Category Archives: Social Media

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Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: Weeks of 09/01/14 and 09/08/14

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Share-worthy and thought-provoking links I thought Social Media ReInvention Community Members would like to read while enjoying Sunday brunch:

1) The Wall Sreet Journal: US Mail Delivers Amazon Groceries in San Francisco. The US Postal Service (USPS) continues to hustle, reinvent, and adapt. They capitalized on their current strategic alliance with Amazon to play in eCommere and enter more profitable services (e.g., package delivery). Remember, when USPS started making Sunday deliveries for Amazon in 2011? The article describes the Amazon-USPS alliance as mutually beneficial:

  • Package deliveries are up 20% over the past 5 years to 3.7 billion packages
  • The 60-day experiment began in August and is limited to the San Francisco area
  • US Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe considers Amazon "excellent, excellent customer and an excellent partner."
  • The USPS expands Amazon Fresh's geographic reach
  • Amazon wants to expand beyond the current 12 cities USPS is providing Sunday delivery

2) BloombergBusinessWeek: How to Get Into an Ivy League College—Guaranteed. Can big data and predictive analytics get your child into Harvard? For $600,000, Steven Ma, Founder of Think Tank Learning, claims he can (and provides a money back guarantee). The company generates $18 million annually and serves 10,000 students throughout northern California and China (Beijing and Shenzhen). Northern California Asian American families and wealthy Chinese familes comprise 90% of ThinkTank's clientele. Their website and published content are an excellent case study in digital content marketing strategy and buyer personas. It's a fascinating story especially when American undergraduate programs are under fire for rising expenses and questionable ROI. 

3) LinkedIn Pulse: Club Ed: How Some Colleges Became $41k-a-Year Gyms. Point-of-view from LinkedIn Influencer and Bain & Company's Jeff Denneen on the escalating costs at American universities. The article discusses "the arms race" or "Law of More" for student amenities at competing private schools (e.g., gourmet, organic-ingredient meals, student athletic facilities, enhanced student housing, etc.). Denneen poses the question on the ROI these costs deliver to students upon graduation. Why? Thousands of students from private universities can no longer afford these amenitiies post-graduation because of either A) Unemployment or B) Under-employment (accepting jobs not requiring a college degrees). 

4) MarketingLand: Ford Motor Company Takes A Newsjacking Bite Out Of #Applelive Event. My fave article in this post.This is brilliant, timely, and funny newsjacking. Ford flipped on its head the attributes of the ballyhooed Apple Watch and apply them to their brands in real-time, laugh-out-loud, newsjacking examples. Denny's and Crest also delivered creative #AppleLive newsjacks. 

5) Fortune Magazine: How Google Works. Eric Schmidt (Google's Chairman) and Jonathan Rosenberg (Google's former Head of Product Development and Senior Vice President of Product Management) provide excerpts and thoughts from their upcoming book How Google Works. Key insights shared include why Google's approach to sustaining its growth (systematizing innovation into company culture), identifying talent (hiring the smartest people possible who critically think and continuously adapt versus hiring for specific job position criteria), and nurturing talent (aggressively rotate the most passionate people into different organizations — e.g., "pass the M&Ms and not the raisins."

 

Did you enjoy this post? If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

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Social Media ReInvention Featured in LinkedIn Pulse Social Media Channel

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LinkedIn Logo Office

Exciting news for the Social Media ReInvention Community! LinkedIn Pulse is featuring my post #FAIL: #AppleLive Debacle Exposes Apple's Real-Time Marketing Weaknesses in its Social Media Channel! 

This is a HUGE honor. The LinkedIn Pulse Team is highly selective when it comes to featured posts. When LinkedIn Pulse selects and promotes your content, you gain increased access to millions of LinkedIn members. For example, the LinkedIn Pulse Social Media Channel has 3,043,607 subscribers!

At the time of writing, the post has received on LinkedIn:

  • 1,809 views
  • 118 "Likes" 
  • 52 "Shares" 
  • 16 comments

Lightning Sometimes Strikes Twice

This is the second time LinkedIn Pulse featured my content in its Social Media Channel. 3 Tips on Writing and Storytelling from Twitter's Investor Relations Team was featured in August 2014.

Thank You to The Social Media ReInvention Community!

I couldn't have achieved this success without your continuing support, generosity, and loyalty. I'm absolutely thrilled! 

 

Did You Enjoy This Post?

If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

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#FAIL: #AppleLive Debacle Exposes Apple’s Real-Time Marketing Weaknesses

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Fail Sign with Bob Dylan

 

To say today’s #AppleLive stream event went poorly is an understatement. I tried to watch from my iPhone, but the audio glitches with simultaneous translation and poor video quality made it unwatchable. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in my frustration:

Topsy #AppleLive Stream Problems Query

Topsy Query #AppleLive not working

Topsy Query #AppleLive Stream #Fail

 

Instead, I monitored the Twitter streams of the Wall Street Journal’s Johanna Stern, Geoffrey Fowler, Daisuke Wakabayashi, Brian Fitzgerald, and Wilson Rothman. Kudos to them for providing the real-time support and updates #AppleLive failed to deliver.

 

Why Doesn’t Apple Want to Communicate in Real-Time Marketing Speed and Agility with Its Devoted Fans?

Apple acquired Topsy in December 2013. It was a brilliant move to bolster their real-time and mobile capabilities in their products and services because consumers live in a one-screen world. So with all this rich Twitter data, why isn’t real-time Twitter communications with its rabid fanbase a strategic priority among senior leadership?

Let’s examine how Apple’s Senior’s Leadership used Twitter during the biggest and most important live event in the company’s history in five (5) years:

 

Apple Senior Executive Leadership Number of Tweets During Sept 9th Event

Where Was Musa Tariq, Digital Marketing Director for Apple Retail?

It shocks me Apple’s top digital talent posted a total of four (4) tweets during the live event. 4. That’s it. Why was he silent during the #AppleLive stream meltdown? Why wasn’t he communicating with fans during this crisis?

Musa Tariq Twitter Stream Sept 9

 

Most of All, Why was Angela Ahrendts Noticeably Absent?

The media hype teed up this event as an unprecendented public relations coup for Apple. Didn’t Apple remember the negative criticism it and other Silicon Valley royalty received in recent months about gender imbalance and lack of diversity?

Therefore, why wasn’t Angela Ahrendts a visible part of the whole damn event and the introduction of Apple’s most important product in recent memory? She transformed Burberry into one of the most coveted and successful global luxury brands. The Apple Watch pricing is clearly positioned for the luxury demographic.

Instead, we get this. One (1) tweet. Are you kidding me????? Why was one of the world’s greatest marketers silently sitting on the sideline????

 

Angela Ahrendts Sept 9 Tweet

Closing Thoughts

The #AppleLive stream disaster exposed the consequences of Apple deciding not to participate in real-time communications during the Steve Jobs era. Sadly, they’re continuing on the same path with Tim Cook.

Smart competitors will capitalize on this opening. If you can’t compete on size and brute force, compete on speed and agility. That’s how David beat Goliath.

Bonus #1: Check out Dan Munro‘s LinkedIn post: Apple’s Colossal Marketing Mix

Bonus #2: Read Emmanuel Kolade‘s LinkedIn post: Apple Pay – Why Apple is Giving 500 Million People a U2 Album for Free

Bonus #3: See Georgia Wells‘ Wall Street Journal article: ‘Songs of Innocence’ Giving You Vertigo? Remove U2′s Free Album From iTunes

Bonus #4: Go to this Apple Support page to remove U2’s “Songs of Innocence” album from your iTunes Music Library and Purchases:

Apple Support Page to Remove U2 Songs of Innocence from iTunes Music Library 10.01.15 PM

 

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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.

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Book Review: The New Rules of Sales and Service by David Meerman Scott

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New Rules of Sales & Service Book Cover

The New Rules of Sales & Service by David Meerman Scott

"Sooner or later the world will be interested in your area of expertise." — David Meerman Scott from The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business.

But, will YOU (companies or individuals) be able to deliver YOUR expertise at PRECISELY the RIGHT time when the customer needs it?

That's just one of several game-changing concepts David Meerman Scott describes in hs latest book.

BOTTOM LINE: Buy and study it. The New Rules of Sales and Service (NRSS) ROCKS!! It's destined to become another Meerman Scott classic.

Social Media ReInvention Community Members know I'm a huge fan and student of David's teachings.

I own and constantly refer to these classic books: 

  • The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
  • Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History

As soon as I learned about this book, I pre-ordered the NRSS hardcover and Kindle versions.  My review is based on an advance, draft copy of The New Rules of Sales and Service on which I'm basing this review.


A Rebel with a Cause

The New Rules of Sales and Service is written in David's trademark style: challenging marketing strategy's status quo (with a rebel's heart). His thoughtful, entertaining, and case study-rich content applies to Fortune 100, small businesses, and individuals who genuinely desire to competitively differentiate themselves.  

David Meerman Scott – Real-Time Sales and Marketing Speaker from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.



Game Changing Rules in Selling and Customer Service

Among the game changing arguments David makes in numerous case studies (~10 per chapter) is how marketing, sales, and service can no longer exist in functional silos. Every employee is (and should be) accountable for marketing, selling, and servicing new and existing customers because the social tools are available online to everyone.

The New Rules of Sales and Service extend beyond it's a "cross-functional" thing. It's now an "all-hands-on-deck" thing.  

Executing and sustaining an NRSS-driven culture requires top-down, CEO-driven leadership. Successful New Rules of Sales and Service practitioners instill a participative and trusting company culture. These leaders enable all employees to capitalize in social, one-to-one, real-time, customer communications throughout the entire buying process. David interviewed company leaders who trust and expect their team members (regardless of departmental function) to:  

1. Acquire NEW customers and MAINTAIN existing customer relationships using social tools in real-time interactions (e.g., concepts of AGILE selling and real-time speed & engagement; Case Study: Avaya)

2. Contribute and share valuable content to educate and inform customers in the pre- and post-sale process AT THE PRECISE TIME THE CUSTOMER NEEDS IT (e.g., CONTEXTUAL & consultative selling vs. hard-selling tactics; Case Study: Kendall PRess)

3. Collect and analyze real-time customer data to support real-time content delivery, service actions, and sales interactions (e.g., salesperson comes in later in buying process OR no salesperson; Case Study:GadCAD)

4. Convey stories about the company's products / services aligning with the customer's view of themselves (e.g., buyer persona research, newsjacking; Case Study: MultiCare Health Systems)  

That opportunistic mindset drives competitive differentiation at both a tactical and strategic level.  

By the way, David's research confirms blogging is far from dead. Long form content may be the best social tool in authentically demonstrating one company's "truth" to a competitor's public relations "spin."  


Closing Thoughts

Will more and future leaders trust their teams and David's rich teachings in NRSS? Time will tell. But, why wait? Gain the upper hand by buying and studying David's work. The hardcover book officially ships today, September 2nd. 

Bonus #1: David published this free eBook on SlideShare, The New Rules of Selling: How Agile and Real-Time Sales Grow Your Business Now. It's 158 pages of New Rules Classic Goodness!

 

Bonus #2: David's Agile Marketing Presentation At the MCT 14th Marketing Summit in Istanbul, Turkey

Agile Marketing by David Meerman Scott from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.

  

Bonus #3: (STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS) Mind Maps of Chapters 1-7. The goal is to have the remaining Chapters 8-10 completed by the end of next weekend. I'm still experimenting w/ the XMind Mind Mapping Software to make the maps easier to read in slide show mode.

Please be patient, and I'll update this post as quickly as I can. Here's what they look like so far (I know I can't read'em either):

 

 

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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

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How Silver Oak Cellars Emotionally Connects Special Moments with Visual Stories

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Silver Oaks Cellar Purple GrapesAfter reading David Meerman Scott's blog post on Silver Oaks Cellars (it's also published here on LinkedIn), I checked out their website to learn which social media channels anchor their digital marketing strategy. I discovered a remarkable, content marketing strategy sharing three (3) types of visual stories emotionally connecting:

1. Special moments with amazing products (as described in David's post). 

2. Remarkable people who craft amazing products.  

3. Beautiful locations and special moments with amazing products and remarkable people.

Silver Oak Cellars unifies and tells these visual stories through multiple social channels: 

Here's a look at how Silver Oak Cellars uses their visual, multi-channel social media strategy to emotionally connect special moments with their audience.

1. Sharing Special Moments with Amazing Products

 

 

2. Describing Remarkable People Who Craft Amazing Products

 

 

 

  

 

 

3. Experiencing Special Moments in Beautiful Places with Amazing Products and Remarkable People

 

 

 

 

What Are The Stories You Want to Tell? How Do You Emotionally Connect Your Brand, Your Company, and Your Employees to Your Audience?

When I combed through Silver Oaks Cellars multiple social channels, these visual stories emotionally connected with me. That emotional connection differentiates a brand, a service, a product, or a company from its competition.

And, that emotional connection is unique for each of us. That unique, individual meaning defines special moments.

How do you emotionally connect with your audience? What works for you? Is it images, video, words, voice, or something else?

Please let me know in the comments. I want to connect too.

 

Did You Enjoy This Post?

If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

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3 Tips on Writing and Storytelling from Twitter’s Investor Relations Team

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Twitter Investor Relations Logo (TWTR)

Twitter Investor Relations Logo (TWTR)

Earlier this week, Twitter released its 2014 Q2 Earnings Report. Here are highlights as reported by The Wall Street Journal’s Yoree Koh:

  • A second straight quarter of increased user growth: 16 million new users
  • Revenue doubled to $312 million (driven by mobile use and mobile ad consumption)
  • Mobile advertising accounts for 81% of total ad revenues
  • The stock price spiked 29% in after hours trading
  • 271 million monthly active users

How Twitter’s Investor Relations Team (@TwitterIR) framed these positive results is worth studying. Their critical and judgmental audience includes (but is not limited to):

  • Wall Street Analysts
  • Technology Journalists / Bloggers
  • Mutual Funds Managers
  • Silicon Valley Competitors
  • Individual Investors

Writing and storytelling skills are important in the financial and investment community. Investor Relations Teams are tasked with building credibility, trust, and transparency. The ability to convey confidence with a compelling and memorable story (particularly when financial performance suffers) makes or breaks organizations.

Real-time, Internet speed and scope, play a crucial role in addressing public scrutiny. Here are three (3) writing and storytelling tips I learned from the Twitter Investor Relations Team.

Tip 1. Play to Your Strengths

Twitter recognized before any social media network the competitive advantages and implications of real-time communications. It knew consumers were moving towards a mobile, one-screen world.

And, it maximized this competitive advantage during the July 29th earnings call. Topsy analysis shows @TwitterIR‘s (Twitter’s Investor Relations Team) published 23 real-time tweets supporting the earnings presentation.

 

Topsy Query for @TwitterIR for July 29 Tweets

Topsy Query for @TwitterIR July 29 Tweets

Tip 2. Be Simple and Concise

Communicating financial analyses (or other complex information) into simple, bite-size messages isn’t easy. Twitter’s Investor Relations Team addresses this challenge head-on knowing they have to frame a memorable, compelling story in “pulses” of 140 characters or less. I’m sure their rehearsals resulted in multiple iterations of tweets to constantly refine and simplify the gameday message.

According to Topsy, here’s the top tweet during the July 29th call …

Topsy Twitter IR Screen Shot - Top Tweet

Topsy Twitter IR Top Tweet

 

Topsy Top Twitter IR Tweet

Topsy Top Twitter IR Tweet

 

… and it clocks in at 136 characters (with spaces).

 

Tip 3. Draw Pictures for Key Messages

 

Twitter Quarterly Revenue Chart

Twitter’s Steady, Consistent Positive Revenue Growth. Note: I drew the red arrow.

As an individual Twitter investor, I appreciate and respect the Investor Relations Team sharing key metrics like quarterly revenue, EBITDA, and net income. But, the tweet has too much math for my simple brain.

The hyperlink and chart are vital. They impart two (2) positive impressions:

  1. “We know you want more details. Here’s where you can find/analyze the details.”
  2. “Remember This: Twitter’s quarterly revenue growth remains positive.”

The high “retweets” and “favorites” by the conference call attendees indicates this important information was share-worthy and memorable:

 

62 Retweets and 47 Favorites Shows the Audience Likes This

62 Retweets and 47 Favorites Shows the Audience Likes This

Closing Thoughts

Leverage your strengths. Be brief. Draw pictures. Define your story’s outcome from the beginning. Structure the argument.

That’s hard. But, your audience will love you for it.

 

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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.

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Being Interesting. That’s Bad for Twitter? #Not.

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I Use Twitter Wrong T-shirt


"The mandate is different on Twitter; —you have to be interesting. You need to develop a voice, which is something Facebook doesn't ask of you." – Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor

That direct quote from Yoree Koh's informative Wall Street Journal article: Twitter's Big Battle Is Indifference – Social Network Leaves Many Individual Users Cold, summarizes a 1st-time Twitter user's two-part learning curve:

  • Being interesting 
  • Earning followers

Twitter's learning curve is one of many reasons why technology journalists and investment analysts lambasted its  2013 Q4 financials and future growth prospects.

Earning Attention. Wasn't that the Point?

Learning How to Be Different on Twitter is Now a Liability. Hard to believe what made Twitter cool is now considered a curse. Taking time to find valuable content, sharing it with people who specifically choose us, and challenging ourselves to continue growing and retaining that audience's earned attention — that's now bad?

That's no longer called opportunity?

Are We Really That Lazy? Defaulting to the path of least intellectual resistance — that's now the key to sustainable, long term growth?   

Creating Content that Earns Attention. Learning to create and package interesting content takes time, practice, and effort (especially in 140 characters or less). After 3,100+ tweets, I'm still learning. 

What Happened to the Joy and Challenge in Learning? The joy and challenge in learning  to communicate on Twitter comes from other people choosing to follow your tweets. It comes from other people sharing your content with their followers (when they have hundreds of millions of other options).  It's seeing how you can build direct relationships with people in another part of the world. It's the thrill in earning someone's attention and permission (versus interrupting it).


Making Twitter "Mainstream" isn't The Prescription


The Investment Analysts' View: Make Twitter a Mainstream Product. Why? So brands can cram the channel with as much advertising as possible. Investment analysts believe Twitter's sole key to long term growth is a traditional advertising model.

So interrupting users with unwanted, crappy ads (and pissing us off in the process) that's a terrific strategy?

#Not.

Improving a First Time User's Twitter Experience — That's the Right Direction. After registering with the service in 2009, I remember feeling overwhelmed and bewildered. I was clueless on what to tweet. That's why it's refreshing to read Twitter is running experiments to improve the user experience without changing the core platform.  

Focusing On What's Important. A better user experience means rookie and veteran tweeters can focus on creating and sharing helpful, and valuable content. The challenge in a one-screen, digital-first world is don't suck.

Because if our tweets increase in educational, entertaining, or news-breaking value, they will earn our attention. Twitter's user growth will return.

Everyone wins. 

Note: I invest in Twitter (and also tweet). The impact of my investment actions and holdings in this company (and others) are equivalent to a dog shaking off its fleas — inconsequential.

 

Photo Credit by topgold via flickr

 

Your Turn

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.   Comments are open. So let’er rip!


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4 More Gifts to Support Others That Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention

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Gold Gift Box

Gold Gift Box

  

Reinventing You Book ImageNote: This post continues thoughts from 4 Gifts to Give Others to Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention. It's fifth in a series of seven (7) describing successful career reinvention after age 50 by applying principles from Dorie Clark's amazing book, Reinventing You.

Reinventing You's Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself: "Develop Validators" is the focus of this post.

 

4 More Gifts to Support Others That Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention

1. Write a LinkedIn Recommendation for Someone You Care About

  
Recruiters Love LinkedIn. LinkedIn may not be as sexy as Facebook or Snapchat but 259+ million members can't be wrong. Recruiters and employers constantly search LinkedIn for passive job seekers (defined as someone who currently has a job but would be open to taking a better one). This phenomenon drove $224.7 million in 2013 Q3 revenue for LinkedIn Talent Solutions.

Praise Others so They Know They're Good at What They Do. LinkedIn Recommendations help your colleagues and friends promote their personal brands. They're also an important gesture to support people who may have lost their jobs due to company reorganizations.

Writing an unprompted or unsolicited recommendation without expecting anything in return makes a LinkedIn Recommendation a powerful gift because:

  • You can vouch for another person's expertise and skills (similar to a LinkedIn Endorsement) 
  • Your friend / colleague may feel awkward requesting a recommendation
  • Your recommendation can enhance another person's LinkedIn Profile

Who Can You Support with a LinkedIn Recommendation? Show you're not "just looking out for number 1." It's a great way to thank and acknowledge others who've been integral to your individual success.

 

LinkedIn Recommendations

Recommendations You Give Show Up on Your LinkedIn Profile

2. Encourage Others in LinkedIn Discussions 

Social Media ReInvention Community Members know how much I enjoy The Start-Up of YOU LinkedIn Discussion Group. Participating in LinkedIn Discussions (or initiating discussion topics) is a great way to:

  • Demonstrate your expertise in a specific field or industry
  • Develop credibility and a thought leader reputation
  • Learn from and make new connections with like-minded people 

Show Your Acknowledgement and Appreciation. When you initiate discussion topics, it's great when other members submit comments and opinions. Thank them with an encouraging tone for "putting themselves out there." Acknowledge them and express your appreciation for their input (especially if their thoughts counter yours).

Submitting Comments and Participating in Discussion Forums Requires Personal Risk. That's why people may hesitate submitting a comment for fear of criticism from either you or other members. If you're the discussion moderator, establish a positive tone. Provide encouragement early and consistently.

Encouraging and validating others in your LinkedIn Discussion shows respect, flexibility, and openness: 

 

LinkedIn Discussion Encouragement

Encouragement Fosters LinkedIn Group Participation

3. Say Thank You on Twitter #FF (Follow Fridays)

An Underrated Validator. I love #FF or Twitter Follow Fridays. Recognizing the contributions of smart and interesting members is fundamental to the Twitter Commuity.

State Why Someone Deserves the #FF Mention. Differentiate the individual (and yourself) by describing why another person is worth following. The most common mistake in Follow Fridays is the common "mass communication" #FF "Insert As Many Twitter Handles as I Can in 140 Characters or Less Without Saying Why:"

 

Bad #FollowFriday Example

The Mass Communication #FF #Follow Friday Mistake

Be Different. Put thought and creativity in your #FF tweet. Make your #FF tweets more memorable and separate them from the mass communication pack:

Favorited #FF Tweet 1

Example #1: Describe Why You #FF'd Someone

 

Favorited #FF Tweet 2

Example 2: Describe Why You #FF'd Someone

4. Share Klout +K's With Your Online Friends and Fans

How Influential Are You in the Social Media Universe? Since 2008, Klout.com has attempted to answer this question. The premise behind Klout is that our collective social media participation and influence can be captured, measured, and scored. 

Your Klout Score Can Have Important Career Implications. According to Seth Stevenson's Wired.com article, What Your Klout Score Really Means, your score matters (especially if you work in or aspire to work in online media). If you actively participate in social media, be aware of your score. 

Share +K's to Help Others Build Influence. Identify the people who support you and spread your ideas. Acknowledge and thank them. Reward their support with Klout +K's in specific topics like Twitter, Social Media, or Blogging.

Giving your friends and fans +K's signals to others that they share great content. 

Providing +K's in the New Klout Platform. Here are the basic steps:

  1. Find the Klout Profile of the person you'd like to give the +K
  2. Locate the Klout topic you want to select
  3. Hover your cursor over the topic to select it (the topic should become red)
  4. Select that topic and give the +K

 

Imrich Tatiersky Klout +K

Steps 1 and 2 to Give +K's in New Klout Platform

 

Martin Drdak Klout +K

Steps 3 and 4 to Give +K's in New Klout Platform

 

Closing Thoughts

Give and You Will Receive. Be generous to others. Be kind. Support others and third party validation takes care of itself.

What Do You Think? Please let me know in your comments.

If you enjoyed this post, here are the others in the series:

Photo Credit via flickr by sparkleblues

 

Your Turn

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.   Comments are open. So let’er rip!

 


If You Enjoyed This Post, Please Share It and Subscribe to My Blog

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Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

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Lesson 1 of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study – Michael Ovitz Proves Status Can Be Taken With You

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Mother of Reinvention

Career Reinvention After Age 50 Is Possible

IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author.  Dorie Clark and Michael Ovitz were neither consulted nor involved in how I developed the following analysis.

 

Reinventing You Book Image

Reinventing You by Dorie Clark

Do YOU Think You’re Too Old To Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?


Author and frequent Harvard Business Review and Forbes contributor, Dorie Clark would say you’re wrong.  And, she’s right on the money.

I agree we’re never too old to continuously shape our professional reputations (and portfolios).

Dorie Clark’s book, Reinventing You is one of my favorite MUST-READ business books of 2013.  Reinventing You is a GREAT investment for your professional career.  Dorie’s book is a personal and professional development GIFT.

Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study: Michael Ovitz

Instead of a traditional book review, I’m applying Dorie’s thoughtful teachings to a successful real-world, high-profile career reinvention after age 50: Michael Ovitz, Owner of Broad Beach Ventures LLC.

Before There was Ari Gold and Klout, There was Michael Ovitz.  Mr. Ovitz personified and defined Hollywood business clout and influence.  For younger Social Media ReInvention Community Members, Michael Ovitz as the co-founder and leader of Creative Arts Agency (CAA) became Hollywood’s most powerful talent agent. Mr. Ovitz was THE Hollywood powerbroker — ask David Letterman.

CAA’s stellar client list and and Ovitz’s unique skills and strategic vision in “packaging” actors, directors, screenwriters, and other CAA talent as “solution offerings” (similar to how management consulting firms position their service capabilities) differentiated CAA and propelled his Hollywood influence.

Today, Mr. Ovitz No Longer Plays Hollywood Power Broker.  From 1995 through 2002, he publicly experienced high-profile, professional setbacks.  To say his detractors and former competitors delighted in these failures is an understatement.

I Admire and Respect Mr. Ovitz’s Resilience in Reinventing Himself.  For the past 11 years, he’s shifted and focused his unique talents, assets, and energy to the technology world. According to David A. Kaplan’s October 2013 Fortune Magazine article, Ovitz Does Silicon Valley, Mr. Ovitz methodically reinvented himself as a top advisor to Silicon Valley technology companies.


Still Think You’re Too Old to Reinvent Yourself After Age 50? 

This post is first in a series of six (6) about successful career reinvention after age 50.

The aforementioned Kaplan-Fortune article provides examples of Michael Ovitz’s latest career.  In this post (and the next five), I will talk about linkages I see from Mr. Ovitz’s reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.

The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:

  • Status — You Can Take It With You 
  • Shift Your Behavior
  • Develop Validators
  • Leverage Symbolic Actions
  • Go Where The Action Is
  • Building Your Portfolio

 

Lesson 1: Status — You Can Take It With You

 

Halo Effect

The Halo Effect

Maximize the Halo Effect of Your Unique Competive Advantage. In Reinventing You’s Chapter 9, Reintroduce Yourself, Dorie writes about the “halo effect” (as described by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Power: Why Some People Have It–And Others Don’t):

“It’s a psychological phenomenon known as the ‘halo effect.” “If I think you’re good in one domain, I think you’re going to be good in other domains, as well. There’s the presumption that talented people have this set of generalized abilities.”

That ‘durability of reputation’–across both time and situations–makes it essential for you to be strategic about how you’re perceived from day one.  “You need to do something to build a very good reputation, a personal brand, and that will help you not only in your current place but in other places, as well.”

The secret, then is to leverage both your past experiences and the confidence that you’ve derived from your accomplishments.  After all, other people take their cues from you, so when you’re introducing your new brand, assume that others will welcome your contribution.

 

Golden Key

Key to the C-Suite

Michael Ovitz’s Unique, “Halo Effect” Competitive Advantage: CEO and Executive Chairman Level Access Across Multiple Industries.  The Kaplan-Fortune Article describes two examples of how Mr. Ovitz leverages his lifelong business connections and maximizes his former Hollywood mogul / dealmaker / powerbroker status to open C-Suite doors previously closed to young, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

 

 

  1. Peter Szulczewski, CEO of Wish.com:  The October 2013 Fortune article describes how Mr. Ovitz assisted Szulczewski when he ran into problems with initially securing the company’s domain name.

The company had an uninspired name, ContextLogic, and its beta website was the forgetable wishwall.me.  Wish.com wasn’t available.

Ovitz saw immediately that the domain name was critical.  “I can help with that!” he (Ovitz) told Szulczewski, and, with his big swinging Rolodex, within weeks tracked down the owner of wish.com.  It was a French subsidiary of Barry Diller’s IAC. Szulczewski handled the actual negotiation — he won’t disclose the price — but Ovitz war-gamed tactics beforehand.

  1. Peter Thiel, Venture Capitalist, PayPal co-founder, and Chairman of Palantir Techologies on the breadth and power of the the Michael Ovitz business network (also from the Kaplan-Fortune article):

“Michael can get us in to see any CEO in the U.S.,” Thiel says. “The Valley has this excessive insularity. But he has cross-sector relationships in New York, L.A., and other places.”  Thiel says Ovitz has a preternatural ability to ‘learn things quickly and then communicate them to the outside world.”

Since the dotcom implosion of the late 1990s, he (Thiel) says, too many new companies in the Valley have ‘retrenched,’ de-emphasizing relationships with other businesses and institutions.  Consulting Ovitz, whose network Thiel calls ‘second to none,’ has been a way to overcome that inclination.

 

Closing Thoughts

More Than a Decade Before Reinventing You’s Publication, Mr. Ovitz Successfully Applied the Book’s Valuable Principles.  His focus, street smart savvy, and resilience are why Michael Ovitz successfully continues “working his magic” after age 50.

During this reinvention period and today, Mr. Ovitz shuns his critics and naysayers.  Tenacity and mental toughness are critical to a successful career reinvention (at any age).

Professional Reinvention After 50 is ABSOLUTELY Possible.  Michael Ovitz proves it. Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows us how to do it.

Our Turn.  Here’s a link to the landing page for Dorie’s free, Professional Reinvention Self Assessment.  Let’s take inventory of ourselves and ask:

  • What are our unique competitive advantages?
  • What makes us different from others in our current field (and the new domain we want to break into)?
  • How can we help others, what doors can we open, and who are the unique connections in our business networks so we can maximize our individual halo effects?

Those unique competitive advantages can help us “work our magic.”

Just like Michael Ovitz …

Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50. Lesson 2: Shift Your Behavior is scheduled for a Friday, January 17, 2014 publication.

 

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