Almost Savvy » Social Media

Is Social Media the Brussels Sprouts of the Internet?

Irene Koehler — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:46:35 +0000

To those of us who live and breathe social media every day, it is easy to forget that not everyone is as comfortable online as we are. In fact, many people have concerns about being too visible online and some don’t want to be online, period. Yes, there are people who, by choice, do not have Facebook, Twitter or Google+ accounts. To my fellow social media aficionados, I realize this may come as a shock.

A few days ago, I had a chance to have lunch with a dear friend. Lola is successful and intelligent, as well as both technology and business savvy. Naturally, given my work, the conversation turned to the topic of social media. Lola doesn’t use Facebook. She never has and has absolutely no interest in starting now. Though she has never used Facebook, she has extremely strong opinions about many aspects of the widely popular social networking site, ranging from privacy to rampant oversharing to the implicit meaning of the Like button.

Judging from a distance

I left our lunch wondering…How could someone so bright know that she was opposed to one of the most popular activities in the world without even trying it out herself? Wasn’t she curious in the least bit? Hadn’t she read articles about business-related successes on Facebook, along with the articles about oversharing and privacy risks? If we were talking about something difficult or dangerous (say, cliff diving), I’d understand, but Facebook?

Using social media is not straight forward. Everyone’s experience – what they hope it will be and what it actually turns out to be – is different. One’s experience has everything to do with whom we connect online. It has to do with strategy, style, preferences, and an understanding of the networking platform.

Social media is easily misunderstood. It’s misunderstood when it’s perceived as content, rather than a channel through which content is shared. It is misunderstood when it is seen as a tool which defines one’s experience, rather than a tool which can be used to tailor one’s experience. Would we refuse to use the telephone if we didn’t like the way other people were using it?

Here’s where the brussels sprout come in

Social media is like brussels sprouts. Well, kinda like brussels sprouts. It’s the brussels sprouts of the internet. Brussels sprouts have been described as ugly, smelly and bitter, yet they are rich in disease fighting nutrients. Most people I know despise brussels sprouts; would only consider eating them if no other food was available within a 400 mile radius. Many of these same people have never eaten a brussels sprout or haven’t had one since they were a child. Like social media, brussels sprouts are/can be very good for us, yet both are frequently dismissed based solely on what we’ve “heard” about them.

I’ve put together a handy scientific* chart illustrating this point.

“No, thank you” helpings

When I was young and didn’t want to try a new food, I was told I had to take a No, thank you helping. A No, thank you helping was a small sampling of whatever I was trying to avoid. It was a taste, just enough for me to decide if I truly did not like the food based on my own first-hand experience, rather than decide based on its purple-ish color or the fact that my sister cried when she tasted it.

Is it possible to take a No, thank you helping of Facebook (or other social media channels)? I propose that it is and that it is simple to do so. One need only to set up an account, connect with interesting people or organizations and periodically read what is being shared. If something seems interesting, it is easy to add a comment and contribute to the conversation. While this small taste will not be the same experience as when one is fully engaged, it is possible to skim the surface and get a sense of how others are using social media. At a minimum, it may facilitate a more informed decision.

On a personal level, I take No, thank you helpings on a regular basis when it comes to something new or something I haven’t tried in a long time. I’ve hated brussels sprouts for as long as I can remember. A few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to give them another try, another No, thank you helping. While I don’t expect them to become my favorite food anytime soon, I was surprised to find how much I liked them. All it took was the right recipe and an open mind, and a willingness to give them another try.

*Scientific means that it makes sense in my head

Image courtesy of Ed Yourdon

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here

so you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy social media updates, events and news.

Top 5 Signs Your Business Should Not Be Using Social Media

Irene Koehler — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:59:32 +0000

Beware the hidden dangers of social media.

Social media is all the rage. All the cool kids are using it; at least, that’s what the cool kids on the internet are telling us. The number of businesses on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube is mind-boggling, but the real question is how many of them are using the tools wisely?

If you own a business, work for or with businesses, I’m sure you’ve heard from nearly everyone you know that you must be using social media. The pressure to jump into the game immediately, plus the perception that social media success is both free and easy, have led many businesses to make very visible mistakes online. A poorly constructed and executed social plan often leads to results more problematic than had the business done nothing at all.

How many businesses have we all seen have their efforts undermined because they failed to recognize the signs that they weren’t prepared? The good news is that we can all learn from their mistakes, a few of which have led to…

Signs Your Business Should Not Be Using Social Media (Yet)

1. You Like It Because You Think It’s Free

Your primary reason for wanting to use social media is that you think it’s the “modern” way to send your promotional messages out to large numbers of people all at once with very little cost and effort. Perhaps, you’ve sent out promotional postcards (a.k.a. junk mail) in the past and are now looking for a more cost effective way to reach more people. If this is your primary activity online, you are not a marketer. You are a spammer.

2. You’re Obsessed with ROI

You are under the impression that you must know the precise ROI (Return on Investment) of your social media efforts before you begin. Using digital platforms successfully to build community, relationships, and trust is an iterative process. It is, and should be, a strategic approach beginning with thoughtful first steps, followed by measuring the results and adjusting things where appropriate.

Anyone who tells you that if you do X [some social media task], you will achieve Y [specific number of Facebook fans, % increase in sales, etc.] is blowing smoke in your direction. Did you calculate the ROI of the telephone or the company car before you invested in them? Did you know up front how to connect those investments to the bottom line? Of course not, but you knew they were important to the business and you have continually evaluated your use of them to maximize their value. Understanding exactly what you want to measure and how to measure it takes time. Don’t expect to have this completely nailed down before you even begin.

3. Meet Your New Chief of Social Media: The Neighbor’s Kid

The kid spends all day on Facebook anyway, so it makes sense to let him handle all of the social media for your business, right? Plus, you don’t need to pay him. He’s happy to put in a couple of hours a week just to have access to your swimming pool in the summer. If this is the direction you’re heading, or a similar plan to assign the task to a student who will work for peanuts <ahem, intern>, I encourage you to do some research and consider finding someone who is qualified to guide your efforts. Spoiler alert: Being able to tweet or post photos to Facebook from a smartphone doesn’t count as a qualification.

4. Set Up Your Social Accounts, Watch the Money Roll In

You’ve heard the stories; a bookstore (or was it a coffee shop, no wait, it was a computer company, or was it a magazine, it’s so hard to remember) set up a Facebook Page and six weeks later had 2.5 million Facebook fans and increased sales by 420%.

Stories are just that – stories, not reality. Here’s the truth about social media: It’s not magic; it takes work. It is not a “set it and forget it” proposition. Like most things in life, success comes with focus, competence, passion, a unique vision and, yes, work. In fact, simply setting up pages and then letting them go stale without any activity can do more harm to your brand than had you never set them up in the first place.

5. Your Business Sucks

Incorporating social media tools into an overall business strategy definitely offers important opportunities which wouldn’t have been possible any other way. That said, investing in social media will not save you if your product or service, uhm, sucks. If your customers or your employees aren’t happy, adopting social media will not save your sinking ship. Social media provides a larger platform to be who we are and amplifies the voices of those talking about you. If whatever you’re selling doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, it might be best to focus your efforts on fixing that problem first and tackle social media once the business sucks a little less.

If these signs describe your view of social media, take heart, you aren’t the only one. Too many are under the impression that going online is a sure-fire way to boost business with little to no effort. If you take the time to really understand the benefits, risks and best practices (or partner with someone else who understands this), you could well be on your way to building the kind of online presence that suits your business best. It won’t happen overnight, but it can happen.

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here so you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy social media updates and news.

Image courtesy of upyernoz

How to Find and Ban Members in Facebook Groups

Irene Koehler — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 04:40:37 +0000

Seemingly stealth group members. You know they're there, but you can't find them.

Today’s post is written specifically for those responsible for managing a Group on Facebook. Facebook Groups don’t get as much buzz as Facebook Profiles (soon to be known as Timelines) and Facebook Pages. Still, there are many wonderful uses for Groups. I belong to many, including some business, community or family related.

Serving as an Admin of a Facebook Group can be incredibly easy or a huge time commitment, depending on the size of the group and how closely the group’s content is moderated. There are many considerations in managing a group, but today’s post will focus on just one. More specifically, it will focus on when reasonable efforts to carry out that one task don’t work as they should, resulting in frustration for group members and Admins.

When a group member interacts inappropriately in the group, it is often up to the Group Admin to remove them from the group. What constitutes inappropriate conduct certainly varies from group to group, but may include anything from spamming the group to posting hateful messages. Removing and banning that person from the group should be an easy task, with should being the operative word. It should be only be a matter of finding that person on the list of group members and removing them with a click of the mouse. The problem is that, for some reason, finding the name you’re looking for on the list of members is very often impossible.

If you aren’t able to find their name, it is impossible to remove and ban them from the group. Or, is it? The good news is that there is at least one workaround. It takes a bit of time and you’ll need Google Chrome to make this trick work. If someone is really taking advantage of the group and annoying members with their posts, it just might be worth your time to watch this video to learn how to do this yourself. (If you’re an experienced Group Admin and very comfortable jumping right to the nitty gritty details without much of the context, you might want skip ahead and start watching at around 7:00.)

You may also view the How to Find and Ban Members in Facebook Groups video on YouTube.

Are you a Facebook Group Admin? Have any tips which you think would help others?

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here so you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy social media updates and news.

Image courtesy of elycefeliz.

The ROI of Respect, Listening and Hugs

Irene Koehler — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:45:31 +0000

I spend way too much time online, most of it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn. While you may not spend the hours online as I do, admit it, you are online a lot. My question to you is a simple one:

How well do you really know your virtual connections?

We love our time in this fast-paced world of sharing personal updates, news, opinions and general silly banter, but do we allow the keyboard and screen to depersonalize the experience and create a false sense of intimacy? It feels like we know these people, but do we? (Spoiler alert: The answer is No.)

While there will be always be an ongoing debate about which metrics (number of followers, fans, clicks) are most important when calculating social media ROI (return on investment), I wonder if there is a downside to being a metric-holic. In our quest to connect with more people, stay abreast of new online tools, drive traffic to our websites or defend an opinion, it is all too easy to lose our way. Has become increasingly difficult to remember that there are real people on the other end of our online posts? These real people have real feelings, real families, real problems and real lives. They are not simply numbers.

With most of the essence of communication being non-verbal and only a small percentage about the actual words, we lose the context and nuance of the words when all we get is words. Without body language, facial expression, or tone of voice, misunderstandings are all too frequent. It’s just too hard to understand how my message resonates with you or what you meant when you posted that last update. The result is that, for many, the default behavior is to focus on what I have to say and not on how it might impact you. It’s easier to focus on something I know than on something I have no way of knowing. Still, isn’t it worth a try?

These questions have been rattling around in my mind for the last couple of months, but yesterday’s terribly tragic suicide of well-respected social media expert, Trey Pennington, brought them to the forefront. I only knew Trey virtually, but the pain of those who knew him well is palpable. He had been suffering from depression, something which not all of his friends knew. This, too, begs the question – How well do we know each other and are we a different version of ourselves online and off?

This led me to wonder if it is realistically possible to strengthen our connections, making them more meaningful and authentic. Obviously, there are no easy answers, but we can only start at the beginning by making some commitments to our virtual friends. With that in mind, here are three metrics no social analytics tool will measure when calculating ROI, but which I suggest are pretty damn important. (Yes, I used a curse word. I’m pretty sure we’ll all survive.) It’s time for us to stop taking these connections so lightly and focus more intentionally on each other.

Respect

Is it my imagination or are people more willing to publicly harass and insult others than ever before? I see bloggers calling out other bloggers for unsavory practices. I see people with strong political views arguing the finer points of the problems with the U.S. economy. I see people bullying others for no apparent reason (even boasting about how much fun it is). Healthy disagreements can be both interesting and productive, as long as we remember to respect the person, disagree with their perspective. When these exchanges degrade to the point that they include name-calling, bullying and labeling others, that’s where it crosses the line for me.

Sure, we think we’re right and therefore permitted to make sure everyone knows it. Tell me – who doesn’t think they’re right? What about being smarter, savvier or more right than the other person compels us to overlook the impact our words may be having on someone else?

Consider:

When you disagree, do you consider whether it’s possible that you’ve misinterpreted the message or intent?
Do you contact the person privately to see more information?
If you feel they’ve made a mistake and there is a lesson to be learned, do you share their content publicly without having hidden their identity?
Is it worth your time to be mindful of respecting others online?

Listening

When we’re online, are we listening? Not the sentiment analysis kind of listening, but the real kind of listening? When we notice that someone has been uncharacteristically silent or frustrated, do we let it pass or do we take it upon ourselves to get in touch directly to see if we might be able to help? Yeah, I know it might be awkward and chances are good that someone else will probably notice, right? And, it’s not like they were asking for someone to notice them – or were they?

Consider:

Is it possible that you may get a different response to a public “Are you ok?” than a private message?
Are you able to set aside your own agenda and be open to offering support free from judgement?
Are you really too busy to listen?
Are you willing to be that someone else who takes the time to say, “I hear you?”
Is it worth your time to be a more active listener online?

Hugs

I love hugs. They are a precious, brief moment in time when two people connect, literally or figuratively. Hugs can mean, “I support and care about you,” “I’m sorry,” or “I’m ridiculously happy to see you.” Hugs can mean different things to different people and come in many forms – a comforting embrace, coffee with a friend or a phone call from a loved one. The best thing about them is that they’re shared on a one-to-one basis. In the social media world, we’re always looking for ways to scale communication on a one-to-many basis. For those of you with huge networks of friends, you’re out of luck because hugs don’t scale. And that’s exactly why they are so special.

I’m pretty sure there must be a government-sponsored study around somewhere which validates the health benefits of hugs, but I’ll go out on a limb and just declare that they’re good for us. Whether given or received, you can’t be on the wrong end of a well-intended hug.

Consider:

Is there someone you know who could use a hug?
Should we wait until we sense that something is wrong to let someone know we’re thinking of them?
Why isn’t now the right time?
Are there times when being willing to ask for a hug is as important as giving one?
Is it worth your time to share a hug with someone you care about?

Feel free to adopt these metrics to measure the ROI of your own social interactions, both online and in the real/offline world. Feel free to talk with one another, not just at one another. Feel free to let me know which social interaction metrics you’d like to add.

I appreciate you reading this and value your feedback.

Image courtesy of drinksmachine.

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here so you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy social media updates and news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the Almost Savvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

The #1 Reason You’ll Want to Use Google+

Irene Koehler — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:44:42 +0000

If you’re still wondering if you ought to bother spending time getting to know yet another social network, I’ve got one big reason you might want to give Google+ a try. It is clear that the team at Google thought long and hard about how people and brands use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and worked to incorporate the best features of all, while adding a few cool features we haven’t seen before. I’ll be addressing those features and how to get started using Google+ in the next few posts.

To keep things simple for the moment, let’s focus on the top reason you should care about Google+.

Google Search

I’m a huge Google fan. I use Gmail, Gcal, Google Voice and plenty of other Google products. Even if you aren’t using Google products like I do, chances are good that you’re using one…Google search. Google is the power player when it comes to online search. While there are many other search engines, Google dominates the field. Whether we’re looking for travel information for our next vacation or reviews and best prices for our next purchases, we’re probably searching on Google.

What’s that you say? You’re not interested in search engines and don’t see what that has to do with you? After all, you’re not all that into tech stuff. Fair enough, but I suggest that even if you think you’re not interested in search, you really are – you just don’t know it yet.

When a Brand Name Becomes a Verb, You Know Something Big is Going On

When was the last time you googled yourself? Do you know what information shows up at the top of the search results? Your current, past and potential employers, clients, and dates are googling you (oh, yes, they are) and you should be monitoring your online reputation and take steps to be sure the best information about you to be the easiest to find.

Google Gets to Make the Rules

How does the stuff at the top of the search engine results get to the top? Well, we don’t know exactly. How each search engine ranks content is a bit of a mystery:it is based on a proprietary algorithm, which is their own secret sauce. Google, Bing, Yahoo – none of them completely reveal the criteria they use to rank certain items higher than others.

It remains to be seen exactly how Google will incorporate content from Google+ into their SERP, but speculation is that it what we post and how others engage with our content (by commenting, for example) will definitely be a factor. Prior to Google+, my Google profile appeared at the bottom of the first page of search results. It now appears at the top, above even my own website. That makes Google+ pretty darn important right out of the gate. This make Google+ a critically important place to build a presence for your business or career. (Note that businesses are not yet allowed to set up profiles on Google+. Business profiles are expected to be launched in a few months.)

Does this mean that all the work you’ve done to polish and optimize your LinkedIn profile, Twitter, blog or website no longer matters in terms of what people will find when they google your name? Absolutely not. If Google were to no longer assign weight to your other online properties and engagement, it seems they’d likely have an antitrust problem on their hands. Don’t stop what you’re currently doing, but I do encourage you to either dive head first into Google+ (for those extremely familiar with Facebook and all it’s features) or approach it taking baby steps soon (for those who are still learning to use Facebook’s features).

Want an Invitation to Google+?

I’ve got a limited number of invitations left to share with my friends. If you’d like to sign-up for Google+ and learn as you go, you can grab an invitation here while they last. You’ll need to have a Gmail address to sign-up, but it is easy to create one if you don’t already have an account. Once you’re in, add me to one of your circles. This will enable you to see what I’m sharing on Google+. See you there!

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here to be sure you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy social media updates and news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the friendly folks on the Almost Savvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

Why I’m Over Declaring Tech Tools “Over”

Irene Koehler — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:55:01 +0000

With the launch of Google’s new social network, Google+, there are many who have rushed to publish opinions about the demise of other networks, most notably Twitter and Facebook. Some have even gone as far as to shut down their accounts on these other networks to move their entire online network to Google+. Others, while leaving the accounts open, are no longer updating those accounts and have posted this as their profile picture as a sort of forwarding address:

While I’m loving what I see so far on Google+, I’m nowhere near prepared to move and vacate my other social networking accounts. This is not the same as when a new version of a product we’re already using is launched. If I’m an iPhone user and a newer iPhone model comes out, sure, I’ll jump in and buy it, knowing there is no need to keep using both. It would be redundant.

This is not the case with Google+. While some may argue that there are some features which are very similar those on Facebook or Twitter, it is not a straight-across apples to apples comparison. The tools are different, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Plus, even if I had a strong preference for one over another, suddenly moving my social presence would really be all about me, rather than respecting where and how my community is most comfortable engaging. If such a move doesn’t make sense for my business community, as well as my friends and family, it doesn’t make sense for me.

Why is it, then, that people want to rush in and declare something over or dead so quickly? Is it because they really believe it to be so or is it because they think that it might one day be so and they want to have been the first to have predicted its demise?

R.I.P.

Over the last couple of years, I recall hearing of a few other deaths; among them were email, blogs and the telephone. Strangely, I continue to use them all. Of course, how I use all of the tools and platforms has evolved over time, but they are all still relevant and important. Enough of the useless pronouncements that something is over; I’m over it. I prefer to remain focused on continuing to leverage the right tools in the right away, given our own objectives and resources.

Worry Not

To those not yet on Google+ who may be wondering if it is going to replace whatever you’re currently doing, don’t worry. As long as you continue to share valuable and helpful content and are always willing to keep an open mind about new tools and best practices, you’ll do just fine. Google+ is brand spanking new and has just begun to develop.

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here to be sure you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the friendly folks on the Almost Savvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

Dear Netflix: While You’re Huddled Under the Table, I’ve Got One More Thing

Irene Koehler — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:20:07 +0000

Netflix has a bit of a public relations nightmare on their hands at the moment. You may have heard about it. The internet has been ablaze following an email sent to all of their subscribers and this blog post by the company:

Netflix has now added themselves to the cases discussed at marketing, public relations and social media conferences as an example of how to get it wrong – horribly wrong – when communicating with customers and then ignoring their outrage.

In my mind, this really isn’t about a simple matter of a price increase. Sure, no one wants to pay more for anything than they were yesterday. Why would we? If, on the other hand, either I was getting more for my money or the company took the time to intelligently explain to me why this change was necessary, I might feel differently. Neither of these things has happened here.

It isn’t about the what. It’s about the how.

An excerpt of the blog post illustrates part of the reason I think they screwed up the how.

Now we offer a choice: Unlimited Streaming for $7.99 a month, Unlimited DVDs for $7.99 a month, or both for $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99). We think $7.99 is a terrific value for our unlimited streaming plan and $7.99 a terrific value for our unlimited DVD plan. We hope one, or both, of these plans makes sense for our members and their entertainment needs. As always, our members can easily choose to change or cancel their unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both by visiting Your Account.

“Now we offer a choice.” Really? As a longtime customer, it never crossed my mind that I wanted a choice. It’s patronizing to play up the fact that there is now a choice between one-half of what I was getting before and the other half. Neither half is better than it was before, they’re just separate and more expensive.

Perhaps I missed the part where Netflix explained that they’re interested in how their customers define “terrific value.” It’s not only that prices are being increased; presenting this as a “terrific value” has left many feeling talked down to, as if the company doesn’t realize they can do the math.

More how: Announce, duck and cover.

Once the announcement of the price increase was made, people flooded Netflix with feedback. Many thousands of customers posted messages on the company’s blog post, Facebook page and Twitter, only to be met with deafening silence. Failing to acknowledge or respond to people’s feedback only further enrages them. One imagines them huddled in the executive conference room, underneath the long table, waiting out the storm. “Is it safe to go out yet?” “I don’t know, you go see if they’re still posting angry comments. I’m not going.”

That poor blogger and one more thing

Since this broke yesterday, I had been feeling bad for the blogger, the woman who had the unenviable duty to post that now infamous blog post. “She’s probably on their social media team and contributes to their blog,” I thought, “She’s probably feeling really awful right about now.” Today, I was still concerned about her and went to look her up on LinkedIn.

The good news is that I don’t feel bad anymore. She’s the V.P. of Marketing at Netflix. The surprising “one more thing” news is that I also saw this on her LinkedIn page:

I’m guessing the intent of this recruitment campaign on LinkedIn was not to engage people drawn in by a firestorm. As an addition to the long list of lessons learned, I’d suggest that while huddled under the conference room table, the team might also want to consider other, unrelated campaigns running and whether to put them on hold in the short run.

Two other pieces which provide valuable perspective on this situation:

Why Netflixgate Is More Interesting Than Google+ (To Me)

7 Reasons Why Netflix’s Price Hike Is a Bonehead Move

How Old is the Perfect Social Media Expert?

Irene Koehler — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:31:47 +0000

So, there I was. Listening in on a fascinating conversation online with one of the business world’s most well known thought-leaders, some of his most famous books on the shelf above my desk as I soaked in his words coming through the speakers of my computer. His wisdom and perspective on the importance of respecting and empowering one’s employees and customers were inspiring. Most of his advice wasn’t new, yet being reminded of what I’d forgotten to focus on can be immensely helpful.

His talk was hitting all the right notes, exceeding my expectations, when he began to discuss the need for transparency for corporate executives and the critical opportunity, and must-have piece of their communication strategy, social media now represents for everyone in the C-suite. (Having come from a corporate management background myself, he definitely had my attention now!) And then he said it.

“If you don’t understand social media, find a social media expert. Get someone in their twenties, or even your grandson, to teach you. They’re all social media experts today.”

Really? Did he just say that? Oh, yes he did, and I wasn’t the only one listening online to take notice.

This really isn’t about this one guy. I’m not even going to name him, because he’s not the point. The point is that I’ve heard the same thing from many people, young and old. It represents a real misunderstanding of what it takes to effectively incorporate social media into one’s online presence, whether it’s for professional, branding, political, marketing, customer service or other purposes. Frequent and persistent clicking does not make anyone a social media expert.

Insert Statistics Here (or not)

I could easily link to all sorts of statistics and studies which show the demographic breakdown of who is using social media the most, who grew up with it, who’s adopting it later in life and on and on and on. I’ll go out on a limb and submit for your consideration that no one from the Baby Boomer generation used social media online as a child, that many under the age of 30 (or so) used computers early in life and the younger ones in that group were texting, Facebooking, and LOLing while still in elementary school. We don’t need numbers to prove this to be true. It just is; no judgement, no prejudice, it just is.

Doing It Often vs. Doing It Well

Do you know any really bad drivers? You know, the ones who roll through stop signs, drive too fast and can’t seem to stay in their own lane while barreling down the highway? You may even love them, but you don’t feel comfortable sliding into the passenger seat when they’re driving. They drive often and have driven for years, but does that mean they drive well? Would this be the person you’d trust to teach a new driver? How would you feel if the name of your company was emblazoned on the side of that car for all to see?

If someone uses Facebook often and has used it for years, does that mean they’re doing it well? If that person has grown up posting updates and photos to Facebook for much of their life, would this person be the one you’d trust to teach an executive how best to utilize social media for business purposes? I’m hoping your answer is either No or Hell no.

If you don’t want someone who knows the mechanics of operating a car, but doesn’t respect the rules of road, to drive your car, why would you give them the keys to drive your brand?

Experience, Perspective and Skills

Forget age and focus on finding the right person to help you. Success in leveraging social media requires many things beyond simply having grown up online.

Here are just a few of the key things I’d suggest you consider in your quest for the perfect social media expert:

Voice – The ability to understand your brand voice, especially if this person is to be entrusted with the duty of interacting on the business’ behalf. Countless brands have suffered terribly when that voice was left in the hands of an intern or someone not adequately prepared.
Reputation – While it can feel as if everything happens in-the-moment online and then is swept away quickly in the flow of social media content, the fact is that most of it lives on forever in one form or another. Assume that anything shared online by you or about you will be archived and can be found again forever, often through a simple Google search. You will want your social media expert to fully grasp the long-term value of a reputation and how it can be damaged with a single click.
Culture and Etiquette – Each social networking platform has its own pace, culture, best practices and etiquette. Does your social media expert fully grasp the nuances of each, as well as the upside and downside of different approaches to sharing and engaging?
Objectives – Before embarking on your social media journey, aligning your use of these new tools with your overall business or professional objectives is key. Posting stuff for the sake of posting stuff probably isn’t going to achieve meaningful results (unless posting stuff happens to be your objective).
Learning – Everything about technology and the internet seems to change weekly. From privacy settings to the latest applications, analytics and gadgets, it takes time to stay on top of the latest news and best practices. Either invest ongoing energy in staying current or work with someone who does.
Mechanics – Of each of the items listed here, this may be the easiest to learn. This is all about how to post a tweet, how to set-up a page on Facebook, how to upload a video to YouTube. Don’t be intimidated by any of this and don’t select a social media expert because they are a master of mechanics, but are missing other critical skills.

The Right Age

What is the right age for the perfect social media expert? I have no idea.

The right social media expert for you will be defined by their skills, vision, experience and fit, not their age or generation. When you find someone who has what you need, work with them. Whether that person is 24 or 54, hire them. You’ll be glad you did.

Image courtesy of chimothy27

8 Tips for Using Social Media for Political Campaigns

Irene Koehler — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:50:40 +0000

By now, most candidates for public office have figured out that incorporating social media into their campaigns is a critically important step. It’s the how to do this that escapes most of them. That’s perfectly understandable. The last couple of election cycles, much of this social media business was new. That was then, this is now. Your audience is very savvy online, shouldn’t you be, too?

First a note to the candidates:

You have my deepest respect and admiration for being willing to step up and commit to helping our community, state, school board, water district, transportation or other sort of infrastructure management body. Democracy is not a spectator sport and I applaud your willingness to spend so much time in the service of others, let alone spend the time it takes to just get elected.

That said…can we talk? Much of how campaigns have been using social media amounts, at best, to a waste of people’s time and attention, and, at worst, to relentlessly spamming your friends. Not only is this ineffective, you’ll likely be irritating some of your friends and supporters – and I know you don’t want to do that.

For the candidates (and those who love them), I offer a few tips for using social media to get you started:

Define your objectives: It’s amazing how often this step is bypassed. Do you want to use social media to communicate with your existing supporter base or grow your base? Do you want to raise funds, awareness or both? Knowing the answer to these question will have a lot to do with your strategy. I’ve seen campaigns hoping to grow (don’t they all?), but using the tools as if they only wanted to be in touch with an existing audience. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that the online community didn’t grown much.
Engage (a.k.a. It’s not all about you): Don’t just publish. If you primarily use these new channels to push out your “Come learn about me” events and links to your “Donate here” page, people will tune out pretty quickly. Don’t miss the important opportunities to talk with, not at, your audience. Doing this well will build your reputation and visibility.
Public vs. Private: Know what content (information, photos, etc.) about you can be seen online by the many (everyone) or by the few (close friends and family). Then, assume that it all can be seen by the many and plan with that in mind.
Connect the online and offline worlds: Most of your activities and content should have both online and offline components woven seamlessly together. This can range from posting photos on Facebook from an offline event to holding live events online allowing a large group the opportunity to interact in real-time, and everything in between.
Fish where the fish are: People want to hear from you where they hang out, not where you want them to be found. The fish are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube; not on your website. If you wait for the fish to come to you, you may be sitting alone with your pole in the water for a very long time.
Get a running start: It takes time to build real momentum, so start early. Sure, you can easily get a certain number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers in a short period of time, but will they be the right ones? Would you prefer to be connected to more people who don’t care about you or your message or fewer who are engaged and interested?
Damage control: Most people aren’t thinking about this as a top priority when they begin engaging through social media. We don’t really expect damage, so why would we be thinking about damage control? The fact is that, should something go awry or someone have something negative to say, it’ll be online in a heartbeat. If you’ve done a good job establishing your community online and have shown yourself to be authentic and responsive, you’re in a much stronger position to be able to respond to the situation in a faster and more credible way than had you not built your online presence so thoughtfully.
It takes work: Social media is not a set-it-and-forget-it proposition. For some reason, many have the misconception that all that is required is the up-front work to set up a “presence.” In order for your online presence to work for you, it takes work – attentive, responsive, ongoing work. I’ve seen many people set up Facebook pages, encourage people to join and then allow it to go dormant, even when community members post messages or questions. This is akin to publishing your phone number, yet not answering when someone calls.
On a list of 8 tips, this important one comes at no extra charge: This may not be the best job for the intern or your neighbor’s son: I’m sure the intern and the neighbor’s son are delightful people. They might even be heavy Facebook users. Just because someone does something often doesn’t mean they do it well. At speaking engagements, I often use driving as an example. I know people who have been driving for years, but when I’m in the car with them, my foot instinctively searches for the brake pedal on the passenger side. They drive a lot; they don’t drive well. Understanding best practices, the nuances of various tools, social media analytics and the pace and etiquette of the different social platforms are not simple tasks. There is too much at stake. Find (or hire) the right person to help you leverage the potential of social media and taking your campaign online – where the fish are.

Running a campaign isn’t easy. It takes a dedicated team to develop and execute the campaign’s strategy. You don’t need a separate social media strategy. What you need is a good understanding of how to use social channels in a way which supports your campaign strategy. Understanding why this is important and how to execute this will go a long way toward having the candidate be every bit as compelling online as they are in person.

How To Manage Your Online Reputation By Using Google Alerts

Irene Koehler — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:45:41 +0000

In addition to the wonderful feedback to my post last week about 3 Mistakes You’re Making Online, I also received questions about my third point – using Google Alerts to monitor your reputation online. While I know throngs of hyper-connected people for whom using Google Alerts is second nature, the fact is that this is a new tool for many people. If you’re part of the second group, I strongly encourage you to consider using Google Alerts. There are definitely more comprehensive and sophisticated tools out there, but this is the place to get started tracking what’s said about you online. Best of all – it’s free and incredibly easy to do.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts is an extremely simple tool to help monitor what is said or shared online about any topic of interest to you. While you are undoubtedly interested in keeping up to date on industry-related topics, local news or your favorite sports teams, one of the most relevant topics to you should be you. This may include information posted online somewhere by you, someone you know, organizations or companies you’re affiliated with or public databases.

Here’s how Google explains the Alerts tool:

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Enter the topic you wish to monitor, then click preview to see the type of results you’ll receive. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

monitoring a developing news story

keeping current on a competitor or industry

getting the latest on a celebrity or event

keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Surprisingly, there is no mention of monitoring your reputation online, which simply is a must do step for every professional, business, non-profit and anyone who deals with other people who may want, at some point, to learn more about them. Really, who doesn’t this include?

Why should I bother?

Whether you know it or not, and whether or not you like it, everyone is looking you up online. You should assume that your current and potential employers, clients, customers, donors, friends, dates, family members and neighbors are typing your name into Google to find out what you’re up to, how much you paid for your home and to which political candidate you donated money. Sure, if you assume that everyone is googling you, you’ll be wrong in some cases. Still, don’t you want to know what they’ll be finding? You might be surprised to find out how much information is online right now about you.

In addition to monitoring your own reputation, it is also a simple way to keep an eye on what is being said about your company, your competitors, the company you hope to work for and so on. Don’t be the last to know!

Is it really that easy to set up Google Alerts?

In a word – Yes. Google has a simple guide to walk you through the steps, along with some helpful examples.

A few tips when setting up your alerts:

Use quotation marks when you want to get results for a specific phrase, as shown above for my name. Without the quotation marks, I will receive alerts for every instance online of when the words irene and koehler appear, but not necessarily together as in “irene koehler” and I definitely don’t want to receive emails for all of those thousands of pages which aren’t relevant to me.
Set up alerts for any nicknames or usernames you have on different online forums or social networking sites.
In addition to creating alerts for your own name and business name, consider creating alerts for your children’s names. Even if they’re young, you might be surprised to find their name listed online as a result of a soccer tournament or school activity. Set up alerts for your spouse’s name at your own risk.

Your turn…How have you found Google Alerts useful? If you haven’t used them before, do you plan to set them up now? Add a comment below to let me know.

Almost Savvy » Social Media

Is Social Media the Brussels Sprouts of the Internet?

Related articles which may interest you:

Top 5 Signs Your Business Should Not Be Using Social Media

Related articles which may interest you:

How to Find and Ban Members in Facebook Groups

Related articles which may interest you:

The ROI of Respect, Listening and Hugs

Related articles which may interest you:

The #1 Reason You’ll Want to Use Google+

Related articles which may interest you:

Why I’m Over Declaring Tech Tools “Over”

Related articles which may interest you:

Dear Netflix: While You’re Huddled Under the Table, I’ve Got One More Thing

You might also be interested in these:

How Old is the Perfect Social Media Expert?

Related articles which may interest you:

8 Tips for Using Social Media for Political Campaigns

Related articles which may interest you:

How To Manage Your Online Reputation By Using Google Alerts

Related articles which may interest you: