What got me thinking is the social web and how we, as consumers, respond to brands that are utilizing these platforms to build a community but to also attract new customers. Razorfish recently conducted a study on this, stating that special offers drive engagement in social media. Some interesting takeaways:

• Those who follow a brand on Twitter, 44% did so to receive exclusive deals (37% Facebook)

• 24% follow a brand on Twitter for customer service (33% Facebook)

• 64% made their first purchase from a company as a result of a digital interaction

Garrick Schmitt of Razorfish, also stated:

To retain and add customers, marketers need to shift focus from brand awareness and impressions to creating campaigns that drive people to make purchases and spread the word about products and services they use to friends.

While I agree these product-driven strategies have been successful for big and small businesses, I’m curious how sustainable it can be in the long run. Gaining customers through special offers may be obtainable, but what happens when that next, more exclusive deal comes from a competitor?

What I feel has even more value, in addition to this study, is organizations offering exclusive content to their community. Providing value, not just monetarily, but by connecting them with content that is 1 – solving a need through direct communication and 2 – created specifically for that social community. Ultimately, creating longer-lasting customer relationships.

So, I ask you this:

Can a sustainable relationship be built between a customer and a brand – solely through exclusive deals? Or does it require more of a connection, driven by not just $, but through content that provides value and engages the community outside of the product itself?

It relates more to our writings on our blogs. Getting down on paper/text our thoughts and ideas about social media or technology or whatever focus our blog is designed for. Sometimes ideas come in a snap (like this one), while others take some time to develop. Regardless of our methods, there comes a moment where you’ve written an entire post but then ask yourself this:

Should I even publish this post?

What stops us from hitting that one button that will send our thoughts into the digital world for everyone to see? Did we not believe in our writing? Was it not engaging enough? Was it off base given our blog’s target audience?

I know I’ve hit this rut before but I want to hear from you. What makes you reconsider your thoughts and whether you should publish them or not? Can we ever stay away from second-guessing our writings? Sound off.

Affirmation

I say this from more of a development standpoint. From hearing numerous panels to having 1-on-1 sit-downs with industry leaders. I’ve seen the growth from both ends of the spectrum, as talks are far past the tools and the newness of social media and deeper into what we’re actually doing right now to help businesses achieve their goals with the help of the social web.

What has this affirmed for me exactly? That the work that I and the rest of the community have put in this past year, since my last smart-people meeting, is helping move needles and shift our thinking forward with ideas and case studies on what’s working for companies today.

Testing

This second takeaway directly relates to that next level of thinking and how organizations are approaching social media today. They’re continually testing & optimizing their strategies and aren’t afraid of failing during this process.

Jay Baer summed up this thought well with this quote:

Instead of swinging for the fences all the time in marketing, try to string together base hits and ultimately you’ll win

Better yet, watch our interview for yourself and hear what Jay thought about the event, it’s well worth the 2 and 1/2 minutes:

So, a big thank-you goes out to the MarketingProfs team for inviting me out to this great event. Thank you for giving me ideas to take back to the desk, for reconnecting me with good friends, and introducing me to some new faces that I once only knew online.

Were you at the event or watching the livestream? What were your biggest takeaways? And if we haven’t gotten the chance to connect face-to-face yet, let’s change that!

As a strong advocate for communities, as well as being a co-founder of #CmtyChat, I was definitely intrigued by Thursday’s interactive session on building and nurturing your online community. The panel was led by Beth Harte and included Rachel Happe, Gretchen Harding and Mildred Center.

The super smart panel had a lot of great thoughts & ideas, but here are some of the main points taken from the session:

• Communities are smaller entities within networks (Twitter/Facebook) that have a more concerted effort towards engagement and communication

• Numerous communities can exist within a single organization. Different audiences create needs on different levels. Focus your content and engagement for your individual communities respectively

• Posting content only equates to being just a website. Build an interaction and response portal for your community

• Measure growth bi-annually vs. monthly – communities require nurturing and time to build & grow. Communicate to your company so expectations are the same across the board

• Give your community superpowers – allow them to grow and get smarter. Equip them to grow their community voice

• Understand your business’ community goals & strategy and cater your content around that, as well as your community’s expectations

• Leverage existing customers and advocates of your brand to help start and build your community. Small group of passionate and engaged people help get the energy going for the community and allows the community manager to build a strong base before rolling it out to a larger base of people

There was a great discussion around these points, though the biggest takeaway for me was that your organization doesn’t always have just one focused community and can create segmented content & engagement strategies for multiple audiences within.

Whether you took part in this interactive discussion or not, what else would you add to this list that can help build your business’ community?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m currently not a 9-5er and love workshifting on days I feel the need. Doing work in the digital space gives me the freedom and flexibility to do so. It’s how I stay connected with my community, how I continue to learn and grow, and how I’m able to get closer to that next opportunity. Most would probably think that I’m an advocate of this lifestyle – but I’m not all for it, as I question this logic with this piece of my comment:

We work at all times of the day because we’re able to. But does that mean we have to?

We’re wanting and given this flexibility so that we can adhere to different work and life styles, but when do we realize that it may be having an adverse effect on our personal lives than actually helping our schedule? This is a thought that I’ve gotten into deep discussions about recently with Teresa Basich. Talking shop on work methods and how we can better manage and create efficiency in our everyday and professional lives.

Don’t get me wrong – I love that I can work on projects throughout the day, while creating blog posts and connecting with folks on Twitter and other networks – but the deeper I get into this space that I love, the more I realize that the line is becoming blurred to the point that people can’t pull themselves away and disconnect online, and reconnect offline.

I’m conflicted and wonder where we draw the line and get back the time that the non 9-5 life has taken away? Are we spending these newly found working hours inefficiently, or is it the desired course of the digital space, giving us the responsibility to utilize it efficiently?

I’d love to hear your side of it.

Maybe it’s in our name; I know it is for me. Not many people know this but Sonny isn’t my real name. I know, the horror! Well, my birth name is Sandeep (sun-deep), an Indian name from the Punjabi dialect. You’re probably wondering why I don’t use it much? Well, I actually did in grade school and into high school. Even though it was much harder to pronounce than Sonny, which was the nickname given to me at a young age, I stuck with it. But it wasn’t until college that I decided to solely go by Sonny, unless it was on legal papers. Though I haven’t forgotten my roots with my real name, Sonny slowly became a part of my character, defining me and my personality.

What got me thinking about this idea is the social space that we live in and the communities we’re building. We divulge much of our personal and professional lives online – for the sake of authenticity and to build relationships with people we come across on Twitter, Facebook, our blogs, etc.

Even with that ‘transparency’, there are some things that not everyone knows about us. OK, maybe not those hidden secrets that no one should really know – but the things that make us unique and different, the things that have shaped us or have defined our character (such as the story of my name), or the little details that we sometimes don’t mention but are so important to who we are and where we’ve come from.

Enough about the revelation in my name though, I want to hear your story. What’s one (or more) things that the community may not know about you? Big or small, let’s hear it.

Now, there are similarities and no-doubt Facebook copied the @mentions feature from Twitter, but these comparisons have lead me into a reoccurring thought about the Facebook experience and how Twitter has changed it for me.

Experiences

To put things into perspective, Twitter has typically been a place where we (bubble-dwellers) connect with a community of smart industry professionals from across the world. It’s free-flowing, quick, and concise – but yet gives us the ability to create strong relationships with people that we learn and grow from every day. On the flip – Facebook, for me, has always been more of a personal avenue where I could let loose a bit more and share different types of ideas, media & thoughts with my friends – but without that professional ‘feel’ that Twitter brings about.

Twitter vs. Facebook Voice

With the evolution of these communities and how we network & connect with one another online, I’ve slowly opened up my Facebook network to SM/PR pros that I’ve gotten to know fairly well on Twitter – this, after years of connections with just close friends from college and otherwise. I understand these platforms are what we make of them, but the experience for me has been tricky as far as the content I publish there and the ‘voice’ people hear.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m myself every time I step foot in this e-world, but let’s not fool ourselves to think that certain communities of friends don’t react differently depending on what you talk about – that’s the voice I’m talking about. So, where is that fine line between your professional/career-oriented voice vs. let-loose/happy-hour voice?

Can’t Please Everyone

I’ve been a lot more active on Facebook in the past month and have seen these differences in engagement between the various ‘mini-niches’ of friends. My close hometown friends don’t care to comment on Mashable articles, while my friends from Twitter typically don’t comment on more personal posts that grabs the attention of close friends & family – and I’m OK with that. I’ve come to realize that I won’t be able to please or engage everyone with every update or post.

What it really comes down to is who you’re comfortable with adding. Some people feel that Facebook is a friends-only affair (which I can relate to), while others have opened the dam and let a rush of people in, all the way to their 5,000 friend-limit.

Personally, I want to know you and have built a relationship with you to where I’m comfortable with emailing or giving you a ring. I guess my fine-line is somewhere between personal-only and dam-breaker.

What’s Your Experience?

What’s your thought on how these networks intermingle in today’s open-book online world? Has your Facebook experience changed as Twitter and our communities continue to evolve? Let’s hear it.

When it comes to the NBA and the word greatness, one person that will always pop up in our minds is Michael Jordan. We all know him for what he’s done on the basketball court and the success of 6 NBA Championships that followed. Countless MVPs, regular and postseason, All-Star Appearances, and a myriad of other accolades. The most noted achievement came last week as MJ was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2009.

It was inevitable, as we all knew even while he was still playing that he was a special player and that he’d be recognized for that one day. I admittedly missed watching the ceremony live on ESPN but I caught up with all the speeches online and was truly moved when listening to Michael talk about the game, but more so hearing more about his mentality as a competitor.

He’s fought every day to get to where he’s at today and he’s constantly pushed himself & his teammates to succeed. His motivation comes from his family, as well as from coaches and players that he’s connected with throughout his career. He used the naysayers and his competitors to push him and to prove them wrong.

This competitive nature was summed up at the end of his speech with this great quote:

Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.

Though his speech may have raised a bit of a debate as to whether he’s ‘too competitive’, no one can deny that his nature was that of non-complacency and is the reason why many of us think of him as one of the greatest players to play the game.

He never settled; nor did he ever give up.

He succeeded, but it was never enough.

Every one of his victories and championships were cherished like it were his first, but he was never satisfied. That passion and thirst for more from the game of basketball stayed within him – and I don’t doubt that same drive is still with him to this day.

So if you haven’t seen his speech, take some time out to watch it: part 1, part 2, part 3.

What do you think of his competitive nature? Is it extreme or is it something that can be instilled in all of us? I want to hear how someone’s own success inspires you.

Photo credit: barnezy

They’ve been talking about the company’s history, the bread, and the passion that has gone into this business for over 20 years. What stuck out to me, as I overheard/eavesdropped/call-it-what-you-want on their training, was what the class ‘leader’ said:

We build trust through our relationships with our customers and our community.

I found it inspiring to hear a brick & mortar business, let alone a restaurant/bakery, put such precedence on this statement. Why did I find such surprise in it? One – we unfortunately don’t see such a passionate offline business with equally as passionate employees, as we do with Panera. Two – we seemingly correlate trust, relationships and community specifically with the online space.

Is the offline space that much more different than online when building trust and a passionate community? Trusting relationships are around us in our everyday lives with our family and friends, but why does it seem that when it comes to business, it’s more easily conceived online than when face-to-face with your customers?

In my opinion, business cultures have gone off base to a point where connecting with their customers as more than just a $ sign is out of the realm of possibility – and that’s where it has to start, culture. Panera has been in business since 1987 and from what I’ve seen in my dozens of visits and now with this new-employee class, they’ve instilled such a culture and passion within the business itself that it’s what every employee seemingly lives & breathes.

Kudos to Panera, but what can other brick & mortar businesses do to instill this sort of culture and to gain their customers’ trust? Do you have an experience like mine that you’d like to add?

Sound off – the floor is yours.

From what I’ve heard from Chris and several others today, the downfall has been panelists promoting their submissions through Tweets and DMs, asking for votes and trying to garner as much response as possible, while trying to beat out the other 2,215 submissions (keep in mind, voting accounts for 30% of the decision process.)

Have I received requests today? Yup. But mainly from people who I consider good friends and whose opinion and knowledge I respect and trust. Do I have a panel and have I promoted it? Yes – Bryan Person and I have a submission, but actually haven’t mentioned it until now. Regardless, in the end it’s ultimately up to us and which submissions we find relevant and most important.

PanelPicker or the highway?

Pimping out online voting systems is a reality within social media and the online world as a whole that we’ve unfortunately become accustomed to (remember the Shorty Awards?) I understand Chris’ feelings, especially when it comes from individuals you don’t have a relationship with. But are we making a bigger issue than there really is, or is there a better way SXSW and potential panelists could get the community involved instead of this voting system?

I’m always open to discussion and hearing how this process could be made more efficient. Have at it, I’m all ears.

Update: Ran across a great post by Len Kendall that promotes a handful of non-SM panels (with background info) but also his own, in a non-pimping sort of way. Kudos, Len.