In the last several months I’ve attended two conferences in which Twitter factored in as revolutionary in the conference experience. In each case, a hash tag (#) preceded a few characters to help me hone in on Tweets from each particular event. For example,

our Web Content Conference last week was Tweeted with #wc09. Instantly a community of publishers sprouted to both report the very uttering of the conference session presenters as well as to editorialize contemporaneously with great zeal like kids in the back of a classroom exchanging notes.

It may sound chaotic - some might even say idiotic. But the impact of all this chatter is jaw-dropping. Here are just some of the immediate impacts of this behavior.

• Content is memorialized - Dozens of note takers stream their 140 character thought nuggets onto Twitter where they are easily corralled for re-assembly and review.  All those interesting links and references are captured for post event recall.
• Content is shared among non-attendees - Can’t make the conference? That doesn’t mean you can’t be involved by reading the published stream. And don’t stop there. Add your own comments or questions back to the attendees or other non-attendees.  In essence, be part of the conference community really or virtually.
• Content is shared among attendees in different breakout sessions - Torn between two simultaneous breakout sessions? Attend one in person and the other virtually by following the Twitter feeds from the other session(s). Why wait to find out the other session was great. Some have been known to get up and move to the other breakout session based on the Twitter feeds.
• Content is shared among attendees at other similar-topic conferences - You’re at the marketing conference in DC but the Tech show is happening in Chicago at the same time. Now you can go to one and tune in to the other.
• Attention level & interest is apparent from Tweet activity - Was the Tweet stream active during your presentation? If not, perhaps its time to revisit your material.

I have experienced all of the above during my conference participation as attendee, presenter and long distance lurker. The impact is electric and riveting.  The engagement level is intense and, in the end, you make contact with a lot more people than you might without the tool. Only one admonition to meeting planners: Your conference venue better have wireless connectivity. Or we’ll Tweet about you.

There must be a better way, you say. And there is. Stewart Mader of Future Changes and author of wikipatterns gave a keynote presentation at the Web Content Conference this morning showing us how wikis can save the day where more familiar tools like email have failed us.

Many of us are drowning in email. What was once a “cool new thing” that made communication faster and easier is actually making us less efficient today. We have come to rely on it as our sole communication tool, when in fact there are better tools for collaboration, documentation and knowledge sharing.

If you’re new to wikis – or you think a wiki is an encyclopedia – don’t be discouraged. A wiki is simply an editable Web page. Start with a pilot wiki and host a workshop to get others in your organization acquainted with using a wiki. Once you get others in your organization to adopt wikis, as Stewart says, you can stop getting started on things and instead “get done.”

In a keynote presentation at the Web Content Conference, Rob Rose argued that we are in a transformational stage in marketing. Those of you who cringe when you hear the term “social media” will love his view that when it comes to this Web 2.0 world where there are “no rules.”

The bad news is that if you’re looking for an easy road map to follow or a step-by-step guide to guarantee success, there isn’t one. The good news is that innovation wins; and you can use the skills and ideas that you already have as a marketer to make social media work for you. Don’t be afraid to blaze your own trail.

If social media is still an unknown to you, don’t let your fears paralyze you. You don’t have to be “this tall” to ride, but you do have to jump on.

Joe Gollner of Stilo International spoke about the technologies behind the content and the relationship between the two. As business professionals and marketers we need to understand a little bit about the power behind the technology in order to consider the possibilities that lie ahead. Ann Rockley of The Rockley Group talked about how XML and other technologies allow us to provide a customized experience for customers like they’ve never had before by only delivering the right content at the right time.

There are certain things that we take for granted today, such as being able to easily move information from one application to another. I can quickly send an email with a link to my friend who can then view a video, digg it and post it on her Facebook page. We can thank XML for a large part of this. Back in the day, there were great applications, but they couldn’t talk to one another.  You can think of XML as the mass transit system of the web; your content is the passenger. It doesn’t do us any good to have great content if it’s just sitting still. Once that content can easily “travel,” that’s when the magic happens.

So how does this affect us as marketers? The convergence of content and technology allows for better performance and allows us to have better interaction with our customers. We’ve moved beyond just giving people information to giving them the ability to take action. We’re not just arming them with knowledge, we’re equipping them with tools. And we can effectively do this if we start thinking of our customers as both consumers and publishers.

While it should go without saying that the words you say online are more important than any pictures or flash animation when it comes to search engines finding and ranking web pages, sometimes people actually overlook that even the other side of search optimization – the links leading to your site – are critically tied to content as well.   The words you decide to put in those links, not to mention the content to which those links drive traffic are vitally important to rank.  In fact, content at every level of the game is key, and you ought to have a sound strategy when considering everything you might do with your content, and how far your content decisions reach.

Pick you favorite clichéd phrase, they all speak to content as the driver.  “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”  “It’s what’s on the inside that counts.”  And even the phrase, “Actions speak louder than words” has a crucial tie-in to web content.  After all, in the new age of shared and interactive content, your well-tuned, strategic words online are meant to be found, digested, re-purposed and distributed.  The words lead to actions, and the actions reflect the effectiveness of your content overall.  The quality of your content drives the quality of the actions you seek to foster.

You owe it to yourself to take a moment and understand the indistinguishable nature between you and your business offline, and you and your business online.  They are not the separate entities you might have once thought they were.  As the state of the Internet experience evolves to become one of interaction and dialogue with consumers, consider that how you carry yourself in the “real world” is precisely how you should address carrying yourself online.  Everything you do from company vision, culture, and ethics, needs to translate fluidly to the Internet.  And successfully pulling this off will come down to how keenly you undertake managing your content online.  Your content is your voice online.

On your site, in forums, on your blog, anywhere your company has, or should have a voice, you must work to unify your message.  This can be easier than you think if you use the guidepost you already have in place for your business to drive your online strategy.  Sometime realizing that everything can be tied back to a few guiding principles can make the entire task less daunting.

With Duo’s Web Content Conference 2009 upon us, it is easy to see that there are more and more avenues by which companies can and should manage content online.  Keeping track of all of them can seem overwhelming, but each one can add a unique advantage to the way we approach unifying our on and offline presence into one singular vision.  Holding up that unification as one’s overarching goal can prove to simplify the often confusing, ever changing, and fast paced landscape of web content in general.

True/Slant homepage

Or so said Jock Whitney, one-time publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, and now says the tag line of a fledgling news team who have taken that idea to the perfect place to test it—a social media news site.

True/Slant.com was launched  in April with some new ideas about reporting, advertising, and engaging readers. True/Slant introduces a new model in online news—one of many models we have discussed here various times that will emerge as on-line news picks up the mantle where print appears to be laying it down.
Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal online reviewed the site when it launched and described the advertising model this way:

True/Slant will run regular Web ads throughout. But, in a highly unusual move, the site plans to offer advertisers their own entire pages where they can run blogs and try to attract a network of followers. These will have the same design and features of the journalists’ pages, but will be labeled as ad content.

It’s an interesting idea—a sort of on-going advertorial—that allows advertisers to be part of the site using content, ads, (and maybe links to their sites) to gain and keep the attention of readers; another reminder that perhaps content (relevant, useful content) is still king after all. Hear that Twitter? Some people still like more than 140 characters.

There are so many interesting things about trueslant.com–the  name for one. Contributors are talented, experienced journalists who specialize in a topic or area so the site as a whole has an expanse of topics much the way large newspapers do (or used to) art, food, travel, politics, money, science, fashion, entertainment.  It’s hard for traditional newspapers to get this type of seasoned and credible journalism in one place and still be able to afford to pay for it.

Readers  are welcome to join the site and act as “mini” contributors, uploading photos, commenting, recommending, like all social media site, being part of the conversation–all of which are tracked on the site– and filing out their own profiles.

Reader Stats

You can follow contributors or topics, get only the news you want via RSS, or upon logging in,  go straight to the topic or contributors page you are interested in, rather than just being handed “front page news” based on what editors think we think is important. (Which is something other sites like Newser.com haven’t had the courtesy to do yet. Nor do many other news sites have this type of  good original content–at the same time snarky and entertaining, informative and thoughtful.)

Journalists are free to talk about a more broad range of topics that sometimes focus on geographic areas of the country giving national exposure to local happenings. That brings to mind the Guardian’s Stephen Glover’s comments regarding one reason he thinks American news papers are failing at greater rates that European, that is, the strong emphasis on local, rather than national circulation.

Why are newspapers faring even worse in America than in Britain? Partly because the internet is more ubiquitous there, and has taken more readers away from print. And partly because American titles, being with a few exceptions city-based, are particularly dependent on local classified advertising, which is flying to the internet or, during the recession, simply drying up.

Maybe the idea of bringing news from around the country to one centralized location will give a little more density to the True/Slant model of on-line news.

One feature I will be watching with interest, American Crossroads, is that of a Mid-west writer with a focus on stories from the Heartland and how they mirror the US as a whole. This writer is also a documentarian, filming “a documentary about the horrific 2006 slaying of an Indianapolis family of seven.” As the film takes on life, True/Slant readers and  contributors will be encouraged to provide feedback, contribute relevant content, and be a part of the film making process or just watch as the story unfolds.  Interesting way to involve your audience, not to mention the story is a compelling one full of contradictions and “social, ethinic, political and economic” complexities that may well reflect the current angst of our nation.

Your Policy: Duct tape your mouth

I have nothing constructive to add to the policy discussion because my policy recommendation would probably be to duct tape your mouth so you couldn’t speak and break all your fingers so you couldn’t type. Like I said, nothing constructive to add. On the other hand, perhaps law firms (and, ya know, every other business for that matter) needs some social media strategy.

Your Strategy: Give this some thought

Policy makers! Relax. Sit back and think strategically about social media for just a minute. Although we seem to be at some kind of tipping point for social media, it isn’t all that new. So, duh, others have been thinking strategically about this for a while. And here’s some of the thinking that I’ve picked up along the way. Yeah, I’ve cribbed it from others too. Except, because I’m a trendy Web 2.0 guy, I call it crowdsourcing. Start here. Then build on it:

Why bother with social media?
Eight years ago I was asking law firms why they wanted to build a website. They didn’t give me good answers. And many built (and still do) pretty crummy non-strategic websites. But very pretty – with clean design and intuitive navigation to nothing in particular. Now you have a second chance to not blow it. Answer this question or go home: Why would you spend one nickel on social media?

What are your targeted objectives?
I see you cowering in the corner without answers. I’m going to make this an easy multiple choice question. Select from these options (It is ok to imagine your own)

• Social media gives us an opportunity to be part of a community where there is a dialog. We might actually learn something about our market if we listen to the conversation that we are involved in.
• We want to establish our authority and promote our brand. By making valuable contributions to a conversation, we will become recognized in the community for our knowledge and authority
• By planting our flag all over the internet we increase the likelihood that people will follow links back to our website where they can learn even more about our deep expertise and our 150 year history.

Who will implement your strategy?
Didn’t think about that did you? Most law firms are renowned for hiring one marketing person for every 10,000 attorneys. Yet now you want to actually conduct conversations online? Just who do you think is going to do that? Your web developer? The associates you just furloughed? You better think through skill sets and resources before you make this leap. Seriously, bro.

What are your tactical tools?
Your LinkedIn presence is hit or miss. Your blogs are siloed in a couple practice areas if they exist at all. You don’t Tweet. You have nothing on YouTube. Nor Flickr. So exactly how do you plan to go social? You want a website with social media capabilities? What the heck does that mean?

What are your metrics?
I know metrics is a dirty word. You haven’t yet figured out how to measure your website performance. And now you’re diving into yet another area of Internet endeavor. And you don’t know how to measure this either. So then this is what we would call a faith-based initiative?

Sorry to ask the tough questions. Maybe that’s why you’re thinking about social media policy. It’s the easy part. The strategy part is just so darn scary. What do you think?

Not understanding your content management system can have the same effect on your web presence as not managing your personal diet. It can lead to poor performance and even death. So we’ve been on a crusade to raise awareness of content management. We’re kind of the Homeland Security for Content Management. Pay attention. The threat level is orange. So in June, we’re having a content management party and we’re calling it Web Content Conference - Delivering Personalized Dynamic Web Content . We’ve recruited a number of stars to help us out. Meet some of them below. And meet them in person.

One of my favorite Tweeters is Joe Pulizzi (Twitter.com/juntajoe) who embraces content marketing and can tell you how your online content is killing your brand. I also follow Jeremy Epstein, Twitter.com/jer979,and has a great website, www.NeverStopMarketing.com. Perhaps you never heard of him but Jeremy’s clients include the the New York Times, Microsoft and Johnson and Johnson. Maybe you want to pay closer attention to what Jeremy is doing. And I really like Stewart Mader, who recently published Wikipatterns, because he continues to evangelize Wikis in the workplace. If you do nothing else, visit his bloggish website, www.ikiw.org (wiki spelled backward!)

So if you think web content management isn’t sexy, permit us to change your mind. Over 2 days, 5 keynotes and 11 breakout sessions, we’re bringing some of the best content management authorities together to share their knowledge and experience. The Web Content Conference is June 15 and 16 in Chicago.

As a lifelong early adopter I’ve jumped on a lot of bandwagons that have either stalled at the starting line or tanked altogether. Back in the days, I sold – or tried to sell -  the Apple II computer with 4K of internal memory and a cassette tape recorder for loading programs (yes, you read that right – no disks, no harddrives) and the original Odyssey video game. I skydived the first internet bubble without a parachute and went splat. It is not unusual for some things to start with a bang and end with a whimper. Yet, today, Apple makes great computers, video games rival movies for entertainment dollar spent. And the Internet, well, it’s back. And that’s why I think your social media marketing initiative is going to fail

I just reviewed my friend Chris Rollyson’s article on the Web 2.0 adoption curve. It is déjà vu all over again.

Chris Rollyson's Web 2.0 Adoption Curve

I’ve been here in a different life. And based on my current experience working in the trenches of Web 2.0 implementation, I’d say he’s right on. Here’s what I believe is happening.

Social media gained traction with kids who are both more naturally social and technically savvy. While there were many small initiatives, the ones that have entered our consciousness include MySpace and Facebook. MySpace remains segmented into the youth culture. Facebook made a strategic move, breaking from its students-only membership policy to become the most visited social media website. Yahoo gobbled up the social photo site Flickr and Google absorbed the social video site YouTube. Game on. LinkedIn, a social medium for business folks grew 150% year over year 2007-2008.

The role of social media marketing in the captivating 2008 presidential election not only increased visibility but also provided a clear case study of demonstrable success. Today you can’t avoid a news story about the micro-blog tool, Twitter. The battle cry has gone forth, “I gotta get me some of that social media stuff.” And here’s where it begins to crack.

Expectation is great. You know, if it worked for Obama, it can work for me. But for most who don’t have the proper coaching or understanding it won’t. Social media marketing is disruptive. It requires new skills, new tools, new tactics and an entirely new strategy. And, on a mass basis, we’re not ready for that. So initiatives are going to fail. The failure will feed on itself. Enthusiasm will wane. Momentum will disappear. Disappointment will be pervasive.

But Web 2.0 won’t go away for the simple reason that it’s a great idea. Chris calls this the “triumph of determination.” We’ll pick up the pieces and attack the project again. This time we’ll be a little more prepared; a little wiser. We’ll learn from our mistakes and mass adoption will succeed.

So am I suggesting you sit this round out? Not hardly. There are definitely benefits to be gained and learnings to be achieved. And you won’t get these by staying away. In fact the opposite it true, the most successful Web 2.0 implementers will be the ones who gain experience in this first round. Just go into this with your eyes open and know that this is not business as usual. But then, right now, what is?

Law firms, by and large, your websites are stiff. They are also ineffective.  I know this because I work for other non-law businesses and, in comparison, you spend too much and get too much junk in return.  Collectively you spend millions of dollars for some of the most ineffective product found online.  Few lawyers know what an effective website is or how to determine if one is effective. Legal marketers are often at the mercy of their clueless lawyers. But that’s no excuse.  Most have done little to improve their knowledge of internet best practices. Our legal industry recognizes some of the most abominable products and fail to provide leadership in this arena.  And web developers, well, we really have no excuse.  You know better.  Unless you are really just that bad.

I recognize this is quite an indictment. I’ll accept all push-back if you’ll join me to begin to take the Internet seriously.  That is, make your website a strategic part of your business development, recruiting and client relationship management.

Why am I so agitated? And what forms the basis of my sentiment?  I just spent 3 days at the Legal Marketing Association annual conference talking to legal marketers and having them share with me their websites, web strategies and their website challenges.  I encountered frustration, ignorance and indifference.

• There’s the marketing manager of the 500 person international law firm who is responsible for her firm’s website. And this represents about 40% of her job responsibility.  The rest is as a data analyst.  Her CMO pays little attention to the website.  This scenario was common.
• The award winning law firm website whose attorney Facebook pages are more prominent in search than the firm’s attorney bios.  And try to print a bio page or any page on the site for that matter. Ha, ha, ha. No print style design. (Not to mention the scores of sites that cannot be viewed properly in Firefox, mainly because most law firms don’t use Firefox browsers. Talk about being inward focused!)
• The well-publicized failure of Holland and Knight, to name one firm among many others who have failed to protect their trade name on Twitter. Twitter.com/hklaw is now the “source of information, Articles and Complaints involving Holland & Knight Attorneys” and out of the control of the law firm. Yeah, but Twitter has such a funny name, who can take it seriously (tongue positioned firmly in cheek).
• The bulk of law firm websites that have no performance metrics running on their site. And if they do have these metrics, nobody knows what to measure or what to do with those metrics except generate reports for management. Action steps? Forget it. None taken.
• Gross cluelessness about what LinkedIn is or how to respond to an invitation to connect when they receive this invitation from a client.
• Mass ignorance about search engine optimization, what it means, how to achieve it and what to do with the traffic when they get it.

OK, so that’s what I encountered with the websites that are already built, but the next generation will be better, right? No, not right. Let’s look at the law firm website RFP’s we are getting today. First, law firms tell us they want a good looking website.  Now that’s good to know. Because we were thinking of giving them something really ugly.  So thanks for clueing us in. And they even want intuitive navigation. Imagine that! But intuitive navigation to what objective? No conversion objective. It reminds me of the joke about the dead atheist – all dressed up but nowhere to go.

Recently, excellent & respected consultants from Wicker Park Group publicly shared an executive summary of a study they conducted on behalf of web solution provider Hubbard One. And they astounded us with the “discovery” that General Counsel look at law firm websites. (This characterization is from the response from the legal market, not the presentation from Wicker Park or Hubbard One to whom we appreciate all shared information) “Almost 90% of them agreed that a law firm’s website plays a key role in influencing a purchasing decision”. You’ll have to forgive me if this was like asking if the Pope is Catholic or if bears poop in the woods.  I mean, did we really have to ask to know that answer? Unfortunately, I guess we did.

So I’m going to make a prediction and then make a simple request. My prediction is that one day a business to business law firm, not a plaintive firm, will discover that the strategic use of the Internet gives them a galloping advantage over their competition. They will put together a public website together with a presence on third party sites and leveraging social media, content marketing and feedback metrics and assemble a strategic assault on their market that will make them an unassailable force. And in doing so they will demonstrate how a law firm can return value to all their partners and associates.

And here’s my request: Just once I want to get a website RFP from a law firm that says, in essence, that they don’t care if their website looks like yesterday’s garbage and has the navigation of something designed by Rube Goldberg.  All they care about is that the website make a measurable contribution to their business proposition by making the phone ring, bringing people to their events, signing up people for their newsletter and all the other meaningful conversion events that they have developed. There are thousands of law firms out there. I’m just looking for this one. I know you exist. Call me. Please.