Here are my favorite links from around the web for June 12, 2009. Because this space moves so fast, I wanted to surface great content rather than try to comment on everything. Have a great weekend!

Photo Credit – Shadowgate via Flickr

There’s an art to writing on Facebook or Twitter — really [From USA Today]

• When Social Media stuff hits the mainstream press, it’s usually bland and irrelevant
• But this great article from USA Today written by Maria Puente gives tips that I found myself ignoring

5 Reasons Content Strategy Comes Before Social Media [via Junta 42]

• Most brands getting involved with Social Media are not Media companies.  Media companies possess very specific skills and talent to create content, so what’s a non-media company to do?
• The first reason is really the most important, “Social Media does not work unless you have something valuable to say.”  Brilliant in its simplicity, largely ignored by many companies

Dedicated Social Media Silos?  That’s the Last Thing We Need [via Ad Age]

• Staffing for Social Media is all the rage right now, and this article brings up lessons from past media initiatives
• I think it Social Media should go beyond marketing and spread through the entire organization

23 Essential Elements of Sharable Blog Posts [via Chris Brogan]

• A checklist many content strategists simply aren’t using.
• I like #7 – “Write in small words where possible.  Remember:  eschew obfuscation.”

Fun Link of the Week – 30 Rock is a rip-off of The Muppet Show [via Brian Lynch]

• The musings on Jack Donaghy are very well-written.

Have a great weekend!

Here are my favorite links from around the web for June 5, 2009. Because this space moves so fast, I wanted to surface great content rather than try to comment on everything. Have a great weekend!

Photo Credit – Shadowgate via Flickr

Electro-Harmonix and social media: You’re doing it right [via TechCrunch]

• My favorite posts to read are Social Media case study examples of strategy and execution.
• Electro-Harmonix are using videos to help their customers understand and better use their products.
• Perfect example of a well defined business objective (increase brand awareness to solve problems) executed by social media (video sharing)

Congressman Uses Wisdom of Crowds to Redesign Website [via Mashable]

• The point isn’t that Mike Honda (D -CA) is using  CrowdSpring to design the site.  The insight comes from the great execution – allowing the public to vote .
• Constituents feel more engaged by voting AND the content delivery will be better because of the vote
• The price was $1,000…the PR and media buzz was priceless.  Well done.

Bing off to a Good Start – #2 Behind Yahoo [via ReadWriteWeb]

• I watched Darkon on Hulu last night and kept seeing these great (but non-informative) videos about the Hulu and Bing “Live” Party.
• The #2 rank is the result of good PR, let’s see if it lasts.  With allegedly $100 million of marketing behind it, it just might

The 9 Ways People Respond to your Content [via Lateral Action]

• Visitor behavior on your website (e.g. Scan, Spread, Save…) and the value it provides in a hierarchy.  I’ve never thought that “to subscribe” is better than “to spread”.  Very different thinking
• I love posts like this, it feels so familiar…yet so new.  Rajesh Setty did a great job making a framework that is easy to understand and valuable.

FUN TIME!  – Literal Video – Total Eclipse of the Heart

Posted by Ben Foster

Well defined business objectives are the cornerstone of any corporate Social Media initiative.  Defining strategic objectives for social media has been pretty well covered across the social media blogs, but many businesses seem to be missing it.

Photo Credit - Beck Tench

So why the struggle?  Well, good strategy isn’t easy.  It takes a lot of hard work to build a strategy and even more work partnering across the organization to make it work.

Social Media is all about listening to your customers and having a dialogue that increases the ability of your company or brand to meet their needs.

But as savvy marketers know, the process consumers go through when considering, purchasing, and ultimately recommending your product or service is complex.

Many Social Media strategists try to focus their efforts across ALL steps of this process.  But a detailed understanding of customer needs for information at each point in the process holds the key for where to focus your Social Media efforts.

For discussion, here is a simple Customer Experience framework

1. Realization – Recognition of a problem or need

2. Awareness - Connection between need and your product

3. Evaluation – Consideration of your (and your competitors) product benefits and tradeoffs as a solution to the need

4. UPDATED:  Transaction – Money is exchanged for product (Great Suggestion from Alain Breillatt)
   

5. Consumption – Product is used

6. Service – Post-purchase support for your product

You’re probably already thinking of this cycle as how it relates to your own company, and it may seem simplistic.

But compare a product like HDTVs to a product like Search Engines.  Customer information needs at each point in the Customer Experience Lifecycle differ based on the product.  Understanding the details behind customer behavior and the need for information can help focus your Social Media efforts.

HDTVs – Customer Experience Life Cycle

Social Media Business Objectives for HDTV marketers should focus on creating consumer recognition of the need for an HDTV, evaluating the differences between solutions, and providing customer service.

• Realization – [HIGH] – Many don’t recognize or have a need for an HDTV
• Awareness – [LOW] - Consumers who have recognized a need likely understand how an HDTV can solve it
• Evaluation – [HIGH] – Consumers need information on the benefits of various HDTV options relative to cost
• Consumption – [LOW] – Most customers are well aware of how to use an HDTV
• Service – [HIGH] – Customers who have a problem with their HDTV need information on how to service it

Search Engines – Customer Experience Life Cycle

As an illustration of the opposite, Search Engines (who aren’t Google) should focus Social Media efforts on Awareness and Consumption.

• Realization – [LOW] – Consumers know when they need to search for information
• Awareness – [HIGH] – Consumers often don’t understand how search engines can meet their information needs
• Evaluation – [LOW] - Consumers can quickly search multiple sites at little cost
• Consumption – [HIGH] – Many customers struggle to do anything but a basic search
• Service – [LOW] – Once customers use the search engine, there is really no need for “service”

In my next two posts, I’ll cover companies I think are doing this right and companies I think have their business objectives misaligned.  In the meantime, I’m open to suggestions on the lifecycle model (should there be a step for “Decision/Transaction”?)

Also, I’d love any examples of companies you think have properly aligned objectives to their Social Media strategies through a detailed understanding of their customers.

Posted by Ben Foster

Here are my favorite links from around the web for May 30, 2009. Because this space moves so fast, I wanted to surface great content rather than try to comment on everything. Have a great weekend!

Photo Credit – Shadowgate via Flickr

Google Wave:  A Complete Guide [Mashable]

• This week was the week of Google Wave, oh yeah…Microsoft Bing also… This is a good guide, but it takes a couple reads to fully understand.
• To me, Google Wave is a way to organize all your conversations in one place and make them interoperable.  It seems comples, but knowing Google, it will be unbelievably simple to use and understand.

Beware Social Media Marketing Myths [Business Week]

• Gene Marks writes about a topic that’s been covered a million times, even as far back as 2007.
• You should pay attention to this article not because it’s news, but because it’s in Business Week.  I included this article because BusinessWeek is influential to corporate leaders.  Even though it’s been covered before, these thoughts will now become ‘more important’ in your organization because Business Week talked about them.

Larry Page’s Law – Software gets Twice as Slow Every 18 months [Gawker]

• While making a point about Google’s Web Apps, Sergey Brin makes his co-founder (even more) famous by coining this phrase.
• I used to love Firefox, because of the plugins, but now I’m obsessed with Google Chrome because it’s so fast.  News like this makes me think a Google OS (of some sorts) is in the works.

Updated – Insurance Industry Explores Social Media [Web-Strategist]

• Jeremiah Owyang updated his blog to include the site I’ve been working on, The Good Hands (SM) Community.

Funny Link – 15 Sexist Vintage Ads [Oddee]

• I would like to say that Marketing has come a long way since these days…but, I don’t think I could defend that…

Posted By Ben Foster

Photo Credit – Shadowgate via Flickr

Here are my favorite links from around the web for May 22, 2009.  Because this space moves so fast, I wanted to surface great content rather than try to comment on everything.  Have a great weekend!

[Video] - Robert Scoble Talks Explains How He Uses Twitter and FriendFeed effectively

• I finally understood FriendFeed’s potential after watching this.  Robert also talks about feedly.com, which improves usability over Google Reader.

Banks and Financial Institutions that Use Twitter [Visible Banking]

• Christophe Langlois has been doing this watch for a while, and it’s something I watch for regularly.  He tracks 121 Twitter accounts of financial institutions.  The companies with the most followers are Somerset Mortgage Lenders (6,075), Wachovia (3,620), ING Direct (2,933), HR Block (2,831), and USAA (2,740).
• I really enjoy watching what ING Direct is doing for banking on the web.

Mint Considers Selling Anonymized Data from Its users [ReadWriteWeb]

• The twitter buzz was one of paranoia, freaking out that mint would invade people’s privacy.  Personally, I’m a huge fan.  I believe it’s a consumer benefit to compare your own personal data to that of your peers (aggregated anonymously).
• It all comes down to the details; as Malcolm Gladwell suggested in The New Yorker, ideas are everywhere and execution is king.

Twitter Beats Facebook in 140 Characters [Motley Fool]

• Writer Rick Aristotle Munarriz challenges fellow Motley Fool writer Tim Beyers his argument on why Twitter will beat Facebook in 140 characters
• The Tweet:  “Dell and Amazon sell goods via Twitter. Tweeps find homes and jobs and create companies. Businesses don’t depend on Facebook.” – Tim Beyers (@milehighfool)

Funny – 3 Wolves Howling at the Moon [Amazon]

• A great tee-shirt at Amazon sparked some really funny customer reviews.  According to my buddy Sevick, this has been around for a while…I learned about it this week while listening to CNet’s BuzzOutLoud Podcast
• Excerpt from A Customer Review:  ”So I’m looking for threads that say, ‘Hey baby…I’m real boss!’ when I stumble upon this epic creation….I mean, one wolf howlin at the moon is major…but three???” - T. Guymon at Amazon

Have a safe Memorial Day 2009!

This is Volume 3 of my weekly feature to provide the Top Social Media, Strategy, and Fun links to my regular readers. Because this space moves so fast, I wanted to surface great content rather than try to comment on everything.  Have a great weekend!

6 Things World of Warcraft Can Teach You About Social Media Success [Mashable]

• I love this game…it just took to much time and energy to play.  I particularly like Stuart Foster’s first point #1 – Success Requires Constant Dedication – “Your goal should be to turn every article you write into a phenomenon.”

New WSJ Conduct Rules Target Twitter, Facebook [Editor and Publisher]

• Even with Wall Street Journal’s content strategy to make people pay, they are not avoiding Social Media.  The most interesting point was “Let our coverage speak for itself, and don’t detail how an article was reported, written or edited.”

7 Questions Some Brands Are Asking About Twitter [Web-Strategist]

• Jeremiah Owyang, my favorite analyst, reports on what he’s hearing clients ask about Twitter.  What’s interesting is the level of sophistication. 
• If you aren’t asking these questions…you’re behind.  There are also some great comments that add to the discussion and Jess Sloss of Social Squared answers these questions about Twitter pretty well.

The Dangers of Relying on Your Corporate Network for Social Media Market Research (or SMMR) [Knowledgeistics]

• Knowledgeistics is a blog that links Innovation, Social Media, and Market Research run by friends of mine (Rishu Mandolia, John Rood, and Alex Kemmler) who are strategic thought leaders around merging Social Media and Market Research. 
• In this post they surface the Business Week article warning against starting a Corporate Social Network. They highlight the great point that there are reasons for starting a corporate social network but advise us to spend a couple hours thinking about the points raised by Stephen Baker in the article.

HUMOR!  Awkward Family Photos

• My new favorite photo blog.  I have so many of these types of photos that I hope my mother never releases to the public!

Posted by Ben Foster

This is Volume 2 of my weekly feature to provide my regular readers with the Top Social Media, Strategy, and Fun links that I really enjoyed throughout the week.   Because this space moves so fast, I wanted to surface great content rather than try to comment on everything.  Have a great weekend!

Photo Credit - Shadowgate via Flickr

Rupert Murdoch says Newscorp will start charging for content [Guardian UK] - The WSJ has had this model, though there are some workarounds.  I agree that the business model is broken, but is this the fix?

Twitter says they aren’t for sale [Mashable] – Gawker rumored on Tuesday that Apple was looking at a $700 million deal, but Mashable said they aren’t interested.  Everyone has a price…I still think Google will make a play to buy them

Anthropology and the Social Web [ReadWriteWeb] – I’ve read this post a few times, and it’s confusing at first, but relevant after discovery.  It adds a layer to the decision of First To Market vs. Get It Right

Facebook Challenged by Firefox? [ReadWriteWeb] – Sort of sensationalistic journalism, but they have a point.  If Social Networking were integrated into your browser, do you need to go to a site?  Makes me think that the more important Merger/Acquistion rumors this week would be Mozilla and Friendfeed

Fun Link – The 50 Best Costumes at the London Marathon [BuzzFeed] – My favorite is #16, the gnome.

Posted by Ben Foster

This is the start of a weekly feature to provide my regular readers with the Top 5 Social Media, Strategy, and Fun links that I really enjoyed throughout the week.   Because this space moves so fast, I wanted to surface great content rather than try to comment on everything.  Have a great weekend!

Picture by Shadowgate

• Twitter rolls out new interface [Mashable] – For new users who are less familiar with sites that have this functionality
• Future of the Social Web [Web-Strategist] – Distributed Social Networking will lead to an Era of Social Commerce, companies should prepare products and services for community development
• Bacon Pox (Swine Flu) and Social Media [CNN] – This was the week of swine flu, and Social Media has helped (and hurt) public preparation
• Making an Impromptu Speech a Story [Success Marketing and Selling] – Stories are what move ideas in organizations.  I am scouring the web for articles like these to improve my skills
• Passive Aggressive Office Notes [Funny] – A fun link highlighting the joys of sharing workspace with other people

Posted by Ben Foster

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