ION Digital

In many ways, 2011 was a fulfilling one for social media marketers/managers.  Many companies finally “get it”-they acknowledge that social media is real and it’s not going away. The main social media platforms, led by Facebook, continued to grow. Twitter didn’t explode. Google launched Google+.  Social content became a very big deal for marketers, and so on.

These are all important. But somehow it feels like we fell short,  sort of like we marched to the 50 yard line of the big game and stalled.  Some companies kept running the same plays, hoping for different results. Others tried Hail Mary passes.

After years of this, we still haven’t revolutionized the way we communicate as companies and/or come close to reaching our potential with social media.

As I’ve said before, we haven’t reinvented anything; we’ve mainly shoehorned social media into our corporate communications/marketing framework. We’re still doing everything the same, just in new channels, disguised as social media. (ex: “Give me 8 tweets this week” “Let’s shoot for 3 blogs a week, and make sure they stay on message”) (more…)

Like everyone else, I was shocked at Google+’s exploding on the scene-and the incredible buzz that ensued. Google could give Charlie Sheen a run for the money if the breathless hype continues, which I expect it will. Still, marketers and companies should take notice because, after all, it is Google. The 500-pound-gorillo’s jumping into the market puts a spotlight on some key issues-ignore them at your own peril.

Trying my best to cut through all the smoke, here’s what I see short term:

· More fragmentation and disruption: The new shiny toy immediately drew in the Geeks, and has since been spreading like wildfire–10 million new users in only two weeks. Some of the social media crowd like Chris Brogan are already shifting their attention from Twitter and Facebook. Will everyone else, including your clients, follow? Who knows–but it means attention, eyeballs and resources spread between another major platform.

· More noise, more information overload. Actually, information is not your concern-conversations are. As Tom Foremski points out, we need to stay on top of critical conversations-ones that mention your brand, product or relate to you in some way. This gets harder as new platforms emerge with thousands of voices shouting at the same time, a Tower of Babel.

· Google gets a place at the table- The odds are shifting now toward Google playing a significant role in social media.

(more…)

There’s been a lot of talk the last couple of years about “loose ties” and the power of our online connections. I thought it would be a good time to take a new look at these connections, and zero in on what I call the “loyal tie.”

Besides family and very close friends, I have three kinds of connections:

· Random connections- people I connect with online in a random fashion; they come and go like fireflies and make life a little more interesting- indeed, random connections drive Twitter.

· “Loose Tie”: Regular connections I make online and stay connected with by regular sharing. I have a lot of these on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and consider them important.

· Personal, strong connections (the “loyal tie”) - these are the ones who’ll go to bat for me and vice versa. Some of these what I consider actual friends, others are just very close business relationships. Most of these are on Facebook with me, and they may be connected with me on Linkedin or Twitter. But I see these platforms as just more ways to stay really connected to them, along with email and in some case, telephone chats or IM.

I see enormous value in my loose ties, as I said in a recent post-you really never know which of these will evolve into deeper relationships, which ones will lead to opportunities.

But nothing, I mean nothing, replaces loyal tie relationships. (more…)

Wherever I go, I find companies are not happy with their blogs, and social media programs. They’re wondering why readers are not rushing in, engaging with them, becoming loyal fans, and in some cases, buying their products or services.

Usually, the problem is their content. It’s weak, weak, weak. Actually it boils down to two problems 1) lame content 2) and content that is consistently published.

Today it’s not enough to produce a blog as good as your competitors-it needs to be good enough to compete with any blog fighting for your readers’ (and customers’) attention, including the big guys (TechCrunch, etc) We’re competing with everybody for eyeballs.

Here’s a list of what I consider the top seven sins of poor corporate content (and blogs).It’s not exhaustive but a good starting “cheat sheet” for content creators.

1. You have no content strategy goals or program goals

You don’t have clear goals-or you’re all over the map with six or seven goals.

Where are you trying to go with your content? What statement do you want to make (stand for). (more…)

Back in the 1990s, Intel CEO Andy Grove had a famous slogan: “Only the paranoid survive.”  He meant that companies (and people) had to constantly be ready to change, quickly, and adapt-or get crushed.

I had a lot of respect for Grove (I worked for Intel in the 1990s), but that thinking doesn’t work when it comes to social media. I’ve never met a successful paranoid blogger (someone who was scared to blog, but did anyway).

Yet, truth is many people are outright scared to blog or participate in social media activities. You can’t blame them. Their boss might frown on it. They may not be good writers. They may have little time.

It all adds up to a fear of social media.

The good news is anyone can get over the fear of social media with a little practice. It’s sort of like public speaking-once you learn you a few techniques, and practice enough, the fears start melting away. (more…)