It’s a :30 spot in black and white, with Tiger Woods standing still.  He says nothing.  He blinks.  The voice over is of his father, Earl Woods, who passed away in 2006. He is talking to his son, and says, “Tiger…I am more prone to be inquisitive; to promote discussion.  I want to find out what your thinking was, I want to find out what your feelings are, and…did you learn anything?” It flashes to a black background and the simple, iconic Nike swoosh.

That’s it. The whole ad.

As I’ve considered this spot, I’ve heard and read many other opinions. Donny Deutsch went on the Today Show to discuss it.  The full video is here, but the bottom line is that he likes it. Although I didn’t watch The View this morning (nor will I ever, unless threatened with serious physical harm), I did (unfortunately) watch their opinion of the spot online.  You can see it here. Barbara Walters asks, “will this make you buy Nike?”  With no real response, she asks it again.  Although Ms. Walters is great at many things, I think it’s clear she has never done any substantial brand marketing.  TV commercials are not a call to action to go out and buy, that’s what coupons are for.  How many TV commercials or online videos have you seen that have incited you to purchase something? It’s possible, but it isn’t likely.

This spot is about building brand power, and I think Nike has a home run with this spot. No, the video itself will not make a person turn off the computer (or the TV), drive to the store and buy something from Nike.  But what it will do in many people is stir an emotion.  Not the same emotion, it will be different in each person, but when you are standing at your local sporting goods store with black Adidas shorts to your left and black Nike shorts to your right, you will likely be driven to purchase either by subconsciously weighing price value or emotion.  You may not associate this spot with your Nike purchase decision (good brand building isn’t tied back to any one event) but chances are, you’ll go with the Nike shorts because they stir some sort of visceral reaction within you, even if it’s not entirely positive.

I could speculate about why Nike went this direction, or why Tiger approved it.  I have heard the very angry admonish this spot, and the very forgiving say that it is the perfect mood for his return to sports.  I could speculate that Nike has put themselves in a fatherly position by pushing creative of this nature, but I don’t know that for sure.

What I do know is this: I’ve been thinking about the Tiger Woods Nike video all day. And that, my friends, is effective advertising.

(video embedded above, go to original article if you can’t see it)

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

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Mediagazer is a new effort from the uber-popular tech sharing community Techmeme, and is their first news vertical in almost four years. It bills itself as a site, “which will focus on the content production and distribution business, organizing topics as wide as journalism, blogging, video production, e-books, and digital distribution technologies”, and sure enough it does all of that.  There are a lot of good content assimilation sites, but I think Mediagazer will stand out as a leader if it can get enough good press early to build momentum.

I really like it’s easy-to-share buttons, with the ability to send information linked to either Mediagazer directly, or the original source of the story.  I think that is a brave and noble feature, most aggregators are trying their very best to drive as much traffic as possible directly to their own site (increase in traffic = increase in ad revenue), so the ability to link directly out is a fairly cool and risky idea. They do have sponsored news aggregation prominently displayed in the right column and halfway down the main page with no signs of traditional banner and display ads…yet. I also like the sharing simplicity, obviously aimed at social networks as the only two options are Twitter and Facebook.  Honestly, those are the only two places I ever share news anyway. Naturally, Mediagazer is also on Twitter, although thus far it appears to simply be a feed from their headlines as opposed to an interactive, engaging account.

I like the navigation and sharing potential from this site, so I’ll give it a try as a news source for a couple of weeks to see if it makes it into my regular lineup.  If you try it out, let me know what you think: is Mediagazer just another news aggregator, or a useful service for finding and sharing information?

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do.  This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those.  Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

Know Yourself

I bet you weren’t expecting that one, were you? Let me explain what I mean by this: simply put, you need to know your own strengths and weaknesses, and you need to know your work flow and financial needs; this is especially true if you are consulting. Since most of us actually do know our strengths and weaknesses, maybe a better way to word this is be honest with yourself.  I saw a quote online recently that really rang true with me. Unfortunately I haven’t always followed it.

Work for full price or work for free, but don’t work for cheap.

As I applied that to many situations in the past that I have had to deal with, I see how true this is.  I could probably write an entire series of posts about why this is so important, but for now I’ll just let you ponder it and apply it to your own situation. In knowing yourself, you need to be honest with what your needs (or those of your organization) are, because sometimes…no matter how much you need the work…it’s better to say no to a project.  For example, if you get into something that takes up all of your time but doesn’t meet all of your financial needs you won’t be able to take on another (potentially better) project when it does come around.  I understand the horrible economy that we have been mired in, so don’t misunderstand me.  If you need to eat and pay your bills, do what you need to do….just don’t get yourself stuck in a long term commitment that paints you into a corner.  If you have an opportunity that comes up that you need financially but does not make sense as a long-term project, consider offering to get the client started and in the right direction then training them how to do it themselves or pass it on to another person (see the previous post “Know Other Professionals“).  If this is the case, make sure you make it clear up front, otherwise you are going to be involved in some unpleasant conversations quickly.

Knowing yourself and being honest about where you are amazing and where you are weak is paramount to all business, not just social media.  Many of the successes that I’ve had in my career have been a direct result of taking on projects that are in alignment with my strengths.  Of course the flip side of this is true also…many of the failures that I’ve had along the way (and trust me, there are plenty) are a direct result of trying to do things that are outside of my scope of excellence.  It’s very tempting, when a new project comes along, to try to force it to fit into the mold that is your profession; don’t be taken by this foolishness.  Instead, seek out projects that you can knock out of the park.

Regarding the financial piece, I want to state again…sometimes the best business decision is to pass on a project.  This is often counterintuitive, but then again many aspects of business are.  Knowing yourself well usually helps in this decision. When considering a new social media project, don’t just consider the financial gains of the first check you receive from the client but really ponder what this will mean to your business 30, 60 even 120 days from now.  Beyond making a wise financial decision and working within your scope of excellence, don’t discount the chemistry that will be needed between you and the client.  There are people in this world that we just don’t get along with sometimes, no matter how nice they or you are.  If you have a meeting or two as you are pitching the program, sometimes you just get that gut feeling that the relationship is going to be painful.  Listen to your gut, spare yourself the trouble.  Why am I including this in the section about knowing yourself as opposed to the first part which was knowing the client? Because sometimes the problem is you, not the client.  You need to know yourself well enough to know when you will not be able to communicate or perform in such a way as to meet (and hopefully exceed) the client’s expectations.  Clients come and go, but your reputation sticks with you for a long time…treat it as the valuable asset that it is and know when to bow out of the process.

I hope you have enjoyed and learned from this “what you need to know about social media” series.  I’ve written in from the heart and from memories of bumps and bruises along the way, not from a text book or a news blog that I read.  The world of social media marketing is really just juvenile in development so there is a great, unchartered frontier in front of us.  I’m incredibly excited for what 2010 holds in terms of product development, commercial adaptation and soon-to-be-discovered rock stars for all that social media is.   Whatever your part in the chain, whether a service developer, manager for a large agency or a consultant working from your couch in front of the TV, thank you for all that you do to make this new media so dynamic and amazing.

Here’s to looking at 2009 in the rear view mirror, and to the unknown adventure of 2010 that lies ahead of us!

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

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Photos used under Creative Commons License. Reflections photo from LollyKnit and quote photo by ct☮

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do.  This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those.  Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

Know Other Professionals

It’s important that you don’t get yourself into something that is not a good use of your time.  Know your strengths and weaknesses, and if part of a package deal is to provide a service that you aren’t strong in…hire it out.  I’m not kidding.  Hire it out, no matter how big or small you are.  Believe me, in the corporate agency world this practice isn’t just commonplace, it’s expected.  Think about building a social media program like building a house, and you are the general contractor. It’s your job to make sure the work gets done, and you may even pick up a hammer and hop in to help.  Leave the plumbing to the pros and focus on the big picture.  I know the temptation is to try to do it all yourself so that you’ll get paid more, but in my experience 9 times out of 10 this doesn’t work out quite as expected, and unmet expectations abound on both sides.

I’ve heard it said that the day you get a client is the day you start losing them…this idea is reinforced quickly if you try to do work that is outside of your scope of expertise. If you agree to do everything for a client and then actually try to do it all yourself, chances are great that you are either going to under-perform or miss your time line…or both! A good social media program typically involves strategy, deployment, creative assets, copy writing, analytics and reporting. Given that one of the key components of social media is immediacy and timing, trying to do all of this by yourself probably isn’t going to work.  It’s great to have a new client, but it’s even better to keep those clients and renew contracts quarter after quarter or even year after year. I think one of the best ways to insure that you keep them when it’s time to negotiate is to make sure that you are playing to your strength, and subbing out your weaknesses or those things that aren’t worth your time.

A good example of this usually involves creative assets. If you work with your client for any amount of time, eventually they will ask you for video creation or editing. Is this something you’re really good at? Most people aren’t, and trying to learn something like this on the go is very time consuming, which means you’re going to lose a ton of money trying to figure it out…and then you probably won’t deliver an A+ product anyway.  Take the time to get to know a video person or two (in case the first is busy) so that when it does come time to chop something up and syndicate it to YouTube in a short time frame you can deliver and not let the overall campaign suffer because you don’t know what you are doing.  Beyond video there are many other areas that you may want to look for assistance, particularly in the areas of creative and analytics.

How to develop your network – In terms of expanding your professional relationships, there really aren’t any shortcuts if you want to produce strong and lasting connections; and trust me on this, you want to.  I’ve met most of the people I know online at first, then usually in person later.  I go out of my way to find and follow interesting people on Twitter, and I particularly like to find folks in the cities I frequent: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and New York.  As well as I get to know people this way, I almost always do business with people that I’ve met face to face.  For that, I try to attend a few local tech and marketing events each month.  Be careful with this, if you try to attend everything (especially in the larger markets) then you’ll spend a lot of time and money socializing.  These days, when I attend an event in Los Angeles I usually set up Twitter searches for the hashtag or event name a few weeks ahead of time then pay attention to who is talking about attending.  I’ll usually engage them online with something like, “Hey I see you’re going to be at the such and such event in West Hollywood next week, let’s make time to say hi”, and of course when the event rolls around I make the effort to meet them.  If you start going to these, make sure you give a quick glance over my article “Social Tech Event Survival Guide“…if nothing else you’ll remember to bring breath mints ;)

After meeting people at the event(s), make sure to follow up with them with a quick email, reminding them of who you are and what you do.  I usually reserve phone calls for those that I need to do immediate business with…the debt of the call and voicemail can honestly be too burdening on an alright tight work schedule.  An email shows that you remember them and that you are interested in keeping in touch, but it’s something that they can address in their time and on their terms.  Naturally these days I also put up a friendly tweet thanking them for their time.

Because of my efforts of the years to seek out friendly and awesome people, I have a network of artists, copy writers, attorneys (yes, they come in handy sometimes), video editors and just about every other profession that I would ever need to tap in social media.  When the time comes to subcontract with them I usually try to hire them on terms that will account for about 30% of the allocated money for that particular project, which also allows room for management and overhead.  Not only am I covered professionally, but I have to say…now when I walk into a tech event it’s really nice to see many people that I consider friends.

Knowing other professionals can be critical to the success of a social media program.  Next, in the final installment of this six part series I will talk about something that is even more important…knowing yourself.

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

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Photos used under Creative Commons License. Seated professionals from thinkpublic and Blogworld photowalking from John Pozadzides

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do.  This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those.  Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

Know The Channels

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Ustream, blogs, forums and all of the other communities in social media each have a different feel, and as such have different rules and therefore different results should be expected.  I’m going to go on record as saying that, in my opinion, trying to target all areas is a big mistake unless you have an incredibly well resourced team.  For most of the Fortune 500 companies that I work with we target a handful of channels based upon the brand needs and expectations…I don’t think there is such a thing as a cookie cutter social media program.  Why?  Because the need of every client is different (remember that part I wrote about knowing your customer?)  That said, there are a few basics that should be covered, but once you have established those you’ll want to match specific needs with specific communities.  If you try to be all things to all people you’re going to get spread too thin.

When I present to a group that contains companies that haven’t yet jumped into social media, I get one question consistently, “where should I start?”  It’s a pretty difficult question to answer with any brevity because it’s like somebody asking “where should I start with business?” or “where should I start with marketing?” Social Media is such a broad scope of platforms, but when going through a 10 minute Q&A after a presentation and trying to answer as many questions as possible, I usually say “If you do nothing else, start a blog and have a presence on Facebook and Twitter”.  That said, it’s not always the answer for everybody, but it’s a good shotgun approach to start.  Following is a quick overview of the feel of each channel, with some possible pitfalls that you can experience in each.

Twitter – By now most companies have heard of Twitter and are anxious to get involved.  Recently it has been a lot easier for me to discuss Twitter strategy with organizations, a far cry from the days not too long ago that I insisted that Twitter names should be put on business cards (that got me laughed out of meetings in 2008). In the rush to get to this channel however, make sure you know what you are in for.  Twitter is extremely conversational and therefore is immediate and personal.  One of the biggest mistakes I see companies both large and small making on Twitter is trying to get their PR or legal department to approve everything that is published.  Yes, I’m serious…there are plenty of companies that still insist on running every single tweet through multiple PR teams to make sure the messaging is spot on.  The problem with this? Twitter is usually more like a conversation than a presentation.  Most companies that try this find out that their growth, engagement and brand lift are slow if not completely void.  The other extreme (and also a mistake) is to put a well-intentioned intern or recent hire in charge of communicating with your customers.  I don’t think this is a mistake because of age, but because of experience with the company.  Twitter is often the most immediate and intimate touch point with your current and future customers; make sure you put your best and brightest people behind this channel…and pay them well! They can make or break your reputation in just a few key strokes.

Facebook - With 350MM users and growing it’s the largest social network online, so certainly you need to be a part of it.  Facebook has its own feel also, and that is one of sharing and playing.  Facebook doesn’t necessarily have the feel of immediacy that Twitter does, but fans do have their own demands.  They want to share things with their friends and generally have fun, so your business should respond accordingly.  Encourage fans of your brand to upload their own photos and videos to your wall and get them to talk to each other.  Build community! Be careful about sweepstakes and giveaways however, there are some recent changes to Facebook’s terms of service that can get you suspended in a hurry if you are holding contents the wrong way from your brand fan page.

Blogs - Don’t forget about the blogs! They often get left off the list of social networks, but they are one of the original and the best.  I tell my clients that their company blog should be the official word on all things related to them, from press releases to product updates to setting online rumors and leaks straight.  This is the place that you have control to say what you need to say…but the community can still interact! If you want traffic through your blog, make it easy for people to find information (have a search bar prominently displayed near the top of the page), interact with you(don’t make them register or fill out CAPTCHA to comment) and share with their friends (use ShareThis, Tweetmeme buttons, etc.)  Commenting on blogs has slowed down considerably because of conversational channels like Twitter, but people still read them.  Make sure you keep your company blog current and relevant.

Although I’ve highlighted these three channels, there are so many others that can be beneficial to your company.  YouTube is the place to upload original video content, Ustream is incredible for hosting live events or doing video chats with fans and Foursquare is still a great (and mostly untapped) opportunity to geo-target your customers with special offers and incentives.  There are thousands of social networks around, make sure you find the ones that are good for your company then dive in and participate with your community!

In the next post I will talk about what it means to know other professionals.

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

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Photos used under Creative Commons License. Twitter mashup from Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten and blogging ticket from Jacob Botter

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do. This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those. Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

Know The Product

I think this is the single biggest mistake that I see over and over and over again…lack of product knowledge when you are doing work for somebody else.You may be running a campaign for a durable good or a service. Sometimes it’s just brand awareness so there is not one thing you are pointing to, just the brand. No matter what it is, if you don’t know the ins and outs of what you will be marketing you are doing your client, their customers and yourself a huge disservice. I’ve been invited in to too many conversations that go something like this:

Them: Hey, we’re working on social media engagement for Product X, would love your advice on where to start.

Me: Sounds good. What do you know about the product, what is the community going to be talking about when we open up the social media channels?

Them: Well, I know it does blah blah blah, and our initial benchmark report shows that people mostly want to know about blah blah blah.

Me: Super. What is your personal impression of Product X? What do you like and dislike about it? What do you know about it that the general public does not, something that would be helpful that we can discuss with them?

Them: Ummmm….what?

Me: What’s your hands-on experience with it? Who are the competitors? What do the real fanboys of Product X think about it?

Them: I don’t know, I haven’t actually used it.

Get To Know The Product Or Service You Will Be Promoting

Don’t let this be you. If you’re dealing with large agencies and brands you can probably rest on your laurels for a while without being discovered, but once you start the engagement process with the consumers of the product or service, you’re going to be eaten alive. You won’t be able to join conversations, you’ll essentially be an observer, pushing out information but not truly being able to engage. The result? You’ve just turned social media into traditional media, the one way podium of information pushing. Please don’t do this, it’s bad for you, it’s terrible for your client and the customers that you manged to attract during your initial jump into social will either stop engaging your or simply go away.

Before you get into the world of social media, do your homework. What is the market share? Who is the competition? If this is something that you are able to use (service or good) personally? Try to get your hands on it; if it’s too expensive or unattainable for any reason, don’t be afraid to ask the client for access. The most effective campaigns and programs are those that are run by people that understand and are passionate about what they are talking about. This is often misunderstood on the consultant/agency side, and the results are made obvious quickly: when it comes to engagement in the channels (especially Twitter), you will get called out as a phony pretty quickly. You need to have knowledge of what you are talking about. If you need inspiration, go watch some episodes of Mad Men. I’m serious. When Don Draper and his team really try to understand the product, the creativity starts flowing and the campaigns are successful. The big difference? Their audience couldn’t talk back to them in real time…the world of social media isn’t quite as forgiving.

Want to know how to really close a deal with your client? When you’re at your face-to-face meeting, pull out their product or call it up on your computer, then talk to them about what you like about it personally and how you are going to engage their audience based upon YOUR experience. Of course there are other factors that will determine the program and who they chose for the work (like cost, reputation, etc), but I can tell you from personal experience, this never hurts. Your client wants to know that you’re more than a shill…they want to work with somebody that believes in what they are producing as much as they do. Prove to them that you are that person.

In the next post I will talk about what it means to know the audience.

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

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Photos used under Creative Commons License. Facebook photo from Laughing Squid and Zune from Joe Wilcox

Part 1 of 6

Over the years I’ve run a lot of social media programs, sometimes for companies or services that I own or manage, sometimes for organizations that have hired me to consult or drive their efforts in the various online communities.  This article is primarily aimed at those that do the latter, although several points can apply to the former.  That is to say, if you are a consultant or work at an agency whose primary focus is running social programs for somebody else, I’m writing this for you.

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do.  This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those.  Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

You may notice, if you’ve peeked ahead, that there is only one item in this post.  Why did I title it “6 Things You Need to Know”?  There are six in total, so be patient. However, as I wrote this post it because evident to me very quickly that I couldn’t possibly make a quick bullet point list without some thorough explanation…information without context is often misunderstood.  Therefore, I’m going to break this up into six different posts, each with a slightly different focus.  Hopefully all six can be read individually, but really they are meant to come together to form a more complete picture.  As always, if you have question I would be happy to try to answer them.  Leaving a comment here is a great way, but I’m also overly-active on Twitter, so please hit me up there as well.  Without further adieu I give you point one of six in things that you need to know about running a social media program.

Point 1: Know Your Client

You’ve made contact.  Maybe you’ve done the selling, maybe somebody else has…no matter.  We’re jumping past that and right into the assumption that the scope of the work lies ahead of you. It’s easy to get so eager for the sale that once it happens you don’t take the time to get to know your client personally.  I’m not talking about finding out their kids’ names, although if you get to that level of a relationship it’s nice.  I’m talking about understanding the type of personality you are working with, and how they operate professionally.  Running a campaign for a very laid back, hands-off person is far different than running one for somebody that expects reports and heavy communication.  Make no mistake….the point person on the other side is essentially paying your salary.  It’s just as important to understand them as it is your direct boss.  If you don’t have a boss because you are a consultant, don’t let this point get lost, because it’s even more important for you.  If you cannot operate well with your point person, you do not have much to fall back on…your boss isn’t going to rescue you.

Knowing How Your Client Communicates Is Critical

The first thing I like to do with a new client is establish how they prefer to communicate.  Some will want to do almost everything over email, some will want a lot of phone time, and some with need that always-critical face time.  By establishing their best method of communication up front you’re going to save yourself a lot of trouble.  For example, if somebody really does prefer updates and chatter through email, calling them regularly is going to annoy the hell out of them.  Likewise, if they prefer phone or in-person updates, trying to force them down the path of email only will instantly make them feel like they are not important to you.  Being the social media guy that I am, I prefer to do quick touch points via Twitter and the like…but I know that most of my clients do not.  I like to suggest new and effective ways of communicating, but I always communicate with them on their terms, in their preferred method. An important part of understand how you will be communicating is to know when they want reports, check ins, etc.  I have a couple of clients that I speak to every day, and some that I only check in with once per week.  In all cases, we make this determination together at the beginning of the project. Both over-communication and under-communication can kill a relationship quickly.

Understanding Client Expectations Prevents A Lot Of Problems Before They Start

Once you know how they communicate, it’s important to understand what they want communicated.  If you’re dealing with a traditional company that is used to traditional metrics, they’re going to jump straight to easy-to-measure things like follower count, tweets, video views,click through rates, etc.  Companies that are more comfortable with social media may look for key indicators that are more subjective, like sentiment.  All of these are important to measure and report, but make sure you know where you client wants to put their emphasis. I strongly recommend developing a reporting template that can be used and re-used with each client, making only slight changes for each.

It sounds exhausting before the work is even started, right? I assure you, time and time again setting this foundation with the client and being open and clear about expectations on both sides will make for a much smoother program…and that ultimately leads to more work, more revenue and fewer headaches.

In the next post I will talk about what it means to know the product.

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

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Photos used under Creative Commons License.  Social media from anonymonk and telephone booth from wallyg with cartoon from Scott Hampson

I have recently signed on as the Senior Director of Social Media Strategy with M80, the Los Angeles based leading provider of social media marketing and digital publicity services to Fortune 500 brands.  That’s a mouthful, isn’t it?  Simply put, I work with some of the most amazing companies from around the globe, helping them to reach out, listen to and engage their current and future customers.

I’m humbled and excited to be in this role.  The staff of M80 consists of some of the brightest and most forward-thinking men and women that I have had the privilege to work with, and what we have been able to accomplish together in just the last few weeks in amazing to me.  Although I probably won’t get into granular detail with what we are doing (need to keep some of the wizard behind the curtain stuff behind the curtain still…) I will continue to write about how social media and technology impacts both brands and consumers.  I actually hope to be writing more now, as I’m spending so much time on airplanes.

Me and my Zune HD

I am working with some amazing global brands like Microsoft, LG, Dr Pepper, and Volkswagon.  All of our projects are incredibly interesting and exciting, and if you have been following me for some time you know that I am really passionate about one in particular: Zune.  In the interest of full disclosure, I do advise the truly delightful people at Zune, but my enthusiasm should come as no surprise to anybody that has been reading this blog for any amount of time.  I wrote my first Zune post in July 2006, and did the math about why Zune is superior in this June 2008 article (boy did I get blasted by the fanboys in the comments!) I’ll keep blogging, tweeting and Facebooking about them and our other clients, but now I can do it as a loyal consumer and an industry insider!

As usual, I will continue to use social media to make personal connections with people, both digitally and in the real world.  Twitter is my daily hotbed of activity, but I would also love to connect with you on LinkedIn and Facebook. If you want to subscribe to this blog, the feed is here.

I would love it if you would also start tracking M80 in the usual places like Twitter and our blog.  We’ll be striving to provide value to you, information that you can use (like this article) within your company or just for your own personal satisfaction.

Thank you so much for being a part of this community!

You won’t see babies rollerskating or a funny wedding entrance in this…what you will see in a lot of data coming at you quickly. Data that talks about the changing communication landscape, the convergence of media and the massive impact that social networks are having on day to day life. I think it’s all incredibly fascinating, and is a brilliant and useful follow-up to another powerful video, “Shift Happens”. If you are connected to media, social networking, marketing or crowd communication in any way, please check this out and let me know what you think in the comments…not just about the video (which is top quality) but about the concepts and statistics brought up in it.

The “real world” primarily consists of three groups of people in the goods and services lifecycle: creators, reports and consumers.

The Three Real World Groups

Creators represent the smallest segment, and most people that come to me for business and marketing consultation are in this group.  They are the makers, the business leaders, the companies that are producing something that they want to get into others’ hands. In the virtual world there are a few standouts like Amazon and Zappos (or is that now Zamazon?), but there are also millions of smaller players, and they aren’t necessarily distributing products; many service companies now what to sell you ideas to make your life better or service professionals to do work for you.  It doesn’t stop there; non-profits have hit the scene with causes and social ideas that they are creating and distributing through social networks and other online venues. The creators make the things that we need…or think we do.

Traditionally, the consumer lifecycle has been in three very distinct groups

Reporters represent the pundits, the talking heads, the reviewers and the public square criers. These are newspaper sites, blogs and other groups that tell us about what the creators are doing, because frankly most creators are pretty lousy at getting that information out themselves.  These groups usually have massive audiences (distribution channels) and produce content rapidly, in short and easy-to-digest segments (most readers lose interest before they hit the 600 word mark).  What is interesting to me about this group is that they are often hailed as collective industry leaders, change agents and cultural guides…yet very rarely do they produce any original content beyond a pithy opinion at the end of a press release usually written by the a creator.

Consumers by far represent the largest of the three groups, yet are the hardest to talk to.  As creators and reporters argue back and forth about how the one needs the other more, the reality is that neither group can survive without the consumers and they know it.  The consumers read the blogs, try the goods  and ultimately spend the money that keeps the other two going.  If you were to look at the online world as a cocktail party, the creators and the reporters are making all the noise and seem to be the life of the party, but they are surrounded and outnumbered by the consumers on a staggering scale, though usually the consumers will only sit quietly by, observing and occasionally writing something in the comments section.

That was the world before social media.

The New Class of Hyrbrid

Now things are different, and in a dramatic fashion.  You see, no longer do these three groups need to be so separated…there are a couple of new groups that have entered the scene: hybrids of the existing classes.

New Media and easy internet publishes has created hybrid classes within the consumer lifecycle

Creator/Reporters:  whereas the old mom and pop manufactures (those that didn’t have massive PR and marketing budgets) were really confined to smaller, local markets and relied heavily on personal word of mouth advertising, now they are able to reach a global audience with the same ease as their seaminlgy-overwhelming big box competitors.  In the real world, a small company that makes mismatched socks in sets of 3 could probably only survive on a boutique street in a trendy neighborhood.  Thanks to the web, companies like Little Miss Matched can not only survive, but thrive! They can use outlets like Twitter and Facebook to spread the word about their products, then let the users from around the web continue to comment, report, review and react to their brand.

Reporter/Consumers: up until recently, consumers didn’t really have a voice.  I grew up in a small town, and the only way one could praise or condemn a company was either a letter to the editor in the newspaper or a chat with the neighbors at the park.  Seriously.  Now what do we have?  Consumers can (and will) set up blogs, Twitter feeds and Facebook pages with just a few clicks of a mouse to share these same thoughts, but usually on a much larger scale.  Sometimes the “reports” of the consumers are circulated around a small group of friends on Twitter, and sometimes they make big waves around the world, such as the case of “United Breaks Guitars”.  Big or small, it doesn’t matter…the ability for the consumer to report is incredible and powerful, and should never be taken for granted.

The Takeaway

People that are stuck in the first model, where the groups are in three distinct buckets, are missing the point of social media.  No longer is there merit in a company complaining that they just don’t have the ability to reach out like the big companies.  While there are some obvious truths to a complaint like that (have you seen the prices of Super Bowl ads?), for the most part a little bit of time and money can produce incredible, far reaching results and allow you to skip right over the previous middle man that was the reporting and communicate directly with your customers…or future customers!

Likewise for the consumer, bad customer service and shoddy craftsmanship in overpriced products really should not be tolerated any longer.  This is not to say that you should constantly complain on Twitter about every little corporate pet peeve or bad experience you have…because I do not personally advocate that.  It does mean that you are closer than ever to the companies, and you likely have the ability to reach out to them.  I try to stay positive online and praise companies far more than I condemn them, hopefully this is no different than life outside of the keyboard and monitor.  Before I rant about bad service online, I do what I can to reach out to that company.  Sometimes this takes place on the phone, but hopefully now I can reach most folks on Twitter.

With the new connectivity that we are experiencing globally, leverage the opportunities that are before you, whether you are a creator or a consumer.  Jump into the conversation and tell your sphere of influence what you think…what you like, dislike and hope for.  That, my friends, is the joy and responsibility of social media.

(Photo used under Creative Commons License http://www.flickr.com/photos/purpletwinkie/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)