Community Management is something I think few brands do really well. It’s a hard thing to pull off, not only because brand culture needs to be on board with having a conversation with its community instead of blasting crap messages out constantly, but also because of the strategy development and tactical execution involved. It’s hard enough for brands to get marketing right with the tools we’ve always had, let alone blending the old and new.

A big part of my job at Mall of America is managing and developing its online community. Listening to what people say about the Mall of America brand, interacting with our community and continuing to build it by having meaningful conversations. This tactic of our work fits within the guest experience and innovative marketing programs piece of our social media strategy.

Working in this space is interesting (for so many reasons), in that rarely do I (as a consumer) experience the level of digital outreach we provide our guests at MOA (and I’m not insinuating we’re perfect at this either). I’ve just had such an experience at InterContinental Hotel Times Square in New York City that I believe many brands could learn something from. 

When I booked travel for my New York trip (I attended and spoke at Blogworld & New Media Expo NYC 2011 last week), there was no particular reason for my choosing InterContinental TS, other than proximity to the conference center. Their website was pleasant and booking was a breeze. Upon arrival, I had a very positive first impression. The hotel is new, beautiful and located a few blocks from Times Square. The staff is very friendly and welcoming. When I got to my room, I was delighted by its modern, yet homey feel, the amazing bathroom, quality of the iron (I need a good iron) and amenities, not to mention my stellar view.

Being a Foursquare user and someone who likes to share where I go, what I do and experience (basically everything), I opened my Foursquare app, checked in and uploaded a picture of my view.

Moments later I received this tweet from @IC_TimesSquare:

They’re listening… and engaging… saying hey and utilizing new media (conversation) tools as a way to extend their brand promise. I dug this. Even though I spend a bulk of my time making sure people who mention Mall of America in their tweets and/or speak directly to us are acknowledged in whatever way necessary, it really blows my mind and gets my attention when brands do that for me. I appreciate it because I hang out on Twitter, therefore I enjoy it when I am followed up with or essentially, marketed to there.

Our conversation continued:

I left the hotel to grab dinner with coworkers, returning to find an envelope under the door. I thought it may be a receipt, as my stay was prepaid. NOPE! It was a lovely hand written note from Victoria, the InterContinental Times Square’s community manager on duty. It read:

Lisa,

Thanks so much for tweeting with us and we hope you enjoy your stay! Please let us know if there’s anything we can assist you with.

Best,

Victoria

It also included a ‘drink on us’ ticket for the fantastic hotel lounge.

What’s the ROI of this?
I can’t possibly leave this post without validating why an activity like this yields. Here’s my perceived ROI of my experience at IC_TimesSquare:

• Branding – @IC_TimesSqare‘s digital activities are an extension of their on-site guest experience. I can’t stress the importance of this. It is one of the biggest struggles when it comes to integrating new tools into an already existing strategy. The ROI – I’ve told at least 10 people and am writing positive media about them here.
• Loyalty – Provided superior guest service, making my stay a positive one, ensuring that I’ll pursue them before any other hotel in New York next time I travel. When I make travel arrangements elsewhere, I will be more inclined to search out an InterContinental.
• Revenue – At least $60 spent in @IC_TimesSquare lounge. Two of the most awesome dudes I know, Dave Fleet and Chuck Hemann, met me for drinks.

How do you do this too?
This impressive experience made me curious (of course), so I sought Victoria to ask about how Intercontinental manages social strategy. This was her answer:

“Currently the set-up for InterContinental hotels is that each property is set to look after themselves – with cross promotion and educational opportunities offered from the corporate level. At this property specifically, I work on-site with a team off site to help feed relevant and interesting content as well as making sure there is a constant conversation happening with our customers.”

I liked her answer. While short, it covers a lot of ground and also remains consistent to the experience they’re providing. They’re offering autonomy to employees, while also providing framework at the corporate level.

So… make sure you know what your key messages and marketing communications strategy are, develop social strategy (which really is a human approach to your marketing – that’s all) around existing marketing communications strategy, and the tools will follow. Easier said than done, of course. If you’re looking specifically for listening tools, etc. Google it. Many have written on the topic, or I’m happy to provide recommendations in comments.

Big thanks to InterContinental Times Square for providing me this experience. Made my trip to New York that much better!

This post is a co-authored (mainly authored) by the fantastic Chuck Hemann, VP of Digital Stragegy for Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence . He blogs at Analytics is King.

In the critically acclaimed part one of our series (OK, maybe that’s a little over the top), Lisa Grimm and I discussed disclosure in social media from the brand perspective. We offered up some ideas for you on how to maintain a strong relationship, while also getting to share the good stuff that everyone worked hard to create. As Justin Goldsborough pointed out in the comments to the first post, disclosure need not be hard.

However, from the agency point of view it tends to be made more complicated than it needs to be. Quite often we disclose parts of the campaign/project that we shouldn’t, or we don’t disclose at all with varying shades of gray in between. We’re passionate about the work we’ve created, and that passion often leads to overly ambitious “sharing.” These two posts aren’t meant to reign in the sharing of good work. Quite the contrary. We’re just trying to ensure that you don’t end up having to field angry phone calls from “the boss.”

So if you are going to share information online about client campaigns what are some things you should know from the agency side?

• Don’t share any inside baseball – This should be a no-brainer. If you do share the final output of a client program, do not share any details about how you got there. First of all, the only people who would care about the very intimate details of a program are your competitors and you don’t want that getting in their hands. Secondly, sharing that kind of detail will only end up making the client look bad.

• Discuss “sharing” with the client before posting – Again, this should be very common practice but it is something we deal with consistently, especially in larger agencies. Before you post anything, anywhere, just run the contents of your post by your client. If they give you the go-ahead, then you should feel good about posting it.

• If you are posting, please use (client) or #client. If the client has approved your sharing of the program, you should include some form of disclosure mark. You owe it to everyone who could come across that content to disclosure your connection to the brand. This isn’t done often enough. If you don’t feel comfortable including the disclosure mark, don’t disclose at all.

• Don’t ride on your client’s coattails. To reiterate ‘lessons’ from part one, if you haven’t worked with a client in a long time and have nothing to do with the work they’ve produced, you don’t need to designate your conversation with #client. I think this is where things get sticky, but where we all have the ability to be human here,

• Consider including the client in your post. If you are writing a blog post about the program on your personal or agency blog, consider including your client as a co-author. You’d be surprised how much they like talking about their work too! This is another opportunity to grow the brand/client relationship, uncover other client needs and potentially gain more business.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it’s a nice start. What say you about this perspective?

No matter your role in public relations at this time, whether student, recent grad or seasoned pro, it has no doubt been quite an interesting past few years. The recession paired with our industry being in one of its most transformative stages in history has leveled the pre-existing playing field considerably. We have a slew of new technologies to communicate with and the nature in which people interact with information is very different − and both are changing all the time. Businesses are trying to get their footing and establish staffing needs in a rapidly changing business climate and job seekers are hoping to secure fitting employment. These combined circumstances are largely responsible for why the market has been especially difficult to penetrate for people looking for a job in PR, and those who are looking to make a transition mid-career.

With the circumstances as such, what is a PR peep to do? I say, dress for the job you want. Not in the literal sense of course, but equip yourself with the tools necessary to land where you’d like. I know it may sound a little lofty or airy, but if you know what you want, believe that you are capable of achieving it and have a desire to figure things out, than suiting up and showing up that way should be no problem, right? Having landed in a wicked awesome digital PR gig earlier this year, I thought I’d jot down a few of the things that helped immensely along the way. Thanks to Nicole Lemmer and Sam Johnson for prompting me to write this down:-).

NETWORKING! Do as much of it as your schedule allows! I love people and have a genuine interest in what they do, how they got there and where they might want to go. Out of this interest, I get the gift of others’ experiences and the privilege to learn from them. I believe this is one of the most important things you can do and want to do in your life, in all capacities, but especially in PR (or business) because what is PR all about? RELATIONSHIPS. Relationships are the capital by which we navigate the waters in our careers. Connections for potential employment, peer-to-peer advise, comparing notes, like-minds, new business development, friendship, etc. are among the benefits and opportunities of strong and genuine relationships. Some of the ways I enjoy getting to know people:

• Join (or shop) a professional organization. I joined Minnesota PRSA in 2008. Being a PR student and having served as vice president of Metropolitan State University’s PRSSA chapter made my Minnesota PRSA membership imminent. It has been a phenomenal place, as it offers professional development, networking, service and many other opportunities for growth. In addition to membership, I serve on the communications committee as co-chair and formerly served as social media lead. Getting involved in the organization is very wise, as it exposes you to opportunities you would otherwise not have.
• Events. Go to them! I’ve make a huge effort to check out events put on by other professional organizations, like Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA), American Marketing Association, Social Media Breakfast (SMBMSP), UnSummit, Minnebar, Mobile Twin Cities and more (if you have the money or support from your company to go to national events, do that as well). I’ve discovered so many new faces and places that I’d otherwise never known about if I had just stuck to my friends and what’s comfortable. If you go to one event offered by every different group (within reason), you can get a feel of where you may want to join and where you may want to check in and say hi from time to time. Events are also a great place to meet your online connections face-to-face. When you’re at these events don’t be shy. Stick your hand out and get to know people. Kind of scary, but it gets easier the more you do it.
• Informational Interviews This is huge. I understand that this can be really scary. I’ve been there. But here’s the deal: There are a lot of ordinary people out there that just send a resume, cover letter and some writing samples. They may even do something cute and creative in hopes that their scented paper or use of crafty language may advance them faster in the interview process. If you want to use cute paper and fonts fine, but more than anything else you should just go ahead, give the agency or company a call and say, “I’m very interested in learning about your business. I’m in school, or graduating, etc. studying X and I would love to gain a bit of knowledge from the application side of what I’m learning in the classroom. Would it be possible for me to come in and chat with X about that for 30 minutes?” What’s the worse that can happen? They can say no, right? Big deal. If you’ve done it right by presenting yourself and what you’re asking for well, this should not be the case. If you can do this, you can do anything. As cheese ball as this sounds, don’t be ordinary be extraordinary.
• Twitter. I joined in 2008 and slowly began to build meaningful relationships with people through a common connection of sorts. Whether a discussion about movies, the Minnesota State Fair, food or insight on industry trends — by investing time, listening and sharing with others, I now have great relationships with folks all over the place that have contributed to many professional successes along the way. The relationships I’ve built on Twitter have been EXTREMELY valuable to me in my career thus far.

STAY EDUCATED and SHARE (these all impact your network big time)

• Read. Keeping yourself up to date on what’s going on is important (and hopefully something that interests you), so I read as much as I can. There is no shortage of information on any topic nowadays. I read anywhere from five to 20 articles a day. It’s a culmination of blogs, the news and other relevant content that interests me. I read about PR and communication trends and  subject matter far outside the scope of what is of interest in order to expand my knowledge base.
• Comment. Share your thoughts on the blogs that you read and enjoy. Don’t be scared either. If you read it and like it (or don’t), add something, even if it’s that you read and enjoyed the blogger’s post.
• Blog. I started this blog in late 2009 to start more in depth conversations about things that matter to me. Through these connections, I’ve taken many of these conversations offline and developed deeper connections with like minds. There are other places to add value (organizing and sharing content in social bookmarking sites, Twitter, Facebook groups, etc.) but the overall point is that the time you put in will likely produce results, providing you are being yourself, acting with integrity, showing a genuine interest to learn and participate in a broader conversation.

DO. Do whatever you want to do. Just Do It! It isn’t one of the world’s staple brand taglines for nothing. If you want something, then darnit, go get it! Taking action can be quite difficult. It’s so much easier to sit around and think/talk about doing something rather than actually doing it, especially when it comes to advancing yourself. For me it’s, ‘I’m going to start writing more blog posts.” Well, that’s great and while I’ve seen a mild improvement in frequency of posts from myself, it’s still not once a week without fail (or more), which is what I’d prefer it to be. Therefore, more discipline and action is required. I have a great analogy for action taking that I refer to when I struggle. It goes something like this: Your car is broken. You call the shop and schedule an appointment to get your car fixed. Is it fixed? NOPE! You have to actually take your car in so it can get fixed, right? We can make decisions all day long about what we’re going to do and even how we’re going to do it, but unless we actually shut up and go do something it will not happen. I categorize this in the simple but not easy department because while it’s just plain logic, you can easily fall into a lot of decision making with no action taking. At least I can, so reviewing this regularly helps me out.

These are just a few of the things that have greatly impacted my life and career in the past few years. I believe that by suiting up and showing up in all of these areas has prepared and positioned me well for where I am today.

How are you dressing for the job you want? I’d love to know.

I’ve had the pleasure to speak to students from a variety of Minnesota colleges and universities as of late. I’ve been delighted by their follow up and requests for informational interviews, one of my most favorite things to do on both ends of the process. A lot of inquiries about my job, how I got here, what I do and requests to come to the Mall to see what it all looks like day-to-day. I’ve scheduled quite a few of these, but thought I’d also post a recent interview that answers some questions about what I do for Mall of America courtesy of the awesome Aaron Landry, producer at Heavy Table and IT manager at Go East… and general online media talent and enthusiast. I’ve only posted the questions not featured in his interview here. The original interview can be viewed here.

How did you get started in this career and how did you start with Mall of America?
“When you were little, you were far more interested in people than in toys,” says my mom of me. That has never changed, and I as I ‘grow up’ my fascination of people, their behaviors and motivations only intensifies. My life-long love of people and appreciation for story telling originally placed me on the film studies path in college, which eventually turned into a love of the social sciences, interpersonal communication and PR.

I graduated from Metropolitan State University with a bachelor of arts in public relations. When faced with my senior capstone project, I thought it only appropriate to conduct my research on how online social networks were effecting the public relations discipline. This was a fascinating project, paired with research and writing internship I occupied at the time, which included a significant amount of MySpace (yes, I just said MySpace) and Facebook brand engagement.  I landed in an integrated marketing agency in the Twin Cities and found that I mostly enjoyed working with the online marketing group on integrated marketing communications campaigns. I was then recruited to a small B2B (business to business) sales training company where I did in house PR and marketing. Important here to give a nod to my extensive experience working in fine dining restaurants through college, which will teach you more about a lot of different things that you could ever hope to know, namely fluency in exquisite customer service (something beyond vital in today’s business marketplace). Through all of this experience, I concluded that I belonged in and wanted a digital communications/PR hybrid role, so when Mall of America posted the position, I hopped on it.

During the day, where do you spend most of your time?
This is a difficult question to answer and varies on any given day. Community management (monitoring online conversation, curating content and engagement with folks) is a large piece of the pie on a day-to-day basis. In addition, developing systems and implementation of social media strategy into the organization is in strong focus. There are many other things touched on a daily bases and sometimes your day takes a completely different direction than your to-do list originally dictated. The Mall is a very vibrant place, full of constant activity, projects and opportunity. I try to spend as much time upstairs, as I’m able to see the faces of our guests and understand what joys they experience, as well as any challenges or obstacles to achieving that joy.

How do you work with other companies and other entities inside the mall? With all the stores with Foursquare specials and deals on Twitter, how do you curate what gets pushed on the Mall of America feeds?
Among my responsibilities is to develop social media strategy for the Mall, of which the first tier is education, which has many moving parts. Specific to tenants, we are in system development mode. In the interim, we have communicated to tenants what we are doing and how we are supporting social efforts at this time. A large piece of this is actually connecting with 500+ tenants, not including outside partners and prospects, to understand where they’re at and what they’d like to achieve specific to leveraging Mall social media tools. At this time we are reserving our Retailer Promotions and deals (hosted on the MOA Fashion Sense blog) to a weekly post on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, we tweet about Foursquare specials and other promotions when relevant. We have not yet decided our exact plan of attack on educating our communities about MOA Deals, but are getting close to having some notification systems for guests and other interested parties.

We have a handful of pioneering retailers offering LBS (location-based service) specials (with use of LBS tools like Foursquare and SCVNGR). Among those playing in the LBS space are Gap, Express, Rosetta Stone, Crave, Noodles, Steve Madden, American Eagle, 77 Kids, Hot Topic, Game Stop, Journeys, Famous Footwear, Payless and Radio Shack.

I noticed a lot of buzz around “Mall Cops: Mall of America” online. What part did the Mall of America take in helping fuel the enthusiasm about the show online?
When the show began airing, Bridget Jewell (my partner in crime and project manager for production of Mall Cops) and I assigned monitoring times and tasks during show times. In addition, we set up searches for Mall Cops: Mall of America and other terms on Twitter, using Google Alerts, Radian 6 and other monitoring services. Based on search results, we helped answer questions and participate in the enthusiasm that viewers were sharing online. The Mall of America Facebook  page was used to alert our fans about each week’s episode and served as a place for comments. Due to interest and a high volume of conversation around the show, it was decided that Mall Cops: Mall of America should have its own page, which grew to more than 4,000 fans very quickly. In essence, it was our goal to be present when the conversations about Mall Cops were happening and engaging where appropriate.

There’s a lot in between all of this, so if you’re still here and interested, bop over here to read the rest. A big thanks to Aaron for his interest and the interview.

Life is a series of steps and it’s not the destination it’s the journey, right? Statements that are much easier said than believed most of the time because the majority of us have places we want to go and we just want to get there.

I am a pretty big proponent of the above. My life experience has shown me that everything I do in life sets me up for the next ‘thing’ I’m supposed to do. Personal or otherwise (they all tie together really), everything that has happened in my life, from crawling to walking, secondary school to college, job to job has been a necessary progression of lessons that primes me for my next endeavor. Some of these lessons I enjoy very much and others not so, but each is monumental in the bigger picture that is my life. Each step, lesson, failure, success and everything in between is responsible for where I am today.

As it pertains to our careers, I think that being acutely aware of your desired destination(s), both near future and twenty years out helps you to better navigate through the journey part if you know what direction you’re headed. Totally logical, but somehow astonishingly difficult or everyone would be where they want to be, right?

Last Friday marked my last day as marketing communications manager at the job I occupied for the past 14 months. Today marks my new beginning in a digital PR and social media specialist role for Mall of America. A role and opportunity that I’m honored was presented to me. It is an exciting time in my career.

It’s not just exciting because of the position I’ve landed in, but the path that has led me here. Each job I’ve had has taught me an obscene amount. Not just about my discipline and many others, but about management and business overall. I’ve loved and have deep gratitude for each job experience. While I have love for each job, there was something about each that didn’t fit for me – to the extent that staying was not a long-term option. So, I did what you’re not supposed to do early on in my career, despite being told that I should ‘put my time in’ or not switch jobs because of how it will ‘look.’ I mustered the courage to act based on what I knew in my gut (but was so scary to do) – I moved around a bit in pursuit of what I wanted for myself and what I knew I could find; an environment and/or organizational culture that better suited me and what I value as a professional (a place and team like MOA).

Doubtfully treading through these waters most of the time, I was exposed to a phenomenally diverse set of experiences and afforded many opportunities I would not have had if I chose to play it ‘safe’ or ‘accept’ what I knew wasn’t really for me. There have been a number of times in the past few years that I’ve questioned the path I chose. Simultaneously, I kept on doing the next right thing, even if I wasn’t sure of any of it at the time. Faith is key in any journey.

The beauty in all of this is that by setting my sights on something greater, not giving up on it, doing the work and having a general respect for the process, I’ve now arrived at the most desirable of destinations at this point in my career life. I’m so looking forward to the next journey, whatever it brings.

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!

In addition to my great social media friends and colleagues, I have a lot of wonderful friends and connections that do not hang in the social media sphere per se. These are folks that may use Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace (yes I just said MySpace) for personal use, people that are just getting on various social networks to make professional connections or reunite with people from high school or college. Their intentions do not exceed this purpose, however, the desire to do more as the result of mass growth in social media use for business, etc. is sparking curiosity. I get messages from many of them saying things like, “Half the time, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” It’s not that they’re disinterested (well, some are and give me a hard time); it’s that many of my status updates aren’t really relevant to them. I forget most of the time that terms like augmented reality and mentions of various mediums like Twitter, Foursquare and Plancast etc. are not really that commonplace. With that being said, it’s time to talk to those that don’t really talk about and/or do this stuff ALL THE TIME.

I want to take this opportunity to directly and more thoroughly approach a series of related questions that one of my IRL (in real life) and Facebook friends asked me after my last blog post. (I’d be so grateful if experienced readers take this opportunity to share your thoughts and help others that know far less than you do). I’ve inserted her Facebook message below. NOTE: To capture this image and make quick and easy edits I used a program called Skitch. Skitch is a great tool to pull images off the Web, edit them and convert for easy insertion into documents and blog posts.

I’d like to start by thanking Jane (fictitious name) for asking me her questions, allowing me to use her private question to me as subject matter to post. To keep the identity of her business and name private, I’ve blacked out references to each.

Jane is in a position, like many I know, where she serves as content curator for her workplace(s), spokesperson and brand evangelist for what she represents. While she is all of these things, she’s not familiar with how social media can help her spread the word about her awesome company, its product benefits and brand promise. The boss has assigned her the task. As the result, she’s asking:

What to update? How to get loads of followers? How to make people see our updates?

These are great questions and I’m so glad she asked (me – and I’m hoping you too). The questions are tricky to answer directly because there are quite a few steps in between these questions. Some conversation starters are below (I replied to her privately as well). My goal here is for as many peeps as possible to come in and share links (perhaps to a related post you’ve written) to helpful resources for beginners and drop a useful tip that address her questions. I’ll cover a few, as we’d be here quite a while if I tried to cover it all.

Because I believe that newer communication tools are about creating a two-way dialogue (instead of one-way message distribution model), here are a few suggestions for learning about existing communities and how you may create your own.

Primary and Secondary RESEARCH. My number one approach to just about anything is RESEARCH. I like a blended approach of secondary research (research that others have done and documented) and primary research (gathering my own conclusions and data as the result of first hand experience).

Some helpful secondary resources I use are Google, Twitter Search, Technorati or BlogPulse (blog search tools). You’d be surprised what you’ll dig up as you move through the resources that come up. One thing leads to another. There are many blogs that cover social media and creating online communities out there (they touch the technology piece all the way down to strategy and supporting subjects). Your blog searches will help you hone in on these. Some of my favorites are: Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Social Media Examiner and Mashable. Others I enjoy can be found in my ‘Stuff I Read’ section.

In regards to primary research, hop on and establish yourself in the mediums you plan to participate in. Practice makes perfect, right? So, if you’re comfortable enough after you know what Twitter is, open an account. WATCH and LISTEN to people. Using Twitter Search (search.twitter.com) seek out keywords that are relevant to you using quotes. (Example “public relations” or “social media.”) By searching for specific terms, you will be able to find exactly who is talking about the subject matter you are interested in. This will help you determine if you want to follow this person/people and if the conversation is a place you want to engage. If you have a prospect list or are curious if specific people are utilizing Twitter (or another medium), go to Google and type in “Jane Doe on Twitter” and anyone by that name will pop up. This is very useful, as you can get granular very easily to determine where you should be spending your time.

Analyze your research. Upon gathering information, sift through it and make some decisions about what you’ve found. Does the data found fit within the overall PR, marketing and business strategy of your company, or will it help you develop a stronger mar-comm strategy? Perhaps you will determine that you need to set up some Google Alerts and use Twitter Search everyday for a week or month and log the results to get a better idea of what’s being said and how you may create community for your people. Does your company culture suit having open conversations with its publics (hopefully it does), or does it just want to blast out one-way messages in hopes of making a sale? If that be the case, you may want to just advertise to save your brand’s reputation.

Closing thought.This may be shocking, but if you know how to talk with another human being, and I’m talking like human-to-human, none of these things will be a problem for you. Yep, I said that. Think about it. These mediums are tools that allow communicators the ability to do what they’ve been doing all along: CONNECT with (audiences) people by realizing common interests (which suggests that you’re a good listener), SHARE and GIVE of yourself genuinely. In essence, create a community or be a good community member. Just may have to do a little extra work to figure out the technology:-)

This is a small piece of the puzzle here and it’s intentional, as I’d love for the awesome community who live this stuff to share the rest in comments.

I had a serendipitous moment yesterday while (finally) writing this post. I saw a tweet come up from one of my peeps, Albert Maruggi (@AlbertMaruggi) that simplified my thoughts a bit (thanks Albert!). Our Twitter conversation reads:

Albert: “Lincoln said, ‘Character is what you do when people are not looking.’ Social media are the constant eyes focused on brands. Now what?”

Me:“Integrity better be a priority (smiley face).”

Albert: “Remember what JR Ewing of Dallas TV fame said, ‘Once you get passed honesty, integrity is a piece of cake.’”

Integrity is something I think a lot about. Growing up, “insides matching outsides” (my preferred definition of integrity) was at the top of the “principles you better practice list.” Over the years, that little phrase has transformed into a question I ask myself regularly as well as what I expect from my surroundings (business relationships, employer, professional associations, personal life, etc.). Why? Well, because without truth, what’s the point? How can anything truly successful be built? I don’t think I really need to make a case for what a lack of integrity and honesty leaves in its wake. Just watch the news or read the paper (yes I just said news and paper) and you’ll find many examples of integrity breech.

Integrity has found its rightful place at the head of the business communication revolution table. Words like authentic, transparent and genuine (all synonymous with insides matching outsides) are among the most popular vocabulary words of today. Not because people do these things particularly well, but because the act of exuding these characteristics is highly desirable, especially as it pertains to communicating. Integrity is what we crave and expect in our interactions with other humans (brands) — and we should expect nothing less.

Technology innovations (such as social networks) and Web 2.0 culture (collaboration culture) not only foster this dynamic, but have the ability to hold communicators and businesses accountable to act with integrity, which has ultimately sent a large percentage of folks into panic mode. For the majority, it’s incredibly scary, as we’ve comfortably been living in the one-to-many culture for quite a while, so the ability for anyone to take hold of a message and say whatever they like whenever they like is a tad overwhelming. And why wouldn’t it be? It’s not necessarily businesses that struggle with this are lacking integrity or being dishonest, more so that they are used to talking with people in a much different way as the result of age, business type, poor teaching or advising and the list goes on. The humanizing of brands is in full swing and many company heads are slowly starting to realize that the behavior shift in people (consumers) and the preferred way to communicate is here to stay.

The intersection of new communication tools, like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and good ‘ole traditional marketing-communication practice present the ability to do more better, if we choose.

In answer to Albert’s comment/question, “Lincoln said, ‘Character is what you do when people are not looking.’  Social media are the constant eyes focused on brands. Now what?” I think it’s very important to reflect upon a few things here when thinking about engaging in the world of social media:

First: If your character needs an overhaul (meaning, you are dishonest and lame or have other issues), take a look at yourself (business) and take responsibility and action (emphasis on action) for what you can do better.

Second: Consider what you value and how you want to convey that (how it plays into your overall business communication strategy).

The sad reality here is that people are hopping into a very serious set of communication tools without a defined communication strategy or real distinction of what their company or brand truly represents. In essence, lacking a solid foundation from which to build something — not mapping out how to translate their insides (company culture) to the outside (public) successfully.

The next decade will be fascinating to watch. Not just which businesses succeed and how, but how the marketing-communications discipline will change as the result of ongoing innovation and its ability to empower people to hold business and other powerful entities accountable through transparent platforms. It’s just the beginning of it all and can only get more interesting.

What are your thoughts?