Comm

The Conflicting Definitions of Social Business

On March 9, 2010, In Comm, By Tac Anderson

As social media has continued to evolve and we start to move into the era of social business we’re running into a linguistic snag; There are now two different definitions for Social Business.

Those of us in the social media world have not yet settled on an industry wide definition but I’ve recently started using this definition for social business:

The Social Business will be fully realized when social technologies are leveraged to build collaborative relationships across all company stakeholders. By leveraging social technologies in an open and transparent way businesses will also regain and build more trust among stakeholders. This increased trust will result in greater knowledge creation, which the same social technologies have the ability to capture, organize and distribute at a yet to be seen level of efficiency. By building collaborative relationships with all company stakeholders using social technologies, businesses will be able to quickly create and capitalize more innovation.

But according to the all mighty wikipedia Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, in his book Creating a World without Poverty – Social Business and the Future of Capitalism used this definition:

Social business is a cause-driven business. In a social business, the investors/owners can gradually recoup the money invested, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point. Purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives through the operation of the company, no personal gain is desired by the investors. The company must cover all costs and make revenue, at the same time achieve the social objective, such as, healthcare for the poor, housing for the poor, financial services for the poor, nutrition for malnourished children, providing safe drinking water, introducing renewable energy, etc. in a business way. The impact of the business on people or environment, rather than the amount of profit made in a given period measures the success of social business. Sustainability of the company indicates that it is running as a business. The objective of the company is to achieve social goal/s .

Of course you could have a social business that is also a social business according to both terms. In fact if we simplified the second definition of social business to a business with the objective to do social good (ignoring for a minute the nonprofit like financial status) then I would argue that a social technologies enabled social business would be more likely to do social good because they would be in tune with what their customers and employees want and that the non-profit like social business who uses social technologies would be a more successful social business.

As I pointed out in my post, The Evolution of New Media, Web 2.0, Social Media, Social Business: A Brief History of Everything, we are still in an evolving space and our definitions will continue to evolve. Will social business stick around? I don’t know, right now I can’t think of a better word.

Do you have a better word that fits the first definition?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Don’t Overreact to Your Social Media Mistakes

On March 4, 2010, In Comm, By Tac Anderson

I recently wrote about Alex Payne, a developer for Twitter, who posted a tweet that caused a lot of contention among the Twitter developer community. Think Before You Tweet: The Do Not Tweet List.

Alex is not the first person to put his foot in his mouth on Twitter and he certainly won’t be the last. Because Twitter is so public and 140 characters is not enough to provide proper context, this will become the new normal.

Remember, we’re all human here. (unless you’re not for some reason)

Yesterday I read on GigaOm that Alex has decided to quit blogging, partly due to this most recent incident and partly because he had already been thinking about taking a break. I find his reasoning very poignant. (Emphasis is mine)

Lately, I’ve found the cathartic returns from blog-format writing to be diminishing. The ideas I’m trying to express never really get put to rest in my head when I write, now. Instead, they spark whole conversations that I never intended to start in the first place, conversations that leech precious time and energy while contributing precious little back. Negative responses I can slough off, but the sense that I’m not really crystallizing my unset thoughts by writing here is what bothers me.

This is an unfortunate response to a small blow up. It’s easy to overreact when something like this happens. For so many years social media has been a niche activity. No one but a bunch of geeks talking online. But sometime over the last few years social media quit being a back channel. If you’re a decent writer with interesting things to say, like Alex, then more and more people start paying attention. Pretty soon the random thoughts you’ve been writing down take on a life of their own and those thoughts beget conversations all on their own. This can be very intimidating.

Over the years we read about (seemingly) huge blowups that happen to other people and companies and it’s easy to talk about what they should have done differently. And then it happens to you. These fire drills are emotionally consuming and extremely stressful. No one wants to be “that guy.” I know because I’ve been that guy and was even written up for it.

But in the grand scheme of things these blow ups aren’t that big of a deal. They blow over and everyone moves on with things. Why? Because at the heart of things none of us is perfect and we all recognize that it could have been us. If we have learned anything from politicians, it’s that people are willing to forgive.

We all have our own reasons for blogging. Like Alex, I writing is part of my thinking process. The feedback I get from all of you help to formalize my ideas. Blogging is taxing and that may be the larger reason for Alex’s hiatus but it’s connection with this most recent mistake is unfortunate.

Last post I gave you 10 things to avoid tweeting, today I’m going to give you 3 things to do after it happens.

Apologize for the mistake (or at the very least the misunderstanding).
Clarify the statement (or action). Most mistakes are more miscommunication that an actual mistake.
Move on. Don’t dwell on the mistake, instead reengage with the community and get back to having fun.

Join the New Comm Biz Facebook Page or follow the Twitter account.

Photo credit via Balakov

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tagged with: Mistakes • Social media • Twitter

Study Finds Facebook Pages Can Increase Customer Loyalty by 36%

On March 3, 2010, In Comm, By Tac Anderson

First off I have to say that I haven’t been a big fan of Alltop. I like the idea and have a ton of respect for Guy Kawasaki but I’ve just personally never found anything useful there. That is until today. Alltop released Alltop.Futurity.

How to stay on top of research from universities

Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of Rochester created a consortium of universities called Futurity. All the partners are members of the Association of American Universities (AAU) or of the Russell Group. Futurity then publishes the very best research news from these universities. We then aggregate this news into a easy-to-scan site called Futurity.Alltop.

I love university research. Probably because part of me thinks it would be cool to be a college professor that got to do research all the time. But then the rational part of my brain knows that it’s probably not all that cool and I suck at statistics.

After checking out Alltop’s Futurity site I saw this little gem. While it’s only a study of one business and it’s Facebook page I thought it was still pretty cool.

Futurity.org – Turning Facebook fans into loyal customers

The study found that compared with typical Dessert Gallery customers, the company’s Facebook fans:

* Made 36 percent more visits to DG’s stores each month.
* Spent 45 percent more of their eating-out dollars at DG.
* Spent 33 percent more at DG’s stores.
* Had 14 percent higher emotional attachment to the DG brand.
* Had 41 percent greater psychological loyalty toward DG.

While the results indicate that Facebook fan pages offer an effective and low-cost way of social-media marketing, Dholakia says, the results should be interpret the results cautiously.

“The fact that only about 5 percent of the firm’s 13,000 customers became Facebook fans within three months indicates that Facebook fan pages may work best as niche marketing programs targeted to customers who regularly use Facebook.

I didn’t read the whole research report so I have to wonder if this is really a cause and effect. Were the people who ate at DG’s more likely to join a Facebook page or were people who joined a Facebook page more likely to increase the amount of times they ate at DG’s? My experience tells me that it’s both. Your pre Facebook page fans are most likely to become Facebook fans and if you’re effectively marketing on Facebook by engaging with your fans and offering deals then you’re probably going to see an increase in return visits.

BTW did I mention the New Comm Biz Facebook Page?

I disagree with the conclusion that Facebook should only be used for niche marketing. Instead, if Facebook fans are really more likely to spend more then DG’s should look at ways to convert customers to Facebook fans. I’ve also seen Facebook pages used effectively in all verticals with big and small companies. Facebook is not niche anymore.

What do you think? Has anyone else seen customer loyalty increase with Facebook fan pages?

Join the New Comm Biz Facebook Page or follow the Twitter account.

Photo credit via Balakov

Popularity: 3% [?]

Tagged with: Alltop • Facebook • Marketing • Research

Think Before You Tweet: The Do Not Tweet List

On March 2, 2010, In Comm, By Tac Anderson

Alternately named “Loose Tweets Sink Fleets.”

To quote my good friend and colleague Jeremy Meyers:

“Twitter is very conducive to posting without thinking.”

There are many instances of company and employee tweets gone wrong. A tweet can be a 140 character time bomb. Time and time again people have said things on Twitter that have blown up in their face.

Most recently Twitter developer Alex Payne posted “If you had some of the nifty site features that we Twitter employees have, you might not want to use a desktop client. (You will soon.)”

While on one level this may seem benign enough. Alex is excited about the product that his company is making. The problem is that Twitter has grown to the size that it is because of third party developers. Twitter has obviously made a decision to compete more and more with the very developers that helped make them popular. That single tweet tipped their hand and surely caused Twitter a flurry of phone calls, emails and headaches right before their first developer conference.

This is a huge challenge for companies. You want to be open and social but you don’t want to leak information or send mixed messages in the market. What fascinated me the most was the way Twitter responded. They responded like a large company not the social media darling that they are.

MG Siegler has a great post on a reporter/blogger perspective of the leaked Twitter tweet.

So why do Twitter employees (and others) get mad? Because we’re amplifying the statement Payne made which they think he shouldn’t have. This is nothing new, it happens all the time in all forms of media. And companies hate it because they want to be in control of the message. But the fact of the matter is that he made an interesting statement, and people are clearly interested in reading about it, reading thoughts about it, and leaving their own comments about it.

Employees Don’t Be Stupid

This problem isn’t going away. Just like sending an email to the wrong person or replying in the wrong IM window hasn’t gone away, Twitter is just one more channel for miscommunications. The problem is that, unlike IM or email, it’s a very public forum.

Think before you tweet. Anytime you’re going to say something publicly, take just a split second to think about what you’re posting. The below list is meant for your personal account when posting about work related items. This is my first stab at the list so I’d love some feedback.

The Do Not Tweet List

Don’t complain about your customers on Twitter. They are listening.
DM is not IM. It’s not a secure communication channel.
Disclose conflicts of interest: Clients, Competitors, Partners.
Don’t get defensive about negative criticism of your company or products.
Don’t publicize private issues or jeopardize the company’s working relationships.
Unless soliciting community feedback is part of your product development, don’t tweet about products under development.
Don’t post about company financials before an earnings call. This can get you and your company in trouble with the SEC.
If you have a gripe about a coworker or your boss talk to them about it. Tweeting about it is passive aggressive and makes you and the company look bad.
Don’t spam your personal account with irrelevant work promotions. Promoting work is fine if it’s relevant to your followers.
Don’t think having an anonymous account makes any of this okay.

Companies Focus on Education not Control

Your employees are smart but not perfect. Instead of trying to control employees we need to educate them. Remind them regularly that there are just some things they shouldn’t talk about in any public communications. You can just throw open the doors and expect there to not be any mistakes. Learning has to happen and it happens through training or trial and error.

We have media training for executives before they make public statements why not employees?

What kind of training do you have for your employees around social media?

Join the New Comm Biz Facebook Page or follow the Twitter account.

Photo Credit by Brian Lane Winfield Moore

Popularity: 51% [?]

Tagged with: Communication • eductaion • Employee • Twitter

Your Personal Brand is Not About You

On March 1, 2010, In Comm, By Tac Anderson

Personal branding is not about you. It requires a lot of hard work, persistence in the face of repeated failure and the confidence to take a stand for something but despite the blood sweat and tear you put in it’s not about you.

Building your platform

Building a recognizable brand, even within your community or industry, is hard but it’s not as hard as it used to be. To build a personal brand you need a platform. Platforms were usually built around some sort of fame; a successful book, TV or radio show, something. In order to get there in the first place you needed publicists, agents and teams of PR people working their magic to get you booked on talk shows, news appearances and speaking gigs. All of these things still work but they have always come with a large price tag.

Today, the Internet is the only platform you need. You need a blog, a strong social media presence, you can self publish a book, start an Internet radio show, podcast or online video series. It’s still hard work but anyone willing to put in the work can do it. In short you don’t have to be special to be special.

Personal Spam

Because so many barriers have been removed there is a gold rush of people looking to establish their personal brand. In the attempt to create a personal brand what usually results is personal spam. It’s gotten so bad I normally don’t even like talking about personal branding. There are too many egomaniacs, snake oil salesmen (and women) and get rich quick schemers.

The truth is personal brand building is not about you. Your personal brand lives in the minds of the people who support you. Your Facebook friends and fans, your Twitter followers, your blog and book readers and in general everyone who believes in you that isn’t your mom.

Who are your friends?

If you want to really build a personal brand quit focusing on yourself. It’s not about you; it’s about your supporters, target audience, stakeholders, consumers, network and all those other terms companies use to describe people. For the sake of my personal sense of humanity we’ll be referring to them as friends from here on out.

My friends are the reason I do what I do. I have a few unique talents, we all do, and I use my unique talents to help my friends. I share my talents and my friends tell their friends. My friends built my platform for me.

Don’t be someone you’re not

The foundation of your platform should be you. All those things that make up who you are. Don’t be someone your not or act a certain way. That’s disingenuous and people can tell.

Be the megaphone for your friends

Highlight your friends. Highlight the people that helped you build your platform. Don’t just thank them, showcase them.

Get over yourself

You are not that big a deal. I don’t care who you are you are replaceable and beyond our little corner of the Internet no one knows who you are.

If you’re standing alone on your platform or if the people standing with you aren’t your friends, you don’t have a personal brand you have personal spam.

Join the New Comm Biz Facebook Page or follow the Twitter account.

Photo credit jurvetson

Dan Schawbel, author of Me 2.0and the Personal Branding Blog asked me to write an article for the Personal Branding Magazine. I ended up writing two and this was the one I saved for you

Popularity: 10% [?]

Tagged with: Branding • Friends • Personal Brand • Social Networks

The Non-Blog and Dr. M von Vogelhausen

On February 26, 2010, In Comm, By Tac Anderson

What do you call blogs that aren’t on a blogging platform? I call them non-blogs? I noticed this trend a few years ago when I would discover very active people in the social media space who didn’t have blogs using tools like StumbleUpon and then later FriendFeed for their blog. Not in addition to a blog like many of us but as their primary content hub.

Using Flickr or YouTube like a blog isn’t anything new but some people like Thomas Hawk take it to a new level. I know PR Newswires Michael Pranikoff uses Delicious as a blog even though it’s a bookmarking service.

What about a collection of short witty reviews on Amazon? (h/t YC) I present Dr. M von Vogelhausen with over 100 wonderfully random and amusing reviews on Amazon (UK)

Here are but a few gems:

A review for the Mastrad Ice Cube Tray

Since I was an infant I have been entranced by ice. I loved to spend hours staring into the stillness of its depths, as my family searched the small ads for hidden messages from Enid Blyton. However, the mystery of the origin of the humble ice cube has always eluded me. After several frustrated visits to the north pole, and an ill-judged expedition to a place that has since been stripped of its name, I found a faded picture of the Mastrad Ice Cube Blue Tray on the window of an abandoned snood store within earshot of the Slough Barrier Reef. Its worn edges shifted slightly in the wind like a tennis player’s pride. I received it on a Thursday; I loaded it; I had cold drinks on the Friday. O tempora, o mores! Water, but not water; hard but slippery. I looked over at Jasper, my dog and my editor, and his eyes seemed to say, “Ice…ice…baby.” He is presumptious.

The Chef’s Choice Elevtric Diamond Hine Sharpener

The door to the old Roberts house was slightly open when I arrived. I entered cautiously, hearing the creaking of the hinges echo in the waiting darkness. The house had seen better days, and there was a faint smell of sherbert lemons in the hallway as I guided myself towards the kitchen. I took a deep breath before entering, and adjusted my panama hat to a more jaunty angle.

The kitchen was just as they had left it: on the worktop, half-chewed Shreddies arranged in a collage depicting a scene from “Diagnosis Murder”; scrawled across the cabinets in jam, a haiku about penguins. A day like any other, then, interrupted by some mysterious event. I turned to leave, and stopped. Beside the microwave, I saw it.

The Chef’s Choice Electric Diamond. Of course, I didn’t know that then. All I could say was that I was in the presence of an object of boundless power and majesty. What happened next has been well documented by the knife-sharpening media. The upshot was that I took it home; and now it sits near my microwave, waiting, always waiting, for the bluntness. Recommended without reservation.

And for those feeling undue pressuer this week, the pressure washer:

Kärcher K2.36M+ Pressure Washer and T50 Patio Cleaner

I purchased this little monkey based on a fundamental misunderstanding. Nonetheless, I have been much gratified by it. Essentially, not wanting to beat around the trees or go around the burning bush, I have a lot of pressure (such is the lot of the Thames Valley Icelandic Chocolatiers Association secretary) And I often wish the cleaning away of this pressure were easier. The Karcher K2.36M+ washes away stains and spillages, yes, and if this impresses you I am both sad and happy, and uncomfortable (my belt is too tight). However it does nothing with pressure itself, which hangs around mockingly, its tongue out, holding a sign saying “you can’t deal with this”. In this respect only, the item failed to make me happy. In other ways – its colour, the way it sat, brooding, on my carpet; its name, when spoken aloud inside a grain silo in Minnesota – in these ways, it finds triumph and beats it until it itself is beaten. Highly recommended.

Do you have any favorite non-blogs? Twitter doesn’t count.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Tagged with: Amazon • Blog • Blogging • Delicious • Flickr • non-blog • YouTube

Stop Worrying About Critics

On February 22, 2010, In Comm, By Tac Anderson

Do you know what the number one human fear is? Public speaking. People are actually more afraid of speaking in public than they are of death.Why are they so afraid of public speaking? Because someone might say something bad to them, people might laugh or think they’re stupid.

Do you know what a companies number one fear is regarding social media? Its not that people might say something bad about them.

The number one reason people and companies are scared to enter social media is because people might say bad things TO them.

More often than not the fear of criticism is much worse than the criticism that may or may not ever come.

If you are struggling with social media. There’s a really good chance this fear is the reason. The best advice I can give you is from one of my favorite quotes:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

This quote is by Theodore Roosevelt. Look at this picture or Teddy. Does that look like someone who cares what his critics have to say?

Just for you, I’ve created a PDF of the quote and Teddy’s steely glare. Print it out and hang it on your cube wall. Then the next time you feel that primal fear tickling the back of your brain stem do your best Roosevelt impersonation and

It is not the critic who counts [PDF]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Tagged with: Conversation • Listening • motivation • Quote • Theodore Roosevelt

What does your job title say about you? Mine says I’ll be out of work soon.

On February 18, 2010, In Comm, By Tac Anderson

Paul Dunay wrote a very compelling post that if followed would lead to me being fired:

Fire your Director of Social Media! | Buzz Marketing for Technology

Ideally, I think you need to treat the role of the Director of Social Media as a way to activate the entire organization socially and then when that’s complete – move on to something else. What’s your view?

My title according to LinkedIn is Social Media Director and I agree with Paul.
My real job title is Director of Digital Strategies.

My title when I joined HP was Web 2.0 Strategic Lead.
My real title was Marketing Manager.

Other job titles I’ve had were Store Enigma and El Presidente. But I’ve had a non-traditional career path.

Why do I change my job title?

I like cool sounding job titles
Your job title should mean something

I want people to know instantly what it is I do when they hear my job title (okay Store Enigma is the exception). And I can change my title whenever I need to. Paul’s right in a year or two I won’t go by Director of Social Media. I actually think I’ll change my title to World Domination Strategist.

Paul’s post hits on another key factor: Social media shouldn’t live in silo’s. I’ve said it before but, no one owns social media. I do not agree with some that social media should have it’s own department. In fact I think we need fewer departments than we have today. I think there should only be one communications department not separate marketing, PR and internal comms groups (internal comms is different from the HR operations role BTW).

The role of social media director, my role, is a temporary solution that will eventually become obsolete. If I do my job right, my role will eventually go away. So what will I do next? I told you Director of World Domination.

How to Manage an Overzealous Manager when Running Social Media (newcommbiz.com)
What Does the Future of Marketing Organizations Look Like? (newcommbiz.com)
The Evolution of New Media, Web 2.0, Social Media, Social Business: A Brief History of Everything (newcommbiz.com)
What comes next? Part 1: Are you ready? (newcommbiz.com)

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tagged with: Director of Social Media • Marketing • Public relations • Social media • Web 2.0

New Comm Biz

Social Media and the Future of Business

Study Finds Facebook Pages Can Increase Customer Loyalty by 36%

Think Before You Tweet: The Do Not Tweet List

The Non-Blog and Dr. M von Vogelhausen

Stop Worrying About Critics

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