“How do I convince management that social media is a conversational medium when they just want to use it to push content?” 

This question, asked by Natali Zheng, at the recent Social Media Breakfast -MSP on community management, ignited a bit of controversy over my answer: “Quit your job.”

My co-presenter, Meg Knodle, answered the question first (more gracefully and logically than I) by sharing that: Data is the best way to sell up (I’m paraphrasing) and that you need to prove value to management in order to get them to understand what happens you talk with people instead of at people.

I completely agree with Meg, and have fought many of my own battles with clients and in organizations about how social media will be used as a tool in a marketing communications plan. I’ve sold up many times and been very successful, but I’ve also been in situations where it is clear that the business culture I’m dealing with is not one that wants to establish a human connection with its audiences, which is what I believe using digital marketing and social media is for. When someone asks a question like Natalie’s, I reflect upon my experiences and wonder how long one should expend energy on the good fight before looking onward to find an environment where passion to foster community among and organization and its audiences can thrive.

“A Culture is made – or destroyed – by its articulate voices.” -Ayn Rand.

Along side Meg Knodl of Hennepin County Library Systems at last Friday’s Social Media Breakfast-MSP, I shared some of my experiences as a community and digital brand manager. For those asking what the hell community management is, this is how I define it:

A business function that endeavors to foster connections with a group of people around a shared interest or topic, and the development and execution of strategy around listening and engagement with members of that community. This function typically refers to online communities (social networks, forums, blogs and other digital media), but should complement other management functions established by an organization’s business objectives .

It was a colorful conversation (more to come about my “quit your job” comment) full of great tidbits of information about this emerging discipline. Pre-event, Meg and I bounced some questions around and of course I wrote out all of my answers like a school girl, so thought I’d share them here. For some solid soundbites from the conversation, visit #SMBMSP on Twitter search.

How do you find people who are talking about Mall of America (insert your brand or business here) online? Are they an easy group to engage?
We use a few different tools for listening and engagement. We use TweetDeck, which is a free desktop application for managing multiple Twitter accounts and other social networks. This tool offers the ability to enter search queries and pull any mentions into a column so we’re able to see opportunities to engage with folks who mention our brand, but aren’t necessarily following or using our Twitter handle.

You’ll see @ mentions, “Mall of America” and “MOA” search. Having a dashboard with notifications by the minute makes it very easy to stay up on what’s going on. In this case, you’ll notice the first comment in the second column is someone counting down to an upcoming visit. She clearly doesn’t know we have a Twitter, so we can reach out and say, “We look forward to having you for a visit, Taryn!” in order to show her we’re on Twitter and convert a follower.

Actively listening online has the potential to teach a brand so much about how people relate to their surroundings and what’s important to them (gee, imagine that) − and information is everywhere and mostly public! Whether a blog post, Yelp/Trip Advisor review, Facebook post or a Tweet – it is silly to not be peeking in on what’s being said about your business. There is endless opportunity here.

When on the go (mobile), we use Boxcar for iPhone which allows for the same exact notifications so we can listen, and engage where necessary, but just pops up as a notification. We use this in tandem with the Twitter app. Facebook for iPhone allows us to manage Mall of America fan pages mobilly (comment, delete spam, etc.). We use the same tools for iPad.

I’m fortunate to work for a brand that people mention often, and that it’s typically relevant for us to reach out and acknowledge a comment, share in guest excitement, solve a guest service concern, and a multitude of other engagement points.

In addition to these tools, we use a Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) called JitterJam. This alerts us of brand mentions across social media and traditional media. Note: We use our SCRM tool to send content to Facebook and Twitter so that we can measure its performance among our community. The problem with SCRM tools is that they’re building products based on other products, like Facebook, whose interfaces iterate regularly, so I caution you to make sure that whatever third party you use, vet it substantially. Make sure your content is showing up and not being penalized by Edgerank (Facebook’s algorithm for how things show up in a news feed).

How do you separate your personal and professional identities (or do you)? 
I don’t believe in this. Just like I don’t really believe in “these opinions are mine and not those of my employer.” I do strongly believe in wherever you go there you are. While I may wear different hats in life, I like consistency and find that who I am is represented in my respective roles (wife, friend, daughter, worker, dog mom and so on). I believe this question asks bigger questions:

Why are so many people so concerned about ‘doing it right?’

What has happened to humanity that we question how to have conversations and connect with other humans; as people and as businesses?

At another recent event, I was baffled by how many people went up to a microphone and asked this very question. I understand social technologies are new, but the fundamental mechanism of it, the conversation, is not. There are a few things at work here.

 We have lost the art of conversation, partly as the result of innovation in technology and mass media. Essentially, people have become accustomed to making a message for a large audience that they never hear back from.

 We, as a people, have been trained to do things a certain way and are so concerned about not doing them right that we don’t move forward and tackle scary things.

May sound like and extreme assessment, but that’s okay with me. I just believe that we are who we are and we bring that everywhere. There’s professionalism and there’s your personality. There shouldn’t be a disparity if you’re in this business.

How do you tell the difficult stories? Store closings, accidents, etc?
This largely depends on the story. Mall of America sees an average of 100,000 people a day, so there is so much to share, positive and sometimes negative. Our number one priority is guest safety and guest experience, so we communicate about on-site issues with mainstream media and via Facebook and Twitter when appropriate. As far as social media is concerned, we usually participate in the conversation if it’s started, but don’t necessarily start it on our own. We let our community dictate that and are happy to give factual information and direct people to the best source to answer questions people may have.  Something important to remember is that we’re the house to 520+ tenants, so sometimes communication comes directly from them. Crisis situations are more difficult due to their unpredictable nature, so those are handled on a case-by-case basis. It is important to note that we have a protocol for digital crisis communication that lays over our traditional crisis communication plan.

For a little more in depth, read “How Community Management Spawned a Social Business Strategy at Mall of America.” What do you peeps have to add?

So, the fabulous Meg Knodl, senior librarian, communications and community engagement at Hennepin County Library, and I are having a conversation (emphasis on conversation; this is not a presentation) about community management with the Social Media Breakfast -MSP crew this Friday. We are coming prepared with a few talking points, but I thought I’d throw it out there to you guys in the event you’re interested in deep-diving into a particular niche of community management.

Please share any must-cover topics or questions you have surrounding community management in comments so we can try to incorporate into our discussion, okay? I look forward to seeing some of you there, and if you live in Minnesota and aren’t registered to come, you should;-) Happy Wednesday!

My passion for the convergence of technology and the communication disciplines placed me at the first ever Mobile March over the weekend, a mobile event focused on the intersection of mobile technology and trends, and the multitude of ways mobile development is affecting business. Mobile March is the offspring of Mobile Twin Cities, an event held monthly that focuses on trends and software development on all mobile platforms, founded and led by Justin Grammens.

The day-long event brought together mobile enthusiasts from all walks — software developers, communicators, marketers and advertisers — to learn about and openly discuss the topic of mobile technology; where we are, where it’s headed and what it all means – so far as we can tell at the moment. The event was formatted as a dual track series, allowing attendees to mix and match business and mobile development tracks or just stick to either track all day. There was something for everyone.

Mobile March: What and Why with Founder, Justin Grammens

The event had many highlights, and of course not all can be covered here, but the one theme that stood out to me was “Marching Together.” Evolving technologies and the integration of them into existing business practice is not monopolized by any one person or company. It is, and will remain a learning curve for all of us. As the day progressed, it held that Mobile March was merely an educational forum intended for people to productively collaborate and walk away with better information to more effectively implement appropriate mobile elements into business strategy. Here are a few event highlights. Hope you find useful.

IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE PART OF MOBILE

Keynote, Mark Mosiniak, director of business development for Best Buy Mobile, gave a well-rounded presentation that spoke to the rapid evolution of mobile (see below) and how Best Buy is making modifications to fit in this space to proficiently help the consumer make the best buying decisions for their mobile needs. “What today is all about is getting us together to share ideas. Not just in our ecosystem, but ultimately to make mobile easier for the customer and consumer,” said Mosiniak. Best Buy’s initiatives include education and digital support for customers to make purchasing a new, or even foreign or updated mobile device, more manageable and helpful for the buyer. Key points us marketer/communication folk (or other) can take away:

Mobile technology is advancing quickly…

• 10 years ago 3G licenses were signed, the first pocket PC devices were introduced, the first mobile game was introduced (remember snake?) and the first Bluetooth enabled phone hit the market.
• Three years ago RIM owned the marketing in email centric devices, Internet browsing was possible but not engaging, 3G products hit the market in force, and Apple announced the iPhone.
• In the past year the first Android phone was released, 2,500 apps in the Android marketplace, there were 20,000 apps on iTunes and 8 million downloads.
• Today, Android is fastest growing platform with 30,000 apps, 4G products are on the market, 150,000 iPhone apps are on iTunes with more than 3 billion downloads, there are 4 billion mobile users worldwide, people are transferring what they do on their PCs to their phone, and people want their mobile experiences to be fast, simple and solve immediate needs. There are so many platforms — Windows, Palm, Symbian OS, iPhone, RIM, Android —We need to think beyond iPhone and Blackberry. There is a lot of opportunity here!!!

The majority of people DO NOT have Android or Smartphones… they have TEXT!!! We are the uber geeks, not consumers! The point here being that, thinking from a tech savvy box isn’t always a good thing, as the majority of the population runs on less sophisticated technology, but uses it well and via SMS. We should focus marketing efforts here. “Consumers want that brand, color or price point, not complicated application arrangements that require vast amounts of knowledge they don’t have to operate. Developing apps that actually relate to the consumer market would be a much better spend in developer time. We don’t need yet another Twitter app. The creativity comes in how you’re building the relationship with the customer, not the creativity in the app!!!

Mark’s 5 Ideas for Mobile (notes)…

• Single Sign On – Different sign ins are inefficient and so difficult from a usability standpoint. Users should have a universal sign in for all of their accounts.
• Blur the lines between customer service and marketing – At Best Buy, they use ‘Tips and Tricks’ video that train and teach users how to operate their technology better. This could be applied to almost anything. It’s no different than it’s always been, but now we have the ability to provide help digitally. Make use of it!!!
• Online to Offline – Barcodes for customers via SMS, i.e. text this number to get customer reviews from the Web interface or Web site on your mobile, 2D barcodes, etc.
• My phone is my wallet – Create the ability for mobile checkout, i.e. Best Buy’s Rewards Zone tap and go and pay pass
• Small Business need apps too!!! – Obviously, small business rarely has the resources a larger organization may have to there are certain similar traits that can transfer from biz-to-biz,

Where is the $ in apps?

• The purchase point (people purchasing the actually app)
• In the life enhancing ability of the app to the consumer
• Marketing of the applications

Mark’s slide deck can be found here.

HOW TO SET STRATEGY IN MOBILE

This panel discussion was solely dedicated to mobile strategy (although people so badly want to focus on tactics – always makes me chuckle). Panelists were Damon Allison of Vision Information Services, Robert Shidla of Verizon Wireless, Scott Thomsen of Launch Media and Doug Rozen of Carlson Marketing.

Immediacy and snackability are two of mobile’s distribution channel perks; they allow users to get a taste of something very quickly.

What are key considerations if you’re thinking about mobile strategy? (notes)

People get blinded by the shininess of mobile. This is marketing; you need to have a codified vision of success. Walk, run, leap begins with the foundation of thinking and planning. At the end of the day these are marketing programs. We are talking to the consumers – start thinking about what the challenge is you’re trying to solve. With a plan, be willing to adapt. This ecosystem is moving at a rapid pace. What you have today will be different in 18 months. KPIs and ROI should remain consistent. What are you trying to achieve? What’s the delivery mechanism or carrier mechanism? If you don’t have in house capabilities to determine your mobile strategy, find a partner (agency/mobile development company) that thinks about who the customer is, what the customer is thinking and possesses the knowledge of what technologies your audience uses in order to determine what to do next.

Three Mobile Marketing Strategy Recommendations

There was far more to the events of Mobile March. A lot on the development side and more on the business side. Here’s a broader recap from the Minnov8 gang.  If you know of other recaps, feel free to share links in comments. I look forward to the next Mobile March and how much will have changed by then, from both a mobile development standpoint and how we’ll see mobile marketing transform. Looking at the current chronology, I can only imagine how things could change in the next six months to a year. Thanks to the event organizers Phil Wilson, Linda Cummings and Justin Grammens for putting this together!

There are so many opportunities to be educated about new trends, tools, technology and what it all means for the bigger picture. Often, we pay a fee (sometimes hefty) to sit in rooms with folks and hear the brilliance, perspective and idea sessions that explore the next big thing. But what about all the people who can’t attend these events…  due to finances, their employer arguing that the investment is unworthy, family responsibilities and other circumstances?

Resourcefulness is something I’ve learned a lot about this past year (more on that lesson in a future post). I’ve had the luxury of attending quite a few amazing events in recent months, but there are certainly a few that I’ve been sad to miss. So, what do I do when I can’t physically be somewhere but want the knowledge? I seek out the information and find that I can get pretty darn close to an event without actually having to be there. Case in point:

I was unable to make it to South by Southwest Interactive (SxSW) this year. While sad, the greatest thing about events like this is that technology transcends geography. With the help of a nifty little service called USTREAM, I was able to watch the entire Social Media Breakfast SXSW via livestream from my bed on Sunday morning. It was fantastic.  I took in presentations by thought leaders Becky McCray, Tac Anderson and Rick Mahn with appearances by awesome Social Media Breakfast Founder, Brian Person and event moderator, Albert Maruggi.

Thanks to technology, the following is what I learned from my bed on Sunday morning…

The Missing Ingredient in Social Media Strategy is… the strategy! – Tac Anderson

With all the talk about social media strategy nowadays, it’s funny that the one thing missing from most social media strategies is often just that, the actual strategy. Shannon Paul hit this topic astonishingly well a few weeks ago, with great commentary from Tac and others – and its reference was the starting point of his discussion. I highly recommend you read Shannon’s post: “The Mising Ingredient in Most Social Media Strategies.”

Tac defined strategy as: Creating operational alignment between all functions and activities of a business.

Current research on publicly traded companies says: Return on assets has gone down and is on a downward trajectory. By 2025 the net worth of all publicly traded companies will be zero (research attributed to John Hagel).

Problem: This means that the way we run our businesses today isn’t working. In order to achieve scale (way back when), we had to give up intimacy. In order to achieve scale, we put processes in place. We removed people from the company.

Solution: With Internet and social media, we can achieve intimacy and scale. We can connect people inside the company with people outside the company. Quoting Lane Becker (who quoted someone else): “Businesses thrive on the network when they adapt to the network, not the other way around.”

Three ways to create/adopt a SM strategy:

• The Bolt On strategy (not a strategy): Let’s start a blog or a Twitter account. Someone will blog/tweet and everything else will stay exactly the same inside the company. Social Media is NOT a bolt on component.
• The I’m going to force social media to comply with existing code of conduct (not a strategy). It sucks the life out of SM.
• Making your company optimized for social media. What would it look like if every part of your company were built to maximize the benefits of social media? This is the ideal and highly underdeveloped point at which most organizations find themselves currently.

Back to both John Hagel and Lane Becker to summarize our discussion: Social Media as part of the operational alignment is about creating edges and flows inside your company. Innovation happens on the edges where you get creative friction and where things and things can even be a little messy. What SM can do if you optimize the right way is create those edges and knowledge flows… can start happening inside your company.

Tac Anderson is Digital Consulting Director at Waggener Edstrom, blogs over at New Comm Biz and is all around awesome (from what I read and see – we have not met). Tac rocks and you should read his stuff.

How Technology is Changing Small Town America – Becky McCray

“I was just chatting with some people at my table and what I find to be true is that everyone has a small town connections,” said Becky as she grabbed the mic from Albert to begin her talk. She finds it amusing that people continue to ask her, “How did you ever get interested in technology in such a small town?”  To which she politely says, “There is electricity in small towns. “

Becky owns a liquor store and a cattle ranch in small Oklahoma town. She started out as a small town entrepreneur and is an eternal geek. This intersection of passion has landed her in a position to help rural communities really ‘get connected,’ said moderator Albert Maruggi. The opportunity to connect more people through technology specifically as it pertains to small and rural business is her aim and sweet spot.

Becky talked about a few trends happening in small town America that are transforming small town communities and business.

Convergence - Techies are invading rural communities and effecting change. She illustrates with the example of Aliza Sherman. Sherman lives in Alaska in a 300-person town and her five-person company Conversify has grown far past its borders.

Rural is getting more and more wired. Rural communities are progressively experiencing broadband connectivity. Jay Pinkert (may have slaughtered that name) in Wisconsin has worked to wire a whole section of the state for broadband in order allow people to connect and develop through technology.

“We are at a moment where everything is going to change, said Becky. “My anti-tech mother is on Facebook poking her grandson.”

Folks in small towns are at an advantage. Because of the scale, the education process is a bit different. Teaching the skills and tools is easy. Then you can teach the commandments:

• Be helpful
• Build Community
• Reputation is forever

I look forward to learning more about Becky by checking out her blog.

How to Start a Social Media Breakfast – Rick Mahn

Rick’s road to founding SMBMSP was born out of a strong desire to bring the conversations he was having online and in other small communities to his back yard a.k.a. the Twin Cities. Upon observing a little gathering happening in Boston beginning in 2007 called Social Media Breakfast, Rick began a conversation with Brian Person, founder of the Social Media Breakfast concept and it was suggested that he start a breakfast in Minneapolis.

A little more than two years later, SMBMSP has 1,874 members and averages a 300-person event each month. There are often people dissatisfied because they don’t get a ticket. A problem Rick is looking to solve as best he can.

Some of Rick’s thoughts…

Community: SMBMSP opens up opportunities for the community itself. It’s a catalyst for the people ‘doing it’ to come forward and help the rest of the community.

Recruiting help for events: In terms of seeking out help for the events, Rick looks to the people who are really passionate about SMB, topics, issues, etc. (which sometimes takes a while) and enrolls them in the events.

Large group discussion: When small, the breakfast is a great place to have dynamic discussions about how social media is transforming industries. As the breakfast has grown to large numbers, the format has been modified to panel discussions with a moderator instead of a speaker model. Panels are more productive, as they offer many perspectives instead of just one. Ample Q & A is built in to encourage strong audience dialogue.

Sponsorship: In the beginning it’s hard, unless you have really good fundraising skills. Rick admits that he did not:-) “I’m an IT guy,” he said. “Not an events guy.” Looking for mutually beneficial partnership/sponsorship venues is key.

Of course, there is more, but I’m signing off here.  SMBSXSW can be viewed in its entirety here.

A few other quick tips for following events you cannot attend:

• Hashtag: Find out before the event kicks off what hashtag has been designated so you can follow the conversation on Twitter. If you’re not on Twitter, you can still perform Twitter searches via search.twitter.com, and you’ll be able to obtain information, links, photos and video from anyone who uses the event hashtag.
• Google: A simple Google search can be so effective. Just search for the event name and you’ll likely get a long list of blogger who are live-blogging the event. These posts are often better than being there because the information has already been synthesized for you. A great example of a wonderful blogger covering SXSW is Greg Swan. I’ve been following his daily recaps over on Social Studies.

Have anything to add? I love it when you do.

When I came across the criteria for the SobCon2010 “Blog it, Earn it”contest via Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker, I was elated with not only the fact that I could win and all expense paid trip to SobCon2010, but more importantly that I could address how a person online has made a difference in my life; how they’ve made my life easier, better, smarter, more productive and more meaningful.

There are a lot of people online (and off) that make a difference in my life because of the content they share, the conversations we have, and the connections we make, but rarely do I articulate in writing how these people have impacted my daily life (I try to tell them all in person).

While there are many, I want to share one that has and continues to make difference. That person is Brian Solis. Note: I could have written about this without the incentive of winning a trip, but being a relatively new blogger, I wasn’t prepared to write a random post about why I have a purely professional crush on Brian . The following is why I dig Brian:

As a young public relations practitioner that has a knack for establishing mutually beneficial relationships between an audience and its publics in a more human relational way, I believe Brian truly encapsulates and demonstrates superior insight and knowledge to the discipline of marketing communications and far beyond.

Upon entering my first agency job I took a lot in, as is to be expected. I love public relations and the foundation upon which it was built, but in the agency setting I found myself at times wondering why PR could seem so impersonal and contrived. My capstone project in college had addressed the question of how social networks were impacting the public relations industry, so naturally I began to gravitate to the online marketing group’s side of business in the agency (where social media was housed). The unfortunate thing about the agency was that the synchronicity between practice groups was more of a fight than a collaborative effort. Who owned the social media piece of an account (PR or online marketing) or who got hours seemed more of a priority than getting down to business and developing sound strategies of how to provide clients with the best means to reach the folks they were trying to reach.

During this time I began to read Brian Solis’ blog then called PR 2.0, now called Defining the Convergence of Media and Influence. Additionally, I got my hands on “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” a phenomenal book coauthored by he and Deirdre Breakenridge.

Brian’s thought leadership surrounding communications and how technology and new media are profoundly influencing a firmly rooted discipline(s) has fascinated me since discovery. Brian has a very simple way of articulating some very difficult things. Essentially, he has managed to take existing silos and present ideas, concepts and realities that are influential in breaking those silos down or at the very least allow people to look horizontally through them, instead of just vertical.

Finding his content and position early in my career has given me confidence in my view of the public relations profession, which is that PR is far more than news releases, media relations and getting someone to write a story that reflects your client in a positive light for the sake of it, even when that may not be the case (a one-way dialogue between an organization and its publics). It’s more about truly connecting a group of people to an entity for the right reasons and can be done in a really personable way instead of the old oiled and typical public relations engine, which at times may be nothing more than a relationship with a reporter or follow protocol that in my humble opinion is a small piece of the true PR puzzle. Among my favorite posts from him are those concerned with the Conversation Prism. The idea that “I hear you. I’m listening to you. I understand you,” as a means to create a community for your entity instead of the illusion of such.

The Conversation Prism: The Art of Listening, Learning and Sharing (Creation of Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas)

I’m not saying that traditional means are not important or profound in their own right. Without our foundation, the new could not exist. What I am saying is that there are far better ways to connect people to what they need and what will make them loyal to your client, company, etc. that serve everyone better, and yes, will probably require more work (a two-way dialogue). It is this that makes me so excited about public relations and communications.

Brian’s contribution has allowed my excitement about things such as this to grow, given me the tools to be a better practitioner, brought me cutting edge approaches to a field I love and ultimately the inspiration to continue on my path. I thank Brian for helping me be a better, smarter, more productive practitioner by the content he shares and the hard work he does to produce this content. It certainly makes the PR discipline more meaningful to me.

Brian does a really great job making himself accessible to interested parties, despite being very busy all the time. He responds to his blog comments, tweets back and forth and engages with a lot of people regularly (basically, he practices what he preaches). It’s nice to know that if ever I had a PR 2.0 challenge, I could ping him and he’d do what he could to help out (I don’t know that this will ever happen because he writes about everything before it becomes a problem – for me).

I was lucky enough to meet Brian for a small second and exchange a hug at Blogworld/New Media Expo in 2009. I hope to have a better chunk of time with him someday to chat about his evolution through this discipline, life and what’s next – really just get to know him a bit.

I look forward to his new book, “Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web,” which hits stands any day now and can be pre-ordered over at Amazon.

Thanks to Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker for presenting the opportunity to chat about how Brian’s contributions have impacted my life. Hope to see you at SobCon2010!

Human business advocate and one of social media’s finest, Chris Brogan, rolled through Minneapolis last week to keynote the LaBreche and Minnesota Business Reputations Event at Best Buy Headquarters. Some other folks have recapped the event and shared about the panel discussion, so if you’re interested in other perspectives just Google or Twitter search #BroganMpls and you should have access to some good posts and tweets from the event. Additionally, I captured a few afterthoughts from Jason Douglas, Keith Privette, Christian Betancourt (fodder for another conversation) and a clip from the Q & A with Chris.

A few things…

I dig Chris and this is why: Chris is just a guy who knows how to talk to people (the human-to-human way), and as the result of being an excellent relationship cultivator, he’s managed to build something profoundly great and share it with a lot of people.  If I can look back and say that I built something similar with those around me and gave it away, I’ll be one heck of a happy gal.

My regard for Chris goes a bit beyond his keynotes and his public social media persona. I’ve had a few opportunities to get to know Chris outside of his keynotes, both at Blogworld in 2009 and over dinner when he passed through town last week, and it’s nice to be able to say that his insides match his outsides, as in he’s not full of shit IMHO (in my humble opinion).

The Keynote: My Thoughts

Instead of the obligatory hello, Chris began his talk by addressing the audience with the Zulu greeting Sayubono, which translates into “I see you.” Chris explained that “I see you” is at the heart of this whole social media thing.  If you take whatever hat you wear off for a second (public relations, marketer, CEO, student of life, etc.) and look at the logic behind this, it should make sense. Being impersonal and going through the motions in life is boring, not particularly enticing and usually has little action associated with it. It’s lazy. If I get something in the mail (or via another medium) that is irrelevant to me and poorly executed, someone obviously didn’t really take the time to understand why they needed to chat with me. They didn’t SEE ME. And by the way, I’m not just talking about this in terms of how marketing communication people address their audiences’ needs. I’m talking about with your check out gal at Target, with your friends and family. I’m talking about everything you do. What’s the point of any of it if we don’t SEE one another? Seeing is the beginning of it all, and most importantly something we have complete control over.

Listen. Connect. Publish. The keynote was framed by these three verbs, and upon them a discussion was built. Here are some raw notes:

Look for the relationship. SEE YOUR PEOPLE .By listening to your publics it should be pretty simple to determine what it is they need you to say to them. How do you build content around the people you equip? Peeps will reveal what they need. You can’t assume they want to talk to you there (various mediums). When you find where they are you need to participate where they are, you’re there to be a participant – not there to manage the brand. Equip them! It’s amazing what happens when you give people collaboration tools. Help people belong. Build the relationship, a relationship that yields and benefits. Listen and BE HELPFUL. The important thing is DO NOT USE the tools if you’re not willing to listen, if you’re not willing to build relationships.

Sentiment. Many post-event discussions with peers reeked of disappointment with the event overall. The social media literate tended to find the event repetitive in nature or took issue with having the same discussion, or as Andrew Eklund stated in a Minnesota Business recap (nice thoughts over there btw), “Social Media is having a hard time growing up.” Here’s what I say to that: The social media literate were not the intended audience for this event. Beth LaBreche said it herself during the panel discussion. While she appreciated the turn out, she was hoping for clients and prospects less versed in the social media discipline to show up and get some wicked education. Problem is, you stick the Brogan in as headliner and you draw his fan base and those who may want to be his fans because they’ve heard about him from his fan base.

To the literate: While hearing about listening and creating the appropriate content based on the information we’ve uncovered by monitoring, listening or whatever, the reality is that so many people still need to hear the YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO BE HUMAN message, which is really at the core of the whole listen, connect and publish thing (and Brogan happens to carry that message well). The underpinnings of social media are the humanity piece. My strong belief as someone who has participated here for a while is that teaching people about the human part, about what that really means is most of the battle. At the end of the day a lot of people don’t know how to just have a conversation with people, let alone figure out how to go talk to a bunch of people they don’t know strategically. Add the “we should market to people using social media” piece without a foundational knowledge of this and you’re in a world of trouble.

Those of us that want to (and some are) get into the sophisticated realm of growing social communication channels, developing new measurement infrastructure, social products and services for consumption, etc., keep doing it. DO IT! Then when you’ve done it, you can get on stage and TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE.

Until then, I think we should expect to remain on the 101 information highway for a while because that’s where the majority of folks are. Those of us who have been playing on the playground for a while need to keep doing what we’re doing, help others, keep ourselves right sized in the whole scheme of learning curves, give back what we’ve been given and create results using our preferred communication medium.

What do you think?

For those of you that don’t know who Chris Brogan is, I recommend you Google him  (you’ll find that he blogs regularly over at www.chrisbrogan.com about community and social media, he’s co-author of New York Times Bestseller, Trust Agents, is president of New Marketing Labs and participates in a number of other endeavors). You’ll either be into his voice or you won’t. I’m acutely aware that not everyone is a fan.