Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester, Seth Godin author of Meatball Sundae, and Steve Mann head of social media for SAP doing a webcast at noon central today. http://tinyurl.com/yutq4b I’ll live blog it here. Just the highlights please, OK

Owyang outline to consider and approach social media POST = People, Objective, Strategy, and Technology. Bottom line point - think it through for the long term. Jeremiah’s blog is http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/

Mann - excellent point about the correllation between those who engage in the community or your discussion early will be more likely to convert as the sales cycle moves forward.

Godin - Classic Godin line, you can’t be like that brother-in-law life insurance salesman at parties who only goes to hit you up for insurance. Remember that this holiday season.

Owyang refers to Lego community to embrace customers to help build new products http://mindstorms.lego.com/eng/community/default.asp - He is very clear that this is not about giving away product ideas, no it’s about getting product ideas. And the pay off for them is to be a part of an inside group that then become advocates. Passion is the result of asking for opinions (that last one is my line, so if you don’t like it don’t blame Jeremiah)

Mann makes excellent point again - not every conversation is going to be positive or rosey. However, there can be positive that comes from that, whether its improvement to the product or customer service. It is so refreshing to here someone like Steve who answers to a corporate structure speak like this. It is both a reflection on him as a leader and on the management of SAP.

Godin - Social media is not for every company. I have said this for awhile (listen to Great Blog Debate November 2006) The issue for me is that some companies need to evolve into social media as opposed to “Using Social Media to Grow Your Business” which is the title of this webcast.

You gotta love this one from Owyang - An eye opener ready?

So it used to be that sales managers would take a win/loss report and marketers would pull out the wins to put in their communications. Enter social media, and buyers are taking about the every same things that are in your win/loss reports in the open. Agh! imagine that. Now what?

Companies using social media correctly

http://www.ideastorm.com/

http://www.threadless.com/

Lastly the panel was asked in a couple of words what advice would you give to companies about considering social media (I paraphrasing here on the question) And they said

Owyang - Let Go

Mann - Evolution not revolution

Godin - Be remarkable

Anyone commenting on this post we’ll have a drawing for Seth’s new book Meatball Sundae, Those of you who don’t feel lucky can get it here http://www.squidoo.com/meatballsundae

A word about trust on in the blogosphere and social media in general:

There is considerable discussion about how businesses can tap into these conversations. Another angle is the practice of paying bloggers, which some say is no different than paying ghostwriters of a book.

All of the above will be tested during the next couple of years as society continues to use social networks and other sites that have “word of mouth”-like components. A key to figuring out how business can use social media is to understand why social media is different than any other media.

Social media is a movement. Social media is a people place, not a market place.

The blogosphere has had millions participate because of a need to be recognized, even by just one other person. Social media has taken hold in equal numbers because of the need to be a part of a group, the need to connect. These are basic human needs, not driven by economics.

There is also a cynicism in the U.S. that I believe has contributed to the rejection of most forms of advertising, a growing distrust of corporations and a political system viewed as destined to be at odds for the foreseeable future.

The major structures of our society — financial, legal, and political — have their roots deep in the last century of ridged, industrial growth and are not yet capable of appreciating or assimilating a more open discussion created by social media.

If you are a marketer, a business, and look at social media from the perspective of it being a movement, it will change the way you approach social media. You will be a participant rather than a party-crasher, a thoughtful listener rather than a loud bore, and a valuable contributor rather than a self-serving taker.

Blogs that contributed to my thinking on this were:

• PR-Squared
• Web Strategist
• Doc Searls on the intention economy (at Stowe Boyd’s /Message blog)

What’s your take? Make a choice: Is social media more movement or marketplace? Remember, every comment we get we will contribute a food item to a St. Paul food shelter.

The top issue in 2007 for marketers is trust. The confluence of social media, aggressive marketers and the community of the blogsphere is creating a whirlpool of contentious issues. The bottom line here is trust, and whether marketing will taint the blogsphere, which people are increasingly using to exchange information and ultimately, make buying decisions.

This podcast highlights how social media are going through a phase where marketers are going to be challenged to use tactics that do not harm the objective nature of individuals communicating. We’ve seen several instances of flogs (fake blogs, or commercial blogs that are posted as if they were from truly objective, unattached people/employees) being publicly criticized for trying to come off as an unsponsored forum, Edelman and Wal-Mart being perhaps the most infamous. (Blogger Constantin Basturea has a wonderful chronology.) There will be further concern about whether companies should blog and how they should do it.

In this podcast, Nora Paul, director of the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota, outlines how the area between promotion and program are now one large shade of gray. However, she says this is no different than the expansion and contraction the Web has seen before.

Ben Popken, editor of The Consumerist, a cutting-edge blog on consumer complaints and praise (subtitled “Shoppers bite back”), sheds light on how some leading companies can capitalize on trust. His take: If companies can take a little public criticism, then they will get back trust ten-fold.

Also, I’ll be speaking at the New Communications Forum in Las Vegas, March 7-9, and one lucky marketer will win a trip to attend the Forum for free. Visit www.providentpartners.net/forum for details and to enter your name to win airfare, hotel and event registration.

Show notes:

• 1:00-2:15: New Communications Forum trip drawing information
• 2:20-8:00: The issue of trust – the gray area between promotion and programming. Why marketers should care about the erosion of trust and how to prevent it using social media. Interview with Nora Paul of the University of Minnesota’s Institute for New Media Studies.
• 8:00-9:15: Consumers hold more power than they realize. How companies can tap into this power and leverage it will be tested throughout this year. Ben Popken of consumerist.com explains how those companies can give up some message control and gain a major differentiator by using blogs.
• 9:15-10:52: More information about the New Communications Forum. Each comment we receive by any means – on the blog, by phone at 651-695-0174, e-mail marketingedge@providentpartners.net – we will donate a food item to a local food bank. Social media for the greater good!

[tags]blogs, trust, NewComm Forum, Consumerist[/tags]