Time 21:36

The tables have turned in five years. Back then social media zealots were telling company execs, “you don’t get it”. They loved to bring out charts of percentage growth and the ever referenced “if Facebook was a country…” It took among other things, two election cycles, (the US and Iran), numerous gadget launches, a pop star’s death, a golf icon’s fall from grace, the year-long roll out of the first “social” car (you can comment which car you think I’m referring to here), and a World Cup for executives to retort, “We get it now.”

And now it’s their turn to say to the social media business community, “you don’t get it.” The it for them is how companies work for anyone to move from side project freak show to bonafide, no snickering business function. The holy grail for social media practitioners is Engagement, the holy grail for corporate executives is Process. The mutual nirvana are the key performance indicators (KPI) that give each side a reference point for their work.

Engagement means dialogue, participation, exchange of ideas

Process means your work is part of a decision oriented workflow system with predetermined actions to be taken based on certain events

KPI means “a metric that helps you understand how you are doing against your objectives.” This definition is from Avinash Kaushik from an excellent post on different types of measurement.

In this Marketing Edge podcast with Brain Solis, we discuss how to support the social media champion in an organization by understanding how to fit social into the company’s goals. Even the smallest pilot project needs to be structured in a way that will assimilate into the larger picture if it is to succeed.

I love when Solis says every champion hits a ceiling. You can’t just walk into a meeting of senior executives, say the world is going this way, and they will come along. His latest book Engage Solis peels the onion back a few layers than most social media books by examining how to work social media into the corporate process. The journey to achieve getting social media included in corporate processes is what Solis calls the last mile. He has written about the last mile in social media on his blog BrianSolis.com

I look at the culture of the business to determine whether the last mile will be a walk in the park or the last mile of a long journey across a desert. I highlight social culture vs social tactics in a podcast called, Is Your Company Social At Its Core ? It’s the story of a small, but growing premium ice cream brand, Izzys Ice Cream, and how their culture is spawning sophisticated uses of social technology.

Fun for Listeners

We are going to do a few neat things with this podcast and post.

First we have a drawing to win Solis’ book Engage. Email MarketingEdge AT providentpartners.net and put Engage in the subject line. This is not just a copy of the book, but it is the copy I have read and included comments in the margins, kind of like a combination book and blog. The physical replication of social media, only slower with fewer people, but unique nonetheless.

Second, we invite you to join Brian Solis in Minneapolis, July 27 at 6PM at Solera in Minneapolis. It’s an event An Evening with Brian Solis, sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of PRSA, register for the event today, it will be enlightening and inspiring. Hat tip to Jen Kane for leading this event.

Time 17:20

All the social media talk in the last year or so is like gnats on a humid, summer day at dusk. It’s time to get inside, take a deep breath and consider the state of social media. I did that with business communicator and IABC Fellow Award winner Shel Holtz. Holtz and I had dinner at Smalleys 87 Club in Minneapolis after his keynote presentation at the IABC gala.

We share some concerns about the state of social media, they are:

1) The continued blocking of access to social sites by more than 50% of companies.

2) Still too many voices echoing the fear of negative comments about their brand or company. (clearly denying access to the social web will shield those ostriches from their critic, sorry just had to slip that in. the timing seemed perfect)

3) Chasing the A list is not the same as gaining influence, it’s about niches and communities.

4) Over promising that social is a replacement pitting communication functions and their practitioners against each other. Business communications is not a zero sum game, nor should social media advocates do so at the expense of other media which will contribute to the ultimate business goals.

So what does stimulating conversation about business communications over a quiet dinner and a couple of beers get you. Some ideas for consideration what it means to integrate social media into a companies strategy.

1) Drop the word social and approach the communications strategy from the end objectives, essentially what do you want the recipient to do, feel, believe. As you plot out how the recipient of your message will interact with that information, who they do so in a digital way? If so, then social will naturally work it’s way into your effort. No big fanfare necessary.

2) Social cultures are easier to create from scratch than insert comfortably in an established institution. Patience and flexibility are key to bringing about change, incorporating social will require rewriting some company policies along with believing in them.

3) Social media is a communications support function, communications is a business objectives support function. Holtz raised this simple concept as a reminder of how the pieces of this puzzle can fit. Credit given to Shannon Paul for the reference point.

What are the chances of social media being implemented as a standard practice? Is it a fad or a true evolution of business in America? Catch more of Shel Holtz on his podcast For Immediate Release with Neville Hobson.

Disclosure: Smalleys 87 Club is a client with good burgers and beer selection. I suggest all consultants have at least one client with these qualities. Follow Smalleys87 Club on Twitter for fun stuff.

I’ve been in communications for 25 years spanning all types of the functions associated with organizations “getting their message out”. Those functions included journalism, grassroots campaigns, legislative lobbying, technology marketing, and public relations.

Perceptions are a largely based on perspectives, so laying out this experience I thought would be helpful to appreciate the lens through which I see these transformations. I’ve also experienced working in large companies and venture capital start-ups and mid-size growth organizations. I share this because it plays into the context of the obstacles facing marketers over this second decade in the 21st century.

Marketing Transformation #1 – Naked conversations leads to naked behavior. Gaining insights to consumers as they willingly (or unwillingly) act transparently by giving up their privacy. This data with be cross referenced and used in proactive programming.

Marketing Transformation #2 – Marketing Rhetoric vs Reality Reconciliation made simple with social media. Careful with your company puffery, there plenty of people and chances to call Bull.

Marketing Transformation #3 - Companies as media properties. Contribute to the stream of conversation that surrounds your company without being the center of attention (don’t be that guy, very difficult for some companies to do). Those that do will gain respect and leadership.

Marketing Transformation #4 – Consumers as marketers, really? When the novelty of social communities wears off, and the reality of the time commitment necessary to be social sets in, be ready to answer the consumers’ question What’s in it for me?

Marketing Transformation #5 - Social Culture vs Social Tactics. Plenty of companies will not make the transition which is OK, social culture will be similar to systemic corporate change like Total Quality Management and Six Sigma. There will be a divide between social companies and social hacks.

Marketing Transformation #6 – Greater consumer participation necessary. As the dismemberment of old advertising continues, companies desperately want to know what motivates you, the more you interact, the better the relationship.

Marketing Transformation #7 – Yesterday’s direct mail lists are today’s personal brand networks. Regardless of FTC blogger regulations, established individuals are conduits of word of mouth as being social on the web has significant overlap between helping and being helped, it’s the ultimate form of interdependence.

Marketing Transformation #8 – 2010 is the year of social media skeptic, have a contingency plan. The more social media is absorbed by the mainstream, the more people will try to game the system causing all kinds of turmoil among the ranks of advocates, enthusiats, and critics.

Marketing Transformation #9 - Less about convincing and more about delivering. Taking a page from the World of Mouth adovcates, companies with enough confidence in their ability to build products and delivery services that consumers are comfortable recommending will spend less time having to “message” their way to growth, they will listen their way to profits.

Recommendations

I don’t see the current format of social media being the end game. It’s extremely time and labor intensive and unless companies are willing to commit to those elements of participation, they will merely pay lip service through this initial adoption phase of social media.

Some believe the data is circumspect, sure if Facebook was a country it would be the fourth largest, but what does that mean? What kind of country exactly? Will its inhabitants grow weary of sharing their data, lobbying each other for worthy causes, and doing the work of marketers who were laid off because friends don’t make friend buy bad things? Or will they unify in a community of users of like mind, feed off of their shared new experiences, and expand to improve their current condition?

I caught up with the director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project Lee Rainie after his presentation at the University of Minnesota Social Networks Research and Creative Collaborative. Rainie’s presentation was entitled the The Rise of Networked Individuals .

The lighting was poor in this interview, but the content timely and perhaps a bit of a conversation starter here. The questions are these, as the networked individual takes root in our new economy, do we begin to see interdependance among each other or do we break off into packs of networks? In the early adopter phase of the social web there was a sense of creating something new, contributing to something greater. As the adoption curve progresses, there is ample information to create what Rainie refers to as a culture of amateur experts who are now in competition selling their expertise and services. This is an information imbalance that can put significant pressure on companies, agencies and individuals. An imbalance where you may believe you give more than are getting back or taking more than you are giving. Interesting in that this is a similar situation that impacts personal relationships.

My perspective for many industries is for companies and individuals to give their way through this imbalance. Be as generous as you possibly can because technology and access to information are a breeding ground of new competition.

Networked individualism also has a stealthy side. As you look at an individual who is networked, you get the perspective of a single person reach out to hundreds even thousands of others. The less visible network, is the one where individuals combine for the gain of the group as a whole and individual benefit. For example the way wolves assemble in packs to hunt their prey. The network of the like-minded, the network of the ad hoc project team, are other ways individuals gain access to business, achieve their individual goals and create some of the scale that was once the exclusive domain of large companies.

Rainie posits that the following big forces are pushing/pulling us toward networked individualism

1. Affluence and affordable technology
2. Changes in family composition, roles, responsibilities
3. Expanding consumer options
4. Income and wealth volatility
5. Job security and longevity
6. Rise of free agency and freelancing
7. Employer changes pushing workers towards management of retirement and health care
8. Rise of DIY politics and religion

Do you believe social media is making us interdependent or highlights that we are independent entities?

Time 33:34

Ideas are wonderful things, especially when they are the basis for action and evaluation. Creative marketers can be a tad like the Jackie Gleason’s character Ralph Kramden in the television series The Honeymooners. (this show will resonate with boomers, TV fans, and New Yorkers). The video below is a classic, a live advertisement of Kramden’s new kitchen gadget that does supposedly everything. Ed Norton, his best friend and in this case calm presenter.

Regardless of the outcome, ideas are the seeds of innovation. Those who till the soil and nurture ideas, whether successful or not, are advancing knowledge for everyone who learns from their experience.

In this podcast we share a real life example of how a marketer (me) and a developer (Justin Dessonville aka @iamdez can work together to test an idea that I have simmered for a long time. We explored whether it was possible to get real-time data on Twitter followers. I realize there are several apps that report on Twitter counts, followers patterns, ( a great resource for this is One Forty.com I am interested in something similar to the chat feature in Facebook where I can see who among my friends are present and engaged. Why does real time twitter follower persistence matter?

1. More accurate quantification of exposure of tweets and to whom
2. Indication of audience interests that are currently following (a subset of a tweet chat if you will)
3. Increased accuracy of follower engagement during times of the day

We’ll also get a better sense of whether this type of information is necessary as the data promoted tweets program being run by Twitter is evaluated.

Dessonville IAMDEZ also authors the increasingly popular Tuesday Blogversations

Some of the lessons learned about objectively evaluating ideas include:

1. Be brutally honest in the midst of being hopefully energetic
2. Being overly focused on competition will paralyze
3. Not understanding the competition will waste time
4. Don’t be afraid to fail and admit it, the next idea is right around the corner

Have you tried to develop an application, or product or service? What are your tips on getting the project to a go no go decision? Provident Partners gives a food item for every comment we get on this blog. Also as a special just for this post, Justin will match our food item contribution. Your thoughts are worth a lot more than a penny.

Innovation can only come from ideas and that’s what the Big Omaha conference is about, innovation. Big Omaha is a Big Deal Conference – May 13-15 (OK the 13th is a party night but hey what’s a great conference without a party, then a day and a half of substance) The Silicon Prairie News is producing a conference on innovation, technology, and social media in Omaha with Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos and Dennis Crowley CEO of Foursquare among many others. I don’t have discounts because it’s a great starting price, give a look, but you can tell them we sent you. Why? no financial kickback, just the marketers’ joy of knowing the decision path.

Time 25:36

The topic of social media among marketers and PR professionals is awash with business and non profit examples, case studies, and the ever available blog post on the latest shinny new object. In this podcast we take a break from the immediate urgent and important concerns of our close circle to focus on the long-term implications of social media. Those things that we avoid talking about because they have little material gain, they deal with part of the population that we avoid, or the mere raising of the issue makes you a “social party pooper”. At the risk of being unfollowed and defriended, we’ll talk about issues of the digital divide being created, the lack of understanding being created by like-minded filters, and the little idiosyncrasies being created by new social norms (this includes multitasking at meetings, taking a call in the middle of an in-person conversation, and increasing custom of taking pictures of your food)

Our guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge podcast is educational researcher Christine Greenhow, who currently serves as the research collaborative chair of the Social Networks Research and Collaborative at the University of Minnesota. The collaborative is an interdisciplinary look at the uses of social media in society. Greenhow is joined by several other academic colleagues including, Susan Walker Associate Professor of Family, Youth and Community in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Minnesota, Joan Hughes is an Associate Professor of Instructional Technology at the University of Texas at Austin, and Loren Terveen is Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Minnesota, among others.

The work of the collaborative is focused on adoption of social media, how networks are forming and how all populations are using or not using social media. The collaborative’s work and events are available at www.socialnetresearch.org

I have the good fortune of being on Greenhow’s mailing list which delivered me an invitation to a presentation last week by Lee Rainie the director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project on the rise of the Social Networked Individual.

According to Rainie a recent Pew study showed 53% of online adults use social networks and 73% of online teems use them. Slides from Rainie’s presentation highlight the growing use of social networks and the questions of raised by potential isolation from a broader body of information and contacts, the golden age of the amateur expert, and the state of partial attention created by the increase of information inputs in our daily lives.

Are We Addicted to Social Networks

Social networks may not be as mysterious as all this discussion warrants. Some suggest we get a little shot of dopamaine with every text ping or Twitter mention, yooohooo, that explains it.

We are becoming addicted to our social networks which is a self-feeding circle. You stroke it and it stokes you back. A far reaching documentary on our digital behavior and a must-see is the PBS Frontline show called Digital Nation

Things to Think About But You Usually Don’t

• Digital divide because of economic access or privacy concerns
• Topical isolation filtering the broader culture out
• Altruistic facade the ultimate in giving to get
• Displacement of supply and demand economics by an abundance of information

Now that you have a forum to talk about these issues, which gives you the greatest concern about the future adoption of social media?

I’m not a fan of Solution Headlines, like the one for this post, but I know why they work. There are all kinds of headlines. In fact, I think there are more blogs written about blog headlines than most any other topic about blogs. Sure some will say the Solutions Headline gets to the point, they are highly search friendly, and they make life simple. Agreed, but let me take a different swing and focus on the audience instead of the headline as to what makes this style headline so attractive.

1) We are a society stretched for time and pressured for solutions – The United States has the fourth highest hours worked annually among full time employees according the the Bureau of Labor Statistics and this doesn’t begin to weigh the stresses of the Great Recession, and the increasing time commitments of the workforce generation caring for aging boomer parents. The other countries ahead of us are South Korea, Mexico, and Italy.

This headline makes be think there is a quick answer

2) We are a business community obsessed with numbers, charts, and results (if not the illusion of results)
– Like lifeboats on the Titanic ROI sits there like some panacea to help us make a decision. ROI is to management as a blanket is to Linus. So you want numbers, we’ll give you numbers. And just like circulation is to advertising, so to are the new KPIs like influence, click throughs, and RTs. Yet with all this information, we are still hard pressed to make the connection between the message and experience, to what’s going on in the consumers mind along their path to a decision. We are getting better, but there are many gaps along the way.

This headline leads me to believe it’s been done before and that I too will get the same results

3) We hate details which is why most people dread tomorrow, April 15, tax day. – DOH what’s wrong with the flat tax, here’s my income and Uncle Sam here’s x percent thanks for defending the country, making treaties, and building roads, etc, etc, etc.

No it doesn’t work that way. And it doesn’t work that way because the tax code is intended to manipulate the behavior of members of a society. Why else should we make wind energy, by multiple dwelling units of real estate, and give to charities, etc, etc, etc.

Precisely, and marketing is the tax code of the private sector. Marketing is the method behind which one entity seeks to influence the behavior of another (or at least communicate the benefits of an action). Which is why marketing involves thoughtful approaches, commitment, and an attention to detail.

It also involves doing what you may personally not like, but if effective, and ethical, then you owe it to your company to execute it well. (Agh!) Do you like this solution style?

It’s one thing to rise within a small Midwestern company to international recognition, it’s another to return to the Midwest and create a new dynamic environment for others to thrive. Mary Ann O’Brien’s midwest roots grew with the success of Gateway computers during her marketing career with the PC giant where she became Executive Vice President for Marketing. She left Gateway to grow as an entrepreneur as one of the individuals who started Hotpaper.com, a B2B Application Service Provider (ASP),that was innovative for its time at the turn of the century allowing for the instantaneous creation, delivery, archiving, and re-use of customized documents in a mobile environment. Hotpaper was purchased and O’Brien returned to the Midwest setting up OBI Creative in Omaha.

Mary Ann O’Brien A Social Media Innovator from the Midwest from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

O’Brien weaves a marketing and advertising background with social media and mobile marketing to lead this transformation of the communications profession. In this conversation we highlight the integration of platforms and message formats and the changes in how the audience is defined. It must also be noted that O’Brien gives of her time back to the community. It’s a reoccurring theme of the innovators in the Midwest we met along the way during our SxSw roadtrip. Whether it’s being Chair of the Small Business Council or contributing as a member of the Executive Council of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, or being a sought after community leader for a number of innovation projects, somehow there is enough O’Brien energy to go around.

In this interview I found O’Brien’s description of a campaign her agency created for Gateway to have the elements that successful integrated campaigns must have today. A connection between customer and company, online and offline touch points, and a means for customers to engage on a social platform. The lives of consumers are seamless and so too must be the way we approach them.

This series featuring social media innovators of the Midwest is brought to you by Verizon Wireless. In our next segment Danny Schreiber of Silicon Prairie News in Omaha.

Time 21:13

Corporate America is getting comfortable with social media. Not every company, and surely not in every situation, but a year after the spike of Facebook and Twitter, and 18 months after social media contributed to the election of a President, social media is finding a spot in the processes of many Fortune 500 companies.

The number of Fortune 500 integrating social media, blogging, Twitter or YouTube content for starters has increased in the last year. Burson Marsteller did a survey of social media use among the Fortune Global 100 checking to see who had accounts on the top few social platforms.

“65 percent of the largest 100 international companies have active accounts on Twitter, 54 percent have a Facebook fan page, 50 percent have a YouTube channel, and one-third (33 percent) have corporate blogs. Only 20 percent of the major international companies are utilizing all four platforms to engage with stakeholders.”

A more detailed longitudnal suudy was done by Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Eric Mattson CEO, Financial Insite for the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachuetts at Dartmouth Fortune 500 and blogging. Not surprising in this comparison study over time of Fortune 500 companies vs Inc 500 companies (Inc companies are much smaller than Fortune 500) the larger companies are slower to adopt compared to their smaller counterparts.

The issue for many corporations is about process. Sure lots of debate about “losing control”, but most companies realized the consumers’ freedom to comment was a reality whether the corporation participated in social media or not. The conversation about ROI for most companies includes a way to somehow create a neat and tidy process for being social. Processes are great because they are easily quantified, look great in job descriptions, HR policies, and performance reviews, and the measurement charts are terrific eye candy.

On yes, and processes for the most part work. They provide structure, guidance, and help unify hundreds and thousands of people in a corporation around a set of business objectives. Which, when achieved, enable a predictable paycheck and all the good things that come with it.

HP Software has been active in social media. They have been blogging for years, but they also have taken the time to think through whether and how social media becomes a part of their processes. Michael Procopio, Social Media Business Manager for HP Software, and a long time Marketing Edge listener has done considerable study about the business of social media and HP processes. I admire Michael because he understands his internal customers and evaluates shiny new objects, without being distracted by them, and is thoughtful and strategic.

In this first interview since taking the new position of Social Media Business Manager for HP Software, Procopio clearly lays out how social media fits into HP Software’s comprehensive approach to the complex B2B technology market. As you listen to this podcast notice how HP Software weaves in experts in specific areas to participate in blogs and the newly launched HP Software Solutions Community, how customers help facilitate discussion about issues that prospects of HP Software may have, and how HP Software will reach out to existing communities within there market base with valued content and expertise.

Procopio has done a classic job of integrating social media in a large business unit’s objectives and processes in the following ways

1) Found ways to plug into current marketing and thought leadership programs

2) Spent time conducting learning and listening sessions with internal groups to get buy and participation

3) Studied the communities and content audiences valued such as Doug Kaye’s IT Conversations (this is podcasting old school pre Adam Curry – thanks Doug)

4) Evaluating and incorporating the latest tools without getting distracted

5) Incorporating metrics to determine value, progress, and feedback

All the best Michael in the new position and thanks for listening.

What’s your corporate America social media story? Is it part of a process or are you a lone operator within the corporate environment?

Energy, Ideas, Generosity

Kansas gets a lot of tornados, one of them is Lisa Qualls. She is a good kind of tornado, the kind that gets people moving, sees the positive in most any situation, and is full of energy. Qualls helped organize the Kansas City tweet up during our SxSw road trip. The people who helped organize these seemingly spur of the moment events during our road trip posses these three qualities

Lisa Qualls of Fresh ID from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

1) Energy – yes I know you are a wife, parent, running a business, president of an 1100+ member social media club (insert any one of a dozen responsibilities here), but you still have a few more ounces left for another project, community event, or road trip guest. Thanks

2) Ideas – Oh sure everyone has them, but truly some are better than others. When someone says there are no bad ideas, they are being nice. Innovators have their share of bad ideas, most of the time they quickly recognize them or are smart enough to listen to others who vet them, but innovators have a way of molding an isolated idea into a vision of something. In Lisa’s case one of those visions is Twitterface which is web-based application that allows you to integrate real-time media with online conversations. Her molding skills are being put to the test as the the product is under going a name change to better reflect the true power of the platform….you can learn more about this innovative product incorporating live or recorded video and real-time conversations in my podcast interview I had with Lisa in March.

3) Generosity – Sometimes I think that generosity is the tangible side of faith. Faith that everything will work out just fine. Innovators, the kind that I’ve met in social media circles have no problems with giving their time, ideas, energy, to some community down the street or across the globe. They expect nothing in return, see this is the faith part and that’s what makes them enriching people to be around. Among those Lisa mentions among the innovators in Kansas City are Spiral 16 a sentiment and social media monitoring company and Meers Advertising

Who are the catalysts in your community, and that community can be an online community or one in your town?

Remember every comment on this blog will generate a food item for a St. Paul food shelter.

In an open discussion yesterday during a panel on social media at the Midwest Society for Association Executives, the question was asked how to determine whether to be in social space. This led to a larger conversation about content, because I believe content is a prerequisite to participating in social spaces.

The audience was comprised primarily of communicators from Associations, for example the Minnesota Truckers Association and the Industrial Fabrics Association International.

I thought this is a group that should benefit from social media for after all what is an association but a group of like minded entities and individuals sharing information and experiences.

8 point checklist for social communications.

1) Do you have information that is valued by others this could be original content or aggregated and packaged in a way that Is valued

2) Does the organization add value to content created in other places e.g. commentary on proposed legislation, medical procedures, mechanical specs, new product reviews

3) Determine if any of the association’s audiences are active in social spaces, e.g. journalists, legislators (or their staff better yet), current or potential members, stakeholders, sponsors or advertisers.

4) Is your association or its members impacted by information that can change frequently? e.g. any kind of market information, political or regulatory news, weather, sales, assets with time decay.

5) Are your audiences mobile? You guessed it, this will help determine whether you need to add tactics in mobile or microblogging.

6) Will certain information related to your association require immediate action by members of one or more of your audiences? e.g. commodity price changes, severe weather.

7) What percentage of my information and objectives transactional, relationship, network building? Spell it out in a pie chart.

8 ) What format bests conveys the information audio, video, text, augmented reality (don’t poo poo this new word if you haven’t heard of it. the technology can enhance information with greater levels of details, interaction, and examples that will improve productivity and safety. check the video of a mechanic working on a car.)

This is a good general list to give you an audit of the value of the information you currently create or have access to as it relates to your audiences. It may well reveal gaps in your content that your audiences could be obtaining from other sources, which will beg the question, Why am I paying these association dues? All of the above should be done in parallel with research to determine which, if any social spaces are worth the effort to participate.

What would you add to this social media communications audit checklist?

Social networks can be organic, they can form based on the desire of two people and grow from there. It’s up to the desires of the group. The key that turns a group that grows organically to a dynamic organization is leadership. When there is leadership, meetings become events, individuals know who to turn for action, and success begets success.

Community Catalysts Part 2 – Rick Mahn and SMBMSP from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

The Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul is a grassroots local group for the most part, although there are many folks not from the Minneapolis area participating as online members and tune into the monthly programs being streamed online. Rick Mahn is an IT consultant by training and practice, helping large organizations address technology issues. Over his career however, he noticed that technology is an enabler, not necessarily a solution. This brought him to social media as the bridge between enablement and action. He started the Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter and triggered a human chain reaction in Minneapolis that has made the Social Media Breakfast monthly meeting a sought after ticket and a regular staple for hundreds in this community.

To be sure, there are many who contribute their time and talent to the community. Mykl Roventine is a go to person who has developed the web presence for SMBMSP and Brad Bellaver and Phil Wilson are regular contributors to the community with podcasts and just helping when and where it’s needed. Mahn also gives a tip of the hat to Christopher and Mary Lower for their social media innovation aligning off-line and on-line aspects of an apartment community. See that’s the leadership part. I mentioned at the Social Media Breakfast event at South by Southwest, that there are any number of people and organizations willing to pitch in with talent, time or dollars to help the organization fulfill the needs of the community. Companies see the benefits of being part of this community, Best Buy and Verizon Wireless are sponsors of some events. Verizon Wireless also supported my coverage of South by Southwest which included this series on social media innovators. That is the leadership part which is the difference between a casual group and a thriving organization. It is a recurring theme in this series on social media innovators of the Midwest.

The Social Media Breakfast was started in Boston by Bryan Person and has grown to nearly 40 communities holding Social Media Breakfast events.

Here are my keys to a thriving community

1. 1) leadership
2. 2) programming (some structure other than a reason to drink coffee or beer)
3. 3) open access to engage with the community (not hierarchical)
4. 4) tools and forums (central points for engagement online and off)
5. 5) learning and/or networking related to professional or personal enrichment (financial/intellectual/emotional)

I pose this question to those who participate in these type of communities what do you think makes them thrive?

Time 13:18

1) Name drop popular practitioners of business communications and social media, like Shel Holtz, Scott Monty, Geno Church and Maggie Fox, among others. Now it also pays to mention something about them, like Holtz gets a little peeved about companies blocking access to social media sites, or Monty has found a way to actually get along with corporate attorneys,(must have something to do with Sherlock Holmes) or Church has a way to make musical instruments and scissors go viral (no it’s not Running with Scissors), and Maggie, well Maggie Fox knows you are wasting millions of dollars of the shareholders money, but she wants to tell you how to stop it instead of telling your CEO.

2) Give away money – yeah it’s kind of old school, but hey it works.

3) Promise to spend time listening to people and giving them solutions to their challenges and help them achieve business objectives.

4) Use a nifty solutions headline with a number and objective

I can do this because in this one little blog post we are giving you $300 off the registration to the NewComm Forum being held April 21-23 in San Mateo, CA at the Marriott Hotel. Use the code NCF300

Also all of those smart folks mentioned will be speaking on those topics, (smarmy of me eh?). This is not your typical conference it is a get down to business style conference. Some of the speaker will spend time with individuals addressing their specific agenda. It’s a rare conference where the bar bill is not the highest expense and the list of concrete tactics to consider is long and valuable.

In this Marketing Edge Podcast Jen McClure the conference chair and I highlight the topics and people at the Newcomm Forum in this. We’ll share with you how some of the speakers attendees at will spend a couple of hours discussing specific situations that attendees put to them. It’s a great when you can return from a conference with a set of tactics to set into motion.

Oh yes, the headline thing, it never fails to amaze me how those solutions headlines grab readers attention.

Time 12:04

UPDATE 3/28/10; Since production of this podcast, I’ve learned of two other web-based platforms that have iPhone and Android services they are iSites and Motherapp

Mobile is everywhere and that means should your company be there? I hesitate to say yes because I don’t think mobile is a must be for every company. I think mobile is not a platform but a condition, a relationship between information, consumer, location, and reaction to that information based on when and where it is received. Now if you view your consumer in that light and you provide information that has value in a given time and space, then by all means proceed to go, collect $200 and give Mobile Roadie a look.

Mobile Roadie is the Microsoft BizSpark Accellerator winner for Business Social Media category at the 2010 South by Southwest Interactive Festival. I wrote about them last week. I find them to be newsworthy because they cover both the iPhone and Android platforms right now the only web-based development platform to do so. Android is the current darling platform, having gained market share against the iPhone in February

The research firm Quantcast says Android phones are taking off at a much faster pace. Android’s marketshare grew 44 percent during the past quarter and almost 100 percent the past year as reported by Ed Sutherland on the blog Cult of Mac.

Some developers will say that that iPhone platform is a tough nut to crack and the problem with being a successful application on iPhone is the platform’s success. It’s a cluttered space for a developer. They are looking at the Android platform as ideal to launch a blockbuster app because it’s hungry for apps. Andrew Kameka of Androinica has 11 apps on his wish list for Android this year.

Distimo an analyst firm that covers mobile applications has iPhone and Android as the two fastest growing applications stores with Android having 57% of its apps available for free. I’ve embedded a great presentation given by Distimo co-founder Remco van den Elzen at the CTIA Wireless Conference earlier this month.

Lastly, I readily admit, I was also impressed by Mobile Roadie’s team. Last week I sent a question to support during a very busy time of the South by Southwest music festival, they got back to me within the hour and when I asked about an interview, their CEO, Michael Schneider, contacted me the next day, so that’s a pretty responsive company.

What’s your take? Will a mobile application be this decade’s answer to another website or is mobile a unique platform that makes sense for a small segment of entities?

The Marketing Edge coverage of South by Southwest was supported by Verizon Wireless in the Midwest. Verizon Wireless participates in local social media organizations and is a sponsor of Mobile March held on March 27 in Minneapolis. The day long conference is sold out, but we’ll bring you coverage on the Marketing Edge podcast.

This series, Social Media Innovators in the Midwest, profiles several business communicators in the Midwest, a place where innovation that’s practical gets high marks. I developed it in part because I believe that innovation is not limited to the few, or the brightest, but is born along a path of experience. Some on that path challenge convention to create innovation, some are innovative within the parameters of convention. The latter may well be a more difficult feat.

On my road trip to the South by SouthwestInteractive Festival, I thought of the enormous collection of ideas, opinions, and individuals that social media presents to our society. As a consultant in this field I’ve established relationships with many of them who are generous with the time and experiences. This makes everyone richer, which is recycled as others build upon and expand the conversation, keeping the community nourished.

Nathan Wright Social Media Innovator in the Midwest from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

I decided to turn the camera on a few of these individuals during this 3,000 mile journey from Minneapolis, through Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City, and Wichita, to ask three general questions.

1) Why are you participating in social media?

2) Have we seen all the benefits social media can provide or are there more?

3) What types of innovation have your seen in the Midwest?

I hope you enjoy their commentary and this series, contribute to enrich the path, and share these videos as you see fit.

Nathan T. Wright – Lava Row

Nathan Wright, founder of the firm Lava Row, has his foundation in advertising, but saw the potential of incorporating social media to achieve business objectives for clients. Follow Nathan on Twitter as @nathantwright

Nathan has the perspective of small business and large corporations which is typical of the dynamic of the Midwest. Des Moines is home to high finance and agriculture, a fairly wide spectrum that gives Nathan a good view about the practical applications of technology.

I attended a Tweet up last week in Wichita, KS on our way down to South by Southwest. We talked about the integration of social media in mobile devices, including downloadable applications, using the mobile web to check online e-tailer prices while at a home town merchant, or making social streams from Twitter, Facebook and other networks part of your mobile home page as the Motorola DEVOUR with MOTOBLUR. An interesting take from a couple of folks was that local merchants can monitor the web for the lowest prices online for similar products that they carry in the local store, then be active with the local community online and those merchants will be able to charge the premium while building customer and community loyalty.

Another issue the Wichita covered was about how consumers are being marketers for brands. After all that’s the attraction of social media for many big brands, have customers do with credibility what marketers have tried for years.
Wichita Tweet Up Mobile Apps and SxSw

Wichita, KS Tweet Up, March 12 from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

We raised the case of TGIF’s Friday’s integrated campaign to get 500,000 fans in the month of September for their number one fan/spokesperson Woody on Facebook. If you became a fan everyone would benefit with a free Jack Daniels burger. Woody quickly met his goal of 500,000 fans by mid-September, presenting a problem of what to do with the remaining two weeks, and the ad buy. After the grumbling began online they doubled Woody’s free burger allotment to 1 million.

Tom Shaw writer of the Marketing Executive blog estimates that if 50% of the 500,000 fans bring one person who buys a meal and a drink, it will generate up to $5 million in sales.

We put the question of marketing to your network and the Woody’s example to the Wichita group and the feedback was mixed. Some bought into the idea, if they liked a product they would share it with their network, others took a case by case approach, perhaps sharing with only a portion of their fan/friend/follower base, while others shrugged it off as part of the new dynamic of social media. Give a listen to the video. Apologies for some of the side conversation going on in the background.

We met at the Donut Whole, a fantastic place with outrageous donut flavors like bacon maple and chocolate cheese cake. I’m told by one of the employees that one of the secrets is the fresh spices purchased from a local importer. The donuts are worth the trip even from Minneapolis!

Special thanks to Cindy Kelly @wichitacindy for helping organize the Tweet up. I’ll donate a food item to a St. Paul, MN food charity for every comment we get on this blog.

Coverage of the road trip and South by Southwest was supported by Verizon Wireless.

A telling moment at the South by Southwest Interactive 2010 festival was when Mobile Roadie was one of the winners of the Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator award. Mobile Roadie enables users to build mobile applications and submit them to the iPhone App Store and the Android App Market. Mobile Roadie started by developing mobile applications for bands, and rapidly expanded to business, media, sports, and other organizations including churches. AdMob, a research firm, did a study released in January 2010 that showed Android and iPhone users spend an average of 80 minutes per day using applications.

The Mobile Roadie platform cut its teeth in the entertainment industry, being the platform for Ashton Kutcher and Taylor Swift, but they were quickly approached by a wide range of customers from businesses to churches. I use this event to underscore the increasing trend of smart mobile devices and the voracious appetite for information, entertainment, and social connections on-demand. That’s all mobile is, information on-demand. This is a natural progression for a society that inhales its fast food and as no time for the morning paper.

Scott Raney, a partner at Redpoint Ventures commented about SxSw in a Wall Street Journal blog saying, “Mobile in general was a big topic of conversation. People really do believe in these platforms and that they can do a lot of interesting things with them. You’ve got pretty broad platforms and faster network speeds.”

Mobile is a Condition

As you look at whether your business or organization should include a mobile application as part of its marketing mix, consider the relationship of the information you would offer, the consumer, the location of the consumer, and what the reaction will be once that information is obtained. In the case of SxSw, mobile apps like Levi’s Fader Fort highlights the popular hang out sponsored by Levi’s during the music festival in Austin, Texas. The Levi’s Fader Fort has a popular application built by Mobile Roadie.

The Levi’s Fader Fort is the setting for big name bands and those whose names are yet to become known. Given that attendees are always on the move, the best way to connect with that audience is with a mobile application. Information that has value in that environment includes band schedules at the Levi’s Fader Fort, sample songs, interviews with band members, and the social component for others using the app to comment. Thumbs up or down for a band performance may well change the direction of a small mob within a square mile.



Raney summed it up best echoing what many digital marketers are saying, “If I’m going to do something it’ll be predominantly mobile, or if it’s a traditional online experience, from the ground up I’ll think about mobile.”

Mobile adoption by businesses, venture capital, and developers is occurring at light speeds compared to other platform transitions, radio, TV, and Web, for instance. The SxSw Interactive panels and hallway conversations point the direction of where the consumer wants to go, the mobile web and applications is the next, like right now, big thing.

Is mobile in your planning either with an application or a mobile website ?

Provident Partners donates a food item for every comment received on this blog.

Verizon Wireless sponsored the Marketing Edge coverage of South by Southwest.

I covered the South by Southwest Interactive Festival from a mobile perspective because that is the “hot” area for the social web. I am fascinated by location services and what I think are the conservative predictions by web analysts that half of the web connections will be on a mobile device within 3 years.

The mobile device is central to social web 2.0 growth, “because it is carried with the user at most times, is ideally placed to capture information at its source, and is a key enabled of user-generated content and social web interaction.” The report also predicts that the mobile web market will reach $19 billion by 2014.

I am fortunate to have had Verizon Wireless, a regional client, to also be interested in supporting this coverage. We decided to have a little fun with this project as well. I took several new Verizon mobile devices with me, the Droid by Motorola , and Devour with Moto Blur, the HTC Eris, and the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus. Also the Verizon Wireless MiFi mobile hotspot, which I happily named, “Web in my Pocket”.

The coverage around this project is not meant to be a review of phones or service, just how we used them and how they were presented within the context of brand journalism. Author David Meerman Scott talks about brand journalism in his book New Rules of Marketing and PR, also in a recent Marketing Edge podcast episode

I believe this will be the way marketing, PR, and trade journalism morph into coverage of topics, products, and services. It will become part of the conversation of these topics in social ecosystems.

Web In My Pocket

Look it’s one thing to make a voice call driving 80 miles an hour but it’s another to connect to the web, send emails, upload photos from your lap top with Wifi speed. That’s what my traveling colleague Rick Mahn, founder of Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul and I did on this road trip. It was virtually uninterrupted coverage using the Verizon MiFi in the car plugged into the car charger port. We didn’t miss a beat with other work back home or with the Twitter stream following our trip on #smbsxsw Oh, did I say 80 miles an hour, no I was mistaken I meant 70, sorry.

I gave it the nickname “web in my pocket” during the Social Media Breakfast at South by Southwest. The popular morning gathering of those interested in social media and marketing held a wonderful breakfast on March 14 at the Hyatt hotel in downtown Austin, TX. There were more than 200 in attendance which would push many hotel WiFis to the max.

I was either A) selfish or B) considerate in that I did not tap into whatever open network was available, I did turn on the Verizon Mifi, which was a secured network requiring a password, to access the web, twitter and email. It was fully charged so the couple of hours during the breakfast was a snap. I also used it during some of the peak times of the SxSw conference panels which worked out great. Selfish or considerate you decide.

You have to admit when something is hot, I mean real hot, like a 65 degree day in March in Minnesota that gets people thinking. They get outside in shorts, they get a jump on their garden, and they start believing that outdoor baseball in the new Twins Stadium (the one without a retractable roof) in less than three weeks will be comfortable. Look even I can buy into this with a couple of days of sunshine.

That’s why my head and brain perked up when I got this email from Karen Aaker, a person I know through networking circles, an independent insurance agent, although I do no business with her. I did find this email newsworthy from a marketing perspective.

Dear friends and colleagues,

Yesterday my Twins season tickets arrived. Every year I purchase a half season. Because I am so very greedy I use a good portion of them myself. This year, however, will be a little different. As you may or may not know I am now in the insurance business, and have been for a few years now. What I need for my business to succeed is good referrals. Therefore, this year anyone who sends me five good (good meaning legitimate) referrals (name, number and address) will receive use of my tickets to the series of their choice on a first come, first serve basis. The first week, meaning the April 12 to April 18th games, have all been claimed already. My seats are great in the lower level just off of the third base line and on the aisle.

Just a side line, I am an Independent Agent. I represent six (plus) different companies so I am able to find the very best coverage at the most competitive price. I can help the very best, and the “more troublesome” drivers. Your referrals will help me build my future. I appreciate your trust and support!

Sincerely,

Karen Aaker
Common Sense Insurance
763-557-6707 – office

Key Elements of Good Marketing

1. 1) Piggyback onto something that is hot, see what’s in the news or will be in the news/conversation and jump in.
2. 2) There are times when sports tickets are a great investment, it goes in cycles, so if you have the type of clients or prospects where this makes sense get in at the bottom. Are you listening would-be Timberwolves fans, there’s never been a better time to lock into season tickets for the NBA in this town, just ask @ryantanke
3. 3) Make the ask. One of my favorites on Twitter is @MNheadhunter aka Paul DeBettignies constantly reminds me because I’m so poor at it, but it may be the difference between achieving your goals, getting a better deal or discovering a new opportunity, ask. This could have been a typical email saying got any business for me. It wasn’t, Karen saw the stars aligned for a unique communication that provided mutual benefit at a time when lots of Minnesotans are thinking outdoor baseball and she made the ask. Will I respond in the way Karen wants? Not sure only because I’d have to really think about potential referrals, but is she the only insurance person on my mind for at least the next two months, you bet.

One comment that I’d rather not see is the generic Dear Friends open, but given the power of all other aspects of the email it made me open and spend time with it and share it with you.

Thanks Karen, now Play Ball!

South by Southwest a place to see and be seen for sure. It was for music and film the primary focus of the festival for years, and now it is for the world of social interactive media. Any place where you need to be on a list to get into a party will have that kind of cache (typo intended for geek punery). As a DJ in Philly in the early dance era I get the whole list thing. Let’s put celebrity in perspective, SxSw is not the Oscars, but social media is getting its celebrities. Some traditional celebrities enjoy being a part of the SXSW social stream. Comedian Brian Posehn entertained the crowd at Joseph Jaffe’s party launching his new book Flip the Funnel (Greg Verdino shares some excellent photos

The Twitter trend spikes when Chris Brogan walks into a room or when #secretwinetasting signals, the King of Social Media, Gary Vaynerchuk is pouring into, and for, a party, this one was at Big Omaha. sponsored by Silicon Prairie News

But @GaryVee will likely be the first to tell you that there are no kings of social media. That all those at SxSw and those who are active in the social web contribute to the ecosystem of social. It’s an ecosystem that supports quality content in all types of niches. So Ed Bennett and Jane Sarasohn-Kahn are celebs in health care and Becky McCray rocks the house in tourism circles and Gregory Ng is truly the Master of Frozen Food with Freezer Burns, and the list goes on as long as there is an audience to comprise a niche. No they don’t do wine pourings, but they, as does Gary, command the attention and respect of their audience because of their passion for their content. It’s the foundation of Gary’s book Crush It!

Celebrity Closer to the Fan Base

There is still an element of camaraderie throughout the Austin convention Center that on the social web there is a common thread. The connection that every social media celebrity began from a first blog post, or video or podcast. Perhaps it’s a connection that can be maintained at events like SxSw. There is less distance between those who have succeed in their niche and those hoping to learn from that success. Everyone started out the same in social media and there is still the belief that others can achieve the same level of recognition, and in rare occasion, financial success. Why? because the rules of success are the same, good quality content, presentation, and yes, timing and luck factor into success today just as much as they did in the industrial age. Today It’s just less costly to enter and produce.

The question is whether social media will follow the patterns of the majority of other industries, which is early expansion followed by consolidation. Will the wide open landscape that is fertile ground for the first generation of web 2.0 content celebrities morph into the hierarchal, gatekeeper, celebrity maker, structure of the previous century. Just as an appearance on Johnny Carson was the golden ticket in the golden era of television, will todays’ celebrities be tomorrow’s king makers? If this is the case, then what will SxSw look like in 2015?

Disclosure:
My road trip from Minneapolis to Austin and coverage of South by Southwest is sponsored by Verizon Wireless.

Provident Partners will donate a food item to a St. Paul, MN food shelter for every comment on this blog

Amanda Congdon presented about items to consider when producing your own web videos. Here are her highlights from South by Southwest. These bullet points paint the picture of the confluence of traditional media, independent journalism, and branded journalism. Amanda Congdon was a pioneer as the face of Rocketboom.com more than six years ago. Her web popularity gained her a shot at ABC doing interview shows called AC on ABC. Now she is producing Sometimesdaily with Amanda Congdon http://twitter.com/amazingamanda

Whether you are an individual producer or corporate marketer, video is growing, in demand, available on an increasing percentage of mobile devices and yes, compelling. So here is a checklist to set a foundation for how you should consider video as part of your brand or marketing mix.

• Innovation is Everything – do not fear being different

(my add, being different within the context of the corporate brand is surely more difficult, but that commitment needs to exist for the video to achieve it’s objectives.

• Small teams and collaboration and communications are essential
• Main stream media card is important – let’s face it, the world is still based on hierarchies
• Must be about to keep your niche on the web, focus, focus focus,
• Mo People, Mo Money – use your own crew so the videos get the same style

THE LATEST THING

Outside of the big networks there are ample resources for independent and cost-conscious companies to produce outstanding video. Congdon offered these resources and suggestions

• Archive.org and Flickr Creative Commons
• Getting involved with a greater project on the web can help get the word out about your independent show.
• Get your viewers involved involved on a production level

You can follow Amanda on Twitter at @amazingamanda

My coverage of South by Southwest is brought to this blog by Verizon Wireless Midwest

Time 10:15

Kansas City social media practitioners shared gems at our South By Southwest tweet up yesterday, thanks to local organizer  Lisa Qualls of Fresh ID.   As Rick Mahn and I make our way to the SxSW tech festival  we are asking consumers and producers of social media about the state of the medium, and how businesses are using it (or not).  Also how consumers are interacting with each other and with brands.  The dynamic debate among this group was outstanding.  

As a journalist of these issues,  as well as a practitioner, these gems of opinions from others are data points I keep in mind as I assess recommendations for companies.  There is no “right way” to do social media, and each case, each company culture has a different perspective, which is why this summary should be viewed as a pantry of good quality raw ingredients, and not a recipe for the one size fits all social media strategy.  Some ingredients may be right for some, companies may have the budget to use them all, some may not. 

1. Measure everything, apply tools like Google analytics, www.bit.ly and www.idek.net (last one shared by Bestofjess ) to every link.  – Really I say?  Really, the fact is whether you are an individual blogging about a passion or a Fortune 500 company selling cars, measuring is one of the major ways you know that what you intended to communicate is what the recipient receives.  Don’t leave it up to the response mechanisms like comments to determine whether you have engaged or not.  Measurement to me in social media is like watching someone’s body language when you are having a conversation.  Those gestures, facial expressions and twists and turns are cues which impact the next message you send.  
2. Explain stuff until people understand it.  Regardless of the “advanced” level of the group there is always something new for anyone in the group to discover.  Whether it’s, “this is an RSS feed”  or this is the beta version of Google buzz, heck, this stuff is being made hourly, there are no experts on everything.  There is constant learn and props to groups like the Social Media Club and Social Media Breakfast who are in local communities creating forums for learning.  Bless you. 
3. The relationship between data, individual, and their location is a condition I call mobile which is powerful.  Mobile services interacting with location based applications like Yelp, Layar, Foursquare and Gowalla (to name only a fraction) come as close to getting inside your head as we have today.  An example raised at the Kansas City meeting was telling.  Jenn Bailey was traveling in New York City, stopped in a couple of shops and local landmarks checking into Foursquare at each location.  After her fourth stop she received an invitation that went something like this “You’ve been busy this afternoon, must be tired, stop by our restaurant and we’ll buy you a drink.” 

   As the group concluded, we’ll give up a little privacy to gain something that  may well be very relevant to us at that point in time and space.   The huge increase in smartphone sales is simply making this relationship easier and putting the power in the hands of consumers as they interact with a society on the move.  Analysis predict 50% of web connections will be made via mobile device by 2012. 

You can see the discussion at the Twitterface page created for the event.   Twitterface is a neat application that allows companies to create a brand experience with streaming video, which is also recorded, and the social media stream.  

Time 6:15

We are working our way through the Heartland of America on our way down to the South by Southwest Interactive festival. The more social we get online and on our phones, the more it seems we want to meet in person. That’s why Rick Mahn and I are looking forward to the tweet ups in Des Moines Wednesday, March 10 at 5:30 at the Raccoon River Brewing Company. Then on March 11, we stop in Omaha at Caffeine Dreams at 8AM – 9AM, Kansas City, at Kansas City Cafe at 2pm – 3pm and Lawrence, Kansas. location is TBD. I know Lawrence there’s basketball this weekend, but we’ll coming by anyway. : )

Our last tweet up before pulling into Austin is the morning of March 12 in Wichita at the Donut Whole. 7:30am – 8:30am. I’m told they have a bacon maple donut that’s TDF.

We’ll do profile pieces on innovators in social media and mobile applications in the Midwest. We’ll capture conversations about what’s working and what’s next in business and consumer technology. During the coverage of South by Southwest I will get into some of the challenging topics including, the next phase for journalism, whether greater community participation is necessary for the social web to grow, and how will life change when more than half the web connections are made with a mobile device.

Gadgets & Devices

What’s a geek road trip without gadgets and devices? We’ll have the latest line of devices to try out from Verizon Wireless including Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Eris, Palm Pre and Pixi and the DEVOUR with MOTOBLUR and gadgets like the Verizon MiFi.

Oh yes and of course TShirts, plenty of TShirts. I can chuck the map, I’ve got turn-by-turn directions. Special thanks to Verizon Wireless for sponsoring this coverage.

Time 22:50

The second printing of best selling author David Meerman Scott’s New Rules of Marketing and PR demonstrates A) these rules work and B) it’s OK to learn as we go. In this conversation with David, we discover that another one of the rules is ideas are fluid and when even two people focus on a topic, preconceived notions can change, and concepts can germinate into the next great case study.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR include participating in the communities with which you do business, not talking at them. Don’t worry we’ll put this in a nice list for retweeting and SEO purposes. The label David applied to this concept is “Brand Journalism” and it’s a hybrid of what trade journalists and thoughtful marketers have tried to do in the nineties. The key here is for companies to consider information that has news value and not just company/shareholder value. Information about the latest widget or big name customer being in the latter category and a more thorough conversation about issues that include technological advances, government regulation, or the ways society is changing to interact with products being in the former category. When a company’s perspective of what’s news expands, so does their number of mentions and conversations. Public relations practitioners can and should expand their thinking of news value, review the online discussions and contribute where appropriate. Not just in news release form, but in the infinite ways their creativity will take them, because any format, any locale, and any audience is now affordable and reachable.

David’s Brand Journalism idea may result in an actual job position I call the “embedded corporate journalist”, a paraphrase from the journalist embedded with military units in the Iraq War. This leads to understanding a situation more thoroughly so you can report it with perhaps greater sensitivity and depth. This is of greatest benefit if the entity being reported on seeks its audience to have greater understanding of its rationale rather than an entity that believes PR and news is a broadcast.

David’s work is insightful and I trust our conversation in this episode of the Marketing Edge is for you. Here is my take on ways to consider the New Rules of Marketing and PR

1) Who Cares? – Find out who cares about your stuff, not just mentions of your brand (that’s so narrow) but things that comprise the universe in which your company operates.

2) Do You Care? – Consider whether your entity really cares about opinions outside of the organization? Seems like a simple question, however, your lip service radar needs to be tuned in with reality here. If they are not, the New Rules of Marketing and PR will read like a novel, not a guide to your success.

3) Can We Try? – Analysis paralysis is a function of group think. We are not landing planes or experimenting with a deadly virus. We are having a conversation and no one will be injured. The prerequisites then are thoughtful, sensitive to community, readily engage comments, and be prepared to acknowledge a short coming. The rest will work itself out.

Practicing What We Preach

On a similar note, I will be covering South by Southwest this week and next on these pages. It’s a similar note because Verizon Wireless is sponsoring the trip. We will feature stories about social media innovators from the Midwest who are attending SxSw. We’ll focus on stories that I believe are hot topics for 2010, mobile applications, location based services, and the mobile web space. We are also doing some fun events and playing with neat gadgets during the week. I am road tripping to Austin with Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul founder Rick Mahn. His trip is sponsored by Tungle the web-based scheduling platform. We’ll be using a variety of Verizon mobile devices including the Droid, HTC Droid Eris, Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus, the Motorola DEVOUR with MOTOBLUR and tap into the Verizon Mifi when no wireless is around.

I suggest this project has the elements of the type of interaction the New Rules of Marketing and PR says are what is needed to engage communities.

It’s a classic a case of hip-notic marketing. Be the carrier of valued (entertaining) content, then the subject of the piece is the premium product you now desire and can purchase. Brilliant!

Time 19:51

This is a two part series on the Marketing Edge highlighting mobile computing from the developers’ perspective and from the marketers’ perspective. I suggest that mobile is not a platform upon which to put information, but a condition that exists between data, a person’s location, and the action that person will take as a result of obtaining that information at that specific point in space. I could get into Einstein’s who spacetime thing, but you’d know I’d be blowing smoke so let’s not go there.

An example is if you received traffic information of delays relative to your location you are likely to take action. This is a different way to consider your information as a marketer, mobile becomes a dynamic concept of information in a specific context instead of a distribution channel. I also believe it further forces marketers to rank their information based on its value to the recipient rather than the quantitative measurement of eye-ball counting to determine effectiveness.

With that foundation, let’s first talk in part one of this Marketing Edge podcast about development with Minneapolis-based mobile developer Justin Grammens and founder of Recursive Awesome. He is one of the organizers of Mobile March, a day long conference on March 27 held in Minneapolis, at the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel.

Why should anyone care about development on mobile platforms? In part because more than half of web connections will be done over a mobile device by 2013, Gartner analysts assert the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units and will be greater than the installed base for PCs thereafter.

This means mobile is a trend not a fad. So why talk on the Marketing Edge about development? Because understanding the dynamic competition among development platforms will guide marketing decisions. There is a battle raging for the platform upon which to develop applications and 2009 saw Apple overtake Windows Mobile operating system and Android burst on the scene with the power of Goggle behind it making 2010 an awesome year to be buying a smartphone. This year choice abounds and applications and network reliability will be a factor.

Lastly, mobile is a growth area for careers. Mobile development is the 2010 answer to web development in the nineties. It’s more complicated however, with more complex programming languages to understand and some developers might even say more complex rules for getting your application approved and sold.

Win a Mobile March Pass

Provident Partners will give one listener/reader a complimentary registration pass worth $20 to Mobile March, enter the drawing by sending an email to MarketingEdge AT ProvidentPartners dot Net with the words Mobile March in the subject line. Do it before March 24.

Do you view mobile as a different distribution channel or a completely different relationship between information and user?

As I watched the Super Bowl the talk online was about the commercials and brands. The online chatter focused on the medium and interruptive ads. Although I’d be hard pressed to say that these ads were an interruption, at least during the Super Bowl, ads are eagerly awaited, a rarity surely in the world of advertising.

I learned more about social media by watching the game. The game was a reflection of the crossroads at which corporate communications and marketing stand today. The choice to go by the book, stick to what’s been done, surely it worked in the past, but it’s been done; or the choice to be different, to be daring in the face of predictability. The choice to go against “conventional wisdom,” the choice to do something that will make people talk.

That’s right talk

What Da? he’s not going for the field goal? Did you see that,?! The Saints didn’t kick the sure 3 points in the second quarter. What Da, off sides kick to start the half? Who Dat? They must have believed in their product eh?

Second guessers, the world is full of ‘em in every profession, on every topic. Detractors, every company and every product has them, even if it’s because the product is perfect. Some people don’t think Michael Jordan is all that, they are not Jordan fans. I am not one of them, but I have run into a few.

So now that we’ve accepted the fact that we can’t please everyone and there will be critics. What are we going to do to make people talk? There is an old expression people would use to convey that the product or experience they had was mediocre, it goes, “It was nothing to write home about.” Isn’t that the antithesis of social media, I must give you something to write home about.

Well the Saints gave us something to write home about and on blogs, on Twitter, on forums, on YouTube etc etc etc. And if they lost, their decisions would still be the ingredients of our content. Why? Because they dared to be different, they dared to have confidence in their skills, their preparation, and each other. Aren’t those the attributes you want a company to have? Those attributes bring freedom.

Freedom to accept the results of your decision, freedom to try something new, freedom to believe your fans (Superdome fans or Facebook fans) will understand you.

This is the essence of being a social company, not just implementing social tactics, but truly being a social company. Why, because social media is everywhere and growing. Companies that get high marks for the social strategies are usually not those that play it safe, it’s those that play it straight. Of course mistakes will happen, own them. Of course your customer may have a better idea than the creative employee making six figures, embrace it. Of course you have hundreds of people that like what you do, give them a forum.

Thanks Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints for breaking another barrier in this new century. A century that is shedding light on the illusions of the last century. The Illusion that we can’t really control or predict the future, but that we can only prepare for the present and react to what it gives us. Dreams can be more powerful than plans.

Time 18:10

Alleluia the Mass Market is alive and well, we have rediscovered the masses. This is good news for all those companies that watched their mass market target disperse like cockroaches when you turn on the lights. Now the bad news, the path to reach them is through 1 percent of the people that participate on-line in social media – content creators, commenters, and communities. In this podcast, we chat with Jackie Huba, co-author of two books Citizen Marketer and Creating Customer Evangelists, about reaching the One Percenters as Huba calls them, and how they are the new gatekeepers to the mass market.

Huba is a keynote speaker at the NewComm Forum, a three day conference, April 20-23 in San Mateo, California, full of interesting learning about the application of social strategies in business, non-profit, and government, and as always excellent networking. As a listener and reader of the Marketing Edge podcast and blog use the promo code NCFPPP to receive a $200 savings if you register by March 12.

One of the interesting parts of this conversation with Huba is when she refers to social media as the “canary in the coal mine” for many companies. Huba is on the money with this metaphor. I associate this idea to political communications, a place where rumor can become perceived as fact fast. Political communicators are indeed accustomed to this position, I was in the national political environment for a decade. The speed of information puts an enormous burden on corporate communications to be tuned in 24/7 and on the corporate communications process (by that I mean approvals and empowerment) to be efficient in reacting to unfolding events.

Enjoy this podcast and use the promo code NCFPPP when registering for the NewComm Forum. Huba’s blog along with co author Ben McConnell is the Church of the Customer an interesting read as well.

How are you approaching the One Percenters? Do you think they are gatekeepers to the mass market, or do you approach them as market segments, separate communities similar to market segments?

Re-Tweet Shout Outs

I had fun last night during #brandbowl Twitter’s conversation about ads during the Super Bowl. Thanks to stephaniethum , shashib , and tkpleslie for advancing the conversation about when we’ll have television advertising created on the fly based on social conversations. It won’t be long now I’m guessing.

Remember comments to the blog result in a food item being donated to a St. Paul, MN food shelter. Your opinions matter.

This is not a plug or some third party affiliate cheer. I’m not one for the making money on the Internet crowd because those that scream that the loudest are old century thinkers in a new century world. Boo Hiss.

I just signed up for The Third Tribe at the early adopter rate because I view many of the individuals behind the program as rethinking the role of economics in an information society. My first peak under the members’ hood on The Third Tribe does reveal some aspects of making money online. Affiliate marketing is part of this I realize and perhaps I need to have a different perspective on it. However, the greater value of the information, seminars and forums of The Third Tribe is the new perspective of how economics are changing. It’s the hands on version of the Free Economy with substance, innovation, and creativity. In fact, in the first audio conversation, Sonia Simone and Johnny B Truant take on the “Internet Hawkers” and the world of make believe money. That’s the kind of candor that I enjoy about the substantive people on The Third Tribe and many of the other people I follow on Twitter et. al.

Other contributors to The Third Tribe I respect for their work, Darren Rowse of Problogger, Brian Clark of Copyblogger, and Hugh MacLeod among others which is another reason I want to see what’s going on in this Tribe. Their views about how communities are formed, how new tools are helping companies become social and not just use social tactics, and how value is established in a world with instant access to information and millions of content contributors instead of dozens of information gate keepers.

I also became a member because some of these ideas may have application to clients. It might not be applicable to me, but from what I’m listening to now regarding SEO and search tactics, this is something anyone in the consulting business needs to be aware of to address client challenges. It’s also another network of function experts to potentially be a member of an ad hoc project team.

Lastly, it’s a monthly pricing model that you can cancel at anytime. Today’s the last day for the “early adopters” pricing, $27/month. The way I look at it, the producers of The Third Tribe including Chris Brogan have given the community, our community, years of free information, this is a maturing of our value economy where we acknowledge valuable information with a form of currency beyond the Retweet.

Yesterday Chris Brogan and I strolled the Mall of America. This was the first time at the Mall of America for Brogan, who, as a father of young children, was amazed and delighted by the incredible distractions provided by the life-size roller coaster and other amusement rides at Nickelodeon Universe. To most outside of Minnesota, the closest you get to an amusement ride inside a mall is the $.25 horsey plugged in next to the candy vending machine.

Brogan is president of New Marketing Labs providing strategy and execution of social programs for Fortune 500 and major brand companies. We talked about trends in social emedia and how corporations are incorporating social media into their processes. I use the term processes here because it is inaccurate to single out a business function say marketing or customer service. Social media impacts all parts of a company, and last century’s corporate structure, today needs to bend with an increasingly social consumer base.

Pete Blackshaw of Ag Age has a post today called A Short and Personal History of Social Media, also pointed out what Brogan and I discussed which is benefit one - Social media is forcing silos and fiefdoms to work together. This is more like the way consumers view a company. When a consumer has an issue and tweets about it, the fact that XYZ company only uses Twitter as a media relations tool is a bogus response to that consumer. Smart corporations are using this “learning moment” to rethink their processes, to creating greater lines of communication to solve consumer issues, develop better products, and elevate the consumer, and their comments, within the company. This is a wonderful result at a number of levels.

Embracing this concept can be the difference between a company using social tactics, to being a social company.

Blackshaw writes

“So this is big — really big. But where is it going? Looking ahead, expect to hear much more about “enterprise social media” strategy. Good, old-fashioned customer-relationship management will take on new meaning and resonance, as we’ll quickly realize that half the game in social media will be understanding the relationship between existing business processes — service, employee training, product performance — and conversational output, and adjusting strategies and tactics accordingly.
Marketing organizations will continue to undergo dramatic transformation, as social media softens all silos, unleashes both friendly and hostile departmental and agency competition, and sets new standards of accountability thanks to the radically transparent nature of the content.”

Brogan comments in this video about the vast opportunities in 2010 which brings us to the second major benefit of social media – Opportunities with structure. What was referred to as the wild west of marketing on the internet a few short years ago is now taking a bit of shape — you know towns,(communities) trails,(measurement) sheriffs (FTC guidelines and trust agents). In some cases the shapes are similar to what we are familiar with, and it others it is a brave new world.

The familiar parts being implemented in the social world are functions like media relations, with a social twist ( Pitch Engine and Matchpoint ) and targeted audiences (community participation and sponsorship by corporations for example).

The opportunities presented by the brave new world part of this equation may be issues such as companies being more open in conversations. This may be implemented in a concept I’m pushing of an embedded corporate journalist. There are opportunities in new areas of measurement upon which individual employee and agency performance goals are established. Metrics such as number of conversations, Pass Along Readership (this is an old school print advertising concept that has morphed into today’s RT or retweets et. al), or number of uploaded photos.

Opportunities as Brogan mentions for larger agencies and companies to tap into social platforms like Live World, Awareness, PeopleBrowsr, CoTweet, Ning, and dozens of others, (if I missed you, comment, each comment I’ll donate a food item to a food shelf.) Blackwell mentions availability of social tools in his post as well.

Individuals too are finding ways to add value. In some cases it is by default where they play the role of trusted , personal technology trainer, and thought leader apart from the agency relationship. In some ways, they are seen as not being part of a larger revenue generation, project creation machine, but an independent auditor. One that can verify whether the time spent down some new social path is worth the effort.

Lastly, we have moved deeper into an economic landscape of individuals with individual profit and loss. Yes, more consultants, but this means free forming networks of talent, at times viewed as competitors, other times viewed as partners. From the perspective of companies in need of talent, the picture could not be better. The ability to form an all-star team is as close as your next tweet. Brogan’s venture launched today, The Third Tribe, touches on this a bit. The formation of a network sharing ideas, gaining examples and creating a dialogue that ultimately produces a more knowledgeable pool of talent. This is the land of opportunity and 2010 will give greater clarity and shape to what was once the fog of social media.

Time 33:11

Some how the color purple has become associated with remarkable things. The marketing community probably owes it all to Seth Godin and his book Purple Cow written in 2003 . “Wait stop the car!” now that’s something special.

We could go back to the dawn of time to Barney the Purple dinosaur, now that must have caught Grog’s attention, so remarkable even a… well you know the rest.

However, my vote for the most remarkable purple reference would have to be the resurrection of Christ long symbolized with the color purple. Now that’s remarkable.

But for this podcast we’ll stay a bit closer to Godin’s application of remarkable, and it’s appropriate because he is viewed by many as a marketing god who appreciates a good paragraph when he sees one.

Enter Stan Phelps, who with due deference to Godin is working on the Purple Goldfish Project, a quest to obtain 1,001 examples of purpleness, remarkable ways companies large and small are treating customers. Phelps adds a bit of his own twist which he borrows from the Louisiana culture called Lagniappe (Lan-yap). Lagniappe is synonymous for “the gift.” In the Bijou, lagniappe was the little extra a merchant would go to make you feel special. For example, butchers would give you a bone if they knew you had a dog, or the baker would toss in the extra donut just because you may have had a house full of kids.

Marketing Lagniappe is what Stan and I talk about in this podcast. Stan invites everyone to contribute to the Purple Goldfish Project, by submitting examples at the Marketing Lagniappe website. Here are a few examples:

Lou Mitchell’s (#83 submitted by CAA’s Simon Green) “There are reasons native Chicagoans and tourists alike consider Lou Mitchell’s a must-visit — from the donut holes and milk duds while you wait to the double-yolk eggs that make every dish even more sinfully indulgent, Lou’s knows how to do breakfast. Located in the South Loop, the restaurant has been a Chicago institution since 1923, and decades later, they’re still dishing out thick French toast, enormous platters of pancakes, fresh-baked pastries, and of course, those famous skillets.

Courtyard by Marriott (#57 submitted by PR Workbench’s and eNR’s Jack Monson)

“A few years ago, I was traveling to the Twin Cities often and stayed several times at the same Courtyard By Marriott in the suburb of Eden Prairie since it was close to two clients’ HQs. By the third trip in a few weeks’ time, I had a nice surprise waiting for me. I walked in after a cold and delayed trip from Chicago to see a big sign in the lobby saying “Welcome Jack Monson”. The manager informed me that I was their guest of the week and gave me a card for free breakfast in the morning. (PS: Jack is a great sales person and account manager, I use eNR’s Matchpoint. I know that Jack also practices marketing lagniappe with his clients with attention to detail, listening to new product ideas, and pulling research reports to demonstrate the capabilities of the system.)

AJ Bombers (#152 Submitted by Phil Gerbyshak) One of my favorite Purple Goldfish is AJ Bombers (@ajbombers) in Milwaukee. Joe and his team consistently provide the Purple Goldfish by offering free peanuts…shot at you in metal WWII bombers. It’s way fun to get those from the bartenders. Making AJBombers even more fun is the fact he is on Twitter, recognizing customers and anyone who mentions the place, hosts Tweetups at Bombers, has guest bartenders where he donates shots folks can sell…with all proceeds going to the charity of the guest bartender’s choice. Full disclosure: I’ve been a guest bartender and raised money for my charity. Last but not least is everyone who wants one can get a Sharpie and put their Twitter handle anywhere they want at AJBombers, so when friends come in, they can look for your Twitter name and leave you a tweet…in real life.” (And where am I going the next time I’m in Milwaukee to visit my son at Marquette? You guessed it, I love the Twitter handle on the wall idea.)

Stan and I get into the discussion that all this purple warm and fuzzes can cost money. Well does it? Is this a question of money or priorities? My point is even the average can be remarkable. How? Focus on a few things where you are going to exceed expectations. Whether it’s service or product, but ask yourself, Do you have something in your offering that is worthy of writing home about? It used to be an expression, “nothing to write home about”, but who knew millions of people actually would be writing home about their experiences on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, et al. The Purple Goldfish Project is about writing home, join in by contributing to the project at Marketing Lagniappe.

One of my favorites is David Meerman Scott’’s World Wide Rave. Send me an email with with Rave in the subject line to marketingedge@providentpartners.net , we’ll include you in the drawing. In the podcast I make reference to an example that David has in the book from CWS advanced toilet systems and mentioned I’d have a link to the Clean Seats commercial that has more than a million views on You Tube

Every comment on the Marketing Edge blog we give a food item to the local food shelter.

This is a follow up to the last podcast Five Ways Social Media Will Generate More Leads I read David Murray’s piece from Ragan Communications Protecting Your Sources Leads to Incomplete, Empty Stories

In this piece Murray makes the point that sometimes as a journalist he was concerned his sources would not like the piece when published. He refers to some writers, whether they be journalists or paid writers on internal corporate publications, who attempt to sanitize the piece, not including candid statements or personality traits, that may well be of interest to readers, but perhaps would be viewed as embarrassing for the source.

In a section Murray writes “People, I have found somewhat to my surprise, want less to be praised and more to simply be seen—for who they think they are—and heard, for what they have to say.” And this is my contention for the concept of the embedded corporate journalist. Corporations will gain more among their employees and their intended audiences by living a bit more actively and willing to talk about the elements of decisions as they are unfolding instead of waiting for everything to be perfect and scripted.

The embedded corporate journalist must align what is news worthy, what contributes to the topic, with the expertise and perspective his company or client. This is not about “Spin Doctoring” which is the art of twisting the topic to the point of confusion. This is about “Topic Engineering” which is contributing to the discussion in such a meaningful way that greater clarity is achieved.

More on the embedded corporate journalist

Is your company a candidate for having a embedded corporate journalist? Why or why not?

Time 26:57

First, I dislike the kind of headlines like the one above. It’s called the Reason Why Headline and it is one of the most effective at getting the reader’s attention. I dislike it because it proliferates across the web making thousands of websites look the same, but I can’t argue with Copyblogger and other copy writers who say Reason Headlines are effective.

Yes, lead generation starts with getting attention and good headlines are one of many components. Of course there are more ways to get attention than headlines, and social media provides many opportunities. In the context of generating leads for a complex type of sale, integrating social media is becoming essential. I’ll define complex sale for B2B and B2C products and services in the following way; in the case of B2B it is usually for business mission critical products and services, like enterprise software, strategic business consulting, and/or decisions that touch many departments in a company and have a significant financial investment. In the case of B2C it is usually a higher ticket item, that will have a long duration of usage, where there is a potentially strong brand attachment opportunity; products such as appliances, computers, and vehicles are examples.

Second, in the world of long sales cycles, relationship building, and credibility I believe the following are essential elements to generate leads:

1. 1. Content that is valued by the audience (beyond the headline, content does matter)
2. 2. Formats that are most powerful (all formats are afford, using video, audio, and mash-ups are effective)
3. 3. Frequency that generates SEO benefits (In this search engine dominated era you have to be known for something, and that something must be indexed by search engines)
4. 4. Community participation (It is anti-social to think your company is the center of the universe)
5. 5. Thinking like a reporter ( I think I coined term is the embedded corporate journalist)

In this podcast with Mark Palony, former digital marketing manager for the enterprise software company Softbrands, we discuss the social media tactics he used in conjunction with traditional marketing tactics. Disclosure: Mark and Softbrands were a long-time client until a much larger company Infor purchased Softbrands last summer.

Over the course of years, Palony integrated video, audio podcasts, audio and video soundbites specifically for individual sales cycles, blogging, community participation, and Twitter, among other social elements, as part of a comprehensive marketing program. These components allowed Softbrands to develop a greater relationship with prospects while establishing credibility among its intended audiences. Examples of integrating social media in the B2B enterprise software lead generation include:

• Video channel with customer stories about implementing SoftBrands inside manufacturing plants.
• Using Twitter to build relationships with SAP marketing and subject matter experts. (this enabled Softbrands, and SAP partner gain greater exposure within SAP)
• Effective digital assets developed for sales process (A video and audio library of relevant content used by sales and in conjunction with blog posts, Twitter commentary, and community comments.)

I think many companies are treating social media as a side bar, not an integrated component of their marketing. Sure they throw up a Facebook page or Twitter profile, but don’t incorporate them in a comprehensive editorial picture. Is this the case from your perspective? Are marketers and corporate communications treating their content as if they were publisher? Are they participating in communities or communicating to communities?

Seminar on Integrated Marketing

Mark Palony and I are conducting a seminar using elements of what we learned during the years of implementing social tactics for lead generation of the complex sale. Some might call this content marketing. The seminar is Friday, March 12, The New Marketing Mix.

David Meerman Scott’s the World Wide Rave will be given to one Marketing Edge podcast listener or reader. To enter, send me an email to marketingedge@providentpartners.net Include Rave in the subject line. In this book, Scott, provides entertaining examples of how companies incorporated social tactics to create digital product advocates.

Time 37:29

Make no excuses, only make decisions. That’s the quote I’ve come up with as a result of talking to our Marketing Edge Podcast guest Laura Fitton. Fitton is known to many by Pistachio, the name of her consulting firm and what she uses on Twitter. Fitton was in a pressure situation, mother of two young toddlers, going through a divorce, yet the desire to pursue her passion was so strong, and the network of innovators in social media was so supportive, that Fitton’s passion became a reality.

This podcast will cover two areas, the first is about how social media is providing a channel for entrepreneurial innovation. There are plenty of low cost or free tools to test your ideas, build a digital presence, and connect with networks that can be supportive. Fitton proves this statement and we chat about the tactics and principles of other social media business pioneers Liz Strauss and Gary Vaynerchuk who have been beacons for many in this the social media era. Vaynerchuk is also a passionate Jets fan so he is excited at least for another week. Go Jets.

The key bullets on pursuing your passion that I have identified are:

• Persistence
• Timing
• Vision
• Network

At first for Fitton, that passionate reality was a consulting practice focused on Twitter for business, today it has grown into a community platform for Twitter applications. You can participate in it at www.oneforty.com a community that supports, discovers, and exchanges information about Twitter applications. OK, the short description is, Oneforty, a Twitter app store and here is my Twitter App profile so far.

It’s a great resource for corporate marketers, social media and PR decision makers to quickly identify applications that may be a solution for your challenges. It’s also great for anyone, on Twitter or not, to explore the concept of real time, mobile information. The website lets you see what people are using Twitter for, stupid or not. Remember, beauty and stupidity are in the eye of the beholder. Oneforty incorporates crowd sourcing of those using Twitter apps and supports the Twitter application developer community.

Oneforty is developer friendly. Starting January 12 developers will be able to sell their applications on Oneforty and Oneforty will pick up the PayPal fee for donations made through the Oneforty site, and the developer will get the full donation. This is one way Oneforty demonstrates their support for the Twitter developer community.

Give this Marketing Edge Podcast a listen for inspiration to pursue your passion or discover the latest Twitter applications. Is there a passion you are hiding? Shine a light on it this year.

The coming challenge for social media is keeping it simple? Some social media types and companies would love to just focus on Twitter and Facebook. Ah, those will be the good old days of social media. The way I figure those days were the first 2 weeks of June of 2009. Now it’s going to be about topics, interests, comments, and rather than platforms and applications. You can see the early sprouts of this trend with the development of lists on Twitter, Listorious, and TweetDeck’s interest directory

Monitoring brand mentions and sentiment is child’s play compared to a full fledged corporate social play. There are dozens of social platforms similar to Facebook, plenty of microblogging platforms, and now enter geotagging mobile platforms like, Foursquare and Gowalla and many others. How will companies respond to brand mentions across thousands of communities, blogs, and mobile platforms? In addition, how will midsize, non-household name brands, efficiently build relationships.

We mentioned products that attempt to aggregate and monitor, then integrate that capability with a workflow which imposes structure on random relationships. Cotweet, People Browsr among others allow for monitoring and then creating an action item. To me, this is the key for the future of social media within a corporate environment, it must be worked into a quantifiable, disciplined process.

The latest of platform to follow this trend is Clove. It has fast and robust features to segment conversations, search terms and multiple profiles. Their development team is working on introducing a variety of modules as the market needs present themselves.

I interviewed one of the founders of Clove, Tim Erickson. You can register for the beta version of Clove. Its as close a competitor to Tweet Deck which is familiar to many social enthusiasts. I found Tweet Deck is a bit of a memory hog, Clove is efficient, fast and light.

Do you believe you need to monitor multiple companies and topics? How about participating under multiple profiles?

Time 20:52

This year a marketing firm that will go nameless gave me a gift. They showed me the importance of being relevant. It was an interesting lesson that I turned into an entertaining podcast, but it’s better if you be the judge of that.

The story begins with the presentation I gave about social media in health care to the Minnesota Medical Group Management Association this summer. The group is a professional association for those in clinical practices for the most part. They attended the presentation to discuss how social media is being used by health care delivery practices. Here is the summary of that presentation.

The conference had around 300 or so attendees, and exhibitors. I ended up on the list of attendees I suspect because two weeks after the conference I received a prospecting letter from the account manager of a marketing firm that either attended or exhibited at the show. This is where the fun and the lesson begins.

The firm sent about 6 letters, 2 emails, and a cute, well designed die-cut, four-color direct mail piece. The assumption of all these communications was that Provident Partners, yes, the PR/marketing firm that produces this podcast and has been providing consulting services in using social media in healthcare, was instead a medical clinic.

Imagine my dismay when I was told that this marketing firm could help me with my social media marketing to seniors looking for healthcare. Am I missing something here? No, they just skipped the part of marketing that says know your prospect.

I just didn’t have the heart to call this local Twin Cities based firm to tell them they should check their prospect list first. No, instead I thought I could learn a thing or two from their work. I am as much a student of how business and people communicate as I am a practictioner. By remaining on their list, it reinforced for me the importance of being relevant to any prospect. If that means you need to spend 80% of your time researching prospects before you contact them, then that’s what you have to do. When a company takes the time to learn about each of the prospects on their lists, then, and only then, can they begin to establish a relationship of value.

In this case, it’s one marketing firm not checking the records on a conference list and sending prospecting materials to another marketing firm. No harm no foul. What if however, it’s that same methodology for a clinic. Would a cancer patient get a marketing piece for Lamaze class, or a “thanks for being our patient” direct mail piece to a patient who has passed on? Exactly, it does make a difference.

It’s a lesson we can all learn from and apply all year long. Focus on being relevant and the prospect will react favorably. What amount of time do you spend on researching prospects? Are mass lists useful in lead generation for health care?

If you are interested in more about social media in health care we have created a separate blog called Social Media for Health Care

Time 19:59

If you are business skeptical about social media here is a new way to look at it. What if someone wants to find a new widget (you make, sell or have something to do with widgets) and this person comes to your place. When they get there, they use their smartphone, one of more than 291 million sold in the third quarter of 2009 alone.

They will use an application for the Android and iPhone among others called Foursquare. This interesting application combines the use of the location of the phone, city maps, an increasing database of business, civic, and other locations, and taps the curiosity and competitiveness of human nature.

Here are some screen shots from Foursquare and how I use it. You can see when I check into a place, Starbucks for example, it give the number of times I have told others I am there, points for checking in, and when I do that more than others over a week’s time I can become Mayor of that location. A competitive or at least context reference point compared to your friends on Foursquare and others using Foursquare in that city. Foursquare has a variety of rewards like becoming a Mayor when you have checked in to a specific place more than others in that city, or earn badges for specific types of actions. In this podcast with Tristan Walker, vp of business development for Foursquare, we discuss ways retail and non profits are driving traffic to their venue.

Using the same incentive and reward concepts as scouting badges (or promotions, perks, and discounts, for big scouts) you can drive behavior. Hmmm that health insurance provider cutting those premiums for people who have the Gym Rat badge. The concepts are proven, the integration with other elements of technology and lifestyle are not.

The ability to share a piece of information when you are close enough to do something about it, that’s the logic behind Foursquare’s Nearby Special. I check in at a restaurant across from the Target Center in Minneapolis, and I see a message from the Timberwolves with a link to the game day media report and offers for that night’s game.

Today’s I’m attending the Social Media Breakfast Des Moines where will be talking about mobile applications and how the expansion of 3G networks and beyond, is creating innovation like Foursquare. Follow #smbdm on Twitter.

It’s early, so now is the time to push innovation with this application as a business. Foursquare is looking for what people, businesses, and organizations find of value in geotagging, crowd sourcing, consumer behavior, and demand creation. Foursquare will capture a marketer’s attention in the same way Twitter captured the attention of individuals. It’s a communications platform with plenty of potential uses, many of which are yet to be tried.

Robert Scoble reported this week on Foursquare releasing their API for developers to use with other applications. Ah, here is the catalyst of innovation, once you’ve created something people find interesting, give them the wherewithal to shape it to their needs. Innovation is like cookie dough, not cookies.

Scoble suggest in this post about how developers might use a Foursquare stream of individuals as a map of a lifestyle. Scoble refers to tracing the steps of noted wine expert Gary Vaynerchuk. I think if you are in New York City you might blurt out to your friend, ” Hey I’m going to have a Jimmy Fallon weekend,” and do the same things that he does an a weekend. Yes, this is a much better, honest form of celebrity endorsement.

In 2010 Marketers and PR professionals must resolve their personality crisis. It is an issue that Age Ad editor Ad Age Editor Jonah Bloom highlighted at the ANA Conference this week in this 3 minute Ad Age video The issue is whether marketers are media organizations. Bloom highlights how companies including Red Bull have created so much content that they license it to others, they have also become the destination for that content like what can best be described as Red Bull TV

No they are not jibber jabbing about Red Bull this or that, they are covering the things their Fans, Friends, Followers, oh yeah, customers are into. It’s about your universe.

The same is true for public relations. Look, half of us in PR either were or wanted to be journalists. We either didn’t want to travel every two years, (that was my reason), or the pay stunk, or the hours stunk and the list goes on. But the idea of covering issues that impact people, industries, governments, are still all there.

Companies will struggle on how to deal with declining traditional media and still worse, changing viewing habits of those traditional media customers. Nielsen is in the middle of a heated debate over how they are counting viewers for local stations that don’t watch the real-time content.

I contend that 1) social community participants reward candor, 2) the web rewards fresh content that others find relevant as measured in one regard by links, with better search results and 3) we live in an on demand, go direct environment.

It is a huge mistake to interpret this as a green light to pummel the public with heretofore defined advertising dribble wrapped inside user generated content, however, it is an opportunity to reconsider what advertising and PR look like in your company. The world is dying for you to engage them, support them, be associated with something that enriches them; Help them do something that makes them better, makes their lives easier.

The interuption ad is moving from a blur you tuned out to an annoyance consumers will hate. Really, have you ever seen one of those pop-up ads that is over part of a website you want to click on? Not cool. From an advertising perspective, participate in what the audience is participating in, support its delivery not as a trojan horse where ads pop out, but as a guest coming to dinner bringing something they enjoy so much they wanted to share it with others they enjoy being with.

On the PR side consider this different perspective on PR, It would give you greater freedom to engage you audiences, more opportunities to be heard, and perhaps the greatest benefit of all, new digital information assets that are relevant for sales.

In this era of fractured journalism, there is a resurgence of the pamphleteers. Is this good or bad for democracy? In a interview with Joel Kramer, founder of MinnPost we discuss this topic Is a pamphleteer a journalist?

This issue is top of mind for me because of two stories in the news about journalists, the first about Lou Dobbs leaving CNN. Dobbs was once the stoic anchorman of Moneyline, a bastion of capitalistic news and analysis. In the last several years Dobbs became a middle age populist, an advocate journalist. His show became a cause driven program on immigration reform, opposition to both Bush and Obama administrations’ economic policy, and other issues about which Dobbs took a stand.

Jon Klein, president of CNN news said of Dobbs departure yesterday, “He pursued some of the most important and complex stories of our time… and with characteristic forthrightness has decided to carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere.”

The question – do advocacy journalists report the salient facts across an issue or is their objective to obtain policy or behavior change?

Ukraine Famine Casualty of Advocacy Journalism?

The other story about journalists is one I’m sure less of the readers of the Marketing Edge blog are familiar with compared to Dobbs. His name is Gareth Jones whom I learned about last night. USA Today did a piece on Gareth Jones who is best known for his chronicles of the forced famine in Ukraine by Russian dictator Josef Stalin in 1933 and 1934. Jones had a reputation as a solid journalist among is contemporaries in the 1920s and 30s.

He went to Ukraine against the wishes of the Soviet regime and at considerable personal risk, to see first hand the reports of famine in the country. He wrote about the export of millions of tons of grain to the west by the Communist Party, leaving Ukrainians with little food. The Soviet authorities used the funds to build its military, as estimated millions died of starvation in the Ukraine countryside.

This story caught my eye because I spent time in Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union giving presentations about political communications in the United States where there is a free press. I worked as a journalist and as a press secretary in several government positions in the 1980s. I was selected to share my experience on both sides of the news/information equation with individuals who were thrust into a new world order as Ukraine broke away from the former Soviet Union.

Many of Jones’ journalist peers dismissed his reports. As the USA Today article explains, at the time there were many journalists sympathetic to the communist system who disputed Jones’ reports and helped destroy his reputation. One Pulitzer prize winning writer of the day, Walter Duranty of the New York Times described Jones’ articles as a “scare story”. The writings of Gareth Jones are on display at Trinity College in Cambridge, England through mid-December.

The reality is that every journalist has a lens of perspective through which they choose to report. The ideal is an objective reporting of issues. Even though the writer may have an opinion, those beliefs and hypothesis should be submitted to the writer’s own critical examination of the facts as they experience them. Jones meets the criteria of a higher standard in my opinion.

Time 29:43

A couple of observations about how last century’s business structure needs to change to benefit from the changes in the market brought about by the social web.

1) Coopetition to Community

Coopetition is the word coined for companies that decide to share expenses for in which areas they do not have competitive advantages or perhaps will jointly provide specific and not overlapping functions for a project.

Social media exposes all kinds of talent online, plus a public discussion of the issues. Now competitors readily learn, copy, share, and engage each other. Or course there is still competition, but now more than I’ve seen in the last century, there is a greater concern for the community as a whole. Companies are shaping their business models to be flexible to address customer needs. Examples of this are the Social Media Breakfast , Social Media Club, and the Unsummit Conference.

Observation – No matter the size of your company, be flexible enough to meet customer happiness, sometimes you have the answer and sometimes not.

2) Customer Participation

The hierarchical nature of old style corporate marketing is transforming to something in which the customer is a participant. In the last century marketing was the four Ps, product, price, promotion, and placement. Today I’d say marketing is about,

Incompleteness – it’s acceptable and beneficial to ask a community to finish a product eg. Ford Fiesta.

Responsiveness – this can be a simple acknowledgement on a blog post or a full fledged policy change as a result of conversations

Joint Ownership – creativity is when programs are absorbed by a community and then turned into something of their creation.

Recognition – when companies are paying attention to their online champions, it’s best to recognize them, a tweet, a coupon, an invitation; it’s good in a relationship to be appreciative.

In this podcast I get into these issues more deeply. I chat with Jennifer Milano, Jet Blue frequent flyer who was excited by the Jet Blue All You Can Jet Pass. So excited she created the blog Where We Jet which attracted Jet Blue customers taking advantage of this program that allowed passengers to jet anywhere the airline flew for $599 from September 8 through October 8

Jet Blue corporate remained hands off, but certainly supportive of the effort and the quickly growing number of customers using the site to learn about places to fly, meeting up with other travel fans and to share stories and pictures throughout the period.

In an appropriate side story, Jennifer’s efforts were acknowledged in many media outlets and the travel site Kayak astutely made Jennifer an offer to lead their social media strategy. All’s right with the world because Jennifer aspired to work at Kayak, a site she frequently used and admired of the company.

Good things happen to good people.

Twitterville Winner

Gerard Tannam of the branding firm Island Bridge in Dublin, Ireland is the winner of the Shel Israel book Twitterville. We did a couple of podcasts with Shel in September. Part 1 and Part 2 It’s on the way Gerard, be on the lookout, thanks for listening. Enjoy.

Time 24:46

Social media can bring people together, case in point, Albert Maruggi and Shel Israel. Two guys with little in common on the political spectrum, yet politics is something they exchanged online at first. They would have little chance to break bread except for their new found common ground called social media.

Is this that new? No, I spoke to the Rotary Club in Shakopee, MN and saw 50 people many of whom had little in common except living in the same locale and a desire to get involved before joining the Rotary. Over time, there is plenty to share.

Israel is one of the great conversationalists and story tellers. In his book Twitterville, Israel is at his storytelling best as his travels, online and off reveal the human impact of digital communications. Sappy you say, a little too soft for you corporate type A’s, listen how Nike and others are recreating the deceased mass market one consumer at a time.

In this podcast we take a high level view of the type of change taking place in communications and society. Our discussion is eye opening for companies who look at Twitter and other social channels as a shiny new object instead of a fundamental change in the way people engage each other and with organizations, companies, and government.

Israel reflects on the change social media has made on the initial meeting between individuals. Year’s ago a person’s business card and the company’s logo on that card would reflect on the person handing the card to you. Today, for those that are active in social communities, their individual reputation reflects on the company whose logo is on their business card.

Twitterville Book Drawing

This month, enter the Twitterville book drawing – Send an email to marketingedge@providentpartners.net put the word Twitterville in the subject line and we’ll include your name in a drawing for a copy of the book.

Last month, the winner of Trust Agents is Joe Mueller of Missouri and a frequent Marketing Edge listener. Thanks Joe, he too is a resident of Twitterville

Time 21:22

Here is some simple math

It is estimated that nearly 22 million Internet users will listen to podcasts this year according to eMarketer.

Another survey by PriceGrabber.com made the correlation of more than 50% of consumers that purchase from their site listened to podcasts. OK, that one to me might be a stretch, but hey it’s a statistic, a snapshot right.

This next set of numbers is considerably more solid.

Gartner released a report that showed Smartphone sales 27% higher in the second quarter of 2009 than the comparable quarter last year. Notably, regular mobile phone sales were off 6% and one can say with credibility the typical mobile phone sales trend line will likely never point to the top of your computer screen ever again.

iTunes alone offers more than 100,000 different podcasts. However podcast listening has yet to reach the potential many early adopters believed the medium holds. Yes including me.

The main gripe of podcasts by a significant portion of potential users was the downloading process. To me, that was no different than downloading music, but this one instance perhaps where I’m not average.

It’s Radio Not Downloading

Enter Stitcher Radio – a smartphone application that eliminates the task of downloading and moving podcasts to your mobile device. It is essentially just as easy as listening to radio. You download the app to your phone, pick a category of shows, then select the shows you want to listen and they play on your phone. There is also a Stitcher Radio web site to listen from your computer.

All types of programming are available on Stitcher Radio from mainstream CNN to social media’s staple TechCrunch to our very own Marketing Edge podcast. The medium of audio is uniquely suited for this time in history. Society is increasingly mobile, multitasking, and multiformat. The on-demand information is also about on-demand format. Companies, especially content providers look at the marginal costs to produce podcasts given that the content has already been produced. For example, CNN’s Paging Dr. Gupta is produced for TV, it’s nothing to use that audio on Stitcher Radio.

In this episode, the Marketing Edge podcast features Colin Billings, Director of User Experience at Stitcher Radio. We talk about the future of mobile audio programming and what this means for all kinds of potential business and consumer programming.

Live by the Format, Die by the Format

Content that is produced as audio in its original form is cost effective and can be posted in plenty of places on the social web. I’ve been a fan of the medium of audio for a long time. The Marketing Edge first posted in February 2005. – I’ve recommended that audio be used in a variety of ways, from general shows that enhance brand building on the web to targeted, niche information that is part of a focused lead generation cycle.

Reading what you wrote 4 years ago can be a bit odd, but this article in Brandweek in the spring of 2005 had me on the record for advocating podcasting for business.

The article caught the attention and criticism of Steve Rubel, author of the Micropersuasion blog. He took exception to my suggestion that marketer’s use 5% of their marketing budget for podcasting. I saw podcasting as an easy entry point into social media with a tie back to specific business objectives like lead generation, increased web traffic, and as a thought leadership venue.

Ok, I’ll concede to Rubel, my respected colleague from New York, that he was right, 5% was a lot of money to pursue, as he called it, “podvertising”. For me it wasn’t about advertising on a podcast or producing marketing pabulum in audio form, but instead podcasting is contributing to a conversation with an actual discussion about issues. More on the extension of this concept as it evolved into what I call the embedded corporate journalist, a new public relations strategy.

Nonetheless, Rubel, I suspect, and I both enjoy a good podcast and see merit in the medium, especially when smart people are talking.

Do you think more people will listen to podcasts if it is as simple as Stitcher Radio has made it?

Time 16:22

Chris Brogan and Julien Smith have this thing about trust. Their new book Trust Agents is a journey for companies and individuals to determine whether each is worthy of trusting each other. After all, all this access to information and opinions makes the world a very uncertain place, and the number one element of fear for companies and individuals is the unknown.

During a conversation tonight with a recently retired and senior Fortune 500 executive, I was reminded of the capitalist’s mantra, shareholder value. You can line up all the other metrics you want, you can argue to various degrees of accuracy that these other metrics impact shareholder value, but those educated in the ways of the corporation will come back to the shareholder number.

In this second and last part of my conversation with Chris Brogan we get into how corporations should adjust to maximize their benefits from social media. Brogan shares parts of his conversation with GM CEO Fritz Henderson, bottom line, the new GM wants to listen.

Brogan and I also get into the current state of social media. I think it has hit a plateau, it’s a time when we’ll see who trusts and who was just in a quick marketing fling. What’s your take? Have too many companies and consultants jumped into the social pool because they want low cost sales or a chance to make a buck telling people how to set up a Twitter account?

The Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies shows there is an initial spike of usage, a decline and then a refocus on some of the more practical and thoughtful applications of the emerging platforms. I pose that social media in general is toward the decline on the first peak.

Maruggi’s Social Company Trust Test

1. 1) Have a company-wide process to handle learning and comments from social communities
2. 2) Develop multiple social media participants
3. 3) Response plan in place for social media originated hot topics – I won’t say crisis here because if the company is participating online, the likelihood of a socially inspired crisis is reduced.
4. 4) Develop metrics unique to social participation that roll up to shareholder value

Book Drawing

We will hold a drawing next week for Trust Agents – send an email to marketingedge AT providentpartners Dot net – include the word Trust in the subject line.

Time 22:33

Trust is not a new thing in marketing and communications. The most trusted name in news, is the most hackneyed phrase on TV. I believe trusted means you transfer your brain space for figuring stuff out to others, you transfer your emotional defense mechanisms to another entity. Like, I trust this pilot to land this plane, or OK Guy Fieri, I’ll trust this place that’s a real dive.

One of the most awaited studies in the PR world is the annual Edelman Public Relations Trust Barometer. Apparently, people like you are trusted by you more than institutions and we’ll see if that changes because more of you are sharing your trust online.

Trust in social media is now at the individual level. Those that have been involved in social media for years probably know of Chris Brogan. His blog is an excellent body of work in the strategy and tactics of being social. He is noted for his candor and the open discussion of issues, and that includes sponsored posts. For that length of service to the community he is trusted.

His journey over several years to build this trust is the foundation of his new book with Julien Smith Trust Agents. In it he describes for two audiences, companies and individuals, the impact of individual trust networks on companies, and how individuals can launch their own journey into building a trusting audience.

Trust like relationships can be fragile, and require lots and lots of work. The more personal, the relationship, the more work. Marketers have never had it as difficult as today, because we have narrowed our marketing down to individual relationships. Those individuals with a trusted following can navigate a company through these uncharted waters, but also have a little learning to do themselves. Brogan is a living example of this and his audiences and clients have benefited. We discuss how trusted individuals with a following also make a living?

I could have made this post be a “How to”, but there are plenty of good social media examples in Trust Agents of how the trust economy can work. What this interview with Chris Brogan gets into in part one is the meaning of trust and the relationship between trust and earning your keep.

We’ll post part two on Thursday, August 20.

Social Monitoring Tools

There is a segment in the interview where Brogan rattles off a bunch of social monitoring tools, these are most of them as promised. Radian 6, Techrgey, Scoutlabs, Nielsen, Visble Measures , Crimson Hexagon, and Spiral 16

If nothing else, if you are an anti-social company, you should build a monitor and react plan.

Trust Agents – The Book Drawing

Send me an email at marketingedge AT providentpartners dot net – put the word trust in the subject line, we’ll put your name in the book drawing contest. No, no you don’t get a drawing of the book, we’ll draw a person’s name and send them a copy of the book, how’s that?

Time 9:30

Taking pictures on film has sure changed. Good thing Kodak is in the capturing memories and sharing in them business. You would be hard pressed to find an industry that has been impacted more than photography business. This disruption would set the average marketer on their heals. Not Jeffery Hayzlett, CMO and Vice President of Kodak, he has Kodak giving social media a big bear hug, dozens, maybe hundreds of Kodak employees are participating in social media, here is a short list thanks to Tweepz.

Hayzlett has what he calls the 4 Es of social media,

Engaging – Simply put you have to be an active participant, standing on the sidelines doesn’t get you much.

Educating – This would be mutually beneficial; it’s the exchange of information that creates the learning. You’ll hear in this Marketing Edge interview with Hayzlett, he listens really well.

Exciting – Just listen to the guy, life is a blast, share it.

Evangelizing – When you are passionate about something it’s difficult not to be an evangelist. When you get the kind of feedback that Kodak social participants have received, it’s easy to be an evangelist for the medium and for your own efforts.

Hayzlett is not a proponent of any certain tool, but certainly an advocate of a medium that engages him and Kodak with customers. That I believe is his most important driver in social media, he says anything that allows you to talk with customers is good.

Marketing Edge on Stitcher Radio

We are delighted the Marketing Edge podcast is now available on Stitcher Radio. Stitcher is a neat application available on mobile platforms for iPhone, Blackberry Curve, Storm, and Bold among others. With Stitcher can stream podcasts over your phone. View all of the compatible devices and programming at www.Stitcher.com

Integrating Social Tactics Seminar

I mentioned in the podcast I’d have this link. I’m doing a breakfast seminar with Mark Palony of SoftBrands @MarkPalony. He and I have been doing things social for a few years now, we incorporate video, audio, blogging, Twitter among other tactics in various functions pointed at specific objectives. We will share the journey, scars and successes on Wednesday August 12, from 8 AM – 10 AM at the St. Paul Pool and Yacht Club. Integrating Social Tactics Seminar details and register here.

Trust Agents – Trust me, someone will win this book, I guarantee. Email me MarketingEdge@providentpartners.Net – use the word Trust in the subject line and you’ll be included in the book drawing. We’ll have Chris on an upcoming marketing edge podcast, that should be fun.

I jumped into the fray on how will advertising morph in social media when I commented on one of my favorite thinkers, Stowe Boyd’s blog post on syntax for advertising or sponsored tweets. I’ll just pick up here from that post and subsequent comments. The issue is should Tweets that are paid for have an AD or #ad in each of them. Brian Solis continued this conversation in a Tech Crunch called Full Disclosure to which I commented.

I hope that revenue generation and market awareness/demand morphs from interruption and manipulation into support and association. An example is this, interruption – my blog post about toys is paid for by Mattel and is about Mattel. This Mattel toy is terrific, my kids use it all the time, yada, yada, yada. Clearly something I’d label AD (advertisement).

An example of support – my blog editorial content is about kids and learning. I am able to focus on kids and learning because Mattel gives me a portion of what I need to pay my mortgage every month. I don’t say good or bad things about Mattel based on their check. I just focus on my editorial content and my readers. Something I’d label SP (sponsor)

Another wonderful example of support and association is the SETEPS program in St. Paul, MN at the University of St. Thomas. STEPS stands for the Science Technology, and Engineering Preview Summer camp. My daughter benefited from this experience just last week by learning about aerodynamics, building a model plane and flying it, all for free, because these companies funded the STEPS program. Will I buy from them or invest in them? Yes. Is this form of product/company awareness better than a commercial that attempts to convince me I’m lacking something in my life?

Social media is about having a stake in each other. That doesn’t mean social media is not a place to market. It’s a place to make an investment in, a place to unify across a like-minded community. This concept is not new, organizations do this all the time today in giving back to the community. Social media allows this “feel good” form of marketing to have greater impact and be a more accountable source of direct revenue and other measurable business objectives for a company that fully embraces the concept, the technologies and the communities.

Time 11:30

Let them built it and they will come is an appropriate phrase for the Ford Fiesta Movement – This will go down as a text book study of incorporating real time information about a new product into that product’s final production, and social media as a communications ecosystem for the product.

Scott Monty, head of social media for Ford Motor Company,and I had a fun conversation several weeks back about how Ford was taking a new approach to building and launching the Ford Fiesta into the US market. This week is Monty’s first year anniversary at Ford,and a fitting time for this podcast, congratulations Scott. Monty is one of the Goodfellas of social media.

Situation: Ford Fiesta exists in Europe, need to incorporate unique needs for US market and rollout it out here.

Plan: Tap 100 personalities (now called agents) active in social media and with hundreds of people in their respective networks. Not A listers which I think is so special about this program. It is not taking old mentality and placing over a new, and much different medium. Follow the agents on twitter with the #FiestaMovement hashtag

Rationale: They will actively stimulate conversations about the car, get feedback, document their experience online over a period of time. Some of the ideas will be incorporated into a US version of the model and the product will be introduced in the US with great consumer conversations and input in the spring of 2010.

BRILLIANT!

This is a truly transparent marketing (no let’s call it something else) product program. The Feista Movement site has live feeds of the 100 agents who have received the car to drive around for six months which ends in November. This is not an example for companies that fear product improvements or believe the world is the same as it was in the last century. Anyone else can take a page from this experience.

Marketing Edge Reports from Ford Fiestavil (I made that up)

The weekend of July 17 – 19, the Fiesta Movement will be in my neighborhood Highland Park in St. Paul, MN during what’s called Highland Fest. Albert Maruggi, (I dislike talking about myself in the first person) will be there interviewing agents and others who are trying out the car, stay tuned to the Marketing Edge podcast, this blog and the Utterli widget for more over the next couple of days. Have any questions I should ask? pop them in the comment box below.

Schedule of Ford Fiesta Movement Test Drive Events

MARKETING EDGE PODCAST BOOK DRAWING

The Marketing Edge book drawing is Trust Agents from Chris Brogan and Julien Smith – send me an email MarketingEdge AT providentpartners dot Net and we will get your name in the drawing.

Last month there was much made about social media’s impact on the coverage of protests in Iran. At the 140 Conference
Robert Scoble moderated a panel of journalists and producers that discussed the impact of Twitter on mainstream news media, specifically using the Iran election to illustrate the power of essentially the people. You can see this panel on mainstream media and Iran coverage after a short registration.

In this case it was the people of Iran who were heard around the world as events unfolded in that secretive country. Profiles like change4iran on Twitter and the ability to see the Iranian protest and election issue tracked online gave this medium credibility and power. The medium gave a voice to those in the streets, and to those that had their voices silenced. The image of Neda instantly became an icon of the brutality visited on protesters.

There is a human desire to be heard, especially when the intrinsic values of right and wrong which are universally understood are violated. The social technology in place today helps facilitate that desire. So beyond monetizing a blog and wondering how Twitter will make money, I’ll use today, Independence weekend in the United States, to share a video I did last year with Robert Scoble and Ning CEO Gina Bianchini.  After interviewing them, it struck me that many of their comments were about freedom, basic human freedoms wrapped in the context of social media. So I put this Little Diddy together set to John Mellencamp’s Crumblin Down.

Freedom is Social from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

Ning is a wonderful platform with hundreds of thousands of social networks from around the world. In the spirit of uncovering oppression, one of my favorite networks on Ning is the Frontline Club and the Frontline Club website

Let freedom ring.

Book Giveaway Drawing – Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan

The book a lot of people are talking about will be available in late August, called Trust Agents by Chris Brogan, with Julien Smith. We will hold a drawing and pre-order the book for one Marketing Edge listener/reader. Email me at marketingedge AT providentpartners DOT net with the word TRUST in the subject line. We will name a winner at the beginning of August.

We enjoy your comments here or on the comment line 206-600-6887.

Time 30:49

There are only a few ways humans show they value something… give their time or give their money.  Another, for argument’s sake, is to lend their name, but that isn’t a good example for this post so I’ll leave it as a side note.

This podcast with Bryan Person of Live World is about building communities, and the elements necessary to make them successful.  It’s focused on how companies should evaluate whether they have what it takes in both culture and potential to establish a community.  Live World is both a technology platform and provider of social media services.

In the last podcast with Steve Rubel, we talked about communities really being an ecosystem, not necessarily a destination.  In this segment, we are focused on communities as a destination.  One of my favorites is Campbell’s Kitchen   – an address on the web and a place to get and give information about food.  Hey, as a father of five and the maker of a few meals in my lifetime, soup is more than just opening a can, heat and eat.  Enchiladas, anyone?

Community Manager Essentials

1. 1) Write, talk, communicate and understand all formats (please don’t say duh, this may well be a new title in the profession of journalism.)
2. 2) Personality, and the sense to understand how the individual’s personality aligns with the brand he or she is representing online (that’s not easy either!)
3. 3) No egos allowed. This is about the community and its members, remember?(managers need to facilitate and fade into background. Here’s where I love talking about personal brands. It is an outright clash with a company’s objective of building community. Please do comment because I’d love to take this issue on. :>) )
4. 4) Domain expertise in the area of the company or organization you are facilitating  (you can’t talk the talk if you have a limp in your walk.)

Do communities sell more soup?  Well, successful communities at their core get people engaged in each other and their topics.  Without their interest, there is nothing.  Companies that build two-way channels to listen as well as share are able to capture ideas.  Acting on these ideas allows them to be more responsive, gain more credibility and the circle goes on. 

Can companies with successful communities draw a straight line to sales? Probably, but more importantly they can connect the other value currency, time spent with your company.  Time is a zero sum value currency, the time I’m able to capture from you is time not spent with something else. That’s the value successful companies treasure.

Bryan the Person

Bryan and I also get into his social baby, the Social Media Breakfast.  Talk about community managing and stepping back… Person started the Social Media Breakfast a couple of years ago.  He encouraged and gave wings to many others in cities across the country. 

We recorded this conversation in late May when Bryan was in Minnesota to speak at the Social Media Breakfast of Minneapolis/St. Paul – It is regularly a very well attended monthly event sometimes dealing with advanced concepts or at other times highlighting the basics.    Bryan’s vision to create the offline event for an online audience includes some of the elements of successful community building: sharing, personal connections, the dynamic created by some regular gathering that requires an investment of time and effort. Let’s face it, writing 140 characters is easy. Getting in your car, fighting traffic and meeting new people is hard. 

Check the list of cities that have a Social Media Breakfast. If there isn’t one in your community, maybe you can be the spark to draw people together, and then step back and watch it grow. That’s what the organizer of the Minnesota chapter of the SMB, Rick Mahn,(pictured) did and now the online SMB Minnesota community has reached 830 members and the social media breakfast held on Friday, June 26 had more than 150 attendees, that’s a lot of bacon!

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Time 13:19

We all have them on line, those places and groups we like to exchange ideas with. Whether you call them tweets, updates, photostreams or posterouses, (I made that last one up as a new user of Posterous thanks to a suggestion from Marketing Edge guest Steve Rubel.) the social web is state of being, not a destination. It’s a state of information and comments that is fluid.

I met up with Steve Rubel, author of the Micropersuasion blog and columnist for Ad Age at the 140 Conference in New York. We talk in this Marketing Edge podcast about Twitter vs. eco systems as the next big thing. Rubel believes that social ecosystems will have staying power as the lifecycle of different platforms serve a function within those ecosystems. In fact, just as I was about to post this, I noticed that Steve is “Forking” his content from Micropersuasion, a next step in the evolution of social eco systems.

Twitter and this conference show how we have become accustomed, for some obsessed for others, with the concept of the State of Now information, as Jeff Pulver would say. The real-time and regular exchange of information across the social web is an entity that can be measured, and in many cases, has value for individuals and organizations. I look at Twitter for example as being similar to radio, and in the case of trying to dip into that information stream, perhaps it can be monetized.

For example, it might be interesting to note who among your Twitter followers are online when you are. You can do this in Facebook if you use the chat function or Skype has this capability as well. Take this to the next level in building patterns of usage over time among an individual’s followers. Viewed this way, Twitter becomes like buying radio, some subset of people are listening (twittering or viewing tweets) at that time.

The easier play is sponsoring # topics or Tweetchats as the world looks to figure out how to pay for the state of now information. If not pay for it, then justify the investment of time. Surely there are ways to measure Twitter now, formulas like, click throughs, RTs, number of followers, etc, are a decent snapshot. I suggest the more detailed the information available about the behavior of these ecosystems and its platforms, the richer the experience all will have interacting with individuals, organizations, and the information they exchange.

Book Giveaway Drawing – Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan

The book a lot of people are talking about will be available in late August, called Trust Agents by Chris Brogan, with Julien Smith. We will hold a drawing and pre-order the book for one Marketing Edge listener/reader. Email me at marketingedge AT providentpartners DOT net with the word TRUST in the subject line. We will name a winner at the beginning of August.

We enjoy your comments here or on the comment line 206-600-6887.