better ideas lead to higher share ratio, regardless of size
Seth Godin had a great post about how a focus on good ideas will always have more value than a focus on getting more fans or followers. Reconciling size versus engagement is something that I know a lot of brands and individuals struggle with online. We all want to be important. We all want to have a million followers. I struggle with this as well. Would I rather have 10 passionate people who digest everything and spread the word than a thousand people who are passive observers? From a long term strategy, yes, but it sure would feel good (at least for a moment) to have a follower / fan count of several thousand.
Without trying to reiterate what Seth says, I’d really like to call your attention to the graph that I grabbed from his post and also direct you there to read his theory (with a little data to back it up) on followers vs. ideas. It’s one of the better posts he’s drafted recently and I think everyone should take a look. Read Seth’s post by clicking here…
I admit it. I don’t play fantasy football. But I’m curious as to why it’s 2010 and we still only get delayed and edited footage from the Olympics via NBC.
Furthermore, why hasn’t the idea of Fantasy Olympic teams taken off? Could that be a key to increasing viewership, knowledge of more atheletes and engagement even before the games start? Here’s my lunchtime thoughts.
This past week I had the chance to sit down with Rick Short, director of Marketing / Communications at Indium Corp. Rick has been blogging and using social media to help Indium build contacts and grow its business well before social was on the map. I’ve got the full videos over at the Romanelli Communications blog.
The conversation was so good, I had to break it up into parts. Really great points, especially for peeps whose business is B2B. You can also connect with Rick by visiting his blog or following him on Twitter.
We’re all part of multiple social media networks now. Maybe it’s Twitter and Facebook, with a little Ping.fm thrown in with FriendFeed and LinkedIn on the flipside. Don’t even get me started on public Google Waves.
And as we’re all getting on more and more networks, our paths are bound to cross at more and more points. Which is why I think it’s more important than ever to know your network and know your audience.
I’ll only post certain types of content on LinkedIN. Twitter gets a bit more loose, and Facebook is more of personal likes and funny stuff. Not a lot of business content there. But that’s because most of my ‘friends’ on Facebook aren’t following me on Twitter or aren’t connected to me on LinkedIN (emphasis on the MOST in that sentence). As we’re migrating, more people are starting to use Twitter or LinkedIN (using those big 3 as an example because it’s where I spend most of my time) and are getting my favorite links, blog post notifications and recommendations on multiple platforms.
From a marketing perspective this is kick-ass… right? More people consuming messages (even duplicate ones) on multiple social media channels from a trusted source is a good thing, if I’m digging your website or movie, or blog, or whatever.
But flip the coin over and I think there’s a point where pushing the same content through duplicate channels now becomes an interruption as opposed to a conversation. If you’re following me on Twitter, as well as being friends on Facebook and colleagues on LinkedIN - there are times where I’m sure you’ve seen the same piece of content across all of your media streams from me…… sorry. Maybe this post is one of them.
The problem is that I want to be able to tell my whole network about something I think is cool, and since we’re not all consolidated onto one channel, some people are getting double doses. At the root of this is the notion that I think we all want to be influencers. We all want to be the person that found that next cool thing, and so hitting everyone in our own network seems like an easy way to share content.
But I think that this will start to come at a price. I’ve already un-friended people from different networks because I haven’t found their content useful or that it’s been too repetitive or spammy. While I hope the same thing hasn’t happened to me, there’s no guarantee that it hasn’t. I also recently was intrigued by my friend Rob Bluey’s post on how he’s going to be treating his Facebook network in 2010. If 2009 was a planting year for social networks, 2010 may be a year of pruning or at least shaping.
What’s the point? I think its that we need to tailor your content to fit the network and be conscious of the people who may be receiving multiple forms of the same message. Trust that if you’re putting out good stuff that people will use a different tool in order to receive that content. You won’t need to force feed them. Chris Brogan does a fantastic job of this. His FB posts are different (not always, but enough) from his Blog posts. Most importantly though, if you want some really useful content, he’ll only offer that through his newsletter. He knows that his content has value and that if people want that premium content, well, they’ll just have to deal with subscribing.
Today I gave a quick talk to the students of the Utica College PRSSA group about the job I do at Romanelli Communications as well as how brands are using social media to reach their audiences. Of course with graduation dates approaching, students are wondering how to best position themselves for the job market (and more specifically in the PR department). Here’s the top 3 points I wanted to drive home:
1 - Read your ass off. I was a bit surprised that by and large the group wasn’t actively consuming blogs that are written about their industry (and the future of it). Because this is where the medium is going, I tried to stress that they need to reading enormous amounts of material DAILY as well as leaving comments and adding to the discussion. Since colleges aren’t offering in-depth courses in Social Media right now and since Social Media is becoming such a huge piece of the PR puzzle, they really need to put in the hours to become as knowledgeable as possible once they get that job opportunity. Books like Trust Agents and Tribes should be standard issue reading as well as Beth’s Blog, PR Squared, Chris Brogan’s blog, HARO, and Mashable need to be on a daily reading list just to name a few.
2 - Write your ass off. Resumes are so 20th century. I know you still need a kick-ass one, but I tried to stress how important it is for PR students to have their own website or blog to show their writing skills, their design portfolio and build their own personal brand. It’s essential. They also have to NEED to be on LinkedIN and active. Building a network, asking questions and contributing to groups in their industry will build connections and let people know that you’re out there. It’s a great way to get introduced to experts in your industry or get recommended for a potential job.
3 - Show me, don’t tell me. If any of them go into an interview for a public relations job or ANY job for that matter, they should be able to show their resume and have the HR director pull up their website. On that website should be their posts about the industry, examples of their work, and maybe even a case study of how a Press Release they put out or an event they orchestrated was a huge success for a local non-profit (hint: volunteer your time. Non-profits need your expertise and its a great experience). Being able to show ROI for a project you weren’t even paid to do shows your chops and speaks to your character. Being able to SHOW a prospective employer that you have the skills necessary for that job (or are devoting lots of time to learning them) will set you apart from other candidates. I promise.
There was a lot more discussed and the group had some great questions about blogging, social media, and how businesses are using the tools. I won’t get into those here. But I did want to give a quick recap of what I thought the group wanted to have a discussion about and hopefully I was able to provide some good info to give them a leg up in understanding how social media tools are shaping the way PR works and the way people find jobs.
Big thanks to Megan Fariello for having me and congrats on her upcoming graduation in two weeks!
Hopefully Pt 1. of my Social Media Elevator Pitch was useful to you guys. Now, on to part 2. Here are 9 blogs that I check out daily that get me excited and teach me something new every day about online marketing, business, and how it works (or doesn’t) with Social Media. There are hundreds of great reads out there, but I wanted to focus on a few names that provide digestible, actionable content and also say thanks. These are people who have taken the time to care, to answer my questions and who have engaged with me as a newbie.
Don’t stop here. Ask around. Remember this is an elevator pitch. What are YOUR favorite sites for Social Media and blogging content? I wan to know. Please list them in the comments.
Recommended Reading (put these in your Google Reader):
Chris Brogan - www.chrisbrogan.com - One of the best resources for people who are participating and getting into social media. Tons of great posts, usually daily. Chris is super-accessible and lives for connecting people
Seth’s Blog - www.sethgodin.typepad.com - Seth is probably the smartest marketer I’ve ever heard. Period. Great bite-sized content everyday.
Gary Vaynerchuk - www.garyvaynerchuk.com -While I’m a huge fan of WineLibrary, Gary’s personal blog has some great info on business, Social Media and building your personal brand.
The Marketess - www.themarketess.com - Posts that are quick and to the point about marketing, social media and what it means for business. Written by the awesome KristaNeher.
The Viral Garden - www.moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com - Mack is always insightful when it comes to online marketing and has a lot of good how-to posts or ‘5 Steps To…’ posts.
PR Squared - www.todddefren.com - Todd Defren comes to social from more of an agency perspective but has been a great resource for me as I learn how businesses and organizations should be using Social Media.
Social Media Land - www.socialmedialand.net - Katie V provides some great insights on different SM tools and case studies to back up what she’s saying. She works for a kick-ass agency in AZ as a content manager and SM guru.
Beth’s Blog - www.beth.typepad.com - Beth is one of the best bloggers around when it comes to harnessing the power of online marketing and Social Media for non-profits.
Mashable - www.mashable.com - Great news site on all things tech and social. Consistently well-written articles that mix the latest news with some blog worthy and offbeat stories from around the web.
That’s just a handful of the blogs I check out daily. But the peeps above continuously put out great content, are accessible, and in my opinion have some of the best blogs out on the net. I know I’m missing a ton, but that will have to wait for another post. Maybe I’ll make a Best Blog series. So tell me, what does YOUR daily reading consist of? Leave a comment below!
