Humor is one of the most effective-and under-appreciated tactics in communications. This applies to every day business discussions, professional presentations, and yes, social media. Look at Pinterest. Some of the most popular pins are funny or offbeat. Twitter and Facebook is even better. Who can’t resist a clever or funny tweet, or conversation starter?

Good humor works because it connects with people at an emotional level. We live in a very serious world. Humor provides us a mental break. For companies, it’s a great way to come across more engaging and naturally-more human.

But humor has to be handled right. Just being funny online is not enough, and there are risks. Here are five tips to keep in mind as you engage with humor.

1. Use humor creatively,particularly when it comes to explaining complex subjects. And don’t be afraid to be a little edgy. Look at thisinfographic which is focused on helping users improve their Facebook Edgerank score. Rather than just a dry listing of tips, “Conquer the Facebook” uses clever humor with news stream posts by “legendary Facebook conquerors” like Julius Caesar (Ex: #5 Ask for Likes- Genghis Kahn states: “Ask for likes if you’re a Mongol with a funny decapitation story.”  Clever and funny.
2. Keep it short and simple. This is not standup comedy with a story leading up to a punchline;  it’s nice to get a laugh, but often it’s good enough just to get a smile. Humor online usually needs to be direct, pithy, swift. Cool quotations can work. This morning my first tweet was: “‘Do not take life too seriously, you’ll never get out of it alive.’ Elbert Hubbard (Relax…it’s Friday)” If your company is about empowering other people, you could try something like this: “You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there” Yogi Berra (Yogi Berra quotations are often goofy but they still get a smile.)
3. Make sure it’s consistent with your brand. It might be funny to poke fun at a stupid comment by a politician, but how does that help your brand? (In fact it might hurt it.) But be ready to pounce when the opportunity arrives.  When Twitter.com suggested that my wife follow a certain brand,  @glutenfreewoman quipped. “Twitter suggested I follow WheatThins. Uh, no thanks”  (Wheat, of course, has gluten-and the tweet delighted some of her gluten followers … It’s akin to pitching hamburgers to a vegetarian. Twitter might want to fine-tune its advertising placements).
4. Pick your targets carefully: It’s okay to poke fun at yourself, the weather, and other innocuous subjects. And big institutions can sometimes be targeted (carefully). Stay away from political or religious issues, and don’t target any race, gender or groups like senior citizens.
5. Use humor selectively. Humor can also backfire is abused, particularly with sarcasm. Who can forget incidents like the FedEx PR fiasco, where an Ketchum PR manager tweeted the following on the flight into Memphis to visit FedEx, a major customer: “True confusion but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say-I would die if I had to live here.”  FedEx officials weren’t amused and slammed the agency with a stinging letter than went public.

Yes, there are risks in using humor, so think first or risk a backlash. With videos, commercials and bigger productions, consider testing it with different types of people or internal groups. What may seem hilarious to you might offend others.

Recent example: the protests and petitions that ensued in reaction to Huggies’ “Have Dad Put Huggies To The Test,” campaign. The commercials depicted dads as inattentive caregivers, sparking outrage among many fathers who saw this as a throwback to the MadMen era. On the other hand, this Old Spice commercial (“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”) was pretty funny and got over 40 million YouTube hits.

So humor is a bit of a crapshoot, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it. What are your thoughts on using humor in social media? Got some good examples? Share and drop links in the comments!

The message was clear: marketers must now become real “storytellers” and ignite their fans with engaging content. Facebook promotions (“sponsored stories”) will revolve around strong, compelling content. Your Facebook Page will increasingly be measured by how much fans engage with and share your content.  Content, content, content.

We’ve heard this mantra for so long it’s easy to write it off as just another turn of the marketing screw. But this time I think Facebook is on to something.  Indeed I believe we’re witnessing a wide-sweeping, fundamental shift in the way we communicate to customers-and ultimately, do business. And it starts and ends with content.

First, think of content  as  how we engage with our customers, like real people.The “content” is the fodder for the engagement, the oil that greases the wheels of communications. Today’s model is more like a cocktail party than the old corporate model of push marketing content (White papers, advertising, corporate case studies and so on). There’s still a place for those, but they must take hold now in the context of social interactions. (See this awesome infographic for an excellent primer on content marketing.)

In other words, companies need to think more like their customers. The problem, as I’ve said before, is companies aren’t people, even though they’re made up of people. Social isn’t in the corporation’s DNA. So marketers fall back on what they know, like offering coupons on Facebook. Studies have shown this is what their customers desire of brands, so why not?

The problem is the resulting short term buzz is a quick-fix drug. For a longer term strategy, companies need to think, act and operate like modern day publishers and create customer-centric content. This in turn will ignite customer conversations, build their brands and ultimately drive leads and sales.

This is a major leap for most companies.

First they need to revamp their social media marketing efforts to unleash the employees, the real corporate voices. This is a huge endeavor that will require senior-level and cross-organizational support, but it’s essential. The employees must be free, within limits, to talk naturally in their own voices, not in corporate speak, to their audiences.

Companies also need to be more creative. Think about creating new types of platforms for customer-centric content. Look at the Huffington Post as one model-full of engaging stories, a combination of stock news stories and multiple voices and opinion pieces. Several companies are experimenting in this area- American Express’ Open Forum and Intel’s Free Press are  good examples. The key is creating engaging, customer focused content. Editorial systems must be put in place, and every piece of content should meet strict guidelines:

• Is it focused on your audience needs? What really do your customers care about (not what you want to say). I’m helping my wife launch a new gluten free website and blog ( part of a new Asian gluten free food business). While our main audience has some interest in gluten free news and trends, what they really care about is finding wholesome, tasty gluten free food-so at least 70 percent of our content will be about recipes and food subjects (where to find good gluten free food in your town). We’ll also go where our audiences are already connecting, like  Pinterest boards.
  • Is it engaging? What would make your viewers read it and share it with their friends?  That means it needs to be educational, informative, humorous or strike a personal or professional chord. Focus on  creating stories that can catch fire with your audience. Think like a storyteller.
  • Is it shareable? Look at how easy Pinterest makes it  for even nontechies to share their posts. No wonder it’s exploding in popularity-and, for now at least, it’s not hugely social.

Back to Facebook. Its marketers are nudging companies to develop ads that look and feel like real editorial content, sort of-interesting company stories, engaging pieces, etc. They’re blurring the distinction between advertising and editorial (“The content is the ad.”)  Its marketers envision a new world of online interaction where people converse as naturally with the brands as they do with each other.

I’m not sure we’ll ever get there completely, but we may not need to.  Companies are already sitting on a goldmine of untapped and powerful content. They have vast amount of information and subject matter experts that can be of enormous interest and value to consumers. Bloggers are our modern day storytellers. They just need to quit thinking like marketers and more like the people they serve.

So the message from last week was another reminder: companies will now live or die by their content. Maybe Facebook is the canary in the coal mine. Ignore it at your own risk.

The backdrop was a popular soccer match between two top teams in Lisbon. With tickets expensive and scarce, Coke planted a wallet in a bustling shopping center. Inside was $200 and a ticket to the soccer event. Then it sent in a camera crew team to tape the reactions of people in the street.

Portugal must be a haven for honesty. Amazingly, 95% of the people who found the wallet and the valuable goodies turned it in. These Good Samaritans seemingly did this because it was the right thing to do, not for financial reward. But Coke surprised them by giving them a ticket to the soccer game and putting them up in their own special sections. They were even honored at halftime on the stadium’s big screen.

This was a brilliant campaign on several fronts, and there’s a slew of lessons for social marketers.

• It put the spotlight on people, not the brand. How many of us have fought this battle-trying to get companies to quit thinking about their products and start thinking about their customers, and larger audiences? Coke put a huge spotlight on the Good Samaritans, so we end up falling in love with these people and the principles they represent. Of course the positive emotional reaction spills over to the brand.
• It created a human story, a narrative: The story highlighted human “goodness” and concludes that ultimately people who act on principles are rewarded. I think people are desperate for human stories that transcend the everyday drum beat of negative news to showcase positive principals. It reinforces the feeling that there are good people out there, and that the human community we’re all part of isn’t really that bad (“There’s reasons to believe in a better world”) . See how Coke embellished this and brought it to a new level in their video.
• It was natural: Coke could have paid people to do good deeds, or held talent contests , mimicking American Idol (yawn). This wasn’t another “reality” TV fake-out. The expressions, reactions, and the way these people responded felt very real because it was real.

Coke has been building this feel-good brand for decades, and the Portugal wallet-drop fits right in. Back in the 1930s, urban legends had it that Coke actually invented Santa Claus because of the jovial, white-bearded character appearing  in its advertising (wearing Coke’s trademark red and white colors).

Then in the early 1970s, there was Coke’s world music commercial – it portrayed a positive message of hope and love sung by a multicultural collection of teenagers on the top of a hill. It struck a human chord-who could resist humming that tune-and became famous (now it would be viral).

Now we’ve evolved to this: the world’s most powerful brand turning the camera on real people, testing them in a clever experiment. They passed with glowing colors and Coke gets a nice boost of online traffic to its YouTube site and widespread media.

It’s easy to poke holes in this experiment, and there’s little scientific about it (how big is their sample, what if they’d planted the wallet in a dark alley,etc). And yes, when you strip off the cover, this is still about shrewd marketing.

There are lessons for marketers.  Keep it simple. Focus on your audience and human stories. Think out of box. And move beyond your existing social networks  to the real world. We’ve been focusing for years on the “media” side of the social media equation. As Coke has shown, the human and social side is still alive and well. It’s the real thing.

This post first appeared on Social Media Explorer.

Many people struggle with writing. But I believe anyone can write and blog with the right approach. It’s not brain surgery, but it does take some work.

First, get over the idea that you have to write a blockbuster blog every time. We find in our training that many corporate bloggers are by nature analytical and perfectionists, which creates a lot of extra agony. It’s great to hit a home run, but mostly this is about hitting lots of singles and doubles.

Blogs are bursts of communications-probably closer to a semi structured email than a traditional article. You’re not writing a white paper or essay. Think “light” and “just good enough” (see the just good enough marketer).

Here’s 7 starting tips to help you get rolling:

1. Pick your prime time and block out your calendar
   If you’re a morning person, blog in the morning-that’s when the creative juices are flowing. Block out  60 to 90 minutes and don’t do anything else but write (no email, tweeting, etc) “Batching” your time is critical. Pick certain days a week, same times, and make it a routine (Ex: 8 am Mon-Wed-Fri).
2. Pick one central idea/concept
   Maybe you just had a great meeting with a client and you came away with a buckletload of ideas-now cull those down to the top 3 to 5. “Just came out of an amazing meeting, and forced me to rethink XYZ subject…”
3. Stick with a simple structure
   Blogs should have clear beginning, body and end. A simple structure might be: main argument, opening, 3 supporting points, conclusion and supporting points as needed. Done. (optional: call to action).
4. Organize your ideas
   Use old fashion outlines or programs like Evernote-whatever works for you. Experiment-for instance, try index cards (I use these for presentations). Think of it like cooking-you want all your “ingredients” organized and set aside before you start.
5. Use #s and bullet points
   Yes we beat this technique to death (7 Steps to Eternal Wealth, etc) but it works-and it keeps you focused. It’s also easier to write in bullets vs blocks of prose (and it breaks up the copy for the scanning reader)
6. Use stories
   Stories should come naturally, but they take time to develop. So develop a file of personal stories you can call on later to make specific points. You can usually draw on 2 or 3 key points from each story.
7. Just write
   Some people freeze, and never get out of the starting gate. Blogging is a lot of “ready, fire, aim”- just start writing, and you can fine tune it later.

When finished, do a quick review: Is your blog:

• Authentic? (your voice)
• Relevant (think audience needs)?
• Engaging
• Threaded with a clear message?

You should be able to eventually crank out blogs in 2 to 3 hours.  The exact time is less important than establishing a personal editorial and publishing system that you continually improve. You want a well-oiled machine.

One more note: the real key to blogging is coming to the table ready to write; it’s a mindset. That means you should be on the constant lookout for story ideas-industry conferences, your kid’s soccer game, books and articles, etc. Keep a notebook or tape recorder handy, capturing and massaging ideas. Think like a journalist. Don’t wait until you sit down in front of the computer: organize in your head (themes, angles, key points) as you go along.

You need to make writing part of your life. Like it or not, we’re all in the content business now.

This post originally appeared on Social Media Explorer.

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”)

Social media isn’t a set of tactics, sewed together to be presented like a strategy. We need to go beyond the mechanics to truly understand how social media works — how it can help us connect with customers and other audiences.

2012 could be the year we finally break through this infancy stage and revolutionize business communications across  the board. But a lot of work remains to be done. Here’s a starting list of suggestions, my own wish list for companies and social media marketers:

1. Focus on our customers: What if we quit thinking just like marketers, and more like our audiences? What keeps them up at night? What drives them? What is their view of your company and services-and how can you leverage that and/or change it? This is why listening programs are so potent-skimp on them at your own risk.

2. Build “A-teams”: Imagine being surrounded by power-hitters- subject matter experts who know their stuff and are encouraged by their companies to participate in social media-maybe its even part of  their jobs. All we have to do is provide a little training and point them in the right direction. Sure, provide some  editorial support, but let them do the real talking. Strive for true voices and authenticity.

3. Think outside the box: We need to think outside the box, way outside the box. Innovation is lacking with most of our programs. Are there other, more creative ways to be heard? (Look at what Coca-Cola did with its recent “honesty campaign” in Portugal). How would Steve Jobs, a scientist or an artist approach your issues?

4. Turn down noise:Personally, we need to turn down the noise. We’re bombarded by noise and “news” every minute. Many of us try to keep up with every new program, every twitch of the social media universe. Never let a tweet go unanswered. We try to do too much, and find ourselves scattered too thinly to succeed.Instead, what if we were allowed to focus on a few core areas that we can understand, work with and have an impact–starting with where our audiences hang out (if that’s Twitter, for example, start there).  Set clear management expectations and tune out everything else. Then set up a clear schedule so we can batch our social media efforts, say 1 to 2 hrs a day of social activity in targeted channels.

5. Take risks: Speaking of the late Steve Jobs, what if we took a few more lessons from his amazing run at Apple? He was a creative genius who took huge eye-popping, but calculated risks going back to his high school days, when he was ready to borrow $50,000 to join with another partner to launch a company (it never happened but showed his true colors). His launching of the iPod, iPhone and iPad all represented sizable risks on several fronts (how long had companies tried and failed to get a tablet market off the ground?)

Our company cultures need to embrace more of this kind of risk taking. Identify our super brains, give them some training and unleash them. If they stumble or cross the party line, well, too bad-that’s what social media is about.

Oh, and that’s one last wish-companies that are tolerant. Social media can be messy at times. Mistakes will happen when humans are interacting in natural ways. Get over it.

What would you like to see change in 2012 to drive  social media to the next level in corporate America?

]]> http://ioncorporation.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1635 http://ioncorporation.com/blog/?p=1626 http://ioncorporation.com/blog/?p=1626#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:54:57 +0000 Mark Ivey http://ioncorporation.com/blog/?p=1626 I guess it was inevitable, but we’re quickly seeing companies dividing up into two social media camps: those that get it, and those that don’t. Take one indicator: how companies respond to customer complaints. As Jay Baer pointed out, an amazing 70 percent of companies didn’t respond to customer complaints in a study of 1,298 Twitter complainants (Maritz and Evolve24).

I’ve personally tweeted negative comments about experiences with big companies like United Airlines and Chase Bank, with no response (vs National Rental, which responded quickly to my tweets about a mishap at one of their rental locations). By comparison, I’ll bet you’d respond if you’re a small business owner and your business depended on it.

Why? Because you’re closer to the customer. Bigger companies-ok, let’s say marketing and communications departments-are several degrees away. They’re detached from the customer. This will have to change.

Getting to know and help your customers-customer service- isn’t rocket science, but it does take work. Entrepreneurs and small firms who depend on repeat business get this.

I was reminded of this recently when I hired an exterminator to  get rid of some pesky ants around my house.

“Pete” had already come out 3 months ago and sprayed, but a few ants were starting to pop back up so I had him return. He said he’d be glad to do it, and said he often came back and sprayed months after a homeowner’s warranty period had passed.

“The idea is to keep the customer happy, that’s all that matters,” he said.

But the other reason was this tended to generate extremely positive reviews on Yelp and Angie’s List, which Pete monitors like a hawk. He’s now #1 pest control company in Portland with 21 reviews on Yelp, all five star. The next competitor has three, and Pete has more coming.

Reviews are a powerful marketing tool and Pete is doing what big companies struggle with-turning customers into raving advocates.

He even launched a new section on his website for reviews and feedback, thinking that if people are complaining he’d rather see it first-hand. “If they complain on my site I can do something about it vs being out there somewhere else where I can’t do anything. Plus I can use it to talk about my services, my approach”- in other words, “turning lemons into lemonade,” as Baer put it.

This is a great judo approach-using negative comments to connect with customers. The Maritz study found that 83% of the complainants that received a reply liked or loved the fact that the company responded.

Yet some companies still resist, thinking they can control negative feedback. Look at what happened to Chapstick when they deleted some negative comments on their Facebook page: APR fiasco.

Note to these companies: we’re in a new world. The consumer is now empowered, so deal with it.

Sure, Pete is just a simple, single-dimensional example. He doesn’t have to deal with layers of corporate bureaucracy, inertia, lawyers, corp. politics, and battle-worn senior managers. But he is a great example of staying close to the customer and meeting their needs. Customers like his positive, direct demeanor: ”I tell people if you’re not satisfied, give me a chance to make it right,” he says.

Bigger companies are often missing this connection with the customer, and social media is beaming a giant spotlight on the issue.

“Customer service” should go well beyond responding to comments. You can use your blog, Twitter or Facebook page to glean tons of insight about your customer-what they think about your company, your product, the overall market and so on. You can use this to improve the product or figure out better ways to market it. Of course, you can also use it to share valuable content that will help them run their businesses, and endear them to you.

The ultimate goal is to transform the customer experience across all touch-points, and how they view your brand. When the company thinks of your company, you want them to think … (fill in the blank).

This will require a massive transformation of the way we do business, and deal with our customers. We’ve come out of a world of mass production, mass marketing and advertising, mass…everything. Now we must figure out how to develop 1:1 relationships with our customers and scale these, a new type of relationship marketing. And we must leverage subject matter experts and others who until now have been buried behind the corporate walls.

Yes, we need to develop an army of authentic, corporate-like “Petes.”

So far this has been a challenge with the companies I’ve worked with. Many want to rush ahead, launch a few quick programs and emerge as a major online industry influencer. Those that have succeeded realize that, in the end, customer service is about relationships, and trusting relationships take a long time to develop and nurture. You’re not going to do it with slick marketing or PR- or just throwing up a Twitter or Facebook page. Social media is a marathon, not a sprint, and we have a long way to go.

Whenever I’m lucky enough to work with a company with passionate bloggers and content creators, I know the deck’s stacked in my favor; things just tend to fall into place much easier.

But unbridled passion by itself isn’t enough. Like a wild racehorse running around a track-it needs to be managed, channeled and sustained.

Here’s some suggestions, based on my ups and downs working with giants like Cisco, HP, and Sprint and many smaller firms.

• Recruit motivated bloggers: Sounds simple, but many companies try to shoehorn people into this who don’t have time or interest. The challenge in any organization is getting people’s time and attention, training them and channeling their energy. You need to cut through all the  inertia and make your program a priority-no easy task. There’s always something more urgent than writing a blog post-so find people who’ll find ways to do it anyhow.

The 80/20 rule seems to apply here-20% of the people I recruit end up doing 80% of the writing. That’s why I cut to the chase and focus on the motivated ones. Of course, I’ll work with John the VP blogger (they’re paying me for this, right?), but I’m really trying to find the employees who truly want to blog-the hidden corporate gems.

How to tell? Ask around-managers, friends, colleagues. Who would be a driven blogger? Then interview the newbies: Why do you want to blog? What are your interests, passions? Position it as an opportunity (it is) and…

• Outline a clear roadmap and call to action. What are you asking people to do? Why should they give up their precious time to work with you? Program communications is critical. When I was driving a new editorial/social media program at HP, I spent the first 2 months traveling the giant company and presenting to key stakeholders and future bloggers, selling the dream, getting their buy-in. Arm yourself with metrics and case studies. You need to present a strong case and clear roadmap-where is this going, how do they fit in?

• Listen: To inspire and direct bloggers, you need to get inside people’s heads, find out what makes these people tick. You might find they want to influence certain industry conversations and build their group’s brand. Then you can tailor your work with them to help; now they’re blogging to reach their goals, not just because it’s interesting or the senior execs blessed it.

• Set up a system: Too many companies never get out of the gate because they lack aneditorial system to drive social media content. Treat it like a digital magazine, with responsibilities and deliverables. Develop an editorial calendar and weekly meetings so you can keep the bloggers on track. I also launched monthly and quarterly meetings to discuss the big picture, present data and explore what was working, or not.

• Highlight successes, build camaraderie: No one likes to blog into a void, or alone. Work with the new bloggers to generate comments-and then respond. Help them plug into other conversations by commenting on other blogs. Acknowledge the good posts in your weekly meetings or maybe even little awards (I used to give out Starbucks gift cards to the best posts of the week or month). Look for other ways to build team spirit and camaraderie.

• Nourish: Training programs are critical, so new bloggers can quickly feel comfortable and quit struggling. Think about how you can teach them to “think like a blogger”- to write fast, conversationally, effortlessly. Keep it simple and short: they don’t have to write a major essay or the best blog, just a good blog (read: The Seven Habits of the ‘Just Good Enough’ Marketer).

• Follow up: Even spirited bloggers can run out of steam, so work closely with them to nourish the enthusiasm. Find out why they’re slowing down (workload, boredom, etc) and work with them to revive their blogs. This means regular meetings, 1:1s’ and real discussions-not just the regular corporate (yawn) meetings.

• Be personally passionate: Your passion is contagious, so tackle every meeting, presentation and 1:1 meeting with full gusto.  Boring corporate speak and presentations don’t work-throw yourself into this 100%. Better to have people walking away thinking you’re a zealot than just running another corporate program.

You don’t have to look far for corporate models of passion.  Steve Jobs would never have succeeded bringing  Apple back from the dead without passion and persistence. With social media, one fearless leader like Ford’s Scott Monty can drive enthusiasm across a company, and beyond. I’ve also been amazed with companies like SouthWest Air that have fired up their employees to blog.

None of this comes easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.  Just go for it.

What do you have to lose?

]]> http://ioncorporation.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1617 http://ioncorporation.com/blog/?p=1604 http://ioncorporation.com/blog/?p=1604#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:22:25 +0000 Mark Ivey http://ioncorporation.com/blog/?p=1604 Volumes have now been written about Steve Jobs and his monumental achievements and contributions to the business and consumer world. Paradoxically, though, it’s what he “left out” that helped shape so much of his success before he died October 5th.

Jobs had an uncanny ability to define the essential elements of anything-and ruthlessly cut everything else out. The result would be a long string of artistic masterpieces: the Apple logo, the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. Compare it to the typical hardware product like a Windows-based PC, usually loaded with features we don’t need. Simplicity and elegance vs complexity and baggage.

“That was the essence of Jobs’ unique genius — understanding that absence defines presence; that the only path to the great new things of the future was the merciless elimination of the good old things of the past,” Jeff Yang writes in a nice piece in the Wall Street Journal.

Jobs turned simplicity into a new art form for the business world. He showed that simplifying is both art and science, one that requires a Zen-like mindset and thinking.

Brilliant thinkers (Einstein), artists (Leonardo da Vinci), leaders and orators (FDR, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King) do this naturally. But most of us get bogged down before we even get out of the chute. Why? We know too much (the “curse of knowledge”) and/or we want to do too much, and please everyone.

When I was writing executive speeches, I was constantly fending off product marketing managers with their pitches. The presentation was like a cargo train, with everyone piling on their baggage. Eventually it bogged down. Compare that to a typical Steve Jobs presentation with the crisp messaging, and simple, powerful imagery. Every word, graphic and demonstration had a reason.

To achieve simplicity, try stepping back to a sort of mental balcony and reviewing your presentation–or any challenge-anew. Take off your binders and preconceptions and see things through a fresh, unfiltered lense. Only then can you see the problem objectively. Then focus on a single message. You won’t please everyone anyhow, so why try?

This applies to social media activities as well.

We’re constantly under pressure to boil the ocean in corporate America. Big complex programs can be waived around in front of senior management like trophies. When I was at Hewlett Packard, my manager wanted my group to drive social media for the entire Enterprise organization, representing several big business organizations and tens of thousands of employees. She had no idea how it would happen, but she knew it would look good before management.

My solution was to start small: two carefully focused pilot programs in different organizations with teams of motivated people. From these and over two months I developed a set of best practices and processes that I would use across the entire organization. I probably saved months of work and painful trial and error (and my own sanity).

Blogs and stories should be simple too. We’re not writing long-winded essays, but short communications bursts. Develop a central theme or argument, build your case in 3 or 4 points (add supporting stories and data as needed) and drive to a clear conclusion. And remember you’re not writing a perfect blog or story, it just needs to be good. Adapt a “just good enough” mindset.

It all starts in the mind, and that’s where we struggle the most. If you can’t tune out the noise and focus on the problem at hand, you’ll never get too far-professionally or personally.

Psychologist and author Wayne Dyer put it this way: ?”It has been said that it’s the space between the bars that holds the tiger. And it’s the silence between the notes that makes the music. It is out of the silence, or “the gap,” or that space between our thoughts, that everything is created…”

Embrace the silence. Keep it simple. Then go out and do something wonderful.

So you’re still not on Google+? Or maybe you’ve stuck your toe in the water but holding back to make  sure G+ is the real thing.

Better get busy. Google’s already grown to 25 million plus users in only a few weeks, and they could be opening thefloodgates to brands soon-Ford is already test-driving its business page. No one knows, but I believe with its financial muscle and market power Google+ will emerge as the leading  social platform for business once it fully integrates is search and other tools (Gmail, Chrome, etc).

So you need to hedge your bets by getting involved in G+. But that doesn’t mean you need to throw all your eggs in this basket, or spend all your waking hours on G+. There are ways you can manage your time and use G+ selectively and strategically.

Below are seven examples of maximizing Google+ (efficiently), based on my last few weeks of working on the new platform.

1) Think rifle shot vs shotgun: Avoid the temptation to use G+ like another broadcast medium, as many do on Twitter, or duplicate what you’re doing on other platforms. Use G+ to supplement your other channels. What are you missing from you other channels? What can Google+ provide, keeping in mind some of the unique features? What will your key audiences be looking for from G+ they’re not getting from Facebook or Twitter?

2) Start small: Start with 100 to 200 people to follow (or less) instead of thousands- high quality people (the usual industry leaders and influencers, but also other people you want to connect with on deeper levels). Invite select users like potential clients and highly regarded business colleagues-even those not tech savvy. You’re going to provide them a guide or two to get started and be their shepherd into G+, providing you an (early adopter) edge-if you execute right.  Put them in select Circles and start thinking about how you’ll share with them. (tip: use a URL shortener and add your G+ URL to your profiles and email signature; mine is http://gplus.to/markivey)

3) Strategize your Circles: The beauty of Google+ is the ease at which you can add people to follow in your Circles, and manage those for maximum efficiency. You can shoot out something to a large group, select a small to medium sized group of friends, or even focus on just one person-so it’s almost like tweeting (large group), blogging (your readers) and emailing (1:1 correspondence).

Spend some time to get this right. I’d suggest 8 to 12 Circles for starters-this might include different ones for your personal interests, friends/family, close business contacts, corporate clients, early adopters, influencers, “loose ties,” and so on-you need to define the Circles that make sense for you (maximum effectiveness). You can add more as you go. Carrie Bugbee, a social media consultant, says she “creates circles based upon both geography and careers/interests. Most people will be in at least 2 circles of mine, if not more.”

One note: G+ is much easier than Facebook to control who you’re posting to, so you’re not overloading your important business contacts with all your marketing or personal posts.

4) Go deep: The key is to share only relevant, segmented posts that appeal to each group. G+ people are 2 to 3 times more likely to share within specific circles than in public so I focus on creating and working with small groups, say by reaching out with a question to key people. For example, I’m helping my wife launch a new gluten free Asian food business, and I called on my Circles for feedback. I also queried a small group about this story. You can also launch a questionnaire or poll. Do you have a new product, or want to help a client get feedback on certain features or issues?

The point is to  forget broadcasting;  think of developing fewer, deeper relationships, using more personal, targeted approaches.

For instance, Mari Smith, a social media marketing strategist with a large following, only posts two or three times a day on G+, compared to once an hour on Twitter and several times a day on Facebook. The result is deeper, “tremendous engagement” and, interestingly, “more immediate responses than most other social networks,” she says.

5) Manage the noise: I put “loud” posters who I still want to keep any eye on (ex: Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki) in separate circles. I also “mute” conversations that quickly get out of hand and distract me with constant email reminders (you can also turn them off completely).

6) Interact: I follow about 8 or 10 people very closely, and keep my eye on another dozen or so people. The rest I just check on (in my “stream”) once or so a day.  When someone says something interesting, I try to leave a comment or give it a 1+ (equal to a Facebook “like”). Do this selectively to build and connect  with your community, generate new connections and get added into the right groups/Circles. The key to managing this is limiting your sources, know what you’re looking for and being able to skim quickly and cut through the noise.

7) Schedule your time, stay organized: Avoid getting sucked into G+ like any platform, set a time limit-say 30 to 40 min early morning and late day. Develop an editorial calendar and stick to it. Be clear on your objectives and goals each day, so you can stay focused. About once or twice a week go through your Circles and weed out the weak players (yes, it’s a little like a garden) by uncircling them.

Evaluate your strategy once a week- if it’s not working, make changes. Smart users like brand strategist Gaynelle Grover use Chrome’s extensions (ex: G+Me and Golden View) to make it easier to skim posts.

This is basically my approach to G+, and is changing as I delve deeper and the platform evolves.  Be sure to experiment with G+ to see what’s going to work for you. Explore “Hangouts” (live video conferencing chats) and “Huddles” (group messaging features. Try different types of interactive techniques and questions, posting different times of the week and day, and so on. Schedule in a little fun (ok, forget the “schedule”-just go for it).

See you online!

So brands are chomping at the bit to jump into Google+ ?

Understandable with all the hype, but we may be getting the cart before the horse. The truth is most brands-and most companies–are still struggling with the other platforms. Social media is still foreign to them, and most flail around like fish out of water (to use another animal analogy).

Marketers know this problem. The issue was raised again in a nicely written piece recently in Advertising Age. The author concludes with, “In a nutshell, they need to act less like brands and more like people.”

The problem

The problem is “brands” are not people, though they are made up of people. And in many ways a brand is the antithesis of a social-oriented business, mostly driven by processes and an insatiable need for “results” and ultimately profits.

Rather than reinvent, we’ve shoehorned social media into our corporate framework. We’re still doing everything the same, just in new channels, disguised as social media.

“Schedule 10 tweets this week” (and make them sound real).

“Focus on driving our XYZ corporate message in next week’s blog.”

Companies should know better, given their experiences with content. Many companies are amazed to find no one’s reading their marketing materials or white papers-and why should they? The old of way of companies producing content (think: 30 second commercials, press releases, clever one-liners) doesn’t work with social media.

Compare a typical fast-moving conversation on G+, Twitter or Facebook to your typical corporate marketing-speak or CEO speech. You get the point: fluid vs stiff, natural vs stilted, engaging vs boring.

I saw this first hand at Hewlett Packard, where as Editor in Chief I had to create new programs to train enterprise bloggers and drive social media activity. There were a lot of bright, talented people, but many struggled to blog and engage amid stiff corporate structures and processes, non-supportive managers and incentive systems and an obsession with measurement. Years of layoffs and poor morale didn’t help.

My boss was ignorant of social media but that didn’t stop her from aggressively pushing ahead: “We need to drive HP’s share of voice,” she’d say.

“First, we need a voice,” I’d argue.

Eventually it dawned on me-”social” is not in the corporation’s DNA. It’s all about left brain thinking, processes and systems, marketing speak and driving results. Fear drives much of the corporate activity-something Andy Grove, my former (Intel) CEO, captured back in the 1990s with his popular battle call for a generation of corporate worker bees: “Only the paranoid survive”.

This isn’t all bad-it’s what distinguishes our companies from other less efficient endeavors (government comes to mind) and has led to great innovations and brands over time. But trying to shoehorn in social media doesn’t work, like mixing oil and water. And as I look ahead, it’s clear to me companies will need to significantly change to adapt to a new environment-more dynamic, fluid, global, unpredictable…and more human centered.

We have moved beyond the Information Age into an age where knowledge, relevance and connecting the dots in our environment are what counts: Daniel Pink, in his book A Whole New Mind, calls it the Conceptual Age. Going forward, creativity and real innovation will play a much larger role: make room for more right brain thinking.

The Solution

We can help the cause by first breaking away from the status quo-quit following the herd. Quit thinking like marketers, start thinking like creative humans. How would a small businessman handle this problem? How would an artist, a scientist?

Think about your audience first, second and last. They don’t really care about your service or product, only if it helps them improve their lives. What are the issues that keep them up at night-these are your topics.

So you need to go beyond the “best practices” and mechanics (ex: the latest Twitter techniques) and teach people to think and act socially- to be social. In our training, we always work on helping people understand how to be social–how to engage, how to go beyond the story line and so on. It’s ok to be engaging. It’s ok to be interesting. It’s ok to not have an agenda. Let your passion show. It’s ok.

Corporate bloggers are our modern day story-tellers, and once we can tap into that force we are looking at unlimited possibilities. But that means changing the way we manage our companies, and actually changing the way we think. That according to Pink requires more balanced thinking– processes and creativity, systems and exploration. The goal is to make an intellectual AND emotional connection with our employees, colleagues and customers (think of Apple, and the emotional connection of its customers).

Social media can help fuel this movement and I believe it can ultimately reshape the corporation. But after 20 yrs at this, I’m also not naive. Nothing is assured; the corporate way of life has been around for decades, and social media only a few years. Change will be slow and uneven.

Ultimately we have to tap into people’s incredible need for meaning in life.

In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl showed through his amazing odyssey in German concentration camps, that people are not driven by fear, pleasure or to avoid pain as much as a quest for meaning. How can we tap into this huge motivational force to help drive social media in a way that ultimately transforms our companies (and makes life a little better)? How can we bring about real corporate change?