But my worries were short-lived. We now have more than 20,000 registered users who have contributed to 3,413 threads and 12,513 posts. We also have dozens of Cadence expert bloggers –- mainly engineers, software architects and product managers –- who between them post fresh content daily.

In case you’ve never heard of Cadence (which I’m betting is the case), the company makes the software and hardware tools that very smart people use to design the latest and greatest chips and circuit boards for computers and electronic devices.

I know three months is hardly enough time to start throwing around numbers, let alone alleged trends, but nevertheless I will do just that –- mainly because I enjoy throwing things.

For each of the three months since its inauguration, approximately 6,600 people have created individual community profiles (and believe me, creating one can take some time). We’ve also seen around 1,150 posts per month. (I’d like to get that number up soon.)

This fits with Joe Cothrel’s “90-9-1 rule,” which says that 90 percent of visitors will browse the forums; 9 percent will participate casually; and 1 percent will account for most content. (Read more about this in my last post)

So on the forums front, we are doing great. Our blogger corps is also doing a fantastic job –- though I will admit it’s not easy getting all of them to post regularly. It’s a challenge. You can’t force them to blog, because they’re all volunteers. They are blogging because –- though a new experience for most of them –- it connects them directly to the community they serve.  And they dig that.

It can be fun, too. Many have already met (via comments) other bloggers from within the same industry who are considered rock stars for their own blogs. I’m inviting these bloggers to join us on our monthly all-blog meetings. (OK, a quick exercise: I challenge you to count how many times I’ve used the word “blog” in this blog post – d’oh! I did it again!).

One thing I do that helps keep our bloggers on track is to set an editorial calendar. I know this runs counter to many diehard beliefs on blogging (that it should be spontaneous and all that hooey), but it really does help.

I set up a wiki-based calendar that my bloggers use to “pencil in” blog topics and tentative post dates. I also send out a customized dashboard of sorts to bloggers that includes:

• “In the news” (industry-related news that pertains to their specific area of expertise)
• Upcoming events (trade shows, industry events, user conferences, etc.)
• Related conversations from the forums (a great source for blog material)
• Conversations from other bloggers talking about Cadence or an area related to what we do.
• Upcoming product releases/updates

But my bloggers come up with the coolest ideas on their own. For example, one very popular post was from Bob Dwyer, an applications engineer. At our big user conference last month in San Jose, Bob spotted a customer running Cadence’s SoC-Encounter software — on an iPhone!  He shot the following video on the spot, did a quick edit, uploaded it to Viddler.com, and then embedded the video into his post. Have a look!

In the post Responding to an Online Critic: Get your Timing, Target, and Tone Right , Shabbir Imber Safdar and Jason Alcorn discuss their opinions on whether or not to respond to bloggers who are critical of your company or products. They claim that by giving visibility to little known bloggers and naysayers–by responding to them at all or by linking to their posts in your response–you are providing the blogger unwarranted visibility and credibility. They lambast Richard Edelman for not only the outpoken way he challenged Jason Calacanis’ assessment of PR as unnecessary, but for the mere fact that he addressed this criticism at all. They suggest Edelman should have simply let the issue lie, where it would wither and die on the proverbial vine of old news.

In contrast to this, the popular marketing webzine Marketing Sherpa published an article titled How to Practice Defensive Branding: 6 Key Factors to Build Credibility, Swat Bad Buzz which articulates their point of view on how and when companies should respond to online criticism. Their’s is a much more proactive approach, suggesting that brands mitigate the risk of landing the role of online punching bag by:

• Building trust
• Ensuring company behaviors match espoused values (like buying green power if you say you’re a green company)
• Being authentic and transparent
• Listening and responding

This issue also rose its head at the Blogworld Conference I attended and spoke at a couple weeks ago. In one of the panels featuring my fellow Intel colleague (and Conversations Matter founder) Michael Brito, Ted Murphy of Izea asked whether corporate brands had policies to respond to critics who throw arrows at the brand in their blogs or on discussion threads. Valuable questions were raised on whether a corporate brand should respond to what traditional media might consider “small-time bloggers” or employ the “ignore them and they’ll go away” approach.

I can tell you that this issue is hotly debated within the walls here at Intel. There are often good reasons why company employees cannot comment on certain topics or threads, for instance if the topic discusses an issue that is currently under litigation. And yes, there are also times when it is best not to feed the trolls [I got that phrase from my friend and co-founder of Slashdot Jeff Bates] under the bridge who seem to make it their lifelong purpose to discredit certain companies through their vitriolic diatribes of negativity.

For the most part, however, I believe that all criticism is generally good criticism if used by companies correctly. And in the online world, where all content typically lives on infinitum, today’s small-time blog may just become tomorrow’s Huffington Post. Ignore it at your own risk. In addition–and pay attention because this is the nugget here–companies who respond to detractors by showing that they listen, respond, and take action based on customer feedback are likely to win them over as some of their most adoring fans. This has happened time and again, most recently on Intel’s IT Community site where community manager Josh Hilliker won over a naysayer by engaging with him and responding to his criticism. That blogger now blogs for Intel on that site and drives traffic to the community from his own blog.

There is a perception of many in the social media space that corporate marketers just don’t get “social media.” Take this video, for example whereby Loren Feldman of 1938 Media interviewed SEO Expert Michael Gray (full video below) asking about the definition of social media. It’s unclear if it is his definition of social media or what he thinks corporations use social media to achieve.  Nonetheless, here are my initial thoughts.

In one statement, Michael says that social media is about customer service and he is right. He cites some really good examples of how companies like Southwest and Comcast utilize social media to find and address customer complaints. However, customer service is JUST one component of social media, and is closely aligned with what Forrester refers to as their listening objective within the POST method.  At Intel, we are looking at a comprehensive listening strategy and will utilize several tools to monitor conversations in an attempt to better understand the people we serve.

He goes on to say that (referring to corporate) “they don’t want to connect with you, they don’t want to be your friend”; and I completely disagree with him.  We at Intel value our customers and understand that they are real people and that relationships matter more to them than one-way marketing messages.

He also says that social media is a “Google play” for link juice and reputation purposes. While these attributes are definitely a good result of social media; they should not be the driver.  I would argue that ANY marketer/consultant who uses social media solely for natural search will fail miserably in the long run, especially if they want to build brand equity and foster relationships with the people that keep them in business.

He goes on to say that social media is “advertising”. WRONG! Now of course many companies do buy advertising within the social media space (i.e. Facebook social ads, display advertising with Federated Media, etc.) but this is merely talking AT the conversation not IN the conversation. Again, this is not social media; and I think that most in the industry would agree with me.

And, lastly Michael says that “transparency” to certain level is okay.  Again, I think he is completely wrong as to the true nature of relationship building.  Transparency is not telling the world your marketing secrets. Transparency is being completely open and honest about who you are when we are having conversations with people online. Lack of transparency is what got Walmart in trouble a few years ago.

This is by no means is an insult to Michael. He is definitely a well respected and talented SEO dude in the industry and I almost inquired about his services during an RFP process about three years ago when I worked for HP. However, like many SEOs who branch off into social media, I personally think that some still, well … just don’t quite “get it” themselves.

Next time someone should make sure 3M gets the memo…

Over the last couple of years, there has been severe ridicule of corporate blogs in that they are boring, unimaginative and complete failures; and I’d have to agree. In fact, Forrester recently conducted a survey and found that most B2B blogs are “dull, drab, and don’t stimulate discussion” and that “Seventy percent stuck to business or technical topics, 74% rarely get comments, and 56% simply regurgitated press releases or other already-public news.” Granted, this is not a B2B blog and will focus on consumers, there is still some merit to these findings.

One thing I made clear to all who will be contributing to the blog is that it will not be a place for one-way marketing messages, white papers or press releases. My goal is that IT WILL stimulate conversations so that we at Intel can get to know and understand our customers more intimately.

My vision from the beginning was as follows:

• The blog is about story telling
• We have an amazing story to tell – because what we have enabled affects so many people and what we are going to do tomorrow will change the world
• We need to tell this story and bring processor relevance to everyday people

I have to admit that launching this blog was not easy; and there were so many approvals needed (legal, privacy, security, branding, etc.)  In fact, I documented my complete process in a post I wrote for the Blog Council last month:

• Who is your target audience and do they even participate in social media?
• Do you have all the right people involved?
• Do you have a moderation policy?
• What’s your conversation strategy?
• Do you have the right people blogging?
• Are you going to implement a community evangelist program?
• How will you measure your blogging efforts?

These are all questions and considerations that our team has contemplated over the last 2 - 3 months; and will continue to refine in the months ahead. There are only a few posts up as of today; and story telling is skill that takes time, nurturing and practice.

Do consumers really want to talk to Intel? We shall soon find out.

For many companies, webinars (or, if you prefer web seminars) and podcasts have been a great way to get your message out.  At MySQL (now the Database Group at Sun Microsystems), we have been using webinars to inform our users and to generate leads since 2004.  After the Live Webinars take place, we post the recording of the webinar on the website.  The basic idea is to provide useful information that our community wants to hear in a format that is interactive.  All we ask in return is some general information .  Our community gets useful information, we get some information about our community.

After Sun Microsystems bought MySQL I started to look into what Sun is doing as far as podcasts or webinars.  I discovered SunRadio on BlogTalkRadio.  I have only attended a couple of events and they have been good.  It is a great way to get out information and allows interaction.  Sun has recently announced a new show called Socially Speaking, a show focused on social media.  The first show is today at 3pm PST and features Shel Holtz on Digital Communication.  I thought a few people here might be interested.

I like live webinars because you can get involvement from your audience.  You will find quickly that any live event needs to be recorded.  It seems you can never host a live event and please everyone with the time or the format.

I would love to hear how others use webinars or podcasts to build their community and/or generate leads.  Try not to do so many webinars that your collegues start calling you the webinerd (thanks Adam).

(I didn’t have a picture of an ugly kid - mine are too cute - so I decided to pick on @brandmilitia’s ugly dog - sorry Justin)

I usually run into this problem in two scenario’s:

1) I’ve inherited someone else’s project that was ill-fated from the beginning.

2) The objectives of the campaign mysteriously change after the campaign is launched

Inheriting someone else’s Frankenstein project.

There’s really not much you can do. The person/s often times didn’t have a clue what they were doing and wanted to use some Web 2.0 “stuff”. They get some bad advice from a vendor that wants to sell them some tactic that they don’t really know how to execute on. And since they’re already an approved vendor list for “interactive” they go with it.

There usually aren’t any clearly defined goals (other than to spend way too much money) and very rarely is it even worth spending any additional money to try and salvage it.

My advice is to kill it quickly. If the person is still with the company then delicately try and explain how the project went off base, and probably should have been done a little differently. If they’re not still with the company throw them under the bus and use this as an opportunity to show what should have been done and why the campaign was wrong.

Hitting a moving target

This is the one that gets me. You agree on the objective up front. Usually management wants an “awareness campaign” around a new product or service. They push you in to using an agency of record (which of course has won a ton of awards and costs twice as much). And before the campaign launches, management is very happy with the creative and very excited to spend god-awful amounts on the supporting media buys.

However something weird always happens right after launch. Your management comes back very frantic wanting to justify the spend to either their boss, the sales manager or both.

All of a sudden everyone goes into a frantic fire drill exercise trying to justify their existence. The best remedy for this of course is to have planned for this in advance and have put in place analytics for sound data gathering.

If that’s still not enough justification or if those steps weren’t put in place from the begining (and even if they were) you need to push back and pull out your well documented plan which states your objectives.

“This is an awareness campaign! Not lead generation you moron!”

Too often I see people afraid to stand their ground and stick by the objectives that were put in place. Or better yet stand up while the campaign is being planned and tell the Emperor that he has no clothes. If you can’t stand up to management over something like this, how do you expect to stand up to them when they want you to pull a legitimate but negative comment in the blog? Or do some other sure fire thing that will make them an example at the next “what not to do” Web 2.0 conference session.

Social media is no place for the weak of spirit.

Technorati Tags: social media, marketing, campaign, agency, advertising, FAIL,

Lesson #1: Ask your customers to “Have a Take”.

I consider The Jim Rome Show social media because of the participation he asks from the Clones (the show’s listeners). The show is an amazing example of co-creation. Rome asks his listeners that call in to “Have a Take”, meaning have an opinion and purpose when you call in. This contribution and the enforcement by Jim is unlike any other AM talk show I have encountered. It showed me that I can ask my customers to contribute. The open source software market in which I work asks it’s customers and users to contribute in many ways that are extremely important to business and software development. Not all customers need to contribute, but why not ask more of those that are willing to do so? People like to participate and be a part of something. Social Media makes this contribution and participation easier for customers to do and easier for companies to facilitate. Find ways to use it and use it to improve your business.

Lesson #2: Know the Language before you Speak.

The Jungle (another name for the show) has it’s own dictionary. Why? Because it helps the listeners better understand what is going on and become better contributors to the show. At times listeners call in without an understanding of the show. More often than not they will flame out and get the manual buzzer (Rome’s way to cut off a bad caller). This lesson is important when starting to market through social media.

In an Internet Marketing Strategy class I just took, we studied how companies market of forums. Many companies would just post new threads promoting their new product or service with no idea what else to do. Others would suggest products anonymously and not reveal that they work for the company. Forum members would normally find out and almost ban the user from the forum. The more successful marketing came through companies building relationships on the forums out in the open. One OEM car part manufacturer would give helpful car advice and make numerous posts on the site. The marketer was very open about who he worked for and why he was on the forum. He understood the language of the forum and built a relationship with the users. Other forum users started suggesting the parts for the OEM company because they trusted him.

It is important to listen and understand before you can start marketing to a new audience. Knowing the language and rules of Social Media is an important part of marketing to Social Media users.

Lesson #3: Take Risks, but know where the line is.

Jim Rome is always taking risks with the things he says and does on radio and TV. Rome once interviewed Jim Everett on his old TV show and as he crossed it, he learned where the line is. The YouTube video of the interview is ranked 4th when you Google ‘Jim Rome’. Take risks in your marketing mix, just remember not to offend your core customers. There is a line in every market, find where that line is and make sure not to cross it.

Above were just a few lessons I learned that help me in the social media world, both professionally and personally. I think it is important to think back to why you have been or are involved in a community. Think of what you learned and apply the lessons to how you and/or your business portray(s) itself through social media outlets.

my thoughts for now

- rich in boise

Ever wonder how successful social media marketing programs really are when executed in the real world? As members of this panel we will discuss our successful and not-so-successful social media marketing and PR programs. Titled Beyond Blogging: Stories & Social Media Lessons Learned in the Real World our fun panel of everyday experts is bound to be both entertaining and enlightening.

Rumor has it there are discounts available for those interested in attending. Tac Anderson has a code listed on his site anyway. So he must know. Be sure to let us know if you plan to attend. We’d love for you to join us for a shot of tequila.

Oh, and here’s the abstract for the panel:

Beyond Blogging: Stories & Social Media Lessons Learned in the Real World
Consultants, self-proclaimed strategists, and pundits of all sorts wax poetic on the merits of myriad social media tools and approaches. Yet few provide tangible examples of how social media marketing programs work-or fail-for business. Join this motley crew of social media strategists from Cadence, HP, Intel, and Yahoo as they discuss their real world successes and failures in this emerging space. From blogs and communities to Facebook and forums, this team of professional social media practitioners provides a unique look at how some big companies are using new media effectively, or not.

But now there’s an outside chance 100k people might directly influence his VP pick – in real time. That’s awesome – that’s the power of Web 2.0. Other than physically assembling thousands of people for a riot or march or standing in front of Lucky’s collecting signatures – how else can this number of people collectively have a voice in such a short time frame? This isn’t a petition – it’s a near real time shout. These aren’t just signatures, they’re virtual profiles that carry all the weight of an individual’s identity.

It makes you wonder if we’re still not seeing the real potential of Web 2.0 technology. Imagine if at Apple they wee thinking of a new color scheme for the iPhone. Why risk screwing that up? Just ask your 100k strong iPhone facebook group what they think. This is not a random poll. These are real people who’ve proactively built connections and who have confirmed identities. In fact, with some analytics, you could dissect the demographics of your group to get a better feel for the result.

At no other time has it been easier to assemble a few hundred thousand like minded individuals and get heard. The question for us marketers (and in this case, Barack Obama) is: are we ready to listen?