Social media: Old people rule!

Aug 7th

4 comments

Today I’m pleased to introduce a special guest-blogger, my daughter Lauren, who provides a 20-something perspective of social media. Lauren is an awesome young woman (with a capital AWE) and is a junior majoring in Public Relations at Indiana University. She is also completing a summer internship with a company in San Francisco.

This week, my boss asked me to construct his company’s first Facebook page and establish a presence on Twitter. My qualification? I’m young.

The truth is, I probably know less about social media marketing than he does … Tweet what?

Sure, I am a child of the new media generation. But, the truth is, my generation is still trying to figure all this stuff out too! Granted, there are a handful of SM savvy hipsters who can tweet and blog their way through life, but half of us can’t figure out what to do with all this stuff.

Sure, we all have Facebook or MySpace pages and we love YouTube, but at college, we’re using these channels just for fun and we’re too self-involved to realize that SM can be used by businesses on so many other levels.

The “youth-as-social-media-change-agents” myth got pumped up to a whole new level a few weeks ago when a much-publicized 15-year-old delivered a report on media channels to Morgan Stanley. Not all of us in the under-25 bracket can do that … most of us are just not that precocious!

The only reason I’m on Twitter is because my Dad is there. When I found out he was on Twitter I thought, “Whoa! The old man is on Twitter? I must be falling behind!” Truth is, my whole generation is behind. Nearly every study shows that people OVER 25 are the ones most rapidly adopting social media … not us. And the fastest-growing category on Facebook is over 50!

Here’s my point: For all of you from the generation ahead of me who have been running rampant through SM sites to compete with my generation of “digital natives,” SLOW DOWN. You’re winning a race against a competitor that doesn’t even know the race exists!

The social media finish line looks a lot clearer in your reading glasses, than in my generation’s youthful 20-20 vision.

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Social Media’s Economy of Giving

Aug 6th

3 comments

In the first article in this four-part series, I defined the three elements that contribute to business benefits through social media:
Connections + Meaningful Content + Authentic Helpfulness = Business Benefits.
In this final article, we’ll examine the difficult issue of Authentic Helpfulness.
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

This famous quote pretty much writes this article for me. It perfectly represents the helping spirit that oils the engine of social media every day.
For me, this final element takes on a spiritual quality. I’m convinced there is a social media “economy of giving” that provides untold benefits. You may never know when or how, but true kindness will find its own reward, first in your heart and eventually, through the returned kindness of others.
We are on the cusp of a unique era! We are the only generation in history to have free, instantaneous, global communication. What will you do with this gift? Will you use it to hawk porn and get-rich quick schemes? Or, will you reach for something as great as this moment? How will you use social media to listen, care, respond, and find some small way to help your connections through their daily struggles?

You, my friend, have been blessed in many special ways. Perhaps it’s your talent, your experience, your heart, your ability to listen or make people laugh … maybe it’s even your pain. All of these have the potential to comfort, teach, inspire … and draw people closer to you.

It takes courage to be authentic. Sometimes I fail in the face of a harsh and critical world. I’m afraid of being misunderstood, unintentionally hurting somebody, or leaving myself open to scolding criticism when I write something provocative or bold. I strive to be transparent — when I’m happy or sad or angry, you’ll probably know it. But emotions, especially in written form, can be misunderstood, too.
But I know “authentic” is what I have to be — and what YOU have to be — to form a meaningful connection in a digital world. Authentic helpfulness earns loyalty, respect and friendship.
This concludes the series on C + MC + AH = Business Benefits, but I’m sure these important concepts will be re-visited constantly. What does authentic helpfulness mean to you? How does the whole formula land on you?
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{grow} Tops July social media blog rankings

Aug 5th

8 comments

My friend Jamie Wallace called to my attention that in the latest B2B marketing zone’s ranking of top blog articles, {grow} had the number 1 article (or more) in every HOT TOPIC category for the month of July!

Article category and {grow} article ranking:

SOCIAL MEDIA
1) The Biggest Lie in Social Media Marketing, July 19, 2009
2) Social media measurement — It’s like being a great bartender, July 29, 2009
3) An interview with GE’s Social Media Wizards, July 2, 2009
4) Crunching the real numbers on social media ROI, July 20, 2009

TWITTER
1) Twitter for business: Four breakthrough insights, July 12, 2009

SOCIAL MEDIA MEASUREMENT
1) Social media measurement — It’s like being a great bartender, July 29, 2009
2) Creating a measurement plan without losing your marbles, July 27, 2009
3) The Biggest Lie in Social Media Marketing, July 19, 2009
4) Twitter for business: Four breakthrough insights, July 12, 2009

SALES
1) Crunching the real numbers on social media ROI, July 20, 2009

This is all very cool and very humbling! Congratulations to Jamie for penning the number 1 and number 2 articles in the social media measurement category. Thank you loyal readers, supporters and friends for being right here. Your comments, calls and emails push me to do better every day.

I am going to go have a beer now.

The biggest obstacle to social media business success

Aug 5th

15 comments

This is the third in a series exploring the keys to achieving business benefits in social media:
 
Connections + Meaningful Content + Authentic Helpfulness = Business Benefits.
Let’s continue the discussion with the second element, MEANINGFUL CONTENT.

To turn online connections into serious business relationships, you need to surround your cyber-self with useful, interesting content. Difficulty in providing consistent, meaningful content is the NUMBER ONE reason people give up and never achieve social media business benefits. So you just have to find a way to do it! First, let’s get those excuses out of the way:

  1. If you’re interesting, entertaining and funny, people will be drawn to you. But if you’re shy and have difficulty being entertaining, you just can’t provide content, so why try?
  2. Takes too much time. No person with a full-time job can possibly have time for the incremental effort needed for social media. Who has time to write a blog???
  3. Social media is just a stupid fad any way.

We are not going to accept these excuses, right? RIGHT! So, I’ve worked up a strategy for you to efficiently deliver meaningful content even if you’re not a natural writer. All you have to do is be yourself and tenaciously ENGAGE. Ideas to create content for the non-writer, in just a few minutes a day:

  • In the last post, I emphasized the importance of joining Linked-In Groups. Now become INVOLVED. Twice a week, respond to a question or comment in the group. You can answer questions can’t you? Of course you can! Time commitment: 20 min/week.
  • Once a week, peruse online magazines related to your industry. Find an interesting article. Leave an opinion or your appreciation in the comment section then tweet the article out to your followers on Twitter. You’ve created meaningful content twice. Time = 15 min
  • Find five or more blogs related to your industry and put them in an aggregator like Google Reader. Once you have this set up, review blog content at least once a week and comment + tweet out your favorite articles. 15 min
  • Find interesting and useful content that has already been created by your company. Are there ways you can reference this content to help others, solve problems, and answer questions?
  • In the last post we talked about finding connections through Facebook. Now visit them. Share, engage, comment, react, ask more questions. 20 min
  • Tweet AT LEAST three times a day (at different times), AT LEAST three days a week. (45 min/week)

At first, I know it can be difficult to figure out what to tweet, but you have to keep at it! When you get stuck, here are some subject matter ideas to get you going again.

  • An entertaining observation you made – it could be a funny bumper sticker, a movie or a commercial you saw on TV.
  • Something interesting related to your business or industry. But DO NOT SELL. Here’s an example of something appropriate: “Finally landed a great contract – business has been tough.” Or, “Went to a great training program on social media today – I recommend it”
  • Re-tweet a particularly good article or post provided by somebody you follow.
  • Comment on an observation made by one of your followers.
  • Take a picture from a place you’re visiting and comment on it.
  • Express an opinion on a national news story.
  • Ask a question and authentically seek help from the community.
  • Thank followers who do something nice for you, like mentioning you on a Follow Friday.

To provide meaningful content, you don’t have to write a lot, but you MUST COMMIT. You know that old saying: You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him tweet. I can’t make you engage, but I promise that you can’t be successful without it.

If you were to help a friend get started in social media, what other ideas do you have?

Tomorrow, the final part of the success formula: Authentic Helpfulness.

Other articles in this series:

Part 1: A formula for social media business success

Part 2: Building meaningful business connections

Part 4: Social Media’s Economy of Giving

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