Archive for October, 2011
OK. 30,000 followers. Now what?
Oct 31st
Back in college I had this hilarious geology professor who told me that “tsunami” was Japanese for “Where in the hell did all that water come from?”
That’s kind of how I feel about life on the web at the moment. I just hit 30,000 followers. That’s crazy.
Two years ago, I started a tradition of documenting my social media journey and at each major milestone, I write a post describing what it is like and how things are going. I just hit 30,000 followers so it is time to reflect on the situation.
When I started writing this post, it started out describing the mechanics of connecting with so many followers but it morphed into a psychological self-examination. I decided to cut out the parts about Twitter tips and expose the raw edge because there has been a significant personal development since my last “journey” blog post.
In a very small way, in a very small niche, I am achieving an element of celebrity. I have a gag reflex even saying that, but I can’t be honest without describing it that way. And I’m not handling this situaiton so well.
The tribe grows
First, the numbers. Friends and followers has grown as I mentioned, but is also escalating. It took me 18 months to get 10,000 followers, a year for 20,000 and six months for 30,000. This is being fueled by teaching, speaking, The Tao Twitter, and the blog.
My virtual assistant and I continue to prune the spammers. If I didn’t do that I would probably have 100,000 followers by now. I love the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, all my Twitter followers are real people. So the number is big, but the tribe is real, and amazing!
Whether it is because of the “social proof” of the numbers or (hopefully) the way I am connecting with people through my speaking and writing, people are starting to describe me as an “A-Lister.” This makes me cringe. I walked into a room last week and somebody said “here’s the superstar.” Some people tell me they are “fans.” Others have said they are afraid to talk to me.
This is a deeply uncomfortable situation. I am just a guy writing a blog, a husband, a father, a friend, a son, a brother, a teacher, a writer, a business adviser. That’s plenty for me. That’s a good place to be.
Celebrity as a mindset
This notion of “celebrity” exists in people’s minds and there is nothing I can do about that, but here is my wish: I want you to know that I am no more worthy than you … or anybody, for that matter. Every person is amazing in their own way.
I know when people use these terms they are meant with affection and I want to handle it with grace but boy I am out of my element with this fan stuff. And it’s about to get much worse.
This situation is going to be profoundly more challenging when my new book comes out in a few months (will be announcing this in a few days when the title is finalized). Here is my promise on the book — It is going to be unlike any other book you have ever read on business and marketing. You are going to love it. And I know that to do a good job for my publisher McGraw Hill, I’m going to have to be in the spotlight. In fact, I will need to seek it.
That “40,000 milestone report” I will be writing for you a few months from now is going to be interesting. How do I promote myself and this book without coming across as a jerk? I am seriously concerned about this. It goes against the grain. I love to write, teach, and help businesses grow, but I don’t seek to be a “celebrity.” Increasingly, that seems impossible to avoid.
The results of the experiment?
Now I know this seems improbable. You may be thinking … “Geez you idiot, how can you expect to write a book and not have to deal with the spotlight?”
I have been simply following what seems like a natural path. Consulting and teaching led to the blog. The blog led to The Tao of Twitter, which took off like a rocket. That book led to more speaking and exposure. New ideas formed and I started writing the next book. And then, I looked up and people were calling me an “A-Lister.” Ummm …. what???
People go into acting to become famous. People run for office to achieve power. I did not start the blog to become a celebrity. It was an experiment.
And here is what the experiment proved. With content and an engaged network, anybody can have influence now. Even me.
So it is what it is. I know that as long as I am engaging and writing, people will have this expectation of me and that’s the way it will be from now on. So I need to view this as a privilege and deal with it gracefully.
This turned into a stream of consciousness blog post, eh? Maybe too weird? Oh well. I decided to let it rip. Yes, this is one of those times I wondered about pushing the “publish” button. I exposed the edge and took a risk but I trust you guys.
Are celebrities made or born? Do you have to have a certain kind of personality to thrive in the spotlight?
I know I can stay centered in my personal life, but is it possible to find joy outside the comfort zone? How do I re-frame this situation so I can stop cringing every time somebody puts me in the spotlight?
Dear social web, Let’s try keeping it real.
Oct 27th
I hesitate to be drawn into the Klout firing line again but I have had so many requests from the {grow} community to comment on the Klout Meltdown this week that I guess I need to respond. At the risk of adding to Klout weariness, here are a few observations.
- My Klout score dropped from 82 to 64. Who cares? My wife and kids still love me.
- Klout’s biggest competitor is PeerIndex. My score on PeerIndex is 64. Funny. They’re the same level now.
- Nobody complained that their PeerIndex score was too low.
- My friend Elizabeth Reusswig remarked that “60 is the new 80.” It’s true. As I looked at how this affected others, my RELATIVE influence stayed about the same.
- Here is the big idea most people miss about Klout. In the long run, Klout doesn’t give a damn if you’re happy with your Klout score or not. You’re not their customer. As long as they deliver the goods to brands we can go ahead and howl all we want.
- I admire Klout CEO Joe Fernandez but he created a hole for himself by announcing that the new changes would affect most people’s scores very little. If he just would have said most scores will drop for a re-set in the name of accuracy, it would have gone down a lot better.
- Recently Blogger Danny Brown ran some really concerning stuff about Klout and privacy. I agree with him. Klout has got to get on top of that or they’re going to jeopardize their success.
- Some people said that this drop in scores “proves that Klout is on the way out.” Ha! That made me chuckle. This week, Klout received another $30 mm in funding and is already valued at $200 mm. Ummm, no, they are not on their way out.
- Klout is kicking ass. They are getting tens of billions of hits to their API every month. PeerIndex just hit 100 million hits. Klout is that far ahead.
- Disney, American Express, EA Sports and other well-known brands are lined up for Klout programs. Klout said they are nearly “sold out” on Perks for December. You may think Klout is dumb, but these companies don’t. Pay attention.
- Another thing that makes me laugh … people are “heart-broken” because they put so much work into their Klout score only to see it drop. Are these the same people who are incensed when they work so hard to be the Foursquare mayor at Dunkin’ Donuts and get replaced? C’mon folks let’s get real. Go make something. Go sell something.
- I saw another big line of complaints from people who were afraid a score drop would jeopardize their job prospects. When I wrote about Klout and employment opportunities a few months ago, people thought I was making it up. Apparently some companies believe it is a sign that you are adept at using the social web. Or, it might be a sign you have too much time on your hands. Either way, it’s going mainstream.
Here is the big take-away for me over this brouhaha. Accomplishment doesn’t matter on the social web. Social proof in the way of Twitter followers or a Klout score matter more than success on your job or the great charities you support. It’s painful to acknowledge that, but it’s true. That’s the real reason people are so upset. Klout scores DO MATTER. In an information-dense society, it is an easy short-cut to determine worth.
I cover this phenomenon quite a bit in my upcoming book (There! A Tease! Power on the social web. Hmmm … wouldn’t that make a fascinating book?).
People are literally crying over a fake numeric Internet badge. Yes my friends, we are living in a very, very weird world.
Create and curate great content. Nurture a network of people who care about you. Be kind. The influence will take care of itself.
Now I am going to go play tennis with my wife.
5 great resources for social marketers, and one bad one
Oct 27th
I have finally had a little free time to plow through my stack of books and wanted to pass along five little tomes you will love and one that you won’t.
Marketing White Belt: Basics For the Digital Marketer
I love, love, love this book by braniac Christopher S. Penn. One of the themes you have seen consistently here on {grow} is an emphasis on marketing fundamentals. Social is just a channel. To succeed you need to know more than creating a Facebook page. This book fills a gaping need for solid marketing fundamentals. If you are just starting out and want to be a marketer, please read this book! Christopher is such a smart guy and a natural teacher. You’ll really enjoy White Belt.
The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social
By Jay Baer and Amber Naslund – I actually read this book months ago and continue to refer to it and recommend it in my college classes. This is an old-fashioned business book. It’s not flowery examples wrapped around a solitary idea. NOW is a legitimate framework for social media success in an organization. If I had one recommendation, it is that the book should have been longer to cover the rich subject matter. For example, NOW begins with an emphasis on the importance of a company culture that enables social media. This is spot-on thinking and they could have written an entire book on just that one subject … and I hope they do!
Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition
By Mike Stelzner – The title is a bit precocious for the book’s actual subject matter … which is really the importance and mindset of content marketing. But hey, content is king on the social web and this is the place to learn about that. Stelzner, the founder of the wildly successful Social Media Examiner, should know. He tells the story of how content — and the right mindset to use it — transformed his life. Launch explores the ideas of content from every imaginable perspective. It is the definitive handbook for creating and managing content for business success.
Last year I got to meet Grégory Pouy, one of France’s leading business bloggers, and he let me know he was working on an eBook project. I figured, oh we all need more social media eBooks, right? Little could I imagine that he was developing an authoritative FREE reference on eCommerce, filled with great case studies and facts presented in a very entertaining way. I have no idea why he’s not CHARGING for this but let’s not question it. I guarantee you will want to bookmark this resource and share it with your friends and clients!
I got turned on to this eBook by a buddy at Coca-Cola who swears by it. That got my attention! This little book, written by Jim Lecinski, Google’s Managing Director of US Sales, provides an interesting perspective of Google’s view of real-time consumer marketing. Company puff piece? Maybe, but this is an eye-popping multi-media experience filled with insights and relevant case studies. And hey, it’s FREE! Yes, ZMOT is informative, but I’d like you consider this book on another level — how is this a brilliant example of brand building through content marketing?
So I told you there would be a book in this line-up that was not so great and this is it – We Are All Weird
Here’s an example of the circular logic in the book. The book’s basic theme is that mass marketing and merchandising are dead. However, he also says that the efficiency of mass marketing and merchandising is the very thing enabling the wealth to purchase expensive niche market goods. Huh? Doesn’t sound like it’s dead to me.
Godin also marvels at the disintermediation and market efficiency of the Internet that is now connecting obscure goods with niche buyers. Welcome to the 1990s, good sir.
It seems to me that Seth looked around New York City, wondered at the glorious panapoly of goods available in this metropolis and declared it a worldwide trend. Mr. Godin, I would invite you to explore middle America where our commerce is generally governed by Wal-Mart and Taco Bell. Of course you will find weird people there, too.
These are a few from my reading list. What books are making an impact on you these days?
Disclosures: I received free review copies of Launch, The Now Revolution, and We Are All Weird. The links to the books that are not free are affiliate links. I consider Jay Baer a personal friend but would still rip his butt if he deserved it.
Picking through the bones of Social Media failures
Oct 26th
By Stanford Smith, Contributing {grow} Columnist
I’m morbidly fascinated by failure.
As of late, I’ve been scouring the web looking for failed social media programs. Unfortunately, I can find plenty of victims in the corporate world.
When I see the telltale signs of a failed effort – inconsistent publishing, abandoned Twitter accounts, and Facebook ghost towns – I zero in and start picking over the dead program’s bones.
In every case, I am looking for something specific. I want to know why the social media program didn’t live up to its promise.
Like a diligent archaeologist, I scribble what I find in moleskins that litter my home office.
Over the last month, I’ve been going through these notebooks looking for a common thread, a Rosetta Stone that will help me decipher the steps that lead to social media failure.
It’s been an interesting journey.
First, I started with the “How” of social media.
The “How” of social media is all about techniques, strategies, and clever tricks to get from A to Z a bit faster than the rest.
“How” disciples quickly diagnose a social program’s failure by pointing to its lack of post frequency, failure to use power words in retweets, neglect of sure-fire Facebook apps, and other tactical oversights.
Since I am a “How” blogger, I can’t resist attributing failure to not manipulating the tools correctly.
The problem is that I see many blogs, Twitter users, and Facebook mavens do the right things but still fail to build a sustainable social program.
I moved on and began looking for the “What” of social media.
Investigating the “What” usually uncovers strategic errors.
A business, for example, that decided to do social media because it was the new thing to do. It saw its competitors doing it and didn’t want to be left behind.
Diagnostic questions are usually…
- Did the blogger pick the right niche?
- Did the business match the right social media platform with the right objective?
- Does the blogger use the right type of content to attract visitors and build reach?
Even though these “What” questions are extremely helpful, they aren’t critical.
In the end, I settled on something so obvious that it’s easy to overlook. It’s a simple question that great businesses AND great social media practitioners ask:
Why?
Every failed social media effort did not answer this question:
“Why are we communicating with our customers?”
One must-have ingredient in successful communication of any kind is authenticity. Authenticity is born out of a clear vision and purpose. Businesses with a clear reason “Why” ooze authenticity.
- Their customer service has a sense of purpose, with an unmistakable air of genuine concern.
- Their blogs tell compelling stories that turn strangers into believers.
- Twitter becomes a steady drumbeat of “proof” that they are focused on helping their customers.
- Facebook becomes the headquarters for a vibrant community of evangelists who support and spread the cause.
Social media for these businesses is an easy extension of what they already do.
Incredibly, businesses and individuals who know “Why” they are using social media grow even if they overlook the “What” and “How”.
How to Find Your “Why”
You might be shaking your head and saying “easier said then done.” I agree with you. However, you can take some simple steps to move your social media effort in the right direction.
Create a Manifesto
Successful social media players such as Ford, Best Buy, and Dell have created a clear manifesto for their social media programs. You get the sense that they know where they are headed from reading their social media policies, which are easily accessible on their websites.
Create your own manifesto and work to gain consensus around it in your organization. If you are a solo operator, spend the time to create a manifesto that captures the fundamental values of your business.
Focus on Specific Customer Interactions
Imagining a specific customer interaction makes it easier to understand why you are using social tools.
For example, list 5 aggravating customer service issues; now decide why you need to handle these issues. If your goal is to turn detractors into fans, then your social media effort will look much different than if your goal is to simply contact upset customers quickly.
Working through how you plan to use social tools to interact with customers will help focus your “Why” and give you a jumpstart on selecting the right strategies.
Make Sense?
Are you struggling with “Why” you are using social tools? What challenges have you faced in creating your manifesto?
Stanford Smith obsesses about how to get passionate people’s blogs noticed and promoted at Pushing Social, except when he’s chasing large mouth bass.
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