Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Social Media: An Online Cocktail Party


Last week I attended a Social Media Marketing workshop put on by the Triangle AMA. Unfortunately only just now am I able to take some time to digest all that I learned but better late than never, right?

Even though I wasn't all that thrilled to be getting up at 4:45 AM to make the 2.5 hour drive up to Durham, NC the trip ended up being worth it. If I took away anything, it's a very simple thing to keep in mind: Social Media Marketing breaks your traditional marketing rules.

Jim Tobin of Ignite Social Media presented the morning and the 2nd Afternoon sessions. My favorite part of what he said was that social media is a Cocktail Party. That as marketers we have to see it as any in-person networking event. When you walk into the room, you don't walk up to the first person you see and start pitching your idea. That's bad networking and bad etiquette.

A lot of what was said at the workshop I had already heard before but a little reinforcement never hurt anyone. The truth is people just don't care anymore. They want to know what their friends think about things, most people (except media sources and bloggers) don't read PR statements. And even when they do, they're more likely to couple that statement with a blog post or something else they can dig up. Can you imagine if immediately upon the "What do you do?" question you stated your company's name and started reciting your latest press release? That's not going to work in person and the same thing goes for social media. Instead of being a lecturer we have to be participating and engaging in conversations. Some would say just being human with people. How hard could that be, right? We are in fact, human.

I think the problem with this idea is not just that it's so different, it's harder. A lot of the marketers in attendance questioned about whether or not they should include their name or if they would have the time to devote to entertaining their party guests (customers). It is hard to brand yourself to your company so closely like that. Once you get in the social media cocktail party, it's sometimes hard to know when the marketing and customer service duties begin and end. I've been guilty of wanting to just push out the same old PR crap on social media outlets because it's easier. I don't have to write something else and different, don't have to think about it, just Ctrl-P, Ctrl-V and submit. Easy.

The problem with that lackadaisical attitude is that it doesn't work. It's easy to just halfass this or completely write it off because there's not a whole lot of accountability. It's easier just to sit by the bar, have a drink and go home without engaging anyone in conversation. But what does that accomplish?

I think the analogy that Tobin gave us is right on. Keeping that in mind I think it'll help with creating a social networking marketing strategy. But, with that is going to bring some accountability to big corporations to follow through on their press releases, and even to us as marketers to be creative and somewhat candid with our customers or clients. Transparency is the latest rage and the forecast seems that honesty will get you everywhere.

(Photo thanks to oooh.oooh.)

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Monday, May 12, 2008

The Best of Chris Brogan

Ok so if you're in Social Media Marketing and interested in anything related, you need to check this out. It's what I call 'The Best of Chris Brogan'. This post is a compilation of some of the best posts on Social Media, Twitter, Facebook, etc along with the how-tos, and why-you-shoulds... A cheat sheet, if you will. Enjoy!

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Sunday, May 4, 2008

The Mountain's Summit


Went hiking again this weekend at Crowder's Mountain. My friend Sarah and I took the Pinnacle Trail and this is where we ended up. Pretty awesome. It's pretty cool, even though the summit of this peak: King's Pinnacle only gets to be about 1,700 feet it still feels like an amazing accomplishment to reach the top after a few hours of hiking.

There was one part that I felt like I was going to pass out. No joke, I hadn't hiked any trails in a long time and it was tough. I had to take it easy, drink more water and take breaks. But it felt good to make it to the top. And I also know that this isn't the first. I'm planning on hiking part of the Appalachian Trail later this summer. So this is the first of many trails that I will hike.

Sometimes I think we have to look at our lives this way. With a little focus, dedication and determination we can get to the top of anything in our way. Little or small, we have to take our successes (and failures) and allow it to train us for the next mountain we have to face.

What mountain do you want to climb? What's in your way?

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Thursday, May 1, 2008

Psychology of Personal Curiosity & Information Super-highway

Communication Arts Magazine this month has a really cool article by Wendy Richmond, You Lookin' At Me? She explores the thoughts of how we can unintentionally cross a line between being curious about a stranger. We've all Googled others to try and find out more information about them. It's at our fingertips. It's quite interesting.

..it was not only my curiosity I was feeding, nor was it the customary nature most of us have of immediately employing a search engine for any question that pops into our minds. The temptation was also in my urge to meet a challenge...

There is a confluence of tendencies that compel us, not as ill-intentioned cyber-stalker bad guys, but as good, smart people: the challenge of the search.... For me, these treasure hunts are worth noting, because they reveal something about who we are as participants in a contemporary culture. We are magnetically drawn to easy, abundant, free activity of personal fact-finding, an increasingly habitual game at which we are becoming quite skilled.
Wendy makes the claim that this observation is good as a way of knowing how we are participating in culture how it's changing how we interact, etc. I would definitely agree. Her point though about it all being a 'treasure hunt' for information, to be clever enough, etc... Is pretty interesting. Any psychology people out there want to comment?

Pick it up - May/June 2008, Issue 360. Page 114.

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Pixel Art

I remember when I first discovered Microsoft Paint. I thought it was so cool that you could make icons and edit pixel by pixel. Anyways, here's some cool pixel graffiti. (Hat tip.)

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