I love getting the opportunity to guest post for other blogs and an article I was asked to contribute was published today on the Agency Post. Lots of businesses don’t know where to begin with social media tools so here is a checklist of low-lift, low-risk activities that can help you get your feet wet.
At the agency we use these techniques as a starting point for certain clients and then as they become more comfortable with the space we can talk about a more overarching strategy.
A couple of months ago I wrote a post about some of the reasons why some of my projects (and maybe yours) don’t come to fruition – why they don’t ship. At that time, I was working on a new project, which has just launched.
Several months ago I began working with Geoff Storm and Garrett Ingraham at the Tramontane Cafe in Utica to start the Utica Firefly – a live storytelling showcase. Our first event was held in May and was a tremendous success. Members of the audience can put their names in a hat and if chosen at random, take the mic and share their story in front of the audience. No winners, no losers, just a night of sharing great stories.
What started as a one-time event has evolved into a project of a much grander scale, and I’m using some of the principals discussed in the earlier post (A Commitment to Ship) to avoid delays, failure and push through a project I can be proud of.
Blueprints
The Utica Firefly (as Geoff and I see it) will be something where we will ship projects regularly for a period of 12 months and evaluate its success at that point. We’ll continue to hold live storytelling showcases throughout the year at the Tram, and this will remain the cornerstone of the project (our next live event is Dec 28th). Additionally we will be creating a series of ‘firefly features’ where we’ll showcase some of the people, places and stories that make upstate New York unique. We’ll take suggestions from the local (and online community) as we seek out stories to develop as features. Everything will be posted online and will be easily sharable.
Infrastructure
In October I developed Uticafirefly.com – which will be the hub for all live and curated content. We felt we needed a centralized location for the curation of stories in addition to uploading our videos through YouTube, Vimeo and via our iTunes podcast. It’s important for this project to be seen as a professional endeavor. Though our first live event was shot on an iPhone, we’ll be producing features and live event recordings with high quality audio and HD video to give our users (and those who share their stories) the best experience possible. We’re taking the time to do it right.
Goals
I’m hoping that throughout this project, the Utica Firefly live events will become increasingly popular and that a community of storytellers and live performers develops in Central New York. I’m hoping to use this project to show off the uniqueness of where we live, the diversity of people here and counteract some of the negative perceptions that have developed over the past several years.
Finally, I really believe the people who are going to succeed in business and marketing over the next 10 years are the ones who can effectively tell a good story, to lead, and actually build out their ideas, prototyping singlehandedly if necessary. This project is a way for me to learn to shoot and edit video, work to build a community online and offline, and share some damn good stories in the process.
I’ll be updating the progress of this project throughout the year on this blog and would love it if you checked out what has shipped so far. Below, please find our first ‘feature’ – and myself and Geoff’s first attempt at filmmaking. “JoeCart” – is a story about John Ossowski, who is trying to foster social connections and combat urban decay – one cup of coffee at a time. Enjoy!
I’ve seen most of Gary Vaynerchuk’s keynotes over the years either online or even live. He’s an amazing speaker but I think that this keynote he gave at the Inc. 500 really stands out. Great stories and points regarding drawing lines in the sand with the way your business operates, social media, and customer service.
It’s long – almost an hour, but promise it’s worth your time to watch or listen.
I’ve been thinking recently about the different web-based shows that I’ve been consuming over the past year and how they’ve evolved. A few of my favorites -
What I’ve noticed is that the caliber of production for these (and many web-based programs) have been increasing incredibly fast and that the line between a traditional network show (or reality show) and web based shows are getting blurred, which web-based shows actually putting out better content. I’ve been amazed at how much the bar is being raised to succeed in online video. While it’s still about putting out quality content first, anyone with a DSLR, a mic and a few lights can produce video that rivals most programming out there. But like any other web based piece of content, there’s an enormous amount out there. So what are some recipes for success?
1 – Bank on Authenticity or WOW
Because there are so many web video properties out there I think the name of the game is still in the concept. Shoot first and refine later. If your idea is good it will have legs. My Drunk Kitchen was shot originally as joke to one of Hannah’s friends and it went viral from there. Since then she’s gone full time with the show. Kevin Rose’s ‘Foundation‘ succeeds because he has access to some of the most amazing entrepreneurs in the online space today and can pump out good looking video with minimal editing or production cost.
Shows like Diggnation and This Week in Tech which don’t have set timeframes, segments, or censors – which allows the hosts and guests to really be themselves and take the time to interact with their audience via chat, comments and Twitter. There’s no better way to maintain an audience than to let them know you hear them.
2 – Break Down Walls
Online shows that succeed use social media tools and interactive tools to their full advantage, reading comments of giving shoutouts to viewers on the air, taking questions or even hanging out in their own message boards. Taking the time to care and interact with the audience can galvanize an online viewing community. Tools like UStream and the use of Twitter Hash tags can create that live interactive experience for next to no cost.
3 – Be Everywhere
One of the biggest mistakes that traditional media companies have made (in my opinion) is the convoluted licensing of their media. Things such as being able to watch video on your laptop but not your iphone or ipad – or putting out some content on Hulu/Netflix and others in your own app – or not online at all. Right now most of the revenue models seem to be based on ad dollars so with that being said, I think that you should allow people to consume that content in as many venues and on as many devices as possible. While I think we are entering a world where viewers will soon be ok with paying for video content online (or funding the production of it) – If content creators want users to pay, then the content needs to be available on demand and on whatever device we want.
Do you have any favorite online ‘shows’? And are any of them shows that you would pay a subscription fee for? If so, which ones? Does video quality matter to you or is it all about the content? Fire away in the comments.
”Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media
for violence, we need to stop them.”
Cameron said that government officials are working with authorities “to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”
I have a real problem with this line of thinking and feel like it’s a very slippery slope when leaders of countries, no matter where they are – start wondering if the ‘free flow of information can sometimes be a problem.’ Who gets to decide what social media, or any technology for that matter can be used for? There certainly will be times when any piece of tech or ways of communicating will be used in criminal situations – but I find it laughable that western leaders celebrate the use of social media in countries like Iran and Egypt, but because rioters used it at home its use is something that needs to be ‘looked at’.
I’ve been reading a lot of really great articles on the London riots, including numerous pieces in TIME as well as a great piece by comedian Russell Brand. I’ve also read numerous reports on the other side talking about how what was missing in this situation was context – that in many cases, people were looting just to loot. Understandably, the political or financial motivations will be dissected at length, but I feel like those larger issues (financial inequality, cultural misunderstandings, etc) are the things that political leaders should be ‘looking at.’ It’s very easy to point the finger at a piece of technology or media (remember the outrage over the video game ‘Mortal Kombat’ or ‘Marilyn Mason’) – when there are much larger issues at play.
Social media is most certainly a tool of organization and coordination. And like other tools that can be used to rapidly share information in a decentralized fashion, they also rapidly disrupt the status quo (think Napster, BitTorrent, Wikipedia). My hope is that governments tune into these tools and look at them not as threats but as a way to also rapidly communicate with groups and people who may feel disaffected. Like it or not, they will be forced to respond to legitimate concerns faster than ever before. And all this talk of cracking down on communication makes politicians look even more foolish. Where does the line stop? With social networks? Cameras? Cell Phones? If past data is any indication – it will never work. The free flow of information isn’t something that needs to be looked at – it’s the sentiments that are conveyed within that information that need studying.
I’ve been playing around on Google+ for almost a week now and wanted to add my list of opinions to the millions that have already been thrown around the web so far. If you haven’t checked it out, I will say that it is NOT a Facebook, nor a Twitter killer. Here are my top takeaways from toying with the service:
1 -Seamless integration with your Google Account. I see Google+ as being a killer app when it comes to social media for teams or small businesses. The ability to share content within small circles as well as jump between group video chats and have your Google Docs at your finger tips is very cool. I’m sure Google is counting on the adoption not just to grow the + network but also to get more people to switch to Google Apps.
2 – Making you put your connections in a container as you connect is helpful. Bigtime. I feel like Facebook for me has turned into me sharing content with a large network of people, whom I know in very different capacities. Some people might love the Social Media content, others may hate it. And I know I can put friends into Groups on Facebook – it’s just too much work for me at this point. With Google+, you have to add friends to a circle (friends, aquaintences, work, etc) as you connect, making sharing and grouping much more manageable.
3 – Google hangouts has smoked Facebook video chat. The client is super light, easy to use and though we may not use group video chat much, I think more and more people will use Hangouts as an easy way to do video conferencing on the cheap. iChat was the best experience I’ve had so far, but now you’re removing the requirement to have a mac.
4 – No one is here. It’s nice to not be bombarded with brands or businesses or tons of people who want to connect at the moment. I feel like I’m very much in control of my network. We’re still defining the follow etiquette here but I don’t feel at all compelled to follow everyone back that adds me, especially if I don’t know them. Or, you can always add people you don’t know into a separate circle and share only what’s appropriate.
5 – Conversation: For whatever reason there’s a ton of interaction here. Way more than Facebook or Twitter from what I can see so far. Being able to see all the comments on a post makes it easier to jump in to the conversation instead of using @replies where you only see the pieces you’re involved with. Very cool so far, but will it last?
What Sucks.
1 – The population of Google+ right now seems to be almost all techies and marketers. Makes sense though since we love anything shiny and new, so we’ll move first but that has some major downsides right now. There’s a lot of noise. I see a lot of duplicate posts throughtout the day – way more so that on Twitter or Facebook and it’s distracting
2 – Conversation: No threaded comments make popular posts from folks like Robert Scoble and Chris Brogan eat my feed and take up real estate several screens deep. I wish we could see some threaded comments soon, or that the system would recognize that if more than 3 people have shared a post that are in my network, I only need to see it once.
3 – Lack of a Filter: I do like the idea of circles and the way following works on Google+. I can follow whomever I want and they decide whether to follow me back or which circle to put me in. However, what would be awesome would be some sort of application process where I could filter content from certain people. For instance, I wish we could create tags for each post we share (generic tags, but that were available to those who are in our circles). That way, the people following us could choose only the topics or tags that they want to follow, instead of getting a firehose of content and comments.
4 – Search: I don’t feel like there is a good discovery engine for meeting new people or jumping into topical conversations yet. Twitter is certainly the best at this (or at least they were until searches became filled with brands trying to sell things based on keywords). Maybe I’ve missed it but I haven’t found a good way to meet NEW people yet on Google+.
5 – The pace: I’m still in love with Twitter’s ulta fast pace of information and being forced to get your point across in 140 characters. It’s super easy to meet new people, share content and interact publicly – which is especially key for businesses to show that they can do online customer service. Google+ seems like it’s easy to follow people but not as simple to jump into a conversation then get out. That may change as more people get onto the service and start tailoring content to different circles, but for me I’m stil a Twitter diehard.
Bottom line? I like it. I think it has real promise, especially for both business networking and tailoring content towards certain groups. It’s great way to keep your personal separate from your professional (if that’s what you want), while maintaining different levels of connections – but on the same network. Honestly, I’ve already started using Facebook a little less (not giving it up yet though). I’m also very curious to see what the opportunities for brands are going to be.
So what do you think? Are you on Google+ yet and what are your first impressions. How do you use it differently than Facebook or Twitter? And what’s the thing you like the most and hate the most about it so far? Fire away in the comments!
In part II of my conversation with Michelle Chmielewski, we’ll talk about how she found her blogging niche, how she’s built a following and what happens when things go viral.
If you’ve missed part I – click here. We talk about Michelle’s move from Utica to Paris, what her role of a community manager was like and the cultural differences between the ways people use social media in Europe and the US.
Thanks to Michelle for taking the time to chat. Visit her blog and also remember to follower her onTwitter.
A couple of months ago I wrote a post about some of the reasons why some of my projects (and maybe yours) don’t come to fruition – 
