The Intersection of Online and Offline

I wrote an article for Media Bullseye magazine last week in which, among other things, I used the phrase “you bet your bippy” and offered (without checking with them, of course), a free tour of Media Bullseye HQ for anyone who could trace the origins of the phrase).

BUT - the thrust of my article was a list of suggestions on how to convince the unwashed at work that Twitter can be valuable business tool.

My pals at Media Bullseye tell me that there has been quite a bit of commentary on the piece, so while I encourage you to visit Media Bullseye and read the whole article, here are the highlights of “How to Sell Twitter at Work::

1. Know what you are talking about. Before you try to sell Twitter, get your own account, follow people, interact, and know the different type of Twitter users.
2. Know how to translate a “micro blogging platform.” That’s your elevator speech. If you can’t explain Twitter in 30 seconds (probably the equivalent of 140 characters), you are dead in the water and will get the deer-in-the-headlights look at work.
3. Know that the lawyers will get involved. God bless all of you in communications roles who are not subject to legal approval, but most of us are.
4. Resist the impulse to make it all about you. People who regurgitate fluffy press releases are seen as hacks.
5. This is WAY old school, but in addition to the rest of the stuff that people never read in your signature line in your email (except POSSIBLY) your phone number, list your Twitter account name.
6. When you are looking to build an audience, ask questions. People love to give opinions and if you have a helpful user base, you can develop dialogue with people and get answers.
   
7. I mentioned this earlier, but if you use a Twitter account for business, do not mix personal stuff in.
   
8. Finally, understand, that like radio advertising, like TV advertising, like earned and paid media, it takes a lot of time and effort to build your brand.
   

So you bet your bippy that you can sell and make Twitter part of your communications enterprise.

Mark

It’s in an article in Media Bullseye today, but as a week has passed, I have given quite a bit more thought to the Twebinar held last week and put on by Chris Brogan and David Alston.

With distance comes perspective, and my main points are:

• I don’t trust Twitter any more than I do Paris Hilton at a open bar;
• What I learned about from the video was not so much what social media is, but how to sell it better to people who aren’t as savvy;
• I can’t wait for the archive to go up so I can listen more closely.  Was typing, switching screens, using Summize and missing a lot; and
• If you boil it down to what people were saying, things like “use social media to listen to customers,” that what Arthur Page was saying in 1927.

Again, kudos  to Chris and David for pulling off a technical miracle.  I look forward to the next one.

Mark

There has been some really interesting debate and commentary about yesterday’s Twebinar, put on my Chris Brogan and David Alston, both of which were kind enough to comment on yesterday’s posting. Most blog posts that I found, including Marc Meyer’s were positive - “Twebinar Mashup Was a Success.”

Time lends perspective, and after thinking about it for 24 hours, there were a few things that are buzzing around in my head:

1. This must have been a technical nightmare. Pulling all of the technologies together for the mash-up and counting on Twitter (which has been about as reliable as Paris Hilton at an open bar) must have been extraordinarily difficult. So kudos to Chris, David, SNCR and all of the participants for pulling this off. It has only whet our appetite for more.
2. I read many of the tweets that came out of yesterday’s commentary, and a few folks commented that the subject matters was a little basic, e.g., “social media IS game-changing…duh.” In thinking about this, I realized that the subject matter experts were talking in terms that were understandable to the masses, but I bet that the people who watched the two twebinars were a bunch of propeller-head wanna-bes like me. So that had to have been a tough thing to do as well: have a really kick-ass mashup and have a set of social media thought leaders who were telling us things that we already know.
3. The case studies offered by the guests were compelling and can help those of us who find it difficult to sell social media a little easier to explain to others. I really liked Richard Binhammer’s example that, since Dell began to talk and listen to customers using social media, complaints came down by 30 percent. That is something that can reverberate with anyone who understands a profit and loss statement or lifetime customer value.
4. Finally, Shel Israel traced the roots of social media, but like the title of this blog an the course that I teach, I firmly believe that good social media practices are rooted in good communications practices. Listen to your customers. Practice an open system of communication. Make your employees your ambassadors. A lot of this was possible before, but has been made much easier lately.
5. There were others who made good comments as well and I have listed some of those in an article published today in Media Bullseye.

All in all, not a bad start.

Mark

I had the pleasure and honor today of participating in the latest in the weekly series of “Media Bullseye Radio Roundtable ” with Sarah Wurrey and Jennifer Zingsheim. It was a fun and lively conversation. We covered:

• Reputation Management for College Grads - is your online presence visible and important to employers?
• UK Social Networking Sites Boots the Over-36 Crowd - a ridiculous rule by a UK-based social networking site through which they deleted all users over 36 because they were more likely to be sexual predators; and
• Online Complaints Departments and Customer Service - do online complaint sites work for all organizations, or just those with open communications systems?

Podcast is here.

Thanks so much to Jennifer, Sarah and Chip Griffin for letting me have some fun today.

Mark

I wrote a more blown out column that was printed today in Media Bullseye about how many organizations are missing the boat on online reputation management. It’s more detailed than what I blogged about last week and will be the beginning of what I hope will be a three or four-part series about how to do it right.

Article is here.

Mark