Hi Social Media ReInvention Community Members! Apologies for not consistently posting our Sunday Brunch Edition. External circumstances prevented me from keeping up. I promise to do better job. I hope you celebrated blessed and happy Thanksgiving Holidays with loved ones and friends.
Here are your share-worthy links. Enjoy your Sunday Brunch!
1) CNET: How-To Video: Upgrade Your RAM on Your MacBook Pro. I upgraded the RAM on my MacBook Pro 15 this week. I suck as a do-it-yourselfer (DIY). I researched required steps and tools to lessen my anxiety and increase my confidence. The Result: I successfully upgraded my MacBook Pro 15 (late 2011) from 4MB to 8 MB of RAM (and she performs like a champ)!
As I type, I’m running seven (7) applications: iTunes, Google Chrome (with 12 tabs open), Apple Preview, MarsEdit, Finder, Evernote, and Dashlane. Here’s the content I found most helpful:
You’ll need a Phillips 00 screwdriver to unscrew the bottom panel. I paid a premium price for the iFixit 54 Bit Driver Kit because the magnetized screwdriver bits are HUGE in removing and reinserting the six (6) tiny screws on the back panel. There’s a reason I went to business school instead of medical school (HINT: I lack a surgeon's dexterity).
2) Fast Company: What Every Young Designer Should Know, From Legendary Apple Designer Susan Kare. Kare has two (2) simple rules for designers: 1) Fake It Tlll You Make It and 2) Design Never Really Changes. I personally relate to Rule #1. When she applied applied for Apple’s graphic designer position, she worked at a furniture store. She prepared for her interview by studying graphic design books from the Palo Alto library (direct article quotes):
Having designed many of the Mac's early system fonts such as Chicago, the (original) San Francisco, Geneva, and Monaco, Kare is one of the pioneers of early digital typography. But when she first applied to Apple, she was pulling her type design qualifications out of thin air. "I was working at a furniture store at the time, and I didn't know the first thing about designing a typeface," she told me. "But I'd studied graphic design, so I said, 'How hard can it be?'" So Kare went to the Palo Alto Library and took out a number of books on typography. "I even brought them to my interview to prove I knew something about type, if anyone asked!" she laughs. "I went into it totally green."
The 52-year-old often describes her job as "connecting the dots"–between GE's seven segments (Power & Water, Oil & Gas, Energy Management, Aviation, Transportation, Healthcare, Home & Business Solutions), its many markets, and between the company and the outside world. It's something Comstock regularly does as head of GE's sales, marketing, and communications, and in her management of the company's multi-billion-dollar Ecomagination and Healthymagination initiatives, dedicated to environmental and health care innovation respectively. In her travels and conversations with customers, she constantly scans for patterns. "When you're in this business, you see a lot of things," Comstock notes. "Marketers are in a great position to notice if something's happening in an industry like energy or healthcare."
Think About that Quote for a Moment. Beth Comstock explained how a great marketer’s expertise is a game changing asset in understanding and exploiting opportunity. Digital and social media marketing continues accepting the rap, “we can’t measure return on investment (ROI)!” Follow her advice and make the case of how not only your digital marketing efforts identify relevant opportunities but also how your expertise uniquely enables you (personally) to identify new business opportunities.
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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I made a 2014 resolution to publish an eBook / presentation.
This presentation / eBook describes three (3) career management lessons I've learned from my Dad and applied to my own career:
1) Learn From the Best
2) Get Published
3) Get Back Up — Fast!
My Dad inspired me to apply each of these lessons in a digital marketing and social media context (e.g., blogging, participating in Twitter, reading books of marketing strategy thought leaders, connecting directly with marketing strategy thought leaders, etc.).
These lessons describe the opportunity for online self-publishing, personal brand / personal reputation management, and the teachings of different marketing strategy authors. The marketing strategy authors (and their books and blogs) that have inspired me include Seth Godin, Ann Handley, Mitch Joel, Tom Peters, and David Meerman Scott.
It's my way of showing my Dad how much I admire and respect his individual achievements (and the obstacles he overcame).
Thank you and I hope you enjoy and benefit from reading it. If you find the content helpful, please feel free to share this presentation with others.
The Social Media ReInvention Community knows how much my family loves dogs. My family is blessed with two loving German Shepherds utterly devoted to our young daughters. And, one German Shepherd is a rescue.
If the Following Video Is Not Remarkable and Compelling Storytelling, I Don't Know What Is
Note: My apologizes for the brief commercial in the video's introduction. I couldn't locate the commercial-free version. But, I promise it is a moving and soulful content marketing example.
Rule 16 is Highlighted Differently for Obvious Reasons. When the video ended, a lump entered my throat and tears filled my eyes. I don't know what else to say …
The Content We Should Create / The Stories We Should Tell. I'm currently reading / studying Mitch Joel's wonderful book, Ctrl Alt Delete. Mitch makes a valuable and insightful point about committing the common mistake of "creating content just for the sake of creating content or telling stories just for the sake of telling stories … "
Direct quotes from page 196 of Ctrl Alt Delete:
"Marketers often will often say that the best ads are the ones that tell stories. While you can easily shoot back with a 'Duh, tell me something I don't know,' take a cold hard look at all of your marketing collateral and ask yourself if you're telling a story worthy of being told—-or are you just telling a story to get something sold?"
It's not all about content. It's all about stories. It's not all about stories.It's all about GREAT stories.
Your Turn. How did this video / art affect you? Which 22 Pixar Rules of Storytelling do you recognize? How about comparing notes? Please let me know in the comments.
The January 2012 Inc. 500 report showed how 37% of these companies published blogs in 2011. This represented a 13% decrease in Inc. 500 company blogs from 2010's figure of 50%.
But Blogging Isn't Dying, Especially Among The Fortune 500
Fortune 500 Corporate Blogging Increased in 2012.
28% of the Fortune 500 (e.g. 139 companies) published a corporate blog in 2012. That percentage marked the largest increase in blogging since 2008:
Telecommunications, commercial banks, utilities, and specialty retailers are the leading users of blogs among Fortune 500 companies. The industry breakdown for use of corporate blogs in the Fortune 500 is portrayed in the table below:
The Higher Ranked Fortune 500 Companies Blog
The Top 200 Publish Blogs More Than The Bottom 200.
Since this study's inception in 2008, it looks like Fortune 500 rank influences blogging adoption. 54% of all Fortune 500 corporate blogs are published by the top 200 firms. 28% of the Fortune 500 blogs come from the firms ranked 300 – 500.
Here's an important direct quote from the study:
"With more than half of all F500 blogs coming from the top 200 corporations, rank continues to be a factor in the use of this tool."
Fortune 500 Companies Who Blog Well Take Comments
90% of the 2012 Fortune 500 Companies Allow Reader Comments.
This percentage actually surprised me. The study said these 90 percenters also have RSS feeds and take email subscriptions. Really! I'll have to check this out.
Your Turn: What do you think about Fortune 500 companies participating in social media with corporate blogs? Is blogging a smart move for Fortune 500 companies? Let me know your take in the comments.
The Premise / Goal / Timing of This Weekly Feature
Premise. If you like the content in this blog, maybe you'll also like the content I regularly read, study, and curate from the Web.
Goal. On a weekly basis, I'm going to publish links to three (3) articles I find interesting. I'll include a brief explanation why I decided to curate them.
1. Why The PC Will Die Soon (Fast Company). I suppose the real question to ask is "what do you mean by soon." I'm not completely sold that the PC or MacBook will completely go away (at least not yet).
But, I acknowledge consumers' desires to be "untethered" (I'm one of them). Consumer demand will continue driving advancements for better mobile and cloud applications enabling "heavy-lifting" content creation from a tablet (maybe even our smartphones someday).
Why I haven't purchased an iPad? Convenience in content creation is the determining factor.
I purchased a MacBook Pro about a month ago (and I LOVE IT). My MacBook Pro provides the essential capabilities for heads-down content creation (i.e., word processing, spreadsheets, infographics, presentation slides, etc.) that an iPad can't conveniently deliver (at least presently).
Plus, my MacBook Pro:
Is mobile and light (I bring it on business trips with my work computer)
Comes with an easy-to-use keyboard for typing lengthy documents
Includes a 500 gigabyte hard drive
Allows off-line usage
Is always "on and connected" (as long as I have access to a WiFi spot, I'm golden)
Has a DVD drive
Yes, I'd love to read my favorite technology content from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, and Wired all from an iPad. Plus, I'd look really cool at the airport or a coffee shop by doing that with an iPad 3.
But, my laptop already does all of the above.
2. P&G To Slash $10 Billion in Costs Over Five Years (Advertising Age). Unfortunately, this decision includes 5,700+ jobs (including fewer P&G marketing executives). Chairman-CEO Bob McDonald says P&G will shift investments away from traditional vehicles like TV to digital channels (e.g., mobile and social media):
"To cut costs without sacrificing impact, Mr. McDonald said P&G is using technology to shift spending from more traditional vehicles like TV to digital and mobile advertising and more efficiently target consumers, "allowing us to build one-on-one personal relationships with every consumer." He also expects to use more multibrand efforts to spread spending more efficiently among brands. He cited the kickoff of P&G's Summer Olympics program in January, which he said delivered more than 2.5 billion impressions in traditional and social media the first month alone and produced a bigger overall impact than the brands could have had by spending individually."
Here's a direct quote and Key Conclusion #5 from the 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report:
Businesses are increasingly aware their blog is highly valuable. 81% of businesses rated their company blogs as “useful,” “important” or “critical.” An impressive 25% rated their company blog as “critical” to their business.
And, there are more fact-based conclusions in the 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report. Here are seven (7) reasons from HubSpot's data supporting the continuing relevance of blogging.
1. Blogs Are and Remain the Most Important Marketing Channel
Look Who's The #1 Social Media Channel in Terms of Importance. It's Blogs! LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter all ranked in lesser importance. The hub-and-spoke social media strategy model works with a website or your blog as the center. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are short-from outposts guiding customers back to your website or blog (the long-form hub).
3. Blogs Have the Lowest Cost-Per-Lead of Any Marketing Channel
52% of Respondents Say blogs are "Below Average" in Cost Per Lead. Blogs are the most cost efficient lead generation channel (inbound or outbound). Not surprisingly, trade shows are considered the most expensive.
Here's a direct quote from the respondent survey:
"The worst thing we did in marketing last year was attend several trade shows and events with low yield and ROI."
4. Blogs are Second Only to LinkedIn In Acquiring Customers
57% of Respondents Say Their Company Blog Acquired Customers. LinkedIn ranked first in customer acquistion. 62% of respondents validated its effectiveness. Interesting how "the two least sexy social media channels" ranked first and second respectively.
And, Speaking of Social Media Sexy – Blogs and LinkedIn Outdistanced Facebook and Twitter in Customer Acquisition. Don't believe the hype that long form content is dead. Or, consumer attention spans last only 140 characters or less.
HubSpot's 2012 Data Shows a Direct Correlation Between Post Frequency and Customer Acquisition. At a minimum, post at least once-per-week. But, increasing post frequency from weekly to twice per month provides significant benefits:
50 posts a year goes to 100 posts (that's the equivalent of 100 indexed web pages in Google)
An extra 50 posts, means double the number of keywords increasing SEO relevance
50 more web pages mean 5o more opportunities to earn inbound links (and increase Google authority)
6. Blogs Are Consistently Effective for Either B2B or B2C Companies
At a Minimum, Your Social Media Strategy MUST Include a Blog. The data shows blogs rank second in customer acquisition for either B2B or B2C companies. Number 1 for customer acquisition depended on business-type:
B2B: LinkedIn
B2C: Facebook
A Killer Social Media Strategy Incorporates at Least Three Customer Acquisition Platforms. The companies succeeding in social media are the ones who view these channels as customer acquisition weapons. Based on this data, a three-channel approach geared to customer acquistion by business-type would look like the following:
B2B: LinkedIn, Company Blog, Facebook or Twitter
B2C: Facebook, Company Blog, Twitter
7. Blogs Level the Playing Field for Small Companies
Small Companies Allocate Almost 4x the Marketing Budget to Blogs Versus Large Companies. Social media or inbound marketing channels are where small companies invest their marketing budget (i.e., social, SEO or organic search, and blogs). Large companies prefer outbound channels (i.e., trade shows, PPC or paid search, or direct mail).
On February 23rd, I attended a great social media networking event hosted by Ben Smith and Social: IRL. The Taste, Tweet, Meet With Boulevard Brewing Company event was exceptional.
But, it wasn't for the usual reasons that I found this event so enjoyable (i.e., the personal camaraderie of social networking connections in Kansas City, the privilege of personally meeting these wonderful people sometimes for the first time, etc.).
Discuss how she's continuously informing Boulevard's customers / fans about this ongoing process
She openly fielded numerous questions. Plus, she patiently spoke with individual attendees about specific questions after concluding her presentation. I was one of those folks (more on that later).
Julie openly sharing this presentation and Boulevard's ongoing efforts in addressing the Chocolate Ale product recall demonstrates:
Leadership Lesson #2: When You Say You're Sorry, Mean It
Don't Cram Rehearsed Corporate Management-Speak / Public Relations-Speak Down Our Throats. Julie's presentation included the following YouTube video with John McDonald, Founder and President of Boulevard Brewing Company, and Steven Pauwels, Boulevard's Head Brewmaster:
Why This Apology Is Genuine. Why It Is Human. I asked Julie whose idea was it to produce and publish this video on the Internet. She said it was hers. And, she convinced Boulevard's top two leaders of immediately and publicly addressing this communications crisis.
"Speak From Your Hearts." The reason why this video resonates with me and Boulevard's many fans is because it's genuine. Julie told me McDonald and Pauwels did this video without a script.
Her only instruction: "I need you guys to speak from your hearts."
If Boulevard's fans and consumers don't consider this video a genuine and heartfelt apology (and it comes from the firm's highest leadership), I don't know what is.
Every Fortune 500 CEO in America could learn from McDonald's and Pauwels' plain-spoken example to inform its consumers of bad news (and the subsequent actions to make things right).
Weldon talked about Johnson & Johnson's apology and how it was working to regain consumer trust in May 2011 during an interview with Geoff Colvin, Senior Editor-at-Large of Fortune Magazine. Unfortunately, repeated and multiple product recalls over a two-year period upended Mr. Weldon's otherwise outstanding career (he was regarded as one of the most respected leaders in the pharmaceutical industry before these product recalls):
Closing Thoughts
Pride In Your Organization. Pride in Your Products. Pride in Your Community. Boulevard Brewing Company is a Kansas City Community Crown Jewel. And, I'm proud to not only be a HUGE FAN of their beers but I'm also a HUGE FAN of Julie Weeks and Boulevard's leadership because of their actions.
(Around time stamp :25 of the YouTube Chocolate Ale Announcement from John McDonald) "We're a proud brewery and we want to do the right thing …"
A Vital Kansas City Civic Principle. Boulevard Brewing Company embodies a vital Kansas City civic principle: Kansas City is a proud community built and driven by the resourceful and creative entrepreneurial spirit of people like the John McDonalds, the Henry Blochs, the Ewing Kauffmans, and the J.C. Halls:
And, that entrepreneurial spirit continues to thrive because of the leadership of people like John McDonald, Steven Pauwels, and Julie Weeks.
Hang In There Julie! As I conclude this post, I know Julie Weeks is working today, tomorrow, and how ever long it will take to address the Chocolate Ale situation. She takes TREMENDOUS PRIDE as Boulevard's online ambassador.
Julie, if you see / read / monitor anything remotely negative about Boulevard Brewing Company, please remember these four (4) things:
Your social media friends and colleagues are rooting for you
You're doing a fantastic job as Boulevard's Online Ambassador!
Ben Smith, the leader of Social IRL, is one of the most valuable and generous members of the Kansas City Social Media Community. His hard work and dedication delivers outstanding and valuable educational content via hosting social media conferences in our region.
Here are my five (5) takeaways from Valeria's outstanding and thought-provoking presentation.
1. Understand and Determine the Organizational Focus
Start With Your Organizational Focus. You have to pick the organizational capability or competence that will drive and differentiate your company's brand and business outcomes:
Apple: Innovation
Virgin: People
Procter & Gamble: Research and Development
Coca Cola: Distribution
Valeria demonstrated how organizational focus impacted each company's share price. And, the data showed how executing that focus is linked to long-term financial performance.
2. Focus on Your Brand Promise
Valeria defines a brand as:
"The sum of promises, promises kept, and the unbounded expectations market."
Delivering and Executing the Brand Promise are Crucial. Why? The stock price represents public trust / confidence in your brand. And, that public trust / public confidence determines the discount or premium to "trade" with individual consumers. Higher consumer trust / confidence means a higher premium for your company's goods and services.
Or, it can reflect a lack of trust / confidence. See the stock price performance of Yahoo, Microsoft, or Eastman Kodak.
3. Prioritize and Focus on theDifferentiating Brand Asset(s) Driving Your Consumer Trades
Brand Assets are Your Unique Consumer Trade Currency. The digital age redefines the brand assets most valuable to individual consumers before, during, and after the point-of-sale. The Internet's real-time speed coupled with one or more of following brand assets is a killer combination:
Reputation
Knowledge / Information / Data
Relationships
Influence
Ticketmaster Prioritized Knowledge / Information / Data. Therefore, organizations need to pick the brand asset they will focus on for their unique trades with individual consumers. For example, Ticketmaster focused on knowledge / information / data to better inform consumer decisions (i.e., local-centric information, fan reviews, personal buying history suggestions, etc.) by making that brand asset easy to share (i.e., Fan Reviews are easily shared with a single-click via Twitter or Facebook).
Financial Outcome: Each "share of information" results in a $5 increase in incremental revenue.
4. The Unmet Social Media Opportunity: Empowering Individual Consumer Filters and Feedback Loops
Consumer Filters, Feedback and Intent. Valeria defines consumer intent as:
Providing the right information at the right time when someone is making a decision (and that decision may or may not be a "buying decision")
The consumer's perception of value inherent with the brand promise
How the consumer defines the "wisdom of the trade" (i.e., was the time spent gathering information / data a worthwhile investment)
Therefore, influencing how the consumer defines the "wisdom of the trade" is vitally important. This is why brands need to focus on consumer "filters" and "feedback loops":
Consumer Filters:
Culture
Language
Values
Beliefs
Attitudes
Expectations
Intentions
Consumer Feedback Loops:
Evidence
Relevance
Consequence
Action
5. Ford Motor Company Case Study in Leveraging Brand Assets, Filters and Feedback Loops
The Ford Case Study. Valeria believes brands need to do more in making individual consumers more influential. We still don't do enough here.
The process for making consumers more influential can be systematically achieved (e.g., there is a process):
* First, prioritize, and focus on the business problems most vital to your organization. Example: When Scott Monty became head of social media for Ford Motor Company, he focused on corporate reputation. This brand asset choice was particularly important when the entire auto industry came under fire for receiving government bail-outs.
Ford leveraged social media to permeate the strategic position that it was the only domestic automaker who chose not to receive receive government financing.
See this example of how Alan Mulally, CEO, positions Ford as different from other US automakers because Ford is "requesting access to bridge financing just in case something bad happens" versus "receiving direct government assistance." (see 2:26 to the end of this video).
* Second, after addressing #1, pivot your social media marketing strategy to focus on consumer filters and feedback loops that can grow a product / service:
Increase the Influence and Reputation of Your Influencers (see 1:39 to 2:52 of this video describing Ford's succsssful Ford Fiesta Social Media Campaign):
* Third, continue actively demonstrating "we're listening, we're listening, we're listening." Watch how Scott Monty and Alan Mulally work together in answering and responding to consumer tweets. It's a brilliant public relations play:
Ashley Mahoney's SocialIRL Recap. Check out Ashley Mahoney's blog post, Social: IRL Conference in a Nutshell. She does a great job summarizing key points from other presentations I didn't address in this post.
Important Note #2: My lack of notes during specific presentations wasn't due to a lack of interest (far from it). During the conference, I received an important client email requiring immediate action (so I missed some of the presentations).
That meant piecemeal, back-of-the-room listening (i.e., Kevin Magee, Director of Sales at Expion, shared some great insights on the current / future implications of localizing and managing social media marketing efforts but I was unable to take detailed notes).
I remember Tom's insight 2+years ago during a small breakfast meeting at La Peeps Restaurant in Overland Park, KS. Our discussion centered around the burgeoning cottage industry of books and seminars touted by self-proclaimed social media experts, gurus, ninjas, and evangelists.
More importantly, his statement summarized both the opportunity and barrier to entry for people pursuing social media as a profession or as a credible vehicle for personal reinventions beyond a current job description.
I remember asking if he copyrighted this wisdom. He said no. But, he smiled and said if I ever use his quote, I should assign him credit and attribution (which I hope I did here).
Because I knew I'd reference his statement in a blog post someday. That day arrived.
First, This IS NOT a Bash-the-Author Piece. It's quite the opposite. Please read the entire Forbes article because Cari Sommer (the author) offers valid advice on building one's online credibility, reputation, and visibility the right way.
Second, This Post Describes Why Cari Sommer Is a Great Example of Personal and Professional Reinvention. Cari Sommer transformed her professional career and trajectory by reinventing herself into a bona fide communications expert and entrepreneur. A major portion of this post explains why I believe she's a credible and successful expert in her field.
Check out these Google results on these infamous keyword phrases:
"Social Media Guru" = 2,160,000 results
"Social Media Evangelist" = 1,090,000 results
"Social Media Expert" = 1,060,000 results
"Social Media Ninja" = 281,000 results
Based on this quick analysis, I wonder if:
There really are that many people who can credibly make those self-proclamations?
"Ninjas" have a better long-tail chance of being found via search than "Gurus"?
"Evangelists" and "Experts" are interchangeable titles (give or take wading through 30,000 results)?
Expertise Is Earned, Not Self-Proclaimed
Ms. Sommer's Provides and Shares Credible, First-Hand Expertise Earned From Her Personal Experiences. I buy-in to Ms. Sommer's generously shared advice on building a solid online reputation and positioning oneself as a social media expert (or an industry expert). It's credible and emphasizes a learn-by-doing attitude:
Self-publishing content on social media channels (i.e., a blog, LinkedIn industry groups, etc.)
Attending and speaking at industry conferences
Identifying and building relationships with industry bloggers and journalists
Pitching one's expertise to the industry influencers
But, The 3.5 Million Self-Proclaimers Haven't Practiced or Applied Any of Ms. Sommer's Advice The sad fact is so few have consistently performed (or even attempted) any of her recommendations over the long haul. Why? Because, the advice she imparts requires major time investments in:
Focus
Practice
Patience
Experimentation
Creativity
Hustle
Hard Work (aka Malcom Gladwell's Rule of 10,000 Hours)
Commitment
Want to Be Really Good at Something? Invest 10,000 Hours.
Malcolm Gladwell on 10,000 Hours.Here's Malcolm Gladwell in a CNN interview describing the significance of the 10,000 Hours Rule (timestamp 2:30 to 4:00):
Ms. Sommer Earned Her Expertise — She Didn't Just Proclaim It. An influential, global media organization like Forbes didn't just hand her an outstanding personal branding opportunity because she proclaimed her industry expertise.
Unlike the aforementioned millions of great pretenders, she:
Earned this gig by executing her own advice
Earned her position as a communications expert through professional experience
Earned her expertise by being relentless (e.g., she wasn't afraid to fail)
See these excerpts from her Forbes Contributor bio and her communications consultancy homepage. She made it happen. She didn't just proclaim expertise.
A Case Study in Personal and Professional Reinvention
Ms. Sommer Reinvented and Transformed Herself Into a Communications and Public Relations Expert. Look further down her Forbes Contributor biography. She professionally reinvented herself from being a former litigator at an international law firm to becoming an entrepreneur and CEO of her own communications consultancy:
Where's The Cari Sommer's Substance? You can study it first-hand in this CBS News.com video.
Conclusion
I wish more people like Cari Sommers had the substance and experience to back up the "I'm An Expert" claim. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be so cynical.
I look forward to her future contributor articles in Forbes and other media sites. Until then, I've started following her on Twitter because I want to continue learning from a bona fide expert.