Logic+Emotion

How Google Helped Save A Life

2009-11-09T05:00:00-06:00

When my eight-year-old (Max) complained that he wasn't feeling well, we kept him home. On the next afternoon, when he complained about stomach pains, I told him to lie down. Later that day, when the stomach pains persisted and I had left the house—Belinda turned to Google for help. Mother's intuition told her to search for information—specifically where the appendix is located. And after doing so she went up to Max's room and pressed down on the right side of his abdomen. When he winced in pain, she decided to call the doctor. The doctor said go to the emergency room. The ER said, get a cat scan and the cat scan said it was irritated. Then the surgeon said it was early, but in a day or two it was likely to burst.

So the surgeon gave Max an appendectomy and I gave him a Popsicle.

Thank you to the Internet, Google, Mother's Intuition and all of the doctors, nurses, co-workers, friends and family (including you) for all the kind words. He's doing well. So is the penguin.

kuler [del.icio.us]

2009-11-07T11:58:19-08:00

A Conversation Worth Sponsoring (Thank You To The Art of Shaving)

2009-11-06T13:35:06-06:00

When Aaron Strout approached me about participating in Movember (through the Movember foundation which facilitates donations for Mens health issues such as testicular cancer), I was a bit apprehensive. I mean, I do a lot of talks/work with clients and it's hard to be taken seriously with a 'stash that came out of nowhere. I also thought about how much work it would take to hit up my network and raise funds for a great cause. It's never easy to ask people for money.

Then the "marketer" in me started thinking. Wouldn't there be a brand out there who would want to get involved with this? What does a traditional sponsorship get you? A few banner ads? Those don't work—everyone in the industry wants to figure out how to get in the social streams in a meaningful way.

I typically don't do what's known as "sponsored conversations"—but this is a conversation worth sponsoring. So I dialed up my friends at P&G. And they dialed up their friends at relevant brands. And The Art of Shaving, stepped up and said:

Yeah, we will donate $5000.00 to Team Austin (who by the way is going to decimate team Boston). Well, in the spirit of full disclosure—they said this exactly:

1) The Art of Shaving will donate $5,000 to Team SocMed Austin’s fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Livestrong, & Movember Foundations.

2) The Art of Shaving will provide you and 9 of your teammates a gift pack of our products for you to use as you shave throughout the month. The pack will also include a DVD & a brochure with information on our brand and products.

3) In any subsequent communications, you & Team SocMed Austin will be sure to acknowledge the Art of Shaving donation of money & products transparently to your readers & followers.

And just like that—the folks at The Art of Shaving are now part of this conversation as they should be. I mean, it's all about growing and trimming facial hair for a good cause. So thank you to the folks at The Art of Shaving for your support of Team Austin. Will I reference the products they send me? Of course I will. They helped me and I want to help them back. It's a "sponsored conversation" but I'll also be honest about the products, though at first glance they do look fairly high quality. And instead of a few dollars going toward a media purchase, it goes somewhere better. If you feel moved to help as well, you can donate to Team Austin here. Thanks for even considering.

-David

15 Top Social Media Agencies [del.icio.us]

2009-11-04T18:16:54-08:00

How To Create Advocates For Your Business

2009-11-03T10:47:56-06:00

So what is customer advocacy anyway? Well for starters, they don't have to be your customers—they can be any part of your entire constituency. Employees, business partners, friends—you name it. But here's the point. You need them more than ever. Right now, if you are planning social initiatives, your biggest challenge is going to be manpower. Someone has to do the listening, the outreach, the customer service, the participation, the engagement with others in the ecosystem. Some parts can be automated (such as an algorithm in a listening tool technology), but many other parts require actual people. So at some point you'll have to scale, and you're going to need a passionate, engaged group of people to advocate on your behalf. So how do you do it? Here are a few high level pointers.

1. Improve your product, service or offering
Start there. You have to have something of value to offer. If your product, service or offering needs improvement, actively get out into your ecosystem and engage them in the process. Part of this is crowdsourcing, part of it is co-creation but the end result is that your constituents will become active participants in the process. You don't have to do everything they say, but you might be surprised at the insights and data you'll get in return.

2. Serve
Acts of service are a great way to create advocates. It takes time, but over time the people you are serving will talk about your acts to others, get their attention and they will benefit from this. Over more time loyalty will develop and over more time they will eventually become your advocate acting as your eyes and ears and providing value back. Think of ways your organization can provide a service.

3. Make it about the catagory
One of the biggest mistakes that companies make when trying to convert consumers to advocates is to make it about their products or marketing to them in some way. Advocacy often times happens around a topic that people care about. Aligning yourself with the appropriate topic is a great way to tap into that momentum. But it has to be relevant and real—so be picky about what catagory you choose to align with and participate around.

4. Make it really easy
Your employees will dread using a collaboration system that's unusable, and out of frustration they will not become advocates of that system (and less likely to advocate for your company). Likewise a customer is less likely to advocate on your behalf if you make customer support, registration, or interacting with your organization difficult. Make all your touchpoints as simple as possible. And this is probably one of the most difficult things you'll ever have to do.

I'm doing a good deal of thinking about what it takes to make a customer, an employee, or anyone within a relevant ecosystem an advocate. And we are incorporating these principles into our client deliverables. I'm convinced this will be a necessary step in scaling and taking advantage of the foundation social technologies is laying out for us. Having advocates which help us listen, aid in customer support and make our products and services better can have huge benefits in business, because the simple fact is you're just not going to be able to do it alone.

Six Social Media Trends For 2010

2009-11-03T04:00:00-06:00

Originally posted on The Harvard Business Review blog

In 2009 we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielson Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year? In no particular order:

1. Social media begins to look less social
With groups, lists and niche networks becoming more popular, networks could begin to feel more "exclusive." Not everyone can fit on someone's newly created Twitter list and as networks begin to fill with noise, it's likely that user behavior such as "hiding" the hyperactive updaters that appear in your Facebook news feed may become more common. Perhaps it's not actually less social, but it might seem that way as we all come to terms with getting value out of our networks — while filtering out the clutter.

2. Corporations look to scale
There are relatively few big companies that have scaled social initiatives beyond one-off marketing or communications initiatives. Best Buy's Twelpforce leverages hundreds of employees who provide customer support on Twitter. The employees are managed through a custom built system that keeps track of who participates. This is a sign of things to come over the next year as more companies look to uncover cost savings or serve customers more effectively through leveraging social technology.

3. Social business becomes serious play
Relatively new networks such as Foursquare are touted for the focus on making networked activity local and mobile. However, it also has a game-like quality to it which brings out the competitor in the user. Participants are incentivized and rewarded through higher participation levels. And push technology is there to remind you that your friends are one step away from stealing your coveted "mayorship." As businesses look to incentivize activity within their internal or external networks, they may include carrots that encourage a bit of friendly competition.

4. Your company will have a social media policy (and it might actually be enforced)
If the company you work for doesn't already have a social media policy in place with specific rules of engagement across multiple networks, it just might in the next year. From how to conduct yourself as an employee to what's considered competition, it's likely that you'll see something formalized about how the company views social media and your participation in it.

5. Mobile becomes a social media lifeline
With approximately 70 percent of organizations banning social networks and, simultaneously, sales of smartphones on the rise, it's likely that employees will seek to feed their social media addictions on their mobile devices. What used to be cigarette breaks could turn into "social media breaks" as long as there is a clear signal and IT isn't looking. As a result, we may see more and/or better mobile versions of our favorite social drug of choice.

6. Sharing no longer means e-mail
The New York Times iPhone application recently added sharing functionality which allows a user to easily broadcast an article across networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Many websites already support this functionality, but it's likely that we will see an increase in user behavior as it becomes more mainstream for people to share with networks what they used to do with e-mail lists. And content providers will be all too happy to help them distribute any way they choose.

These are a few emerging trends that come to my mind — I'm interested to hear what you think as well, so please weigh in with your own thoughts. Where do you see social media going next?

4 Myths about blocking Internet access in the enterprise | Capping IT Off | Capgemini | Consulting, Technology, Outsourcing [del.icio.us]

2009-11-02T10:00:14-08:00

Cap Gemini encourages companies to allow access to social networks while blocking it themselves

Social Business Design in 5 Minutes

2009-11-02T05:00:00-06:00

There's been a bit of discussion not so recently about the meaning of Social Business Design. As I thought about this, and the language we use—I recalled the 1/2 day talk I gave in Melbourne recently. The audience seemed to fully grasp the concept and Simon was kind enough to record a few portions of it. In this clip, I discuss the 4 key archetypes that we believe a social business will embody. What do you think?

Give Before You Get

2009-10-31T11:27:16-05:00

After recently updating some visuals to my Flickr collection, it occurred to me how much of my precious time has gone into producing these artifacts only to "give" them away (specifically for use of blogging and presentations—I ask for attribution, a link is always appreciated). I've had hundreds of people come up to me and tell me they've used my content to further their business more or less. People have benefited off me. But I've benefited off them as well, as I've enjoyed stimulating career opportunities and even received some help when we needed it.

This is a value exchange—a sort of currency that fuels an ever increasing networked economy.

It's not a perfect system by any means. I often wonder if I did the right thing by sharing so much or if I "monitized" my efforts properly. I don't know the answer to this (yet). But here's something I do know. The concept of providing value to your customers or any constituent is a tough pill to swallow. It takes a lot of effort and there's no short cut. So for a company that wants to convert consumers to customer advocates, you have to give. For the Fortune 500 corporation that wants their employees to collaborate more effectively, or perhaps retain their best talent—you have to give. For the brand that wants to leverage a social system to better market their products and services—you have to give.

And giving is hard. But you have to be prepared to do it if you want to thrive in the network economy. Think about it.

When The Ending Isn't Happy

2009-10-29T21:22:54-05:00

The picture above is of the Loveless family—Jamie, Chris, and their son Gavin. Ken Burbary alerted me through a private message on Twitter that he was going to try to help the family when Jamie became admitted to the hospital for H1N1 flu. Ken wanted to help the family who found themselves stranded in Florida away form their home in Tennessee in a crisis. In two days, Ken and his network raised over 6 thousand dollars through the social web. In two days, Jamie's situation went from bad to worse and she passed away after developing severe pneumonia (most likely caused by the virus).

I guess I feel compelled to write this for a number of reasons. First, as a human being and parent I'm saddened by the story. Secondly, it hits even closer to home as Ken leveraged similar tactics to the the ones we used when helping another family in crisis. Lots of people said that event could not be duplicated and they were partially correct (I could not duplicate it). But others like Ken who have built networks (and trust) over time can choose to tap them if and how they see fit.

Unfortunately, despite the amazing effort and funds that were raised, this did not end as well as the situation I was involved with. I'm not really sure what else to say except that those who helped get the word out and raised funds did a good thing despite the outcome. And to Ken, thank you for leading the charge. My thoughts (and prayers) go out to Chris, Gavin and their family and friends despite the fact that I don't know them personally. I'm sorry for your incredible loss.

FUTURETAINMENT - Mike Walsh [del.icio.us]

2009-10-28T15:47:20-07:00

REALLY nice promotional site. Book looks great.

The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of the Rock Star

2009-10-28T12:23:47-05:00

Here's the thing about rock stars. We make them. Somewhere along the line, someone captures our attention with their combination of talent, ambition, personality and we reward them by becoming a fan. Their music taps our imagination, our dreams and inspires us. We grow up wanting to be like them. We choose to accept them despite their numerous personal flaws which often manifest in public. They represent the best and worst of us—a caricature of the human race that's larger than life. We need them and in some ways are them.

BUT

Rock stars don't represent the reality of everyday life. The unglamorous daily churn of making it through the day does. We all get up, do the best we can, go to sleep and start all over again, all the while hoping that we are doing something worthwhile that will make some kind of difference. Most of us relate to this. We also relate to the idea that much of the time it often goes unnoticed.

So we turn our attention to the rock stars that do get noticed.

And that's that's where we need to keep a bit of perspective. Rock stars fill stadiums, draw crowds, entertain and influence pop culture. Everyday people make the world go round. But might I make a suggestion for the rock stars, the aspiring ones and the every day Joes and Janes who make the world go round?

Do your best to make a contribution.

That's all. It doesn't really matter what camp your fall into. There will always be people who put others on stages and yet others who tear those pedestals down. That won't change. Neither will the fact that we all get up, give life a shot and go to sleep hoping we did something worthwhile. And I'll keep this post short because I have a lot of work to get to. So good luck with your efforts—hopefully you can make a difference.

Nussbaum on Design, Disruption and Innovation

2009-10-27T14:39:10-05:00

Originally posted on the Dachis Group Collaboratory

Sharing ideas and insights with Bruce Nussbaum, contributing editor at BusinessWeek, is always a pleasure, so it's fitting that he's one of my first round table interviews. Previously assistant managing editor in charge of BusinessWeek's innovation and design coverage, he was named one of the 40 most powerful people in design by I.D. Magazine in 2005. Nussbaum wrote The World After Oil: The Shifting Axis of Power and Wealth, and Good Intentions, an inside look at medical research on AIDS. He has received awards from the Sigma Delta Chi Journalism Society, the Overseas Press Club, and the Industrial Designers Society of America. Nussbaum is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. For more of his thinking and writing, you can read Nussbaum on Design or follow him on Twitter. Photo credit to Alex_Cheek.

David: You've been a huge advocate for the field of design and a believer in what's commonly known as "design thinking." Movements in how people collaborate in an open fashion or trends such as crowdsourcing are positioned to influence how designers think and work. What do you think are the challenges and opportunities for designers as these shifts take place?

Bruce: Crowdsourcing and client participation in design are huge new opportunities that are really exciting. We now have the technology to engage consumers, learners, drivers, patients - everyone - and make them part of a process that generates new options, services and experiences. Of course, that means "experts" have to give up some control and that includes managers, designers, branders (is that a term?). Yeah, this is especially true in branding where social media empowers consumers to demand control of the brand, brand strategy and, increasingly, the products/services that make up the brand.

David: Business models are being disrupted in real time. You recently shared an opinion on how this affected BusinessWeek. In your opinion, what should a business be doing right now to ensure that they are positioned to thrive?

Bruce: The same forces decentralizing power and participation in media are sweeping business organizations. So we have social business models arising in the same way that we have social media models. I think you guys are pioneering in this area, David. You know, there is a health practice in Brooklyn called Hello Health where young doctors organize their practice around a Facebook platform--maybe it is Facebook itself. I think that's the model of the future for many business organizations. It's beyond flat. It's networked. Changing big corporations to do that will be a huge task. AG Lafley, before he left as CEO of P&G, said his job of just opening the silos there was only 10% done after nearly 8 years. So moving from hierarchical to horizontal to networked is an immense task--but it has to be done to compete in the global economy. I'd guess that one out of 10 big companies will be able to make the switch. Maybe 1 in 20.

You have to be in the culture of your consumers and clients and certainly with Gen Y, that's how they live, that's where they live. It's not just the future, it's like tomorrow.

David: You've written on the topic of innovation for some time providing alternative perspectives on processes such as Six Sigma etc. Has your view on innovation itself changed or is it the same? How do you personally define innovation?

Bruce: Innovation, for me, is invention that generates value for people. Often that value is monetary and commercial and produces profits, jobs, taxes and economic growth. Increasingly innovation is happening in non-market civic arenas--health, education, transportation, warfare (yes warfare), where the increased value is not necessarily monetary alone but hugely beneficial to the people it effects. The fastest growing field in innovation and design consulting is health care. Yet, there is a lot of money to be saved and earned in that space, but the biggest beneficiaries are patients, doctors and nurses.

David You've recently joined the ranks with many of us on networks such as Twitter. Why did you do it? What have you learned and what in your opinion is the opportunities and or risks that networks provide to the business world.

Bruce: I touched on the importance of networks earlier. They are the crucial building blocks of organization for the future. And hey, they were in the past. Church groups, unions, political parties, block associations--all networks. Just without the technology that binds these days.

I use Twitter to create a human search engine that screens information and links it to me quickly. It is so much better than a mathematical algorithm that doesn't know me. This posse is my information curator. Increasingly, I wake up in the morning and use Twitter to get my information, not the NY Times or the WS Journal. I rely on my Twitter-mates (don't go there) to put me onto trends way before they show up on data bases. And yes, I also am entertained by them. I hope I give them giggles from time to time as well. And I hope I serve them as well as a curator of information.

David: You've written a good deal about the current economic climate, how we got here and what we could be doing to get out. If you were a CEO of a large business today, what would you do to fuel economic growth? Do you think business leaders can help turn this around?

Bruce: CEOs should have been innovating throughout the recession and need to innovate even faster as we exit it and move toward growth. Every serious study shows that when companies innovate in an economic downturn, they pick up market share vis-à-vis their competitors once growth accelerates. Apple does this so well.

But most executives just cut costs and then find themselves with nothing new to offer consumers when the game changes. I think we'll have a new normal consumer culture in the next business cycle and companies that figure out the needs and wants of people in that culture will do exceedingly well. Also, Gen Y is beginning to move into the workforce. It has a very distinct culture that very few companies understand. I'm talking different values, behaviors and platforms of interaction and delivery. Those who "get" Gen Y will do well.

David: "Social media" for the lack of a better phrase seems to be on everyone's mind. What's your take on the current state of matters related to this? Where specifically do you see opportunities and what should we as both citizens and members of the workforce be mindful of?

Bruce: "Social media" has evolved to the point where we should drop the word "social." Most media is now networked, engaged, participatory, looped. It's the norm. Social media is where Gen Y live and social media is where aging Baby Boomers are gravitating toward. We are still sorting out the technologies and rules of the game for social media. There are different cultures for different platforms. You have to study these cultures as if they were different villages in different continents.

I see virtually all corporate consumer business, retail, media, education and health moving onto the social media platform. Think Mint vs. Intuit (which just bought Mint). I believe hybrid social media models will develop that integrate the personal with the network. I think one of the next big things will be in cheap, portable video conference systems that link to social media systems that make them much more personal. Let's face it, Skype sucks, especially compared to HP's Halo system but Skype is free and Halo is expensive. So far. A disruptive technology in video conference could make a huge difference in both social media and social business platforms.

I'm hoping that all this will change our political system which has become hugely corrupt. Unlike Asia, where corruption is rampant and fought, we in the US have simply legalized it and call it "lobbying." Social media has the promise of taking power away from the few in Washington and giving it to the people. Yeah, yeah, I know. Be careful of what you wish for. But, hey, this is all good and fun and, yes, important too.

The History and Evolution of Social Media | Webdesigner Depot [del.icio.us]

2009-10-25T17:04:55-07:00

Insights & Opinions From Blogworld 09

2009-10-20T08:57:39-05:00

Photo credit: Thekenyeung via Flickr

I recently returned from Blogworld 2009, a mix of business, social media and social events which spanned nearly 4 days taking over much of Las Vegas. It was a flurry of activity and got my gears turning—here's a few things that caught my attention:

Sponsored conversations aren't a blogger's biggest concern
One of the panels was dedicated to discussing and debating the notion of "sponsored conversations". To be honest, it didn't clarify much for me and while the recent FTC announcement is worth taking note of, I think bloggers have bigger fish to fry, such generating a quality readership/community in a noisy, saturated market. That said, according to the panel this post is a sponsored conversation and I should disclose that as a speaker, blogworld funded my airfare and hotel stay. Now that that's over with, back to the writing.

Do you believe in life after public relations?
From Ford's Scott Monty (pictured above) to Comcast's Frank Eliason, there were many famliar faces at Blogworld, who frankly deserve to be at any event where all the "social stuff" is evangelized, discussed and debated. They have broken new ground in organizations, working very diligently to do so. I've come to know many of these individuals and consider some of them friends. Though something struck me in listening to Scott Monty's talk; when he was asked if he made any mistakes, he more or less responded that not scaling soon enough was one of them (and he was working on that). In a moment of clarity it hit me that unless companies significantly scale AND integrate social initiatives, the immediate benefit may in fact be good public relations (if you do it right) but perhaps limited to that. I am in no way discounting the value of this—but when thinking about the potential of how a socially calibrated business could operate, it makes me want more. I believe in life after public relations and think the next wave of social will be done at scale in an integrated fashion, somehow directly impacting the bottom line and/or innovating.

You'll never regret building your network
During my presentation, I had just about every tech glitch you can think of. Finally after getting it all working, Mr. klutz (me) kicked the power chord shutting down the computer which hooked up the the projector. There was no way for me to effectively proceed since the talk was completely dependent on visuals. AV had left and I was at the mercy of the audience. I was prepared to go on without slides, but before doing so I asked if anyone from the audience could help. Within a few seconds someone jumped up behind the table alongside of me and after some fancy tech footwork got the system working again. My takeaway? Being a part of a healthy ecosystem means that people will help you when you need it. You'll never regret the time you put into it. On that note, I've shared my slides on slideshare and included them below.

The Value of Visual Thinking in Social Business

Data matters
On the last day of Blogworld I attended Jeremiah Owyang's solo session where he discussed some trends shaping the future of the social Web. There were 3 examples in particular that stood out for me. One was a Volkswagon initiative which would serve you up a vehicle recommendation based on your Facebook data. Jeremiah questioned the validity of this approach when one of his recommendations was a VW Bug, which he assured us would not be his preference. It's clear that tactics such as this are in their infancy. The second was the trend of integrating social sign-ons into Websites. It's a convenience to users but using something such as Facebook Connect in place of something like a traditional e-mail address means Facebook "owns" that data. And lastly, the point of integration was made. What happens when there are multiple systems including social ones mining customer data but they aren't connected? The idea of a social CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system becomes something to ponder.

There were certainly much more, but these stood out for me. I shared a few other thoughts on a brief podcast which David Thomas from SAS featured on their blog.

The Value of Visual Thinking

2009-10-13T10:13:43-05:00

Originally posted on The Collaboratory.

I'm leaving for Las Vegas later this week to speak at Blogworld. I'm on a panel discussing the intersection of social media and brands, but what I'm really excited about is a presentation on Friday where I will discuss the value that visual thinking can bring to any organization. I have a passion for visual thinking. Being able to think visually, break down complex ideas and synthesize them into something meaningful is my forte. It's a skill that has landed me in the company of the smart and capable folks I currently work with. More importantly, I took whatever abilities I had and I gave them over to my ecosystem. In any social system, you always come to the table offering something of value rather than seeking it.

Educating
So what's the value of visual thinking for business? For starters it can help educate, especially if you are launching a new product, initiative or idea. Take for example our own vision for Social Business Design. When I first joined the team, Jeff immersed me in the company vision and I spent several weeks wrapping my head around the idea. During this process, I knew that we would need more than words to communicate such a big idea. One of the first things I did was to begin to visualize what critical elements looked like so that other people would have a "mark" they could file mentally and recall whenever they heard a word such as "hiveminded" or "metafilter." and the image with "yummy." Education is one value that visual thinking has. When I present our ideas on Social Business Design, I display screen shots of websites and social networks, and I watch the audience as they take notes. But when the visualizations of our 4 archetypes flash on the screen, the note taking usually stops and eyes fixate on the screen studying the image and the words. It's almost as if I can see their thought process in action.

Communicating
It doesn't matter if we're talking about consumers or employees — attention is becoming scarce. If you want to communicate something, you need to capture attention and communicate your point quickly. It doesn't matter if it's email, Twitter, Facebook, Ebay, Youtube, phone calls, or spreadsheets. The average person is inundated by information and doesn't have the time or the focus to sit and watch a 20 minute video or read through your 50 page document filled with nothing but text. The value of effective visuals is to stop someone in their tracks, engage them, draw them in and inform them as they absorb what it is you are trying to communicate.

Training
In the design of business, visual thinking will be key in the design of new processes, systems, and structures. Expect to see the mapping of ecosystems, flows, org charts, social systems and data visualization. All of which can help people understand and get behind change. Visual language can also be an effective training tool as businesses retool and re-equip their employees to compete in blisteringly fast paced environments. Before employees actually perform new tasks, they will have to visualize themselves doing it. I'm a firm believer that visual currency will play a big role in the value exchange we see influencing the business world. But don't take my word for it, in the words of an ancient Chinese proverb: “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.” Visual thinking equates to "show me", and that's the bridge between telling and understanding — that's the value it brings to any context.

We're not all visual thinkers (though we all have the potential). However we are all visual learners. Don't believe me? Simply pay a visit to any gradeschool and you'll see evidence of it everywhere. "A is for Apple," showing both the letter and a picture of an apple next to it. The cognitive recognition of the image often happens first. A child sees the object, thinks "yummy," learns the word, and when they do — they associate the word

Strength in Numbers

2009-10-12T08:08:38-05:00

The firm that I am helping build is primarily services oriented—which means we'll lead with strategy and won't make technology recommendations until the time is right. That said, we do think there are some good technology solutions which can help organizations become more socially calibrated. In short, if the the right culture, people, and processes are in place—these technologies can help connect the nodes within and outside of your organization leading to a more real time, collaborative and informed way of doing business.

Our current roster of partners will include:

* IBM Lotus Connections - Enterprise Social Networking tools
* Telligent Community Server - Customer and enterprise facing forums, profiles and social networking
* Atlassian Confluence - Wiki-based collaboration
* ThoughtFarmer - Social Intranet Software
* Cotweet.com - Twitter for Business
* SocialWare - Social Media risk management
* Socialcast - Enterprise Dynamic Signal platform
* Photon Infotech - Social Media Framework, Open Source Development
* Bamboo Networks - Custom Application Development and Rehabilitation
* Starpoint Solutions - Telligent implementation and integration

These partnerships are one piece of our delivery capability, which includes developing on top of Open Source tools that are available as well as the integration of web-based services (facebook, twitter, salesforce.com, etc) in to the enterprise right alongside on-premise software. Each partner has committed to work closely with Dachis Group not just during the software deployment, but during the entire consulting engagement where needed

We have a way to go in order to make Social Business Design a reality—and in order to do this right, we will need to partner and align ourselves with other smart organizations that can help deliver upon the vision. And lastly, we are officially out of stealth mode. I've met many of you in person and know that you're working to move your own organization forward beyond tactical social marketing initiatives. If you are really serious about it, now is the time to talk to us.

Wall of Deliverables [del.icio.us]

2009-10-09T09:45:32-07:00

Great UX resources in one place.

Dynamic Signals For Business

2009-10-08T09:17:08-05:00

Consider how business really gets done. A group of professionals agree to meet for lunch or perhaps dinner to discuss the details of a deal. Each of the members of the meeting is in a constant mode of signaling. Their body language, the tone of their voice, the grip of their handshake, their eye contact. These are each signals that we as human beings send to others. Some of us are better at influencing the conscious and unconscious signals we send. Some of us are more sensitive at picking up and deciphering the signals we receive. Body language experts discuss this signal exchange and measure them in "microseconds" because that's how quickly a signal such as blink, furrow or nervous twitch can be broadcast.
Continue reading on The Collaboratory

Social Business By Design 2.0

2009-10-06T13:32:38-05:00

Social Business By Design

View more documents from David Armano.

If you found some value in the first iteration of "Social Business by Design" you may want to take a look at this current version. It includes double the content including video footage from the Drupal7 open design initiative. Also, you'll notice the slide design has been updated to reflect the current identity system of Dachis Group. There's also additional thinking around business culture and the dynamics between networks and hierarchies. Hope you find it useful.

Clive Thompson on How the Real-Time Web Is Leaving Google Behind [del.icio.us]

2009-10-06T10:04:19-07:00

Nice little piece on how real time web dynamics are influencing search engine industry.

Eating Our Dogfood: Welcome To Our Collaboratory

2009-10-05T09:59:43-05:00

I’ve been with our new company for just about six months now and in this compressed timeframe I’ve grown by leaps and bounds surrounded by very capable people who are looking to move the industry forward. We believe that “social media” (for the lack of a better phrase) isn’t merely the latest communication channel nor a fad but will in fact alter the way business gets done. In order for this to happen, a transformation must take place deep within the organization which manifests itself in nearly every business function. The transformation will result in a business becoming a social business—one that is connected both inwardly and out, and benefits from this in measurable ways. So when it came to our own "Website", our intention was to lead by example. Welcome to our Collaboratory, it’s less a website and more of a digital ecosystem where we will aggregate our collective thinking and engage all levels of participants from clients, to peers to individuals in other ecosystems.   The first thing you may notice in our Collaboratory is a somewhat unconventional homepage. I’ve talked before about the idea about attention moving from “pages” and earning trust in streams.

This is exactly what you’ll see when you visit the Collaboratory. You’ll be greeted by a living, breathing, visual representation of our activities. You’ll be able to see what we tweet, how we work (we currently use 37 Signals Basecamp and Highrise to collaborate), when we signal internally (we use Yammer) and when and what we blog. You’ll even be able to see when we e-mail and to which organizations we e-mail to. Of course we’ve thought this through and can control what gets shared and how, but the concept is to provide a window into how we operate. It’s a glimpse into our “hivemind” you could say.

The stream constantly updates in real time and makes for less of a homepage and more of a dynamic representation or our organization.   Other features that our site includes is a calender of events so you can see where we are giving talks and participating within the industry. All content from blog posts to our events can be subscribed to via an RSS feed. The Collaboratory will act as a meta aggregator pulling in all of our content from blog posts, to videos to bookmarks and you’ll be able to share your thoughts on anything that gets posted. Additionally, there has been quite a bit of chatter in the industry about the idea of Social Business Design and even requests that we firmly define what this is. We’ve also written a whitepaper on the topic and have defined it in short as the following:  

“Social Business Design is The intentional creation of dynamic and socially calibrated systems, process, and culture.”  

Our goal with the collaboratory is to provide a value exchange, This means we are tasking ourselves to provide value to our ecosystem and expect to receive value back. But the exchange is not merely two-way, our hope is that all constituents in our ecosystem benefit from the experience we help facilitate here. This is what value exchange means. The Collaboratory was designed specifically for this—leveraging a Wordpress foundation for rapid content updates and integrating all kinds of technologies which make the stream, feeds and interactions possible. It’s designed to be content rich as opposed to heavy on the special effects, and made to evolve and scale as our needs change. We’re emphasizing substance over flash.   So welcome to our Collaboratory and feel free to eat our own dogfood along with us. It might not sound glamorous, but we’re counting on your participation as we navigate the course toward creating more socially calibrated organizations. See you in the stream.

Designing The Social Business

2009-09-30T11:15:14-05:00

I recently had a chance to sit down (virtually) with Bob Thompson of Customer Think. The result was a 30 minute podcast (listen here). We discussed some of the following topics and more:

Social media as communications channel vs. paradigm shift
Should a social business include collaboration within an organization (Enterprise 2.0) and outside (Social CRM)?
Cultural changes required for an organization to develop a "hive-minded" mentalty
What the CEO should do to help support a shift to a truly social business

If you have some time to spare, have a listen and let me know what you think. Is being socially calibrated a true paradigm shift or the latest evolution of communication? It's a worthy discussion and warrants some definition.

5 Things I Learned From My Trip Down Under

2009-09-29T12:46:02-05:00

I recently returned from a week long trip to Australia via New Zealand. The purpose of the trip was mostly business, I delivered a half day session at the Marketing Now conference in Melbourne—but as with life the lines blur between business and personal and I managed to take a few days at the end of the trip for myself. In both cases, I learned a few things about myself and the world around me...

1. People learn through participation

At the beginning of my session I had attendees fill out the front of index cards with some information about themselves. Name, occupation, likes, dislikes and something personal. I didn't tell them what we were going to do with it, but several times during the presentation I flashed a slide which said "SHUFFLE!" and instructed participants to swap cards, flip them over and leave an anonymous comment. What did I learn? People will participate when given a reason, and it will make for a more interactive experience. I was extremely pleased and surprised to see how eager people were to get their cards with the comments back. They Tweeted, blogged and reached out to others who might have it. This was the point. Share something about yourself. Share your thoughts about someone else. And interact with people who you "know" loosely. These are all dynamics present on the social web.

2. Posterizing could be the next big thing

Well it doesn't have to be Posterous exactly, but it became clear to me in different circumstances that services which allow you to lifestream and federate media will become more useful and popular. In one instance participants at the Marketing Now event created a Posterous page for the event and immediately began aggregating links, videos, photos and slideshows as the speakers delivered content. Then, on the backchannel, the link was shared as was the e-mail address where anyone could add conent. The Posterous site took on a life of its own and is still going. What I really like about Posterous is the speed at which it allows you to share and connect with multiple networks. With a wifi connection I was able to upload multiple photos, video, and even audio files instantly which are shared with my entire ecosystem. I can't help but see the potential for journalists, brands and organizations who want to produce content rapidly and establish a both a home base and distribution network for people to digest that content.

3. That which doesn't kill you...

As cliche as it sounds, pushing yourself every now and then definitely makes you more resiliant. In addition to brutal travel times, jetlag and delivering a 1/2 day session I thought it would be fun to Join Gavin Heaton and Ian Lyons on a motorcycle tour up the great ocean road. It was utterly amazing with breathtaking views. It was also slightly dangerous with hairpin turns alongside cliffs and oncoming traffic not to mention riding a Harley for the first time, on the left side of the road. But the moment of truth came at night when after over 8 hours of riding I found myself having trouble seeing the road (it was pitch dark), while freezing a bit after the sun went down. All I remember is following the Ian's taillight which I could barely see and hoping he wouldn't lose me. But, we made it back in one piece and it was a day I'll always remember.

4. Experience matters

Since Air New Zealand was a sponsor for the Marketing Now event, they picked up the tab and flew me over. It also meant that my trip was significantly longer with the stop in Auckland including all the transfers. However, I was fortunate to be able to fly their Business Premiere Class which was top notch. The combination of attention to detail in the service, having a flatbed and a lounge where I could shower and even get a massage really helped make a 30+ hour trip a not so terrible experience. I found myself thanking Air New Zealand multiple times for providing such a great experience.

5. Be a tourist

With several days dedicated to the conference, there wasn't much to do too much exploration of either Sydney or Melbourne, so doing simple things like going to the top of the Eureka tower or walking around Sydney harbor, while touristy are also highly rewarding if you free yourself from the mindset of being a tourist. It's all about making the most of where you are with the time you are given. And in that mindset, you can learn to appreciate anything.

So these are a few things I've learned. I'm just sharing and if you want to see more pictures/video, go here. And a special thanks to my numerous hosts (Stephen, Siobhan, Gavin, Mandi, Katie, Nicole, Anne, Jim, Patty, etc. etc.) for making a stranger in a strange land feel at home.

How Filter Failure Contributes To Business Failure

2009-09-18T22:09:42-05:00

Watch this video by Bruce Nussbaum, BusinessWeek's innovation editor and veteran employee with the company. It's a fascinating illustration of the shifts in business we are seeing in real time. Media outlets in particular have been on the front lines of this shift. As I've said many times before, the Web and its latest social iteration has introduced ultra deep and pervasive niche content and experiences which directly compete with many business models. There is a unique online destination for everyone, no matter how specialized the interest. The network economy is the opposite of mass—it's niche, fragmented and content distributers are feeling the heat.

There was something about Bruce's talk that stood out to me in particular. While he calls out corporate culture as a main factor which may have contributed to BusinessWeek ending up on the buyers market, it was this insight that really stood out for me.

"somehow BusinessWeek lost deep contact with its readers"
"surveys...in the end they were misleading. The message was, be general—go horizontal"

Now this kind of blows me away. Right now there are scores of vendors telling us to "listen" and selling software to do it. There are several platforms offering dashboards that will allow you to actively hear EVERYTHING your customers tell you. You can post a poll on Twitter in minutes and get responses in real time. So is it possible that surveys contributed to BusinessWeek's situation?

First let's examine what surveys do, They tell us what preferences people have. There is nothing wrong with this, and they can be boiled down to percentages and stats. They can also generate a lot of data, and this is where the idea of filter failure comes in. Obtaining large quantities of data is becoming a commodity due to the technologies available—it's what we do with that data that makes the difference. Finding the signal within the noise which can help generate an insight that leads to perhaps a game changing business model is much more difficult than the act of listening itself. Listening and discernment are not the same.

Here's a true story I recently heard—I have to use generic terms to describe it. A large consumer product company found out about a group of people who were brainstorming a way to solve a problem which was related to this company. Because this consumer product company has people working for it who actively participate in networks, and monitor the space, they found out about it. Someone identified this idea as a signal in a sea of noise—there are a lot of people who talk about this company daily, but this was different. The people who independently brainstormed this idea outside of the company's ecosystem are now talking to the people who work for the company about making the idea into a reality.

No survey needed.

Scenarios like this get me excited because they underscore several tenets of social business design.

1. The company realizes that value can be produced outside of it's own ecosystem and monitors for dynamic signals
2. The company likely has a combination of people, process and technology to filter the signal from noise
3. The company has a open culture in place that realizes value exists outside it's ecosystem and looks to maximize it

Listening is one part of the equation. Being able to discern what's valuable and then act upon it is another. The more I think about the concept of applying a metafilter to your business, the more I'm convinced that it's something that will rely on the combination of not only technology but people. Technology can help us listen to everything that's ever been said about ourselves our company, brand etc.—but finding that one key, game changing insight in a sea of infinite chatter and then actually doing something about it is another story.

How To Spot Social Media Snake Oil

2009-09-15T17:08:08-05:00

Recently colleague Peter Kim and myself found ourselves in close contact with a "social media expert". The problem is this expert was sucking in the feed of my blog without permission, attribution and had more holes in his resume than a slice of Swiss cheese. So how do you separate the social media snake oil from the vinegar? It's not easy, but here's a few pointers:

1. My last job was selling junk bonds
As I mentioned in social media's dirty little secrets—there's a bandwagon to be jumped on. As you do background checks around the people you choose to partner with in social business, you should be able to see ties from the past to what they are doing now. Has this person been working in community or internet related fields? That's a good sign. Was this person selling pre-paid calling cards? Maybe not so good. There are no hard rules here, but some previous positions transfer better than others. Use common sense.

2. I'm an expert, just see the testimonials
Actually there really isn't anything wrong with self identifying yourself as an expert in a field or including things people said about you. However, it's up to you to leverage tools like Google, Linked In etc. to see what others have said or investigate further—don't just take them at their word.

3. I can guarantee you X number of followers...
Anyone who starts their pitch by promising friends, followers, or even positive word of mouth is suspicious. This tells you they''re looking to "sell you" a quick fix which is probably in response to the hype of people placing such a big emphasis on metrics such as this. A social way of doing business is often times a slow burn with complex problems needing to be addressed. There are no silver bullets in an industry built on connections, relationships and the direct empowerment of citizens.

4. Social media will save you
No it won't. Anyone framing social media as the solution to the world's problems is either drinking Koolaid or looking to make a buck. That said, the prospect of doing business in a socially calibrated fashion is bigger than a new communication channel, it's a shift that's causing changes. However, never confuse shift with salvation.

5. Build it and they will socialize
Be wary of anyone selling a point solution that promises instant social interactions, conversations, collaboration etc. Many businesses fail because they were built at the wrong time, in the wrong place or with the wrong tools. Any respectable practitioner will try to investigate where fertile ground is before building anything—and will tell you if there isn't any.

Bottom line, there's unfortunately a short term business model for hucksters out to make a buck at your expense. That's because the field is still young and there isn't much that's been established—it's a bit of a wild west scenerio. Which ironically is a period in time when the snake oil salesmen thrived.

Re-designing Your Business Culture

2009-09-10T10:28:51-05:00

When thinking of any Social Business Design problem, it's important to realize that there are three areas which will define all of the challenges which will need to be resolves in order to move any business toward a more open, collaborative model which benefits all constituents (employees, customers, partners). These areas are:

People
Process
Technology

Right now the industry is focused on technology, which is understandable since advances in it have enabled us to do so much more with less. However, I wanted to focus this short post around a subset of people. It's a thing commonly referred to as "corporate culture".

I'm not interested in debating the validity or not of the term, but it's a fact that every organization has an ecosystem and within the ecosystem, especially on the internal side, people act and behave a certain way within a pre-defined hierarchy. To underscore the "culture" issue, here are a few phrases I hear from the people who work in the trenches of very large organizations as it relates to social initiatives:

"We implemented sharing platform X for employees, but the results are not what we expected"

"We tried social media but we're just not ready to engage customers"

"Our legal department shut that down before we could try it"

Now assuming that the tech products worked and that the organization had some form of process in place, these are by and large people/culture issues at the core. The fact is that you can bring in the best of technologies or have the best of intentions for opening up your organization, but if at the core the organization isn't calibrated for it, efforts cannot scale or potentially be ineffective.

When we think of culture, we apply the notion of what we call being "hiveminded". We believe that a social inclination resides within a company’s culture and tempers planning, decision-making, and work output. Employees approach work with a social mindset; customers expect dialogue and engagement; suppliers anticipate collaboration towards common goals. This "hivemindedness" (think of bees to a hive) is linked to a strong cultural identity which is shared by all. Whether your social initiatives are internal or external, it's worth asking the following questions to determine if your organization is in the correct mindset when it comes to dealing with the changes in work, society and technology.

If we are listening, what are we listening for?
What do we do when we hear something we don't like?
Do we want real connections established between employees, customers, partners?
How can we reward those in our ecosystem who actively contribute?
Do we actually want to engage those who want to engage us? Can we?

Many organizations work in industries which simply can't support some of the things we hear thrown about in the social media space. However, all organizations will have to deal with these changes in some way that will better position them for the future. One of the biggest opportunities right now is tapping areas in your internal ecosystem which can benefit your organization. But buying the best tool out there will never change the hearts and minds of people who have been trained to hoard what they know (and rewarded for it) vs. sharing openly. In a newly emerging network economy a cultural shift will be required for best results.

Social Business Design…birth of an Industry or Back to the Future? [del.icio.us]

2009-09-11T22:52:35-07:00

Social Business Design: Birth of a New Industry [del.icio.us]

2009-09-11T22:50:35-07:00

Six Questions About Six Pixels of Separation

2009-09-05T10:50:03-05:00

Image uploaded by LexnGer

Mitch Joel shouldn't need an introduction, but in the event that you haven't heard of him, he founded a successful Canadian based agency called Twist Image ,is a well known participant at the intersection of business, social media and marketing and speaks on these topics often. When Mitch reached out to me, I promised no softballs, and his thoughtful replies make a great case for why you might want to investigate his new book, Six Pixels of Seperation.

1. The market is currently being flooded with books on business, marketing and social media. Why should someone read yours?

I think the market has always been flooded with books on business and marketing, but that’s another discussion. I know the books you are talking, and those books tend to be written by people giving their perspective of the new online channels either through the lens of a Marketer, Consultant or Technologist. I wrote this book as an Entrepreneur for businesspeople. Using real business language and case stories that really illustrate how business can grow (and yes, that includes making money). This book is the strategy, tools and tactics my business partners and I used to grow our business (as Entrepreneurs) from no employees in 2002 to nearly 85 full-time team members with multiple offices. Basically, by taking part and engaging in the many online channels, my company, Twist Image (with me as “the voice”), was able to build this multi-million dollar business. We continue to grow by still using the same channels. This book is much more about how to think strategically different and engage in a much more human way in this new world. It’s also not a book written by a pundit. It’s from one businessperson to another.

2. Which case studies mentioned in your book are the most relevant to business today, and why?

There are many business examples from people like Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post) to BlendTec (Will It Blend?) to Gary Vaynerchuck (WineLibrary.TV) and even some different ones like Christopher S. Penn (PodCamp and the Financial Aid Podcast), Hugh McGuire (Librivox) and the musician, David Usher. Again, this is not about how they used the Internet to create or further their celebrity… Six Pixels of Separation looks at the business side of it. Why did Huffington use the online channels and not publish a printed newspaper? How did she use the channels to market herself and spread her gospel? The amazing thing about all of these stories (and there are many more) is that the Internet was a platform, a marketing tool, a lead generation tool, a CRM backend, a focus group, a community and much more. We tend to look at the Internet at think, “how can I market my business online?” It’s the wrong question. The Internet can be the place to do business, play with innovation, deal with customer service issues and communicate. Basically, the book demonstrates that all businesses – B2B or B2C and those with low-cost impulse buys versus multi-million dollar ticket items that have a long sales cycle – need to better understand and use the Internet to connect their business. It can be as basic as research and as complex as trying to build your own online social network.

3. You and I were introduced in a way through Joseph Jaffe, you sent me an e-mail after hearing me on his podcast. Are we separated by less than six pixels, and if so how does this benefit people like ourselves?

Obviously the notion of Six Pixels of Separation is a play on an existing saying. We no longer live in a world where there are Six Degrees of Separation (where any one person is connected to anybody else through less than six degrees of separation). We are all intrinsically connected through technology, the Internet and our mobile devices. These digital channels break down the notion of, “it’s who you know,” because we all now live in a world where we can know everyone… and everyone can know us. And, we’re not connected by degrees anymore… we’re simply connected. I don’t need an introduction to you through someone else and you no longer need one to me. The trust of the matter is that I was following and commenting on Logic+Emotion long before that Jaffe intro. By just clicking on your “About Me” link or your Facebook profile would have done the trick. We are all a click (or pixel) away from one another. This means a change for business. This means a change in how you sell people your products and services. This means that building relationships and turning those relationships into a community is more powerful and more important than ever before.

These new online channels give you the full power to make this happen. It’s no longer about how much budget you dump into advertising and PR. These new online channels will work for you as long as you are working for them by adding value, your voice and the ability for your consumers to connect, engage and take part. This new economy is driven by your time vested and not your money invested.

The benefit comes in both social capital and self-actualization. We tend to be attracted to like-minded individuals, so instead of me needing to find people in Montreal (where I live) who are into Digital Marketing, etc… I can now be connected with those like-minded individuals anywhere in the world (like, say, with you David Armano!). I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a game changer (as they say).

4. A reviewer on Amazon said the following after reading your book. What's your take on being compared to Seth Godin?

"One of the other reviewer headlines calls the content "snackable" and I completely agree--I read this book a few pages at a time over the course of several days. It's not a chore to read, it's not boring--the writing style somewhat reminds me of Seth Godin, and certainly the content is of that nature--accessible, trendy, and yet practical and applicable."

I don’t think there is much higher praise. I love and have been following Seth’s work from day one. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him many times over the years and have had him speak at events I was helping to organize. I have spoken at events where we were both being featured, and he was kind enough to provide a very nice testimonial for my book. We are even represented by the same talent bureau in the US. He makes himself very accessible and approachable – it’s a trait many of us could learn a lot from. I think the one thing Seth does overly-great is this: he makes it all simple and easy. Some people may scoff at that, but I think it’s a gift. Business can be challenging and complex, and Seth has this amazing gift of not only explaining it, but he also uses really interesting examples and case studies to highlight his points in a way that everybody can understand (plus, he doesn’t talk down to you – as a reader).

If I’m being compared to that, I’ll take it with a smile on my face from ear-to-ear. The funny part about the book is that I did not write it the way the reviewer above explained it. It was actually written as traditional book chapters. Somewhere in layout/editing, my Publisher highlighted those headers and broke up the chapters into smaller bites. I didn’t like it at first, because I was worried that people might think it was just a bunch of Blog postings slapped together into a book (which it is not), but now that I have a final copy and after reading some of the other reviews, it seems like this format works for the businessperson in 2009.

Now, all I have to do is sell as many books as he does. I’ll take that comparison happily as well.

5. There's a feeling right now that social media has been hyped to the point of irrationality. How is your book relevant to those looking for some grounding in a space filled with opportunists?

Just yesterday, I wrote a Blog posting titled, Attention Radio DJs: There Is Still Hope. Basically, a local talk-show DJ lost his gig after doing his show for 20 years. I know the guy (his name is Peter Anthony Holder) and he is very talented. In his Blog post, he wrote: “broadcasters are like professional sports coaches - they are hired to be fired. And firing is all they can do. They can't kill you. About the only thing I've been surprised about, as this whole situation unfolded, is just how other people who are in the business seemed to be... surprised! You'd think after seeing this type of thing happen time and time again, they'd realize, it's just radio!"

The basic premise of my post was this: Peter does not need a radio station or any other mass media channel to give him permission to broadcast his talk-radio show to the world. We have this thing called, "Podcasting" and anyone can do it for free (or close to it).

I think people like you and I may think that Podcasting is very 2008. And, that’s the point. We may be over-hyping it, but we’re over-hyping it to one another. The average Entrepreneur or professional in an organization is still on the sidelines waiting to see who does what and how it will work.

The whole point of the book was to be pragmatic. Both in what these channels and platforms means to business and also in terms of speaking to those people in the media they are accustomed to (a hardcover business book). Also, writing the book as an Entrepreneur who used these exact channels to build my own business I think grounds it in reality from the outset.

Lastly, the more informed clients become, the harder it is for the opportunists to sell their snake-oil. The book brings them right up to speed.

6. What's the core business benefit to having everyone connected? How does a business benefit from friends talking to each other on Facebook etc.

In a world where everyone is connected an idea spreads because like-minded people share them, versus the world we’re used to where marketers place ads in various positions and places in hopes that those interested parties catch a glimpse. In a world where everyone is connected, products and services have to work (or exceed) expectations. In a world where everyone is connected, it’s hard to make false claims or try to screw one specific group of people. In a world where everyone is connected, people talking to one another about it on Facebook can make, break or help a product innovate.

Marketing and Communications professionals have been trained to listen to what a client wants, figure out a smart, clever and/or impacting way to deliver that message and then go forward, create the campaign and do everything within their power to get that message out there. When we apply this as the overarching strategic imperative, we are all missing one core point: no matter how targeted that messaging is, it's still going to hit a bunch of people who really don't care all that much about it.

Even the best of the best in advertising and communications doesn’t get 50% success rates on any of their campaigns (targeted or mass). This means that the majority of the people we are targeting are simply not all that interested in what we have to say.

Digital professionals need to demonstrate that we can get to that mass people by focusing on “who” those people are instead of “how many” people we pump a message in front of. It’s a big promise, but digital media can deliver on this.

I think these channels demonstrate real value for business today. Value is all about focusing on the small few who can really help your message spread. It's definitely not as fun or as sexy as a billboard in Times Square or a 30-second spot on the Super Bowl, but that stuff does click and groove when you have laid a strong foundation of building, providing and communicating value. It may sound pedestrian, but seriously think about the last time you really focused on delivering value first and then spreading the message far and wide.

Thanks Mitch for taking the time to answer these questions.

5 Reasons To Show Yourself

2009-09-04T11:33:41-05:00

I've recently upgraded comments here which will allow you to do the following if you sign in:

1. Link to an existing profile (Facebook, Twitter, Google, Open ID etc.)
2. Respond directly to other people's comments
3. Delete a comment yourself

So why would you want to go through the trouble of "showing yourself"? Here are 5 reasons.

1. Faces matter
Showing a picture of yourself puts a face to the voice. Even if it's not a picture of you, a visual helps you stand out. Signing in to a profile via the Typepad page will pull in your photo from the specified profile.

2. Speed matters
Sign in once here and you shouldn't have to do it again.

3. Links matter
This is a fairly well trafficked blog, so if you say something interesting and link to your Twitter profile perhaps—it's likely the readers here who I consider to be very high quality will investigate where you link.

4. Conversations matter
The new comment system supports threaded conversations. It will be easier for us to talk to each other and more effective for those trying to make sense out of who said what to who.

5. Participation matters
Those who comment have converted their behavior from consumption of content to participation. Hopefully this small upgrade makes it easier and more enjoyable for you to participate.

I know this isn't a big deal and many other blogs have way more bells and whistles, but I have to be very efficient with the time I spend here and this is a very convenient way for me to evolve the experience here. If you make a commitment to signing in, I'll continue the commitment to do my best here with the resources I have.

Dachis Group Expands Internationally With Headshift

2009-09-02T07:00:00-05:00

It’s been five months since I joined colleagues Peter Kim, Jeff Dachis, Kate Niederhoffer, and Jevon MacDonald in a new venture that we believe will alter the way business gets done. In this time, I’ve immersed myself along with the team in fine tuning the vision we’ve developed which we call social business design—a holistic approach to transforming organizations from traditional infrastructure toward a more open, socially calibrated ecosystem. We believe that this is the only way businesses will be able to scale and integrate what’s now commonly known as “social media” on one side and “enterprise 2.0” on the other. And I’m pleased to announce that we are no longer a team of six people. We’ve just acquired Headshift, a European social business consultancy with offices in the United Kingdom and Sydney, Australia. This is the biggest news we’ve had since I joined the team and I’m really excited about the global opportunities it presents us.

We believe that organizations across the globe will begin to view “social media” as social business and when this happens, integration, scale and adoption will become complex issues which will only be solved through a purposeful act of coordinated activities built upon a solid strategic foundation. Enter social business design as a systematic, comprehensive approach that orchestrates social business across three core areas: business partner optimization, workforce collaboration and customer participation.

These three areas of business possess ripe opportunities for the emergence of improved outcomes ranging from cost savings to new product/service innovations and increased revenue streams. These are outcomes which happen when organizations connect and expand their ecosystems, evolve toward a more open culture and empower employees, business partners and customers to actively participate in their business. The acquisition of Headshift will allow us to service the increasing demand for global organizations to tap into these benefits. It will also allow us to attract the best talent at an international level while creating our own culture focused on collaborating and doing the absolute best work in this space. Headshift’s client relationships include extensive work in: Professional and Legal Services, Consumer Products, Media and Publishing, Health Care, and Government verticals as well as global companies including AXA, British Petroleum, and the BBC. The official press release for this news can be found here. For more on the Dachis Group and our services, visit our current site.

I’m terribly excited by this news as I’ve met Lee Bryant of Headshift personally and was blown away by his combination of intelligence, knowledge of the industry and humbleness as a human being. If you take a look at some of Lee’s presentations, you’ll instantly realize that he’s one of the few people who truly grasps how social will integrate with business at the macro and micro levels respectively. I’m looking forward to collaborating with the entire Headshift team both here and overseas and predict great things for our collective future.

Additional links related to this news:

Jevon MacDonald: We are growing: Dachis Group expands with Headshift
Peter Kim: Welcome Headshift
Kate Niederhoffer: Dachis Group Ecosystem Expansion

Reactions from others:

ReadWriteWeb Enterprise: Dachis Group Acquires Headshift: Say Hello to a Social Business Consulting Powerhouse
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Social Media's Top 10 Dirty Little Secrets

2009-08-28T12:14:17-05:00

Image uploaded by Stinky Pinkie on Flickr

1. Social climbers are attracted to social media
That's right. The same people who climb their way up the social food chain in the real world tend to do well in the social media world. They'll be your friend for a while, until they find someone else with more Twitter followers to tweet with.

2. Most social media is bad marketing/PR
Few organizations really want to engage with their customers. It's just easier to slap together a blog, Facebook fan page or hire someone to tweet about your products and coordinate events that hopefully generate buzz. Participation is hard.

3. Everyone hates internet celebrities, but secretly want to be one
Yup, I'm sick of the whole internet celebrity thing too. But it's funny—sometimes I think the people who slam it the most actually want to be the next social media rockstar, whatever that is.

4. Social media burnout syndrome is real
We joke about it, but it's true. We're overwhelmed by technology which promised to make life better for us. Instead, most of us haven't figured out how to restore the balance we once had in our lives.

5. Group think happens
Yes, social media connects us in wonderful ways. Yes, it can lead to innovation and often does. But if you're not careful, you'll find yourself saying and thinking the same exact things as everyone else in your social system and you'll forget to think for yourself.

6. Your manager hates facebook
A manager's job is to get the most from their people—which is tough to do if you spend most of your time connecting with your friends. You may actually be getting your work done, but tell that to your boss.

7. It's a goldrush
Yes, there's money to be made in social media. Sure there's a few true believers who wouldn't be doing anything else, but lots of opportunists who smell the money trail. It's up to you to separate the wheat from the chaff.

8. Social media is a threat
The reality of it is that social media will displace jobs, people and disrupt business models. Maybe this isn't a dirty secret—but for some, it's become a harsh reality.

9. You're tired of new technology
Seriously, you just want things to slow down a little and perhaps get really good at using some of the great technologies that are out there before you have to jump on another without even knowing why you're jumping.

10. You're over top 10 social media posts
Yes, I wrote this knowing it might generate some attention. And I've fallen into some of these traps, so I'm no better than you. But It's always good to pause, think and turn things on their head. So hopefully, this post will get you thinking—which is never a bad thing.

Twenty-One Top Twitter Tips - Forbes.com [del.icio.us]

2009-08-27T13:53:28-07:00

great business article on Twitter from Forbes.

Brand U.0 on YouTube

2009-08-25T20:16:59-05:00

I've gotten a lot of requests over the past year to have my talk on personal branding called "Brand U.0" posted on YouTube. The folks at the Chicago Convergence have gone ahead and saved me the trouble of doing this. So if you live outside the US in a country that didn't support Veoh, or you just want to watch the video without the pop up ads, you can bookmark the YouTube version.

How social media are like sex - CharlotteObserver.com [del.icio.us]

2009-08-25T06:17:21-07:00

Corporate Blog Design: Trends And Examples | Design Showcase | Smashing Magazine [del.icio.us]

2009-08-22T16:11:59-07:00