Logic+Emotion

Designing The Social Business

I recently had a chance to sit down (virtually) with Bob Thompson of Customer Think. The result was a 30 minute podcast (listen here). We discussed some of the following topics and more:

• Social media as communications channel vs. paradigm shift
• Should a social business include collaboration within an organization (Enterprise 2.0) and outside (Social CRM)?
• Cultural changes required for an organization to develop a "hive-minded" mentalty
• What the CEO should do to help support a shift to a truly social business

If you have some time to spare, have a listen and let me know what you think. Is being socially calibrated a true paradigm shift or the latest evolution of communication? It's a worthy discussion and warrants some definition.

5 Things I Learned From My Trip Down Under

I recently returned from a week long trip to Australia via New Zealand. The purpose of the trip was mostly business, I delivered a half day session at the Marketing Now conference in Melbourne—but as with life the lines blur between business and personal and I managed to take a few days at the end of the trip for myself. In both cases, I learned a few things about myself and the world around me...

1. People learn through participation

At the beginning of my session I had attendees fill out the front of index cards with some information about themselves. Name, occupation, likes, dislikes and something personal. I didn't tell them what we were going to do with it, but several times during the presentation I flashed a slide which said "SHUFFLE!" and instructed participants to swap cards, flip them over and leave an anonymous comment. What did I learn? People will participate when given a reason, and it will make for a more interactive experience. I was extremely pleased and surprised to see how eager people were to get their cards with the comments back. They Tweeted, blogged and reached out to others who might have it. This was the point. Share something about yourself. Share your thoughts about someone else. And interact with people who you "know" loosely. These are all dynamics present on the social web.

2. Posterizing could be the next big thing

Well it doesn't have to be Posterous exactly, but it became clear to me in different circumstances that services which allow you to lifestream and federate media will become more useful and popular. In one instance participants at the Marketing Now event created a Posterous page for the event and immediately began aggregating links, videos, photos and slideshows as the speakers delivered content. Then, on the backchannel, the link was shared as was the e-mail address where anyone could add conent. The Posterous site took on a life of its own and is still going. What I really like about Posterous is the speed at which it allows you to share and connect with multiple networks. With a wifi connection I was able to upload multiple photos, video, and even audio files instantly which are shared with my entire ecosystem. I can't help but see the potential for journalists, brands and organizations who want to produce content rapidly and establish a both a home base and distribution network for people to digest that content.

3. That which doesn't kill you...

As cliche as it sounds, pushing yourself every now and then definitely makes you more resiliant. In addition to brutal travel times, jetlag and delivering a 1/2 day session I thought it would be fun to Join Gavin Heaton and Ian Lyons on a motorcycle tour up the great ocean road. It was utterly amazing with breathtaking views. It was also slightly dangerous with hairpin turns alongside cliffs and oncoming traffic not to mention riding a Harley for the first time, on the left side of the road. But the moment of truth came at night when after over 8 hours of riding I found myself having trouble seeing the road (it was pitch dark), while freezing a bit after the sun went down. All I remember is following the Ian's taillight which I could barely see and hoping he wouldn't lose me. But, we made it back in one piece and it was a day I'll always remember.

4. Experience matters

Since Air New Zealand was a sponsor for the Marketing Now event, they picked up the tab and flew me over. It also meant that my trip was significantly longer with the stop in Auckland including all the transfers. However, I was fortunate to be able to fly their Business Premiere Class which was top notch. The combination of attention to detail in the service, having a flatbed and a lounge where I could shower and even get a massage really helped make a 30+ hour trip a not so terrible experience. I found myself thanking Air New Zealand multiple times for providing such a great experience.

5. Be a tourist


With several days dedicated to the conference, there wasn't much to do too much exploration of either Sydney or Melbourne, so doing simple things like going to the top of the Eureka tower or walking around Sydney harbor, while touristy are also highly rewarding if you free yourself from the mindset of being a tourist. It's all about making the most of where you are with the time you are given. And in that mindset, you can learn to appreciate anything.

So these are a few things I've learned. I'm just sharing and if you want to see more pictures/video, go here. And a special thanks to my numerous hosts (Stephen, Siobhan, Gavin, Mandi, Katie, Nicole, Anne, Jim, Patty, etc. etc.) for making a stranger in a strange land feel at home.

How Filter Failure Contributes To Business Failure

Watch this video by Bruce Nussbaum, BusinessWeek's innovation editor and veteran employee with the company. It's a fascinating illustration of the shifts in business we are seeing in real time. Media outlets in particular have been on the front lines of this shift. As I've said many times before, the Web and its latest social iteration has introduced ultra deep and pervasive niche content and experiences which directly compete with many business models. There is a unique online destination for everyone, no matter how specialized the interest. The network economy is the opposite of mass—it's niche, fragmented and content distributers are feeling the heat.

There was something about Bruce's talk that stood out to me in particular. While he calls out corporate culture as a main factor which may have contributed to BusinessWeek ending up on the buyers market, it was this insight that really stood out for me.

"somehow BusinessWeek lost deep contact with its readers"
"surveys...in the end they were misleading. The message was, be general—go horizontal"

Now this kind of blows me away. Right now there are scores of vendors telling us to "listen" and selling software to do it. There are several platforms offering dashboards that will allow you to actively hear EVERYTHING your customers tell you. You can post a poll on Twitter in minutes and get responses in real time. So is it possible that surveys contributed to BusinessWeek's situation?

First let's examine what surveys do, They tell us what preferences people have. There is nothing wrong with this, and they can be boiled down to percentages and stats. They can also generate a lot of data, and this is where the idea of filter failure comes in. Obtaining large quantities of data is becoming a commodity due to the technologies available—it's what we do with that data that makes the difference. Finding the signal within the noise which can help generate an insight that leads to perhaps a game changing business model is much more difficult than the act of listening itself. Listening and discernment are not the same.

Here's a true story I recently heard—I have to use generic terms to describe it. A large consumer product company found out about a group of people who were brainstorming a way to solve a problem which was related to this company. Because this consumer product company has people working for it who actively participate in networks, and monitor the space, they found out about it. Someone identified this idea as a signal in a sea of noise—there are a lot of people who talk about this company daily, but this was different. The people who independently brainstormed this idea outside of the company's ecosystem are now talking to the people who work for the company about making the idea into a reality. 

No survey needed.

Scenarios like this get me excited because they underscore several tenets of social business design.

1. The company realizes that value can be produced outside of it's own ecosystem and monitors for dynamic signals
2. The company likely has a combination of people, process and technology to filter the signal from noise
3. The company has a open culture in place that realizes value exists outside it's ecosystem and looks to maximize it

Listening is one part of the equation. Being able to discern what's valuable and then act upon it is another. The more I think about the concept of applying a metafilter to your business, the more I'm convinced that it's something that will rely on the combination of not only technology but people. Technology can help us listen to everything that's ever been said about ourselves our company, brand  etc.—but finding that one key, game changing insight in a sea of infinite chatter and then actually doing something about it is another story.

How To Spot Social Media Snake Oil

Recently colleague Peter Kim and myself found ourselves in close contact with a "social media expert". The problem is this expert was sucking in the feed of my blog without permission, attribution and had more holes in his resume than a slice of Swiss cheese. So how do you separate the social media snake oil from the vinegar? It's not easy, but here's a few pointers:   

1. My last job was selling junk bonds
As I mentioned in social media's dirty little secrets—there's a bandwagon to be jumped on. As you do background checks around the people you choose to partner with in social business, you should be able to see ties from the past to what they are doing now. Has this person been working in community or internet related fields? That's a good sign. Was this person selling pre-paid calling cards? Maybe not so good. There are no hard rules here, but some previous positions transfer better than others. Use common sense. 

2. I'm an expert, just see the testimonials
Actually there really isn't anything wrong with self identifying yourself as an expert in a field or including things people said about you. However, it's up to you to leverage tools like Google, Linked In etc. to see what others have said or investigate further—don't just take them at their word.

3. I can guarantee you X number of followers...
Anyone who starts their pitch by promising friends, followers, or even positive word of mouth is suspicious. This tells you they''re looking to "sell you" a quick fix which is probably in response to the hype of people placing such a big emphasis on metrics such as this. A social way of doing business is often times a slow burn with complex problems needing to be addressed. There are no silver bullets in an industry built on connections, relationships and the direct empowerment of citizens.

4. Social media will save you
No it won't. Anyone framing social media as the solution to the world's problems is either drinking Koolaid or looking to make a buck. That said, the prospect of doing business in a socially calibrated fashion is bigger than a new communication channel, it's a shift that's causing changes. However, never confuse shift with salvation.

5. Build it and they will socialize
Be wary of anyone selling a point solution that promises instant social interactions, conversations, collaboration etc. Many businesses fail because they were built at the wrong time, in the wrong place or with the wrong tools. Any respectable practitioner will try to investigate where fertile ground is before building anything—and will tell you if there isn't any.

Bottom line, there's unfortunately a short term business model for hucksters out to make a buck at your expense. That's because the field is still young and there isn't much that's been established—it's a bit of a wild west scenerio. Which ironically is a period in time when the snake oil salesmen thrived. 

Re-designing Your Business Culture

When thinking of any Social Business Design problem, it's important to realize that there are three areas which will define all of the challenges which will need to be resolves in order to move any business toward a more open, collaborative model which benefits all constituents (employees, customers, partners). These areas are:

People
Process
Technology

Right now the industry is focused on technology, which is understandable since advances in it have enabled us to do so much more with less. However, I wanted to focus this short post around a subset of people. It's a thing commonly referred to as "corporate culture".

I'm not interested in debating the validity or not of the term, but it's a fact that every organization has an ecosystem and within the ecosystem, especially on the internal side, people act and behave a certain way within a pre-defined hierarchy. To underscore the "culture" issue, here are a few phrases I hear from the people who work in the trenches of very large organizations as it relates to social initiatives:

"We implemented sharing platform X for employees, but the results are not what we expected"

"We tried social media but we're just not ready to engage customers"

"Our legal department shut that down before we could try it"

Now assuming that the tech products worked and that the organization had some form of process in place, these are by and large people/culture issues at the core. The fact is that you can bring in the best of technologies or have the best of intentions for opening up your organization, but if at the core the organization isn't calibrated for it, efforts cannot scale or potentially be ineffective.

When we think of culture, we apply the notion of what we call being "hiveminded". We believe that a social inclination resides within a company’s culture and tempers planning, decision-making, and work output.  Employees approach work with a social mindset; customers expect dialogue and engagement; suppliers anticipate collaboration towards common goals. This "hivemindedness"  (think of bees to a hive) is linked to a strong cultural identity which is shared by all.  Whether your social initiatives are internal or external, it's worth asking the following questions to determine if your organization is in the correct mindset when it comes to dealing with the changes in work, society and technology. 

If we are listening, what are we listening for? 
What do we do when we hear something we don't like?
Do we want real connections established between employees, customers, partners? 
How can we reward those in our ecosystem who actively contribute?
Do we actually want to engage those who want to engage us? Can we?

Many organizations work in industries which simply can't support some of the things we hear thrown about in the social media space. However, all organizations will have to deal with these changes in some way that will better position them for the future. One of the biggest opportunities right now is tapping areas in your internal ecosystem which can benefit your organization. But buying the best tool out there will never change the hearts and minds of people who have been trained to hoard what they know (and rewarded for it) vs. sharing openly. In a newly emerging network economy a cultural shift will be required for best results. 

Six Questions About Six Pixels of Separation

Image uploaded by LexnGer

Mitch Joel shouldn't need an introduction, but in the event that you haven't heard of him, he founded a successful Canadian based agency called Twist Image ,is a well known participant at the intersection of business, social media and marketing and speaks on these topics often. When Mitch reached out to me, I promised no softballs, and his thoughtful replies make a great case for why you might want to investigate his new book, Six Pixels of Seperation.

1. The market is currently being flooded with books on business, marketing and social media. Why should someone read yours?

 

I think the market has always been flooded with books on business and marketing, but that’s another discussion. I know the books you are talking, and those books tend to be written by people giving their perspective of the new online channels either through the lens of a Marketer, Consultant or Technologist. I wrote this book as an Entrepreneur for businesspeople. Using real business language and case stories that really illustrate how business can grow (and yes, that includes making money). This book is the strategy, tools and tactics my business partners and I used to grow our business (as Entrepreneurs) from no employees in 2002 to nearly 85 full-time team members with multiple offices. Basically, by taking part and engaging in the many online channels, my company, Twist Image (with me as “the voice”), was able to build this multi-million dollar business. We continue to grow by still using the same channels. This book is much more about how to think strategically different and engage in a much more human way in this new world. It’s also not a book written by a pundit. It’s from one businessperson to another.

 

2. Which case studies mentioned in your book are the most relevant to business today, and why?

 

There are many business examples from people like Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post) to BlendTec (Will It Blend?) to Gary Vaynerchuck (WineLibrary.TV) and even some different ones like Christopher S. Penn (PodCamp and the Financial Aid Podcast), Hugh McGuire (Librivox) and the musician, David Usher. Again, this is not about how they used the Internet to create or further their celebrity… Six Pixels of Separation looks at the business side of it. Why did Huffington use the online channels and not publish a printed newspaper? How did she use the channels to market herself and spread her gospel? The amazing thing about all of these stories (and there are many more) is that the Internet was a platform, a marketing tool, a lead generation tool, a CRM backend, a focus group, a community and much more. We tend to look at the Internet at think, “how can I market my business online?” It’s the wrong question. The Internet can be the place to do business, play with innovation, deal with customer service issues and communicate. Basically, the book demonstrates that all businesses – B2B or B2C and those with low-cost impulse buys versus multi-million dollar ticket items that have a long sales cycle – need to better understand and use the Internet to connect their business. It can be as basic as research and as complex as trying to build your own online social network.

 

3. You and I were introduced in a way through Joseph Jaffe, you sent me an e-mail after hearing me on his podcast. Are we separated by less than six pixels, and if so how does this benefit people like ourselves?

 

Obviously the notion of Six Pixels of Separation is a play on an existing saying. We no longer live in a world where there are Six Degrees of Separation (where any one person is connected to anybody else through less than six degrees of separation). We are all intrinsically connected through technology, the Internet and our mobile devices. These digital channels break down the notion of, “it’s who you know,” because we all now live in a world where we can know everyone… and everyone can know us. And, we’re not connected by degrees anymore… we’re simply connected. I don’t need an introduction to you through someone else and you no longer need one to me. The trust of the matter is that I was following and commenting on Logic+Emotion long before that Jaffe intro. By just clicking on your “About Me” link or your Facebook profile would have done the trick. We are all a click (or pixel) away from one another. This means a change for business. This means a change in how you sell people your products and services. This means that building relationships and turning those relationships into a community is more powerful and more important than ever before.

 

These new online channels give you the full power to make this happen. It’s no longer about how much budget you dump into advertising and PR. These new online channels will work for you as long as you are working for them by adding value, your voice and the ability for your consumers to connect, engage and take part. This new economy is driven by your time vested and not your money invested.

 

The benefit comes in both social capital and self-actualization. We tend to be attracted to like-minded individuals, so instead of me needing to find people in Montreal (where I live) who are into Digital Marketing, etc… I can now be connected with those like-minded individuals anywhere in the world (like, say, with you David Armano!). I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a game changer (as they say).

 

4. A reviewer on Amazon said the following after reading your book. What's your take on being compared to Seth Godin?

 

"One of the other reviewer headlines calls the content "snackable" and I completely agree--I read this book a few pages at  a time over the course of several days. It's not a chore to read, it's not boring--the writing style somewhat reminds me of Seth Godin, and certainly the content is of that nature--accessible, trendy, and yet practical and applicable."

 

I don’t think there is much higher praise. I love and have been following Seth’s work from day one. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him many times over the years and have had him speak at events I was helping to organize. I have spoken at events where we were both being featured, and he was kind enough to provide a very nice testimonial for my book. We are even represented by the same talent bureau in the US. He makes himself very accessible and approachable – it’s a trait many of us could learn a lot from. I think the one thing Seth does overly-great is this: he makes it all simple and easy. Some people may scoff at that, but I think it’s a gift. Business can be challenging and complex, and Seth has this amazing gift of not only explaining it, but he also uses really interesting examples and case studies to highlight his points in a way that everybody can understand (plus, he doesn’t talk down to you – as a reader).

 

If I’m being compared to that, I’ll take it with a smile on my face from ear-to-ear. The funny part about the book is that I did not write it the way the reviewer above explained it. It was actually written as traditional book chapters. Somewhere in layout/editing, my Publisher highlighted those headers and broke up the chapters into smaller bites. I didn’t like it at first, because I was worried that people might think it was just a bunch of Blog postings slapped together into a book (which it is not), but now that I have a final copy and after reading some of the other reviews, it seems like this format works for the businessperson in 2009.

 

Now, all I have to do is sell as many books as he does. I’ll take that comparison happily as well.

 

5. There's a feeling right now that social media has been hyped to the point of irrationality. How is your book relevant to those looking for some grounding in a space filled with opportunists?

 

Just yesterday, I wrote a Blog posting titled, Attention Radio DJs: There Is Still Hope. Basically, a local talk-show DJ lost his gig after doing his show for 20 years. I know the guy (his name is Peter Anthony Holder) and he is very talented. In his Blog post, he  wrote: “broadcasters are like professional sports coaches - they are hired to be fired. And firing is all they can do. They can't kill you. About the only thing I've been surprised about, as this whole situation unfolded, is just how other people who are in the business seemed to be... surprised! You'd think after seeing this type of thing happen time and time again, they'd realize, it's just  radio!"

 

The basic premise of my post was this: Peter does not need a radio station or any other mass media channel to give him permission to broadcast his talk-radio show to the world. We have this thing called, "Podcasting" and anyone can do it for free (or close to it).

 

I think people like you and I may think that Podcasting is very 2008. And, that’s the point. We may be over-hyping it, but we’re over-hyping it to one another. The average Entrepreneur or professional in an organization is still on the sidelines waiting to see who does what and how it will work.

 

The whole point of the book was to be pragmatic. Both in what these channels and platforms means to business and also in terms of speaking to those people in the media they are accustomed to (a hardcover business book). Also, writing the book as an Entrepreneur who used these exact channels to build my own business I think grounds it in reality from the outset.

 

Lastly, the more informed clients become, the harder it is for the opportunists to sell their snake-oil. The book brings them right up to speed.

 

6. What's the core business benefit to having everyone connected? How does a business benefit from friends talking to each other on Facebook etc.

 

In a world where everyone is connected an idea spreads because like-minded people share them, versus the world we’re used to where marketers place ads in various positions and places in hopes that those interested parties catch a glimpse. In a world where everyone is connected, products and services have to work (or exceed) expectations. In a world where everyone is connected, it’s hard to make false claims or try to screw one specific group of people. In a world where everyone is connected, people talking to one another about it on Facebook can make, break or help a product innovate.

 

Marketing and Communications professionals have been trained to listen to what a client wants, figure out a smart, clever and/or impacting way to deliver that message and then go forward, create the campaign and do everything within their power to get that message out there. When we apply this as the overarching strategic imperative, we are all missing one core point: no matter how targeted that messaging is, it's still going to hit a bunch of people who really don't care all that much about it.

 

Even the best of the best in advertising and communications doesn’t get 50% success rates on any of their campaigns (targeted or mass). This means that the majority of the people we are targeting are simply not all that interested in what we have to say. 

Digital professionals need to demonstrate that we can get to that mass people by focusing on “who” those people are instead of “how many” people we pump a message in front of. It’s a big promise, but digital media can deliver on this.

 

I think these channels demonstrate real value for business today. Value is all about focusing on the small few who can really help your message spread. It's definitely not as fun or as sexy as a billboard in Times Square or a 30-second spot on the Super Bowl, but that stuff does click and groove when you have laid a strong foundation of building, providing and communicating value. It may sound pedestrian, but seriously think about the last time you really focused on delivering value first and then spreading the message far and wide.

Thanks Mitch for taking the time to answer these questions.  

5 Reasons To Show Yourself

I've recently upgraded comments here which will allow you to do the following if you sign in:

1. Link to an existing profile (Facebook, Twitter, Google, Open ID etc.)
2. Respond directly to other people's comments
3. Delete a comment yourself

So why would you want to go through the trouble of "showing yourself"? Here are 5 reasons.

1. Faces matter
Showing a picture of yourself puts a face to the voice. Even if it's not a picture of you, a visual helps you stand out. Signing in to a profile via the Typepad page will pull in your photo from the specified profile.

2. Speed matters
Sign in once here and you shouldn't have to do it again.

3. Links matter
This is a fairly well trafficked blog, so if you say something interesting and link to your Twitter profile perhaps—it's likely the readers here who I consider to be very high quality will investigate where you link.

4. Conversations matter
The new comment system supports threaded conversations. It will be easier for us to talk to each other and more effective for those trying to make sense out of who said what to who.

5. Participation matters
Those who comment have converted their behavior from consumption of content to participation. Hopefully this small upgrade makes it easier and more enjoyable for you to participate.

I know this isn't a big deal and many other blogs have way more bells and whistles, but I have to be very efficient with the time I spend here and this is a very convenient way for me to evolve the experience here. If you make a commitment to signing in, I'll continue the commitment to do my best here with the resources I have.

Dachis Group Expands Internationally With Headshift

It’s been five months since I joined colleagues Peter Kim, Jeff Dachis, Kate Niederhoffer, and Jevon MacDonald in a new venture that we believe will alter the way business gets done. In this time, I’ve immersed myself along with the team in fine tuning the vision we’ve developed which we call social business design—a holistic approach to transforming organizations from traditional infrastructure toward a more open, socially calibrated ecosystem. We believe that this is the only way businesses will be able to scale and integrate what’s now commonly known as “social media” on one side and “enterprise 2.0” on the other. And I’m pleased to announce that we are no longer a team of six people. We’ve just acquired Headshift, a European social business consultancy with offices in the United Kingdom and Sydney, Australia. This is the biggest news we’ve had since I joined the team and I’m really excited about the global opportunities it presents us.

We believe that organizations across the globe will begin to view “social media” as social business and when this happens, integration, scale and adoption will become complex issues which will only be solved through a purposeful act of coordinated activities built upon a solid strategic foundation. Enter social business design as a systematic, comprehensive approach that orchestrates social business across three core areas: business partner optimization, workforce collaboration and customer participation.

These three areas of business possess ripe opportunities for the emergence of improved outcomes ranging from cost savings to new product/service innovations and increased revenue streams. These are outcomes which happen when organizations connect and expand their ecosystems, evolve toward a more open culture and empower employees, business partners and customers to actively participate in their business.  The acquisition of Headshift will allow us to service the increasing demand for global organizations to tap into these benefits. It will also allow us to attract the best talent at an international level while creating our own culture focused on collaborating and doing the absolute best work in this space. Headshift’s client relationships include extensive work in: Professional and Legal Services, Consumer Products, Media and Publishing, Health Care, and Government verticals as well as global companies including AXA, British Petroleum, and the BBC. The official press release for this news can be found here. For more on the Dachis Group and our services, visit our current site.

I’m terribly excited by this news as I’ve met Lee Bryant of Headshift personally and was blown away by his combination of intelligence, knowledge of the industry and humbleness as a human being. If you take a look at some of Lee’s presentations, you’ll instantly realize that he’s one of the few people who truly grasps how social will integrate with business at the macro and micro levels respectively. I’m looking forward to collaborating with the entire Headshift team both here and overseas and predict great things for our collective future.

Additional links related to this news:

Jevon MacDonald: We are growing: Dachis Group expands with Headshift
Peter Kim: Welcome Headshift
Kate Niederhoffer: Dachis Group Ecosystem Expansion

Reactions from others:

• ReadWriteWeb Enterprise: Dachis Group Acquires Headshift: Say Hello to a Social Business Consulting Powerhouse
• Neville Hobson: Is 'social business' the new black?
• Sierralog: Dachis group acquires Headshift
• Drew B's take on tech PR: The role of social and digital media in business consulting
• Austin American-Statesman: Austin Ventures makes a move in the corporate social networking arena
• Euan Semple: Headshift and the future