My Name is Kate

Three social media secrets that will make you smarter, skinnier and richer

OK, maybe that headline over promises, just a smidge. But here's the deal - you are doing some things in social media that make you look like an amateur. And I'm tired of gently pointing them out on an individual basis. So, I'm writing a post about them and then I can just send the link to people and reference the secret I want them to know. Kind of like The Bloggess's infamous Picture of Wil Wheaton Collating Papers that she sends to PR people who make ridiculous pitches to her.

Here we go …

Secret #1 - Twitter does not work the way you think it does

You are a startup - maybe a new tech company, a new magazine or just someone who really wants to make a name for themselves, particularly in social media. Awesome. And you've slowly built some followers on Twitter. Say a thousand or so. Clearly, you're not chopped liver, but you're no Justin Bieber either. But with the right push, you could likely get a few thousand more followers. You have somehow convinced a minor internet celebrity in your field to write a guest post on your blog. And now you want to tell all your followers about it. So you tweet:

@MiniCeleb tells us the secret to her success using hand puppets while naked. Check it out! http://goo.gl/nbknc

That seems like a great tweet, right? Intriguing. Room for people to retweet and add commentary. Every single one of your followers should retweet it. Maybe even @MiniCeleb herself. Job well done - time for a martini. Right?

WRONG.

The only people who are going to see this tweet is @MiniCeleb and the juicy Venn-diagram centre of followers that you and @MiniCeleb have in common. Which is probably 12 if you are lucky. When a tweet starts with an @Handle, Twitter takes that as a sign that you're directing a tweet TO someone (not tweeting ABOUT them). So Twitter limits the exposure of that tweet to people it thinks will care about it: the @Handle you're tweeting to and the followers you have in common.

That's why you may have seen tweets that have a similar pattern as the above, but there is a "." in front of the tweet. Like this:

.@MiniCeleb tells us the secret to her success using hand puppets while naked. Check it out! http://goo.gl/nbknc

That little dot is enough to tell Twitter that this is for everyone in your stream. However, I think you're smarter than that. Just write a better tweet:

Want to learn the secrets of success via naked hand puppetry? Great article by @MiniCeleb http://goo.gl/nbknc

Secret #2 - If you don't claim a unique LinkedIn URL, people judge you

Especially if you include your LinkedIn URL as your one and only professional link. Look, I don't judge you if you don't have a blog or even have your own name as a domain where you've provided a brief bio and links to your online presence. But if LinkedIn is your platform of choice, please at least be linkedin.com/in/corneliusrabbit and not linkedin.com/pub/cornelius-rabbit/21/7b3/5a

This help article from LinkedIn tells you how to customize your public profile URL. Please take 3 minutes and go do it.

Secret #3 - Social media amplifies your douchecanoe quotient by a factor of 10

You are not a douchecanoe. Neither am I. But just by being on social media and posting stuff, our douchecanoe factor goes up. Way up. Because no one can see our smiling wink and ironically raised eyebrow or hear our faux-mocking tone. There are a lot of things you can do to try to lower your douchecanoe quotient, but these are the top two (highlighted in this piece over at Mediapost - sent to me by a friend-who-will-remain-nameless-so-no-one-thinks-she's-a-douchecanoe):

• Stop posting cryptic updates (#3) E.g. "Two days waiting, and not even a harmonica! Guess I’m never going there again!" (from the article) or "OMG. SO. EXCITED. Covered in sparkles. Can't wait to post about it. HOOOOOOOOW will I get through the next 6 weeks?!?!?!!!!?" (from my bitter mind)
• Stop disguising self-promotion as "contributions to the conversation" (#10) E.g. "Good point about the changing role of libraries -- and it reminds me of some learnings we gleaned from the insight engine on our new social platform, which launched in beta last week…" (from the article) or "Great point - I've been thinking a lot about the colour blue as a rage-inducer since Facebook reached a billion users! I discuss this at length in my ebook 'Things that make you go GRRRRR' (available on my website for only $9.99 #selfpromo #wink)" (from my bitter, bitter mind)

There you go: three secrets to social media success. Feeling smarter, skinner or richer? Not yet - but you will. 30-day money back guarantee :)

Photo Credit: Search Engine People Blog

One Smart Way to Keep Your Social Network Spam-free (or at least spam-low)

This blog (and most of my blogs, really) run on Typepad. Typepad has a "social networking" aspect to it - it allows people to "follow" you. In the last couple of months they ran into a massive spam follow problem seemingly as part of their free microblog service. They have now put in some functionality for Tyepapd users to take control of who they want following them which is great, if not a little late in coming.

I was thinking about how this all could be prevented in the first place and I came across this piece of functionality on Goodreads (my social network of choice for books and reading) - the Challenge Question. So simple, yet so effective.

This is what it looks like in your profile settings:

And this is how it appears when you make a friend request:

 

Now, LinkedIn does something like this when you ask to make a network connection. But it pre-populates with standard "We should connect on LinkedIn" which 97.6% of the people who send me a request don't bother to edit. So I like GoodRead's approach where they give you an example Challenge Question, but leave you to actually fill it in.

For an additional level of security (in case you are reading classified documents and then posting about it on a social network), you can also specify a one-word Challenge Answer. When you activate this option, it looks like this:

I really like how the example prompts change as this Challenge and Response is intended to be much more personal.

This kind of functionality would really help with spam reduction but would also create stronger "weak ties" that are key to maintaining online social network relationships. What would really be great is if this data were then stored and visible in your view of your friend's profile on that particular social network (so, when Ben (the example above) looks at my profile on Goodreads, he would see how I answered his challenge question). That would go a long way towards maintaining those weak ties.

I look my friends on Facebook and while I have made a half-hearted attempt to organize them into lists (conference buddy, Squidoo lensmaster, person I met at a Tweetup once who is best friends with at least 5 of my friends), it's ineffective and there are still several people who I am just not 100% sure who they are.

LinkedIn in does something very smart in that they allow you to add notes and tags to an individual's profile.

But again, it is after the fact. Prompt me for this information when I accept/make a connection request.

I don't use services like Sales Force, or any real contact management system, but I imagine that they have similar kinds of note/tag mechanisms. 

Has anyone seen other social network spam filters/meta info collecting like the above that they particularly like? Or, do you have any tips on how you organize your friends/contacts on the various services? This kind of meta content around our online social lives seems to be a cruicial component that isn't widely available yet, but should be.

The Art of Marketing is Coming to Vancouver - You Could Win a Ticket!

Update: We have a winner - Tai Scott has won the random draw. Thanks to all of you who entered! And remember, we do have a discount code you can use to purchase a ticket - see below.

After the election last night, I figure we could all use some good news. So, here you go ... the awesome conference The Art of Marketing is FINALLY coming to Vancouver on June 9, 2011. Speakers include:

• Guy Kawasaki - Creativity & Innovation
• Gary Vaynerchuk - Branding & Word of Mouth Marketing
• William Taylor - Strategy & Competition
• Mitch Joel - Digital Marketing & Social Media
• Avinash Kaushik- Brand Measurement: Metrics & Analytics 

But here's the really great part ... I have a pair of tickets to give away!

Here's how to win them: Simply leave comment below letting me know why you want to go and who you would take with you.

For example, "I am super-excited to see Avinash Kaushik - I can always learn more about analytics and he is THE MAN when it comes to metrics. I'd take my boss, Bill. Because Bill is pretty clueless about social media and he could certainly benefit from hearing some of these folks talk."

As a bonus, if you tweet about my contest and post a link to your tweet in your comment, I'll give you two entries.

I'll keep the contest open til 5PM PST on Friday, May 13. I'll draw a winner sometime over the weekend, get in contact with them, and post here on the following Monday or Tuesday.

If you're not in Vancouver, don't fret - I'll have something for you after May 13!

And, if you don't really like contests and just want to register for the Art of Marketing, you can save $50 off the regular ticket price by using my promo code MNIK. Or, just click on this link to register - it has my promo code built it. So, regular ticket price is $399 - with my code only $349 (or, if you get a VIP Pass, it would only be $449).

Disclaimers:

• This contest just includes two tickets - no travel, meals or guaranteed rubbing elbows with Mitch Joel. So if you are based in Saskatoon or Edmonton, you have to get here through your own devices.
• My decision on the winner is final.
• Disclosure: The Art of Marketing is giving me a ticket to attend as well.
• Yes, I know this conference is all dudes. They are really smart, engaging dudes, so I think it will be worth your while. I would love to see more women speaking at The Art of's events and I have mentioned that to the organizers.

I'd love to see you at the Art of Marketing. Leave a comment below and enter. And then watch this video to get all excited about the conference :)

Looking for a social media, online marketing or other creative gig in Canada?

Are you in the market for a marketing or creative job in Canada? Well, look no further than FreshGigs.ca!

My buddy Michael Zipursky is the Co-Founder of FreshGigs.ca (Michael interviewed me last year for his Becoming a Business Consultant blog), and he gave me the low-down on FreshGigs.ca:

FreshGigs.ca is Canada's job board dedicated to helping companies find skilled professionals in marketing, public relations, social media, online business, copywriting, communications and more. In order for someone to apply for a job posted on FreshGigs.ca they need to register. It takes them less than 30 seconds to do that. 

But we pre-screen every professional that applies to ensure they have the experience that they say they do. Companies appreciate this as it saves them time in the hiring process. We've also made posting a job affordable for companies of all sizes. There are a lot of companies out there that need marketing and creative help and at the same time many skilled and experienced professionals that are looking for new work or projects. 

Our goal is to connect the two.

Personally, if I were a hiring manager, I would LOVE the pre-screening part of the service.

They've got a lot of great positions posted for right across the country - mainly Toronto and Vancouver right now, but there are also recently listed jobs in Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg.  I've included a little FreshGigs.ca widget in my sidebar that lists the most recent opportunities. So, if you're looking for a new marketing or business gig - or are hiring for one - check out FreshGigs.ca!

QR Codes in Central Park

I've been working with a client who is considering using QR codes for an upcoming campaign they have planned. So my eyes light up anytime I see an engaging use of them. I was delighted to find this program Central Park in NYC conducted last year. Last year on Arbour Day weekend, "Parkodes" (signs that looked like digital trees) took over the park where visitors could snap a pic of the QR codes to get historic pictures, replays of famous movie scenes or just more info about key areas in the park.

  

There is information available about the whole campain, The World Park, put together by Agency Magma. While I don't necessarily get engaged by the animals on Facebook, I appreciate the effort to do a fully integrated social media campaign.

h/t to Drew's Marketing Minute

FINED! Doesn't Revenue Canada Have Anything Better to Tweet?

I like it when government agencies try to use social media to help their constituents. Taking government and government services online is the only way we're going to be able to effectively start to scale citizen participation in government again.

So, I was very surprised and pleased when I discovered that Canada Revenue Agency started tweeting in February. Sadly, though, their Twitter stream is full of what I like to call "douchebaggery".

The CRA has tweeted 23 times since Feb 17, 2011. I have reviewed these tweets and they break out as follows:

• 1 - Admin-related (hey, we started tweeting!)
• 1 - Marketing (hey, we won an award)
• 5 - Minister-related (hey, Minister Ashfield is appearing)
• 8 - Tax or Agency Tip (hey, here is some helpful info)
• 8 - FINED!! (names, amounts and charges against people who didn't file some form of taxes)

I get that Revenue Canada's main purpose is to collect tax money. And I actually don't mind paying taxes. But what is happening on this Twitter stream doesn't actually make me feel delighted either about the CRA or what they are doing. Seems kinda like cranky Big Brother stream.

Surely there has to be a better way for Revenue Canada to engage with its constituency.

Also .. if I get singled out for an audit this year, you'll know why :)

 

Wikibrands – It Takes a Community to Build a Brand in 2011 – Guest Post – Sean Moffitt

Sean Moffitt is the author of “Wikibrands – Reinventing Your Business in a Customer-Controlled Marketplace” and this post is an advance preview of his Wikibrands February-March 59 Day, 59 City, North American Blog Tour celebrating the launch of his book, termed “a seminal book for business” by Don Tapscott. A chapter highlight summary of the book is available on wiki-brands.com. You can connect with the authors on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Having known Kate for awhile, I knew the standard for my guest post must be high to preview in advance of our virtual book tour. In Wikibrands, we cover off how the very best businesses and brands wake up each morning and put their “social, collaborative” pants on. Kate has always been a big advocate for communities, so I’d like this guest post to focus on Chapter 13 – Community Management – How to Build a Brand Garden not a Ghost Town.

For anybody that has ever tried to get an online community to develop and incubate itself to adulthood, you certainly realize if not before, then certainly after, that it’s as much a function of “sweat equity” as it is “technology genius” or “strategic savvy”. To maintain a thriving customer-centric Wikibrand, the concept of community management is likely the top motivation for keeping the pulse alive after the initial shallow love and novelty is gone. 

Congratulations to all that play that role today, perhaps less celebrated than other bank holidays, it’s International Community Manager Day today [ed - it was actually yesterday, January 24,  this was posted a day late] and these people earn their well-deserved props.

Community managers customarily wield their alchemy of communication skills, service mentality and conscience for the customer with aplomb and are the lifeblood of brands in socialized environments. Whereas the technology industry was quick to jump on hiring for these roles, the other segments of industry have been slower to embrace (in fact one of our book’s interviews with a community manager seemed to indicate downright contempt internally for the transparent and highly public profile and influence the community manager wielded).

A natural company reaction attempting a “toe in the water” Wikibrand experience - why can’t we just make “social” the Friday afternoon of an existing employee’s job or the domain of the new and enthusiastic intern?

Hmmm….how do I answer this delicately?

You are starving the top growth channel in one of the top business assets you own!

First of all, the role is damn tough. We’ve identified a list of 15 roles in Wikibrands that effective community managers play in evolved companies, that both time and experience-wise would leave poorer companies exposed if left as a hobby job activity. The demands are real and the skills of a corporate social convenor traverse the customer, brand and business operations landscape.

The other big reason is that this role is increasingly imperative to be filled in order to get past the superficial launch of a Branded Facebook page and get to the higher order benefits from building a real community. Wikibrands identifies the 5 tough and corporate calorie-consuming challenges to building true community – how to get people engaged, how to find enough time to support the effort, how to attract people to the community, how to get them to come back and how to get people to commit to join. Each one of them are individually tough tasks; put together they require a Mensa of Social.

Whether it’s a popular business, media or brand, we all know people that excel at these roles. I personally think of Frank Eliason who handles customer critique deftly at Comcast, or Amber Naslund who is Radian6’s exceptionally smart face to the world that simply gets the environment or Erin Bury, the young and ubiquitous first contact and line of defence for startup Sprouter.  They are special people. They are also a growing strata of digital life -  close to 60,000 professionals have identified themselves as community managers on LinkedIn.

People always ask me what skill set these people should hold. Yes, communication skills are key. Yes, a passion for the values and lifestyle of your brand or business is a big asset, but beyond all these integral talents, being great listeners is the hallmark of great community managers.  They just have a sixth sense about what people know, and the communities they support are the key beneficiaries.

Listening may seem really granola and amorphous, but communities that have a soul have this talent in spades. And it comes in four progressive levels:

1. Customer monitoring – you know what’s being said about you. 
2. Customer Culture – you know what your customers and influencers are doing and living through, 
3. Customer Centricity – your community knows you are actively involved and 
4. Customer Driven – your company is influenced and changed by customer feedback and engagement

So if you buy into our mantra and - as most successful brands have done over the last 20 years – need to build a community around your brand, then hopefully you’ll get your hands on Wikibrands. We have a passion for this approach for business and we feel like we have something important to say on the subject and love to connect over its many facets. Email, Tweets, Lattes or Pints – choose your lubricant for conversation.

Psst ... Kate here .. if you are inspired by what Sean has said and by the passion of community managers, you can check out one of the reasons I'm excited about Wikibrands and also download Chapter 11 - Community Development for free. And then make sure you get a copy of Wikibrands!

 

Some Thoughts on Measuring Social Media

I'm teaching a class at UBC on Social Media Fundamentals.  The curriculum is a mix between some light theory (what IS social media) and hands-on (how do I make a Facebook page).  As we discuss each social platform (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging, etc), I make sure to offer different types of measures that are appropriate. The earlier we can get social media neophytes to understand that it isn't all about the follower count, the better!

Sadly, that message doesn't always come across.  Our final project is a "Social Media Action Plan" which is a 2-4 page document on what next step the student would take for her business/organization/non-profit in social media.  The SMAP must answer 5 key questions:

1. What will be my business’ first step into social media and why? Review the tools we discuss in class and evaluate their appropriateness for your business.
2. What success metrics will you track?
3. How will my team get involved in social media? What will be the impact on them?
4. Where will the content come from?
5. How will this initiative integrate with my other marcomm activities?

I've taught this class two times prior to the current session and a lot of people are still putting "Number of Followers, Number of Fans" in the "Success Metrics" section.

So this time, I'm trying a different tack.  In the class notes, I have this slide:

But sometimes, I understand that that is easier said than done. That's why I was delighted to find this piece on Social Media Measurement by Don Bartholomew, VP of Digital Research at Fleishman Hillard. Bartholomew discusses 5 things to forget and 5 things to learn about SMM. I love his 5 things to learn:

1. Measurable Objectives
2. Impact versus ROI
3. Hypothetical ROI Models
4. Integrated Digital Measurement
5. Attribution

Particularly for small and even medium business (heck, even for some folks in large organizations who have ended up in a social media marketing role with no formal marketing/analytics training), the discussions of Measurable Objectives and Hypothetical ROI Models. There are easy and detailed examples of how to create actual measurable objectives (hint, they don't start with marketing buzzwords like "Leverage") as well as how to have an intelligent plan for your marketing program around ROI calculation.

Really great stuff - especially for those of us who struggle with the analytical left-brained side of marketing.

 

Wiki Me This - Tending Your Brand Community the Wikibrand Way (with free book excerpt!)

Back in the day, when I was in university and hadn't ever really heard about "marketing" as a career option, I majored in Philosophy and wrote a thesis entitled "Intentionality, Sacredness and Play: Integral Elements in the Philosophy of Ritual".  For several years I spent a lot of time thinking about how ritual is used to bind communities together.  My studies generally had a mystical bent (I specialised in the ritual of secret societies), but part of my work concerned more accessible and "every day" ritual.

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about this aspect of my education on a day to day basis now, but I admit to being a little smug (FINALLY my degree has relevance) when I was reading Sean Moffitt and Mike Dover's new book Wikibrands and came across this passage:

 Typically, a brand community has five characteristics:

• It revolves around a shared interest in a company, product, or brand.
• It connects companies or brands with customers, Influencers, or other community members.
• It connects members with each other.
• It connects companies and members with nonmembers and prospective members.
• It upholds rituals and traditions that involve public greetings to recognize fellow brand/community lovers. (emphasis mine)

We all participate in these ritual manifestations of our online communities: from badges we place on our blogs to the hash tags we use on Twitter (#FF anyone) to the three-or-more letter acronyms we use in our favourite discussion forums (omg, I am so lqtm right now!).  I'm pleased to see that Moffitt and Dover has acknowledged them in their book.  Now, they don't go into a LOT of detail about them (ooo .. maybe that's the book *I* should write), but the fact that it is referenced is important.

I haven't finished Wikibrands yet, but I am enjoying what I have read so far.  I skipped directly to the community section which is an interest of mine and a number of my readers.  Chapters include:

• Chapter 11 - Community Development: The Life Stages of a Wikibrand Community
• Chapter 12 - Internalizing Community and Channeling Tom Sawyer
• Chapter 13 - Community Management: How to Build a Brand Garden, not a Ghost Town
• Chapter 14 - Measurement and Metrics: The Imperfect Science of Monitoring Wikibrand Performance

What I'm extra delighted by is that McGraw-Hill, Wikibrands publisher, has made available Chapter 11 - Community Development as a free download for MNIK readers.  It has an excellent overview of the structure of brand communities as well as some great social media case studies including Lunapads, 1000 Awesome Things and the Museum of Modern Art - all great discoveries for me this week. Thanks, McGraw-Hill!  

Also, I believe that one of the authors will be guest blogging on MNIK next week, so stay tuned for that! 

UPDATE: Check out Sean Moffitt's guest post on what it takes to build a community in 2011. And then pick up your own copy of Wikibrands!

Photo Credit: Beltane Fire Festival 2009 - the Bonfire by Richard Milnes

Do You Own Your Social Media Initiatives?

It's been a few weeks since there was a great disturbance in the force: Yahoo announced internally that Delicious, the popular bookmarking service that I've been using since 2005, is a service in the "sunset" of it's life with Yahoo. And of course, the news was leaked and we all went ape shit.

Delicious has since responded on their blog that they are not immediately shutting down the service, but the announcement certainly got a lot of people thinking about where their content lives and what the longevity of those platforms is likely to be.

It's a question to ask about your overall social media initiatives. Sure, right now it may seem impossible that Facebook would ever go away. Or Twitter. But we've all heard "too big to fail" before.

If you didn't have Twitter and Facebook, would you have a social media strategy?

This is why it is so important for businesses to own the platform that is the focal point of their social media strategy.

I'm not saying don't have a Facebook page or don't run a contest on Twitter or don't experiment with new social media. Your customers are there right now, using these services.  You should be there too.  Listening and engaging.

But what happens when Facebook isn't all the rage. And Quora has lost its appeal. And gloofr is where all the kids are hanging out now? How much will you have to scramble to re-establish a presence with solid content and knowledgable community managers?

Here's what you can do to get a start on owning your own social media platform:

1. Start a blog. I know it sounds cliche. But there are a b'zillion reasons to blog (not the least of which Seth Godin says you should).

2. Put that blog on YOUR URL. I simply can't stress this enough. Why would you want your corporate/professional brand be associated with someone else? yourco.blogspot.com is not as professional as blog.yourco.com  And to the whole point of this article - what happens when Blogspot (or Typepad or Wordpress) goes away?  Even if your blog RUNS on one of those platforms, by owing your own blog/social media URL, you could migrate it to another platform if you wanted/needed to.

3. Use that blog as the starting point for your corporate social media hub. What's a social media hub? Dave Fleet offers a great diagram and model for understanding the place of a social media hub within your larger online presence.

A number of companies offer good examples of using their blog as a start for their social media hub - Whole Foods comes to mind.  Other organizations have taken it a step further - including their blogs and other social media profiles into one large hub.  Possibly the best example I've seen is Doubletree Destinations (Pizza Hut and H&M are also doing some interesting things in this area).

How are you mitigating risk vis a vis your social media presence potentially being owned by someone else and possibly going away? Or do you think this isn't really a risk - Facebook go braugh and all that?