond to emails and tweets that have to do with work?

I don’t think there’s a black and white answer with this as with many things. But I do think we hyper-connected folk need to be able to say yes, I’m online but I’m not available to chat, or return emails, or be on IM or enter a Wave right now, even if you can “see” me there.  I need to be able to shut the computer off and spend time with my daughter, or clean my living room, or go take a walk in the woods. And that has to be okay,  or eventually, I won’t want to be here at all anymore.

Doesn’t that also mean that the new internet consumer  needs to understand that there are still humans on the other end of those emails and Twitter accounts and blog posts, with very real needs for human balance, too? Have our expectations for customer service on social media gotten out of hand, or is that the new reality forcing the hand of business to adapt?

I know that I’m always trying to strike a balance between being helpful and available and delineating some boundaries. What’s your take?

image by *clairity*