Ideas

[slideshare id=1745672&doc=theopensocialwebworkshop-090720171244-phpapp01]

Presented by Chris Messina (OpenID Foundation), David Recordon (Six Apart), Joseph Smarr (Plaxo). As evidenced by Barack Obama’s successful presidential campaign, we have clearly entered the age of the social web. This developer-oriented workshop will emphasize the use and application of free, open building blocks for enabling social networking features on your site or service, and provide illuminating insights from some of the key figures creating these technologies.

http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009/public/schedule/detail/8575

The other night I attended a gathering of Portland’s online community managers.  I like nothing more than getting together with a bunch of smart people to explore new ideas, concepts, and issues.  This turned out to be one of those nights.

One of the issues that came up was in relation to the ROI (return on investment) – I wrote about this last week.  My question is, how do you help a small business owner that they need to put their money into social media and online networking?  Why would a business with less than 100, or less than 50 employees want to pay someone to develop a presence for them online?  And even if someone agrees that they need an online social networking presence, how could anyone quantify their return on this investment?

It turns out that this isn’t just an issue for the small businessperson, but for the Fortune 500 companies also. Some of my colleagues do consulting work for these companies, and it is a hot topic in all sectors right now.

There were two things I took away from this conversation:

• At this point, no one can guarantee that you will see a direct return on the dollars you spend.  For instance, if you pay a social media consultant $5000 to develop your online presence, you won’t automatically see $10,000 more revenue next year.
• The conversation has moved out of the town square and onto the Internet.  People are talking online, and they’re talking about your business, your products and services, and your company.  It’s up to you whether you want to join that conversation or not.  Either way, the conversation is happening – and your traditional advertising dollars are not going to influence the conversation, and the resulting purchasing decisions, as much as a person’s online community.  It is imperative that you become a part of that community.

Years ago, before the age of huge metropolitan centers, people lived in villages, and they shopped in the town square. Everyone knew everyone else and it was the center of social networking.  Because refrigeration hadn’t yet been invented, people went to the market fairly frequently.  Those who offered superior products and friendly service were the most likely to succeed.  In the real-world of the 19th-century marketplace, you couldn’t fake it.

20th century marketers and the companies they represented, were very removed from their customers. We saw a backlash to this in the last few decades when people began to advocate buying locally.  There has always been back channel conversation, but businesses had to hire market researchers and employ focus groups to discover what was being said about their products.  But, with the advent of online social media, businesses and regular people can interact directly.

Here’s a real life example:

Last year, a friend and I engaged in a short online discussion about Comcast. My friend was in Amsterdam, and I in Portland. Within moments, we were joined in our discussion by one of Comcast’s vice-presidents.  It was very impressive.  My attitude  towards the company changed course significantly.

A few months ago, I mentioned Verizon and their lockdown of the GPS device on my Blackberry.  Several friends jumped on my comment and we all commiserated the shortsighted decision on the part of Verizon.  There was considerable discussion about switching to ATT and an iPhone, so we would have better access to geo-location social networking capabilities.  I’ve never heard anything from Verizon on this issue. (By the way, I’ve gone on to post messages on Verizon’s website, sent them emails, and talked to customer service over the phone – but I’ve never heard anything in return.)

So, you tell me, who is winning more customers in the online community? Verizon, or Comcast?  Can we really afford to not participate in this conversation?

Last week, a friend of mine posted a comment on Twitter about being refused service when she tried to order food in the drive-thru lane at a local Burgerville restaurant. I’ll let her tell the story in her own words:

http://www.cafemama.com/2009/aug/12_to_burgerville_a_more_bikethrough_future.html

What do you think? Can you afford NOT to participate in this conversation?

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Yesterday, while catching up on feeds in my feed-reader, I came across an article by author Seth Godin (thanks for sharing this Chris Brogan), titled The massive attention surplus.  The article immediately caught my attention on many levels.

• First, Godin is a leading thought leader.  His book, Tribes, has been on the best-selling leadership book on Amazon for almost a year.  The man knows what he is talking about.
• Second, this short blog post, offers great insight into an area that I have been pondering.  As traditional media continues to circle the drain, and online social media takes center stage, how will this affect marketing, revenue streams, and the return on investment for firms employing social-networking as a part of their marketing strategy. (I talk about this here)
• This post also, at least in my opinion, puts a stop to all the whining marketers and print media mavens who complain that the Internet is killing their business.

We are living during a time of great change. Print media is fading – fast – and online social-networking is taking over.  No one really knows what this means…yet.  One thing is certain, magazine and newspapers are a thing of the past.  More and more people are getting their news and entertainment via the Internet.  Real-time news delivery, via Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sources are lining up on center stage and are not just poised to take the lead, but by some accounts already leading the trends.

Recently Newsweek magazine, for which  I’ve subscribed to for over two decades, revamped the format of their online and print magazine.  The website looks great, the print magazine, not so much. In explaining the new format, editor, Jon Meacham, mentioned that the magazine has been loosing money for almost two years.  While I appreciated his candor, and I also appreciated the bold revamping of the magazine, his comment, and the new format were what finally convinced me to cancel my subscription.

So what’s next?

We are entering a time when we can no longer rely on traditional marketing and journalism to get the message out. While this is an uncertain  time of transition, it is also a time of great opportunities.  The key is seeing and seizing these opportunities.

Image by luc legay via Flickr

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for those opportunities… Just today, I stumbled across this article in the New York Times: Mining the Web for Feelings, Not Facts Instead of just searching for raw data, smart companies are learning to mine the web for feelings.  Reading this article, in conjunction with the one above, really connected some important concepts for me.

I love it when these invisible dots connect. There is a world of possibilities when we learn to see the unseen.  I’d be curious to hear some of your thoughts after you read the articles.  Did these articles unlock any ideas in your  brain?

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About a week ago, my Darling 4 year-old Daughter trotted into my office and asked me to draw a star for her.  She was so impressed with the results, she asked me to draw more.  Now, to me, drawing simple five-pointed stars doesn’t seem that incredible, but to her   inexperienced mind, it was the most amazing thing she’d seen her Daddy do – at least that day.

Just a few days ago, she came into my office and asked me to show her how to draw a star.  I’d already tried to do that last week, but she was so fascinated by the star, she was having trouble watching the how part.  Just before I put the pen to the paper, I stopped and gave the pen back to her.  People don’t learn by being shown, they learn from doing it themselves.

As I tried to explain it to her, I realized I needed to take it a bit slower.  That’s when I remembered the dot-to-dot method.  I used to love dot-to-dot  images when I was a kid.  I would spend hours, following the dots and watching the images appear.  I  got to the point that I started making my own dot-to-dot images – and then solving them.  So, that’s what I did with my Darling Daughter that morning – I drew five dots on the paper, then numbered them.

I still had to walk her through the process, but at least she had a guide to follow – and a map! After she traced her first few stars, she ran into the other room to share her new-found skill with her Mommy.  It was fun to watch.

There are basically three different learning styles. Audible learners can easily learn through hearing.  Visual learners need to see it to learn it.  Kinesthetic learners are best able to learn through doing it.  Most teaching in our culture is designed for visual or Audible learners, yet a great number of people need more.  The best teachers and trainers will incorporate all of these styles into their presentations.

Don’t just tell your employees what they need to know. Show them too.  Let them read about it.  Then, let them demonstrate it to you in a non-threatening, relaxed environment.  Do not consider your employees trained until they can teach someone else how to do it – or at least demonstrate the correct methods.

In medical schools they have a phrase:

“See one. Do one. Teach one.”

This process is simple, but it assures that the doctors in the field understand what they’re doing.

Go beyond simply telling your staff what they need to do. Follow it up with a demonstration.  Then, no matter how simple it might seem, have them demonstrate what you’ve taught them.

It’s not enough to hire the right people, you have to train and mobilize them too. Good training will assure great results down the road.  Never underestimate the time spent preparing your personnel.

• Recruit, Train, Mobilize, and Monitor.
• Good training is not just visual and audible, it requires hands on practice too.

By taking the time, you can have stars on your team too!