Social Media for Old Folks, in an Old Media Format: the 52-Card Deck

They’re back from the printer! Our Starter Cards deck called “Build Your Brand With Social Media” is hot off the press, literally.

If you’re one of those people who’s got a LinkedIn account but you don’t really get how to use it; if you’re using Facebook, but mostly to spy on your kids, if you’re just  plain confused by the 140-character hullaballoo of Twitter, then this is the tool for you.

“Build Your Brand With Social Media” was created for those of us who were born before faxes were invented, much less outdated. This is a way to easily get up to speed and be linking and friending and tweeting like people half your age.

Here’s the idea. There is no shortage of information out there about social media. In fact, there’s so much information, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Can’t somebody break it down into a series of manageable steps? Isn’t there anywhere you can get all the basics of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and blogging, all in one place?

As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what this “Build Your Brand With Social Media” deck does. It walks you through the whole process, one step per card, with simple directions for that step on the back of each card. It’s as close as possible to having me sitting there with you, taking you step by step.

Want to give it  a whirl? You can find the cards on the Starter Cards website.

“Have you made any money from your blog?”

Yesterday, we gave a Webinar on how to start your own blog. We talked through the business reasons for having a blog, worked with participants to help them define the topics of their blogs and then walked them through establishing the beginnings of their blogsites on WordPress.

Afterwards, one of the participants called my office and asked me, “Have you made any money from your blog?” The short answer is no. A blog is not a direct sales channel.

But the answer would be yes, if she’d asked a slightly different question. Has blogging been good for our business? Definitely. Has blogging helped us connect with people who are key prospects for our company? It has.

One of the most important benefits of blogging is that it changes the dynamics of the sales process. Instead of making cold calls, trying to set meetings with people who’ve never heard of you, blogging allows you to reach out as more of a peer. Instead of trying to force your foot in the door, you start out as part of their community already. As a blogger with a special expertise in your narrow niche, you’re beginning the relationship as someone who has something to offer, as opposed to someone trying to get them to buy something.

A blog also can give you a great excuse to introduce yourself to a key prospect. Call them up and ask to interview them for a post. If someone is a highly desirable prospect for your company, that person probably has plenty to say that would be interesting and helpful for the readers of your blog. Rather than having your first conversation with a prospect be all about you and how wonderful your company is, you begin the relationship by listening to what they have to say. Just like your mother always said, one of the best ways to make new friends is to ask questions that get them talking about themselves.

The Cliff Notes of Social Media for Old Folks: Webinar One

This afternoon, we sat on the couch in my office and took about six or seven small business owners through an overview of what social media can do for them. My business partner Jennifer and I were presenting to a creative director, a literary agent, a strategic marketing person, a sales rep, an account planner, an expert on world poverty and an accupuncturist — all of whom were sitting in their own offices in front of their own computers.

Social Media for Old Folks is our five-part Webinar, covering everything from blogging to linking to friending to tweeting. We’re not social media experts, by any means, but we have learned a great deal about using social media in the last year or so. We’ve also discovered that we’re quite passionate about sharing that knowledge with others.

If you’re in a business that involves sharing what we call Odd Knowledge, social media is the most powerful way out there to build your business. Whether you’re a financial advisor or a large animal vet or an event planner or a Pilates trainer — or a world poverty expert or accupuncturist — you offer an expertise in a specific niche.

If your business depends on clients trusting you to be the one with the right answers, then social media is a powerful way to establish that trust. It’s also a place for you to share your unique perspective on your particular field of expertise.

Here are a few highlights from our Webinar today:

1. Social media can connect you with the whole world — but make it feel like you’re doing business in a small town. Despite the fact that it depends on technology, it can be an extremely human and personal form of contact.

2. The two most important things social media can do for your business are to A) promote your expertise and B) build your connections (which can become a following). This creates a beautiful dynamic: Instead of you always reaching out for new customers, you’ll find them seeking you out instead.

3. The model we recommend is this: a blog to showcase your expertise and social networks to drive traffic to that blog. Your blog is your content; the social networks are ways to start conversations about that content.

4. Your website and your blog are two different things. The website is your company talking, and is a destination for background information and evergreen materials. Your blog is you talking, is more fluid because it’s updated more often, and gives you a venue to share your expertise in a narrow niche, usually more narrow than your actual business. We recommend keeping your website and your blog separate, although each would include links to the other.

Next week we cover Facebook in more depth, and in the following weeks we’ll talk about LinkedIn, Twitter, and how to develop your own blog. If you’re interested in  more details, you could go to the Seminars page on the Starter Cards site.

Social Media for Old Folks, in Five Easy Pieces

Plenty of reasonably (or even exceptionally) intelligent people still resist social media. Some don’t see the value in it; others just can’t quite figure out how to jump on that escalator. Social media keeps moving and changing every day, so it’s not easy to figure out where to start.

One problem is that there’s so much information out there on how to use social media. Try Googling “Using LinkedIn,”  ”How to Facebook,” or “Learning Twitter,” and you’ll find yourself millions of links to explore. Not hundreds of links, not thousands, but really — millions. Most reasonably busy people will decide they don’t have time for that.

What you need is someone to break it down into simple, actionable steps. You don’t have all day, but maybe you could spend an hour a week. If you didn’t have to go anywhere. Like while you’re sitting at your desk.

That’s where the Social Media for Old Folks Webinars come in. If you’re young enough that you grew up with a mouse in your hand, then a lot of this material will be too basic for you. But if you’re one of those who remember when a fax was the new cool thing, then this might be right up your alley.

We break it down into five one-hour webinars, each Wednesday for five weeks. We’ll walk you through how to build your brand with social media, from a basic overview of the landscape and etiquette to specific, actionable steps to get yourself set up on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and finally, to start your own blog. (You’ll also learn why you really do need your own blog.)

You’ll be sitting at your computer and be able to see and hear us in real time. As we’re talking about various steps, you can complete many of them right then and there. When you have questions along the way, we’ll stop and answer them.

We’ll show you how to use social media for two important goals: to build your connections and to showcase your expertise. Think it would be presumptuous to consider yourself an expert? We’re not talking about having a Ph.D. in something; Your expertise is the narrow niche about which you’re passionate, the area of your deep experience, the problems friends come to you to help solve. It’s not about bragging, it’s about what you have to give.

If  you run your own business, or are in a corporate job and want to increase your visibility in your industry, then social media can be a powerful tool for you. It doesn’t have to be that hard. But it does take some effort. The Social Media for Old Folks Webinar is the easiest way we know to get you up and running. By Thanksgiving, you could be blogging and linking and friending and tweeting like someone half your age.

For more details, just click here. Or feel free to email (elizabeth@tribeinc.com) or call me (404-256-5858) with questions. (If you register today -Wednesday, Oct 7 – you can use the promo code EARLYBIRD for a $50 discount.)

Content is king, but it’s also created by the people

On the World Wide Web, we are a nation of creators. According to a recent report from Forrester Research, almost a quarter of Americans online are “creators,” meaning they post content — blogs or videos or podcasts or other original material.

Since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, the development of content has been in the hands of a few, not the masses. The message was controlled by the church, then the earliest newspapers, and eventually the brands who could afford not only print ads but television commercials airing on networks and later cable.

Now content, at least online, is created by the people. A large percentage of what’s out there is not the product of any particular organization or corporation, but of an individual mind. Any of us — not just the creative and the brilliant but also the paranoid and the deranged — can post content the whole world can see, or at least the part of the world that has Internet access.

What does this democratization of online media mean? It might provide us more truth and it might provide less. It might increase the exposure of raw talent, or it might just clog our computer screens with a stream of self-promoting amateurism.

The thing I love is that it creates an entrepreneurial opportunity for content. Any kid anywhere can come up with a video concept that becomes the next big thing, after it’s posted on YouTube. Some out-of-work writer can start a blog that becomes a must-read for thinking people the world over. Anyone with an idea and the fortitude to follow through can contribute to our collective oeuvre.

In the true spirit of democracy, only the content voted worthy by the most people will rise to the top. The rest will be pushed to the bottom of the Google search. In other words, the content the people think is the smartest, the funniest, the most useful and the most true, will become the content that’s easiest to find. In the grand scheme of things, that can only be good.

Twitter Etiquette: Is it okay to TweetDeck or TweetLater your blog posts?

What do you think about people who use TweetLater or TweetDeck as a way to post a link to their blog many times a day? I was taught that technique by Michael Gass, the social media guru to the ad agency world. Michael has created a huge inventory of posts (most of which read like informative articles that remain evergreen) and has one of those posts appear as his Twitter update every hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I’ve also seen similar recommendations from others writing in the social media field.

There are some who are violently opposed to that method. Like  Aliza Sherman, for instance, who is known as a Web pioneer and social media maven. (Fast Company magazine named her one of the Most Influential Women in Technology in the blog category, and Newsweek called her one of the Top 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet.) I was on the phone recently with Aliza, who was very kindly giving me some feedback on a social media product we’re developing at Tribe. When she got wind of the idea of using Twitter essentially as a publishing platform, via TweetLater or TweetDeck or some other tool, she said, and I quote:

“That is horrible. That is disgusting.” Aliza believes strongly that using a tool to imply you’re on Twitter when you’re not is totally unacceptable. She had a great line, while we were talking, and we were both so struck by it that she turned around and tweeted it while we were on the phone: “Social media is conversation; not a new form of advertising.” I wholeheartedly agree with that.

Businesses using social media as just another way to distribute advertising come across as boneheaded at best, untrustworthy at worst. The conversation part of social media is that it’s a two-way street. Unlike a TV spot or magazine ad, which is a company telling people what they want them to think,  social media allows consumers to talk back to companies, and to talk to each other about those companies. Today, more people get their information about a brand from other consumers than from the brand itself.

My rule of thumb is that tweets should be helpful or useful — or at least interesting — to others. Tweeting that is selling instead of engaging bugs almost everybody. I also try to veer clear of too many tweets that reek strongly of self promotion, although if I get booked for the Today Show, I’ll probably mention that. I also try to avoid tweets that fall into the “Who cares?” category, like “I’m eating a yogurt.” (I actually saw that tweet one time.) On the other hand,  I do enjoy seeing tweets that give an interesting glimpse into someone’s personal life, but then again, I classify that as “at least interesting.”

A link to a blog post can be helpful and useful — and interesting. But when it’s repeated over and over on a TweetLater schedule, does it become annoying? Or an abuse of Twitter? Or does it just make it easier for more people to discover something helpful to them?

Twitter is a river that we dip in and out of, a river that flows ceaselessly. I think it’s unlikely that anyone out there could possibly see every single one of your tweets, or even very many of them. Of course, those particularly curious about you could click your history of tweets and see numerous links to your own blog. But I don’t get why that would be such a bad thing.

So here’s my question to you: What do you think? Is it inappropriate to use Twitter as a way to promote your blog? Is it okay, but only once for each post?  Is that different from retweeting someone else’s article or post? Do you think it’s fine to set up links to each post as rotating, recurring posts? Or should we be tweeting only in real time, and just as a way of conversing?

Please post a comment below, because I’d like to know where other people fall in this debate. I respect and admire both Michael and Aliza, and I’d like to think they’re both right. Perhaps the answer to whether this practice is appropriate or not is really this:  ”It depends.” But on what?

Everyone’s got something to blog about

You don’t have a blog yet? What’s that? You don’t even really get what a blog is? You don’t know what you’re missing.

As Seth Godin says, “The word blog is irrelevant. What’s important is that it is now common, and will soon be expected, that every intelligent person(and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world.”

What do you care about in the world? No matter how narrow the niche, there is an audience who will be interested in what you have to say. There are blogs out there about a guy who crochets (The Crochet Dude), reading programs for the incarcerated (Prison Book Program Blog) and on everything related to perfume (Now Smell This).

Think about what you know best and then think about your particular point of view on that topic. For instance, Kim Gay of Match Healthcare Consulting knows nursing homes like nobody’s business. Her specific point of view on nursing homes is that everything from profitability to patient advocacy depends on building relationships. Her company provides leadership development and change management for healthcare, and I bet she’d find plenty of interested readers for a blog on the importance of relationships in her industry.

No matter who I’m with lately, I start thinking about what their blog would be. For instance, I had lunch the other day with Chris Wauton of Narrative Planning. Chris is an Oxford-educated account planner known as a leader in his discipline. He’s worked with some of the ad industry’s best agencies and has provided the strategic thinking that led to many well-known campaigns. Over our Persian kabobs and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, he started telling me about his approach to understanding consumers — based on methods he’s gleaned from crime investigators. Chris has always been able to spin a good yarn, so he entertained me with a handful of stories and insights related to his unusual approach, any one of which would make a fascinating post.

Starting a blog would be a good business move for both Kim and Chris. It would provide an opportunity to showcase their expertise in their industries, as well as a starting point for conversations and connections with interested (and interesting) people all over the world.

But another benefit of writing a blog is that it keeps your mind nimble and active. The exercise of writing a short  piece every day or week (or however frequently you post) provides a nice warm-up for your brain, sort of like doing a crossword puzzle over your morning coffee.

Once you begin posting with some frequency, you’ll find that you have an endless stream of ideas for more posts. Everything you read, everyone you meet, every trend you notice in your industry –or in the world around you — is fodder for your blog. Writing your posts encourages you to voice an opinion, and to put it in writing. It offers the opportunity to hear how your thinking was helpful to others, or to debate your position and possibly have your mind opened to the way someone else out there thinks.

The most important benefit of writing a blog is that offers a way to be more engaged in the world. A reason to think. A chance to connect. And, as Godin mentions, to express your unique perspective on what you “care about with the world.”

Lauren Luke’s success illustrates five powerful trends in social media

Lauren Luke, an ordinary person who has become a celebrity expert, is an excellent example of some important trends that many marketing people still resist. You may not have heard of her, but she’s been covered by both the BBC  and  The New York Times, and has 253, 941 subscribers to her YouTube channel, at this writing. 

Lauren is a single mom in England who started posting videos demonstrating various makeup products and techniques — that she tries out on herself. On camera. In close-ups. Lauren is charming and attractive, but she’s no supermodel. In addition to a huge following on YouTube, she has recently scored a book deal and her own makeup line at Sephora. 

Here are the important trends that Lauren exemplifies: 

1. On social media, everyone’s an expert. An expert doesn’t mean a PhD, in this case. It means paying attention to a particular topic and learning enough that you can teach others all about it. That topic may be a very narrow niche that most people couldn’t care less about, but the Internet allows the people who are interested to find you.

2. Vlogging is the new blogging. Plenty of people say, who has time to watch videos? Apparently, a lot of people. Lauren’s videos have had something upwards of 50 million views. Business owners and corporate big shots who haven’t yet mastered a blog should just skip right ahead to shooting their own vlog, because that’s what’s happening now. Pew Internet found that 62% of all web users watch videos online, and some experts report video blogs are already being more widely viewed than written blogs.

3. People trust authentic more than flawless. The cosmetics industry  is known for its million-dollar faces and expensive production. (Think high-end directors, film crews, lighting, retouching and everything that comes with a professional shoot). Although there will always be a place for that aspirational branding, consumers place more trust in homemade videos of regular people sharing their opinions. Lauren shoots her videos herself at home, and airs them unedited (she says she doesn’t know how), so viewers see when she messes up or her dog walks through the scene. She’ll do decidedly unpolished things like hold up a product and tell watchers what brand it is, but follow that with “I think that’s how you pronounce it.” To say Lauren comes off as real is an understatement. 

4. People get their information from other consumers. There was a time when consumers learned about brands and products from the brands themselves. Now, thanks to the Internet, people get more information from other consumers than they do the brand. It has created a power shift that many major brands still don’t quite accept. Lauren will review five different mascaras and point out things like “this one is such a weird shape I nearly put my eye out with it.” You would not find that on a Maybeline or Chanel commercial — and women appreciate hearing it.

5. Women use YouTube. The common misconception is that YouTube is all about a bunch of knee-slapping guys laughing at each other’s stupid humor. But women are on YouTube too, especially in the how-to segment. YouTube describes its current users as 48 percent female. 

The other trend that Laura illustrates is not related to social media but to women entrepreneurs. Many women start their own businesses because it allows them to flex their work days around their kids’ schedules. Laura was 16 when she had her son, and as a single mother, I’ll bet she finds her current gig much better for her life than a corporate job might be.

One year later, Kagan says social media is still f**king important

If you missed Marta Kagan’s viral sensation titled “What the F**k is Social Media?” from a few years ago, or even if you did see it, you owe it to your business to take a look at her recent sequel. This one is called, appropriately enough, “What the F**k is Social Media: One Year Later.” The presentation includes some interesting numbers, such as Forrester’s finding that three out of four Americans use social technology, as well as statistics on the sheer amount of media being uploaded to Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and others.

But some of the best bits are when she quotes thinkers like analytics evangelist Avinash Kaushik and influential author Seth Godin. According to Kaushik, “Social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it’s finally done there is surprise it’s not better.”

On the topic of blogs, Godin says, “The word blog is irrelevant. What’s important is that it is now common, and will soon be expected, that every intelligent person (and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world.”

The nugget of this presentation that’s most important to small business owners (as well as those who manage large national and global brands) is that social marketing is different from regular old marketing. Kagan quotes a social media study that found  93% of social media users think a company should have a presence in social media, but she goes on to say, “Believe it or not, that doesn’t mean that 93% of social media users think companies should treat social media as yet another channel for broadcasting bullsh*t.”

While in regular old marketing, companies are accustomed to telling customers what the company wants them to hear, social marketing requires listening as well as talking. It’s a conversation. A two-way street. A street with lots of traffic, where consumers are doing a lot of the driving. 

When you talk to your customers and they talk back, it’s nearly impossible not to listen. And when you listen to what they have to say, you will probably feel the urge to respond to what your customers want.

The great news is that as a small company, you have an advantage over large companies in your ability to move quickly. You can respond more easily to what your customers are telling  you. Large companies have a much bigger ship to turn around, and any significant change will require a zillion meetings for ideas to be vetted and consensus created. Your agility allows you to make sweeping changes on the turn of a dime. 

If you are an entrepreneur and you’re not blogging or not joining social networks, it’s time to start. If you’ve joined the networks but never really figured out who to friend or what to tweet, it’s time to learn. And if you’ve already got a blog, and you post something new every few months whether you need to or not, it’s time to take it seriously and blog as a regular part of your daily or weekly routine. 

If you have no idea how to start, get some help. A new Starter Cards deck called “Build Your Brand With Social Media” can walk you through the process one step at a time. Or get online and find what you need to know for free. 

The important thing is that you get in there and start talking. And even more importantly, start listening.

Social Media for Old Folks

I graduated from college before some of my most accomplished employees were even born. I’m headed back to Chapel Hill this weekend for my 30-year high school reunion. I’ve been noticing that a whole bunch of friends and business acquaintances my age seem to be flummoxed by this whole social media thing. 

In the past week, I’ve had two phone calls from friends asking if they could take me to lunch so I could teach them all about social media. They know they ought to get on board, but they can’t figure out where to start or how. It’s kind of like getting on an escalator as a kid, when the steps are moving away from you faster than you can figure out where to hop on. 

One of these friends is a serial entrepreneur who recently sold her specialty medical equipment company for several million. Kim’s now launching a change management company specializing in nursing homes. The other is a well-connected fundraiser in the area of world poverty. Carol spent  many years at CARE, and now works with a foundation at Emory University, our alma mater where we met as sorority sisters. (Kappa Kappa Gamma. Secret handshake, anyone?)

Both of these people are naturals for social media. Kim is people person in the extreme. She talks to people wherever she goes, and leaves them laughing, every time. The governor appointed her to the board of public health, so now she hob knobs with everyone down at the capitol, sharing yucks with politicos from all over Georgia. Carol knows every influential person in Atlanta and can work a cocktail party like nobody’s business.

But she’s been reluctant to even fill out a LinkedIn profile. Carol seems a little suspicious of social media, like maybe there’s a big brother factor that kind of gives her the creeps. Or maybe she’s worried she just can’t parse it, despite her astronomically high I.Q. 

Coincidentally, these two friends called when I was in the middle of developing a new Starter Cards deck titled “Build Your Brand with Social Media.” Two other titles we halfway seriously considered were “Social Media for People Over 30″ and “Blogging for Boomers.” The deck breaks down the basics of social media into 52 manageable steps, one step per card, from joining social networks to promoting your own blog.

As I’ve been writing these cards, I’ve imagined that I’m explaining the process to these two friends. Not Millennials, no spring chickens. But smart, interesting people who could power their success by making connections and sharing their expertise. 

Both lunches have had to be rescheduled, thanks to the various scheduling conflicts of busy people. I’m thinking that by the time we actually get together, this deck of Starter Cards will be back from the printer and already in their hands. And then we can spend our lunch dates just sharing personal news and telling funny stories. Anything, that is, that we haven’t already shared on Facebook.