Peter Kim generally isn't afraid to stir things up, and today was no exception.
Peter led a spirited discussion this morning about the value of social media marketing at Austin's third Social Media Breakfast, a monthly breakfast event I co-organize with Dell's Amie Paxton.
Some questions Peter had us thinking about:
Does social media marketing matter in the first place? For example: There was outrage over Wal-Mart's fake blog two years ago, but has that stopped anyone from buying from the retail giant?
Does social media marketing scale? Responding to a few tweets on behalf of a company is one thing, but responding to hundreds a day is quite another. Are organizations willing to make social media engagement a more integrated part of their communications efforts?
Why are enterprises still blocking employee access to social computing tools and applications? Peter gave the example of an employee expected to carry out a Facebook campaign for his employer -- and not having access to Facebook from the office.
Do A-list bloggers really care about “the conversation?” If the big-name bloggers aren't jumping in and answering the comments themselves, are they really blogging? Or, are they using the blog as just another marketing channel?
My one-on-one conversation with Peter Kim
After the breakfast, I sat down with Peter to dig into his thinking on social media marketing. Click below to stream our conversation.
This is the second in a series of four conversations that I recorded at the 2008 Online Community Summit, held in Sonoma, California on October 9-10, 2008.
Kathy O'Sullivan is the product manager of online community for the education team at Autodesk. Our conversation focuses on the "Engagement Index" that Kathy has developed for her community in 2008.
Here are the member actions and metrics that Kathy tracks as part of the Engagement Index:
Actions visible to members: * Downloads of Autodesk software * Learning to use software * Sharing their designs and work with other community members * Updating their profile * Creating a portfolio * Inviting friends to join the community
Other metrics: * How long they've been a member * Recency of visits to the community * Frequency of visits * Number of clicks * Contributions -- forum posts, inviting friends, sharing designs, comments, and tagging
Running time: 7:25. Click below to stream our conversation.
This is the first in a series of four conversations that I recorded at the 2008 Online Community Summit, held in Sonoma, California on October 9-10, 2008.
Chrystie Hill is the director of community services for WebJunction.org, a professional-development and social-networking community for library staff. She also blogs at Libraries Build Communities.
In our conversation, Chrystie discusses the need for fiscal responsibility from her community, her interest in metrics, and why library professionals are far more technically savvy than I give them credit for.
Running time: 3:37. Click below to stream our conversation.
This is the third in a series of four conversations that I recorded at the 2008 Online Community Summit, held in Sonoma, California on October 9-10, 2008.
Ron Casalotti is the director of user participation at BusinessWeek and helped launch the company's new Business Exchange community in September 2008.
In our conversation, Ron talks about the folksonomy behind Business Exchange, as well as the commitment from BusinessWeek's writers and editors to contribute to the community as well.
This is the last in a series of four conversations that I recorded at the 2008 Online Community Summit, held in Sonoma, California on October 9-10, 2008.
Christine Perey is a market-research and business-development consultant for technology providers. She is based in Switzerland.
In our conversation, Christine talks about the history and future of mobile communities, a topic she also presented on during the final session of OCS.
On Wednesday, October 15, more than 12,000 bloggers and podcasters around the globe united against poverty.
They did it by taking part in the second annual Blog Action Day, a nonprofit event that helps to raise awareness around a complex global issue.
Here in Austin, where some 200,000 residents are considered poor, several bloggers focused on the plight of the city's homeless. Mike Chapman (at right in photo above), principal of Every Dot Connects and a founder of the local Social Media Club chapter, was among a group of four who took to the streets for a 24-hour Retreat Immersion.
I caught up with Mike yesterday afternoon to ask him about his efforts on Blog Action Day. As Mike rightfully points out, the homeless are very much a community, too.
Click below to stream our conversation. Running time: 6:18.
Listen to all eight of our conversations (it will take you about 70 minutes), and you'll have a good sense of the range of issues that community professionals are thinking about and working through every day.
Carley Roney is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Knot, a popular wedding-planning website. She will be part of a panel discussion at the 2008 Marketing & Online Communities Conference called "Integrating Customer Communities into the Marketing Mix." (Peter Friedman, LiveWorld's CEO, will serve as moderator for the session).
Show notes
* Carley explains why The Knot is careful about the kind of advertising it accepts. * Carley discusses the danger of marketers talking to community members in language that is too specific. * Carley outlines why word of mouth is essential to The Knot's success. * Carley notes how The Knot's community members are growing up together.
The 2008 Marketing & Online Communities Conference is an invitation-based event. It will be held at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York City on November 5, 2008. For more information, visit http://moc08.eventbrite.com
The 2008 Marketing & Online Communities Conference is an invitation-based event. It will be held at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York City on November 5, 2008. For more information, visit http://moc08.eventbrite.com
This is the last in a series of interviews recorded at the 2008 Marketing & Online Communities Conferences, hosted by Forum One Communications at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York City on Wednesday, November 5, 2008.Elisa Camahort Page is the co-founder and chief operation officer of BlogHer. In our audio conversation, Elisa and I talk about her conference presentation: The Social Web: How Consumers and Brands are Connecting. Show notes * Elisa recounts the genesis of the BlogHer conference and the launch of BlogHer.com and BlogHerAds. * Elisa talks about the motivation of many mommy bloggers to leave behind a digital legacy for their children and future descendants. * Elisa notes the overwhelming percentage of women who consider blogs as a reliable source of information, and who make decisions to buy and not to buy based on what a blogger or blog commenter writes. (Check out the BlogHer 2008 Social Media Benchmark Study for more details.) * Elisa offers advice to brands and PR professionals wanting to pitch bloggers. * Elisa shares her top takeaways from the conference. Running time: 10:56. (RSS readers: You may need to click through to this post to stream the audio file.)
In this SocialVoice Conversation recorded at the 2008 MarketingProfs Digital Mixer, Frank and I talk about Comcast's customer service efforts on Twitter -- and elsewhere on the web.
SHOW NOTES
* Frank emphasizes the value of listening.
* Frank discusses the importance of "being personal" and building one-on-one relationships with customers.
* Frank outlines the simple guidelines he gives to his customer service team for engaging in social media conversations.
* Frank talks about his team's efforts on social networks and websites outside of Twitter.
* Frank explains why the "question of ROI will go away."
This is the third in a series of interviews recorded at the MarketingProfs Digital Mixer, held in Scottsdale, Arizona on October 22-23, 2008.
Mack Collier is a social media consultant and blogger at The Viral Garden.
One of the most popular features on The Viral Garden is the "Company Blog Checkups," where Mack grades corporate bloggers on their efforts in creating content, generating and responding to comments, and posting regularly on their sites. And in this SocialVoice Conversation, recorded at the 2008 MarketingProfs Digital Mixer (MPDM), Mack explains some of those corporate blogging best practices
SHOW NOTES
* Mack offers his impressions on the MPDM conference.
* Bryan asks Mack what questions companies need to consider when deciding whether to blog.
* Mack explains why a blog shouldn't be an "island."
* Mack discusses how companies can start to create compelling content on their blogs.
By their own admission, USAA, which provides financial products and services for current and former members of the military, isn't exactly the most open organization.
And that makes the work that military communications director Mike Kelly and social media director Tom Vaughn are driving for USAA all the more impressive.
Earlier this week, Mike and Tom led a session at the TSPRA 2009 Conference called "Reaching Key Audiences through Social Media," and they explained just why their online engagement with customers is so important.
USAA's social media strategy
Here are the four pillars of USAA's social media engagement plan:
Understand what's being said about USAA
Proactively resolve customer service issues
Connect with customers on sites they already use
Make USAA.com a community destination (longer term)
After the presentation, I sat down with Tom to talk more about USAA's social media work. Here are the notes and audio link/stream for our conversation:
SHOW NOTES
* Tom addresses the challenge of securing management buy-in for USAA's public social media efforts.
* Tom talks about the customer-service opportunities for USAA in social media.
* Talk discusses USAA's long-term plans to build a robust community on its own site.
* Tom explains the decision-making process USAA follows when deciding whether to engage with customers online.
Recorded on Saturday, March 14, 2009; running time: 13:59
* * * * * * * * * *
In the days leading up to this year's SXSW Conference, New Marketing Labs vice president Colin Browning (pictured above) led a group of four intrepid travelers on an Innovators' Road Trip through America's heartland.
Starting in Detroit and finishing in Austin, Colin Jeff Cutler, John Johansen, and Jim Storer explored and shared stories of innovation in American business. (Disclosure: LiveWorld bought the group lunch on the final day of their journey.)
In this audio conversation, Colin and John recap their trip and discuss the value of content marketing for brands.
SHOW NOTES
* Colin recounts the first discussions of a road trip one year earlier and explains how the event ultimately came to fruition.
* Colin discusses the qualities of innovation that surfaced in their conversations with businesses during the trip.
* Colin and John share their philosophy on good content marketing, including the power or storytelling.
* Colin explains the value for brand sponsors on projects such as IRoadTrip.
One reason why? Businesses don't taken the time to craft a strategy around their blogging efforts.
In this audio conversation from the 2009 SXSW Conference, Matt Ceniceros, senior communications specialist at FedEx, explains the folly of that directionless approach to blogging, arguing that organizations must "define [their] success" before launching a social media initiative.
SHOW NOTES
* Matt talks about FedEx's efforts in adding new-media elements to the online newsroom and explains how the project paved the way for the the FedEx Citizenship Blog.
* Matt discusses the importance of "small wins" when trying to secure executive buy-in for the implementation of social media.
* Matt addresses the general lack of trust in corporate blogs; he contends that each brand must define its own success with blogging.
* Matt explains how the FedEx Citizenship Blog, with some 120 employee bloggers, reflects the company's mission and corporate culture.
* Matt shares the story of how a suggestion on the corporate blog ultimately lead to FedEx Office Free Resume Printing Day, held on March 10, 2009.
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