positive disruption by: Tom Martin | New Orleans based Social Media Consultant

The Social Media Playbook

 

I think one of the hardest things about selling social media solutions or campaigns has to be getting companies to understand you can't give them a media plan like you do in advertising. I understand the trepidation. No one likes to sign a contract or proposal with a big number on it and a rather nebulous set of ideas about "what we're going to do for you."

But if you're thinking about hiring someone to help you with your social media, understand this. The person you're talking to can't give you a playbook because it hasn't been written yet. Social Media is an organic space. Thus, while we can have a general idea of what we plan to do, we craft strategies but we follow discussions. That means that what we think we're going to do may, and likely will, change based on what we're hearing in the marketplace. Likewise, if you're talking to someone and they give you the complete plan, along with primary and secondary tactical implementation plans, well.... you may want to go get a second opinion if you know what I mean.

Most coaches try and script the first 10-20 plays of a football game. They may want to establish the run or go deep to force a defense to cover the entire field vs blitzing. Sometimes this works, but often, it doesn't. You see, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Once the game starts, you have to quickly figure out what is working and what isn't. Then make adjustments based on what is happening right in front of you in real time. And that is what Social Media is like... making real time adjustments based on what you're seeing every day on blogs, Twitter, your Facebook page and even your in-bound email stream. Sometimes this will mean you can just keep going because your plan is working, but often others you'll need to make an adjustment. And on those really great days, you'll discover a gem of an idea that will send you down a path you never even considered. But then, that is the beauty of communicating with your customer. They'll teach you a thing or two if you just listen.

What do y'all think? How do you approach game planning for your social media efforts?

photo by avinashkunnath

Hire Explorers not Experts (part II)

Yesterday's post included a promise to upload the video of my Hire Explorers Not Experts talk at the Omaha AMA's Hot Topics Conference. So here you go. A bit long maybe and once or twice I may have gotten a little carried away...but overall, not bad, if I do say so myself.

But more importantly, what do you think? Good stuff or yawn?? LMK.

Hire Explorers not Experts

  

Today at the Omaha AMA's Hot Topics event, I gave a talk about Finding the Ying & Yang of Marketing 2.0. I'll post the video later this week but tonight, as I sit here at 30,000 feet blogging (so cool) I thought I'd expand on a thought I shared with the group today.

As I sat writing my notes for my talk, it occurred to me that it was odd to be asked in 2009 (almost 2010) to give folks tips or a road map for integrating old media and new media. Yet, I'm often asked to speak to various groups on just that topic. So why is that?

My answer is that we're all asking the wrong question and we're looking in the wrong place for the answer.

First, we're still asking folks how to do it versus asking how to think about doing it. That may sound like I'm splitting hairs but stop for a minute and think about what I just wrote. When you ask someone to tell you how to do something, you're asking for a process that you can replicate. But that is just one process. Sure it worked for them this time, but is it truly replicable. Will it work tomorrow or the day after that?

Instead of asking "how to" do social media we need to be asking "how to think" about social media, digital media, old media and the blending of all of it. We need to be asking folks that "seem" to have it figured out or at least seem farther along than ourselves for a framework not a solution. You see if I give you a framework for thinking, I've empowered you to think for yourself. If I give you a process to replicate, well I've just made you reliant on me to give you a new one when the old one finally fails to be effective anymore. But a framework, well you can take that learning and build upon it, make it bigger, stronger and better than I could make it myself. Sort of how the Open Source peeps write code.

So my first suggestion to the group and now to you is start asking the right question if you hope to get the right answer.

Second, we're looking in the wrong places for that elusive answer. We keep looking for experts. Social Media Experts, Digital Experts, Traditional Experts. But here is the problem with experts, (social, digital and traditional). Experts are looking in the wrong direction. Experts become experts by focusing on the now and more importantly the then. They look backwards and study what has been done and what is being done. That's gives them this huge depth of information, which we as a society define as expertness -- if that is even a word. Now don't get me wrong, he who thumbs his nose as the value of studying history is doomed to repeat the mistakes of history, but at some point you need to stop looking behind you and start looking in front of you. Experts by and large don't do that...otherwise they risk being less of an expert.

So my advice today was instead of hiring experts, hire explorers.

Explorers spend their days looking forward. They may not know everything there is to know about the past, but that is because they are busy dreaming up a future. Find the people on your staff or at your agency or at another agency for that matter who explore. Find the people that are bigger, bolder and dream more than the rest. Find the folks that are not afraid to fail, that embrace failure as the necessary precursor to knowledge. Find the folks doing things not because someone is paying them to do it but just for shits & giggles because they want to see what will happen. Find the people that don't know what questions not to ask. Get out of your geography. Get out of your industry. Go to places you've not looked before and find the explorers. Find them and then hire them. They are the key to the promise land of effectively leveraging old and new media. 

I go more into detail in the video... which you can see tomorrow. But for now, what do you think? Hire experts or hire explorers?

photo by goneforawander

Blog World Expo Travel Panel

Last week I had the extreme pleasure of sitting on a panel at Blog World. I promised to post the video of the panel for everyone, so here it is. The entire thing is about an hour, but if you're a blogger and you'd like to hear how big brands like Fairmont Hotels and Disney Parks work with bloggers, then well worth a listen. I also chime in with my two cents about how bloggers can better work with ad agencies. Enjoy and if after watching the video you have any comments, please share.

How to improve your networking at conferences

 
As I'm sitting in Vegas at BlogWorld, I thought I'd share a few ideas on how to get more out of your conference or tradeshow efforts. Mostly, I'm going to give you a few ideas on iPhone apps you may want to consider downloading and a thought about how to be memorable. Because lets face it, the number 1 challenge when working a conference or tradeshow is being memorable. You just meet so many folks so quickly, that if you don't do something to stand out, well, it's easy to blend in. So here goes.

Bump:    if you have an iPhone, do yourself a favor and get Bump. It makes exchanging information so easy. You just activate bump and you and the person you just met "bump" your iPhones together to trade vCards. I love this because a) it's really easy and b) it enables the use of the next idea with little to no real effort.

GoPostal: I'm a huge fan of this app. Primarily it was designed to make it easy to send "postcards" to your friends and family when you're on vacation, etc. You just take a picture with your iPhone, select a contact to send it to and then type whatever message you want. Then you upload to the GoPostal site and approve the $1.29 credit card charge (you put your credit card in once and the app remembers is) and presto, within a few days a good old fashioned postcard arrives at the selected contact's address. Remember, the hardest thing to do is be memorable. So what better trick than to snap a pic with everyone you meet (you and that person in the pic) and then send them a little "glad to meet you" postcard featuring that pic. So simple. So cheap. It's my new favorite way to make an impact with someone I meet that I really want to make sure remembers me. 

LinkedIn: have you played with the LinkedIn iPhone app lately? It's actually improved quite a bit. My favorite use for it at a conference is to instantly look up someone's LinkedIn information and if they are not a contact, go request a connection. It's a great tool to use right after you meet someone. Request they link to you and include a little note about how you enjoyed meeting them and that you wanted to keep the relationship alive by LinkingIn together. Again, simple, easy and immediate. All while you walk to the next session. 

Yelp: someone is always needing a restaurant or bar recommendation, phone number, address or directions. With Yelp's iPhone app, you can search by category, name or just say "show me all the restaurants near where I am." Be the one who can share that info and you give folks a reason other than business to talk to you. In fact, they might even invite you to join them. Bonus! [LOL note to Yelp: if you're reading this, can you maybe put a link to your iPhone app on your home page? Just saying.]

And lastly, a suggestion. Before you leave for a conference, put 10 great blog post URLs in your notepad app on your phone. Or if you plan to have your laptop a lot at the conference, put them on a Word doc. Then, after you meet folks and get their twitter handles, look and see if (based on your conversation with them) any of the posts you brought along would be something they might find useful. If so, send out a tweet or email to them letting them know you enjoyed meeting them and include a link to the post with a note of why you think they might like it.

That's it. Considering it is 2am my time (midnight BlogWorld time) probably time to call it a night.

Oh yes, one more thing. Anyone else got any great ideas or tips for doing a better job of networking at conferences and trade shows? I'm all ears... help a brother out eh?

Stop Talking. Start Doing. Share the Knowledge.

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Just now I viewed this great post from Chris Brogan where he challenges us all to stop talking so much theory and start executing real projects that demonstrate what can be done with Social Media and such. I couldn't agree more. He also reminds us that if we really want to be helpful, we need to share the knowledge we gain. Help all boats to rise so to speak.

So in that spirit, I'm reposting a series of posts around my recent Mardi Gras Twitter experiment. For those of you that are new here, this past Mardi Gras I tried to use a live twitter stream to change the brand perception of Mardi Gras. Guess what? It worked.

The story, case study deck and a video of me presenting the case study are below. All are free for you to use as you need. But do please give proper credit. Enjoy. And if you're going to be at BlogWorld in Vegas this week, hollar... love to meet new peeps and talk marketing.

Here is the invitation post describing the experiment.

And this is the result post that shares all the detailed learnings.

And finally, the video of me giving the case study along with the slides.

 

 

Mardi Gras Twitter Branding Experiment

View more presentations from Tom Martin.

View more documents from Tom Martin.

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5 Steps to better blogger/ad agency relationships

 

On Saturday I'll be participating in a panel at BlogWorld Expo in Vegas. I'll be alongside Doug Anweiler, Leanne Jakubowski and Mike Taylor trying to help travel bloggers understand how to better work with brands and the agencies that represent brands. As part of the panel, I have to do a quick 7-minute intro capturing my thoughts. As there will probably be a lot of bloggers who can't attend the session but might find the thoughts helpful, I'm capturing them here too.

Respect The Agency's Time
This one should be a no brainer but seems it isn't. Agencies run on razor sharp margins. And with client budgets getting cut back, most agencies today are trying to do more with less in order to keep their doors open. Often an agency exec is just hoping to put out today's fire before tomorrow's starts. So when you communicate with them, be succinct, be specific, anticipate questions they might have and answer them before they're asked. Lastly, think in terms of "cut & paste" so that the agency person can simply lift your stuff and paste it into whatever document they're creating for the client.

Agencies Live in the Crosshairs
The marketing/pr pie is getting smaller every day and the number of agencies is multiplying. With all the layoffs in the agency world, many highly talented peeps are setting up their own shop or creating virtual agencies. It used to be that brands shunned these thinking them too small or disorganized to warrant the cost savings. But those days are over. What this means is that agency peeps always have a target on their back. Every day new biz directors at competitive shops are pointing a riffle right at my head, just itching to pull the trigger so they can replace me. How do I know this? Because I'm doing the same thing to them. We're all hunting each other, every single day. This breeds a level of anxiety that makes everything become more important. The stakes are always higher than you understand, so keep that in mind and act accordingly.

Know Your Stuff
It's all about data. Make sure you can tell them how many unique's and page views you get each month. Show them graphs that make it easy to see the growth in your readership. But more importantly (at least to me) is show them your engagement. Track things like bounce rate, return readers, time on site, average views per post, average comments per post, in-bound links and if you really want to be smart, manually assign some kind of "engaged" level to each comment and then show how that breaks down. What agencies (and brands I think) really want to see is that you have a highly engaged following that truly values your thoughts and usually read all of your posts.

It's All About the Benjamins
You may be doing this as a hobby or sideline but I'm not and my client most certainly isn't. Working with bloggers is business. It's about creating more revenue for our clients. At the end of the day the CEO isn't asking the agency guy about conversations, no she's asking that agency guy about cash. As in how much of it did the agency generate versus how much the client is spending with said agency. (See crosshairs comment above). So if a brand sends you a product to review or pays for you to attend an event or visit a destination, remember that agency person and the brand manager have to justify that expense to someone -- client/boss. So write something. This doesn't mean you have to "shill for the man" but it does mean that if you don't write a post, you should CALL NOT eMAIL the agency contact and explain why you're not writing. Maybe you had a terrible experience or maybe you felt the product sucked, whatever, you owe the people that "compensated" you that much. And of course, if you do write something, disclose the relationship and be generous with your link love and tweets.

We Marry Our Cousins
This last point may be the most important one of all. In the almost 20 years I've been in advertising, I've learned over and over again what an incestous industry this is. It seems everyone has worked with everyone or at least a friend of everyone. We all know each other, which can be good and bad for you. Be a stand up person that works within the framework and your name gets sent around. Be an a$$hole and well, your name gets sent around. So be careful about burning bridges. You never know where they may lead. I don't offer this up as a threat but more of a word of caution. It's a small world, act accordingly. You'll be happier and more successful.

That's it. If you're going to be at BlogWorld and you happen to see me, please do say hello. And let me know what you think about the above. Any other words of wisdom you'd suggest? Panel isn't until Saturday so I still have time to change my slides!

Numbers Matter

  

I know it's all PC and cool to say that numbers don't matter. Number of fans, followers, readers of your blog -- none of that matters. It's all about just writing and sharing great content because that is the core of social media. [dramatic pause while I hug myself]

Personally, I disagree. I think it's easy to say numbers don't matter when you have 30,000 followers on Twitter and 10,000 fans on Facebook or an email list with over 100,000 readers. And it's easier to fall prey to that thinking and not challenge it, poke at it and see if well maybe... it's flawed somehow.

I think numbers do matter for two reasons.

First, social media is so new that most of the folks hiring social media strategy types really don't understand the channel, the medium and most importantly, how to determine which social media expert is better than another. Enter numbers. If you tell me you're a SocMe expert and you are following 1 person on Twitter and you have 34 followers (do you get the feeling I'm talking about someone in particular?) then you will be viewed by a client in one way. If the other social media expert you're competing against for the contract has 5,000 followers on Twitter, a top ranked blog (by Google) and a Google search of the person's name along with the phrase social media expert turns up lots of hits... well let's guess who is getting that contract shall we!

Numbers serve as a proxy for people to make decisions about professional services they don't understand. I mean, 5,000 people can't be wrong... right? When folks are hiring for a service or knowledge offering they don't understand(for instance -- social media), they simply cannot make an informed decision because they don't know enough. So they crowd-source if you will. They look at the most famous or most followed and figure, hey, that many folks simply cannot be wrong.That guy/gal must be the social media expert I need to hire.

Second, numbers give you reach. You may be the most brilliant marketing mind the world has ever known. But if only 5 of your drinking buddies are reading your stuff... I'm guessing the world just found itself another ditch digger. Sure, in the beginning we all start small, but eventually you simply must hit a critical mass of followers, believers or members of your tribe that value you, follow you and promote you -- if you hope to be able to pay the mortgage and still have beer money left over. 

Ok, so numbers do matter. But let me now talk out the other side of my mouth. Numbers aren't the end game. If all you're doing is driving your numbers and there is no content or thinking behind them, then yes, you could say that numbers don't matter. BUT....

In any marketing campaign, advertising, direct, social or word-of-mouth, we want apostles. Jesus had twelve and that seemed to work for him. So while Godin fixates on the law of 10's, I like the law of 12'ves. I'm looking for my 12 apostles. Peeps that think like I do. That revolt against that what I revolt against. And that will follow me in an effort to do nothing short of a complete and total redefinition of the entire advertising industry. Sure I'll take 12. But man, I'd rather have 1,200. Why? Not for ego or to say I have 1,200. No, because 1,200 committed souls could do some serious damage. They could shake up the the status quo. The could get 1,200 more thinking about a the new world order that is marketing and advertising today. And maybe, those 1,200 and their 1,200 can help me change an industry I love so that before my kids graduate college advertising will be a career they aspire to join. Now that would be progress. Currently I'm well behind, as they seem to be favoring singer, broadway actor and professional baseball player.

So while great content absolutely has a place in Social Media and lack of it surely will lead to your downfall, don't fool yourself. Numbers matter. Focus on growing your numbers.

Build your numbers. Be proud of your numbers. But leverage those numbers for good and not evil. Really, it's ok.

That's all I'm saying. What are you saying about all that?

photo credit: by Patrick Gage

Can You Hear Me Now?

 
Do you ever wish you had more time to read blogs? If so, then you might want to go invest in a little app called Buzz Voice. I've been using it for a while now and have to say, it rocks.

With Buzz Voice, you don't read blogs, you listen to them. That's right, you can listen to your favorite blog right on your iPhone or iPod.

I love it because I can listen to blogs on my way to and from work, on long drives or while I'm walking to get a bite to eat. Basically, any time that I need my eyes but maybe not my ears I can catch up on my blogs. Though, if you're going to use it in the car I'd suggest getting an iPod dock so you can just listen through the speakers and not use the headphones. Trust me, your kids will love you for it!

Here is a video they made to show you how to use it in the car.

And now, you can hear Positive Disruption on Buzz Voice. The CEO, John Atkinson dropped me a note a few weeks back letting me know Positive Disruption had been added to the playlist under the Tehchnology>>Social Media category. 

 

I'm pretty excited about being added to a list of great Social Media bloggers but more importantly, I'm excited because this opens up Positive Disruption to folks that otherwise might not be able to read it without some kind of special equipment: the visually impaired. Now they can just hear the words with nothing more than a computer (yes you can play BuzzVoice blogs on your computer) or an iPod. To me, I think that is just awesome because once again technology is bringing a low cost solution to a big cost (losing access to knowledge is such a waste) problem.

So go check BuzzVoice out. I think you'll dig it and be sure to add Positive Disruption to your playlist.

Creating the future

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that dream. And those that dream and do.

Luckily for me and you, there are two of the later here in New Orleans. Chris Schultz and Tiffany Starnes are of the latter breed. On a trip back from last year's SXSW festival, the two had a crazy idea.

"Let's start a conference here in New Orleans that focuses on Building Communities Through Social Network Platforms" and then tie it into an ultra cool music festival - Voodoo Experience. 

And in less than a year, it has happened. This October, the first ever TribeCon Conference will begin. 

What I think is really cool (and have thought since the first day Chris/Tiffany told me about their idea) is that the entire conference isn't just another social media conference. No, this one has a very specific, and I think immensely important focus -- community building. Have you read Godin's Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us? [amazon link] If not, you should read it right before you come to TribeCon... it will prime you for what I think is going to be a great group of folks talking about the future of advertising.

From Tara Hunt author of The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business [another amazon link] to Brian Oberkirch (wicked smart guy I've heard speak) to NOLA's adopted daughter Sloane Berrent (another wicked smart person I've heard speak) and a host of others that I'll give you the joy of discovering over at the TribeCon site, this is shaping up to be another great new conference. Can it be as great as the south's other new entry into the conference circuit -- Social South? I don't know, that one was pretty great, but the stars surely seem to be aligning in that direction. 

All of this to say, if you're interested in learning more about how to use Community to benefit your cause, yourself or your brand -- I think you might want to take a peek at this conference and give a good bit of thought to stopping down that weekend.

And me, I'll be there. Haven't finished my deck yet but here is an overview of my session:

Micro-Content
The fundamental dynamics of content creation and dissemination have changed. No longer must we be slaves to worldwide media conglomerates where a handful of executives creating safe, homogenous content that appeals to the masses call the shots. For less than the price of a new car anyone with a point of view can produce and disseminate high quality, engaging Micro-Content focused on even the most niche interest.

Video, web, audio, print and even book publishing has become available to the masses. And if you think only amateurs and teens are creating it, think again.

Come see how this change to the media landscape combined with the explosive growth of social media is creating a unique opportunity for marketers big and small to get Tivo’d by today’s savvy consumer.

So, you coming or what? If you do, the first round is on me. And by the way, if you're coming: feel free to use Promo Code TomMartin to save 25% off your registration fee. So I guess that means, you'll be buying the second round... and maybe the third right?