Advice, resources, and insight on how to make social engagement work to grow your business and career.
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People don’t socialize with brands, they socialize with people. So even if you have a brand account for your business, finding a way to feature your people through it is essential. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when sorting through this issue.
The best way to get into Google+ is to get into the habit of sharing everything.
For a long time I have advised clients and friends to spend more time listening online and worry less about what to share. By listening we can find conversations to start or jump into and truly enjoy social interactions.
So my advice to become a sharing fiend to really get into Google+ may sound contradictory but I think it is the best way to let yourself get sucked in and appreciate what this powerful network has to offer.
Whenever we come across something we like online we don't react to it by sharing all of it because we know (or should know) that we'll drive our friends and followers crazy if we do. Most social networks are giant soapboxes through which everyone we're connected to can see everything we share. Sure, Facebook offers other sharing options but they are not intuitive and rarely used.
With Google+ nothing gets shared at all without first selecting one or more circles to share them with. If you want to share something with everyone, it's as simple as selecting the Public circle and sharing.
But here's the difference: when I snap a photo of my kids doing something cute my thought doesn't jump to sharing it because I consider that to be private and personal. Unless there was a way to just share it with my immediate family or close friends, which there is with Google+.
So now, for me, I just share everything and select the right groups to share each thing with. Google+ makes it easy to make that choice and when I use the smartphone app it uploads everything I create automatically so I just need to select who to share it with and I'm done.
While over sharing leads to disengagement on most networks, on Google+ it leads to more engagement because not everyone is going to see everything you share. You may still only share the same number of things with everyone that you do on Facebook, but you may share so much more with your hiking circle, your curling team circle, your jogging buddies, your family, or whatever other circles you've created. And if you are thoughtful with how you curate your circles they will rarely overlap.
The result is that you'll have content that others will see, comment on, share and +1 that will pull you into the network naturally, just like on Facebook and Twitter.
So have fun sharing. It's what the network was built for and once you get into it you'll find it more natural than you expected. Maybe in time you will back off a bit, but to really get into it, let yourself loose with sharing for a while and get in the habit of choosing which content is right for each circle of relationships. For me, it has resulted in Google+ becoming my favourite online social channel. I don't even email my wife any more when I find something interesting, I just hit the +1 button, and enter her name.
If you're staying away from Google+ because "no one is there", be one of the first ones who is. What else is keeping you from jumping in?
We all know that small things can make big differences and signing in to an online service can be a big pain for a lot of people. So, to make things easy for our learners, we have installed a single sign-on (SSO) service so people can sign on to our courses using their Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn accounts instead of needing to remember yet another password.
This is the first in a list of feature and usability improvements we are rolling out this month all to serve one purpose: to make Sociallogical Learn the ideal environment for business people to learn social business and to mentor each other through the big changes of the coming decade.
If it's your first time using Learn, just click one of the social icons to the right to get started with SSO. Once you select a service, you're walked through the rest of the process and a Learn account will automatically be created for you.
Already using Learn? You can still make use of this convenience.
When you're done, you can forget about your Learn password and just use SSO to sign on in the future!
It's quite simple really - we are simply linking your social accounts to your Learn account. These relationships are then automatically saved and remembered for future use.
We know that passwords are a pain for most people - they are often a pain for us. So we hope this simple improvement makes life a little bit easier for our learners by making it easier to visit us more often and find out what's new in social business.
This week Sociallogical is rolling out several updates to the content of our online course, Understand Social Business, that includes Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and other developments over the last few months that have changed how we create and share content, build brand communities, and run companies.
There's a lot more that we have added, removed, and updated that you'll see in the course over the weekend. To keep up with the rapidly changing technology and cultural shifts that change how we grow companies, we're excited to bring this fresh perspective to the business teams who subscribe to our course to make the shift to social.
We want to help companies transform their cultures by helping their people understand the opportunities and goals of becoming a social business. What decisions have you made for your company this year to keep up and get ahead?
Battered by messages and mantras from the other side that aren’t always true and often wildly exaggerated, the incumbent candidate for the US Presidency responded this week by sharing his own message in his own way in a format that is entertaining, informative and, above all, sharable.
While the opposing Republicans would likely accuse the President of the same, his response to them is truly unique and, I’m sure we will learn over the next few weeks from polls, effective.
What’s also noteworthy is that he shared it first through an online news source that is extremely popular amoung his target demographic of supporters - the Huffington Post. By doing this, the people who are most likely to support him will be first to see it, share it, and distribute it, increasing the likelihood of a rapid organic spread of the video amoung an obvious, visible, massive group of supporters.
The result is momentum and a direct feed into millions of personal networks in a way that a traditional campaign could never hope to reach. And through this one piece of political storytelling are a few lessons to apply to growing any community; political, business, or otherwise:
Read through the bolded lines of the 5 points above and consider which ones do not apply to your business and the community you hope to build around it. In my opinion, they all apply. And if you add the social lessons we have shared since this blog was born, the content you create will feed a wonderful community that brings a lot of value to the people who like you.
Political campaigns are big business and there are many pundits around the world who have dissected the process of winning in great detail. There’s a lot to read and a lot to learn. But the basics of building great content that draws people to you and turns them into supporters are simple and straightforward and, surprisingly, still lost on many businesses.
As you watch the political campaigns unfold in your part of the world, consider what resonates with you. What draws you in, what content compels you to share, and what is so meaningful that you’re willing to speak out?
Learn from it, copy it, and use it for your business. And please share your observations in the comments below.
"When you walk into a room full of people, what’s the first thing you do? For me, my goal is to find people I might know and just say hello. Yet, when it comes to social media, most businesses still don’t see social networks as a place to socialize but as mediums to broadcast, which is a very big and costly mistake. Some businesses even forget that social is about connecting with people. Many, determined to continue operating as they always have, shove their ad messages through social mediums that eventually end up detesting them.So how can businesses avoid making the costly mistakes mentioned above? Here are two key principles to starting off right..."
Above is an excerpt from a guest post I wrote yesterday for my friend Dave Gallant's blog.
Dave is an eastern Canadian social business consultant who understands the "social" side of social business more than most and emphasizes it well in what he does. Dave is also working on a new startup called Recommendur that focuses on helping people get started using social media in the early days when people are often unsure of what their first steps should be.
My guest post speaks to the people Dave hopes to help with Recommendur. Dave's interest in helping people learn social media, especially in a business context makes his new startup a likely partner for Sociallogical and we're looking forward to seeing what he builds.
What advice do you have to give someone just getting started in social business?
Register using code ELAINES to join "the Empress of Inspiration", Elaine Shannon, in her first course to help your team understand social business in a few short weeks as Sociallogical's newest mentor of our online classes.
"Still working on Sociallogical course. REALLY good content! Should help me become more social media savvy! Thanks a bunch for a great course!" - Lorna Pond, Urban Landscaping
"Almost halfway through chapter three of Sociallogical course! Tres enlightening! 2012 will be a year of connectiveness for HHP" - Greg Hemmings, Hemmings House Productions
Elaine is scheduling her inaugural class to begin in 2 weeks with registration closing on Friday, March 16 as her last step for certification as a Sociallogical Mentor.
Chapter 1: How Did We Get Here? How Do I Start?
Chapter 2: How To Use the Social Media Tool Box
Chapter 3: How to Grow a Social Business
The people who work for your company need to be the core of your community, online and off, if you hope to build a community around your brand that draws people to you.
As a business, you are all together to build something you believe in. You work with people who you have something so in common with that you spend 40+ hours a week together doing it.
When people look for you online, what they need to find is your community, sharing and amplifying each other's content and talking with each other, like friends and colleagues do. Your social media community is the heavy lifter of your inbound marketing strategy. Trying to draw people to your brand without it is as unlikely to succeed as not advertising was back in business 1.0.
Here’s the basic Sociallogical prescription for building a brand community:
This active community you build with your first line of stakeholders is the best social asset you have available to you. If you don’t socialize with each other, why would anyone else want to?
NOTE: The Photo above is the Hemmings House team, who we had the privelege of working with this year. A fantastic small company that is an attractive core for a growing and engaging community for their brand.
There is constant change in how we communicate and the players we have now - Facebook, Twitter, etc. - may not look like they do today for very long. But social media is a permanent fixture of the modern world and I'll tell you why I'm confident of this.
Big words that mean: high-speed internet is everywhere, including our pockets, and available to most of us. If we were still on dialup to connect to the internet then social media would be clumsy, sluggish, and few would want to use it. But, instead, most of us can have broadband and do. And it makes the networks and media available to us fast and powerful.
And it's only going to get faster, broader, and more mobile. The mobile speeds we are about to see in the next few years make even the fastest connections now available in the home pale in comparison. Soon there will be almost no delay between asking for something and getting it no matter where we find ourselves in the western world.
Unless broadband goes away, social media is here to stay.
Do you remember when storage was an issue? Do you remember what online storage even is? When I left university in the mid 1990s my laptop was able to hold less information than my Gmail account will now allow me to send in one email. The size of our hard drives were among the most important considerations when buying a new computer and just 15 years ago were commonly measured in units 1/1000000 of what we measure them in now.
Storage is so cheap now that it is a non-issue in the purchase of a new computer for most people and is being given away for free by the gigabyte. Google gives us over 7GB of storage for free - an amount I still have not yet been able to fill after over 10 years with my current Gmail account. Dropbox gives us 2 GB of free storage and many others do the same.
Have you ever paid YouTube to store and stream one of your home videos? Has last.fm or grooveshark.com dinged you because you downloaded or streamed too much data from their music servers? Storage used to be a barrier to using various forms of media and it's just not anymore. And since much of what we do on social media is share media, the limitlessness of storage is a big enabler.
Unless cheap storage goes away, social media is here to stay.
Do you know why your parents and your kids use social media? Because they can. We used to argue about the challenges of building websites and user interfaces that people will use without confusion and frustration but that doesn't happen so much anymore. Some interfaces are better than others but we have learned a tremendous amount about what works and what doesn't in engaging users and making things easy and we're not likely to unlearn these skills anytime soon.
Facebook ate MySpace's lunch largely because it was more usable and intuitive. Twitter exploded into the mainstream because it is simple-simple and takes most people about 15 minutes to figure out (sure, it takes months for most to be comfortable with it but that's a cultural issue, not a usability one).
Unless we forget everything we've learned about how to build great human interfaces, social media is here to stay.
The telephone found an important place in our business world and became an indispensable tool that connects people inside companies and with their customers and partners. Try to imagine dealing with a business that withholds the use of the telephone from its employees and refuses to give a phone number where you can reach them. I'm confident most people would refuse to do business with them.
And this will become the fate for any business who responds in a similar way to social media and their customers who demand to be served through it.
It won't happen overnight. In the early days of the telephone some businesses DID withhold the telephone from employees and considered it a distraction, not an enabler. So businesses can be forgiven for choosing a fear-based response to this new phenomenon in these early days.
But eventually consumers will only connect with businesses who are truly connecting. Talented people will only consider working for open, connected, and social corporations. Investors will only put their dollars in leadership and cultures that know how to build communities that show support with dollars and their networks.
Choose what changes you will make and when for your business. But do not make the mistake of hoping social business will go away. It won't. And based on the tremendous opportunities and benefits it provides us all, once we get past the culture shock and fear, no one should hope it does.
Am I overconfident in my prediction? Tell me how your business is making the shift or why you're not in the comments below.
How will you ever figure out what to do with social media when everything is constantly changing? Are the expectations and methods outdated before you get to use them? The breathtakingly rapid rise of a new social network this season, Pinterest, makes that fear acute for many clients I talk to.
According to TechCrunch earlier this month,
"It’s beautiful, it’s addictive, and now Pinterest is having its glorious hockey stick moment. TechCrunch has attained exclusive data from comScore showing Pinterest just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other standalone site in history."
Some are even saying that the visual nature of Pinterest is going to permanently challenge the attractiveness of blogs as desirable and sharable content for brand building.
3 months ago I had never heard of Pinterest. Had you?
Social is more important than ever now as the world of business and communication changes faster and faster. By 'social' I don't mean social media business or any other buzzword.
What I mean is that when your goal is to build relationships with real people and bring them into your community to buy your products and feed your shared interests, you can't lose.
Evaluate every new platform, tool, and trend on its ability to accomplish this goal.
Pinterest is a fantastic medium for curating visual content. It allows us to share content we like easily, so in that sense it is social.
But we don't talk to each other on Pinterest (yet) and that is a major drawback. When I get a notice that someone has shared my pin I can't thank them like I might on Twitter. There's no way to start a conversation based on something shared on Pinterest, unless it is fed into a more social channel like Facebook.
The point is that Pinterest is not scary and neither will any new social platform be if you learn how to build relationships and community online. Then new platforms are just new ways to connect and our online lives become easier and richer.
Does the constant change in social media scare you? Here are a few useful links if you'd like to know more about this explosive new phenomenon:
Relationships begin with a gift. It may be as small as a smile or a suggestion, but something is given so the other can reciprocate and the back and forth of relationship has begun.
It's no different when we go online and it is unreasonable for anyone to expect relationship to emerge without this interpersonal volley. When we retweet someone's post, comment on their article, tag them in a photo, or recommend them for their work, we are giving something of value to them that feeds a relationship and we all know it.
Think of how you feel when you get the message that "Arnold @Schwarzenegger favorited your Tweet". Even if the message comes from someone who works two floors down, that's a small gift that validates your choice to share something and draws you to that person.
In our company we give things away all the time. We use the #learnsocial hashtag on Twitter and Google+, the Learn Social group on Linkedin, our Facebook page, and this blog to share articles, advice, and perspective that we hope our clients and partners will find useful and helpful to learn social business.
And today we are giving away a free intro course on social business:
"Businesses grow when their people get social. That's where we come in." Take a free course and #learnsocial: awe.sm/5fE6k
— Sociallogical (@soclogical) February 11, 2012
We know that our learning environment creates a mentorship among a small group that is incredibly helpful for people who want to learn how to do business online. Our courses give the understanding and knowledge of this new medium and culture that tactics and strategy are built on.
And as we grow and develop our platform over the coming months, this free course will gain the new changes and features of the rest of our mentorship platform so visitors can see for themselves, with no risk, if the help of our community and knowledge might help them do business better.
Our free course isn't fancy, but it's got some great insight and knowledge as a sample of what someone will learn if they signup for our full course or one of the new courses that we are now building. This is just a small gift to those who want to get to know us better.
How do you start relationships online?
In my last year of high school I read George Orwell's essay, "Politics and the English Language." Five years later, I still refer to it. His words are cemented in my brain. Orwell is known as a visionary, someone whose words were thought to hold particular truths about the future. At the very least, the guy knew how to write.
In this particular essay he's trying to tell us that the English language (and society itself) are in a state of decay. He explains the cause/effect relationship between language and writing by using a metaphor. A man who fears failure may drink, and as a result, he fails. It's a vicious cycle. He writes that our language is a mess because our thoughts have become foolish. But the way we are engrained in language and its use in our culture causes us to have foolish thoughts.
To fight against the decay of our language and quality of speech isn't trendy. When people are indoctrinated to read, speak, and think a certain way, it's hard for them to see the value in change. Orwell writes:
"It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes."
He explains the specific ways we've ruined the English language through politics. Have you ever read a statement from a politician and had to sit and analyse its meaning? The hallmarks of political writing are vagueness, pretentious diction and the use of euphemisms in place of something more blunt. For example, when discussing war, people often say "collateral damage" in place of "the killing of innocent victims."
"Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
And even though Orwell wrote this essay in 1946, the essence of the message hasn't changed over time. I'm going to go through 5 ways he can teach us to write with conviction.
Anything we're used to seeing in print tends to roll off the tongue. I'm guilty of this myself from time to time, I'll admit.
Some examples: beating a dead horse, hell in a handbasket, stand shoulder to shoulder with, fish in troubled waters, etc. There are hundreds, possibly even thousands of these tired clichés.
The problem with them? Orwell puts it simply, by saying they present "staleness of imagery." When we read these expressions they often fly completely over our heads, we miss their meaning because they conjure no real image for us. Fresh, original thoughts are much more powerful.
It's easy to be vague in our writing, or extend our thoughts over multiple sentences. We see this a lot in academic writing. I'd be reading my sociology textbook and have to read and re-read every other sentence because they just seemed to drag on and lose my interest. That's not good. Orwell argued that prose consisted less of words for their meaning and more "phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated henhouse."
People often use a foreign word to sound formal or authoritative on a subject, but they don't realize that it has the opposite effect. The plainest, most ordinary English word has a clearer meaning and a harder impact on people.
I encountered this a lot in my university career. As a journalism major, I developed a thorough understanding of the power of simple, ordinary English, which furthered my appreciation of what Orwell was trying to tell us. My sociology profs would tell me my term paper was "a good read" and I'd laugh because I'd think of the hours I spent dissecting academic papers written by "experts." A few times they were so unclear that I ended up crying in frustration. Why use 100 words when you could have said it in 10?
To further develop the point made above; why use "inextricable" when you can say "tangled?" Why put "circumvent" in place of "avoid?" Why "terminate" instead of "end?" It sort of goes without saying. What sounds better? It's almost always the simplest form.
"The psychologist delayed terminating the session because the patient was visibly overwrought."
or
"The psychologist delayed ending the session because the patient was clearly distressed."
Vague writing is the worst kind of writing. If you're not sure about what you're saying, or you simply don't care about what you're saying, how do you expect your readers/audience/customer to care? Be direct. Use active words. I'll give an example of the contrast:
It has happened that people have lost interest in the use of proper grammar on social media channels because they couldn't have been bothered to make the effort.
People aren't using proper grammar on social channels because they're lazy.
It's easy to fall into long, passive, boring habits. We all do it. But as soon as we become conscious of it, we can catch ourselves at it, and start communicating more effectively.
We can't let our language skills fall apart on social channels. It's even more important that we be producers of good content. Social is a relaxed environment; it's free, it's open, it's very casual. The language should accommodate this. But when we blog, tweet, or post, we should keep these tips in mind. People are compelled by good writing; meaningful and to the point. Clear?
Have you ever met someone at an event and thought ‘wow, he’s nothing like his online profile?’ It’s a first world situation, and it happens all the time. When someone is in front of us, their natural character emerges, pretty or not. Body language, tone of voice and how we regard our surroundings all sync to form an impression.
But, in 2012, there’s a good chance you’ll see someone’s online profile before you meet them under real life circumstances. Think about it. How many times have you tapped into Facebook to feed your curiosity upon meeting someone new?
There's something to be said about the digital first impression. We’re in the age of “creeping,” whether we admit to it or not. The impression we leave with people could be a blessing or a write-off. We may never know.
Psychologists explain first impressions as part of encoding in the brain. We make quick, exaggerated judgements based on parts of a whole. It's hard to fathom why initial encounters have a semi-permanent effect. "The First Impression," by Carlin Flora, former editor of Psychology Today, sheds light on the issue. Flora writes:
"...The brain takes first-impression Polaroids—creating a composite of all the signals given off by a new experience. Psychologists agree that snap judgments are a holistic phenomenon in which clues (mellifluous voice, Rolex watch, soggy handshake, hunched shoulders) hit us all at once and form an impression larger than their sum."
The dynamic changes when an initial glimpse into our personalities occurs online. We suddenly lose the ability to see or hear the person. All we have to base judgements on are profile pictures, brief summaries, the kinds of things a person shares and the way they interact with others through text.
We can't control the ways of the new world, and chances are, employers will search us to find out more about us. We should use this opportunity wisely, as we'll never know who may be watching or what they're thinking. Here are, in short, five fundamentals for personal branding:
Whenever I go to write a bio for myself I pause. At 23, I'm really still defining myself as a professional. I don't know who I'll be at 30, 40 and so on. But I do know where I want to go. This is important. When you a have a limited amount of characters to describe yourself (160 on Twitter,) you need to make the most of them. The more information you can pack into those is good: a lawyer who dabbles in photography and loves to cook, etc. You have to believe in yourself before anyone else will. We can trust a mother's word on that.
Something I read in Halligan and Shah's Inbound Marketing stuck with me. The authors' point out the importance of using your real name, first and last (if possible.) When we add numbers it gives the appearance of spam. If your full name isn't available, you can abbreviate in ways that look more professional; mentioning where you're from, for example. To take it further: using the same name across social channels makes us more accessible to our audience.
Keeping in mind the "Polaroids" produced by the brain (that often stick) we have a small window of opportunity to either intrigue people or turn them off. In terms of simplicity, playing it safe is good. People who don't know us will assume things based on things like layout, what kind of photo we choose, and how we describe ourselves. A modest, professional profile picture is ideal. If it offers a touch of personality it's better.
A post on Pick The Brain, a blog focused on personal productivity, gives some simple but useful tips on selling yourself. We're reminded that the company we keep is significant and how far a smile will take us.
Often, telling someone to smile will piss them off. When I'm in a yoga class and twisted into a pretzel, the instructor always says "remember to smile!" and I sometimes grind my teeth - but it makes a difference.
In The Rules of Work, an international bestseller, Templar writes:
"At first you don't have to believe it - just do it. Act it. Pretend. But do it. After a little while you'll find it isn't an act, you're not pretending, you genuinely do feel cheerful. It's a trick. You are tricking yourself, no one else. Putting on a smile triggers hormones. These hormones will make you feel better. Once you feel better, you will smile more, thus produce more hormones."
People are drawn to positivity; we want to hear from those who are happy, motivated and energetic. It's common to complain on social channels, because it's easy to take out our frustrations on a keyboard. We must actively remind ourselves why we can't fall into that pattern: it makes us feel worse, and turns people off.
There is such thing as an over-share, even on the internet. A woman who recently followed me on Twitter describes herself, in her bio, as "an overdrinker" and "a former party-hopping hussie." I wasn't inclined to follow her back, to say the least.
Respectively, we don't want to take ourselves too seriously. Social channels are a place to have fun. It's hard to describe in a cut and dry way, but we should really consult our "moral compass" before we tweet, update, or post. Imagine your grandmother at the other end of the (virtual) tunnel. As weird as that may sound, it has an instant "reality check" effect and we are reminded to use caution in what we share. Are you keeping your audience in mind before you hit send?
Scenario: You're meeting a friend for dinner in an unfamiliar city. They ask you to choose a place. You don't really have time to sift through online reviews; they can be unreliable, even fabricated. So, when you have a free moment, you log into Foursquare. You search restaurants and explore what people (maybe your own friends) are saying about different stops. It doesn't take long; you find the ideal spot, save it to a list and carry on with your day. You can relax knowing your friend will (likely) approve.
This whole notion of "checking in" and applications that track our location (Gowalla is another example) is still emerging, relatively new to our society. Many are slow to warm up to the idea of social media at all; maps and location add a whole other dimension to the experience.
On Foursquare we leave "tips" which help out future visitors at any given location. We can feel good knowing the reviews come from REAL people, with bios, and linked accounts. Many of them will come from our own friends.
There's something to be said here: it's another example of how traditional "word of mouth" has been replaced. Of course, there are endless review sites online. But, it's not always clear who's writing them. In many cases, it's easy to pose or "astroturf," writing calculated reviews with a secret agenda.
Most people are on Foursquare to connect and share their favourite places with friends and their community. And maybe have a little fun while they're at it.
In my research I've encountered a trend: reviewers fall into one of two categories: early adopters who love Foursquare, and those who don't see it's value at all. To further my point, here are good examples of arguments for and against adopting the application.
A blog post by David Pierce explains the advantages of this media tool well. While the linked review site is no longer active, Pierce is now a Reviews Editor at The Verge, a prominent technology news source.
This post opposes the former. The author is a Senior Brand Planner at SapientNitro, an established marketing and technology services firm in Boston. He argues that most check-ins are of little value to our audience. No one cares when we're at the gym or sitting in our office. He says the application isn't used widely enough for the tips to be resourceful in catering to our tastes.
But, as Pierce explains, Foursquare doesn't just give us a list of check-ins. It notifies us if a friend is nearby. It also plays on our natural competitive sides with its points system, making it a place to have fun.
It's usefulness is entirely subjective. It depends fully on whose opinion you value, and how many people in your social circles are using the application. The technology will evolve and it may even become recognized under a new name, but in the future its purpose will only become clearer as the world grows social. How many of your friends are on Foursquare?
Have you ever lost yourself in a book? There's something about the narrative that takes hold of us; our minds are held captive for some time in an imaginary place, that is, fostered by a great story. We feel involved somehow, it becomes part of us and us a part of it. We draw comparisons between characters and ourselves, and judge them as we would people on the street.
Storytelling is an integral part of life. As children, we develop a sense of right and wrong through parables; ideas become cemented in the brain and are carried out in our life experiences. For example, The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a compelling tale that explains the value of integrity. When we're given a real example of human struggle (a boy's lies lead to self-destruction,) something clicks and we attach meaning to it. These stories stick with us because they are widely relatable.
We grew up listening to teachers speak of things we'd need to know in the future. As adults, we're motivated to learn things of immediate value to us.
Storytelling binds us all, regardless of race, class or gender. We can gain new insight on our own lives or problems we've faced through the experiences of others. Self-discovery inspires new learning and growth. A journal article in Adult Learning highlights this idea:
"Narrative thinking, as opposed to analytical thinking, is relational rather than linear; it holds power to help tellers and listeners make new connections, linking various aspects of experience in new ways. Making these linkages frequently leads to revised interpretations, enhanced self-awareness, and learning that precipitate constructive, developmental change."
Social media IS the new storytelling. It connects us to those in our communities, it gives us a venue to share our experiences and provide insight to others. Through social media we learn more about who we are through the kinds of people we attract and those with whom we engage with.
The article mentioned above argues that as adults, we have the capacity to "rewrite ourselves" and our life stories. We've developed beyond the impressionable phases of youth but we're not immune to reinvention.
Listening to our peers can open doors for us. It forces us to re-evaluate, drawing new light to the way we've always done things. This can be incredibly powerful.
"Stories are relational; they build relationships, create bonding links between educators and learners, and complement analysis with more holistic views of experience."
Is there someone in your office who's active in social "storytelling?" Find the person who's most comfortable with social media and get them to share their story. Social media changes the way people communicate as professionals. If we can understand how these tools have a real-life impact on someone we know, we're more apt to give them a try and discover new possibilities.
A good way to ease into social media is by creating a blog. The human effect is instant because blogging is so expressive - the design, photos we choose and insight we share combine to give our audience a taste of who we are.
And a blog can be about anything - interests we have, places we've seen, or maybe it's a place to talk about constructive changes in our work. If you become comfortable with blogging, it will be easier to shift into Twitter and other social media and start sharing and connecting. Social media isn't something that just happens - it's something we adapt to over time. Have your colleagues made the shift? Have you thought about telling your story? There's never been a better time.
Most professionals would agree that we don’t become comfortable with social media overnight, but rather, through gradual stages of exposure and engagement. An organization evolves as it passes through the social media adoption continuum.
A blog entry by strategy consultant Maxime Teller illuminates this notion of social media adaptation.
I sense a real need to establish and distinguish the roles of a consultant in social business processes.
While companies gradually pass through the social media adoption phases (education, observation, broadcast, participation, relationships, collaboration). I’ve identified three central stages that are part of developing social businesses. The social business stage a company resides in defines their perception of the distinct roles consultants play.
At this stage, companies have recognized the value in establishing an online presence through social media channels. Through education, observation or broadcasting they’ve acknowledged the gravity of social media; it’s not just a passing trend, but here to stay.
Accepting social media comes first. Understanding its usefulness comes later. At this point, the challenge lies in our perception of social media. At a glance, it seems like a “marketing tool.” Focus is placed on logistics: setting up accounts, broadcasting messages and campaigns, with a focus on the immediate “what” and less on the underlying “why.”
We get ahead of ourselves. This can be understood through an old expression: “putting the cart in front of the horse.” We’ve jumped in the cart (implemented new tools) but we aren’t moving without a horse (strategy). We won’t experience the benefits until we develop a strategy to get us from A to B. Only through experience do we come to know social media as a means of collaborative engagement.
The consultant (you) often assume the role of technician (as defined by the E-Myth) and you’re paid for the execution of tactics in place of the development of strategy (which you still do). However, this tactical approach can be used as a catalyst to push an organization to the next level. Accounts are ready but knowing how to use them requires guidance and mentorship.
In this stage, organizations have started to see social media through a strategic lens. They may be in the broadcast or participation phase, but with open minds. They’re exploring its potential as a two-way communication medium for things like public relations, competitive intelligence, R&D, market validation and customer service. Because they've passed the education and observation phase, they place a high value on the "why" part, understanding that a well-defined strategy will lead to business success.
Assuming the role of strategist, you’re not only paid for tactical execution, but for the development and implementation of strategy itself. Depending on where the client is in the adoption continuum, they may not be open to the corporate culture shift needed to see a social strategy through. This presents you with a real challenge.
Organizations at this stage have developed relationships and collaborate with others. These are typically companies that have already "baked" social into the enterprise. They understand that building community and having a “pay it forward” mentality will translate to positive brand experiences (Ex: Ford, HubSpot, Radian6).
Taking on the role of thought leader pushes you above the “noise” (those competing against you for the organization’s business). Why? Because key stakeholders turn to industry leaders first for insight, advice, and direction before making a purchasing decision.
When I consider thought leadership in the social space, these people stand out in my mind: Brian Solis (Altimeter Group), Peter Kim (Dachis Group), and Dan Zarella (HubSpot). We can draw on the insight of established innovators to grow a social business, for ourselves and our clients.
Have you found yourself at a crossroads in one of these stages? What are your sticking points in helping your clients grow? Let me know in the comments.
Are you one of those hit-snooze-at-least-three-times types? If you're anything like me, the early mornings can be rude awakenings. At least before a cup of coffee.
When my colleague introduced me to Timely.is, I was amazed. The application, in a nutshell, schedules tweets "automagically" for the time of day when your network is most likely to see them and posts them for you throughout the day. I hate to admit it, but my first thought was "brilliant! I could sleep in and be 'tweeting' and no one would know the difference." As Jeff says, timelied.
But, on a more serious note, time flies. I've spent my whole life, and will continue into my adult years, learning how to manage my time well. It's not something of natural evolution, at least for most people. It's just part of the human struggle, making the best use of our time with what hours we have in a day's work.
So, Timely.is may just be an application but it has two major benefits for the user: it saves us physical time, and it allows us to focus on what tasks we have at hand, by being completely present.
Developed by Flowtown, a team of social marketing innovators, Timely.is is a smart application. It allows us to schedule a given number of tweets (three by default,) and delivers them at spaced intervals throughout the day. What may seem like random times, are actually the product of specific calculations.
Timely.is relies on an algorithm that takes data from our Twitter accounts, and calculates what times of the day we are most likely to reach our audience and followers. It gets to know us based on when we tweet, and how often, and takes all of that data into account. For a more detailed explanation, you can read about it here.
So, we make the best use of our time. When we have a free moment or two, we can add tweets to our queue. There are surely things your company should be sharing; whether it's relevant news to potential partners, customers or clients, or a simple statement. Realistically, what working professional has the time to constantly engage with their community via social media? Not many.
It's important to stress that applications are here to assist us, not replace authentic human transaction. Social media loses its value when only used to broadcast messages on a schedule. This will only work in conjunction with (a bigger role) in listening. Responding to those in our community is essential to grow the relationships we want to have with clients and customers.
Respectively, no one likes the guy in a board meeting whose eyes never move from his phone. We can't let ourselves become so attached to new technologies that we forget how to be social in real life.
As a kid I was often told, "You can tell a lot about a person by the way they shake your hand." I still believe it. I've always believed in authentic, face-to-face communication. Our interpersonal demeanour is certainly important, both online and offline. Adopting these new technologies can help us in balancing our social demands.
Last night our friends at Hemmings House Pictures released a video that they completed for us yesterday and their founder, Greg, told the backstory of how we made it. Hemmings House played a unique role, first as students of our flagship course, then as creative directors and developers for our story.
Animating the Social Story! @hemmingshouse tells the Sociallogical story. Watch here! awe.sm/5eIIt #learnsocial #storyglass
— greghemmings (@GregHemmings) January 28, 2012
It's just a simple 1 minute piece. But to us, it means a lot. In the social business / social media world already characterized by confusion and being defined by each person's experience as a social media consumer, it has not been easy to tell the story of what a social business is and how we can help get them there. This video, we hope, will go a long way towards making it clearer for the people we talk to.
Every time we explain what business we are in, we get looks of understanding by anyone who uses Facebook, Twitter, or who has a profile on Linkedin or Google+. But faces often drop when we ask them if they know how to grow a business or make money with social media. That's the part that few understand and that's exactly what we help with.
We also know we're not the only ones with this perspective and we are reaching out to other social business professionals and consultants around the world to find the ones who share our positive, supportive view. We want to work with social business leaders who know that social businesses need to first be enlightened and prepared for the opportunity so they can plan their own transformations for future growth.
Our online learning platform gives our courses to these professionals so they can help their clients learn social and grow together. And, as Greg mentioned in his post above, we have a new course on the way soon that helps businesses tell their own stories through video (March 2012. Stay tuned!).
Have a look at our new video above and, if you like it, please send kudos along to our friends at Hemmings House. And please let us know in the comments below if we succeeded in making clear, in a simple way, what we do and how we add value.
What’s a hashtag? Well, for those of you who don’t exist in a world of eat, sleep and tweet, Urban Dictionary gives a pretty straightforward explanation. Essentially, placing the (#) symbol before a term, or several terms, creates a link which streams conversations surrounding the same subject, issue or trend.
Hashtags can be about anything, really. Maybe you want to tune into the buzz encompassing a popular TV show, or maybe you want to know what people are saying about prominent news issues. Occupy Wall Street has become a huge trend on Twitter. Simply by typing “#OWS” in the search bar, we can tap into a dialogue among people (mostly in the West) sharing their observations and related experiences. In a matter of seconds, we see what people are saying, in real time. That’s pretty amazing.
While hashtags originated on Twitter, they also create accessible links on Google+ through searches and circles and have become a recognized part of branding on other social media platforms, including LinkedIn and Facebook.
Back in November, the folks at Downtown Fredericton came up with a fresh way to encourage local shopping for the holiday season. They chose 10 social media savvy personalities in the city and gave them $100 to spend in downtown stores, in exchange for their agreement to document their tracks, in conjuction with the hashtag #GetDownFred via social media platforms; including Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Julia Hurst, fashion blogger and business representative at Radian6, was one of them. Hurst said the people selected ranged from radio personalities to photographers and bloggers.
"The people they chose were different, so it was cool to see how someone else would spend the money compared to myself. I spent mine on a dress, and some people spent it on beer, groceries, coffee, etc. I love shopping downtown Fredericton so I liked to promote my favourite stores."
Hurst had a lot of fun with the event, giving others a taste of her favourite places to burn cash through her blog, Fortunate Fool.
Other residents of the city were encouraged to use the hashtag while running their downtown errands to win cash and other prizes. Such an event represents a new-world experience; having the ability to tune into where everybody was shopping, with to-the-minute updates. It's an excellent example to show how social media has replaced traditional word of mouth.
It would be totally false to imply that all hashtags are rooted in something profound or even useful. I roll my eyes at least once a day at the “now trending” sidebar on my Twitter homepage. Silliness has proven contagious, judging by the often ridiculous topics that surface. I say this with sadness, but, #SexualPickUpLines is not a joke. It’s currently topping the generated list I have for “Canada trends.” It’s the same reason why videos become viral on YouTube; cats riding turtles, sassy children with British accents: a large part of our daily internet digest can be chalked up to entertainment.
But if you’re willing to sift through the crap, there’s a good chance you’ll find something helpful or interesting; something that wasn’t born of a bored teenager home on a Friday night.
There was a lot of talk about the Egyptian Revolution last year or so-called "Twitter Revolution." I won't get into the nitty gritty of it, but my perspective is this: Revolutions happened long before we had such technology, but social media gave a voice to thousands of people in a way that no one had experienced before. In less democratic parts of the world, it's getting much harder to silence the ordinary citizen with the speed of social media and the rates that people are using these technologies.
With that being said, #Egypt became one of the most influential and meaningful hashtags to date. Another one I want to point out is #Jan25. The latter represents the day that the former president stepped down. When this was announced to the general public, the tag #Jan25 became viral. People worldwide who had followed the story were tweeting about this.
Gephi is, essentially, an online graph machine that allows you to download a plugin that compiles data into graphs. André Panisson, Ph.D., is a student from the Informatics Department at the University of Turin in Italy. In a blog entry he explains how he compiled #Jan25 hashtag data to create a video that demonstrates the exponential rate that this story spread through Twitter. The visual he gives helps to conceptualize how modern social media tools are infectious in our society.
What constitutes our hometowns? Our familiar surroundings; the things that represent us, our communities. We use hashtags to connect meaning to our conversation, and the conversations of others. From silly to serious, it's assembling people based on who they are, and what they stand for. We can link this to the emotions associated with familiarity, and what's elemental in our lives. Are your thoughts trending in your hometown?
Okay, so podcasting for the average business is still a relatively new trend, but the print and audio industries have made the shift online. Many websites; news networks, online radio channels, now require you to subscribe and pay user fees. We all realize that most of what we consume on an average day is fed to us through the big, bad internet. Personally, I read the news via TweetDeck on my cell phone. To bring my point into focus: we all need to become producers of good content. And we need to do it through the latest, most effective mediums. The more ways we can engage our audience/clients/partners or whoever we’re trying to reach, the better.
Most of us wake with tired eyes. With this medium, it doesn't matter. We engage the senses through the act of listening.
SoundCloud is a user-friendly, versatile, and captivating application. It was originally created in Sweden for the purpose of sharing music among artists. It’s now recognized as a dynamic social tool among communities of people everywhere.
Why SoundCloud? Audio has a unique effect on us. As a journalism graduate who specialized in radio, I came to realize a few things. When we’re forced to listen, we tune out everything else. There are no visuals to distract us. The human voice, when used in a way that’s compelling, has an incredibly powerful and humbling effect.
It’s very easy. All you need is a valid e-mail address. Once you set up a password and confirm your login information you can start uploading tracks. I uploaded a 5 minute piece in a matter of seconds. And what’s better: it’s completely free.
Maybe you were at a conference and someone said something moving that you just can’t remember. Or you went to a launch and heard an important tip for a new application you’re using in the office. Whatever it was, you didn’t have time to take notes.
A digital recorder isn’t something a lot of people think to have on-hand (or even realize they have in their possession.) Most cell phones today have audio recording capability. You don’t need a fancy recorder to document the interesting things happening around you.
Think of what you’re trying to sell: whether it’s a product, a brand or an idea, and then start thinking in terms of sound. The sooner you do this, the sooner you can piece together bits of your experiences and share them with your audience through a new and exciting medium. If you’re really keen, you can tap into editing software and create podcasts, incorporate music.
You can search for people and groups that peak your interest. Slowly you’ll build a community of podcasters who are producing content that you relate to, or could even draw advice from. You can sync SoundCloud with your Facebook list and see who in your friend’s list is engaging with the application on a daily basis.
If you’ve read anything about SEO you know that tagging is important. Focus your posts, and tag them to your heart’s content. Make yourself easily searchable by using keywords that relate to your business goals and the message you are trying to send within the post. It’s the beauty of inbound marketing: people are able to locate and contact you.
Your SoundCloud tracks are easily shared through applications; Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress and Tumblr to name a few. You can easily link to your SoundCloud page. What’s even better is that you can actually embed the SoundCloud widget to your personal blog or website by copying a generated HTML code. Not many applications seem to allow you to do this. SoundCloud makes your audio creations easily accessible to anyone, anywhere. The idea that I could be listening to your podcast on my cell phone from your Twitter feed while riding the bus (and it all links back to one application) is really cool, and kind of a brain-twist.
It’s time to hop on board. It’s fun, it’s social, and it’s a great way to get people talking about your brand. Have you interacted via SoundCloud?
