You’ve got to love David Letterman, right.  When Letterman speaks people listen.  I think he could easily become a social media mogul.  His insight to the future of social media and technology places him on target with Biz Stone and Bill Gates.  Well maybe NOT, but this little skit from him is hilarious!  Great warm up to the Tallahassee tweetup tonight! Enjoy.

Tallahassee Tweetup Warmup

Are you an eavesdropper? When you are out in public places do you listen to the conversations going on around you? Whether you are sitting in a coffee shop, having ale at your favorite pub or sitting in coach flying to LA, the question will come around, what do you do? You answer. If you’re a banker, lawyer, school teacher, you explain where and what you do. Something triggers that question. Maybe you’re wearing a uniform, a company branded shirt, reading your industry related magazine; something generates the question. Maybe you’re talking with a colleague about your new product line, an intriguing project, or upcoming company event; it’s the conversation that perks the attention of the person next to you. Did you ask them to listen to your conversation? No. Are you in a public space? Yes. Is it a social environment? Yes.

Social media is like conversations in a global coffee shop. If you are on Facebook or on Twitter, you are listening in on the conversation. Has someone on Facebook or Twitter ever helped you find a store, locate a bank or given you technical advice? Have you returned the favor? Did you send them a thank you note? Did you stay in contact with that person? Why not? Why wouldn’t you look to pay it forward?

Imagine if you could listen to the conversations that are about what you are interested in while turning down the volume on all the other unrelated voices. Current estimates show Twitter alone has 14 to 19 million users, and that number is growing every day. That is a bunch of conversations! The ability to chime in to just one topic is a powerful capability. Harnessing that information can provide valuable insight to companies and individuals. Tools like Tweetdeck and Seesmic are free applications that will allow you to key in on multiple topics and feed the results right to your desktop.

Search is probably the fastest growing segment of web technology today. Look at the huge success of Google; everyone is searching for something. Not everyone who searches is lost. With so many people looking, now is the time to invest in becoming an expert guide in your field of service or product line. Don’t try to be the one size fits all solution. The niche guides are the winners in this game. How do you know if you qualify as an expert? One benchmark is 10,000 hours of experience. Check out Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book Outliers for more on the 10,000 hour benchmark.

As a business in today’s digital media landscape, it is essential to have your ears open. If you haven’t dedicated a portion of your time and resources to social media, please consider it. Every Fortune 500 company spends at least 20% of its resources on research and development. Take three 15 minute breaks in your day and follow a conversation or two on Twitter. I recommend taking notes along the way. After a week of following conversations, compile a report of your findings and present that to your manager/owner. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. There is a global conversation about your business. Are you listening?

Art of listening in Social Media

If you haven’t met Biz Stone, you are in for a treat.  He’s a down to earth guy, who happens to be a genius.  Biz is the Co-founder of Twitter and also helped make Xanga, Blogger, Odeo, and Obvious. He has published two books about social media and have a more professional profile on LinkedIn.  Here is a recent interview with Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch.

There is a second part to the interview over at TechCrunch and it is worth checking out too! Visit TechCrunch

How many people contemplate their comprehensive insurance policy or the diversity of their financial portfolio on the way to the bathroom? Why is the community bulletin board still a viable media channel for advertising? As an advertiser, you are gambling that everyone that visits that establishment will visit the restrooms. Is this cutting edge media placement?

Do you really expect someone to grab your card off the cork board on their way into the powder room? Have you ever had someone call you and say, “Yeah, I got your card off the bathroom wall at ______ and I was wondering if…” Does that really work? I guess if you want to take a shotgun blast in the dark that’s one strategy.

I love Sprint’s idea of media placement. You’re sitting in the theater getting ready to watch a movie and the trailers are showing. The next trailer is about a monkey trying to negotiate director credits and theme song input with the movie producers. The punch line is: “It takes many calls to make a movie, but only one to ruin it. Please turn off your cell phone.” Brilliant. The message is creative and the delivery is relevant. Nice job, Sprint.

As a local business, you don’t have to have a Sprint size budget to craft relevant, creative messages. Social media channels are becoming one of the largest growing communication methods. The traditional media placement questions are who, where, and when to send your message.  In social media, the question is how does your message interact with the audience? Unlike the intrusions of traditional advertising, relevant messages can be engaged with people who are already talking about that specific topic or interest.

A couple of things to consider when interacting inside social media channels:

Remember, it’s social – All business and no play is no fun! Social media is a two-way communication channel. Keep that in mind and put away the bullhorn strategy. Social media is like being invited to a global cocktail party; there are plenty of opportunities to connect.

Listen before you speak – Before you jump into a conversation, it’s always good to make sure you’re on topic. (ex: Tweetdeck, Google Alerts, BlogPulse, and Trendrr) Take at least 30 days to monitor the tone and volume of your topic of conversation.

Give good directions – If you are expecting for people to follow you, make sure you know where you are going. If your updates are about business and money, don’t have them click on a blog site about rubber chickens. Just because you don’t carry it or offer it, doesn’t mean you can’t help point someone in the right direction. Pay it forward is socially correct.

Be creative –Many companies are using blogs/micro-sites as landing pages rather than linking to boring institutional corporate sites. This web strategy allows for flexibility and niche specific content within a large or small scale product line or service industry.

Talking with the right people at the right time with the right message is possible. Listening to the conversation is the best way to stumble into your biggest fans. The alternative is to place your business card on the cork board on the way to the bathroom. Let me know how that works for you.

Branding Social Media in Tallahassee?

As I meet with local Tallahassee businesses, I find companies are still trying to figure out what to do with social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace.

The debate is whether these sites are just a trend or are they new channels of communicating in a modern digital era.  Regardless where a business stands on the social media platform, the answer is that millions of new users are exploring these sites every month.  Social media users are not just teens, college students or businesses either.  It’s everyone from every demographic.

With the growing number of newcomers to the digital communities, the world has become a more connected planet.  The once essential long distance phone plan barrier has been removed and replaced with open lines of communication.

With keyword search capabilities built within Twitter, it is very easy to jump into the specific conversation topic you are most interested in.  Rather than having to search Google page after page looking for websites for information, keywords are now delivered straight to your desktop: Getting in on the latest trends and updates has never been easier.

If it is so easy to gain access to this information, why are some business locking the doors to these social media channels?  Just because people spend personal time on the phone, do you take the company phones off the hook?  Just because employees send personal emails from work, do you turn off the email servers?  Just because staff members often hang out in employee offices for long periods of time, does that mean you lock all the doors until 5pm everyday?

No.  In each given situation, a progressive company views each channel of communication as a way for people to connect with the business or organization.  A proactive company will develop a strategy of how to best use each channel and provide training for maximizing each channel.  Whether it is direct policy or an outline of best practices, the best use of communication tools should be developed and optimized.

If you have locked Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace out, who else have you locked out of being able to interact with your company or products?  One huge benefit of social media sites is the fact that they are open 24/7.  Leveraging social media can allow your clients and/or prospects to weave in and out of the purchase or service life cycle.  Just because the front doors are closed after 5pm, doesn’t mean the customer has to come back later.  In fact, they might just go down the street, or in the digital world just click to the next tweet if you keep them out!

What is your Social Media Strategy?

This week I was enjoying a cup of coffee when I noticed four people on the other side of the café huddled over their laptops.  One of the four was showing the other how to navigate through various areas on a website.  Just as I was about to leave, I asked the young lady being tutored what she was learning.  She explained that her company, Catch Your Limit Consulting, had a very strong belief in mentoring.  It was quite obvious that she was excited and passionate about the opportunity to learn in this mentoring business philosophy.

Mentoring traces its roots back to Greek mythology.

“Mentor (Greek: Μέντωρ / Méntōr; gen.: Μέντορος)^[1] was the son of Alcumus and, in his old age, a friend of Odysseus. When Odysseus left for the Trojan War he placed Mentor in charge of his son, Telemachus, and of his palace. When Athena visited Telemachus she took the disguise of Mentor to hide herself from the suitors of Telemachus’ mother Penelope.^[2] As Mentor, the goddess encourages Telemachus to stand up against the suitors and to go abroad in order to find out what happened to his father.  When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, Athena (in the form of Mentor) takes the form of a swallow and the suitors’ arrows have no effect on him.” Wikipedia

Regardless of Athena’s intentions in taking form of the elderly man “Mentor,” something noble happens when someone assumes the role of teacher.  As a mentor, Athena empowered Telemachus to move forward with self confidence and determination.  Telemachus benefited greatly by the advice and wisdom passed on by his mentor.

Throughout my life, in every area, I have had a mentor to show me the way.  There is no better time than the present to partner and collaborate with someone who has already walked the path you are traveling.  I am inspired as I look into the future that I might once again find myself walking step by step with someone I admire.

I applaud “Catch Your Limit.” You can be sure that they are not just another consulting business that will come and go with the tide.  Their core business commitment to mentoring will surely prove to be a solid foundation.  Visiting their website, you can believe it when they say they can help your company build leaders.  It’s not just a fish tail.

Thank you Catch Your Limit Consulting for continuing the ancient tradition of mentorship!

ecommerce tools on the social web Tallahassee

Last week I went out to dinner with a business colleague.  We had a fabulous meal solving all of the economic issues of today.  Our waiter was also top notch providing us with excellent table service.  At the end of the dinner, my colleague picked up the check and the tip.  I wanted to do something a little extra for the above and beyond service we received, but I was short on the Benjamins that particular day.

During our conversation at the table, I mentioned to the waiter that I loved the fact that his business used social media to connect with its customers.  He said that they had a tremendous response during the grand opening, and ever since then they viewed Twitter and Facebook as an essential component of their advertising plan.

When I got back in my car, I sent a quick tweet to the twitter account of the restaurant giving highest marks to our server.  Now, I don’t know if he received any specific reward from the owner or manager.   One thing is for sure; all my followers saw the tweet about the first class service at their establishment.

I came across a little Twitter tool today that would have been perfect to slip an extra five bucks to our server after the fact.  It’s called TipJoy. It’s a micro-payment processing concept, the latest extension of e-commerce solutions. TipJoy is a way to raise money and to pay friends via Twitter in essence “social payments.”   Click here to learn more about TipJoy.

If you are a non-profit looking for a new ways to find support for your cause, TipJoy might be worth looking into.  If you are a band looking to sell mp3s, this might be an alternative or supplement to iTunes.  If I could just figure out a way to get a George Washington for everyone who retweets this article, that would be brilliant.  Just kidding, but that’s a good idea.  Aren’t we all just looking for tips?

If you’re looking for a great place for lunch, here’s where we went: 101Mint.  Follow them on Twitter- http://twitter.com/101Mint

If you visit your local newspaper, TV station, or radio station, I think it’s safe to say that you will find someone tuned into a police radio scanner.  Why would these media outlets engage in such an activity?  I think it’s obvious,

for starters they are looking for stories.  Why are stories so important?  Because stories are the platform by which they interact with their readers/viewers.

I have to believe that the really good media outlets scan the radio waves and have designated staff trained to listen for specific words, phrases, or codes.  Maybe part of their training is reading over a list of code numbers like 10-78 (Send ambulance), 10-79 (Send wrecker), 11-80 (Traffic Accident – Serious Injury), or 11-82 (Traffic Accident – No Injury). Knowing the law enforcement language is essential to understanding what’s being communicated.  Otherwise, it may sound like random numbers being shouted out.

Now, take that analogy and think of it in ways to leverage social media.  On the surface what may seem like random status updates, can be categorized into useful information.  Knowing how to categorize and isolate keywords is the combination to unlocking the social media vault.

One of the emerging tools for analyzing social media content is Tweetdeck.  Tweetdeck can be downloaded for free using your Twitter user name and password.  It runs in the background, while you work on other assignments or projects.  You can have up to five keyword searches being performed at any given time.  Anytime a tweet or status update that contains your specific keyword is entered, it is categorized by subject, date, and time and displayed in its designated search results column.

Let’s apply this to your specific area of service or product line.  If I were a local Customer Service Manager for Best Buy, I would have a search for Best Buy Tallahassee, HH Gregg Tallahassee, and Wal-Mart Tallahassee.   Analyzing the search results for people who had a good or bad experience at any of those retail stores, I would then use that information to train my customer service representatives on how to handle a given scenario.  If the status or tweet was directly about my store, I would contact that individual directly and thank them for their business and ask for the opportunity to learn how to provide better service for their next visit.

Click Here to read another real world example of a large hotel chain that went over the top to provide a WOW experience for one of their guests by using Twitter. This is not a fad.  Social Media will not go away.  If anything, it will evolve into something more social and more interactive.  Look at EBay and Amazon; the reason why they are so successful is because at the core they are driven by user created content (information and reviews about the products).

There are many benefits and insights to be gained by reading and analyzing the content on all social media platforms.  Zappos.com, a clothing retailer, has over 300 customer service reps utilizing Twitter in addition to the traditional lines of communication in order to exceed their customer’s expectation.  If your Tallahassee business isn’t embracing emerging technology to move your business forward right now, you are missing out.  If you listen carefully, you can hear the sirens.

============================================================================

Want to learn more about leveraging Social Media for your Business?  Visit Social850.com for a free “Lunch and Learn” seminar coming up May 19th!

Based on a true experience:

“This past weekend I came back to my rental car to find that I couldn’t turn the ignition key at all. I tried the key while yanking on the steering wheel and the gear shift, but no luck. I was at a loss, and turned to Twitter to see if anyone knew anything about this undocumented feature of the Pontiac G5 (Detroit’s woes are easier for me to understand after this experience). I tweeted “Ignition key won’t turn at all in rented Pontiac G5. Anyone got any ideas – help!”

Within a few minutes I got 16 responses back. They all told me essentially the same thing – that there was no trick specific to that car, and that the key was to keep cranking on the steering wheel while turning the key. I did so, and eventally got the damned thing to start.

My point with this story is not just to bust on GM, but also to highlight that I got 16 shots of altruism from people, most of whom I didn’t know, at a time when I could really use them.

They were willing to help me out not because I’m such a good friend of theirs (not the case) or such an obviously great guy (depends heavily on who you talk to), but because we humans like being altruistic, and Twitter makes altruism the work of a few seconds. The help I got cost each each sender virtually nothing, yet added up to a highly valuable resource for me. I think it’s important not to lose sight of that, and to keep in mind that not all exchanges are governed by incentives, mutual benefit, or economic rationality. Sometimes they’re governed by simple neighborliness, and Twitter is an awfully big neighborhood.” Andrew McAfee

(Andrew McAfee is currently an Associate Professor in the Technology and Operations Management area at Harvard Business School.)

This story reminds me of a good friend of mine who works at University GM here in Tallahassee, Tim Barry.  As a GM Internet Manager, he knows more about Pontiacs, Cadillacs, GMCs, HUMMERs, and Buicks than anyone I know.  He is the kind of guy that would respond to that question in a heartbeat.

If you are in customer service for your business and you aren’t on Twitter listening for feedback from your customers, you are missing an opportunity to provide a greater than expected level of service.  CLICK HERE to create a Twitter Account.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TallyDigitalBiz

============================================================================

Want to learn more about leveraging Social Media for your Business?  Visit Social850.com for a free “Lunch and Learn” seminar coming up May 19th!