So much for authenticity
May 24th
Authenticity, authenticity, authenticity.
That’s probably the most popular characteristic we prescribe for social web success, and by far the most mis-used, too — and I have an example to show you why.
I attended a social media conference last week filled with a star-studded cast of A-Listers. I was eager to see them in action.
I learned a lot, but one of these super-hyped speakers really disappointed. His presentation was profane, vulgar, and chauvinistic. The content, which gave such tired advice like “be human” and “word of mouth marketing is powerful,” seemed to be just thrown together. It was one of the worst presentations I’ve witnessed in my career.
By the body language of the people sitting around me, I sensed I was not alone in this sentiment. About a dozen people got up and left the room after the first 10 minutes. I stayed to watch the train wreck.
Two interesting things happened next.
First, I checked the Twitter stream, thinking that this guy was about to be impaled by a sophisticated audience. Here is a selection of tweets following his speech:
“XYZ rocked the room! Wow. What a presentation!”
“XYZ just showed why he is at the top of his game. I am blown away.”
“I have seen XYZ speak several times and he keeps getting better and better.”
What??? Really???
Was anybody authentic?
I knew one of the people who Twitter-gushed over his presentation, and I asked her to explain her assessment. This is what she had to say:
“I didn’t really get anything out of the presentation, and yes, I can see that it was offensive. But I was trying to support the conference organizers by tweeting positive things and hopefully getting the conference to trend. I guess I think that if you don’t have anything good to say, why say anything at all?”
The second observation was that there were no public Twitter complaints about the presentation. Not one. I found this mystifying but realized that I had not tweeted anything negative either. I didn’t want to embarrass the hard-working conference organizers. I’m also very aware that I have a very engaged audience and when I tweet something it tends to reverberate, sometimes in unexpected ways. So I do self-edit and try to set a positive tone.
I can imagine when this guy came off the stage and checked the Twitter stream he would conclude that he just gave the best speech of his life. And, in a way, I helped reinforce that, didn’t I?
So much for authenticity , huh?
What authenticity are we talking about here?
It got me thinking about the social dynamics at work. Here is a definition of authenticity:
The quality of being genuine or not corrupted from the original.
Now in this little episode, there was very little authenticity expressed through the sentiments on the social web. I didn’t express my genuine thoughts. My friend didn’t express her genuine thoughts. I’m guessing many people in the room held their true sentiments in check. Ironically the only authentic person in the whole scenario was the speaker, who was authentically ineffective.
So does social media authenticity really mean to be genuine … but only when the sentiment is positive?
I don’t think so. Here is another way to look at it. My friend and I WERE true to our principles and our public agendas. The time wasn’t right to complain or disclose our true sentiments. It would be needlessly hurtful, at least in our judgments.
The “authentic persona?”
While authenticity means being true in every way, that is just an impossible standard and it’s not what people expect any way. I am not going to come on this blog and say “I am farting constantly today” even though that might be congruent with my nature at that moment. Who needs to know that?
As individuals and brands, the best we can hope for is to be authentic personas, an ideal that we display for the world to see. It’s not necessarily true. It’s certainly not accurate. But I believe it as close to “authentic” as we can hope for. Be yourself. Only a little better.
Be who you promise to be to your tribe, not necessarily who you are.
After hearing “authenticity” being drilled into your skull through 90% of the posts you see on the social web, this idea might seem like a shock. But it drives me crazy when I see people demand that we be authentic, when in fact, nobody is. And that’s perfectly OK.
Right?
Punching through blogging barriers to find business benefits
May 23rd
I received the coolest email the other day. One of our {grow} community members, Raman Minhas of the U.K., wrote about his struggle over FOUR YEARS to get any traction for his blog — and then finally, it worked! I loved his inspirational story because I think it reflects the pattern of emotional turmoil many of us go through as bloggers. See if you agree …
By {grow} Community Member Raman Minhas
I would like to share my difficult journey as a blogger.
Hope
Four years ago, I started writing about the industry I worked in, biotech. I dutifully wrote about commercial issues affecting the business and my frustrations of the complex R&D process (a new drug can take up to 10 years and over $1 billion to develop).
I worked hard to provide insightful posts that I would “push” to my network of around 1,000 email subscribers each month. These folks had not necessarily “opted in” for my blog, but since the unsubscribe rate was always less than 0.5%, I figured it was OK. It also seemed like a good way to stay in touch. I was getting around 300 hits per month, but there was NO organic growth of my readership no matter how hard I worked. After a few years, I felt like I was spinning my wheels.
Disenchantment
Without any positive feedback,, the blogging process became wearisome and I came to dread the “time of month” to write. When I was at a very low point, I was inspired by Mark’s post, “Ten reasons to blog – even if nobody reads it.” That kept me going for a while but I still wasn’t happy. I had to find a way to push through these blogging barriers or it could not last. So after a couple of years of struggling, I performed an internal review last summer and decided to re-focus on a more interesting topic, medtech. A subtle change, but I’d previously spent six years as an emergency room MD in the UK and was more comfortable with medtech (devices, diagnostics, IT) than the abstract chemistry of new potential drugs.
Re-focus and renewal
With a clarification of my niche, my focus became much clearer. I found I could write more easily and many more topics came to mind. Writing finally became enjoyable! Through the medtech theme, I was also able to connect to my interests in entrepreneurship and value investing. This was such a breakthrough. Slowly, the page hits began to grow — perhaps readers gauged more passion and a renewed sense of energy in my content? And the blog was starting to get NOTICED. I was invited to present at an industry networking event on the use of blogging in our industry. This was a small audience (around 60) but highly relevant. It was a milestone for me!
Finding my voice
Slowly I was finding my blogging “voice” and with this positive feedback, my confidence grew. I decided I needed to work on being more consistent and that I needed to grow my engaged network of readers. As my blogging changed, my audience changed too. I was now getting picked up by important medtech CEOs and investors. I decided that to grow the blog I needed to write at least weekly. This felt daunting.
Finding the time
Here was another barrier. Would I have the time to keep this up? Would I have enough to write about? I decided that I needed to make the time and this needed to be central to my business. My wife and I have been blessed with two wonderful boys: one is 4 yrs old and the other is just 11 weeks old (sleepless nights). But we decided together that I was going to go for it and I learned to make the time and started posting weekly, without much trouble.
Traction
This new consistency seems to be working. I can see the page views and readership grow! By the end of last month, the blog got its highest number of monthly hits ever — over 800. I was energized! And through the first two weeks of this month, I’m on a pace to exceed 1,000 hits. Along the way, I have also been working on the look and feel of the blog to to reflect the new focus and concerted effort.
Part of my strategy to attract a meaningful and engaged audience was to connect to people on Twitter. Although I’ve been on Twitter since 2010, I had not been very active and only had a handful of followers. I became a disciple of The Tao of Twitter and it is paying off. By January I hit 200 followers and my quality Twitter audience has now reached 350 just a few months later.
The Pay-off!
The connections I am making through Twitter and my blog are remarkable. Here are a few of my recent social media victories:
- Through these social media channels alone I was asked to attend an important two-day conference and moderate a panel on commercializing medtech. This is fantastic exposure for me and my business. Another breakthrough! To be authentically helpful, I am using my social media channels to give the conference exposure. I’m helping the organizers with sourcing medtech CEOs from my own network for other panels in the conference. It’s a win-win-win for the conference organisers, medtech CEOs, and me.
- One of my recent posts, “8 Lessons from Medtech Entrepreneurs…” was picked up by another organization and it was put up on the front page of their website as a news item. Hits to my blog went up. It was so successful, they asked if my posts could be a regular feature on their site. Of course, I said yes. One of the CEOs from a high-profile company commented on one of my posts and subsequently introduced me to one his VC investors (a very influential group within my target audience).
- Last week I had coffee with another CEO whose company I’d mentioned in a post. This was only our second meeting and we’re already discussing ways of working together. Things NEVER used to move this fast. It’s as if the blog is a non-invasive, trust-building, relationship booster.
- At an event in February this year, I met a medtech CEO for 5 just minutes. But we have had the chance to continue to get to know each other through the blog and emails. He emailed me: “Keep the blog coming, I’m an avid follower.” He’s been in the medtech industry for 25 years. Like I’d have ANYTHING to teach him?!
I have learned a lot along the way. Patiently and steadily build rapport and trust with your readers. Write about your passions. It takes time to find your blogging “voice.” Authentic helpfulness and reciprocity go a long way.
It took me four years, but it is finally working. I have so much yet to learn but I wanted to encourage you to stick with it, have courage and continue to push yourself. If I had quit years ago, I would not be realizing these fantastic benefits today.
Raman Minhas is a medtech enthusiast, working with entrepreneurial companies. He also invests in medtech stocks, using a value based approach, and blogs at Medtech Value Investor.
Six ideas to win executive sponsorship for your social media effort
May 22nd
One of the most difficult problems in the social media world is getting the boss to understand and support an initial effort.
Executive sponsorship is a vital topic. If you are not being supported by your boss and you hope to pressure him/her into supporting your nascent social media initiative through a “grassroots” effort, it’s not going to work. Not in the long run. For effective, lasting organizational change to occur, it must be supported from the top. How do you gain that support when your boss doesn’t get it?
Who is the “sponsor” of your social media effort?
Let’s be clear about the term “sponsor.” The person who controls the budget and job assignments of the people working on social media is the “sponsor,” in our definition. This may not necessarily be your boss. It might be your boss’s boss or even the head of the company. When winning support for your project, be clear on who the real decision maker is!
Here are six ideas to get the boss on-board:
Conduct a “pilot” program. One of the most effective ways to get something started is to propose a temporary project. For example, go to your boss and tell her you want to try a new idea for 12 weeks (which sounds shorter than 3 months!). Explain that you will do this as an added, incremental effort that will not interfere with your normal job duties, you will measure and re-evaluate at the end of the period, and together you’ll decide whether to continue or not. Once the effort gets going and gains momentum, it’s going to be difficult to stop unless you completely blow it. So don’t blow it. : )
The small victory strategy. Here’s another simple idea that is remarkably effective: Plan your social media pilot program around easy “small victories” (SV). An example: “By week one, we want to have 100 followers, by week two we want to have 25 mentions, etc.” Notice how different this is compared to “we want to increase our customer satisfaction rate 28% by 2012.” SV’s allow you to announce lots of happy news when you need it most — at the BEGINNING! People will get behind a winner. Establish a culture of support and enthusiasm by building easy wins into the program and promoting those SV’s every week!
Money really does talk. Whatever you do, don’t go into a meeting with a company executive explaining that you want sponsorship to measure your company’s “quality of conversations.” Present the opportunity in the language of the company. If a priority is brand awareness, or customer service, present the opportunity in those same terms. Remember that any activity in an organization SOMEHOW must relate back to money, whether it’s profits, donors, or funding. Social media is no different. Be prepared to explain how your initiative ties to the company’s objectives. If you can’t, you’re not ready for this discussion.
Patient education. Your boss probably truly wants to do the right thing for the company … if they understand what to do. So many times before jumping into an initiative, you need to patiently, relentlessly educate your sponsor on the truths of social media. If your executive sponsor doesn’t “get it,” begin sending regular links to articles that explain why social media is relevant to your business. Bring in guest speakers. Maybe get them to attend a conference. Follow up. Discuss. Repeat as needed.
Preach fear in the morning and redemption in the afternoon. Scare ‘em. Seriously. Let’s be honest — Fear is a great motivator: Fear of what the competition is doing, fear of being left behind, fear of missing a trend, fear of making a wrong decision. There is often a significant first-mover advantage in the social media space. So if the competition is gaining ground, or customers are dialing you up on the social media “phone,” they really need to pay attention.
Plan for problems. When implementing change in an organization, it’s important to have a counter-measure for every obstacle you’re likely to face. Literally write down every possible argument and reason people will argue against your social media proposal and then formulate a reasonable counter measure to address them. And the hurdles aren’t just money and resources. It could be politics and competing priorities. Get your supporters to help you think-through effective answers to anything your boss can throw at you and be well-prepared.
If your boss is intelligent and well-meaning, eventually they should come around. If they are not intelligent and well meaning, getting them to understand social media is probably the least of your problems!
What problems are you having with sponsorship and how are you addressing them?
Lessons from a horrible social media strategy
May 20th
Last week a bizarre decision by the prestigious Mayo Clinic had my college class rumbling with outrage.
One of the most popular class exercises I use to demonstrate the importance of blogging and content strategy is dividing the class up to dissect and discuss various corporate blogs. Since the pharmaceutical and health care industries are so prominent in New Jersey, I often use the Mayo Clinic’s blog as a case study.
The Mayo Clinic generally does a good job using its blog to establish a voice of authority for its principle core disciplines of stress management, cancer treatment and other health categories. They have doctors providing regular columns on these subjects and they attract a lot of comments (although they generally do not respond to the comments, probably for legal reasons). I like using this blog as an example because in an industry that is so gun-shy about using social media, this prominent clinic seemed to be moving forward in a powerful way.
A strategy gone horribly wrong
Last year I noticed they started taking paid advertising on their blog, mostly from drug companies. I thought this was a strange decision. Clearly the goal of the blog was to establish community contact and voice of authority. Why cheapen the outstanding reputation of the clinic through annoying advertising that pushed drugs on people?
The strategy completely blew up on the medical center last week when my class discovered that right next to a blog post about the grief of pregnancy loss, the clinic was displaying ads for cute children’s clothing. Look carefully at the picture at the top of the blog post. Utterly tasteless. Incomprehensible.
Of course I don’t think anybody mindfully placed this exact ad in this exact place. I’m sure they had a deal with this advertiser to automatically rotate ads for cute clothes on a column about pregnancy, never thinking it could backfire like this. Only problem is, the mothers reading the blog don’t know that. They trust Mayo Clinic. Why wouldn’t they?
Here is a word I rarely use on my my blog: Stupid. But I think it is an unavoidable description when an organization sells the soul of their brand for a few advertising dollars with a mindless strategy of advertising children’s clothes to women who have just lost their child.
Lessons learned?
Here is the lesson to take out of this disaster. Everything you do, and everything you don’t do, communicates about your brand. Once you have your brand strategy set, protect it fiercely and stick to it relentlessly. Never, ever take your eye off of what you do and why you exist.
In this case, somebody in the Mayo Clinic PR Department got some very bad advice. Maybe they were wide-eyed about the prospect of turning their customer-facing communications into a profit center. But what they really did was turn the clinic’s stellar reputation as a premier international healthcare center into a shuckster ready turn to tricks in any tasteless manner for a few bucks. Instead of passionately and sensitively helping people who are suffering, they are shilling baby clothes and drugs to them, This proud institution totally lost their vision of why they exist.
Think about what you’re doing with your marketing strategy. Is every activity lined up in a way that relentlessly communicates your core values and brand promise?
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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