Lost in Space Wiki:  “Doctor Smith”

Jeremiah Owyang, Forrester analyst and social media thought leader, provides an in depth look at the wreckage that can accompany the work load of social media “Looking Behind the Curtain on the Social Media Stage: Humans Don’t Scale.” Peter Kim highlighted Jeremiah’s post as a point in an even bigger issue within social media: social media’s changing culture.

3 Reasons Why Social Media’s Culture Is Changing

According to Peter there are three points to this changing culture:

• Limitations: “People have been stretched thin, failed to scale, and are close to burnout.”  We agree and believe that understanding human limits and planning will help alleviate burnout. Don’t take on more than is possible means don’t try to be on every social network or use every tool
• Attention: “attention (e.g. links, retweets, comments) functions as currency in the socialsphere. The influentials started to realize that their money was more valuable than others.  To retain value, many influentials have become stingy with their pocketbooks.”  We believe this is the factor that is driving the poor behavior and possible shift in social media’s culture. The idea that attention to one’s blog or social network is the only goal often means the content and value of content suffers tremendously

• Unashamed Begging: “On the other side of the coin, many participants are unashamed to beg for handouts.  Messages public and private that ask “link to me,” “pls RT,” and “comments appreciated” now come from complete strangers. We can not agree enough with Peter’s point about begging. Everyday strangers ask us for Linkedin recommnedations, RTs on their tweets, to read their blog articles and comment,  to become Facebook friends and fans, and to give them recognition. In most cases, we need to understand a person’s work and to get to know them, even if just on a limited basis, before we can vouch for them

Social Media Strategy: How to Stop Begging

• Engage first and often to build a relationship with your intended audience. Do not expect people to support you until they know something about your intentions, follow through, and willingness to give value

Courtesy Twitter Wiki

Twitter strategies are critical to successfully extracting as much value and information out of your efforts on Twitter as possible. Chief amongst these critical strategies, besides identifying your purpose for being there in the first place, is who you the entrepreneur or company should follow. If you are an aspiring social media marketer, looking to learn and leverage social networks, and interested in enriching your knowledge base the following are the best people and companies to follow on Twitter (in no particular order) :

• Mashable: incredibly rich source of social media information
• Jeremiah Owyang: Forrester analyst “fire” starter, conversational black belt
• Hubspot: creators of Twittergrader and tools for social media strategists; include Mike Volpe in your follow
• Pat Kitano: social media strategist, former Wall St. investment banker, thought leader behind Domus Breaking News Project
• Tim O’Reilly: true thought leader of Web 2.0 movement, social media maverick
• Peter Kim: Peter Kim’s blog is full of incredible resources and ideas. Besides who else can name their writing platform after a John Malkovich movie?
• David Henderson: former CBS corespondent and new social media strategist, David has created the Internet Newsroom to position company’s online presence
• Kevin Marks: Oxford educated Google’s expert in emerging technologies and their cultural impact
• Robert Scoble: unassuming, self deprecating blog pioneer and technology social media strategist
• Tech Crunch: I am not a Michael Arrington fan but I am a fan of his site’s relevance and breaking news power

What is your take? Did we miss anyone? Is there a less than worthy person on the list? Give us your feedback

My business partner Susan Hanshaw, Founder and CEO of Inner Architect, enjoyed a successful Direct marketing career which culminated with her position as Vice President and second in command of her firm. She performed and consulted on marketing campaigns that included Bank of America, Health Magazine, and Victoria Secret.

Together we are studying the possibilities of converging direct marketing methodology and social media. Two questions must be answered before we can move. We are asking for your help:

1. In today’s world has Direct marketing finally met it’s match within the social media space?

2. If Direct marketing and social media are compatible, what would be the best methods to utilize and the best social media networks for your Direct marketing campaign?

Entry Points

The idea in today’s world for any entrepreneur, job seeker, or company is to find an entry point in which they may engage with their audience. Once these entry points are identified, then the value message can be strategically delivered to targeted consumers, hiring managers, or specific audiences.

Peter Kim is a social media expert, strategist, and someone who intimately understands the importance of these entry points for companies. In Peter’s article for Mashable.com “22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan”  ,Peter outlines the major tools (and entry points) for companies and entrepreneurs to consider in their social media efforts.

How could you utilize these tools in a direct marketing plan?

Peter Kim’s Framework of 22 Major Tools for Social Media Marketing

1. Blogs (Johnson & Johnson, Delta Air Lines)
2. Bookmarking/Tagging (Adobe, Kodak)
3. Brand monitoring (Dell, MINI)
4. Content aggregation (Alltop, EMC)
5. Crowdsourcing/Voting (Oracle, Starbucks)
6. Discussion boards and forums (IBM, Mountain Dew)
7. Events and meetups (Molson, Pampers)
8. Mashups (Fidelity Investments, Nike)
9. Microblogging (method, Whole Foods)
10. Online video (Eukanuba, Home Depot)
11. Organization and staffing (Ford, Pepsi)
12. Outreach programs (Nokia, Yum Brands)
13. Photosharing (Rubbermaid, UK Government)
14. Podcasting (Ericsson, McDonalds)
15. Presentation sharing (CapGemini, Daimler AG)
16. Public Relations – social media releases (Avon, Intel)
17. Ratings and reviews (Loblaws, TurboTax)
18. Social networks: applications, fan pages, groups, and personalities (British Airways, Saturn)
19. Sponsorships (Coca-Cola, Whirlpool)
20. Virtual worlds (National Geographic, Toyota)
21. Widgets (Southwest Airlines, Target)
22. Wikis (Second Life, T-Mobile Sidekick)

Peter Kim is one of the most important architects of social media and a well respected new thought practitioners. Peter is considered an expert in the art and science of “the intersection of social technology and marketing strategy.” He has been quoted by the most prestigious press organizations from the Wall Street Journal to CBS Evening News.

In Peter’s article “A framework for measuring social media” (Sept ‘08) he outlines four concepts that provide the framework for social media measurement or ROI:

1. Attention: “The amount of traffic to your content for a given period of time.  Similar to the standard web metrics of site visits and page/video views.”

IA: Your readership can vary in many ways and although measuring number of readers and page views is quite telling, average time per visit is a major factor. Simply put how long a person stays on your site reading your content can be indicative to your content’s value in the eyes of your readers.

2. Participation: “The extent to which users engage with your content in a channel.  Think blog comments, Facebook wall posts, YouTube ratings, or widget interactions.”

IA: Key is a users willingness to engage with other users on your site. The comment section for each blog post has the potential to become their own mini “forums.” Within these forums your readers debate your content, collaborate, and communicate freely. One of the best examples of this is on ChrisBrogan.com another social media expert.

3. Authority: “Ala Technorati, the inbound links to your content – like trackbacks and inbound links to a blog post or sites linking to a YouTube video.”

IA: Although Technorati is the most well known inbound link measurement site, it is often not as accurate as Google. Peter is right on the money here with the fact that your trackbacks and inbound links are absolutely critical in measuring your content’s effectiveness in attracting readers.

4. Influence: “The size of the user base subscribed to your content.  For blogs, feed or email subscribers; followers on Twitter or Friendfeed; or fans of your Facebook page.”

IA: Attracting subscribers means you are producing excellent content. Yet in some cases, the subscription numbers can be “infected” by misleading subscription growth trends based on inaccurate numbers.

Creating an employment campaign with a planned strategy that proactively moves your message of value and your expertise to targeted hiring managers, companies, and industry associations must first begin with research. The first step to researching your desired industry, company, job, hiring manager, or niche begins with identifying your targeted list of people and places that utilize Web 2.0 strategies and blogging in their own businesses.

The following is a list and resource of corporations that support a blog in their efforts to create community, attract new customers, measure current customer trends, and stay in front of the ever increasing audience that utilizes Web 2.0 tools. Begin by mining blogs and sites for contact names, company trends, and intelligence about your chosen industry.

Our sincere thanks go to Ray Schiel and Peter Kim. The following is the link to Ray’s great site, Resources, the source of a list of 105 corporate blogs for you to mine in your search. Scroll down to the Blogging list.

Here are examples of just 10 high-profile companies using a blog or Facebook to promote their brand.

1. American Express
2. Clorox
3. Hewlett-Packard
4. Marriott
5. Sony Electronics
6. Sun Microsystems
7. Wells Fargo
8. Toyota
9. Pitney Bowes
10. IBM