KyleLacy.com

Politicians Do Not Understand Social Media!

I say this with some exception. There are a few political hopefuls browsing around the Smaller Indiana site. I give them respect for keeping with it and igniting conversation. Now, on to the people who do not understand.

We had a political hopeful, Jill Long Thompson, browse through the site recently. She (we think) posted a couple of thoughts on her personal page, as well as starting a forum post about her Green Job’s Initiative. She was given front row promotion from our great co-founder, Pat Coyle. She also had up to 8 comments and 2-3 wall posts the day she joined. All that said, we haven’t heard from Jill since then. Maybe I have a problem with ignoring a website with up to 3,000 members and daily hits. Maybe I have a problem with posting content and never sharing your own opinion. Maybe, just maybe, I have a problem with politicians not understanding the POWER of social media. Anyone ever heard of Barak Obama?

I’m not talking about the power of viral marketing or word-of-mouth promotion. I am talking about the raw power of 3000 people (linked to an exponential amount of others in the State) sharing information and CARING. I was excited to see Jill Long Thompson joining the community. I was less excited when I read her profile. I was even less excited when she didn’t respond to ANYONE. I wouldn’t even care if I got a response from an intern!

When joining a social media platform do it with authenticity. Do it with some type of human interaction. I can at least give Mitch Daniels credit for not even joining the conversation. Jill joined and failed miserably. Don’t hire a 21 year old college student to repost information to your page. Take some time and do it yourself. If you love your job. If you love what you are doing, you can take 30 mins a day to promote yourself and collaborate with people who matter.

I love Smaller Indiana and I will not tolerate individuals using it as a promotional platform.

Here is my call out to political hopeful, Jill. Redeem yourself. Because in the end, without authenticity and utilizing tools like Smaller Indiana, you are just another cardboard sign on the side of I-69.

And.. I don’t … care.

Is Generation X the Blog Generation?

Most of us have a close group of friends in which we share time and energy. Being of the millennial generation (24 years old) most of my close friends are under the age of 30. I attended a going away party for a friend moving to Nashville, TN and we had the normal conversation centered around sports and daily life. Occasionally our conversation shifts to the Internet where we discuss Second Life, blogging, social media, and other topics of interest.

Being a Social Media Nerd, I am usually the individual who talks about certain topics and new things I learned on FriendFeed and through my Google Reader. The interesting thing about all of this is the face that my friends are complete novices when it comes to the idea of blogging and social media. I mean most of us are on Facebook but the majority of my millennial friends have no idea how to blog.

It was an interesting concept to consider. Many of the individuals I follow on FriendFreed, Twitter, and through Google Reader are over 30. Is micro-blogging/twitter/sms more of a communication medium rather than blogging for the millennial generation?

I know that I haven’t completed any type of research centered around this topic but it struck me as odd that I do not know of any millennial (in my social circle) that were blogging regularly. Other than Brad Ward of SquaredPeg. Does anyone have research catered to this subject?

Are we going to see a decrease in “true” blogging?

Taking Advantage of Twitter and NOT Getting Arrested

Hat tip to Shel Israel on his post, 7 New Tips for New Twitter Users

Social Media can be cumbersome for some to understand. Most of the questions center around large sites like Facebook, Myspace, or LinkedIn (especially in my small business environment). Recently, there has been an increase in questions regarding Twitter. Most of them center around, “What the hell is the purpose of Twitter?” or “I just don’t understand why I would want to know what you are thinking 24 hours a day.” OR “Why waste my time? Does it help my business?”

It took me awhile to finally understand the importance of Twitter. Other than the daily updates from friends and business acquaintances, I started seeing importance in community development. After using the tool over a couple of months I started forming relationships with the people I was following. I would be driving down the road and get an update on where someone was nearby. I’d stop. Talk. Relationship strengthened.

For those of you wanting to get into the Twitterific world, or what Shel refers to as Twitterville, here are a few steps you can take to get acquainted!

My opinion of Shel’s Most Important Twitter Guidelines:

3. Celebrities don’t count. You can always start by getting followed by a few celebrity Tweeters like Scoble, Calacanis and Loic. But they give you no credibility at all because they simply follow everyone. Their purpose is to be a new media star and it works well for them.

5.Have favorites. When you are new to Twitterville, you may not even notice that little star icon to the right of each tweet. You can use it to make that post a “favorite.” ….. It shows your sense of humor and your passion points.

6. Take your time. Twitterville works like any other neighborhood. People start by chatting about weather, lunch–silly little things. Sometimes the conversation goes nowhere, tapering off into cyberspace. Other times, the conversation deepens. It evolves into a real friendship or a business opportunity.

My 3 Tips of Using Twitter

1. Mix Personal and Business: The Social Media world is huge on the concept of being authentic on the Internet, whether it is blogging or having a profile in a social media community. Twitter is a form of micro-blogging and it deserves the same respect. When I decide to follow you or vice-versa I expect meaningful content. I don’t need to read a feed about your latest sales pitch. If I wanted sold I would walk into a Cutco Knife Convention. People want some authentic. They want to feel the personal side and the professional side. “Oh he has a business and a dog! That’s nice.”

2. Tweet and Meet. I take advantage of using twitter as a social stream and a information stream. I have met a couple of people off of twitter. I met BradJWard yesterday at Paradise Cafe! When you combing the online and off-line you gain an even HIGHER rate of relationship growth. I had never met Brad but felt like I knew him.

3. Relationship Building Leads to Business: In every aspect of business networking, a strong relationship usually leads to referrals and project collaboration. Why not use Twitter as a one of the relationship building tools? Start to follow your friends and you will run into like minded people.

Shel is a freaking genius, read the rest of his post for the rest of the 7 tips.

Twitter Beats FoxNews.com: Bayh for VP!

I am sitting here in Paradise Cafe and I get a TWEET alert from a friend, Brad Ward. His tweet process is below.

evan Bayh is VP according to friend who works in DC. Sent me a text at 5:33pm.
2 minutes ago from mobile web

I went to fox news to verify the TWEET. Fox didn’t have anything listed at all. Twitter beat Fox News. AWESOME! Talk about the power of social media.

This should be a lesson to everyone about the merits of checking sources. Apparently we had a prank pulled on us. Well, so much for that.

Duct Tape Marketing Missed: Part 2

Okay. So.

Blogging can sometimes be a humbling experience. I wrote a post yesterday about John Janstch post, If You’re Not Participating in Social Media. I am not going to link to my post.. just scroll down. Long story short, I went off on John for throwing out numbers instead of talking about writing authenticity and using a corporate blog as a communication tool rather than a social tool. John commented on the post:

A couple points of clarification - selling to “older” employees are your words, not mine - I simply said to folks who were not convinced social media made sense for an organization. Second, I agree with your point completely and have written about it often - so, in that context what I was saying was use the data to convince people that it’s worth developing a strategy around.

Okay, I will be honest. I felt a little bad. I decided to go back and research the Duct Tape Marketing Blog,to find examples of where John talks about being authentic in the social media/blogging world.

He has many posts talking about authenticity, “humanness”, and the importance of strategy/clear objectives in blogging.

Here are the excerpts:

Engagement Without Volume Is A Lot of Work

John: What matters always, always is the completion of meaningful long term strategic objectives. So, the discussion of who’s blog readers are more engaged or if 500 hyper engaged readers is better than 50,000 kinda engaged readers somehow starts sounding a bit like the discussion of the best college football team every year. Until there’s a playoff, and everyone has the same goal, the discussion is silly.

The Ultimate Social Marketing Question

John: When planning your social marketing strategies, tools and tactics the ultimate question you must ask is this - “What do I want the relationship with my customer to look and feel like?”

7 Ways To Get More Blog Comments

John: Show some humanness - No matter what your blog topic is readers like to know that the author is a human being. It’s okay to let that show and to add personal thoughts. Only you can determine how far to go with this, but I know that your readers will connect the more they know your story.

John caters more toward the small business market when it comes to blogging and online marketing ideas but his ideas can still resonate at the corporate level. Believe me, they resonate.

Duct Tape Marketing Misses On Corporate Blogging

I read the Duct Tape Marketing blog every once in awhile. It resides in my Google Reader, updating ever so often, giving me small tidbits of information. I usually get some good pointers from John Jantsch. Today he wrote about a new Universal McCann Wave3 research into social media citing it as a great example to help employees sell social media to their “older” (John did not say that. It was me) employers.

Here are the points of reference:

• 73% of online users read a blog
• 57% join a social network
• 45% have started a blog
• 83% have viewed a video online
• 39% subscribe to RSS Feeds
• 36% think more positively about companies that have blog

John uses the research to give advocates of social media key points to throw out at corporate board meetings. “I don’t think we should be doing the whole blogging thing.” “Well, check out these stats from Universal McCann Wave3! We should do it.”

In my humble opinion this is completely the wrong approach. There is a reason why 73% of people read blogs. They want authentic information from individuals and companies. Can you truly create authentic communication when the only reason a corporate culture decides to blog is because of a stat?

“OMG. People are reading blogs and joining social media? We should be a part of that social media stuff! Wait. Bright shiny object. Where?”

Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Don’t do something because it is the new best thing! Do it because you have a planned approach. Do it because you want to communicate in a REAL way with your clients. Do it because it is a part of a communication PLAN.

If you jump into social media with a fractured plan, you will get a fractured response. Everyone needs to be on board, from top to bottom. It need to be from the mail room student to the CEO.

Socially Creative Corporate? When is the Right Time?

(major hat tip to my blogging mentor Douglas Karr for his post: When Should a Company Dive into Social Media?)

There is a massive argumentative and substantially humorous conversation circling the steel and glass of corporate culture.

1. When should we jump into social media? Loaded question.

2. Should the CEO have a blog? Should upper management have a blog? Maybe even the peons? Yes. Yes. Yes.

3. Should the blog be Internal or External or BOTH!? This is all dependent on your strategy.

4. How do we combine a work tool with a social tool? I would read up on Best Buy’s Blue Shirt Nation.

5. Should Sharepoint be used as a social media tool? HELL NO. Do you have a paper towel? I just threw up on myself.

6. How do we manage and protect proprietary information on social media platforms? You can’t. Unless you control the social media platform (refer to question 4).

There are, of course, hundreds of questions that follow the simple ones listed above. The biggest problem corporate America has with Social Media is not necessarily managing and building of the platform (up for debate if IT gets a hold of it) it is the beginning. How do we get into Social Media? What is the best way to enter the information flow? should it be a corporate strategy or a marketing strategy?

Doulgas Karr does a great job at answering this question in his post:

I advise that social media and blogging are not a marketing strategy, they’re a corporate strategy. It’s not simply putting yourself out on the market to jump on the latest band wagon and consumers will flock to you. Social media takes time, a strategy and the right resources (both tools and people).

As one of the leading GENIUSES behind Corporate Social Media, Douglas knows what he is talking about. Both Douglas and I have written extensively about being Authentic when writing a blog or getting involved in a social media community.

From Doug: You must involve all the leaders in your company - those who own the strategy of the corporation.

Strategy and Marketing should go hand-in-hand when debating whether to enter the social media world. This message is not only catered to corporations it should also be the focus for small businesses. Do not throw yourself into social media (whether blogging or networking) if you do not have a sound strategy. Without a social media plan/goals your productivity will plummet! You will be inundated with thousands of pieces of information and overwhelmed.

Strategy. Content. Participation. Authenticity.

Social media can be a fragile world, an extremely narrow path, proceed with care.

Most of all, HAVE FUN! This isn’t a corporate board meeting with Fiji water bottles. This is the information highway BABY! Take your time, hit it hard, and reap the benefits of open-communication!

I HATE BLOGGER Comment Functions.

Maybe I am just a complete moron but I HATE HATE HATE trying to post a comment to a Blogger account. What happened to the days of just posting a comment? Why do I need to have a Google/Blogger account or an OpenID account.

I wanted to give some love to someone who linked to my post about outsourcing your Blog writing. It posted my comment with a really old Blogger account I haven’t used in 2 years! When trying to change my ID it asked for a google or blogger account. What if I don’t have a Blogger or Google Account? What if I don’t want to use damn OPENID (refer to this post about my thoughts on OpenID).

I did get to post my comment on the blog but it links to a blog that has ONE post from two years ago.

WHEW. That is what I needed. A little “airing” out.

Hey Sergey Brin! Could we get a better comment function on blogger? Maybe? You would think Google could invest a couple of hours in figuring this out.

Anyway. Have a great day!

Why have I been neglecting Friendfeed!?

I started using FriendFeed around 2 months ago. For around a month it turned into an all out obsession! I remember spending four hours constantly updating my feed until 3am. I would like to think I was discovered by Louis Gray through FriendFeed and I started making some great connections in the social media fanatics circle.

Recently I have dropped off using FriendFeed. I though about it tonight while working in Starbucks. I ask myself, “why have I not been posting on the feed?”

There are a couple of reasons that could be playing into my lack of FriendFeed usage,

1. I was burned out on the information overload of constant use for a month. This doesn’t say much for someone who calls themselves a social media fanatic.

2. Business has really picked up in the last few months. Bringing on employees in two locations and trying to learn how to manage people has taken my time down to nil.

3. I don’t receive updates via email other than a feed recount. I am inundated daily from other networks on updated and friend additions.

All of the above could be contributing to my lack of use but I haven’t quite put my finger on it. I need to make a more conscious effort to spend more time on FriendFeed. I love the platform and find it extremely useful when it comes to information and blogging content.

This is my apology to FriendFeed. I will use you more. I will. I swear. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, please tell me how you overcame your lack of use.

The Life of a Social Media Advocate. Part 1

Corvida from SheGeeks had an interesting post titled, “Why Are “We” More Willing Than The Mainstream?” The post is a brief breakdown of her thoughts on why the mainstream world is less inclined to dive into social media. She lays out three reasons: Interests, Time, and Productivity. I wanted to add a fourth level to the mix: Ego (social recognition).

Every person on this planet has some type of social need. Most of us have a desire to be recognized. Recognition could mean a lot of things. Recognition from your spouse. Recognition from your boss. Recognition from your peers. It is not a shameful thing to say you want a fair share of ego boost. You want your “balloon” filled but not POPPED.

The mainstream world (non-social media users) get their egocentric needs filled in other means. Instead of trying to get noticed by Scoble, they are trying to push to the Chamber of Commerce.

Why do we do what we do?

Interest: We love the concept built around technology and social media.
Time: Some of us do it for a living. We try to spend as much time as possible online.
Productivity: Are we really? haha
Ego: The social recognition of being a “thought-leader.”