Social Media Blog by Michael Brito

Silicon Valley Tweetup for a good cause

Michael Brito — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:27:14 +0000

This will be my first of many tweetups that I am planning here in Silicon Valley. It’s great to meet other business professionals here in the valley that use Twitter; and even greater when we can help the surrounding communities at the same time (we are partnering with several non-profit organizations). The first tweetup is scheduled for July 23rd from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM at Rosie McCann’s Irish Pub in Santana Row. Here are the details of the event. Please consider joining the community or following the Silicon Vallley Tweetup Twitter handle. I look forward to seeing you there.

Social Networking Conference: Day 1

Michael Brito — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:29:14 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised at the turn out from today’s social networking conference in Beverly Hills 90210. I met some really cool people from a very diverse group of companies. Here is a quick recap of the speakers and you can also check out the pictures below as well:

Session 1: Travis Falstad of Electronic Arts talked about social networking in the gaming environment.This was of keen interest to me since I am a serious gamer and Madden (on the Playstation) expert! “EA Sports, It’s in the Game!

Session 2: I talked about building brand loyalty on the social web.

Session 3: Adam Pisoni, VP of Engineering at Yammer talked about enterprise communications and social media.

Session 4: John Ploumitsakos from Google talked about the changing landscape and trends on the social web.

Session 5: Jeff Bruce, VP of Marketing for Dow Jones talked about the B2B strategies using technology and he touched a little on CRM.

Session 6: Sumaya Kazi shared what Sun Microsystems is doing in the social space; and believe me, they are doing a lot!

Session 7: Clara Shih gave an exciting presentation on the emerging technologies and strategies using Facebook and Twitter. I recorded a brief segment of her presentation below.

Here are some photos of the event.

The 5 Eras of the Social Web

Michael Brito — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:26:50 +0000

Tonight, I attended the Third Thursday: Social Media in Marketing & PR meetup at SAP in Palo Alto. Jeremiah Owyang spent about 30 minutes explaining the new Forrester Report that examines the social web, tools & collaboration, and – what I found the most astounding, the era of colonization. Here is a quick glimpse or you can buy the full report here.

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Social Media Marketing will soon become a commodity skill set

Michael Brito — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:06:06 +0000

After doing a little research within my own communities on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, it is clear to me that this space will soon be inundated with even more social media consultants and experts. <— like we need more of those.

The same thing happened almost ten years ago with search. Take a look at the job boards today and the resumes posted there; I am sure you will find a several hundred, if not thousands, of people with similar skill sets related to paid search, search marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click, etc.

It’s probably already happened with social media; and the question we need to ask ourselves is “what can we do to differentiate ourselves from everyone else, especially during these tough economic times?” What I think will differentiate the common skill sets of blog design & consulting, twitter expertise, RSS gurus, social search, etc. is the following:

Community building: not in the form of thousands of twitter followers or RSS subscribers. Community building in the form of direct, one to one interaction between a brand and its constituents with the end result being brand affinity, trust and strong relationships. Not only defining the strategy but flawless execution.

Global Social Media: Launching a social media program and consumer engagement here in the U.S. pretty easy. We know and understand the tools that people use to interact. The skill set that will set itself a part from others is the knowledge and expertise of launching global social media campaigns that are measurable. This would require a keen understanding of the different geographies, the social tools, and social networks; and more importantly, the culture dynamic is it relates to the social web. Easy to talk about; difficult to execute.

Integration: integrating social media into existing marketing campaigns and programs is not easy. A Facebook app, a blog and an associated twitter account doesn’t count either. True integration should happen at every single customer touch point (i.e. the web, outdoor, channel, retail, etc.) and only a few companies do this well (ie. Nike, Virgin America). A person that can define a strategy that accounts for each touch point and ensures a tight social integration will definitely be a hot commodity for any business. Again, it boils down to execution.

Am I off base here? Please tell me what you think. Hat tip to Tatyana Kanzaveli for giving me the idea for this post.

Interview: Social Media Activation and the U.S Air Force

Michael Brito — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:44:15 +0000

I served 8 years in the Marines. Well, more like 6 and then I spent 2 years in IRR (Inactive Ready Reserve) which basically means that if all hell broke loose somewhere on the globe and my presence was needed to “kick butt and take names”, I’d have to go, contractually. With that said, I have always had a soft spot for my brothers/sisters who have served or serving now to keep our country free; and allow me to do what I do best.

A big thank you to Major Dan Ward of the United Stated Air Force for kindly answering my questions; and putting some deep thought on how the Air Force can/should use social media for more than just a recruiting tool. His insights are quite amazing and I want to quickly highlight one of his quotes below about social media and how it can create “ambient intimacy” and “that persistent, real-time connection between people.” Right on Major. Hat tip and salute to you sir.

How long have you served in the USAF?

I’ve been on active duty for 15 years now - it’s been a great ride so far.

What different types of jobs have you done while serving? What do you do now?

I’m an engineer and program manager by training, so mostly what I do is help shepherd technology projects through the development process. My assignments range from research laboratories, program offices and an intelligence agency. I also had the amazing opportunity to be a full-time student for 18 months, which was a blast. I recently got reassigned to the Pentagon, in the Acquisition Chief Process Office, where we’re trying to improve the outcome of the Air Force’s technology development efforts.

Should the US Military have an active presence in social media? If so, in what capacity?

Yes yes yes! We should use things like twitter to collaborate, to discover and develop technology solutions and, most of all, to build communities. So many of the problems with DoD system development projects could be improved if we could just make it easier for people to connect, in real time and with fewer filters and barriers.

How important is it to build community in social media versus just using it as a recruiting tool?

Yeah, right now the military primarily uses social media for broadcast purposes, which is only half of what social media can do (and it’s the less interesting half, frankly). Actually, we’re trying to use it better, but we’ve got a ways to go. If you want to hear about what the DoD is doing with SM, check out this article on OhMyGov.

What’s more interesting, though, is what we’re NOT doing with social media. Specifically, the military is not letting me use social media from the computer on my desk. The network I’m on at work blocks Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and a huge percentage of blogs.

Of course, I can get around some of the blockages easily enough, without violating any policies. I sometimes tweet via Twittermail – nothing wrong with that. If I had a cool enough cellphone, I could use it to watch YouTube videos from my desk. I can leave my office and go home or go to the base library to get access to blogs and Facebook during the day. But that sort of misses the point, doesn’t it? Part of the key to social media is the “ambient intimacy” it creates, that persistent, real-time connection between people. And that’s the special sauce that’s missing from the way the military uses social media right now. I’m confident we’ll get there eventually - it’s just a question of how long it’ll take.

Now, I know a lot of this stuff is migrating to the cellphone, which makes all the network restrictions less of an issue. Ironically, I’m a bit of a late adopter when it comes to shiny new techno gadgets. I don’t do much texting on my phone. I don’t surf the web on my phone. That’s partially a financial decision (iPhones are expensive, man!), but it’s partly a philosophical position too. I really try to make sure I’m aware of what the latest & greatest gadgets can do, but I also want to be in tune with the limitations and capabilities of ordinary folks. I try not to assume that we all have iPhones. That’s because it’s not enough to focus on what the early adopters can do – in order to get a critical mass of people involved, we need to focus on what’s available to late adopters like me (i.e. the cheapskates).

What challenges have you had trying to activate social media in the AF?

Well, like I said, the computer networks on most bases block a lot of the social media sites, like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Blogs. I can understand doing that for classified systems or forward deployed locations where bandwidth is limited and expensive. But for an unclassified network on a big stateside base - really, there’s no good reason for blocking social media sites. There are concerns about network vulnerabilities or about people wasting time watching silly YouTube videos, but none of those concerns really stand to to close inspection, in my opinion. The challenge, then, has two parts. First, to address the concerns and explain that accessing Twitter, for example, doesn’t make the network more vulnerable than it already is. Second is to explain the benefit. All too often, the people who write network security policy think the only thing you can tweet about is “I’m eating a sandwich now.” But it can do so much more than that!

I’m working on a “social media manifesto” right now, and I’ve titled it Twitter Is Mission Critical. The basic idea is that blocking my access to social media is limiting my ability to do my job. Not sure when or where we’ll publish it, but I’ll keep you posted.

Are you on twitter? What is your handle? If so, what can people expect to learn by following you?

I totally am - my handle is TheDanWard, and I’m sad to say people probably won’t learn a whole lot by following me just yet, because my access to Twitter is so limited that I don’t use it as much as I’d like to. I occasionally use twittermail to post things during the day, but it ends up being a one-way broadcast at this point. I’m missing out on the dynamic, real-time interaction that Twitter provides to people who can actually get to the website directly. So, people can follow me on twitter if they’d like, but for now the most interesting stuff is happening on my new blog. That’s where I’m posting information about innovative approaches to technology development. Stop on by!

END OF INTERVIEW

Thank you again Major. Please do give us an update about your current technical challenges of accessing the social web; and also when you publish your manifesto.

Social Media Doesn’t Drive Purchase Decisions? What the …. !

Michael Brito — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:03:55 +0000

Kudos to my colleague and friend Kelly for emailing this article about social media and how it’s doesn’t really drive purchase decisions (press release here). This strongly conflicts with other, credible research I have examined that states the contrary.

Bob Duffy, in an email string to Kelly and I, responds with the following:

Saying Social Media doesn’t drive purchase is like saying, talking and listening does not lead to decisions. Study is flawed because it does not consider reciprocity of the conversation. Also flawed because they assumed the association needs to be with the site and a purchase decision and they ignored the association is between trusted sources and purchase decisions.

I have to agree. First, advertising on social media sites is not participating in social media. That’s talking AT the conversation; not IN the conversation. As I have said before, the true essence of social media is direct-one-to-one conversations between two people; in this case a consumer and a brand (when I say brand, I am referring to a community manager of sort). Now, we all like to bash MLM; but the reason companies like Amway are so successful (they are a billion dollar company, I think) is because everything they do revolves around direct interaction and communication.

Additionally, the study states “less than 5% of social media users regularly turn to these sites for guidance on purchase decisions”. While this may be true; it doesn’t mean that they cannot be influenced in the social web by participating brands or influencers. The premise of the study is whether people use social media to “seek” product information. Perhaps the study should have asked, “have you been influenced by others’ in the social web to buy a specific product/service” instead.

My two cents for what it’s worth. Follow me on Twitter if you like me or I make any sense. : )

Learn about the Statusphere from Social Expert, Brian Solis

Michael Brito — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:38:20 +0000

Ahh yes, the statusphere … the place where people like you and I spend the majority of our time. This is the place that determines the direction of our attention as we navigate to a multitude of different web destinations and experiences; and return informed, enlightened, distracted or possibly irritated. From a brand’s perspective, it serves as an opportunity to listen, observe, engage, empower and influence people; not an audience but real people. People like us.

The following video is of Brian Solis who presented just yesterday at the Clio Awards. Here are some key takeaways:

More explanation on the Statusphere
Brands need to inspire action and then measure it
Talks about Coca Cola’s Facebook engagement
Conversation Prism
It’s not just about authenticity. Brands have to be believable.

What I have learned about Twitter this far

Michael Brito — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:04:39 +0000

Here are some random things I have learned about Twitter in the last 2 years, in no real intelligent order – completely random and off the top of my head as I sit in my hotel room in Las Vegas, gearing up for the Clio Awards.

I use Twitter for business and personal and it works for me. I am careful not to bombard those who follow me with too many marketing messages. I realize the business value of Twitter so I frequently tweet about Intel. I track my retweets and click throughs to Intel-related content and it’s relatively high; more so than search or display advertising. Volume is low but that’s fine; it’s about building trustworthy relationships.

I wrote a twitter manifesto about a year ago and I don’t necessarily think the same way I did back then; although I still follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of my tweets are conversational, personal or general industry related. The 20% is Intel specific.

I look at every new profile that follows me and I don’t always reciprocate. I usually won’t follow back if their profile is filled with one way bit.ly marketing messages; they have no bio or picture; they are in multi level marketing; they are a self proclaimed social media expert; they are following thousands of people and only have a couple of hundred followers; and of course they have no updates.

I only follow people I think I can learn from. I try and provide some level of value to those who follow me as well.

I try and limit the “I am eating _____ “and “I am wearing ____” tweets.

Once in a while, I check to see who stopped following me and often wonder why. Sometimes I unfollow back out of spite, sometimes I don’t.

Twitter is full of egos and I am cool with that. Frequent retweets of my content often stroke my ego too. I don’t brag about the number of followers I have nor do I ask for people to follow me, except here on my own domain.

I get irritated when people RT a RT that was their original tweet. It doesn’t make sense to me and it feels somewhat spammy. It also bugs me when people tweet the same message twice … could be grounds for unfollowing peeps; even though I may have done this once or twice in my past life.

It used to bother me when certain people follow me; and after I reciprocate, they unfollow me for the sole purpose of inflating their follower ratio. If I come across this, I usually just unfollow.

The birth of twitter has somehow created a multitude of social media experts who have been working in social media for 10 years or more. I wrote about this in a rant here and still feel the same.

And yes, brands do belong on twitter; but need to be human when doing so.

And since I am here on my own domain, I will humbly ask that if I offer any value whatsoever, consider subscribing to my feed or following me on twitter.

Intel humanizing the brand with Sponsors of Tomorrow

Michael Brito — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:13:07 +0000

I am sitting at the San Jose airport heading to NYC on a red eye. I wanted to quickly share what I will be doing on Monday to officially launch the new Intel marketing campaign, Sponsors of Tomorrow.

To learn more about what we are doing socially for this campaign, you can check out the aggregated conversations from Intel employees, search twitter for #tomorrow, or follow me on twitter to get the Inside Scoop.

Can Twitter really suck the life out of a brand?

Michael Brito — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:25:51 +0000

I don’t know the answer to this question. My intuition tells me no and that Twitter doesn’t have that much power; but my alternate personality keeps tapping me on the shoulder in disagreement. And to clarify, maybe I should rephrase this question to be “Can Twitter really suck the life out of a brand, if a brand chooses not to participate?”

I read about it all time in Twitter and on various social media blogs; how big brands and corporate America continue to #fail at social media. There are hundreds of Monday morning quarterbacks that try and poke holes at various strategies, programs and corporate blogs; and then give their unsolicited feedback on what they (the brand) should have done. Funny thing is … that these same folks would jump at the opportunity to work for and/or consult with the very organizations they criticize, duh.

Some people want brands on twitter. Some don’t and some are not sure. And then there are random peeps who bitch about a product or service, expecting the brand’s Twitter account to start following them and treat them like some celebrity customer because they use twitter and have thousands of followers. I say whatever to that and I will save my point of view for a different post.

We all remember the Amazon fiasco a few weeks ago (if not, read more here: #amazonfail) where they were just about crucified on twitter for I am not even sure what; but apparently they didn’t “join the conversation” fast enough to appease the twitter crowd. Point is, with all the heat, criticism, re-tweets and conversations on twitter, I wonder if it really moved the needle at all. I would be anxious to find out what Amazon’s 2nd quarter earnings are to understand what, if any, the impact really was. My intuition says — probably no impact at all.

Then there was this crazy concept that Domino’s Pizza somehow suffered from not having a Twitter account (they do now). The suffering was actually caused by two dumb a$$ employees who did very nasty things to some food before boxing it up for a customer; and then doing the unthinkable – posting it to YouTube. And to make things even worse, the girl in the video is a registered sex offender. That in itself was the true #fail; which demonstrated the incompetence of the local franchise owner more so than Dominos corporate. It had nothing to do with twitter, in my opinion.

Even if twitter accounted for 10% of the entire social universe, my intuition would still say no. To this day, Walmart continues to be scrutinized and used as a case study in conferences and academia on “what not to do” in social media from those who still preach the basics of authenticity and transparency. Yet, last I heard their sales are still up and in the billions even within the current state of the economy.

I love Twitter. I am addicted to it and I have made some really good friends over the last two years participating in meaningful discussions. I have learned a lot; and I have tried to share just as much. I even get a decent number of re-tweets and click throughs from links that I post (yes, I track it). But, despite twitter’s growth and penetration into the mainstream, I just don’t think it has the power or influence to cause significant damage to brand, if the brand chooses not to particpate. Truth is, it’s the people that will suck the life out of a brand, not twitter, especially if the product sucks or just doesn’t solve a problem.

Last thing. I personally believe that every company/brand, regardless of the size, should have some level of presence in twitter; and be a part of a larger strategy that includes customer outreach and engagement.

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