What First in Social Media?
A question that I get all the time is “How do I get started in social media? There are a million blogs out there, which ones should I start with?” Since I frequently tell people basically the same answer, I figured I should probably blog about it (although, if they are a complete newbie, they probably aren’t reading my blog, so perhaps I’m launching this into the echo chamber, but nevertheless, here we go…)
One of my favorite first stops on the getting your feet wet highway is the Common Craft Show. This site has a myriad of intro/how to/in plain English videos. One of my favorites is Social Bookmarking in plain English. Last summer, my mom asked me what delicious is and why she would ever want to use it. After tripping and stumbling over my tongue for a few moments attempting to figure out how to explain it to her, I turned on my computer and showed her this:
After watching it she said, “ok, I get it” and then she actually started using it! My goal this summer: get her on Twitter.
Now onto blogs:
There are quite a few quality blogs out there. All of them require a newbie to comb a little, but there are definitely nuggets of gold to be found. A few good places to start are Chris Brogan’s blog, for microblogging (aka Twitter) Laura “Pistachio” Fittons’s blog, Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel is also great. I recently blogged about a list that Viralogy put together of the 10 best marketing blogs by Gen-Yers. If you are interested in affiliate marketing and how to make money from you blog, and about blogging in general definitely check out Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger. If video blogging (or vlogging) is your thing, then Steve Garfield is your man.
Now, before I hurt any one’s feelings for leaving them out… I want to state loud and clearly that there are a TON of amazing blogs out there on a TON of topics. Many of which I read almost daily (I definitely don’t have time for the newspaper anymore, but with all the great content out there, who needs a newspaper?!) The resources I listed above are simply what I view as a good starting places to begin the adventure that is social media.
With all that being said, what do you think? Is there a blog or a site that you advise people to read when they are dipping their toes in for the first time? I’m always looking to be a better advice giver, so please share :)
Photo Credit: Bartek Kuzia
Top 10 Gen-Y Marketing Blogs via Viralogy
I love top 10 lists. I love Gen-Y bloggers. I love marketing blogs. Throw them all together into one post, and I’m so happy that I have to write my own blog post about it.
Today, Viralogy came out with their Top Ten Gen Y Marketing Blogs list. While some of the names on the list are familiar to me (Stuart Foster’s Lost Jacket) most are blogs I haven’t read before. I’ve already checked out a couple of them this morning and am greatly looking forward to reading the rest soon.
The metrics for rating the top blogs are very interesting too. Linkbacks, Traffic, Comments, Authority, Followers, and Retweets were all evaluated to create a rubric for rating each site. I find it very interesting that he didn’t just look at the blog’s status, but at the impact and waves the authors are making on other sites too.
If you haven’t checked out Viralogy before I highly suggest you do. It’s a blog/vlog by Jun Loayza (@JunLoayza) where he interviews, via Skype, other awesome gen-yers. His blog is pretty sweet too.
What do you think of the list? What blogs do you think he missed that should have been on it?
Shiny Toys and Paralysis
This past Tuesday, during Social Media Breakfast 13, George Grattan shared with us the extent of how Earth Watch is using social media. One thing in particular about what George said stood out for me (and I think a lot of other people in the room). He told us that Earth Watch isn’t on Twitter. Yet. He stressed the yet because he says that he understands the value of Twitter but isn’t ready to engage.
This is simultaneously commendable and worrisome.
C.C. congratulated George for not getting caught up in “shiny object” syndrome. Too often, we see brands that are using social media simply for the sake of using social media, and because it’s the “hot” thing to be doing right now. Many a blog posts have been written about the importance of listening before engaging, of creating a strategy before jumping in with both feet. I completely agree. Only engage in social media if it makes sense for YOU.
So. Why did I find his comment worrisome?
I haven’t had the opportunity to sit down with George to discuss, so this is purely conjecture and my own reaction, thus, it is entirely possible that what I’m about to say does not in fact apply to Earth Watch, but nonetheless, I believe it does apply to many people/brands/situations.
Part of the reason he gave for not engaging yet, is he isn’t sure what to say. Not knowing exactly what to say is not a reason to not be on Twitter. This may seem like a contradiction to what I said previously about having a strategy, but I assure you, it isn’t. Strategy and tactics are two different things. Strategy is the reason you are there, the overall approach that will hopefully have a specific outcome. Tactics are the nitty gritty. If Earth Watch isn’t on Twitter yet, because they haven’t decided on a strategy, then great. They should wait. If it’s dues to tactics, then I’m worried, for their sake.
When I first joined Twitter I was often struck with paralysis of the tweet. I wanted so much to be witty and interesting and smart, for people to enjoy my tweets, for them to want to engage with me and read what I had to say. I wanted all to the point that I found myself frozen in front of my computer or cell phone in hand, having no idea what to say. I had effectively psyched myself out of the game. It took me a while to relax and just be myself, without the strain of worrying if my 140 characters would change the world. With paralysis (or simply not engaging) comes so much missed opportunity. So don’t get stuck!!
What about you? Have you been struck by shiny object syndrome? Or paralysis? If yes to either, how do you navigate it?
photo credit: marcus_jb1973
Social Media Jungle Boston
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Social Media Jungle hosted by Jeff Pulver here in Boston (well, Waltham actually, but close enough). It was a great day with a lot of amazing speakers. The format was casual, which I’ve come to expect at social media conferences and events. Each presenter had 20 minutes to present their thoughts/ideas with no PowerPoint slides. Jeff encouraged all the speakers (and the audience) to think of each session like a blog post–floating ideas out there for people to interact with and comment on. Some sessions were more interactive than others, Laura @Pistachio Fitton had us raising our hands for polling purposes, Steve Garfield had us uploading pictures to the web real-time and Christopher Penn has us shouting out what numbers matter to us like a game show. Lots of other amazing people presented that day and I highly suggest checking out the assembly of blog posts that came out of the day. And don’t forget to check out the Twitter stream from the day too.
A few of my take-aways from the day:
- Be human, be real, be vulnerable — we are people talking to people. Not brands talking to brands or companies talking to companies.
- One email can make all the difference (of course this is one of my take-aways, it was mine and Alexa’s session ;-)
- We need to stop talking about social media in social media. Time to spread the gospel. Or time to just use the tools without always talking about the tools.
- Be HELPful - Hustle, Engage, Listen, be Passionate
- Engage each generation, utilize each one of the generations’ specific talents. No one is irrelevant, no one is too inexperienced. Each generation brings a unique perspective to the table. Be cognizant of that and use it to your advantage.
- Numbers matter. But don’t let them matter too much. (CC Chapman first spoke about how the numbers don’t matter, then later in the day CS Penn rebutted with how certain numbers do matter, and matter a lot. The balance of the two points of view was perfection.)
- The influencer doesn’t matter. The message matters. If you say something good, and say it for long enough, people will hear. You don’t necessarily need a loud speaker. And having one doesn’t necessarily mean that people are going to pay attention.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to passion. BE PASSIONATE about what you do. Excitement can be found in the most mundane of details and tasks if you look hard enough. And in this crazy world we live in, with the economy spiraling out of control, my one little piece of advice–keep breathing.
The B2B Case Study That Made My Day
While doing some research into B2B case studies and social media, Sandy came across this blog post and passed it along to me. As I read the post, I was thinking, “this is cool.” And then I got to the comments. And that is when I began thinking, “this is awesome!”
The blog post, written by Beth Harte, is called: Lured in by Social Media: An Unofficial B2B Case Study. In this post, she chronicles her journey of a company (whose name is revealed at the end of the post) first coming up on her radar, her use of social media tools to find out more about it, and her interaction with the company–culminating in her hiring them. Then, at the end of the post, she wrote a challenge:
And finally, because I really want to see if they are on their social media game and if they are listening, here’s the company name Hubspot. I’ll know for sure if they leave a comment.
From what I can tell from the date/time stamps, within a few hours (HOURS!) someone from the company had responded. They had been listening! Not only did one person respond, but FOUR people did including one of the founders and the VP of Marketing. They knew that Beth had been doing her due diligence. They knew she was asking questions, poking around. And they DIDN’T interrupt her! They waited til she was ready, and then they were there, present and responsive.
In the comments, one of the founders of Hubspot, Dharmesh Shah, addressed their actions and said
The idea behind social media for business is to build a relationship over time with people that might benefit from your products and services.
Building A Relationship
As a social media junky and consultant, I know that social media is about relationships. I know that it isn’t a get in and get out type deal. But it’s amazing how many people don’t get it… They want to know how a Facebook page is going to get them a sales lead - tomorrow.
So, while Beth’s experience may not be revolutionary, and the idea of building relationships is not new (at least to me), I was thrilled to read this post and know that some companies out there are getting it. Thank you Beth for sharing this with us, and thank you Hubspot for doing what you do.
An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube
My mom has recently discovered StumbleUpon Videos. She is enamored. And she likes to send me the videos too. Usually they are great, but long. I don’t know how she has the attention span for hour long videos. When she sent me “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube” a few nights ago I was intrigued, but then I saw the time stamp: over 55 minutes. Normally I would have watched the first 2 minutes then moved on to something else. But as she was in the other room, and badgering me to watch the whole thing, I bit the bullet and did.
Wow. This video is incredible. Its about why people Tube, the community that has developed online, the changes in communication channels.. it shows messages of hope, of connection and of change. It attempts to explain the phenomena of internet stars and the self-regulating governance of people wanting real. Being in the middle of it all, I know that there is something major going on. I truly believe that there is a shift happening–a shift in how we relate, how we communicate–a shift in our humanity. One of the lines in the film that I tweeted was “youtube = freedom to experience humanity.” What do you think?
The video is of the presentation Dr. Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University,gave to the Library of Congress on June 23rd 2008. Dr. Wesch (@mwesch on Twitter) teaches a class at KSU called Digital Ethnography. Each semester his students and he study You Tube from an ethnographical perspective. For more information about Dr. Wesch and his class visit their site: http://mediatedcultures.net
Here are some of the comments that have been left by YouTubers:
Joshlama: Watching this video has made me learn about what Web 2.0 means in todays society.
NatureLegalized: What a wonderful and encouraging presentation. Very good length as well. Quite honestly I was having a bit of trouble finding words to express how good the experience of having this video sent to me & watching it has been. I’ve got to make a point of thanking the sender.
ninjask1: what an amazing world this is, where we can transcend space to meet with people across the globe, a world where everyone is anonymous and nobody is anonymous, a world where the user controls the machine, a world where the user is the machine. What a place this is, to have everything and nothing, where the average man is stronger than corporations and governments, a world that is both endless and boundless.
I, of course, tweeted that I was watching the video and that it was great. My sister (@peckedbyducks) then responded “mom sent that to you too? Am watching it right now.” As it turns out, my mom had sent it to everyone.. literally. She had accidentally sent the link to every single contact in her address book–a fitting ending I thought…
So, here is the video. When you have 55 minutes to spare, you should check it out.
