New Adventures of an Old SID

Thanks for Following--Will You Move With Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:19:00 +0000

This blog has moved to www.cksyme.org (please click on link to see the new site)

Just a brief note to let you know that I am migrating the material from this blog to my new blog at http://www.cksyme.org/. Even though I am still an "old SID" in a sense, I have decided to take an adventure and leave college sports information. In the last year, my life has changed so that I am no longer able to put in the ungodly hours required of an SID. I am hesitant to leave--I feel I will always be an SID in my heart.

My new blog will have the same essential content as this blog did--updates on social media that pertain to college athletics with a twist of higher education as well. I will continue as a member of CoSIDA and continue to attend conventions. I still consider myself a communications associate, but now I am here to help you be the best you can be.

Thank you for following my blog and I am hoping you will go over to http://www.cksyme.com/ and become a follower there. You can still follow me on Twitter at "cksyme", and I will see you all at CoSIDA in June! God bless you, my friends.

You can find my new blog at http://www.cksyme.org/

Three Steps to Online House Cleaning

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:59:00 +0000

I don't clean--or at least I don't like to clean. One of the benefits of working has been an excuse to hire a house cleaner. This is by far my best ongoing investment in my well-being (hint to husbands). I am not sloppy. Au contraire. I am the opposite. I want a clean, organized home, and just don't have the time to do it anymore. So, to make a big step in my career well-being, I've decided to do the same for my "online home."

Step One: Cull the people I follow on Twitter. Sorry--I am not one of those "mutual following" people. If I follow somebody I want to do it on purpose. What can I say? I am curator, and I need to be able to learn from the people I follow, not just press a button so they will have one more number on their profile. One of my goals for 2011: be picky about who I follow on Twitter. I use Twitter as a source of information and also as a personal place of communication with people I find interesting. Stick to the plan, man.
Step Two: Evaluate my online strategies--and be willing to pull the plug on anything that isn't producing results for now. I am deactivating the Facebook page for my consulting business. Not because Facebook doesn't work, but because I am not ready to put the amount of work into my Facebook business page that it needs to be successful. I need to concentrate first on building my business through my blog. I believe what will win me fans and clients initially is to provide content--content that will help my readers. I don't think Facebook is a good place for that goal right now. When I'm ready to tackle it with all the zeal of a Mari Smith disciple, I will probably revisit that strategy.

Step Three: Focus the goals of getting my business started online with laser-beam intensity. When I first decided to put my coaching business online at www.cksyme.org, I didn't have a good strategic plan. I wanted to do too much. I have many areas of expertise, but I have decided the only way to differentiate myself in the market is to take my most successful skill areas and promote them. In my case, I think smaller is better for now. Reading Chris Brogan's stuff has really helped my focus there.

So there is my first take on online house cleaning for 2011. What about you? Do you have any plans to cut back, refocus or evaluate in 2011? I'd like to hear them.

Give Me More Leaders, Not Followers, in 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:27:00 +0000

Experts prognosticate that 2011 will be a year of adjustment in social media. What are you hearing?

I read a prediction that metrics will be more important in 2011. All I have to say to that is, "well--duh." It's time for those of us that have been bragging about social media to learn how to "show them the money." It's not going to be enough to know how to use social media in 2011, you're going to have to know why you're using it and what the ROI is.

Also, I hear popularity will be replaced by influence as the new social media currency (sorry Bieber). Finally. Those of us who use Twitter faithfully for curation and news feeds have known all along that Twitter makes a much better information pipeline than it does a "gathering place" like Facebook. Matthew Creamer recently wrote in Advertising Age inferring that Twitter may not be a good medium to increase influence. I agree. But the real question is, can Twitter measure "strategic influence"? In other words, if I use Twitter to try and get as many people as I can to follow me in hopes of growing my business, I need to measure that. Or, if I am using Twitter to find important information for my business, I need to measure that. Or, if I am using Twitter for customer service only, I need to be able to measure its effectiveness for that. If I am using Twitter to promote my blog, I need to measure that. One measurement for every use of Twitter is not effective. Measurement has to match your strategic use. Apps like Klout and Twinfluence don't work for me. What are they really measuring anyway?

Twitter, unlike Facebook, is a multi-faceted medium. There are as many uses for it as there are people on it. Just because Seth Godin only uses Twitter to post links to his blog (as Creamer states) doesn't mean Twitter is not a medium of influence for Godin. It just means that Godin is using Twitter as a one-way news feed. Hopefully, he is measuring its effectiveness for that--driving people to his blog--and is not real concerned with his Klout score.

When I look at Twitter, I am looking for leaders--and I follow them. For me, they are people who are providing links to great content that interests me. I don't think Twitter is going to make me rich or famous or popular, but it is my primary pipeline of information to blogs, articles and thoughts from people I want to hear from. I know this is only one of the myriad ways Twitter is used. How do you use Twitter?

Here's to Well-Being in 2011: Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:28:00 +0000

My final book review for 2010 is actually a book that looks forward to 2011. I recently finished Well-Being by Tom Rath and Jim Harter, a book related to the Strengths Finder series from Gallup.

Rath and Harter have taken data collected by Gallup from over 150 countries and found five universal, interconnected elements that shape our lives: Career Well-being, Social Well-being, Financial Well-being, Physical Well-being, and Community Well-being. The thing I really love about this book: the combination of research data and ideas for boosting well-being. The book also has a companion website.

I love books based on data and research. This isn't just somebody's idea of what it takes to have well-being over a lifetime-- this is a bona fide look at what makes human beings all over the world have a better life. Each of the five sections is loaded with data and followed by a synopsis of the essentials and recommendations for boosting each area of well-being. The back section of the book is over 70 pages of charts and closer looks at the research. Each book includes a code to get on the book's website where readers have access to a wealth of supplemental materials.

I think I read the book at just the right time--the end of the year. The book's actually been sitting on my shelf since the summer when I bought it, along with a pile of other books I still need to tackle. I picked it up last week and devoured it. Along the way I also got inspired. I was able to pick up on a few areas where I have really neglected my well-being, and was able to affirm that I live in a great community where all the potential pieces of community well-being are present.

Two areas that challenged me for 2011:

1. Develop a deeper relationship to my community, whether in volunteering or just enjoying the beautiful outdoor trails and parks more often.

2. Widen my circle of close friends. The older I am getting, the tougher it is to do this. But, changing jobs and moving in the last five years has really narrowed my circle of friends. Time to work on that.

I highly recommend the book. And I invite your observations. It's a quick read and less than $14 if you have a Kindle. I bought a copy for all my family members. Happy New Year--may your 2011 be a year of well-being.

The 12 Blogs of Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 15:41:00 +0000

Things are winding down towards Christmas here, so I thought I'd share with all of you my 12 favorite social media blogs.

On the first day of Christmas...follow the thought leaders. These are my favorite people that look ahead, keep me on my toes, and make me think critically about social media/ marketing.

Chris Brogan. If you want to see what's coming, he is the guy to follow. He has a never-ending stream of energy and ideas on several blogs on several topics. My favorite is Escape Velocity designed for people who dream of going on their own. Start with his main page--linked above on his name.
Brian Solis. He also has a must read book I have reviewed here before, Engage. My favorite blog feature of his is the recently launched (R)evloution YouTube channel where he does interviews with movers and shakers like Katie Couric, Charlene Li and many others.
Mashable. You can't not follow Mashable. I put that awkward double negative in there just to emphasize that following Mashable is a no-brainer for social media news. But they do post frequently, so check them frequently. I have their feed on my RSS reader so it's easy to keep up. One of the things I really like about Mashable is that they are multi-dimensional. They have all kinds of news from tech stuff to entertainment.
Social Media Examiner. Not only do they have good blog content, but they also sponsor a number of great webinars. I did their Facebook Success Summit this year and it was well worth the $$. They also have a video channel that is super helpful with tons of "how-to's."
Jeremiah Owyang. I get my dose of research, stats and industry trends here. There are several good "industry" blogs out there but I like Owyang's. He is an associate of Charlene Li (Groundswell and Open Leadership) at Altimeter and they are industry leaders for tech and social media in business. He is doing some writing recently on social media ROI and what's coming in that area. Deep, but good.

Five golden rings...when it comes to basic "how-to" stuff, here's a great place to start:

Mari Smith. If you want to get any info on Facebook, she knows it. She is on Twitter, Facebook, and every other conceivable social channel you can think of. She does great instructional videos and is one of the most friendly, pleasant and engaging people out there. She is the queen of Facebook.
Social Media Explorer (Jason Falls). Here you will get a real honest down-to-earth, "no holds barred" look at the social media landscape. Falls is one of the more colorful people I follow on Twitter. This fall, he added a dozen guest bloggers to his site and they have been producing some great content in addition to Falls.
Tamar Weinberg. Weinberg's blog is called Techipedia. She works for Mashable and produces a blog of tips and strategies for social media use. I like her voice and point of view. Good content and she is one of the bloggers out there that has a good handle on social media strategy.
Liz Strauss. Where Mari Smith is the queen of Facebook, Strauss is the guru of all things related to blogging. She is known for her willingness to promote regular people through her blog--she is a true facilitator of the success of others and a savvy marketer. Her group puts on conferences as well--SOBCon was in Denver this fall. She also has a YouTube channel.
Copyblogger is another group blog dedicated to the art and science of blog writing with an emphasis on creating good content. (hey--content is king). This is a good "how-to" site for honing your blogging skills. Also, a good resource for learning materials.
Higher Ed Marketing: I follow Andrew Careaga because I work in higher ed and he is pretty savvy when it comes to issues at the university level. He is also a music aficionado and shares that on Twitter. Make sure to check out his "Friday Five" on Fridays (of course).

And a partridge in a pear tree..you gotta have some fun in your day. This last blog is a personal favorite.

Dr. BS: The Road Scholar. Dr. Bill Smith is the new media athletic director at the University of Arkansas. His blog is eclectic and informative. One day he will blog on technology and social media and the next it's pure Dr. BS philosophy and history. This guy writes fun and good stuff. He is a real techie and that comes through often on his blog.

With this, I leave you until after the holidays. Our daughters will be home for Christmas and I consider that the greatest blessing of being a parent of older children. Many thanks and blessings to all of you that have read my blog in 2010 and may you have a prosperous 2011. If you have any favorite blogs, share the links in the comments section. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.

image from www.wisdomportal.com

2011: The Year Social Media Comes of Age

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:44:00 +0000

The end of the year is always filled with predictions for the new year, so I think I'll throw my hat in the prognosticators ring.

There has been a lot of talk lately about how social media is growing up. Those of us who declare ourselves to be social media strategists have been eyeing the horizon of 2011 knowing that the dust is still not settled and change will still be the strategist's companion. But there are people out there sailing on the edge of the horizon that can give us direction. One of my favorites is web strategist Jeremiah Owyang from Altimeter. I follow his blog religiously.

Owyang recently shared his forecast for 2011 on Slideshare. The presentation evolved from the Altimeter research on the career path of the social media strategist. The research is free and can be downloaded here. Following are three of my many takeaways from his presentation:

1. Social media is growing up and requires grown-up social media strategists. It won't be appropriate in 2011 to take social media strategy advice from your 16-year old nephew who set up your Facebook fan page. Solution: If social media is your job, invest in professional development or hire help. Social media has arrived and organizations can no longer afford to invest time, people and resources in it willy-nilly. Social media needs to part of an integrated media strategy, and pronto.

2. Training all around! The most successful models of social media integration, according to Altimeter's research, involve a "hub and spoke" model, or one where a centralized unit sets rules and procedures and each individual "unit" is in charge of their own management and implementation.

Mashable had a recent blog on Owyang's presentation at the Word of Mouth conference summarizing "7 Tips for Succeeding as a Social Media Strategist." They noted that Owyang is an advocate of Intel's social media IQ testing of employees, a test to make sure that a certain level of proficiency and understanding is reached before undertaking a social media task. Intel also offers a sort-of social media university for employees as well to get them to that proficient level. This is a great solution for companies wanting to implement the hub and spoke model. This way, you don't need a "community manager," just a headquarters, per se.

3. Know Your ROI. Here is the next frontier in social media expertise. Not just plain old ROI, but an ability to make ROI simple and customizable to the organization. 2010 was filled with ROI tools of every imaginable size and function. I like Owyang's reminder of scale. Tools need to measure what you need them to measure. And cost isn't necessarily an indicator of efficiency.

What's your take on 2011?

image from Google images

Book Review: When the Headline is You

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 13:31:00 +0000

It's December, and I'm doing my monthly book review early before the holiday busyness sets in. This month's winner is Jeff Ansell's When the Headline is You, with Jeffrey Leeson. If you deal with the media at all, or work with those who do, this book is a must-read primer.

Ansell's book is loaded with practical exercises and formulas for getting it right. This book is more than just thought leadership, it can be a guide for an effective media strategy for a one-man shop or a large corporation. Ansell is a media and crisis communications consultant who works with many high profile corporations and and spent many years in the media before changing careers. I think he found the right one. It's worth getting the book just to read the story about what made him switch from reporter to media trainer.

The book outlines a pattern for devising effective interaction with the media from a personal interview to a full-blown crisis. I like his step-by-step process for creating an effective message, even though his "Value Compass" idea is a little clunky. I think a savvy communications person can work through that piece, which is the starting point of the messaging system.

Navigating the media is a scary proposition for a lot of people and this book will be a great help to getting a grasp on the confidence needed to deal with the media. It's detailed and even includes a set of exercises to run though to be a more effective public speaker that I think are very helpful. I recently used them with an executive coaching client to help him prepare for a public forum.

Whether you're writing press releases or meeting the media face-to-face, this book will be helpful. The messaging system is understandable and easy-to-use. It's an unfortunate reality that the best way to deal with a crisis is to prepare for one that may never happen. But the reality is, a good communicator is prepared for unfortunate realities. If you are a communications associate or want to be one, read it! And then, let me know what you think.

Social Media Strategy--You Need A-PIE, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:53:00 +0000

This is is the second of a two-part post from Social Media 101 on building an effective social media strategy. In the first post, we covered the first two letters of the strategy acronym, "A" and "P"--Assess and Plan. See the post here. In this post, we will cover the second two pieces of social media strategy, "I" and "E"--Implement and Evaluate.

"I" is For Implement

You have listened and documented and planned. You understand where you want to go, you have an idea how much time, money, and people your plan will take. You've listened to your stakeholders in-house and out, and you know where to reach them. You've prioritized what you can do now for success and what you will implement later.

Your main tool for implementing your strategy is going to be an editorial calendar. I set mine up with Excel. The editorial calendar should schedule basic updates for each tool (regular updates should have a purpose, such as a poll each Monday), indicate who is responsible for each application and how much daily time should be allotted for each tool. Also schedule time in to the calendar for professional development on a daily/weekly basis which would include setting up an RSS reader of some sort with top social media "how-to" sites, or making up a "social media curator" list on Twitter of those people who tweet out links to good "how-to" articles. Start with @cosidanews. Then, subscribe to http://www.socialmediatoday.com/ daily newlsetter of top blog posts on social media. See the link below in the Facebook section for a good example of an editorial calendar.I do mine one month at a time. Next, a word about the tools.

Five Questions

Basically, there are five questions to ask yourself before picking a tool out of the toolbox:
1. What problem/opportunity/deliverable does this tool solve?
2.What value does it add to our overall strategy? What will it accomplish?
3. What target audience does it serve? (don't guess--look at the stats)
4. Does it fit in our time, resources and people plan?
5. How will we measure it? (ROI)

Basic Tools

Having answered the questions above, scan this list of basic tools. The order of importance and comments have been gleaned from informal research I've done in my social media workshops.
1. Interactive Website: Invest some money in making your website fan-friendly. Remember, the first priority here is fans, not media. You can have a press room on your website, if you like, but this is fan central. Make it user-friendly on the front and backend. This is your home base, the trunk of the communications tree. Make it fun and interactive. There should be icon links to all your social media above the fold. I would also suggest a video player above the fold.

Here are some quick questions to answer about your website: Does the domain name make sense and is it memorable? Do fans know where they are by the design of the home page? Is there a clear path to answers visitors will frequently ask such as contact info, schedule of events and scores? Does the home page include images? video? Are you capturing emails on the home page? Are there stories and links to info other than just straight news stories (academic and community service success stories?) Do you regularly delete out-of-date content?Do you understand and implement basic search engine tactics? Do you have Google Analytics embedded in your website?

2. Facebook page: Where your website is more broadcast in nature, the Facebook (FB) page is engagement central. FB is a place where you will create a community of interactive fans. I won't go into detail about FB here, but delegate this task to someone who wants to do it. FB's mantra is change, so make a commitment to stay on top of it. I would strongly suggest doing an editorial calendar. This will ensure that you are following a strategy of engagement here. If you use Facebook for broadcasting only, it will be a waste of your time. Here's a link to one of the best instructional posts I've seen on setting up an editorial calendar for Facebook. Just remember, slow growth...if you stick to the strategy, they will come. If you sputter, do some research, look at best practices of others, or seek some input from those who know.

3. Twitter: Twitter feeds have evolved into news broadcast tools. I see nothing wrong with this at all. Many people now have Twitter on their phones, and mobile is a great way to get quick updates of game scores, news articles and event feeds. Twitter can also be an effective channel for promotions, when coupled with other mediums. See Bill Smith's last few blog posts on the "Vote Mallet" promotion.

4. Other tools: In the coming weeks, we'll be looking at the social media tool box in the continuing series on Social Media 101 so I won't go into detail here. We'll look at Foursquare and other location-based apps, mobile phone apps, blogging, streaming video, event-day feeds, online video, and several other tools that enhance communications. Stay tuned.

"E" is for Evaluate

When all is said and done, evaluation is a constant. It isn't something you do once, it's a commitment to test and see if what you're doing is working and how to make it better. Return on investment (ROI) is the biggest question mark with social media. Yet, most of the research to this point indicates that social media has a much larger ROI than more costly traditional media. So why are administrators and communicators dragging their feet? The answer seems to be ignorance, or lack or understanding. Very few administrators and communicators are taking the time to develop a well-defined social media strategy that blends with their traditional marketing. Too many times, social media is an "add-on," sort of a, "we'll try it and if it doesn't work, we'll forget about it."

To give you a quick view of evaluation tools, I made up a matrix for a social media summit I did this summer (see it on slide #19 on this presentation).In the right hand column of the matrix is a "free" evaluation tool for each one of the main social media applications. Learn how to use each one to track the effectiveness of your social media efforts. This presentation also gives a good primer for most of the main social media tools.

There are two key questions to answer to guarantee social media success. First, why do we want to do it? Hint: Everybody's doing it is not the right answer. Second, can we commit to doing it right (strategy, resources, time, professional development, and commitment to long run)?

What's your social media strategy?

Social Media Strategy--You Need A-PIE

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:34:00 +0000

When we were kids, we were all told, "You can't start with dessert." But when you come to the social media table, you need to eat your dessert first--you need A PIE. Even when your first inclination is to just start that Facebook page because everybody says you should, stop and build your strategy first: Assess, Plan, Implement and Evaluate.

A social media strategy is a must-do before you ever open the toolbox. It's simple: know what you want to accomplish before you dive in. Begin with the end in mind. The internet garbage pile is filled with organizations that never gave strategy a second thought. After all, "it's free, it's easy to sign up for an account--what can possibly be so tough about this stuff?"

Even if you've already started in social media without a strategy, I highly recommend going through the process. Research shows us that organizations that plan their social media strategy have a higher level of success.

(A)ssess - You have to listen first

• Who are your audiences? Are they online? What social media tools do they use already? Do you have a good website? How often are your fans visiting your website?

You can find out anything you need to know about your stakeholders with a well-defined survey (Survey Monkey or other free tool) sent to a cross section of your fans. At Montana State, we asked our fans to define how many times a week they used Facebook Twitter, viewed video online, read a blog, listened to a podcast, etc. and took our cues from those numbers. We found through Google Analytics that our average fan only visits our website twice a week, so we didn't have to worry about putting up new video content on our player every day. We found we had a very low number of people on Twitter, so we didn't invest a lot of time and effort in using Twitter for anything other than a newsfeed for the time being. You can also get a good idea of where people are by looking at the Ladder of Engagement from Charlene Li's Groundswell as well.

This phase usually takes about a month at the least. You need a good sample of feedback to get a realistic picture of where your stakeholders are at and what you want to accomplish.

Other ways you can listen: convene informal focus groups, follow what other "like" institutions are doing, look at free online research about social habits (great free set of metrics from Exact Target available online at http://www.exacttarget.com/sff/research_part7.html), and follow social media curators on Twitter for good links and info.

After you learn about your stakeholders, assess the state of the union in-house. Do this by asking these questions:
1. How much time, people and resources do we have available to do this? What do we need in terms of time, people and resources to make it work?

2. What is the current duty roster and what will be the new lines of responsibility?

3. What is our current information flow? Are we engaging our fans or just pumping out information? (You will need to acquire good engagement skills if you are currently just a news-only source. Social media will stall out in a broadcast-only model.)

4. What will we need to change about the way we do business to be successful?

(P)lan- First Prioritize

Next, paint a big picture with the information you gathered while listening. Separate your "urgents" from your "wishes." For instance, it may look like this:

Need Now:

1. Current event calendar w/ invitation capabilities

2. Photo gallery-place for fans to post photos as well

3. Videos of post game press conferences

4. Video interviews with coaches and players

5. Place for fan interaction/discussions

6. Real-time game day feed

7. More locations to broadcast our news stories

Need Later:

1. Live web streaming of games

2. Special contests and promotions for social media fans

3. In-house video production capabilities

4. Electronic newsletter

Next, match your resources (time, money, and people) to your urgent priorities. When it comes to this matching exercise, you may find out that you really don't have the time or money (equipment) to do video, so it could get bumped down to the "later" list. That is the value of assessing: you save yourself a headache by not starting what you can't do well.

In the now, numbers one through five can be reasonably accomplished with a good Facebook page. Number six is probably best accomplished with a Twitter hashtag or "Cover it Live" if you want a moderated chat on game day. Twitter is probably the best option for number seven.

I don't recommend using Facebook for broadcasting news stories. If you clutter people's Facebook pages with too many daily posts, they will block you. Choose 2-3 top news stories a week for Facebook (more on that later) and use Twitter or opt-in emails for the rest.

You've assessed, you've prioritized. In the next installment of Social Media 101, we'll explore the implement and evaluate stages. Does your organization have a social media strategy? How important do you think it is to have one?

Can Social Media Become the New Workplace Suggestion Box?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 18:26:00 +0000

The fallout from the recent hoopla over the firing of a female emergency medical technician for saying nasty things about her boss on Facebook has just begun. The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against the ambulance company, and the New York Times online says this case (to be taken up initially in January) could be a "ground-breaking case." This is the first such case that the NLRB has stepped in on.

This isn't the first case of firing due to the "misuse" of social media, by the way. A quick search on Google yields many cases. We've seen hospital workers fired for talking about patients and policemen fired for talking disparagingly about people they arrest. In these cases, the privacy rights of people involved were definitely violated. What makes this one different are two basic facts: the comments were made on the employee's free time from a personal computer away from work, and other fellow employees joined the conversation and added to the fuel.

Initial thoughts around the horn are that this particular employee was within her rights and the company's social media policy violated her right to free speech. Are there any positive takeaways from this initially? Let's consider a couple.

1. Companies have to take a new attitude towards in-house criticism via any public channel.

Good leaders know what to do with negative feedback...and it isn't lash out. Legitimate feedback needs to be heeded and acted upon. Meet the new workplace suggestion box: social media. Smart bosses will use constructive negative feedback online to start a dialogue with employees. The old-fashioned suggestion box was anonymous. The new social media suggestion box is not, for the most part. It takes some courage (and a bit of anger) to put your name on a negative comment you know might lose you your job. Good leaders will recognize the value of taking heated comments and turning them into impetus for change. We need to create a culture in our organizations where everyone can have a voice without being punished.

2. Companies need to write better social media policy.

You cannot write social media policy that protects the company (or its people) from hurt feelings. Social media policy should be designed to do two things: define how employees can use social media more effectively and protect the company's proprietary information. Social media policy devised correctly will teach employees to help protect the company's reputation online, but that has to start with in-house culture. In this day and age, there is no protection for jerks or bad practices. It's all out there. Personally, I think it's a good thing. Maybe the openness of social media will help organizations develop better working environments.

Whatever you think about the use of social media and policies in the workplace, one thing is certain: the dialogue has just begun. What's your take?

image from Google Images

Career Adaptive Evolution

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:20:00 +0000

Change. It never comes easy. Especially when it comes to our careers. According to evolutionists (via Wikipeida), adaptation is the evolutionary process whereby a population becomes better suited to its habitat. This is primarily explained by another popular theory called natural selection in which a species adapts to its changing environment in order to survive. "Survival of the fittest."
What happens when our life environment changes and our career requires adaptation? How can we become better suited to our environment in order to survive?

I am finding out. Recently, I quit my job of (almost) five years as a sports information director to spend more time with my family. We had moved my elderly parents from Wisconsin to Montana almost a year ago as they were at that stage where they needed help and they needed to be around family. That was the right thing to do for all of us. What I didn't realize at the time, was how much time that would require.

Shortly after they got here, we had to put my mom in a nursing home as my dad was exhausted with her care. Shortly after that, he landed in the hospital with bronchitis and depression. It was at that intersection I realized that my 60-70 hour/week job as an SID was going to have to go. I tried making it work for over a year, but I knew I needed a change before I ended up in the hospital too.

I was perplexed. We had uprooted our family for my job, and frankly, I really liked my job. I planned to retire in that job. What to do?

Adaptive evolution. First, I decided that a 40-hour/week job could be doable. Without events 3-4 nights a week, I would have plenty of time to breathe. So, I am keeping an eye on the classifieds, but only for something that really fits my strengths and skills.

In the meantime, I made a list of all the activities from my job I loved and set out to create a career for myself that allowed me to keep as many of them as I could, but still gave me the flexibility to take care of my parents. Consulting in communications and new media is a good fit for me--natural selection--adapting to my environment. So far, I have facilitated one local workshop on social media and am developing a comprehensive Facebook workshop for December. In the meantime, I got a call from a friend who is doing a job search and wanted some coaching. Doors open and I walk through.

Upside: now I have more time to research for blogging and developing workshops. I hope to take those workshops on the road to university athletic departments, communications departments, businesses, organizations, and whoever will have me.

Career evolution. Life throws stuff at you. Are you ready for adaptive evolution? Have you got a story to tell? I'd like to hear it.

Image from flickr by curiousart

5 Tips to Help You "Win the News Feed"

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 03:11:00 +0000

Social Media Examiner's Facebook Success Summit was money well-spent. Information overload to be sure, but there were a few glaring takeaways. The biggest: in order to be truly effective as a business, organization, or personality on Facebook, you must "win the news feed."

Everyone familiar with Facebook knows that there are two views for the wall: "top news" and "most recent." According to Jay Baer, and others, the majority of people access their Facebook pages through the news feed. Good news and bad news for Facebook page admins.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Facebook has an algorithm based on an "edge rank" that assigns a value to a particular post based on three elements: recency, how many comments and likes an item gets (weight), and an affinity score determined by what you and your friends have liked in the past. the higher the rank based on those three scores, the more likely you will show up in the news feed. So basically, posting once a day probably won't cut it, unless your fan only has ten friends. In order to "win the news feed," there are a few tricks I picked up at the Summit.

1. As an admin, like your posts on your fan page. Remember, when you press "like" you will like as an admin, not as the fan page name. Also, ask your friends to like your posts. You don't need to be pushy, but ask.

2. Maintain an editorial content policy that promotes engagement. Social Media Examiner does a great job of this. Amy Porterfield from Social Media Examiner outlined the editorial strategy that helped them grow their page to thousands in less than ten months.She suggests being very specific--how many times a week to post, what the content will be (poll, hot tips, pictures, video, event, special announcements, or 3rd party links, etc.), what times of day to post, and using multiple admins, if possible.

3. If you do a poll or a question, be the first to put an answer as a way to get the ball rolling. Again, liking or commenting as an admin helps the edge rank. There is a cautionary note here to avoid looking annoying or cheesy. If you are the only one liking and commenting on your page, your content is not engaging. Look at some pages that are doing a good job of this on Facebook to get some tips.

4. Spread the "like" button across the web. The code to embed the Facebook like button is easily retrieved from the developer section of Facebook. http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like . It's a quick process--just be sure you know the right width of the hole you need (in pixels). You may have to play with this a little. I suggest you don't incorporate your feed in your like button--it takes up a lot of real estate on your website. I've used it on my business blog, however, as a teaser to get people over there.

5. Be present on your Facebook page. If you are using your Facebook page to push out news items, you won't show up on too many news feeds. That is a Twitter function. Answer comments, pose questions, "like" what your fans post. Add value to your fans and they will add value to you. Give them content that is worth something. Rule of thumb: for the first 30 days of a new page, only post content that adds value to the fans. Don't sell anything and don't promote anything. Just give.

Have you got any other tips?

Just Listen an Absolute Must Read

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:57:00 +0000

I don't review books very often on my blogs--maybe I should, though. I read an awful lot and some of it is okay, but some of it is life-changing. I've read a few such books in the last few months. Trust Agents by Brogan and Smith, Engage by Brian Solis, Networked Nonprofit by Kanter and Fine, to name a few. But this one is up there--Just Listen by Dr. Mark Goulston.
What attracted me to this book initially? Title. I don't listen well--I admit. My top strengths are activator and strategic--I don't listen well. Anyway--the book is fantastic. First off, Goulston trains hostage negotiators. Does that tell you something? The subtitle of this book is, "discover the secret to getting through to absolutely anyone." Anyone? Oh, come on now. But after reading the book, I can see how he can make that claim legitimately.

I knew I was in for a challenge when he said early on:

"Most people upshift when they want to get through to other people. They persuade. They encourage. They argue. They push. And in the process, they create resistance. When you use the techniques I offer, you'll do exactly the opposite--you'll listen, ask, mirror, and reflect back to people what you've heard...and the unexpected downshift will draw them to you."

I waded through the initial explanation of the three brains, the scientific stuff--and then I hit the chapter called, Move Yourself From "Oh F#@& to OK" where the scientific stuff started to make practical sense. I had an epiphany in that chapter. I realized what was tripping me up often in stressful communications was my inability to be able to move through that cycle quickly. Now, I am practicing.

The book is loaded with practical info based on scientific research and his umpteen years of training CEOs, police, lawyers, you name it... It really hit home with me. Learning to move people from "no" to "yes" is a skill we all need.

When you pick up the book, you'll want to read "the power of hmmmm" at least twice. Powerful stuff. Pick up a copy today. Good reading, and may we all become good listeners.

Altimeter Group Report on Successful Facebook Criteria

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 12:01:00 +0000

The following Slideshare presentation came from the Altimeter Group on "8 Success Criteria for Facebook Page Marketing." The Altimeter Group is led by Charlene Li, author of Groundswell and Open Leadership, two books I highly recommend. In this presentation, Jeremiah Owyang and others reiterate the eight criteria that showed up in their study and talk about who is doing it right. Worth a look. Let me know what you think. For me, #3 and #5 are areas I need to pick up--be up to date and participate in dialog. I have a tendency to "post and forget about it," but I know that's not as effective as participating and encouraging dialog on the page.

The 8 Success Criteria For Facebook Page Marketing

View more documents from Jeremiah Owyang.

I've Got Algortihm...Who Could Ask for Anything More?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:35:00 +0000

Because I was forced to take math in both high school and college, I know what an algorithm is. But being able to solve a problem with one, that's another thing. So when SEO people throw around the term "algorithm," all I remember is, "I hate math." What I'm really saying is, "I don't get it."

This morning I was catching up on sessions from Social Media Examiner's Facebook Success Summit and I listened to Jay Baer talk about metrics for Facebook. When Jay explained, in basic terms even I could understand, why the "Like" button is a crucial social plug-in for a website, a light bulb went off. If I install the "like" button on stories, blogs, and items above the fold on my home page, chances are my fans will "like" my web content more often. And then, guess what? Those likes show up on their Facebook page. And the "like cycle" is more like-ly to get traction and land us on that all-important news feed.

For a long time, I had been looking at Facebook through my own feed and not through the feeds of our fans. I look at my wall, profile and news feed day in and day out. But, is our message making it on to our fans' news feeds? Baer's session made me start thinking of ways to make that happen.

Facebook uses an "edge rank" to determine what gets on your news feed and it operates basicall on three factors: recency, how many comments and likes an item gets (weight), and an affinity score determined by what you and your friends have liked in the past. According to Baer, the way to "win the newsfeed" is to pay attention to frequency and content. Baer says if you are only posting once a day, you won't win the newsfeed. The other thing he said that really hit me was, "without the 'like' button, you're nothing." Everytime anybody hits a like button on the internet, from your fan page, to your website, to a blog, whatever, that goes into your fan's timeline. Visualize what that looks like.

Like buttons can be easily installed on your website or blog. You can start by going to the bottom of your Facebook page and looking for the link for developers. Click on that site and search "like button." You may have enough coding knowledge to do this one yourself. Start with this article.

Also, the newsfeed is constantly changing as factors change. So Baer says, pay attention to when people are online. If you only post during business hours Monday-Friday, you are missing a possible 65% of the audience that is on at night and on the weekends.

So, even though my SEO wiz-buddy at Future Farm, Sean Golliher, would tell me I have a lot to learn (and I would agree), I am now more confident that I am starting to get it--even just a little. How 'bout you? Do you get it?

photo from Flickr by tkamenick

I Need a Breather

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:46:00 +0000

It's that time of the year--Homecoming, beginning of basketball season looming, volleyball gearing up, cross country heading to post season, and on and on. My visions of summer have faded and winter sports season is staring me in the face.

The subject of how to deal with the elevated activity came up at this week's SID Chat, and I sort of checked out when the discussion started. Jay Stancil, moderator of the chat, has a way of always bringing us back to the idea of balance. It is a core principle of his. Granted, Jay has a young family, something I don't have. But still, why does the idea of balance just creep up on me like a monster in the closet and then lower the boom all at once?

I haven't been on my RSS reader all week. Why does that fact cause anxiety? Well, it's Homecoming week here, and everything that goes along with that. We're also trying to work ahead and get ready for basketball season. We are getting a new scoreboard this year which will change the way we broadcast and web stream the games (something I'm in charge of). I'm finding myself with a headache at the end of the day. I need a breather.

Remember Stephen Covey's four quadrants from Seven Habits book? Somewhere I've lost this habit and need to pick it up again. I am spending way too much time in quadrant 2--urgent but not important. Time to start shuffling things to the quadrant they belong in and take care of #1 first. Let the rest go for now. When urgency turns into over-stress, I need to make sure I visit my core principles. How about you? How do you deal with the tyranny of the urgent?

No Love for Twitter?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:10:00 +0000

This morning I came across a piece by David Warschawski on PR News Online questioning the hype over social media as a marketing tool. He made a lot of good points, but there are a couple holes in his argument.

First, the good points. He is right in joining the growing group of PR professionals continuing to sound the alarm about mindless social media participation. Implementation without strategy is a path to failure. I also liked his illustration of social media being just a tool and not the tool belt. More businesses and organizations, especially small ones using in-house people, need to hear this. He says,

First, let's address if it is right for you and your organization. You'll be surprised to hear a marketing expert say this, but for many organizations social media shouldn't be one of your top marketing initiatives.

I agree totally. I have a client that I have advised to stay away from social media for the time being. They are chomping at the bit to get on Facebook, but they don't have the time, resources or people to do it right. Besides, their website is antiquated and user-unfriendly. First things first.

Next, the holes. He quotes some statistics from a 2009 survey done by the First Amendment Center about where people get their primary news and proceeds to indicate that only a tiny percentage (1%) of the surveyed people get their news from Twitter and that 49% of people do not trust Twitter as a news source. This is true, I'm sure. I don't get my news from Twitter either. As a matter of fact, I don't know anybody that uses Twitter as a primary news source. I don't think Twitter has ever been touted as a primary news source. That is not its strength. Faulty connection of data to conclusion. The article isn't about news, it's about using social media for marketing.

More statistics followed about how CMOs don't allocate very much budget to social media, etc. I get the point, but I think it's incomplete. How about some accompanying stats about what CMOs are now allocating to traditional media as well, to get a good perspective on how total marketing budgets have changed in the last five years. My guess is that traditional media spending, especially in the area of print, has changed--probably in relation to the amount of budget allocated to social media. But, I agree with the main point, social media is not the pie, it's just a piece.

Social media is evolving. It blew on the scene with huge fanfare and now those of us that use it are refining, honing, tweaking, finding appropriate metrics, strategizing, adjusting...that's what happens when something is new. To dismiss it as a fad, I think, is a huge mistake. There are too many examples of people out there doing it well with huge successes. Yes, it's only a part of a media strategy--I think we all get that. But the reason there is failure out there is not because of the medium, it's because it isn't being used effectively.

Warchawski winds up the post with what I think is his main point, and it's a good one.

Yes, social media is an important new weapon in our marketing arsenal, but it must be kept in proper perspective and used accordingly. So do me a favor—retweet this article and post it wherever you like, but don't do it so you can say you checked off your social media to-do box for the day.

What say you?

Overcoming Twitter's Fleeting Influence With paper.li

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:43:00 +0000

One of the biggest objectives people have about Twitter is the fact that important tweets get flushed by newer important tweets and just plain disappear into the oblivion of the status page. I've tried listing people, using aggregators, notifiers, and whatever means I could, but there are still days that go by without one significant visit to Tweet Deck. Nature of the busy beast.

Recently, I ran across a tweet by @kamichat (Kami Huyse) promoting a new feature called the Kami Huyse Daily. Since she is someone I follow on Twitter regularly, I clicked and read. Kami, by the way, was an awesome presenter at the CoSIDA national convention two years ago in San Antonio and that is where her name first flashed across my screen.

Turns out that the Kami Huyse Daily is a product of paper.li (that's the URL as well), which is a free (currently anyway) tool that aggregates your daily twitter feed into a slick-looking online newspaper. Yes, they do add some of their own ads and such, but it is a great personalized visual.

For now, you can't control the content per se in your daily paper. After some messing around and messages to Kami (which she graciously answered), I found that the paper pulls from you and your followers only, and the prominence of messages are based on what you re-tweet and how many reads URLs get. I'm still learning about the tool, but I think it's a great way for tweeters and followers to get a summary of the day's tweets at times when following Twitter attentively is not possible.

Thanks to paper.li for the fun tool. Try it out--it's free and you control who sees it. There is a public/private option when you set it up. Have fun. Let me know what you think.

Branding Should Be a Sensual Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:59:00 +0000

During a spirited discussion on branding the other day, a friend told me, "good branding should create a sensory experience--it isn't just about messaging the right slogan." I agreed. A technical definition of sensory includes, "of or relating to sensation or to the senses" (Merriam Webster online). Branding should appeal to our sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. We agreed much of the information floating around out there on branding has to do strictly with messaging, or spin doctoring with an emphasis on consistent presentation.

But I wanted to take the discussion one step further. I asked, "shouldn't branding be a sensual experience?" Whoa. Then, the subject of sex came up in the conversation. You know, sex sells anything? Well, that wasn't exactly what I was talking about.

Sensual actually means, "relating to the gratification of the senses or the indulgence of appetite" (Merriam Webster online). Do you see the subtle difference between the two? One has to do with overall design, the other draws an emotional response.

Yes, branding is more than logos and slogans and vain repetition. But I hear a lot of discussion about written messaging and very little discussion about the importance of the rest of the presentation package. For instance, in a workshop last summer on branding, I heard a communications associate talk about the amount of time they spent devising talking points and media strategy, only to have their website and printed materials sport two completely different graphic presentations. We had (emphasis on had) an eatery in town that specialized in toasted sandwiches, but every time I walked in there, all I could smell was burned bread. That evoked a response alright. I kept thinking, "why don't they just turn on the ventilation in here?" Yes, smell solicits an emotional response. I quit going to the sandwich shop and this last year they closed down.

Yes, branding is all about messaging. But what kind of sensual messages are we creating?

image from Flickr by Lella Sodre

What Geo Apps Can Do For You - Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:27:00 +0000

This is the second part of a piece on geoapps written by guest blogger Cassie Cage (@cassiegage). Read part one here. Thanks to Cassie for all her valuable insights. Image from flickr (parapente)

Someone who is experienced in the use of geolocation tools is Daniel Gordon (on Twitter: @DanGordon), President of Samuel Gordon Jewelers in Oklahoma City. Gordon is a prominent figure in social media, and uses geoapps to promote his business, but also uses them to enhance his experience at other locations.

“I recently took my family to a Texas Rangers baseball game and checked-in on Foursquare and Gowalla,” Gordon said. “The ability to see whom had checked into what fan store and food venues the most gave me the information I needed to make the best decision on what vendors were the best for my attendance and therefore purchases.”

For those that are using these apps, what are some things that can be done to engage fans?

1) Work with your university

What better branding than to work with your university’s marketing/communications department to branch geolocation into a campus-wide initiative? You’ll both benefit in the long run. Foursquare recently launched its Universities campaign pilot program (http://foursquare.com/universities). You can register but not all schools will be accepted just yet. You can still go through the traditional setup process to add your schools until more schools are accepted. And, you may choose to go with a different geolocation provider.

2) Claim your venues

In order to take control of your athletic facilities; you need to claim your venues. Why? Again, you’re trying to establish a brand and geolocation presence. You really can’t do that if Super Fan is the one broadcasting behind your name.

3) Stick to promoting your venues, not specific events

Use geolocation to promote the venue and not every specific event happening at the venue. People need some consistency if you expect them to catch on. There’s an option to include text with check-in details. Leave it up the user to post why s/he is there.

4) Use specials to engage

Once you claim a venue, you have the ability to broadcast “specials” that may pop-up when a user checks-in at that venue or one nearby. Have a home volleyball match on the same day as a home soccer match? Cross-promote using this function. You can also use the specials function to provide discounts and/or other promotions for frequent users. You’d be surprised at the business already offering such discounts. Some of those may be nearby. Example: When you check-in at or near Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, a special pops up that encourages you to stop by the front lobby to pick up schedule cards and posters. Simple to do and gives people a reason to visit the venue.

5) The game aspect

One thing Foursquare offers that not all geolocation apps do is a competition aspect. Users can earn badges and become the mayor of venues. While this is intriguing to some, I really feel the use of specials and pop-ups with locations nearby is a better benefit. Some people are in it for the competition, but others aren’t. The best way to please both is to offer deals to both sides (reward after x-number of check-ins and/or reward for becoming mayor of a venue).

6) Align the brand with its belief(s)

I bring this up keeping in mind that some schools have affiliations that need to be taken into consideration if you decide to move forward with promoting check-ins on a specific geolocation platform. If you’re a religious-based institution, with badges like “bender” and “crunked”, Foursquare may not be for you.

7) Don’t spam and don’t become automated

Be careful that you’re not over-doing. All of us hate getting spam in our e-mail inboxes and the same holds true for geolocation apps. When you become automated, it turns into advertisement. While use of geolocation can be used as a form of advertisement, just making it generic and impersonal turns off users.

8) Connect with other social media

One of the things I love about Foursquare is the ability to send that information directly to Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully, your users are doing the same so others can see where they are and it promotes you (and your events). But you should be promoting what you’re doing with geolocation apps on those platforms as well.

9) Encourage your fan base to participate

Users have the ability to leave to-dos and tips, and you should encourage them to do so. More participation from fans allows them to feel more involved in the process. Plus, different individuals may provide difference experiences for others to enjoy.

10) Use public address/marketing/promotions to promote geolocation

People won’t know what you’re offering when it comes to geolocation apps unless you tell them. It’s just like promoting another event. Check with your geolocation tool developer to see if they offer any free signage or other promotional items.

11) Encourage local businesses to participate

Use your connections and local Chamber of Commerce to encourage local businesses to provide gameday specials or anyday specials and discounts via geolocation apps. Why? People are more likely to keep coming back (to you and them) and it’s free promotion for everyone involved without breaching sponsorship contracts. If that restaurant’s close to campus, chances of an athletic event special popping up are high.

12) Understanding the analytics and what to do with them

Foursquare provides analytics and it’s a great way to see a breakdown of your use of the app. But what does it mean for a business? Depending on how you want to use it, the analytics function provides you with a qualitative value to assess usage of the app. While statistics may not always tell the whole story, they offer invaluable insight that’s measurable.

Some believe 2010 is the year of geolocation, much like 2008 was the year of Twitter. It has great benefits, especially for athletics. You just have to develop a plan that works best for you and your school. And the best part? Fan interaction and customer service can be accomplished with little or no money at all.

Make the Most of Your Brand with Geolocation Apps

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:05:00 +0000

I am happy to introduce another guest blogger from the SID world: Cassie Gage is the Assistant Athletics Communications Director at the University of Oklahoma and someone I avidly follow on Twitter (@cassiegage). Cassie is a wiz at social media stuff and she has consented to write a two-part series here on the relevance of geolocation applications to athletics. You can follow her musings here: http://cassiegage.showitsite.com/

There’s been much discussion regarding geolocation applications such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places to name a few. While the use of these apps on a personal and business level is common, the question remains how these geolocation tools can be used to benefit athletics. The answer is simple really and lies within functions already provided.

The best way to formulate a plan for using geolocation to benefit athletics lies within business marketing models. Money should never limit you from providing the best customer service experience possible. And while sure, there are options out there to really personalize what you want to accomplish, don’t feel turned off by the notion that you need to throw thousands of dollars into this.

Does it take time? Sure. What doesn’t these days? Is everyone in your department going to jump on board? Absolutely not. Will your fan base take to it immediately? Some more than others. Is everyone going to participate? Nope (and we’ll get into why later). Bottom line is, as with everything else, you have to start somewhere.

Will geolocation be the tool of choice in 10 years? Maybe not. Something better, greater and cooler might come along. So, why jump on it now? It’s all about brand establishment and getting in the game early – before the school across town beats you to it. Let’s face it, in an age where social media can make or break your brand in a matter of seconds, being reactive makes you come across as disengaging or uninterested in your fan base.

Someone who is experienced in the use of geolocation tools is Daniel Gordon (on Twitter: @DanGordon), President of Samuel Gordon Jewelers in Oklahoma City. Gordon is a prominent figure in social media, using a variety of platforms to convey his personal and professional messages.

“I use it as a promotion tool for my business,” Gordon said. “If someone is in the nearby vicinity, say for instance across the street at the mall, they can see that I am adding a valuable incentive to at least stop by and check-in on Foursquare. That attracts people to see what we have to offer.

“Checking in is the next layer built upon the social layer and it helps businesses and venues get endorsed if they are places that add value and are of interest to peoples' lives. It can attract attention to an otherwise unknown event and be a great tool for a person to see something they would like to attend they might have otherwise not known about. It's a win-win for everyone because in the end you are creating more value to your potential audience you haven't even discovered yet.”

Go ahead, search business geolocation tools and see what comes up. Over 375,000 results show up on Google. There’s a lot of information out there, and some of it, quite honestly, is over our heads. So how do you read through all of the technological jargon there and decipher what’s best for your department?

First, you have to develop a plan. What’s your goal? Fan experience and interaction should be at the top of that list. Who should be involved? If you have a marketing staff, they should definitely be on board. When it comes to geolocation and how it’s used, sometimes what you want to accomplish solely falls on the marketing/promotions side, but I’m of the belief that for it to be effective, communications needs to do its part to help promote. How much time are we willing to commit? If you can’t give it the time it deserves, it may not be for you. You’ll lose users if you fail to commit to the project. How should geolocation be used in regards to student-athletes? Very carefully.

While it may seem like a great idea on the business side, you can’t ignore that the other end of the equation is personal. And, that’s where things can get tricky. Why? Not everyone likes the world (or even just their friends) knowing where they are all the time or when they’re not at home. It doesn’t matter if it’s the biggest game of the century. Some people are just not interested in providing such information.

College sophomore Ben Coldagelli (on Twitter: @BenColdagelli) was first turned on to Foursquare in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wis. The benefit of using the tool was great in a city where geolocation apps were used to their full potential – providing business patrons with kickbacks. So, why has Coldagelli’s participation in geolocation declined?

“I’m to the point where I feel like checking in somewhere without a reason is a little too “big brother” for me,” Coldagelli said. “I don’t need people, even my friends, to know where I am all the time.”

This also ties into student-athletes use of geolocation. While most apps provide the ability to turn-off the broadcast function, it’s usually a setting that has to be done with every check-in. I’m of the belief that student-athletes have to make their own decisions regarding social media. Does it cause all of us headaches sometimes? Yes, but as a Generation X-er right there on the Generation Y line, I feel the pros of social media out-weight the cons. Some schools completely ban it altogether, and maybe that’s what’s best for you. But, if not, education is key.

Student-athletes need to know that even with that function turned on; it may still be possible for people to know where they are. At the doctor? No one needs to know. Superstar football player eating out at a restaurant? Does he want to be signing autographs for two hours? There’s a time and a place for checking-in and it applies to all of us (I don’t check-in at home or at the bank or anywhere that I consider extremely personal).

Simply put, checking in is a personal choice.

You also have to remember that much like social media; geolocation usage is based on demographics. In an article on Mashable, one study by Forrester showed location based service users are more likely to be 19-35 year-old, college educated males who are influential among their friends and family. But, don’t just target that age group because there are plenty of people outside that demographic that use geolocation apps.

Part Two Coming: What can geoapps do for you? By the way, how are you using them?

A note from Cassie: Please note most of these suggestions are based on my personal use of Foursquare, which is my geolocation app of choice. The suggestions listed may vary by app and some apps may not offer them at al. For more information on how to setup Foursquare to benefit your school, visit http://foursquare.com/businesses/ or http://foursquare.com/universities.

John Mayer Teaches Us a Big Lesson by Quitting Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:20:00 +0000

The news today is that John Mayer is quitting Twitter--again. Mayer, a pop singer of large stature, amassed 3.7 million followers on Twitter as a prelude to his recent "Battle With Studies" tour promoting a new album. He made news when he invited University of South Carolina fans to a free concert last February to launch his tour. But now, he says he's going back to the studio so he is quitting Twitter, closing his account and has vowed to communicate with fans via his blog.
There is a big lesson here for those of us who use Twitter for marketing and PR efforts: Twitter can be successful for short term campaigns. I have a hunch Mayer didn't just get up one day last week and decide he was tired of Twitter. My hunch may be wrong, but my guess it was an innovative way of using the mass texting service to gain a quick following for a short-term campaign...and it worked.

My other hunch is that Mayer is not going to lose popularity because he is quitting Twitter. His celebrity status is not particularly enhanced by Twitter, although it was probably a calculated contributor to the success of his latest tour.

I wonder what implications this has for Twitter as a marketing tool. Are we going to see more of these short-term campaigns on Twitter or does this hamper the very spirit of the 140-character universe. It will be interesting to see if this blazes a path for others.

The Three Scariest Words in Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:02:00 +0000

User-generated content. There, I said it. What is it about those three words that strikes fear in the hearts of communications professionals and C-suite dwellers everywhere?

By Wikipedia definition, user-generated content refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-users. Time Magazine highlighted this shift in content generation by declaring "You" to be the person of the year in 2006. This was Time's explanation for the choice:

It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

I can see why this makes some people nervous. When social media first emerged, many people thought it was only a fad associated with youngsters, but we have since found out that is not true. As Brian Solis said in his book, Engage, nobody can afford not to engage in social media. So why does UGC (everything has an acronym, you know) strike fear into our hearts?

1. We can't control what other people say about us. This is numero uno. Once you open the door to others who aren't required to tow the company line, it's open season. How can we possibly become comfortable with that? Maybe comfort isn't the issue. Maybe we just embrace the upside--people staking a claim in our product/service by their voice being heard. What empowerment! Giving our fans/stakeholders the mike is scary, but it can mean emancipation for everybody.

I was on a social media panel this summer where one of the audience members asked a question about what to do when somebody says something bad about you. The presenter next to me leaned over and said, "you need to hear that stuff--who thinks they're doing everything right?" But I get it. It's kind of like the belief that I can say I'm fat, but nobody else can. But in this new user-generated culture, those revelations come from every corner. Are you willing to let others talk about you? Uncomfortable? Yes. Necessary? I think so. How's your comfort index with user-generated content?

Three Reasons Why NASCAR Has a Case of Mistaken Identity

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:01:00 +0000

NASCAR is looking for a new chief communications officer. But, according to chief marketing officer Steve Phelps, they are not interested in hiring an "SID from somewhere." This comment raised a lot of ire in the SID world, mostly because it was followed up with,

"This will be a leader in the communications business in strategic thinking, creativity, someone who’s a proven and trusted brand thinker.”

Thus implying that there are no SIDs that fit that description? I suppose this was his way of saying that NASCAR was trying to distance itself from being a "sport" and wanting to identify itself, according to Phelps, as a company with a structure more like "Yahoo or ESPN."

Phelps' comment did not hurt my feelings. Sorry fellow SIDs. It did make me wonder how Phelps ever got to be the CMO at NASCAR. He evidently is low on the PR side of the job, so I hope their new CCO is a good PR person with a strength in reputation communications.

There are three reasons why we need to look at this comment a little closer.

1. Most sports information director jobs don't include many of the NASCAR objectives for the job:

"... stakeholder relations, digital and social media, brand/consumer marketing, corporate marketing/licensing, NASCAR Media Group/entertainment, and public affairs/crisis communication."

We become fluent and expert at what we are required to do. But with the explosion of social media and the new marketing culture, some of that stuff bleeds over into our arena. The challenge to find more time to learn the skills and then more time to implement them is overwhelming. Some of it falls to marketing and some of it to us. But unless it's a smaller school, most of this probably doesn't fall to the SID anyway. This was where Phelps' statement really fell short. I don't think he really understands what most SIDs do. NASCAR is looking for a PR professional, plain and simple--not a media relations director. He was right in his statement, but I think he failed in how it came across.

2. Many SIDs today are not fluent in the skills NASCAR is looking for. Yes, there are a handful of SIDs out there whose jobs involve the above, but mostly this sounds like PR stuff to me, or marcom. More companies are looking for communications officers that have a strong background in marketing and public relations. How many of us have that? If we do, how many of us are required to use it in your jobs? I don't hear too many SIDs talk about branding. Mostly because it's not our job.

3. CoSIDA is undertaking a branding campaign to encourage SIDs to become more holistic in their approach to communications. Are we buying in?
This is the part of the equation that is our responsibility. My understanding is that when John Humenik came on board as the executive director of CoSIDA, this was one of his mandates. If you look at CoSIDA's strategic initiatives (how many of us have?), you can see this footprint. In those initiatives, it's apparent that CoSIDA is working to establish sports information directors as not only communications professionals, but also as leaders in the area of communications to outside organizations. We want to be the people that organizations and companies see as strategic thinkers and thought leaders in the area of communications. Is there a little vibe of resistance to this in our ranks?

I witnessed some of this at the convention this summer. Quite a few people I talked to were not ecstatic about our convention being absorbed into NACDA. This was interesting to me because I think the idea is pretty exciting. It might be a great way to showcase our brightest and best people and ideas to the rest of college athletics, many of whom see us only as a bunch of Oscar Madisons. But to many of us, CoSIDA's convention has become a family reunion of sorts, and we aren't excited about hanging around with the people we work with everyday on our vacations.

Change is always tough, right? I know SIDS who are okay with the Oscar Madison frame of reference, and many who would be over-qualified for NASCAR's highfalutin communications position. One of things I've always liked about being a sports information director is that we are diverse. Aren't we a passionate people who are willing to work too many hours for too little money because we love what we do? Here's to you, sports information directors. Oh, by the way, I think the NASCAR audience just dropped off a bit. Better get that CMO busy recapturing those stakeholders.

Locations Apps and Student-Athletes: A Recipe for Trouble?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Syme) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:05:00 +0000

When Facebook recently instituted Places without any input or permission, I was disappointed, but not surprised. Like many of you, I value my privacy, but understand why Facebook does what it does. We are all willing participants.

But when it comes to protecting the privacy of college student-athletes, I have a bigger concern. One of safety and risk. Like many colleges, we have, from time to time, had student-athletes pursued by fanatic fans. Nothing tragic yet, but it's there nonetheless. The bigger the public profile, the more they are at risk.

Tonight I am meeting with the track and field and cross country athletes to talk about social media privacy settings and how to protect yourself. I thought I would share a basic outline here of what I am going to give them.

1. What Facebook Places is and concerns:
-Friends can check you in to places you are not,as a joke
-Friends can check you in to places you are where anyone can find you
-Potential stalkers can find you if you have friended them unknowingly

2. Make sure you have Facebook Places disabled in your privacy settings.
I am going to walk them through this demo.

3. Discussion about Foursquare and the potential hazards for letting anyone and everyone know where you are.
-Foursquare can be more dangerous than Facebook Places because of the Twitter and Facebook interfaces that allow people to see where you are. Make sure, if you use Foursquare, that you don't enable/link to Twitter or Facebook. Once you check-in on Foursquare, anyone on Foursquare can see where you are. There is an "off-the-grid" option you can check so people don't see where you are, but it's not default and needs to be checked everytime. Kind of defeats the purpose of being on Foursquare unless you're just there to see where everybody else is. (Thanks to Cassie Gage for the info on Foursquare.)

4. Discussion about Twitter and protected tweets.
-Student-athletes can protect their tweets which allows them to have only real friends following them.

5. Discussion about not friending media on Facebook and blocking them as followers on Twitter.
-This is a hot potato at a lot of schools, but we are asking our student-athletes to monitor their Twitter followers and block all those that are not their friends. With media, even if they know them, we are asking them not to friend them or let them follow.

Bottom line for us--we don't want to ban our student-athletes from using social media (you really can't anyway), but we want them to be safe and smart as they use it.

What are you guys doing at your schools?