Logic+Emotion

Productizing Ideas

Can an idea be owned? I'd say it can certainly be rented for a while. The question then becomes how does a renter make the most of their property? In Linchpin, Seth Godin tells us how important it is to ship something. I'd add that the packaging is equally important. The value chain today looks something like this. Text has value but it's like the wind—e-mail, tweets, and comments allow for widespread communication with low effort. Blogs take it up a notch. Decks put even more form to it (if you know how to build decks) Apps and books package thoughts even further.

The reality is that all of these things together can bring an idea to life and really keep the idea alive. The act of creating a book is likely different from the act of promoting it. The tweets, e-mails and posts that were less important in the act of creation may become more important in the act of distribution.

But as it's been said in Linchpin and likely in lots of other places in other times, the question in need of an answer is "did something ship"? In other words, owning or renting an idea is likely impossible if you haven't shipped out something tangible that's worth sharing.

Most Marketing Is Unremarkable

The e-mail came in like hundreds of others. I read it, thought about it and took the e-mailer up on their offer to unsubscribe.  Frankly, I was upset that I ended up on the e-mail list. I never asked to be. And while it tried to come across as humble, real and authentic—it just didn't really do it for me. It took time out of my day that's valuable to me. I felt inconvenienced to have to go through the unsubscribe effort, though strangely satisfied after it took.

The reality is that most marketing is unremarkable. It's an annoyance. An inconvenience. A reminder that I'm just another cog to serve the benefit of the individual, brand, or company who wants me to do something for them.

It doesn't have to be. Make a connection. Make it real. And I'll pay attention. It's hard work and difficult to scale. But it's more difficult to unsubscribe from a relationship. And that's the bottom line.

Do I Know You?

Or does it "feel" like I know you? I often get asked for favors which either tap my time or perceived influence. I can't do everything I'm asked to do to help, but I've noticed a tiny little process that goes on in my mind whenever I'm asked for something. At the end of the day, I ask myself "do I know you"?

In reality I don't. In the traditional sense, we can only come to truly know a finite amount of souls in our lives. But with ambient intimacy firmly in place in modern day living, it's possible to feel like you know someone. Do they make an effort to talk to you in your Twitter stream? Have they commented on your site or Facebook page? Have you recieved an e-mail in the past with an introduction when you weren't even ambiently aware of them.

In other words, you can feel like you know someone even when you really don't. And believe it or not, sometimes this is enough to exchange a small favor, share an encouraging word or engage in a micro-interaction. Breadth should never replace depth, but sometimes you'd be surprised how meaningful it can be.

Facebook Places From A User Perspective

There are plenty of articles and perspectives to read on Facebook Places ranging from privacy concerns to speculating what it means for marketers and business. The question you have to ask yourself is do these authors, journalists and analysts actually use the technology? I've been playing around with Places a bit and here are a few first impressions followed by a takeaway from someone who regularly uses Foursquare.

1. Getting Started On Mobile

Places is currently only available in the U.S. on iPhone with BlackBerry and Android development to follow. The feature is placed prominently within the application and is easy to take notice of. Compared to a native app, this is an extra click though not hugely inconvenient

2. Adding Venues

Much like Foursquare, venues are added by users (they can be claimed by owners). The process is fairly intuitive and fast though it can take some time for the map (Google) to accurately geolocate. Overall though, adding locations is a snap.

3. Checking In

Checking in is also similar to most gelocation services in that it pulls up the nearest venues which exist. Places also keeps track of the number of check-ins.

4. Controlling Quality

Also mimicking similar platforms, Places lets you flag venues in a variety of ways. Since it's very early on, these community features are yet to be tested and rely on the vigilance of Facebook users.

5. Broadcasting & Engaging

Places lets you combine status update with location update on par with other platforms but on the Web interface it also displays a nice rollover with a small map. One of the biggest differences at this point is that you have to manually tag friends as opposed to it self populating (Foursquare does this in combination with Twitter).

Summary
From a user perspective, Facebook places is not bad, which is a bit of an accomplishment for a new launch. From a platform perspective this is not great news for the competition. However, there are some serious issues and the biggest is lack of integration with other platforms such as Twitter. There is also no reward system (badges) which some Foursquare users like and others care less about. The experience though shows promise and for Facebook it's yet another source of behavioral data which will prove to be valuable to advertisers and brands. In short, as a user it's off to a decent start. If your Facebook connections use it, it's likely you might as well. If users adopt the behavior as Facebook rushes to support other mobile platforms and global locations it could gradually make the act of checking-in as common as the status update. If this happens, organizations with physical locations will have to take a very close look at this and what it means for their business.

The Sociology Behind SXSW Panel Picking

First let me say that the SXSW Panel Picker process and concept is an ingenious marketing idea that incorporates social hooks, buzz, content distribution and most importantly taps into a basic human driving force—competition. In the first week of the SXSW Panel Picker, if you observe closely you'll notice several different promotion techniques. Each teaches us something about how we market ourselves in a digital, social and flattened ecosystem.

Rising Social Tides Lift All Boats
Several peers have taken an approach where they've curated panels from others they either respect or know have formidible networks and are proactively promoting these lists without asking for anything in return. Two great examples of this are from Sarah Evans and her 15 panels to thumbs up list as well as Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker who created a Friends of SobCon panel list. Both approaches execute against the "sharing" principle of social media in which you freely share what you have (in this case an sudience—and it comes back to benefit you.)

The Personal Touch
I've recieved several e-mails and or DMs (direct messages on Twitter) that have given me a heads up on a topic based on my interests. In some cases the individual put forward a reciprocal offer (support me and I'll support you). In other cases the approach was a soft promotion of their panel wrapped around a personalized message.

Broadcast
Even with social networks firmly in place, we as human beings demonstrate that we like shortcuts. E-mail lists, Facebook status updates (and in some cases Facebook ads), Tweets, Linked In, etc. are all being used a megaphones to "announce" panels. Some broadcast efforts can be very niche (and less of a shortcut). For example, Len Kendall sent e-mails to his distribution list of 365 contributors (though he only did so 40 at a time due to Gmail constraints). While I don't have the data, I'd estimate that some of these techniques can be effective but it also comes down to the quality of the individuals networks as well as the quality of the proposed panel. For example, I've clicked on a link in an e-mail only to not vote up a panel if it was underwhelming. I've also done the opposite. I've at least read all of the e-mails on panels that have been sent my way.

Advocacy
Advocacy can in some ways be divided in paid and earned. I've had PR practitioners submit panels on behalf of their clients and I've also seen people advocating for others simply based on the fact that they feel a certain loyalty or affinity for the panel organizer. Since I'm not paying anyone to help me, I've been fortunate to experience some of the latter via the comments in my own proposal. Both paid and owned can be very effective and likely are not mutually exclusive.

Social Karma
Social functionality such as comment fields enables social behavior such as reciprocity. While it's not unheard of for someone to say a nice thing not expecting anything back, it's widespread that we do, hoping someone will return the favor. Leaving comments and showing support for others in public settings can signal a "favor" which doesn't have to be repaid, but if does will not go unnoticed.

Collaboration
Creating Wikis such as Damien Basile's Google Spreadsheet allows users to add, edit and update panel submissions in a collaborative manner while gibing the curator (in this case, Damien) the social currency for setting it up and adding his panel in the first slot.

I've only scratched the surface on some of the behaviors and techniques I've seen in regards to the SXSW panel picker. They are a sign that the approach works as it activates the network creating interest, as well as narrowing down the large number of submissions. The approach makes for some interesting behavior watching. So what have you noticed?

Why PR's Future May Not Look Like PR

Last year at SXSW, I handed over the panel I proposed to my former colleagues at Dachis Group (Social Business By Design). This year will be different. I've submitted a panel on why PR's future may not look like PR.

The description:
When You Think of PR (Public Relations), your first impression may be of the silver tongued "flack" spinning a corporations' news, putting a positive slant on everything. With advances in networks, online communities and the ability of the average individual to become their own content producer and influencer—the face of PR is changing, shifting the focus from communications to engagement in increasingly public spaces both online and off.

What I'll Cover:

1. What Is PR?
2. How Is PR Evolving?
3. The distinctions between communications, engagement and why it matters
4. Measuring sentiment, share of voice and forms of participation
5. Leverging social and other emeging channels in the management of a crisis

Disclaimer
I work for a Public Relations firm (Edelman) with no formal background in what's traditionally been called "PR". I have a million ideas in my head about where this is all going. If you want to hear them, you'll have to vote.

Fire Your Marketing Manager & Hire A Community Manager.

Originally posted on Harvard Business Review.

Okay, maybe that’s going too far. I don’t really recommend firing your marketing manager. I do however believe that most companies will eventually need to hire or contract with a community manager, if they haven’t already. A recent BusinessWeek article called “Twitter Twitter Little Star,” describes social media as a booming industry which has caught the attention of corporations everywhere, and suggests the role of a “social media director” and what that person should do. I’d like to dig a bit deeper into why this core function is necessary to create what’s becoming known as social engagement. I’ll call the role the community manager.

A community manager actively monitors, participates in and engages others within online communities. These communities can be on Twitter, Facebook, message boards, intranets, wherever groups of people come together to converse and interact with each other. A traditional marketing manager is likely to have little experience with this function. Historically, community management developed outside marketing, in areas such as community organizing (politics) or in niche verticals such as the video game or software industry, which are no strangers to digital outposts such as message boards.

A community manager acts as an ambassador for your organization, whether that person is an employee or contracted to manage your social web presence. A good community manager gives a human form to the faceless corporation. On Facebook Whole Foods, for example, community managers have created a forum that impels customers to respond to its posts. They also often informally engage their customers in the process.

A community manager must be a good or great communicator. He or she of course needs to be social, and understand the social mores of the communities served, and have a strongly developed sense of ethics. He or she should know, for example, when deleting a member’s comment is wrong or justified and be prepared to explain why. Enthusiasm is also required. Finally, a good community manager will be well connected, forming relationships with the right people in your communities, the individuals and groups you want on your side.

No doubt companies are flocking toward non traditional job descriptions like community manager. If I were building my my all-star business team, I’d think about how community management works and why I might need a few good ones on my roster.

Media Isn't Social

Several weeks ago I delivered a 16 minute TEDx talk titled "reinventing social media". Typically I like to frame topics outside of the social media bubble, but in this instance the topic itself and the purpose of the talk was designed to get us all thinking about things a bit differently. You see, businesses, brands and organizations are truly struggling with the disruptive nature of social technologies. In fact, the term "social technologies" is part of the problem—we are all fixated on the technologies and meanwhile the real action lies in harnessing the change brought about by human behavior enabled by technology. I used the simple story of how a colleague shared a book with me. The book itself (media) is not social—the interactions, communications, stories and conversations that involve the book are.



But to say "it's about people" is too simplistic. Toward the end of the talk, I made my case that in a couple of years it would be unlikely that I would even be talking about "social media". This thesis based on the belief that "social" translates into the conversion of an organization which requires shifts in culture, technology, process and ultimately behavior. If an organization does not empower its people to behave in a productive and beneficial social manner than can we actually use the word "social" to describe it? If the organization has not begun integrating these changes across several functional groups as opposed to leverging just one (such as marketing) then is it really taking advantage of some of the changes I discuss in my talk?



I believe that the answer is no. It means that one part of the business is behaving a certain way while the others behave differently. This would be like your head looking at the person's face who you are having a conversation with while your body is walking away from them in mid conversation. So in order for "social media" to become reinvented, to go with the theme of the TEDx discussion, it has to change (or we need to). And change as we all know always begins with people—so our focus needs to turn here. Hope you like the talk and as always feel free to share your own thoughts.