The Intersection of Online and Offline

The title of this post has everything to do with just about every major political race in the country, but I am unfortunately not at NetRoots right now. Jealous, well, yes. Not at Podcamp Boston either. In fact, I am writing this post in my back yard. (Quick note: when I went to find the link to Podcamp Boston, I noted that it says in big letters on the index page: PODCAMP BOSTON IS AT CAPACITY: NO WALKINS PLEASE!). Keep this in mind as you read below.

I don’t get to talk politics much thanks to the Hatch Act (which, as I noted in my final post in my old blog before I erased it) is that the only thing worse than this piece of legislation is Orrin Hatch’s music. And THAT’s bad. But back to my point.

Folks like Patrick Ruffini made this point a long time ago, and David Wescott brought it up again in the context of mommy bloggers as a built-in audience with whom to dialogue. This is the year that we will see a huge impact in political campaigns due to social media. I am not talking fund raising, as much as securing the base; something that John McCain and Barack Obama clearly need to do to win.

Again, with credit to David Wescott who unearthed some research from George Washington University, every campaign manager’s dream is to have a highly networked, connected group of activists just waiting to be mobilized. He also noted in the survey, that politically active people:

“They also tend to visit blogs that share their viewpoint. Think of such blogs as their red meat. Indeed, 94% read only blogs on one side of the ideological spectrum, with 90% of liberals and 90% of conservatives sticking to like-minded blogs. Self-proclaimed “moderates” don’t blog shop either, with 89% exclusively reading either liberal or conservative blogs.”

So think of this: if I am on the political Left and get Daily Kos on my side, it’s a win. On the right, ditto for Little Green Footballs. Everyone waited breathlessly for social media to have an impact in 2004, and it was more of a whimper than a bang.

This is the year, folks. I don’t pay a lot of attention to fund raising on the Internet, because a) I don’t really believe the numbers anyway, and b) it will all equal out on the end on a national scale anyway. It’s about turning out your base, which is how the last two presidential elections were won.

Here we are in 2008, and blogs are hooked to each other which are hooked to Twitter which are hooked to Facebook which are aggregated by FriendFeed. People who read or write political blogs tend to be more politically active and influential - and connected. This is a powerful, new phenomenon that has occurred since the last presidential election cycle. I was a marketing major, and we used to say that you have to touch people five different ways using a marketing mix before you get their attention. See above.

The Perfect Storm is in place, and this is the year.

Curious to hear from folks at Podcamp Boston ot NetRoots on this one.

Mark

Today, I had the fascinating experience of participating my first-ever a “Twebinar,” created and co-hosted by CrossMedia.com, on which they “interview[ed] over 30 top names in social media and Internet marketing and get their best thoughts on how tools like blogs, social networks, wikis, and podcasts are changing the way companies do business.” The host and lead interviewer was Chris Brogan, who did a great job of interviewing some thought leaders in the social media space at a prior social media event as well as communicating with the viewers between segments.  And I was fortunate enough to receive a tweet from Chris @chrisbrogan, who reminded me to note forget to mention “..David Alston from Radian6.com. He co-produced this, and did LOTS of work. Great fellow and deserves your attention in the larger write-up, too. : )” Done, Chris.  For all fo the work you put in, it’s the least I can do.

I’ll give a more detailed account tomorrow in Media Bullseye.

This being my first “Twebinar,” I learned that it is a mixture of live video from the moderator (Chris), video clips from contributors (I have listed some below), a running series of tweets (many of which unfortunately dealt with technical issues), and a chat box as well.

Bottom line is that I came away knowing more than I did when I logged on, which is always something that I enjoy. But like any worthwhile endeavor, it took some doing to get me into the meeting. My impression was that the sponsors were overwhelmed by the responses and got caught off guard.

The Gurus Speak

As the theme of the Twebinar was how social media induces “game changing moves,” I’ll simply relay some of the thinking expressed in it. And for those of you who participated, please note that I have paraphrased since I am a lousy typist.

• Sally Falkow of Expansion Plus, in a very simple and elegant statement, said that the “why” of social media is already happening. You are either there or you are not – and your customers are already talking about you.
• Richard Binhammer at Dell noted that by talking with their customers, they have been seen a reduction in negative comments by 30 percent! He noted that political candidates would love to see a number like this (agreed). By listening to customers, “you learn a lot about what makes them happy and what makes them mad. That will result in better products or services.” Well said.
• Kami Watson Huyse brought up a great point that, as a consultant, she does not  try to convince clients to be in social media. If there is something within their company mission that they need to do like relationship building, then she suggests social media. She also brought up a wonderful case study of connecting SeaW orld San Antonio with the VERY vibrant the roller coaster community. Rather than just pitching the roller coaster enthusiasts, she noted that she “started talking to them and giving them the assets that they wanted: statistics, video, photos, whatever they needed to tell the story.” Great point in a time of “blogger spam” debate.  And smart, too.
• Shel Israel – GNTV – Shel gave a terrific example of HR Block realizing that each year, their customers are getting older and this speaks to the need for creating younger users. HRB are very active now in Twitter, Second Life, blogging, are planning “additional social media programs.”

Did the Twebinar have technology glitches? Yeah.

Interesting content and format? You bet.

More tomorrow.  C’mon, @sarahwurrey.  Get posting!

Mark

I was listening to a recent “For Immediate Release,” aka the “Hobson and Holtz” report, and listened with awe that frequent contributor Dan York pulled off a Craig’s List miracle.

For those of you who are regular listeners to FIR, you’ll know that Dan often reports from the “picturesque countryside of Vermont.” Well, Dan is relocating to Keene, NH, as he describes in his blog. Here’s where it gets interesting: Dan listed his house on Craig’s List at 8:30 am and had a signed offer by 4:30 pm - THAT DAY. As the cheesy commercials say, “your results may vary,” but this is an incredible testament to the power of Craig’s List, which has already punched a hole in traditional advertising and is now making its way into new venues.

First, congratulations, Dan.

Second, I had a similar experience a couple of years ago. I got a serious steal on a house in a very desirable neighborhood outside of Washington, DC — with a huge caveat that we settle and move in 13 days (this is not a typo). Two sleepless weeks later, my family and I moved and I was faced with selling my own house in a market that had just begun to slump.

I went with a real estate agent who had never heard of Craig’s List, but knowing that I was tied into a 90-day contract with him, I cross-posted the MLS listing on Craig’s List. What happened was that two I-can’t-sleep-at-night-because-I-am-carrying-two-mortgages months later, my old house sold. But what happened in the meantime was interesting.

When I posted my house, I was getting inquiries from interested parties who were going about the traditional route through their agents. Then after hearing all of the wonderful things that real estate agents say, the prospective buyers would email me questions. And I would answer. And they would email more. And I would answer. And I would subtly let them know that I was pleased at the attention that my listing got on Craig’s List (read: competition).

So what happened? My house sold the good, old-fashioned MLS way, but had that not worked out, I had two interested parties with whom I had already developed a good relationship waiting in the wings.

Had I had more time, I would have (like Dan did) listed my house exclusively on Craig’s List. With a six percent commission on a average house value of $500,000, I would say that a Craig’s List posting is definitely worth a $30,000 real estate commission fee.

Sorry, National Association of Realtors.

Mark