This is a special interview series on what life is like for Jessica Robyn Porter, a Gen Y-er, who disabled her 7 year old Facebook Page. We're calling it quasi social media reality! Part #1.
Diva/Marketing/Toby: The big question I've been asked is, "What were the reactions from Jessica's Facebook friends?" By the way, how many friends did you have?
Jessica Robyn: I had a few of my friends talking to me (through phone calls, texts, and of course facebook messages or comments) who could not believe that Jessica, voted biggest facebook stalker junior year, the addict, and social media manager of the Full Body Cast fan page would seriously leave facebook.
People were asking how they would know what was going on in my life and I would just laugh and say "you do have my cell number, right? I know it's an awful concept, but you may need to talk to me in person." (can you sense the sarcasm in my writing?)
I currently have 410 friends on facebook, but several times have gone on what I call "defriending sprees" since there were so many people I was sharing information with who I had met one time at a party, was a friend of a friend, or a classmate I have no contact with anymore. It was helpful to do that so I could filter through who I was showing my pictures to or updating them on my week. I just am at a point when simply clicking unfriend is not enough.
Diva Marketing/Toby: We relate to people on different levels; we have various degrees of “friendship” with people. Obviously you’re not going to keep in daily or weekly contact with hundreds of people.
What percentage do you expect will maintain, let’s call it the first level of friendship, where you are in contact on a weekly basis? Oh and how do you intend to keep up those relationships (email, twitter, etc.).
Jessica Robyn: I would say out of the 410 people I am Facebook friends with there are a dozen or so who I keep in pretty consistent contact with. I text message them frequently or see them on a weekly basis. I do not foresee any aspect of our friendships changing except for the fact that our conversations won't have "Hey did you see what Jane posted today?"
Diva Marketing/Toby: What about, let’s call them the level 2 and 3 friends. What to you expect will happen with those people?
Jessica Robyn: The friendships I have with those who are not in constant cotact outside of facebook may become stronger. It may be a combination of me wondering what they are up to and vice versa. Having real-life interactions would only strengthen my friendships.
I would say that I won't become wicked close with all 410 of my Facebook friends, but there may be some who I have not spent as much time with that I would like to and may get to know them on a more personal level.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Just curious Jess. How much of yourself image was tied to your Facebook page? What I mean is when you looked at your Facebook page what did it tell about Jessica Robyn? In marketing we sometimes call this “personal branding.”
Jessica Robyn: My personal Facebook page is private, but if someone who had never met me were granted full access they would see someone who is funny, sarcastic, and does not take life too seriously. I feel most of my photos are carefree and me having fun. They would also see my Rocky Horror life: promoting the show or preshows I was in and pictures of that as well.
I may post a status and get NO likes or comments. Does that mean my friends do not approve of me or validate my thoughts? Of course not. But that is how it is interpreted to some people. If no one likes or comments on my status it's not a huge deal. (Sidebar: I wish brand marketers would take a cue from you Jessica!)
I had 410 facebook friends. Did I comment or like EVERY post they made? No. I did if I found it funny, I agreed, or had something witty to comment.
Also, having so many Facebook friends and with the new feature of a news ticker some posts can easily be over-looked if Facebook does not mark it as an "important post." If I was seeking approval or a comment from a friend it would be through a personal conversation that we were having, not a Facbeook post. - @JessicaRobyn
For the most part, social networks and social media were never really intended for business communications. Expect for LinkedIn of course. Think about it.
Facebook, Twitter and even Google+ began life helping people connect to family and friends. In that context it made total sense that you would "friend" someone you wanted to invite into your digitial world.
When savvy brand managers saw their customers were congregating aroiund these virtual water coolers, ah ha moments began. Before we knew it enterprises were stepping into the game. Some smartly. Some like a bull in a china shop. However the world of social media networks would never be the same.
The culture of social networks (transparency, authenticity, honesty and let's throw in some of that passion stuff) led enterprises down an interesting rabbit hole. One where most had never been, envisoned or intended to go.
They were now in the messy world of public conversations. Even the teeniest comment could be magnified. People from champions to the disgruntled could use the very pages that the brands built to complement or vent. Enter The Big C Word: Control. There was none. Listen and you can still hear teeth shattering in fear from many corporate ivy towers.
However, what we learned was that we could Manage. Smart marketers began to develop guidelines or house rules that set expectations for both sides of the conversation. Nicole Landguth, Olgivy 360' Influence has a terrific post that details how to create Facebook Guidelines that can be used as a basis for any social network.
We're taking care of the "brand side" of managing social media conversations. But what about the personal side? Small business owners understand the merging of business and personal all too well. I grew up in a small business where "The Business" was almost like an extra family member. Toddi Gutner has some interersting ideas on how to keep that work/life balance in check in her MSN Business on Main article.
As our business and social media worlds converge who do you "friend?" Must you follow every client, colleauge and prospect on LinkedIn? What do you do if a person you barely spoke to an offline Chamber event wants to be your Facebook friend? Do you connect to every stranger who requests on LinkedIn? Managing the personal side of your social media experiences is as important as the brand side.
Here's an exercise I use to help clients think through the process.
At the end of the day, brand or personal, it circles back to your comfort level. What works for you, your brand and your culture may not be right for everyone. Isn't that really the name of the social media game?
More than 800 million active users has given Facebook the enviable status of the golden child of social networks. With multiple generations sharing photos, updates and videos Facebook might even be considered the biggest digital family reunion ever!
However, as with any 'family' sometimes you need a bit of a break. That's what's happening for the people who 'grew-up' on Facebook .. the Gen Y or the Millennial Generation. They're signing off from Facebook. Some for forever. Others for a few months.
One of the 20-somethings who disabled her (7 year) Facebook page is my niece Jessica Robyn. Ironcially it was Friday the 13th when Jessica said good bye to that part of her virtual life. I had so many questions Why? What would it be like for her? How would she keep in touch with her friends? What did her friends think?
Jess had kindly agreed to a series of interviews .. let's call this quasi reality social media. Over the next weeks she'll share with us what life is like without Facebook.
Jessica Robyn: I am 25 and work in the mental health field during the week and spend my weekends performing Rocky Horror with the Full Body Cast in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. I graduated with a degree in psychology a few years back and when I am not busy with work or Rocky I spend time going out with my friends for drinks, dinners, concerts, going to movies, or finding some way to entertain ourselves.
Diva Marketing/Toby: You’ve grown up on Facebook. You connect to your BBFs on Facebook. You have a history built on your page. Why did you disengage from Facebook?
Jessica Robyn: The entire idea of leaving Facebook began a few months ago when I ended a relationship. It was difficult to move on since our entire history was on Facebook in the form of mutual friends, photos, and wall posts. This was the first "long term dating" I had been in since high school (back in the day when Zuckerberg was just a regular guy). The idea crossed my mind to disable my account, but I have been such a huge social media addict I quickly threw it out of my mind.
When I was ready to start dating again I became slightly frustrated. I would be out and start talking to a guy and he would say, "Oh yeah we should hang out some time... find me on Facebook." I would give most of these men confused looks since at that point I was 85% sure we had not even exchanged last names. After a few of these instances I began to seriously consider disabling my Facebook while I began to date again.
I would rather someone get to know me than add me as a "friend" (I use quote since clearly I would not consider someone I JUST met a friend.) then simply have a baseball card of facts like my birthday, where I went to school, my favorite movies, etc.
Since I've been on Facebook from when I was 18 there are also pictures of the past 7 years of my life. If someone who has just met me, doesn't know who I am now, is judging me from snap shots of my past ... when I was out at a party, or being a goof with my friends ... well it could be a turn off. I admit I'm guilty of doing that too when I initially met someone.I judged them based on what I saw or read on their posts without getting to know their personality.
I can be a sarcastic person which means some of my posts should not be taken seriously. Now most people who know me pretty well can decipher the difference whereas someone who just met me may not sense the sarcasm and make the assumption I am just a heartless jerk.
Diva Marketing/Toby: I was intrigued by your tweets. What were you nervous about and why?
Jessica Robyn: It's a HUGE change for me. When I am sitting in the doctor’s office or stuck in a long line at the store I can just grab my phone and see what people are up to on Facebook, make some comments, post some pictures. I don't play a lot of the games on Facebook, but it is a great way to occupy my time when I am bored at home. Now I won't have that option.
I have had a very strong relationship with Facebook. For over 7 years and it has been a daily part of my life. If you ended a 7 year marriage wouldn't you have a weird feeling waking up without your partner? I'm not trying to say I am THAT obsessed with Facebook that it feels like a marriage, but it's the daily usage that will be weird to live without.
Diva Marketing/Toby: How did you “Do IT?” Were you all by yourself? What were you feeling? What were your thoughts when you clicked the disengage link?
Jessica Robyn: I did IT while I was alone. It took me a while to find the disable button and then, of course, Facebook says "Are you sure you want to deactivate your account?" Below it were pictures of 5 of my Facebook friends saying they would miss me and asking if I would like to send them a message.
Two of them were people I am friends with through Rocky Horror, one was a friend I made while in Israel, one was an old family friend, and the last was my old college roommate. Only one out of the five I would not see on a regular basis, but I am sure they will all miss me on Facebook.
I guess initially I felt very numb and empty. I didn't really have a reaction. It hasn't been long, but I will go to my phone when I would usually check my Facebook on the go and just feel sort of lost and confused thinking, "Well what I am supposed to do to occupy these next 30 seconds of time?"
Within the past week three people from three different industries (advertising, internal branding and higher education) asked me to contribute to posts they were writing about blogs.
Of course I was honored by their requests. However, what was especially interesting to me was every person was concerned (in varing degrees) about the viablity and longevity of blogs in a world of social network clutter.
In 2004, I stepped into the blogosphere with Diva Marketing and soon after began developing workshops for the American Marketing Association on a national and local chapter level. I wondered how different my point of view about blogs was back in the day versus today. So I pulled out a deck I presented to the AMA Oklahoma Chapter in 2005 (!). I thought I would have a Friday the 13th joke on me and I would be appalled at my naivity.
What I found was an evergreen presentation. Sure a few of the slides are out dated and a some of the blogs I used as examples, like Michelle Miller's Wonder Branding, have a more sophisticated look and feel and extended navigation but the concepts still hold today.
10 + 1 Blog Take Aways -- from 2005
1. People talking to people – no corporate talk
2. Easy to maintain, update & publish website
3. Blog elements encourage real-time interaction, creates and maintains relationships
4. Focused on a topic, industry, niche or personality
5. Establishes the author as a subject matter expert
6. Provides readers with renewing sources of credible, trustworthy information, insights and commentary
7. Blog writing is different from other customer communication forms – relevant, informal conversation
8. RSS allows content to be pulled by readers
9. Blogs must be integrated into your marketing strategy to be effective: goals, objectives
10. Blogs promotion includes traditional/internet and blog-specific (social networking: linking, comments, trackbacks; organic search optimization)
Plus 1 Bonus: If you do nothing else – read blogs & monitor the blogosphere
Adding one more responsibility to an over flowing plate of marketing "stuff to do" is overwhelming. When you include additional tactics to your plan there must, of course, be some type of return. Blogs can help you support your goals and bring the human aspect of your business to life.
IMHO there is no better way to establish, reinforce and sustain a thought leadership positioning especially in a Business-to-Business environment. Yes, girlfriends a blog takes longer to create than a 140 tweet .. as my dad use to tell me, "You get what out of something what you put into it."
Some how it seems fitting that the last in Diva Marketing's 2011 Shining A Light on smaller nonprofits series should highlight an organization that helps courageous women find hope at the start of a new chapter in their lives. Somehow it seems fitting that this NPO goes by the name of AWE.
Molly Corbett is our story teller for this special post.
She is the founder and executive director of Asylee Women Enterprise (AWE). Molly has worked in the nonprofit sector for 20 years. She started as a community organizer and has worked with various social service and social justice organizations. Prior to AWE she was the Director of Programs and Grants at the Ventura County Community Foundation prior to moving to Baltimore. For the past ten years Molly has worked as a consultant to social justice organizations in the Baltimore area.
Molly Corbett - Most of us are very familiar with the Christmas story of Mary and Joseph. Mary was pregnant, they were far from home and no one would take them in. Well, last year I lived through a modern day Christmas story.
It was the week between Christmas and New Years, I received a call from the former board member of an organization that I was currently working with that serves people seeking asylum in the United States. She answered the Help Line at United Way and had received a call from a small nonprofit that was inquiring about homeless shelters.
A young, very pregnant, Afghani woman had appeared on their doorstep and they had no place for her to stay. The former board member said she had called several other nonprofits and they were closed for the week or working with a very small staff and were unable to help her.
She told me that Amina* had just arrived in the United States. She was forced to flee Afghanistan because she was a pregnant, unmarried woman and her life was in danger. We both knew that Amina would be re-traumatized by going to a shelter and that she was most likely very fearful of men. I said I would call the Benedictine Sisters of Baltimore, a small women’s religious community, which I had been working with for many years.
The Sisters agreed to take Amina and give her shelter. Little did we know that six days later she would give birth to a beautiful baby boy. Amina and her son continue to live with the Sisters.
What I realized when I saw the connection between Amina and the Sisters was that what many asylee (A non-citizen of a country who has been granted asylum in that country.) women need is a sense of community – a family. Mary had Joseph with her and now I saw how important it was for Amina to have a new family with her.
Women and men who come here seeking asylum are here legally but do not receive any government benefits until their asylum has been decided. They are not even eligible for a work permit until at least 180 days after their first asylum hearing. The asylum process for most people takes 2 years. During this time they are vulnerable, lonely and destitute. They flee their homeland with little more than the clothes off their back. They were nurses, teachers, business women and community activists back home – now they have nothing.
The Asylee Women Enterprise helps find safe and nurturing housing, provides a community of women to help them on their long journey to freedom here in the United States. They fled because they were persecuted back home for their religion, gender, ethnicity, political beliefs or sexual orientation. For Amina and for the thousands of other women like her, she did not come for a better life – she came to save her life.
My personal experience with Amina helped me to vision the possibility for AWE. We now house four women; there are 13 women currently on the waiting list for housing. In addition, we have 10-15 other women who join us regularly for a sense of community and family.
Social Media Lessons and Challenges
Since we are a new organization we are careful in planning our web presence and social media strategy. We hope to use social media to educate and engage others. Utilizing Facebook, VolunteerSpot and the website will allow me to maximize my time in spreading the word about Asylee women and AWE and attract others to our organization.
Backstory from Toby: When Molly and and I were planning this post I asked for a couple of photos. She was hesitant to show the women's faces. Not that it would necessarily intrude on privacy, but that it might put the women in danger. We decided that photos of "hands" might be the way to go.
Somehow it seems especially fitting that a photo of "hands holding hands" end our special holiday series that brought some wonderful smaller nonprofits to your attention.
Our hope is that one NPO may have touched your heart and that led to you opening your purse (or wallet) to help make other's 2012 travels just a little gentler.
One of the aspects of social media that I like most is what is at the very ♥. Try as we might (and we certainly keep trying!) we can't corral it.
Social media is not the beautifully wrapped box you might have opened last week. It's not the gift that you knew exactly what to expect from the shape or size of the package.
The ribbons on our social media package, just as beautiful as that perfect gift, are slightly skewed. The paper is held together by all sorts of different tapes. And when you rip open the package it's not quite what you might have expected. You see Girlfriends, social media is a messy, magical gift.
Sometimes it's playful and brings innovative new ideas. Sometimes it holds a mirror up to help you understand how the operational side of your business is working .. or not. Sometimes it's comforting with friends supporting your efforts.
At it's ♥ social media is our teacher.
Our friends at MSN Business On Main posted an article highlighting characteristics of successful entreprenurs. Steve Strauss identified the Top 3 Traits of the World’s Best Entrepreneurs: Idealistic, Teammates, Character with Character. Steve's post held an ah ah thought for me.
Take this back to social media. The Internet has given (most of) us, for good or for bad, a digital footprint trail. Your presence, especially on open social networks e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and let's add blogs and blog comments, is so easily findable. You have, by default, let loose into the world .. your personal brand .. along with your digital business card.
Your digital footprint trail provides insights into who you are: Idealistic, Teammate, Character with Character. Even if your social media presence is not tied directly to your company, in an adjunct way, you are part of its digital tapestry and it to you. One more way that you can't corral social media.
During 2011, I began to build personal branding workshops that help organizations leverage the benefits from their employees' personal brands while aligning with the company's brand values. My thoughts are this is a critical piece of the social business puzzle. Bernie Borges termed this "corporate personal branding."
Clara Nelson, one of the awesome project managers at the American Marketing Association, understood the concept. She asked if I would team with Bernie Borges, CEO Find and Convert, to develop a 2-day workshop for AMA: Personal Branding Within The Corporate Workplace. Our podcast offers tips on how to begin your corporate personal branding strategy.
So you see, Divas and Divos, although when you first unwrapped your social media present you might have assumed it was simply a Facebook game or Twitter chat. Social media is so much more. Where it will take us in 2012 is anyone's guess. The one thing I do know for certain ..
At it's ♥ social media is our teacher.
With just hours away from bidding 2011, either a fond good bye or a kick in the derriere .. from the Sound of Music --
So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, adieu Adieu, adieu To you and you and you
Thank you for your support and friendship. Max and I look forward to continuing the conversation with you in 2012. In the meantime, wishes for a healthy, happy and prosperous year where all that you wish comes true.
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MNS Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
As 2011 comes to a close, some people may sigh with relief and then smile with the thought of a new year beginning. If your dental care has been neglected those smiles may be few and far between. However, there is a unique Atlanta nonprofit that is giving smiles back.
Today's Diva Marketing's Shine A Spotlight on smaller nonprofits goes out to the Ben Massell Dental Clinic. Although, it's parent nonprofit organization, JF&CS, might not be considered "small", BMDC is a stand alone entity with it's own staff and budget .. so in our book it counts as a smaller npo.
The Ben Massell Dental Clinic is the only resource for comprehensive, quality dental care available at no cost to Atlanta's neediest population. The clinic provides the most advanced dental care available to thousands of patients each year.
Its 140 volunteer dentists dedicate their time and expertise every month to people who otherwise would not have access to the services it offers. In 2012, the clinic will celebrate its 100 year anniversary.
The BMDC, part of Jewish Family & Career Services of Atlanta, provides people with basic care not only for their mouths but for their overall health – from general health screenings to counseling. Its dentists come from a variety of backgrounds and faiths, as well as all the major dental specialties, including endodontics, periodontics, orthodontics, dentures and oral surgery. In the last fiscal year, they provided nearly $2.5 million worth of procedures that restored smiles and literally saved lives.
Joseph L. Smith, LMSW, the social services program manager at the BMDC, is our story teller. He graciously takes us behind the scenes and shares his experiences of what it's like to work at the Ben Massell Dental Clinic.
A graduate of the University of New Orleans with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology, Joseph was part of the wave of residents forced to leave the city by Hurricane Katrina. He knows what it’s like falling on hard times and then being picked up by the generosity of others.
After receiving a master’s degree from Clark Atlanta University in social work with an emphasis on mental health, Joseph joined the BMDC staff in June 2007. He is responsible for connecting the clinic’s patients to social services in the community and facilitates mental health testing, support groups and psychoeducational sessions at the clinic.
Rachel Simons, JF&CS Program Manager, asked Joseph what inspires him and this is what he told her.
Joesph L. Smith - As the social worker at the Ben Massell Dental Clinic, my job is to help connect patients with sometimes life-saving resources.
Over the past five years, I have had the opportunity to help thousands of patients, but their perseverance and fortitude in the face of economic, mental health, health and other adversities have helped me the most. They constantly remind me of the power of the human spirit.
I admire each and every one of the clinic’s patients. One of the patients who I admire the most is fighting the battle of her life -- stage four cancer. This patient faced eviction, hunger, cancer and the six to 12 months her doctor gave her to live. We were able to connect her with food, resources to improve her life circumstances and a counselor to whom she could talk to help her through her tough situation.
It is now a year later and she is in remission.
This patient’s life-altering experience has truly changed my life. It has caused me to look deeper inside of myself for the fortitude to continue to fight and advocate for the clinic’s patients.
I am generally a happy person, but she has taught me the true value in smiling in the face of adversity, never giving up hope and living each day to its complete fullest. Patients like her are the reason why I love being a social worker at the Ben Massell Dental Clinic.
We continue our special December series that shines a spotlight on nonprofit organizations that are often in the shadows. Today's nonprofit pulls back the curtains and exposes horrific abuse to children. Shedding light on the secrets begins the healing.
In 1987, Baltimore Child Abuse Center (BCAC) opened as a non profit in response to growing awareness that sexually abused children not only suffered from the abuse they endured, but they were also being re-victimized by the lengthy and often repetitive investigative process intended to help them. Last year, BCAC saw more than 850 children and their families.
Jennifer Noparstak, Director of Development - Each child who comes to BCAC decorates a butterfly that hangs in the center. There are too many butterflies. BCAC is committed to ending child sexual abuse in Maryland. It can be done if we, as adults, learn more about this crime of secrecy and take responsibility for protecting our children.
The story teller for this story is Jacquelynn Kuhn.
Jacquelyn is deeply dedicated to improving the lives of children, volunteering with both the Baltimore Child Abuse Center and with Art with a Heart (AWAH), a nonprofit agency that focuses on teaching art to underserved communities in the Baltimore area. She has served as the Assistant Director for the Center for Ethics, Service and Professionalism at Michigan's Thomas M. Cooley Law School, and has worked for the American Cancer Society. She has received many awards including the 2009 Appreciation Award from the Oakland County Bar Association's 15th Annual.
Ms. Kuhn is committed to telling her story of child sexual abuse and healing whenever and wherever she is invited to share it. She does this to spread hope to victims and survivors and to help to prevent this crime from happening to more children.
Note: We are honored to have Jacquelynn help us understand the world of abuse through her own story. Please take note that Jacquelynn does not sugar coat her tale.
My name is Jacquelynn Kuhn, and I am an adult survivor of child sexual abuse.
My abuse began when I was 5 years old. Just like a typical case of sexual abuse, my abuser was someone my family knew and trusted. He was 16 years old, and lived next door to my family. There were a lot of kids in our neighborhood, and we all played together.
My abuser would take me up to the tree house in the yard behind my house and molest me while all of my friends played below us. No one else knew what was happening, and I never told. Abusers are masters of manipulation, and he used many different tactics to keep me silent.
He threatened me. He told me if I told anyone or stopped letting him abuse me, he would bring my older brother or younger sister up to the tree house and do worse things to them.
He made me feel ashamed. He told me if I didn't like what was happening, I would not keep coming outside to play with him and my other friends.
He convinced me that I'd be the one to get in trouble. When I finally got brave and threatened him that I would tell my father and that he would go to jail for the bad things he was doing to me, he laughed and told me that I was doing the same bad things, and I would be the one to go to jail because my father would be angry with me that I hadn't told him earlier.
When you're 5 years old and experiencing something so vile, and heinous, and shameful, it's not easy to tell anyone about it. That's why the work Baltimore Child Abuse Center (BCAC) does is so important.
I've trained with BCAC to give Prevention Workshops. After attending a few and sharing my story, I've seen what a difference prevention education makes. Getting this information in front of parents and educators is crucial for the safety and protection of our children against abusers who relentlessly look for new victims.
I was never taught about my body in school, not at such a young age. And we never talked about our bodies in my family, unless it was to make us feel ashamed so that we didn't do anything "wrong" or "bad" with our bodies.
If I had been given the correct vocabulary-the proper anatomical names for my body parts-and if I had been told over and over again that I am in control of my body and no one should be touching me in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable or confused, I would have had the knowledge in the beginning stages of my abuse to know it was wrong and that it wasn't my fault. And I would have been empowered to tell someone, instead of feeling powerless to tell anyone.
My abuse ended when I was 7 years old, and only because my father was transferred to a new location. I didn't tell my family about my abuse until just recently, after I was well into my 30's and after I went through a very painful divorce from a man who also abused me. And even then, I was still afraid to tell my family about my abuse.
That's how powerful the shame and guilt can be for a victim who doesn't get help through treatment and community support. Without reporting their abuse and receiving acceptance, support, and empowerment from a caring community that surrounds them, victims end up with lives much like mine, where they continue to be abused in different relationships and even abuse themselves.
That's why I designed the butterfly mosaic mural in BCAC's family waiting room. It's there to symbolize the hope for healing in every victim and survivor of child sexual abuse.
As a survivor, to be able to see myself in the reflective mirrors of one of those butterflies and know that I am on a path of healing, self-expression, and beauty is a powerful thing.
Many people in the community banded together to work on the mosaic, putting broken pieces of tile that symbolize the broken pieces of my life-and the lives of all sexual abuse victims-together in a way that makes sense and creates a beautiful picture from something that happened that didn't make any sense and was extremely ugly.
Knowing that a community of such caring individuals expressed concern for the healing of victims and survivors in such a tangible, loving way has taught me just how valuable I am.
The epidemic of child sexual abuse in our nation and in this world seems very overwhelming at times, but it's just as Helen Keller once said: "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do."
I will continue to promote BCAC and its incredible work so that I can help spread hope to victims and survivors and work to prevent this crime from happening to more children, and I hope others will read this and be inspired to do the same. We each have a voice that can be used to speak out against child sexual abuse to help victims and survivors heal.
None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something.
Social Media Lessons and Challenges
BCAC uses its Facebook and Twitter pages as a means to build an online community to raise awareness of the issue of child sexual abuse and the resources it offers at the center.
One of the goals is to make the Facebook page a platform for discussion on the issue and to inspire others to open up and speak their mind. We post content on our pages to engage our followers and to encourage open conversation. By engaging our followers we are able to expand our social reach on these networks and further raise awareness to a broader base.
Through our social media efforts we also would like to convert more of our followers into donors. We have multiple platforms online and directly through Facebook for accepting donations, and are currently working on ways to further encourage our supporters to make charitable donations to BCAC. As a non-profit, we thrive because of our supporters and ultimately our programs and services are not possible without their support. Donations can be made online.
December is Shine A Light on Smaller Nonprofitsmonth on Diva Marketing. I hope you're enjoying the stories and perhaps learning about an organization or two that might not have been on your radar.
Nonprofits depend on many resources from funding sources to kind donors. However, one of the most important is volunteers.
Our lives are to be used and thus to be lived as fully as possible, and truly it seems that we are never so alive as when we concern ourselves with other people. – Harry Chapin
MSN Business On Main: News On Main highlights an interesting organization, Catchafire, which pairs volunteers with nonprofits in need of their specific talents. Catchafire charges nonprofits an annual fee and is free to volunteers.
As we've seen in many of our Diva Marketing Shine A Light on Smaller Nonprofits, NPOs are incorporating social media as part of their communication strategy. However, there is another way that social media can be utilize .. as part of a volunteer initative. Who better to help pass the word about an NPO's programs and mission but through the people who are passionate about the cause to the extend that they are giving of their time .. its volunteers.
One of the best examples I've seen is from Taylor's Tale: Project E-Warenss. All the ways that volunteers, and people who just want to help speard the word, are consolidated in an eBook. By the way, Taylor's Tale was the inspiration for Diva Marketing's Shine A Light on Smaller Nonprofits holiday series. Here's their story told by its founder, Laura King Edwards.
In this time of giving, let's make this a two way street .. something for you and something that will help nonprofits.
MSN Business On Main/Diva Marketing Nonprofit Tip Contest ~ Win $100!
Share 1 idea on how a nonprofit can incorporate social media + volunteers to expand awareness of the NPO.
When it comes to social good marketingGeoff Livingston gets it from the heart. Award winning author, strategiest, photographer and proud dad Geoff understands the unique needs of nonprofits and is devoting his talents to helping "mindful companies and nonprofits."
Rules of MSN The Business on Main/Diva Marketing Social Media Small Business Tips Contest
1. Post your tip for how to use social media for branding on this Diva Marketing post And on this MSN Business On Main Post. If you don't post on MSN BOM and indicate Diva Marketing you cannot qualify for the $100 prize.
2. Identify your post on Business On Main with the words Diva Marketing
3. Winner is at the pleasure of Diva Marketing.
4. Contest ends midnight Saturday January 7, 2011.
5. You must be at least 18 years of age
6. A valid eMail address must be included on the "Post a Comment Section" of your Diva Marketing comment. (How will I know where to contact you to send your check?)
That's it .. now it's your turn! Wouldn't $100 extra be nice to help with those holiday bills?
Drum beat please .. winner is .. Greer. Congrats!
" Give thanks! Thank your volunteers, donors, staff members, other organizations, etc. Non-profits can't do it alone and thanking people in a public way, such as through social media, is a huge compliment to those who have donated their time, money and energy to your cause."
Here's what are uber cool guest judge, Geoff Livingston had to say about why he chose Greer's tip.
OK, so here it is, I am going with Greer's comment. Here's why:
"Thanking volunteers is a critical act of recognition that fosters long term health in a nonprofit. Peer recognition is pretty much the only thing these people get for thanks in exchange for providing time and expertise. Social media is the ideal way to do this in a very public way. Consider that these people are a 501(c)3's lifeblood, providing critical human resources for cash strapped organizations.
But it goes further. Volunteers do more than provide bandwidth, they also serve as word of mouth ambassadors and their households donate twice as much as the average Americans. Social recognition allows them to wear their honors publicly (similar to a badge) by retweeting, Likes, +1s and reshares creating more word of mouth, more good will and more donation."
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MNS Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
While I bake one last batch of cookies and put the finishing touches on the cheesecake, I invite you to enjoy this "classic Diva Marketing post." Variations of this post have become a holiday tradition on Diva Marketing beginning in 2007. I believe ..
This Xmas morning after the presents are opened, while the goose is roasting (does anyone really make a goose?) and the sugar surge has just begun .. settle back and enjoy a holiday story of a time long ago. It's about a magical shoppe where there was ..
"No high pressuring and forcing the customer to take something he doesn't want. We'll be known as the helpful store. The friendly store. The store with a heart. The store that places public service ahead of profit. The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before."
No, it's not a new social media customer service strategy. It was an innovative sales program launched in 1947 by Macy's Department Store. In this Miracle On 34th Street Mr. Macy took chance on a different way to conduct business. Customers would not be coerced into buying what they did not want and if another store had a better, less expensive product Macy's would send them there.
If we listen closely we learn that to succeed in 2010 or 2011 or 2025 or .. or .. or .. is dependent on what we've always known. It's not all about the brand .. it is all about our customer. As with so many lessons, we seem to keep relearning this one.
Fast forward 64 years. The insights from our customers come wrapped in many ways. From customer interactions to traditional research to digital platforms with funny names like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, LinkedIn and Flickr.
However, with social media, when we pull off the pretty red bows, we find that the impact reaches far beyond marketing, customer service or sales. This time the entire enterprise is in the game along with our customers. It's a world where to succeed we have to go beyond a one-off sale to creating opportunities for all involved (enterprise & customer) to create the brand experience .. together.
In the world of conversational marketing there is no room for high-pressure sales techniques. Adding a relationship focused social media strategy to your master marketing plan can be a powerful initiative which demonstrates that you place your customers' needs above a one-off sale.
The digital relationships that the people (not departments) who are the heart of your brand can set off a chain reaction.
Continuous listening -> leads to continuous learning -> which leads to understanding -> which leads to trust -> which leads to loyalty -> which leads to the cash register bells ringing. And every time a cash register bell rings a marketer gets a bonus or gets to keep her job (!).. oops wrong film. Sorry.
Corner grocery store digital relationships that are build not only with you and your customers, but among your customers, could never have been imagined when Kris Kringle entered Macy's in 1947. However, even as we approach 2012, for many organizations open conversations still seem like a Miracle on (insert organization name here) or like the ghost of Xmas future (oops wrong movie again. Sorry.)
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible... consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
As we begin 2012, technology developments spin even faster taking digital business into areas that were impossible in '47 or '57 or even '2011.
Imagine a digital destination that holds current inventory and pricing, allows for on-line financing and results in better, faster cheaper processing.
Imagine a digital destination that allows for product customization the way you want it.
Imagine a digital destination where you can start a conversation with a real person about what matters to you regarding a product or service.
Imagine a digital destination where you can talk to a real person who doesn't respond with a scripted answer.
Imagine a digital destination where you can actually help change the direction of a product or service before it's even launched.
Imagine a digital destination where you can include your review of the product, service or customer care that influences your friends' buying decisions.
Imagine a digital destination where you can chat with people about their experiences and learn from each other .. in real time during your shopping experience. The result is smarter purchases.
Imagine multiple digital destinations (screens) that are interwoven where you can accomplish all of these crazy ideas whether you are at your local coffee shop, home, office or at the beach.
Imagine an organization that works in partnership with its customers and employees to create a brand experience that is relevant, innovative and imaginative.
Imagine an organization that cares not simply about for for its customers.
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
I believe in the kindness from social media ..
It's interesting to compare a 1940's film, where finding solutions to customers' problems was perceived as unique, to 2011 where finding solutions to customers' problems is considered ingenious.
The techniques may have changed. New buzz words may be added to the mix. Bells and whistles may be a little louder. However, after all is said and done, the premise remains the same:
-Listen
-Understand
-Add value
-Do what it takes to go the extra mile to delight your customer
I believe .. in the little miracles from social media that are changing how we conduct business .. leading to a time when people matter.
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
And with that Max and I wish you a year of little miracles and joy .. and all things wonderful .. and all that jazz!
At this holiday season we are encouraged to look beyond face value to the heart of the people who may touch our lives .. directly or indirectly. "Looks" of nonprofits may also be deceiving at first glance.
For the first time we are opening Diva Marketing's Holiday For Small Nonprofits Series to a couple of special programs offered by larger nonprofits. These initiatives often have unique budgets and dedicated staff .. much the same as smaller nonprofits.
This story is told by John Pollock who manages this unique program. As Jennifer Pelton, Director of Development, proudly told me, "John brings strong leadership -- and helpful tools -- to the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (NCCRC.)"
John Pollock - This Coalition seeks to address a severe justice gap in this country. People who can afford private counsel will hire a lawyer when something critically important to them – such as their home or the custody of their children – is at stake. Too many people do not have that choice. In what is a surprise to many, the right to a lawyer (in civil cases) is not guaranteed.
Private counsel is unaffordable and civil legal services (or other “free”) counsel meets only 20 percent of the need. Further compounding the problem, all too often,indigent litigants face an opponent who does have a lawyer. This justice gap especially hurts families of color, families headed by women, children and the elderly.
In 2004, attorneys and advocates from around the nation created the NCCRC to expand recognition and implementation of a right to counsel in civil cases. The Coalition is led by the Public Justice Center, a legal advocacy organization based in Maryland. As the coordinator, I oversee services to coalition participants by providing advice, information, testimony and other support. I also managed a vast amount of information through a newly created wiki and bibliography.
Judge Annette Marie Rizzo talks about civil rights to counsel in foreclosure cases.
One of the major problems faced by the Coalition was its lack of an easy way to share its massive research and case-related resources with all 200+ participants in an organized fashion, particularly given the wide levels of familiarity with technology within the Coalition.
Additionally, because of the lack of organization and the fact that few knew the full extent of documents in existence, key resources would go unutilized and reinvention of the wheel (with respect to repeating existing research) was not uncommon.
Social Media Lessons and Challenges
The Coalition chose a product called PBWorks which was obtained at a very steep discount thanks to the generosity of the PBWorks company. I established the wiki and stored the documents in an organized system, then used web-conferencing software to train coalition participants on how to access and navigate the wiki.
In addition to ensuring that Coalition participants could remain aware of all of the Coalition's resources, the wiki has solved other problems as well. In the past, when documents to be shared were emailed, Coalition participants that joined the Coalition later on would not have access to such documents without combing through the email archives.
Now, both new and old participants need only visit the wiki to see a complete picture of the Coalition's resources. Also, the wiki provides a weekly summary to all Coalition participants about all documents on the wiki that have changed, thus allowing them to know if Coalition staff upload newer versions of memos, case briefs, or other important documents. Finally, the wiki provides one centralized location for the entire memory store of the Coalition. For all of these reasons, the wiki has empowered advocates in the various states to benefit from the collective wisdom and work of the Coalition.
Welcome to Diva Marketing's Holiday For Small Nonprofits Series. Seems we have a tradition going on. This is the third year that Diva Marketing has given the virtual stage to smaller nonprofits to tell their story .. their way. It's our way of giving back by honoring the people and the organizations who make a difference in the lives of so many others.
It is my special wish, through your kindness in passing along the posts to your networks, together we can give the present of increased awareness, a new volunteer and a extra donation or two.
Throughout December you'll be meeting some amazing people and NPOs.
Story told by Mike Craycraft who is a survivor and founder of the Testicular Cancer Society. He also has helped treat hospitalized patients for over 16 years as a clinical pharmacist.
The Testicular Cancer Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization to raise awareness about the most common form of cancer in men ages 15-35. We are dedicated to increasing awareness and education about testicular cancer and providing support to fighters, survivors and caregivers.
A little over five years ago I received a membership into a group that I never asked to join but I would now never trade for anything in the world. I was given a membership into the world of young adult cancer. Being young and feeling completely healthy, minus a small lump on my left testicle, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
I had spent the previous 7 months knowing that I had a lump, but not going to the doctor or telling a soul about it. Instead, I made peace with the fact that I was going to die young from cancer and went about enjoying what little time I “thought” I had left.
As a healthcare professional and now a cancer survivor, I felt I had the unique ability to help make the world of testicular cancer and young cancer in general a better place than it was when I joined it. I wanted to make sure that other guys didn’t make the same mistakes I did when I was diagnosed and delay going to the doctor.
During my ordeal, I also realized there weren’t many resources out there about testicular cancer and it took a long time to find the resources that were available. From the moment you tell your doctor about a lump, to having surgery and then facing decisions about further treatments it can be just a few days, so I wanted to make sure other guys had those resources quickly.
With the Testicular Cancer Society we focus on being the hub of a wheel that brings all the spokes together.
On our web site young men have access to a lot more than just information about the disease. We point them in the right directions to find one-on-one support, survivor forums, information on fertility issues, tools for fundraising as well as their individual treatment options and access to expert physicians in the field.
Social Media
Early detection is key. With early detection, testicular cancer survival rates are close to 100%. Our message needs to reach young men all across the country so we use social media because of its reach and cost effectiveness.
However, our challenge remains getting the people we reach to become engaged in our cause. While our followers might be listening to the message they aren’t active in promoting it. Even when we do get social interactions we find that many times it is the same handful of people interacting and our message is not expanding past this small group.
Not just expanding the reach of our message, but making those reached engage is going to be our challenge in the upcoming year.
TCS needs your help to set a Guinness World Record™ .. collecting the largest donation of sports balls in 24-hours! Decemeber 9th at 5p - December 10 5p, 2011. The balls will be given to the Marines Toys For Tots. Details are on the TCS site.
Quick. What comes to mind when you read these words? Women. Social Media.
My reactions: Women help and connect to each other by sharing their experiences; results are influencing brand perceptions and purchase behavior.
But then I'm a marketer so my response is skewed towards business .. well .. a little shopping too ;-)
Curious to what other people would say, I posted the question to my social networks, including the Atlanta Women in Social Media group.
Answers fell into 5 buckets:
1. Women focused in general
2. Women are naturally better communicators
3. Women don't think of social media as an 'obligation'
4. Women build on relationship skills
5. The number of women speakers on soical media is disporportionate to that of men
My favorite was from Des Walsh ..
On the MSN Business On Main community for small businesses, Joanna Krutz has put together a comprehensive post that is packed with facts and figures aboutselling to women in the digital world and how women are using social media.
Did you know .. women use their phones to “tweet” and “friend” 10% more often than the dudes?
Did you know .. women average about 30% more sent and received texts/month than guys? - Source: Nielsen 2010 data Worldwide
Did you know .. women are on social networks an average of 5.5 hours/month while the men are on about 4 hours?- Source: ComScore
So now that you know .. whatcha gonna do about it?
MSN Business On Main/Diva Marketing Small Business Tip Contest ~
~ Win $100!
Share 1 idea on how a company/brand can use social media to connect with women.
The idea that Max, I and Yvonne DiVita, our very special guest judge, choose will win 100 dollars! Just in time for your holiday shopping.
When I think of marketing to women, top of mind is the amazing Yvonne DiVita. Yvonne is the founder of LipSticking one of the first blogs that championed women in business. Among her accolades Lipsticking was acknowledged by Forrbes as one of the best blogs on marketing and social media written by a women.
Pets are a passion too. Yvonne launched the first pet blogger conference BlogPaws. BlogPaws is supported by a very active community.
Rules of MSN The Business on Main/Diva Marketing Social Media Small Business Tips Contest
1. Post your tip for how to use social media for branding on this Diva Marketing post And on this MSN Business On Main Post. If you don't post on MSN BOM and indicate Diva Marketing you cannot qualify for the $100 prize.
2. Identify your post on Business On Main with the words Diva Marketing
3. Winner is at the pleasure of Diva Marketing
4. Contest ends midnight Friday December 16, 2011.
5. You must be at least 18 years of age
6. A valid eMail address must be included on the "Post a Comment Section" of your Diva Marketing comment. (How will I know where to contact you to send your check?)
That's it .. now it's your turn! Wouldn't $100 extra be nice this time of year?
Update: and our winner is .. Molly Carter Gaines! Thanks to all who participate.
Comments from our guest judge Yvonne DiVita regarding Molly's tip:
"Molly seems to get the concept of networking – make friends who will introduce you to their friends; and who better to do that than women? Molly says, ‘when a blogger backs a brand, it’s a powerful thing.’ Along with her mention that ‘female blog subscribers tend to trust the sincerity and authenticity of the bloggers they follow,’ Molly demonstrates the reason blogs are a positive way utilize social media to connect with women.'
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MNS Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
A few weeks ago I had an ah ha moment. It was something so obvious that it was almost a dah ah moment.
Within an organization social media is a catalyst for change.
Not only does social media come tied up in ribbons of change but it is wrapped in paper comprised of shades of gray. For enterprise cultures that are built on black and white directives introducing social media can be very uncomfortable.
Social media does indeed change the game for every company. Its impact is felt within business units/departments that traditionally were customer touch points (customer service, sales) to those that rarely engaged with customers (PR, IT).
Within Robert Frost's poem Directives, written in 1947, I found truths that spoke to me about social media and change.
There is a house that is no more a house
Upon a farm that is no more a farm
And in a town that is no more a town.
Sometimes, even before social media is integrated into the organization, the fabric of a company from profit to nonprofit to higher education, healthcare, government and all in between begins to unravel. Just a little. It might begin with just one thread. Perhaps it takes the form of a tweet that demands service when traditional channels disappointed.
One small call out that begins the process of enterprise change and a shift in culture. Is it no wonder that management often looks at social media with suspicion and trepidation? A cry goes out .. bring in the social media experts. Take care of who you choose as a sherpa. As Robert Frost's poem goes on to say --
The road there, if you’ll let a guide direct you
Who only has at heart your getting lost,
While an outside perspective from someone who knows the social media landscape, including where the land mines are buried, can be critical to success, the end of the road must lead back to your own company, culture and employees.
Involving your employees in authentic, public conversations is often one of the biggest hurdles facing the "social enterprise." How can you safeguard the brand, uphold the integrity of the brand's promise while allowing people to be what I call the "unmessaged" voices of the brand?
Jeff Wuorio has written an interesting post for MSN's Business On Main which provides ideas on how to begin to empower employees. My favorite suggestion is from Shilonda Downing of Virtual Work Team. Shilonda .. sound employee decisions should be rewarded not just through financial benefit, but also visibility.
Which brings us to the last lines of Directives ..
Here are your waters and your watering place.
Drink and be whole again beyond confusion.
Although social media serves as a change agent, which at first usually creates confusion and insecurities, social media gives back more than it takes.
Social media's secret gifts are in creating a stronger organization that is more responsive to customer concerns and more integrated employee involvement.
The results are opportunities for customer and employee loyalty .. which can lead to increased sales and decreased churn rates. Change can be a good thing!
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MNS Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Recently Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) made a faux pas on Twitter. He then said in his blog that he felt Twitter had gone from a “communication platform” to a “mass publishing platform. “ He’s now turned the management of his stream over to his agency as a “secondary editorial measure.”
Two questions Brian: One - do you feel that social networks in general have gone from a way to talk to directly to customers or have they become just another mass market communication channel?
And two - what would you have advised Ashton to do?
Brian Solis: This is difficult to answer. Ashton is a friend of mine and honestly, it’s not my place to comment on his experience. If he asked, my advice to him would be between us. However, I don’t want to let you or your readers down, so allow me to answer it another way.
With social media comes great responsibility.
Regardless of the size of our networks, each of carries a duty to engage with purpose, transparency, authenticity, and above all, respect. We are defined by what we say, share, and at times, what we don’t say.
Essentially, we create a digital representation of who we are and what we value. In the end, what people think, how people value our connections, and how people interact with us is reflective of our investment. Or said another way, we reap what we sow and cultivate.
The challenge is of course, that this is all so new, that we’re learning as we go. We’re, as everyday people and celebrities, not conditioned for living in public without filters or handlers.
To answer your first question, people are becoming full-fledged media networks and that’s why this moment is so special and alarming at the same time.
As media networks, and as novices really in the world of catering to extensive networks, it’s tempting to approach social media with a traditional mentality. Producing and publishing content in social networks isn’t necessary social media…in fact, bringing a one-to-many broadcast methodology to social is quite anti-social to say the least.
We are responsible for what we create and share. But we are also challenged to do more than just create content. Anyone can do that now, so what makes you different? It’s also another thing to create consumable content. Again, anyone versed in traditional media can do that.
Now, we’re presented with a tremendous opportunity to produce consumable, shareable and actionable media. Those that master this will be rewarded with time, attention, and loyalty for the long term…and that’s priceless.
Marketing/Toby: Your book is filled with wonderful quotes. This is one of my favorites, “… brands must figuratively wear their hearts on their sleeves to best connect with customers.” (p 170) Would you speak a little of what that means to you?
Brian Solis: There’s an old saying, “don’t take it personally, this is just business.” Now, the opposite of that statement is true. One of the best-kept secret ingredients of any engaged business before, during, and after social media is empathy.
The connected consumer is incredibly sophisticated. Add to that, the nature of social networks. What Facebook, Twitter, Google+, et al. share is that they’re rich with emotion. People share what they like, love, dislike, or even hate. People engage with one another based on these emotions because it’s personal.
Businesses are entering these very emotional landscapes and they are treating them in many regards much as they do with other media channels. Just because they’re present and participating doesn’t mean that they’re human or that what it is they’re expressing is empathetic in nature.
During the listening process, we can capture the challenges, joys, struggles, and achievements of people who are customers or those related to our markets. Rather than just track keywords and activity, we can feel what it is that would matter to customers and build off of those findings.
For example, there are companies, like Freshbooks, that makes every employee in the company staff the customer service lines to better understand customers. The objective of course is to instill empathy. Because once you do, business becomes personal.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Brian, as we say, the Diva Marketing viral stage is yours. Wrap it up any way you’d like.
Brian Solis: This is an important time. We are presented with an opportunity and some of us need to make touch choices right now.
I believe that we are standing at a crossroads. In one direction, we can continue our quest to bring social media within business, to help companies “get it” and work with them to socialize marketing, communications, and service. In the other direction, we can use the lessons we learned from social media to bring about change within the company.
As change agents, this path will bring together once disparate teams and functions to coll aborate in creating new culture of customer and employee centricity and overall market relevance.
Each path is important. It’s up to us to make a decision and push forward to help whomever we work with benefit from our vision and perseverance.
Brian Solis has earned a reputation as guy who digs deep and comes up with insights that result in head nodding. However, his analysis quite often takes our own thinking into directions that might not have been as obvious to us.
For me his new book, The End of Business As Usual, did both. I nodded and at the end of the read I thought just a little differently. Brian graciously agreed to share his thoughts about social media and the connected consumer. (Yes, Max liked The End of Business As Usual too!)
Brian's responses were so rich and deep that I've turned his interview into a two part series. Tune in tomorrow for part two!
Diva Marketing/Toby: The End of Business As Usual explores how the digital world, including social media, is impacting not only the way customers connect with companies but how companies interact with their customers and stakeholders. At this point in the evolution of social media what does social media mean to you?
Brian Solis: Social media means a lot of different things to me and that’s why I’m inspired to invest as much possible to understand the impact on business, culture, consumers, and also individuals. At a minimum, social media is an opportunity for introspection. We have the ability to easily connect with one another.
We’re forming incredibly vibrant and extensive networks around relationships and interests. We’re learning how to live life in a very public, and searchable, space. Just as individuals, businesses, organizations, governments, you name it, are equally given the gift of connections and the ability to interact with people directly.
Social media opens the door to empathy and influence. But as a result, the tenets required to thrive in social media require a different approach, a thoughtful strategy, and intentions designed to deliver value to all participants in engagement.
I study social media programs by the thousands and I have to tell you, there are amazing examples and best practices out there. But, there are more examples of antisocial media then there are of social media…meaning, content, campaigns, contests, messages, are stuffed into new networks under the guise of social, when in fact, there’s very little social in the social media initiative.
Social media is in a state of rapid maturation and that’s why I wrote The End of Business as Usual. There are important lessons right now that are more important than social media. Understanding the bigger picture will only benefit how businesses use social media and how they grow as a company and a team of human beings united to accomplish something that’s bigger than any one individual.
Consumerism is changing. There is no longer one audience bound by demographics. In the book, I introduce the reader to the connected consumer. How they find information, how they make decisions, and how the influence and are influenced, is not at all like the previous generations of customers businesses are used to marketing and selling to, servicing, or tracking.
The book title says it all. This is about a fundamental change in behavior, which isn’t regressing, it’s actually spreading. Taking the same old strategies, programs, philosophies, and us vs. them culture into this next generation of connected consumerism is the surest way to digital Darwinism, the evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than our ability to adapt.
No longer is it just about survival of the fittest, it’s now also about survival of the fitting.
Diva Marketing/Toby: You discuss the importance of creating and maintaining authentic exchanges which in turn, lead to building relationship with the connect customer. For every person who happens onto those interactions (random or deliberate) these exchanges become part of a shared brand experience. People can see who the brand chooses to engage within the social web.
How do you ensure that connected customers who have reached out to the brand but are not included in, call them direct discussions with the brand, still feel special and not left out? I wonder .. are we creating an illusion of special?
Brian Solis: Interesting…I like the idea of the “illusion of special.” The same is true for social media and individuals. From Klout scores to Twitter followers, many people are struggling with the idea of importance. Whether or not connected consumers expect a company response or if an interaction actually occurred, people will freely share their experiences with companies.It is those published experiences in social networks that become not only searchable, but also impact the considerations and decisions of those who are either connected or those who find it in social search or simply by asking.
Many businesses see social media as a necessary evil and/or an opportunity to engage with customers who have negative experiences. Doing so puts an organization at risk. By responding to negative experiences, companies get stuck in a move and react form of engagement.
The real opportunity is to learn from customer behavior to design better products, build an infrastructure that supports improved experiences, and continue to do so over time. It’s part leadership and part support. However, it’s never ending. What is the experience your customers have today? How do they find you? What shows up as someone is considering you now in social networks, not just Google, and what does their click path look like?
Once you understand the “day in the life” and what it is that people are expressing, you can begin to design a meaningful experience.
Diva Marketing/Toby: In Chapter 13 you said listening is “Not an administrative position left to a recent college graduate because they get social media. This is a senior function that reports to management that processes authority to make decisions …” (p160)
I’m curious to understand who you believe should participate in social conversations as the voice of the brand. Is it a job for an intern or junior staff member or is this also a senior or mid management responsibility and why?
Brian Solis: This section refers to importance of the role of intelligence. It extends the thoughts shared in the last question. Often we get caught up in monitoring for mentions, sentiment, share of voice, and we miss the insights that can guide our engagement strategies and internal processes.
But to specifically answer your question, it’s not the role of just any one person to become the voice of the company. The needs of customers is far greater than any one person can or should manage. At any one moment, your consumer can be an advocate expecting rewards, a customer needing help, a prospect requiring information or guidance, a partner wishing to express ideas to improve experiences, a potential employee needing HR attention, etc. The point is that every division affected by the activity within social media or any new media for that matter, must include an extension to 1) listen, 2) learn, 3) engage, and 4) adapt.
This is a major transformation and not something to be taken lightly. It starts with a mission, purpose, and vision. It requires a thoughtful plan. It requires training, governance, and compliance.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Throughout the book and in particular, Chapter 13 Brands Are No Longer Created, They’re Co-Created, you discuss the responsibilities of the organization to embrace the connected customer in developing the brand. With the connected customer now involved with developing the brand, the CC must also share in the responsibility. What is the accountability of the connected customer to the brand?
Brian Solis: At the end of the day, connected customers will share their experience with or without you. That’s the power and freedom of new media and self expression is the ante to buy into any social network. The question is, without your involvement, without design, with trying to shape experiences proactively, what will your customers say and what will they do?
To truly create and steer experiences, businesses must design programs that seek their involvement. For example, Dell’s IdeaStorm and MyStarbucksIdea are proactive forms of communities dedicated to rallying customer feedback, recognizing and rewarding their input, and designing new experiences as a result. It puts customer ideas to work and they can see the progress of their input. Programs like this convert a connected customer into a stakeholder. Dell has gone even further by opening up an inward-facing community where employees can contribute and engage around their ideas as well.
Communities such as this are designed to channel self-expression into forms of collaboration. American Express recently launched its Link.Like.Love program that ties together the company’s rewards program with social activity. Beyond contests, general conversations, reactive customer support, smart businesses are thinking ahead to deliver value while steering and shaping desirable “shared” experiences.
As they say .. Tune in tomorrow for part two of Brian Solis' interview. In the mean time continue the conversation with Brian on Twitter or Facebook.
Update: Part II Interview with Brian Solis where Brian shares insights about new values, responsibilities and how we are on the cross roads of marketing.
Bloggy Disclaimer: Brian kindly comped me a copy of the book The End of Business as Usual.
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. ~H. P. Lovecraft, Author
How are you learing about social media? Perhaps through books, conferences or workshops. Just as valuable is the way knowledge was transferred when blogs hit the business scene .. from peer-to-peer in online discussions.
Just Once Crowd Sourced Question is a Diva Marketing series where the community shares their insights on a specific social media issue. In doing that, we can help alleviate some of the scary fears. In celebration of Halloween ..
Just One Crowd Sourced Question
What is your scariest thought on how brands or agencies are using any aspect of social media/social networks?
One of the scariest things I see is too many "brand" witches around the social media kettle. Each with a different opinion and no common, customer-centric vision to unite them.
So they disagree and waste time and money chasing warts, I mean likes, fans friends and followers instead business outcomes. In the confusion, the "social media expert" gets paid to maintain the status quo. Now that's scary. Muahahahaha ~ Lee Odden, Top Ranking Blog@LeeOdden
Businesses should focus on the model and how they trade: What do they need to start doing more, and what do they need to stop doing? Conversation is a way to draw out the model and build the promise architecture to trade. The scariest thought, therefore, is that businesses are asking precisely the *wrong* question.
Technology needs to be viewed in light of the business model. Entire industries are being disrupted and organizations are still hiring people to be in charge of Twitter and Facebook -- this is what is truly scary. ~ Valeria Maltoni, Principal, Conversation Agent LLC @ConversationAge
Biggest scare: when brands or orgs jump into social media because they "should" an without a coherent strategy for connecting existing goals to their social media efforts. ~ Hillary Boucher, BirthSwell@hillaryboucher
Scariest thought is how so many PR practitioners use social media in impersonal and ineffective ways yet believing they're doing it well. That is worse that those who just don't get it at all.~ Neville Hobson, NevilleHobson.com@jangles
I've heard of people who have been involved in cases of mistaken identity as a result of social search. In other words, they had "digital doppelgangers" -- people who share their name. Doesn't sound too dangerous, until one of those people is a murderer or was charged with fraud.
Organizations need to be careful not to assume a simple Google search always results in learning the correct information about the person in question! On the flip side, individuals need to seize control of their names online by creating profiles and digital presences to overcome negative digital doppelganger results! ~ Miriam Salpeter, Keppie Careers,@Keppie_Careers
Scariets thought is having content stolen and being misrepresented. ~ Toby Neal, TobyNeal.net @tobywneal
My scariest thought: brands assuming social is just another direct response channel and missing out on the opportunity to create a relationship with some of the brand's most valuable customers. My second scariest thought: assuming everyone who has liked or followed the brand is a valuable customer and thus offering richer discounts than those who have raised their hand and shared their information.
Don't forget to connect the dots back to the customer database, so while you are creating great relationships you can also make sound business decisions around discounting and rewards. ~ Teresa Caro, [r]Dialogue @teresacaro
Toby, I think my scariest thought is that brands start developing content in social media, without having a backup plan and the people to support and respond to any crisis that will happen. ~ Anon
Mass Following on Twitter -I get scared when a company skips the process of vetting and actually reading the profiles of the people they follow and opt to use tools that let them follow massive numbers of people. Your followers are about quality not quantity people! ~ Natalie MacNeil, She Takes on the World@NatalieMacNeil
Scariest thought? That they're not listening. And that they think how they did business in 2005 is the same as 2011. ~ Anon
My scariest thought is that brands (and agencies) are jumping into social media with no forethought, planning or strategy. Because so many of the tools are free -- they are not giving them the "respect" they would offer traditional marketing tools/efforts. The outcome of that is, of course, their efforts fall flat and then they declare that social media is not right for their business.
This is particularly worrisome for the small business owner who could reap all the benefits if they just took the time to learn/think it through before jumping in. ~Drew McLellanDrew's Marketing Minute@DrewMcLellan
Toss of a pink boa to the people who generously shared their thoughts.
It's your turn! Let's continue the learnings. What is your scariest thought about social media?
Business professionals plan. That's the way the DNA is programmed. Not only do we plan but if the organization has 2 people or more we meet. We committee. We review. We analyze. We build consensus. Then we implement.
In the world of social media where interaction follows a less controlling flow there is a fallacy that planning gets in the way.
Q: How many marketers does it take to respond to a tweet? A: As many as in your committee.
That's not planning it's the execution step. With smart planning the answer could be "one."
With that in mind savvy business owners are planning how they'll handle the biggest, craziest online retail day of the year .. Cyber Monday.
Wondering what surprises the Groupons and Scout Mobs of the digital coupon world have in store for us. (Side bar: retrevo post on the impact on Black Friday.) Wondering how mobile commerce will be used. Wondering how Facebook and Twitter will play the game. With so many options, you'd better plan!
On his MSN Business On Main post Cyber Monday: Is Your Business Ready? Randy Myers offers a few good get ready tips. My favorite is test your site. This is not the day for crash and burn. I'd have all of your IT people standing by to jump into action .. just in case.
So let's swing the pendulum to midnight on Cyber Monday. The last sale has check in. Your planning paid off. Your sales were off the charts from both your current customers and new customers. You made the sale now what? The big question is how can you plan to use social media to keep in touch beyond the sale? Of course this type of strategy took place during your pre sales meeting .. right?
Adding Extra fun. An Easy Contest Where You Win $100!
MSN Business On Main had given me 100 bucks cold cash to run a monthly contest. Thank you kindly MSN!
Your challenge: Share 1 idea how a business or nonprofit organization can use social media after the sale (or donation) to continue the relationship.
The idea that Max, I and our uber special guest judge, Paul Chaney, choose will win 100 dollars! Just in time for your Cyber Monday purchases.
When I think of Paul Chaney two thoughts come to mind: 1. pioneer in social media marketing and 2. a true southern gentleman. Paul calls himself the Social Media Handyman but his talents go far beyond. He's the author of three books, his latest Digital Handshake, contributing editor at Social Commerce Today and a very smart dude! Say "hey" to him on Twitter @pchaney and on Facebook.
Rules of The Business on Main/Diva Marketing Social Media Small Business Tips Contest
1. Post your tip for how to use social media for branding on this Diva Marketing post And on this MSN Business On Main Post. If you don't post on MSN BOM and indicate Diva Marketing you are not part of the game.
2. Identify your post on Business On Main with the words Diva Marketing
6. A valid eMail address must be included on the "Post a Comment Section" of your Diva Marketing comment. (How will I know where to contact you to send your check?)
That's it .. now it's your turn! Wouldn't $100 extra be nice this time of year?
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MNS Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
Paul's reason for his pick. I choose #1. Not only did the commenter provide more detail about his or her use of social media, but the approach taken is a good fit where brand-building is concerned.
It ties directly to what the brand is all about, encourages community members to engage pro-actively buy submitting content and, in so doing, helps them take ownership of the brand.
Thanks to everyone who participated and especially Mr. Paul Chaney, our guest judge.
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain-silly.
What do you <3 ♥ most about the blogosphere? For me, friendships that often find their way to digital collaborations are high on the list.
When BBF C.B. Whittemore asked if I would particiapte in Bathroom Blogfest 2011 and the theme was Climbing Out I knew I wanted In. Where else, but on a series of blog posts, can you combine friendships and creativity to celebrate the Bathroom? Congrats! CB on year six of a fun online event.
By the way, did you know that there is National Bathroom Reading Month? We use to tease my dad about the bathroom being his library. He's take his newspaper (who remembers those?) and disappear. With your mobile device in hand your personal library can be anywhere in the world. Sounds silly or not so much .. well this is Friday Fun!
The owners of public bathrooms like restaurants, retail stores or coffee shops may not want to turn their WCs into an away from home library for their customers. However, The Bathroom is often an aspect of a customer experience strategy that is over looked. Just for fun, which Fortune 500 company do you think claims this bathroom?
I'll give you a couple of hints. The company's brand value is to create an "ambience based on human spirit, sense of community and need for people to come together." The customer experience strategy published in 2009 reads, "Our new design approach will allow customers to feel truly at home while visiting their local store .."
Did you guess Starbucks? Can you say a little brand disconnect? Can you say a little customer experinece disconnet?
For more fun Bathroom Blogfest drop by Facebook and click into a few BB blog posts!
She asked, "What should we talk about in this new social web of yours."
I responded. "It's not necessarily my social web. It's yours and your customers and their friends and their family and .. and .. and. Ask them what they want from you and how they'd like to interact in the digital world."
"Ah," said She. "What a great idea!"
Recently I've been noticing more posts, tweets and social network updates by marketers who have had ah ha moments that customers hold the golden key to their business profitablity. And .. this is their BIG Revelation .. talking to customers can bring valuable insights.
Hello out there! Girlfriend, I don't know whether to shudder, scream or just sigh. Just for a giggle I dug out my dad's marketing research text book from the 1950's. The following is from the first chapter:
American business lulled into a state of complacency during the early post-war period, tended to forget the time-proven truth that the "Consumer is King." ~ John P. Alevizos Marketing Research published 1959.
Flash 52 years into the future and we hear author and social media professional Geoff Livingston saying to top host Wayne Hurlbert in a BlogTalk interview, "It's not about you it's about them."
Good business professionals have known this secret way before 1959. Take a look at my Corner Grocer Store Relationship post. How we do it might change but talking to your customers In 1959 or 2011 or 2072 .. it's just a good business practice.
Social media provides an amazing way to listen not only to what your customers might tweet to you but what they talk about with family and friends. While traditonal market researchers may argue that these behind the curtain conversations are not scientific or statically valid, they do provide rich insights. Often they can serve to complement quatitative research by providing the passion or emotion that can be missing.
Informally reaching out to your customers, while it may result in some bias, is at the very least a way to not only gain insights but to keep in touch beyond the purchase and holiday card. In his MSN Business On Main Street post How To Pump Your Customers For Regular Feedback Randy Myers offers a few ideas on how to secure this type of customer feedback. Note to Randy: while I might agree with your suggestions I do have a bit of a problem with the word "pump". It seems to me to be one sided and negative. Just saying ...
One of my favorite ideas from the MNS post is from Chuck Reeves. ~ "Give the customer a summary or a detailed copy of your findings and ask for any corrections. Giving feedback demonstrates sincerity, invites further comment, and shows that you value and will act on the information provided."
At the end of the day, or post, we come full circle from wha John P. Alevizos said .. customer is king or queen and getting to know him or her is was and will always be .. the 1st step in the road to business prosperity.
Read More
For free digital tools to help you listen that go behind Google Alerts (which are great by the way) here is the monster list of 198 links (and counting!) from Sales Rescue Team.
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MSN Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
.. a short post on a passing idea before the wind blows it away.
One of my guilty pleasures is watching food TV shows a la the Food Network. I'm no chef but I do ♥ to cook and ♥ these quasi reality shows. Shh .. my secret dream is to be a judge on the Iron Chef.
Recently I was watching the new show Sweet Genius. One of the contestants added apples to his baked dish. A lovely ingredient that would give his dish some nice flavor. The host, Ron Ben-Israel, noted the contestant didn't take into consideration how the extra moisture from the apples would effect the baking time and in turn the finished product. And thus this contestant was .. no sweet genius!
So I got to thinking .. how often do we add social media elements to our marketing strategies without taking into consideration how it will impact other departments e.g., customer service? Or the main goal of the strategy? Or that it might even cannibalize other campaigns?
One off tactic in your plan and you are .. no social media marketing genius!
How do you determine business success? Not only in marketing communications but in customer service or even with nonprofit programs. Just asking ..
"Why Toby," You might say. "You set a numerical goal and then see if you can meet it. It's called measurement and metrics."
"Ah, " I might say. "Yes that's good. Or is it really? Or might it be misleading? Is it enough? Could it be doing us a disservice?" Just asking ..
This week I was chatting with a friend who recently joined the staff of a nonprofit organiztion. Her focus is to manage social media for one of the non profit's community education programs.
She said two things to me that inspired this post. #1 - Her boss expected the number of friends, followers, hits to the site, etc. to increase within weeks. #2 - The major funding grant placed a high emphsis on site visitors.
Sidebar: In another lifetime I was marketing director for a nonprofit. Among other elements, our grants measured success by the number of people we serviced; as well as the out reach we did. So I am familar with the demands of funding source reporting. However, In this case, there is a huge disconnect and lack of understanding of social media from my friend's boss and the funding source. Perhaps a post for another day.
We use numbers as a gauge of success. It's fairly easy to count. We learned it watching Big Bird, Oscar, Cookie Monster, The Count and my favorite Elmo!
But is that really sufficient to determine the worth of your strategies? Just asking ..
I admit, going behind the numbers takes more time and resources. When was the last time you determined if you hit the "right" people? Or if "they" took away the end objectives e.g, behaviour changes (finding information online versus your call center), perception changes (branding), new skills learned (training)?
What was the impact beyond the numbers? Just asking ..
It's not difficult to understand the why we are stuck on the numbers. The history of business "success" is based on the quantitative.
Back in the Mad Men advertising days broadcast media success was about the reach and numbers. High Nielsen ratings were the gold ring. Decisions lived and died based on the figures. In newspapers and print publications (remember those?) the number of subcribers were what drove the ad dollars. It gave us a baseline. It was ok.
Then we stepped into the digital world and WoW! it was like walking into the Disney World of analytics. We could count Everything .. happy days! Our challenge became which ride (metric) to go on first (or pay attention to).
Then came social media. We had learned how to count our online strategy "results" from banner ads to website analytics. We transfered our hard earned knowledge from the web and began counting. Counting followers, likes, comments, posts. Life was good. Management could understand that type of "success."
However, with social media came something else. Something that we were never able to determine: who were the People Behind The Numbers. Huge. Powerful. Scary.
Hold on to your boas .. we can determine:
.. if we are reaching our target audiences
.. if we are acheiving our beyond the numbers goals
.. if we are relevant to our target audience
We are now really accountable for if our strategies resonant with our customers and prospects. Oh sure the numbers should matter but to a lesser degree. We should also be paying attention to if we are attracting and sustaining the right people.
Go Beyond The Numbers Tips
1. Review the profiles of the people who are Likes, Followers, G+, etc.
2. Analyze your LinkedIn connects based on the niche you want to attract as clients.
3. Segment as much as possible within limits of the social network platform. For example, on LinkedIn tag people, in Google+ put them into circles, on Twitter create lists.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10! What are your thoughts? Just asking ..
Update: Example of going behind the numbers - Brian Solis and ReSearch.ly analyzed 50,000 of Starbucks’ Twitter followers. What resulted was a rich,complex profile and a indepth understanding of likes and lifestyles. So much more interesting than just the numbers.
Our guest judge was BL Ochman of Whats Next? Blog. BL's reason for her decision ~ Constant self-promoting is transparent. If you've been a useful and helpful part of the online community, people are much more likely to cut you a break when there is a problem.
Chelsea’s Branding Tip: I really think using social media has a lot to do with telling the story of the brand and interacting with consumers or clients. There has to be some level of communication involved in social media. it is not just a way to have a conversation, but also to share ideas and collaborate.
Chelsea is attending Dr4Ward’s social media theory class at Syracuse University. Guess Dr4Ward (Bill Ward) is doing some right in his class! I think Chelsea should get extra credit, don't you?
Check out our next contest and you too could win $100!
Challenge: Drop a tip about how a small business owner can use social media to create awarenss PRE Launch. You can go personal branding route or not .. your choice. Guest judge is the small business diva Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends.
Ask two people if you should include social media as a part of your business communication strategy and you'll get at least three different answers.
MSN Business On Main offers an interesting post written by Polly Schneider Traylor Are You Wasting Your Time On Facebook and Twitter? Polly's post includes insights from a range of people working in B2B and B2C. She reminds us that for social media to be effective it circle backs to building a strategy that takes into account not only business goals (that can be measured) but understand where your customers are, as I like to say, hangin' out on the social web.
Part of my due diligence in helping people create social media plans includes talking .. lots of talking. Well .. perhaps not so much talking on my side more so listening.
I listen to the people within the organization. I listen to their customers/clients. I listen to what is happening in the "industry village" of their social web. This occurs before a decision is made on where to go or even if go.
Everyone who has ever created a stratgic plan understands this first step is nothing new but it is a critical piece of the foundation. Not only is it important to understand the views and expectations from both employees and the people they service e.g., customers but it's often the first step in building cross department buy-in. Keep in mind social media is more than a new tool; for many it is a change in how they approach business .. internally and externally.
To help you structure the due diligence part of your planning here are a 3 Questions To Ask to get you started on the road to building a successful social media stategy. Of course you will include more in your guide that reflects your objectives, customer needs and industry.
3 Questions To Ask Before You Build Your Social Media Plan
1. What does social media mean to you? The answers may surprise you. You'll find some people will define social media by the tools e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc. while others by the outcomes such as sharing information online. The insights from this one question are extremely valuable to help you understand the different orientations.
2. Who do you think is doing social media right and why? This question has a couple of benefits. First, it provides tangible insights into what the person thinks is of value. Second, if nothing comes to mind it is a red flag the person might not be as active in the social web as he indicated. Or it could be an indication that there is a gap in the industry when it comes to providing social media innovation.
3. What type of content would add value to you building your business? This seems like a no brainer but lots of surprises surface when you include the words add value to you. You're taking this into what I call the realm of selfless content that may not directly include information about the your brand or products or services. The result is a stronger parternship relationship.
Bonus Tip! If you feel that you have to jump in and justify or respond to the answers then you are not the right person to conduct this type of interview. The more you (or someone else) is able to stay objective .. to listen .. the more you'll learn. And the result is? Right! A Successful Social Media Plan.
I'd love to hear and to share with our communty other questions that people ask as part of their pre planning due dilegence. Drop a comment. Thanks!
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MSN Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
Today I had the honor of speaking about social media to a wonderful group of educators and people who work with children and school districts. Toss of a pink boa to Julie Hollis for coordinating a terrifc conference sponsored by Communites in Schools.
This post was inspired by and dedicated to educators who are bravely stepping into an the exciting new world of social media; they're opening the doors for our children to learn in a different way.
In order to develop meaningful relationships someone needs to take a risk. ~ Darcy Mullin, On Learning@darcymullin
I've spent the last couple of weeks preparing for this assignment by wandering about the "Social Media Education Village." I'm happy to report there is a vital, exciting, community where some innovative educators are doing creative work in the social web.
On the flip side, there are fears .. the same fears and concerns I've seen from people in other industries: negative comments, internal structure, governance, content, time and resources. Plus one more. How to keep our children safe in this new digital world that will be their home .. in one way or another.
It's a world where the importance of people-to-people connection is Not changing. However, how and where we communcate is different. Mobile smart phones and tablets are the baby steps to a generation beyond what we see now.
It's a world where the importance of keeping our children and ourselves safe is Not changing. However, how and where we create safe spaces and protect ourselves now includes the digital world .. which by the way, is just as real as offline.
It's a world where the importance of friendships is Not changing. However, defining what friendship means when people we just met or who are friends of friends of friends want to connect with us. Or when a brand pretends to be a person and steps into the social networks where we have built community. Do we have a new catagory of friend ...call it "social friendship?"
It's a world where the importance of privacy or what we share is Not changing. However, determining how much and with whom is becoming blurred. Or when an brand's app demands data from us (that might invade the privacy of the people within our online communities) in exchange for playing their games or gaining their information.
At the end of the day I wonder, does the technology change who we are and what we can expect from this new media life? Or does the technology in an oxymoron way take us one step closer to our humanity? Does a Like = a friendship?
My sister Susan and I grew up with an extra family member who always had dinner with us, went on holidays with us and frequently competed for our parent's attention. We called it "The Business."
My parents owned a small business, a marketing research company Ellington Surveys, in metro Boston. Although I joke about it, anyone who grew-up in a small business knows how The Business often does become an extention of your family. Even if you're good at balancing work/life it's always just around the corner. Sometimes barging in uninvited at the most inopportune times.
I've always thought that starting a company was something you did after you had years of experience. However, often that's not the case. There are traits to success that may be even more critital: passion, a belief in your idea and the drive to "do it your way."
Erin Blaskie's post on MSN Business on Main, Starting Up Right Out of College, speaks to the idea of the young entrepreneur. She offers a good check list of the pros and cons that are appropriate for anyone of any age who is considering starting on the small business path.
Once you've made the choice to go into business for yourself the mantra becomes "They will not come unless you tell them." You have another series of choices to make.
As a small business owner you have one additional decision, when it comes to branding and creating awareness, that your friends working on the other side of the street don't have to consider.
Do you build your reputation around the identify of The Business? Or do you build the reputation based on your personal brand?
In age of the digital footprint the lines are blurred. Even before you open your brick and mortor or virtual doors people can check you out. The exciting news is you have an opportunty, that my dad did not, to ensure that your personal brand, and by extention, your new biz is success ready.
Extra fun part .. You can win $100!
MSN Business On Main had given me $100 to run a monthly contest. Thank you kindly MSN!
Your challenge: Drop a tip about how a small business owner can use social media to create awarenss PRE Launch. You can go personal branding route or not .. your choice.
The idea that Max, I and special guest judge Anita Campbell choose will win 100 dollars! Just in time to create your Halloween costume.
When I think of people supporting small businesses the first person to come to mind is Diva Anita Campbell.
Anita is Founder, CEO and Editor in Chief of one of the most popular sites for small business owners .. Small Business Trends. Check it out .. this vibrant community has more than 250,000 biz owners who drop by each month! Continue the conversation with Anita on Twitter and on Facebook.
Rules of The Business on Main/Diva Marketing Social Media Small Business Tips Contest
1. Post your tip for how to use social media for branding on this Diva Marketing post And on this MSN Business On Main Post. If you don't post on MSN BOM you are not part of the game.
2. Identify your post on Business On Main with the words Diva Marketing
3. Winner is at the pleasure of Diva Marketing
4. Contest ends midnight October 7, 2011
5. You must be at least 18 years of age
6. A valid eMail address must be included on the "Post a Comment Section" of your Diva Marketing comment. (How will I know where to contact you to send your check?)
That's it .. now it's your turn!
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MNS Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
Update! Thanks to everyone who participated in our contest and to the nice people who tweeted it out. A special toss of a pink boa to Anita Campbell our special guest judge.
Here is Anita's reason why: I picked Nettie Hartsock's tip about following journalists on Twitter because it not only told you the general tip, but it gave specific tactics on how to do it. It told you to check out muckrack.com and mediaite.com, identify journalists and start following them.
A good tip tells you what to do -- but a great tip goes beyond general advice, and points you toward tactics to carry it out. And besides, the comment is just good advice on maximizing Twitter for your business.
~ Aimee's comment rocks it out the most!" - Becky Carroll
My thanks to everyone who particiapted.
Meeting new people via social media is what makes this world rock for me. I love hearing people's stories.
When I reached out to Aimee I learned that she had a vested interested in customers rock. Aimee is the Associate Director at Crowe Horwath LLP where she leads the implementation of the firm's client experience strategy and oversees its Voice of the Customer program.
Well, girlfriend, you know I couldn't let a wonderful opportuntiy to expand our learnings about how to rock out customer care even more go untapped. I asked Aimee if she would share some ideas with us.
Aimee Lucus: What I love about my work is how I am able to impact not only the client's experience but also the people experience inside the firm as I work to help our professionals understand clients better and more successfully deliver exceptional client experiences.
Three Tips To Rock Customer Care
In terms of three tips to rock customer service, I'm going to look at it from a few angles drawn out in the interview with Becky.
1. In terms of connecting employees with how they impact client service or experience: In addition to mapping the customer journey that is shared by the client and your organization, share the feedback coming in through your surveys and other VOC channels.
Nothing helps our people understand what's important to clients more than when we share "actual comments from actual clients" and show them the difference they are making.
2. I would reiterate the point you made about caring relationships: Focus both on the functional and the emotional elements you deliver.
High quality, timeliness, responsiveness are critical in our work and cannot be overlooked, but it's as important to ensure that we connect emotionally with our clients - make it clear they are valued and get to know them personally. We want to wrap the technical work we're doing with a relationship that delivers value to the client as an individual, as well as to their organization.
3. Lastly, "keep it simple" - big wins can come from little actions, often little actions that demonstrate that emotional connection.
To quote Dennis Snow, take the small step in moving from a task mentality to an experience mentality by making one small change and it can elevate the entire interaction. It becomes more rewarding to both the person being served and the person who is delivering the service.
Thanks Aimee .. bet you didn't think you'd really have to work for your book (smile). However, my thoughts are that this wasn't really work but passing along, what is evident, a passion for you.
Traditionally customer service has been perceived as a necessary business function whose purpose is to appease unhappy customers.
Becky Carroll believes differently. She thinks customers rock and caring for your customer is one of the joys of doing businss.
With the onset of social media, savvy companies like Dell, Zappos and your neighborhood food truck are learning servicing the customer can be a critical strategy; and sets you apart from your competiton.
In Brian Solis’ foreword to The Hidden Power of Your Customers, there is one line that especially resonated with me. “With the emergence of social media, we are given not just a right to engage but a rite of passage to earn relevance.” Relvancy and customer service .. a novel idea!
Becky Carroll kindly shares her innovative, but it makes sense, approach to building a “Customers Rock” focused company.
Diva Marketing/Toby: I would imagine a Customer Rocks company takes coordination, alignment and team work that many organizations may not have in place. What would you tell those companies where departments are silo-ed or where employees may never have thought of their role as being part of customer service?
Becky Carroll: You are right, Toby, it does take quite a bit of coordination inside an organization to create an integrated approach to customers – whether that’s in customer service, marketing, sales, or any other customer-facing function. Company silos can create inconsistent messaging and treatment for and of customers.
To answer your question, I often recommend those companies create a customer experience map of their interactions with customers. Described in my book, this mapping of company transactions helps to do two things.
First, since the map takes the customer’s perspective, it reveals how different internal organizations come together (or not) to impact the customer experience.
When cross-functional teams sit down and analyze this map, they usually find opportunities for process improvements, as well as areas of best practice, that will ultimately make the business more efficient, as well as more effective for the customer.
Second, a customer experience map can also help employees who are not “customer facing” to understand how their roles ultimately impact the customer experience. The map includes data and process inputs and outputs from different organizations, so employees can visually see where their outputs feed into customer interactions.
This understanding, along with cross-organizational metrics that help drive customer focus across all employees, can help everyone understand how they are a part of “taking care of customers”.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Becky, including multiple departments or business units in supporting customer service begs the question, “Who owns the service to the customer?”
Becky Carroll: As you can see from my answer above, I firmly believe that every employee participates and ultimately owns the service of the customer. Some employees interact directly with the customer to provide this service; others are serving fellow employees across departments, which empowers them to perform their customer-facing roles effectively – from the customer’s perspective.
Employee metrics focused on customer service will help make drive employee behaviors to support customer-focused initiatives.
Diva Marketing/Toby: The irony of social media is that we began this journey with a focus on bringing people together .. customers and the staff behind the brand. However, frequently it seems the objective is not building relationships but in how many friends, likes, followers and now 1+ a brand can accumulate.
You turn the tables and advise us to be your customer’s fan (love it!). How do we get out of the "collecting numbers mindset?"
Becky Carroll: Social media practitioners get into the habit of collecting numbers when they view social media as another place to run campaigns.
Social media is not a campaign – it is a strategy to build relationships.
When a company creates a social media strategy that is based on business goals, such as increasing customer share of wallet, as well as based on improving customer relationships (which can include prospects, too), rather then simply tracking “traffic” to social media properties (likes, followers, etc), we begin to move out of the campaign-mindset.
It also helps executives to better understand what we are doing with social media when we talk to them in terms of business goals and metrics as opposed to the much-touted social media “numbers”.
Diva Marketing/Toby: I’ve used social media to call companies out and also to tell companies their service or product rocks. Sometimes I’ve been acknowledged and sometimes I have not. I must admit that when I don’t get a response, but notice that other people are getting special treatment I feel slighted. How does a company scale Customers Rock service?
Becky Carroll: Customer service via social media scales best when it is part of a customer-focused culture. This type of culture is created by company management as they model servant leadership towards their employees.
When employees, all employees, see how it looks to serve others in the organization, they learn how to serve customers. Once everyone at the company understands how customer service is everyone’s job, and this is supported by management and metrics, employees will be empowered to treat all customers well – both in social media as well as in other customer-facing channels.
Diva Marketing/Toby: I agree with you .. at the end of the day it is all about the people on both side of the equation: customers and employees. As our friend Sybil Stershic reminds us although most product and services can easily become commoditized relationships built on caring service are more difficult to duplicate.
After you’ve listened (Chapter 1) and understand your customers’ need what is the first step to take in becoming a Customers Rock company?
Becky Carroll: The first step in becoming a Customers Rock company is to create a customer strategy. Companies have marketing strategies, social media strategies, and product strategies – but how many of them have a strategy for how they will treat their customers? This strategy needs to be thought-through carefully and embraced at all levels of the organization.
It should incorporate all four keys described in the book – Relevant Marketing, Orchestrated Customer Experience, Customer-Focused Culture, and Killer Customer Service – in order to create a strategy that can unlock the hidden power of your existing customers.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Becky, the Diva Marketing virtual stage is yours. Wrap it up any way you like.
Becky Carroll: I would just encourage organizations not to take their current customers for granted. They have more power than you think to help grow your business. And it’s not really hard – start with a thank you for being our customer!
Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of Diva Marketing, Toby. You rock!
Update: Becky Carroll chose Aimee's comment as the winner. As an extra bonus for us ~ Aimee graciously agreed to tell us her 3 top customer rock tips .. skip over to this post! Thanks to everyone who participated!
Bloggy disclaimer: Becky kindly comped me a copy of her book.
Do we expect too much from social media and in particular social networks? Marketers anticipate Facebook, Twitter, blogs, video sites a la YouTube, niche communities and now Google+ will not only create awareness, support customer service but increase .. ROI .. revenue. Social media has become a one-stop shop for extending the brand.
So I got to thinking .. does social media really fit as a branding tactic? First, I guess we better figure out what is this thing called "branding." Barbara Findlay Schenck's post on MSN Business On Main goes into a deep dive about traditional branding. Not only does she tell how to value your brand but provides a few definitions. She describes a brand as ~ Your brand is what people believe about the promise your business upholds and the benefits it consistently delivers.
Let's zero in on ~ benefits it consistently delivers. Let's move in closer to the word consistently. Most marketers and branding experts (ah at last we can call someone an "expert" without the world coming to a stop!) would agree that consistently is the secret sauce when it comes to branding. It's what gives us a sense of comfort and security in making that purchase decision.
There are many elements that build brand offline and in the digital world including the social web. Tactics range from the visual .. consistent logo design across all channels to the strategic .. targeting the same audience in all medias. However, social media adds the dimension of people having conversations. That changes the branding game.
So I got to thinking .. if social media is about the people/employees behind the brand interacting as their authentic selves, can there still be consistency of brand? The challenge is how to be yourself in the social web while maintaining the value and promise of your brand.
I like to think of it as adding jimmies (or sprinkles for those of you who didn't grow up in the Boston area) to an ice cream cone. The "brand" is of course the ice cream and the jimmies are the dash of extra personality and humanity that people bring to the brand. However, some brands just don't go well with bright pink sprinkles. What can you do if you are a pink person but your brand is mint green?
Now comes the extra fun part .. You can win $100!
MSN BOM is providing me with $100 to run a monthly contest. Thank you kindly MSN. This month's deal. Let's create a list of tips on how a business can use social media for branding.
What is your tip on how to use social media to support branding? The suggestion that Max & I and our special guest judge BL Ochman choose will win 100 dollars!
I am thrilled that internationally, respected, marketer B.L. Ochman has agreed to be our guest judge this month. B.L. has worked with Fortune 500 companies helping them incorporate emerging media as part of their strategy. She is the founder of the popular What's Next Blog and the innovative pet lover's site Paw Fun. Join B.L. on Twitter too!
To get you started here are ..
3 Social Media Branding Tips
1. Build the story of the brand, as well as the brand value and promise, into new employee orientation sessions.
2. Create an internal communications strategy that keeps all employees up dated about new brand strategies.
3. Ask employees, who are participating in social media how they will be the guardian of the brand, while still being their real self.
Note: More on social media and branding from Heidi Cohen
Rules of The Business on Main/Diva Marketing Social Media Branding Tips Contest
1. Post your tip for how to use social media for branding on this Diva Marketing post And on this Business On Main post.
2. Identify your post on Business On Main with the words Diva Marketing
3. Winner is at the pleasure of Diva Marketing
4. Contest ends midnight September 15, 2011
5. You must be at least 18 years of age
6. A valid eMail address must be included on the "Post a Comment Section" of your Diva Marketing comment. (How will I know where to contact you to send your check!)
That's it .. now it's your turn!
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
Graphics credit: Luster .. the cute ice cream cones are charms and pins.
