I found a bucket list of sorts that I made three years ago when I decided to launch my social media strategy consultancy. It consisted of several people I wanted to meet because I thought they would enrich my life both professionally and personally. They are also some cool people to meet on any level. I also had several things I wanted to do along with that.   I actually made some very strategic plans and took action on them to accomplish the meetings that I did.  I am happy to share both the bucket list and my social media heroes. Note: Updated 1/16/2012 (spelling and links added).

Thought Leadership Blogging and Social Media for Small Business

Chris Brogan – I started following Chris in 2007.  I was reading his blogs because he was an East Coast, New England guy ( I also hail from there).  He had an honest and realistic approach to social media and blogging. What he was saying and doing seemed doable to me.

I was lucky enough to meet him in person in Madison when American Family Insurance brought him in for a corporate event. Accelerate Madison and the  Social Media Club of Madison heard him speak and then got some social time. When he spoke to the audience of 300 social savvy and social info hungry Madison professionals, I was impressed.  He’s very down to earth and very smart beyond the social side.  He knows about the technology trends in social software.  I got some great video footage during the press conference and then after when we successfully convinced Oscar Mayer and the Wienermobile Crew to pick Chris up at his hotel and drive him to the airport for his flight. When was the last time you got to sing the “Oscar Mayer Wiener Song” with your social media hero?

Thought Leadership on Twitter and Social Media for Small Towns

Image via Wikipedia

Jeff Pulver – I had heard his name associated with Vonage before, but it didn’t at first click until I heard him speak.  This entrepreneur was working with Twitter on projects that could really make a difference to small communities and rural towns through his 140# Conference.

As Jeff states on his website:

The #140conf events provide a platform for the worldwide twitter community to: listen, connect, share and engage with each other, while collectively exploring the effects of the emerging real-time internet on business.

Our schedule will be unique and fast paced. It is our intention to provide a platform for as many people as possible to share their thoughts and engage in conversation with the attending delegates.

The take aways from this event will provide the attending delegates knowledge, perspectives and insights to the effects the real-time internet will have on both “we” the people, business and society.

I was lucky enough to meet him in Madison in July 2010 during a “driveby” tweetup event held at The Century House.  Jeff was on his way to the #140 Conference in Detroit and was stopping at various urban and small town communities explaining what the conference was about and how it was making a difference.  He invited us to come and I was oh so tempted. He does a great job in really explain the power of 140 characters.

Since then I applied and was accepted to speak at the #140Conference Small Town in Hutchinson KS, but due to a conflict was unable to go. Next year for sure I will apply.

Thought Leadership on Social Presence Management and Social Media Education for Business

Axel Schultze and Marita Roebkes image by Wendy Soucie

Axel Schultze  and Marita Roebkes – As the CEO and leader of the Social Media Academy, his approach to social business and strategy leadership in this area is a fresh approach. In the role of CEO of Xeeme.com he is leading the way in the social presence management and social capital arenas with a new way to look at what is important in the social space. He is also a successful serial entrepreneur, having launched 7 businesses. Including the most recent, Social Business Consulting Group, that I am a founding partner in as well. After taking classes that he taught and working with him on several projects, I wanted to meet him face to face.

I decided to fly out to Palo Alto in April 2011 to meet Axel and Marita Roebkes his “right-hand.“  Much to my pleasure, 10 other consultants took my visit as cue to also come so we had a big consulting meeting at the same time. Axel and Marita are both avid sailors and they took us out for a spin around San Francisco Bay. You could get used to California.  Overall, just the chance to sit and talk with them directly after almost 2 years via phone and video was the best present.

Thought Leadership for Global Branding and Social Media for the Enterprise

Wendy Soucie and Scott Monty at Chicago Auto Show - image by Wendy Soucie

Scott Monty – If you are interested in the corporate big company social media side of things, you would have to follow Scott Monty.  He sets the bar high on bring a personal brand to a Global brand in a way that is human and strategic.  What I really like is that he has a personality and the things he and his team are doing for an Automobile company. I had not paid much attention to Ford to purchase a car. Now I have to say, they have got my attention. He reminds us that “working for a global brand is an amazing honor.” I like his heterogeneous view on how social media needs to integrate with all aspects of a business and customer facing departments.

I finally met him at the Chicago Auto Show in May 2011 during the Ford Social Media Press Day.  I am very excited that he is going to be here in Madison to speak to the Social Media Breakfast Madison organization that I co-manage. Yes, I plan on a one on one interview ( and get the question answer about what a “consigliere” is before he leaves).

Thought Leadership in PR and Social Media for Strategists

Christopher Barger photo via Forbes Blog

Christopher Barger – A PR and Social Media strategist that worked for IBM ( instrumental in their social media program) and the Automotive Industry , most recently the social media lead for General Motors. Chris is a much different personality than Scott and doesn’t wear bowties – in fact I would guess that he never has worn one unless it was with a tuxedo. His articles and blogs are the kind that challenge the reader to think about what kind of perception they are creating – for themselves and the company.  He just came out with a new book called “The Social Media Strategist” which I am reading to gain insight on the challenge and surprises in taking a large company from zero to 60 in the social media ecosystem.  he should be on the author circuit soon but FIR.com  is doing an interview on Jan 27th.  He seems like the kind of guy you could have a good conversations with over a beer. I need to meet him in person and hope that he will sign my book as well. Besides he roots for the Patriots and I like that.

 Thought Leader in Social Community Engagement and  Social Sharing

Image via Wikipedia

Chris Heurer and Kristie Wells – I have helped start two social media groups in Madison. Social Media Breakfast and Social Media Club of Madison. It’s no easy task. This is why I hold Chris and Kristie (of Social Media Club) with such high regard. They started as one group in 2006 (San Francisco Bay Area) and now the organization is an established 501 (c) 6 non profit with over 300 chapters on every continent. This is quite an accomplishment. Building the evangelism and momentum as well as infrastructure takes lots of vision, time and dedication.

I hope to get our Madison club fully established as a chapter and invite the two of them to come and anoint us and tell us how to keep it going!

The To do List

Oh yes, here it is,  the things I hope to do:

Professionally -

• Speak at and attend a TED presentation
• Speak at and attend a TEDx presentation
• Speak at an International Conference on Social Media
• Speak at and Attend #140 Rural Small Town in Hutchinson Kansas (already have my presentation!)
• Keynote a significant Social Media related event.

Just gotta do it

• Bike for a week in a foreign country (Germany and France)
• Bike for a week in Wisconsin (because I love biking in WI)
• Ride across the US (not in a race)
• Hike the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin (in sections)
• Complete the 4,000 footers in NH (something I started with my Dad when I was a kid – 23 done 23 to go)

 What is on your bucket list? Who do you want to meet in 2012 and how do you plan on doing it?

Related articles

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• The Social Mind: A New Research Project (customerthink.com)

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The social media strategy question: To build a social media strategy, or suffer the confusion of mindless tactical efforts,  that is the question.

Image from Istock

Over the past two years there has been a lot of education happening on social media – books, webinars, live presentations, videos, and podcasts. In the business to business (B2B) space, the education seems to be taking a longer learning curve. Not because there is more to learn, but because the businesses say they are looking at more proof of concept examples (and ROI). Social media strategy, content strategy and action plans are used interchangeably, but should they be? Are you confused over these terms yourself?

Ready to move forward yet?

Small and medium size companies, especially those in manufacturing, technical products and professional services, are now just gathering the troops to move forward with the social media channel.  Still, the majority of businesses are approaching social media by looking at the tools first and trying to build a tactical strategy around the tool.

Or they are confusing a content strategy with a a social business strategy.  While they are now planning blog subjects, tweets, LinkedIn updates and corporate approved news link sharing out 6 months and tracking mechanisms, they have not aligned the content to a business function that can improve how they work with customers better.  They have not embraced a strategy around their business goals that will transform their organization through a cross-functional social media team ( including customer and partner stakeholders).  Even farther from nurturing customer relationships, they have not empowered their staff to be a unified customer service team nor allowed the greater community to be the amplifier of their message.

Social business strategy comes first

Image coyright by Istock Mark VB - Quail

In an article on Social Media Examiner, Rich Brooks, Flyte New Media   interviewed Susan Cato, Senior Director of Web and New Media Strategies at CompTIA, said,

“You can’t have a social media strategy without a content strategy.”

I don’t think this is true at all. You must understand what content to create that will address goals, which existing business functions you can improve, and how your customer relationships will change.  Which of course makes my case– social media business strategy comes first.

Even with social business leaders such as Axel Schultze and organizations like Social Media Academy teaching leadership and strategy, not enough organizations are taking this seriously and many are making the same mistakes over and over.

Does this sound familiar?

A company decides that they have to be in social media, they have anyone (often an intern – no disrespect intended) build a page and get to it. You can find these pages and profiles, where the activity lasted as long as the internship, or the first few posts due to lack of staff and management buy-in.

Some companies have a strong content strategy for the information they are sharing. They know the questions the audience is asking, they know where the audience is asking those questions and have joined those communities, they get comments and interaction on what they post, not to mention  they even have gathered a variety of tools to measure and track their progress.  The business clearly has the means to the end, but are lacking the end goal.  That of transforming their organization to a social business with relationships with the audience.  How can I tell?  They have regular posts, they have how tos, case studies, view points, reviews, tool commentary, videos and interviews. All the right content around keywords and subject titles.

Your goal could be to improve one aspect of your business

In a post listing 22 social media tactical tools, Peter Kim says

“I haven’t found a single company doing all of these today. Forget divining a big, meaningful business objective before getting started – you’ll end up in analysis paralysis. Just make sure you’re making an existing business function better and get started.” Peter Kim

The points to make note of is the need to find at least one business function that you can improve. To do that your social media strategy needs to align and recognize the business goal drivers.  And secondly, a content strategy will make using one or more tools more effective and efficient.

Enterprise level adjusts to social business strategy
Large enterprise (Fortune 1000) are regrouping as well. They might have started with a social media person/team that was in the marketing group for each division, but they are finding that each group started in slightly different directions with out a unified strategy across the corporation.[ insert visual from forester/owang on organization for SM teams]

This leads to perhaps inconsistent messages, branded profiles. personal profiles, inconsistent brand messages across a platform and across the social media tools.  If you look for them on Facebook, you can find multiple Facebook pages, managed by employees or by non employees. When problems escalate in the social space, people react via emotion and not with a plan to follow. And yes, they forgot to complete a social media policy.

They are moving from the left-side configuration of a social media function to the far right as they re-analyze success and failures.  I think this is the right direction for organizations large and small.

Do you recognize your company or yourself in this description? Are  you now ready to make that effort more strategic?  Maybe it’s time to regroup and work on a social business strategy to guide your progress.

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As a Black Diamond Consultant with the Social Media Academy I am one of the great line up of  speakers with Catherine Sherwood and Axel Schultze to talk about the NCP Model. Networking, contribution and participation are critical to the social ecosystem and the Social Media Academy teaches a particular process for assessment and the NCP model.

If you have been following my blog, I have employed a NCP model for contributing and reporting on blogs.  I call it Thoughts on Blogs. I collect comments I post from blogs that I follow or which have posts of interest to my particular focus.

Please join us on Friday  January 22, at 1 pm CST time for this lively presentation.  If you can’t make the presentation I have posted the slides on my slideshare account and here as well.  I talk specifically about an example for a professional services firm and one for a manufacturer.

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This is my continued effort to follow the Social Media Academy NCP Model (Network Contribute  Participate). I choose to visit various blogs on B2B strategies, marketing, customer focused strategies, business development, engineering, product development and social media. From these collected comments, I create a post of what are the best of the week.  I hope you enjoy.

What makes a successful blog – Real Time Marketer

I believe that the #1 factor for blog success, is the frequency of your posts.  Mashable and TechCrunch, are respectably the #1 and #2 most popular social media blogs.  They average over 20 posts per day.  I understand they both have teams of paid writers to continuously spit out post after post…but I am constantly checking out their sites because I know they have good quality, and I know
that information will be new and constant. It is not realistic and probably not appropriate for you to be writing 20 articles per day, but you do need to consistently be writing new content.  Social Media, more than ever, is truly an out of sight out of mind medium.  If you aren’t continuously contributing content, or posts, or tweets…you do not exist.

#####

In response to the above statement I, Wendy Soucie,  commented:

I also believe consistency is a factor – although if you do nothing to promote the blog it won’t matter how regular you are if no one knows it.  Making sure you understand title and keywords and the role they play to get found are also high on the list.

I have done the following to generate a consistent pattern in my posting for my social media blogs:

1. Sunday is a Twitter weekly update – I generate this automatically but go back in, edit generate a tweet cloud picture and add tags, and review.

2. Monday is a Wisconsin Social Media day where I post to my secondary blog on Wisconsin business and social media issue.  I also  comment on some news activity from the past week or weekend.  I will start posting a monthly case study interview of Wisconsin companies that are using social media, their strategies and success measurements.

3. Tuesday is a Tip and Technique day that I offer on one of the social media tools I use or train on.

4.  Wednesdays are a participation and contribute day where I search for topics and comment on other peoples blogs.  I either visit blogs I follow or use Google Alerts on keywords and phrases to find new conversations in the social ecosystem.  I collect these comments – pick a theme and post this as a collection later on in the week.

5. Wednesday and Thursday are opinion post days.  I add one to my personal blog and I add another to a column on social media I have on Madison Social Media Examiner.com (this one at least monthly)

6. Friday is thoughts on blogs day – so I take my comment compilation and post that.

7. Weekends I work on the start of articles for the next week or future.

8. Sundays I look at the posts for the week and consider some for repost on places I guest blog  such as Customer Think, Social Media Today, Social Media Academy, or End Result Marketing.

I don’t always make all my deadlines, but I am hitting my minimum target of three posts a week.

###

Social Competition – Social Media Today

Axel Schultze had an interesting post on social competition.

“The discussions whether Social Media is a fad or why corporate executives don’t see the opportunity are pretty much history. With the inception of reporting tools, methods to measure success and models and frameworks to articulate strategies – social media entered the board rooms. And pretty quickly social media became a competitive weapon.

Competition for mind share, competition for group or community members, competition for influence. And it is also competition for better solutions co-created with the users who establish a sense of ownership and help promote the products they at least influenced. It is a competition for the more engaged support community where user support user and augment to company support team. It is competition for the smarter sales teams which may quickly develop larger and more influential social networks, with better customer relationships in those networks.”

Axel,
Here are my thoughts for the class based on some of my experiences with business over the past 6 months.  Many of the SMB that I call on are waiting to see case studies, ROI, and have “prove it to me stances”. The are very reactive in their thinking. Conversations about social competition might me the best Ah ha moments to move these organizations into action. For many, they are programed to react not lead.

Teaching people to lead by engaging in social media where listening to customers sets the trends for what they do is an important aspect of this potential class.

If SMBs have this perspective, white papers and ebooks developed thru such a leadership class would be incredibly effective. I know the past classes offered did this but were they promoted enough?  I think this should be a core result of each class.  A recent research survey on what info c-level executives find the most value: WhitePapers and ebooks.

Another piece of information from the various presentations I have given is the concern by company execs about how much email will be in their mailbox if they engage in any social media efforts.  Somehow they don’t equate social media personal connections with valid email from customers or potential customers.  This needs to change if execs are to understand the much bigger picture of their customer mindset.

In such a class,  I would also like to see significant time spent on benchmarking competitive intelligence, market info and strategies to manage the information that you do collect in a logical way.

###

Social Media 401: Vince Muzik Case Study – Social Media University Global

Lee Aase speaks and teaches others about social media at Social Media University Global. I love visiting his blog because I can learn something new and because I find Lee very encouraging to me personally (he is willing to share knowledge of value).  He answers my comment posts (he is listening), he provides real examples (shares his experiences), he tries things himself and reports (shows us what works for him and Mayo Clinic). In this recent post, he is encouraging of using video to contribute to the blog experience. He highlighted a friend, Vince Muzik,  who is doing a social media documentary on the No 1 football recruit Seantrel Henderson.

In response to his post I added:
Lee,
I wish some of my video projects were about someone as exciting as the number one recruit.  They are me video blogging right now.  Although my friends (via their comments) are visibly entertained by not so much my content – but how I am doing it.

I just don’t think I am that interesting.  However, I am going to start interviewing people who are using social media in a business setting. Capture what they think worked and what didn’t as an alternative. My first one is going to start in January and will be on a startup called Cupcakes A-GoGo. They are using Facebook and Twitter along with traditional print advertising to get the word out. They were great fun (tasty too) to interview.

Its likely not something that a national publications would latch on to my stream but its all I have right now. SMUG still a good deal to make me use the tools and practice.

And since Lee is very engaged, he responded to my comment:

Don’t sell yourself short, Wendy. The whole idea of social media is that you don’t need to appeal to a mass audience. Your goal should be to provide relevant, helpful information and connect with a community. You’re doing some great things with your blog, tying some other platforms together. And it all comes down to using the tools to accomplish your goals. Vince is doing some interesting things,
and I just told his story because I’ve known him for a long time and he’s been stopping by for some tips and inspiration. I would welcome others doing posts here in the 400 series about how they’re using social media practically, whether others would think it’s “glamorous” or not.

Where have you engaged with others in the social ecosystem this week?

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Do you know the way?

In an effort to follow the NCP Model from Social Media Academy for connecting to the social ecosystem, I am sharing with you my comments and participation in the social web. The NCP Model stresses networking, contribution and participation in the social ecosystem.

Social Relationship Management (SRM)

Where to start in Social Media? A fresh look from a different angle.

Axel Schultze had this to say after speaking and consulting with 100 executives on social media  in all industries. The number one reaction has been: “I get it, I know we gotta do something – but where do we begin?”

The answer: “Find out what your customers do in the social web”.
The biggest fear: “They are probably NOT using social media”.
The response: “Find it out”.

####
In response to this post by Axel Schultze on addressing the fear companies have in trying to get started in social media:

Over the past 6 months I have given over 25 presentations on social media, strategy, tools, local search strategies, Internet marketing, and LinkedIn. I have been trying to educate the business to business (B2B) crowd, manufacturers and professional service consultants on what and why they should be educating themselves and looking into social media.

The biggest fear I hear is “I don’t need anymore email coming into my inbox from social media.”

Many of my emails go into a folder that I end up deleting. It is from companies and people I don’t know.  The emails I pay attention to are replies from people I am trying to get to know on various social media sites.  I can delete the other 60% because its sales pitches from companies.  75% of the ones I keep are emails from people who are  either LinkedIn contacts or direct emails from people who are clients, partners, or contacts from Linkedin who have progressed to direct email with me. The point is, we like getting emails from people we know.  We don’t always like getting emails from companies and people we don’t. Let’s welcome the email from our connections on social media

The point is I pay attention to people and that is what social media helps me to do. Social Media Relationship Management is the step that allows me to be more methodical, more goal oriented in accomplishing that task.

I am getting better at asking people where they prefer to socialize in our conversation. I have used the xeesm.com tool to help track that process better and it helps give me a point of reference on when the last time I contacted someone and in what place. Good tool that I need to dig deeper on.  I also need to encourage more Linkedin users to use it so we can both benefit.

Social Media Strategy

Harvard Business.org had a post by Alexandra Samuel on Three Instantly Effective Social Media Ideas.  The perspective was to provide ideas that an organization who lacked the time, budget or experience could do. This social media strategy might allow them to start small, work with a smaller budget and not take risks by using existing free (or at little cost) social media tools. Her suggestions included

1. Suggestion Box

Examples: Dell Ideastorm , MyStarbucks Idea, Threadless

2. Widgets

Examples: innocent drinks, Dove Fresh Takes, Ask Your Lawmaker

3. Deal-of-the-day

Examples: United Airline “Twares”, Future Shop, Pizza Hut’s Facebook page

####

Alexandra,

I wish you had posted the business goal that might match the reasons to use any of your three suggestions.  For instance one of the goals of Zappos is to “Deliver Happiness.” That high level goal, drove them to integrate sales and customer service online as a strategy. They wanted to humanize the people and company behind the shoes. With that in mind and after assessing that their clients were online they built a strategy.  They found that many of the “ideal buyers” were fashion sensitive and liked to read about it, they were mobile and used texting, mobile phone apps, and multiple social media sites.  Now they could select the right social media tools.

Zappos determined that the tactic they would employ to speak and engage its audience were blogs, Twitter and facebook. The rest is history as  198 employees are active on Twitter.

These steps, I believe, are important for people just trying to get started in social media. Don’t feed the panic that says “we have to do something” and the approach is not given any time to qualify.

——————

Questionable LinkedIn Strategy

I received the following email from a Internet Marketing contact on the East Coast.  Our connection has been the same Alma Mater and an interest in social media.  I have felt some concerns on how he is using this connection for his work.  I have posted his question and my response

Original email:

I’ve just finished another web site for the Christmas Season. It has several FREE videos and articles about making the season more enjoyable and less stressful. ** Just completed this site, so would like feedback on the layout and content.

What I mean by “those who hate Christmas” is of course those of us who “hate” the unhealthy stress that results from “having to please” so many people, with diverse interests in the next 25 days. Not, the holiday itself.

–> Please pass the below web site link along to anyone who you know that may want to enjoy Christmas this year with LESS STRESS . . . . .and lots of Free information and Tips.
Thanks for your feedback.  {email link not included}

####

My response: On 11/28/09 11:56 AM, Wendy Soucie wrote:

I hope that you are truly looking for input and this is not a veiled attempt to drive traffic to a site.  In that light I will take the time to respond.

1. For input back on your site. If your target audience is predominantly female, I think your colors will be well suited. To me they are a little pinkish and a turn off for me, but I don’t think I am normal.

2. Your articles on stress reduction are not very obvious – site is mostly or it strikes me as a ecommerce site with bigger narrative on each product. Articles should be front and center if they really are there. I spent less time because I didn’t see them. I would create a section highlighting articles and have a side bar with products that could reduce stress because you don’t have to make them.

3. I am usually suspicious of request for feedback on websites since in the Internet Marketing world, its just another way to drive people to your website.

If you are trying to drive traffic there here is my reaction to that:
4. I did go because of your email about stress and plea for feedback so I guess the LinkedIn email worked. I trust you as a URI Alumni etc.

5. I did not find what you stated in your email so now I am feeling a little less trusting.

Just thought I would take the time to share.

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During the week of November 16-20, I attended and participated in the Social Media Tools Week.  I only wish I could have taken the entire week as vacation so I could have attended every minute of the presentations. All of the speakers are active social media practitioners and were from both the USA and abroad. With over 30 speakers there were many topics to cover and the sessions ran from 8 AM to 8 PM.

There were presentations strictly on strategy, social media overviews, and tools, tools and more tools.  I thought it was well balanced on the strategy and tool side.  There were some excellent examples used about real companies and their successes. On the tool side, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook had some excellent step by step use presentations.  They were the kind you would typically have to pay for to get 45 minutes of the behind the scene tips and techniques.

On Thursday, the reporting tools were presented with a very knowledgeable resource from Techrigy, Sysomos, ScoutLabs, and Filtrbox

Image via CrunchBase

On Tuesday November 17, 2009, I gave a presentation titled Social Media Tool Selection Strategies.  If you are interested in seeing my slide presentation take a look on Slideshare for the slidedeck.   I talked about the selection of the tactical tools such as LinkedIn, Youtube, Slideshare, Facebook, etc.  My approach was to share with everyone reasons for doing an assessment first to fully understand the social landscape as the core to making the selection of the right starting tools. This is especially important if you have a finite budget, limited resources and time constraints.

I used some good examples such as Dell, Zappos, Mayo Clinic, Louis E. Page Company, and Project Girl to highlight goals/objectives, strategies and tools selected.

I have included a quick video post of my personal impressions about giving a webinar for an international virtual conference with over 2000 attendees:

Did you attend Social Media Tools Week (#smtw)? What was your favorite presentation?

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This is my continuing contribution to the social ecosystem using the Social Media Academy’s NCP Model for engagement. Contributing and participating in social media is essential for growing your network. Where have you been this week?

Blogging Basics: Creating an Editorial Calendar

Deborah L. Smith

In regards to Deborah’s very detailed discussion on an editorial calendar as a way to increase efficiencies when working on a blog.

I have used the Google calendar idea.  I send reminders to myself about core activities.  I have not picked up a good system for creating and recording blog ideas however and I may try yours.

Here is what I do now.  I post an automated twitter weekly update on Sunday.  Monday is a post comprised of  collected comments I added to other blogs and record.  These can be a source for new ideas.  Tuesday is a tips and technique day.  Wednesday is a day for reading other blogs and commenting.  Thursday is an opinion post day. While Friday is idea collection day by talking to other people in my targeted field and market places.

On the weekends I reformat and revise my other posts in order to contribute to additional blogs I guest post on. I also use that time to work on video posts.

What I lack is the structured idea creation and writing phase.  The above works well if I have ideas.  I use Delicious to gather articles and cool blog posts, but I need a more creative way to review and write.  Ideas anyone?

Linkedin Q & A

Question from Mark Gee: Social Media for B2B, Any suggestions on sites that give a more focused slant on social media for B2B?
###

My response:
Some of the interest in social media for B2B is the belief by the customer that they are different and therefore need a different approach.

A manufacturer for example, likes to work with someone who understand their markets, products, and challenges they face. The business to business market is a little slower to get up to speed on social media.  Unlike the large enterprise (i.e. Dell) who has the funding to try something new, the midsized companies like to see multiple examples, like the products to be tested and shaken not stirred by other users before they are willing to try. They research more and longer, create budgets and agonize about moving forward at times.

They want to be the recommended company but they do need to see what Axel Schultze, founder of Social Media Academy, has pointed out in his repl.  They can learn more, solve more problems, and connect better to the user base using social media.

Inbound marketing should be the best place to start.  If you are interested in do it yourself work – try Hubspot.com.

Linkedin In Q&A

Question by Jonathan Streeter
Where have you seen examples of companies that participate in social media by commenting on others’ blogs?
My clients are often told that they should be actively commenting on blogs. My concern is that setting up a profile is something individuals do, not companies. Does this mean a specific employee is the one putting her/his name on the comments? What are specific examples of comments that can be made which aren’t simply product appeals or pitches?
####

Yes, it does mean that a specific employee would have to be the “spokesperson.” That is often why it does not work  to hire an outside firm to be your blogger/commenter.  That person needs to be vested and passionate about the product or service he represents. He/she can provide commentary and opinions on trends in the industry.  If they are a thought leader, then they can review and contribute to challenges users are faced with and help solve problems.  Social media users don’t want to talk with companies. They want to talk to people who can give them good recommendations, tell them how to fix something, provide help, and answer questions.

Zappos as an example, may be overused but only because they are a good example of company individuals representing a company on social media.  It is a big commitment  but the last time I checked, its paying off for them on the bottom line.

The Mystery Business

Post by Beth Gasser

Every town has one; a mysterious business that nobody seems to know what they do. No one seems to know another person who works there, and the mysterious business seems to elude social events and sponsorships that other area businesses use to thrive.Are you now self-conscious and wondering if your business is “one of THOSE businesses”?

#####

Beth, I live in a small town (3000) and this hit so close to home for many of the owners.  Small business doesn’t think they need or can do a blog.  I beg to differ. In fact they are more of need of it than anyone.  I review local directory sites like MerchantCircle that offer a blog area with each listing – you don ‘t even have to have a site.  They offer the entrepreneur and retail business owner the perfect place to offer gift suggestions, new products descriptions stories and musings.

With so many places to get free blog platforms – wordpress, typepad, blogger – does any one really have an excuse not to write?  I put it this way, if I can write (I am an engineer who can talk a good line, but writing was an effort) then most anyone can.

All it takes to blog is a passion about what you do, a desire to share knowledge and a willingness to help. As business owners, if that is not something we want to do, maybe we should rethink our occupations.

Begin your participation in the social web by commenting here or on your favorite blog.

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Getting on board with social media

Social Media and Brand Strategy in Europe by Susan Rice Lincoln, Master the New Net

In regards to the Susan’s commentary about business in Europe and the almost panic to get advice on how to best integrate social media into companies’ brand strategy.

Susan,
I am not sure that business in Europe is that far behind the business to business organizations that I call on.  Recently one B2B manufacturer that I met with said they had only heard about it 3 months ago.  The marketing director said that she didn’t understand how social media could possible help them.

Lo and behold, 7 people in sales and marketing were already on LinkedIn.  I did a quick search to show how a few of their competitors were already positioned with profiles on other social media sites. This Director of Marketing was not on any social media sites herself.

Yes indeed, no matter the country, people are actively engaged on these social sites. Our goal should be to get in the recommendation chain. We as business developers,  can’t do it in our traditional ways if companies  don’t take our calls, or allow us to talk with them.

Several months ago I connected with two people on LinkedIn by answering questions for them.  We stayed in touch, with quick comments on each others updates.  A project just came up and together we pulled a team together for a proposal.  The potential players on the team are in Paris, Australia Malta, Texas, Atlanta, Illinois, California and Wisconsin.  Social media brought us together. Now how cool is that!

You are right when you say that”the social media revolution has been led by PEOPLE, not by technology.” We should be where they are in active conversation.

LinkedIn as a valued resource

LinkedIn Is a Waste Of a Sales Person’s Time! by Lee Salz, The Customer Collective

In response to comments about the value that LinkedIn brings to business as a lead source.

Lee,

Thanks for writing a post on Linkedin from the users perspective. As a lifetime sales person with business development a part of every job, I feel your tips on the use of LinkedIn are right on. I have recently received an opportunity to bring together an international team of professional for a project. These contacts found me on Linkedin. This is not something I would have had the chance to do without Linkedin to extend my network.

However, your advice on the size of groups might be limiting for someone trying to extend their network, or business opportunities geographically. Understanding your strategy for LinkedIn might be an important factor.  For targeted niche products or services; or local and regional efforts I would agree that the size of the groups would be better smaller (1,000 – 5,000)  for the points you mentioned. However, for extending your reach and growing connections, the larger groups have much more to offer.

Measuring social media ROI

When Measuring Social Media’s ROI For B2B Don’t Chase The Wrong Goals By Kipp Bodnar, Social Media B2B

In regards to Kipp’s post on measuring ROI for social media.

Kipp,

Consider looking at the ROI of social media by considering and benchmarking the initial social ecosystem, current clients and contacts. After building a strategy and action plan to achieve business goals, and implementing the strategy, tracking those connections that become clients. This brings the ROI to a basic level.

They were not a client or contact before the effort began, they are when you get done. In social media we know so much about the people we connect with from their profiles.  ROI at its most simplistic level is social contact and then moving to a customer.

To tweet or blog is the question

A Blog is a Better Social Media Hub Than Twitter by Joel Postman, Social Media Today

In regards to Joel’s post on the importance of a blog over twitter as a business hub.

For social media, its very important to have a “home” to send readers and connections to when they experience you on a social media site.  Twitter says so little about who you are that it is important to send them to a more complete location (linkedin profile, website or blog).

I like using WordPress as a blog and website. You can create the pages you need for your static pages and you have the benefit on creating a blog that the rest of your site benefits from as your traffic grows.  If someone searches for and finds my blog, they can easily extend the relationship by reading more and getting my blog directly into email or their reader.

I like Twitter and Tweetdeck , but unless you are on it for some time, its hard to follow any conversation.  I did try to have my mobile phone get tweets, but that lasted on one weekend. Its not the place to become a thought leader and those of us trying to write blogs have strategies that extend well beyond the 140 character limit.  Twitter has its place but my blog/website is my “home” and my hub.

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Activities and participation on the social web following Social Media Academy’s NCP Model.

To be or not to be… on a social network by loriruff in Ask an Expert, LinkedIn, Social Media

In regards to conversation about whether someone needed to invest his time (gain ROI) by participating in the LinkedIn community since he had such a strong referral network.

Lori, I had a similar conversation with a professional who got top notch referrals.  We had almost concluded that it wasn’t worth his time, when I asked him if he thought that his contacts would always be at their present jobs, or firms.  Would they be smart enough to leave with their outlook contacts? Have you ever left a job, only to begin the long process of re-entering business contacts from collected cards.

As an online location to collect your business associates, that allows the contact to updates his data, Linkedin can’t be beat.  Even if you do the bare minimum and you don’t need people to find you – it helps you have emails and contact data for your best contacts. The result was he had never thought about it this way.  And no, he had not recently backed up his outlook files.  He also tossed business cards after his assistant added them to Outlook.  He ended up creating a profile and had his admin, start sending invites so he could have a backup, web based location at the least.

Although there are several online contact databases, none have the added functionality of LinkedIn.  Perhaps your contact should reconsider his profile on LinkedIn?

Using Social Media for B2B Marketing.

Linkedin Questions, Ellen Martin, Receptionist at Campbell & Chadwick PC

Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word of Mouth and Buzz Innovators Group

In regards to a question on how can you can use social media to find and develop business contacts into clients for a professional services firm?

Ellen,
First understand the business goals of your firm, then do an assessment of the social ecosystem to see where the possible customers are and what they are talking about.  Build a strategy and action
plan after getting an understanding of the spaces and issues.  Only then can you figure out how to solve the problem, build a action plan and then select the right tools.  You may find that customer support is the best place to use social media that leads to leads for your firm.  Hitting marketing and sales too early without a clear understanding of how to participate in the social web can backfire on you.

Other steps would be part of the action plan along with resource allocation – time, personnel and budgets.

COMMERCIAL OVER-POSTING IS PROHIBITED, PERIOD!

Linkedin Group Social Media Marketing (with over 50,000 members)

In regards to Mike Crosson vigilant policing of spammers in the group. His policy is clear and I have included it in this post since I think it has great value for other group managers.

From Mike Crosson: Hello, everyone – there have been a number of people who have ignored the clear directive that spam and straight commercial messages are NOT appropriate for this forum. I have warned these people and banned two from the list as a result. Here are the simple common sense rules so that everyone gets real value out of our Social Media Marketing group:

1. You can post something you feel will benefit the group, even if it is somewhat self-serving or has reasonable costs associated with it. There will undoubtedly be a number of people who might
your product or service beneficial. What you CANNOT do is post the same thing over and over. That becomes spam and benefits no one.

2. Try to provide something of VALUE in every posting – a resource you have or found, a relevant article to a discussion, a presentation or research that is useful.

3. Be transparent and honest – a lot of very smart people are in this group and can see through flimsy or sales-y materials. We all benefit from sharing knowledge and resources, and respecting the value of people’s time.

Here’s to 2009, a great year for our business!

Cheers,
Mike Crosson

Here is my reply:

I have used this group and your techniques as a moderator on more than one occasion to showcase a great moderator and the type of group that is worthwhile.  I have used your suggestion to keep the same spammer out of two other groups I participate in.   Feels like a blog topic coming on.

However, face it, people have spammed email forever and continue to do it in spite of software to reduce it. So I am afraid that spamming social media is here to stay.  In fact it chokes up Twitter all the time.

That doesn’t mean we should stop these efforts and we need to continually remind ourselves and new users in our social ecosystems what is consider good and bad form and what we will allow in our groups that we can control.

Take out the light sabers and may the force be with us!

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Just recently I became an accredited guest author on the Social Media Academy Blog.

Its a great place to get tips from Alumni and other Black Diamond Consultants.  I suggest you add this one to your blog roll.

It does make the case about getting your views out to as many people and connections as you can.  As I have recently added Customer Think to my blog posting as well.

How many blogs do you post on?

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