Social Media Darwinism » Web 2.0

Who is your Social Media lightening rod?

Paul Dunay — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:44:33 +0000

I have been in talks with a few companies lately about their social media efforts especially when it comes to supporting customers using social media (the topic of my new book). And I have noticed a difference between the successful ones and the not so successful ones.

It comes down to one basic organizational difference …

At the highest level there is really 2 ways to organize your social media efforts: Centralized or Decentralized. Do you have a team that is very loosely coupled with no clear leader that coordinates your social activity and it feels strained or hard to hold together? Or do you have one team with one goal with many players all connected together under the leadership on one person – what I call the Social Media lightening rod.

You can tell the difference very easily in a meeting or in my case with a meeting at a client because as soon as someone mentions social they all say you need to speak to Person X.

Having seen a number of teams at various companies over the last few months it’s clear that social has made some big strides at even the most obscure companies. Many of which have virtual teams of folks who are interested in social media and are happy to help the cause at their company. But the big difference between them and more successful ones at social media is the lightening rod.

Most often I see there is a person who could emerge as the lightening rod but just hasn’t been given the authority or stepped up and assumed the role. If this is you (and you know who you are) my question for you is what’s holding you back? You know you want to do this and your company needs you to do this. So stop holding yourself back and just do it!

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What’s your Social Media diet?

Paul Dunay — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:28:50 +0000

I often get asked the question – how do you keep up with it all?

And if there is one thing I pride myself on is being organized. As anyone on my team can tell you from having been in my office is that it is very organized which I feel spills over into my digital life as well.

I can say that life was a lot more chaotic before I found Google Reader (hat tip to Robert Scoble who turned me on to Google Reader).

A typical day starts at 6am with answering the new email that came in over night and then some morning reading in my RSS reader (see photo of this mornings Google Reader). I break out my reading by several meta-topics like Must Reads which is mostly keeping me up to date on things like Facebook because of my book and the new book coming out in November as well as B2B Marketing trends, Primary are blogs that I frequent such as the majors like Mashable and the individual blogs like Web Ink Now (plus a ton more), some personal stuff like Sailing blogs, Avaya blogs and Google alerts on Avaya and our Competitors, Novitaz which is an In-Store Digital Ad Network (who I am a marketing advisor for) as well as a feed of all my Favorite Facebook friends status updates just to be sure I don’t miss anything (note on how to do this – create a friend list – then take the RSS feed of their status updates and import that to Google Reader, then there is the Ye Olde Vanity search in case people are talking about me on blogs or elsewhere, my Delicious friends feed which is a great way of seeing what other friends are tagging (such as Charline Li, and Brian Solis) I use this mostly as a “safety net” in case I miss something hot – they will most likely tag it, Research such as Forrester or MarketingProfs usually premium content, but stuff I want to know about as soon as it gets produced, then my SlideShare Technology feed so when folks post new presentations and tag them with the Technology category I get them in this feed – its a great source for ideas and keeping up to date on technology and finally Magazines – I canceled every magazine subscription expect for BtoB Magazine and BusinessWeek – everything else comes in here such as Wired, Fast Company etc …

Things I share on Google Reader appear on my lifestream on Friendfeed which collects shared items from other feeds like: my personal Delicious feed, YouTube feed, SlideShare feed, my StumbleUpon, my Flickr, and my Digg feeds and then pushes them out as updates via Twitter.

Throughout the day I follow toggle between TweetDeck, retweeting good posts and reading new posts on my Google Reader and sharing them (during lunch or after work). Weekends are devoted to Blog posts and writing the new book.

With over 300 feeds coming into my Google Reader, Twitter alerts popping up all over the place and email coming in by the truck load its easy to feel overloaded fast. My advice would be don’t let Google Reader (or any social activity) over run your life – remember you are in control!

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In B2B Marketing: Content is Media

Paul Dunay — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:43:41 +0000

For some reason there is a lot of confusion about the word Content lately. Back in the late 90s when the internet was just heating up we all heard alot about how “Content is King”. But these days for B2B Marketers I think we need to take it a step further and say that “Content is Media”.

If you have been following my thoughts on the 4 C’s of Marketing – it all starts with content. Building a solid content creation engine is critical to B2B marketers today. Why?

Its the content that gives you the opportunity to have a discussion with the Media, its the content that gives you the opportunity to create conversations socially, its the content that gives you the opportunity to re-engage with leads in your system that you may be nurturing on that sames topic, and its the content that allows your sales team to start a conversation with their accounts about that topic.

If you follow Seth Godin at all you will know that Mass Media in forms that we are used to like Advertising isn’t working for or B2C breatherin. Sure anyone can take out an ad in a major publication but his point is more about the sustained effort over time to create a brand using advertising hasn’t worked for years and is just too expensive and too inefficient to build a brand.

I think B2B marketers really need to think and act more like a media house themselves. What is your publishing calendar? Can you stick to it? Does it relate to the major growth initiatives of your company? Your Content engine should be able to answer all these questions – and when you do then you will be able to use your Content as Media!

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Social Media is not a campaign it’s a commitment!

Paul Dunay — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:47:04 +0000

A while back I created a post called – There is no “campaign” in Social Media because when marketers use the word “campaign,” it tends to suggest an initiative to get a message out to a targeted group of constituents. It also implies there will be a beginning and, somewhere down the road, an ending.

And I still believe that is the case …

And despite a number of comments I got about that post both positive and negative – I think I stopped short of really nailing the issue which is – social media is more than a campaign it a commitment!

Its a commitment to your organization to be more open and transparent, its a commitment to your customer to listen and respond, its a commitment to your community to always be there when you need them, its a commitment to be open to developing new products and services that take input from your community, its a commitment to take the high road when issues arise (as they always do) and most of all its a commitment that tells everyone in your company that this is the way things are going to be and we are going to be part of this – good bad or indifferent.

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LinkedIn Search Optimization (LSO) Critical for B2B Marketers

Paul Dunay — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:18:47 +0000

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via natural search results. This gave birth to a whole industry centered on optimizing search results for a given term. For B2C or B2B Marketers this was a huge revolution.

But for B2B Marketing fans I think you need to expand your game around search to start include what I am calling … LinkedIn Search Optimization (LSO).

Late last year LinkedIn launched an advanced search feature on their site. And if you haven’t already spent some time plugging in your favorite B2B marketing keywords either paid or organic – you should. The results you get may surprise you.

I would start by searching for terms where you would expect your major thought leaders would appear – if they don’t show up on the first page of the results I would start perfecting their profiles to clarify what they do and what their strengths are using keyword rich descriptions in their bio and the description of their current role. Their headline should also be changed manually to display their expertise not their last job (which is the default). Also, your thought leaders email address should be at the end of the summary area or in the contact field labeled “public”. And you may want to remind them to update their status as often as possible. People in their network are most likely interested in their new projects and professional achievements – why not keep them abreast of what’s happening so they can refer them to a friend.

Personal branding expert Dan Schawbel suggests that your profiles should be rich in keywords that anyone would be searching for. For a good example check out these searches for the terms Facebook Marketing and Social Media. Ok ok yes I was doing a vanity search just to see how I would rank but I was very impressed by the results I got for Facebook Marketing – someone had their profile so well tricked out with keywords that they ranked higher than people who actually work at Facebook.

Clearly there is a new practice emerging here, a practice I feel B2B marketers can benefit from if they focus on it.

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Survey says … Marketers are tired of Web 2.0!!

Paul Dunay — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:32:00 +0000

In a recent survey conducted online among the members of MENG (Marketing Executive Networking Group). All 1,800+ active members of MENG were emailed on November 15, 2008 and asked to complete an online survey. The Survey was closed on December 2, 2008 with a total of 643 responses (representing a 36% response rate).

One of the more interesting highlights for me was when MENG executives were asked what industry buzz words, if any, they were most tired of hearing Web 2.0 was cited most frequently.

In addition, many terms related to Web 2.0 were also frequently mentioned (Social networking, blogging, etc.). Does this mean the luster of Web 2.0, Social Networking and Social Media is coming to an end in the minds of marketers?

For a complete copy of survey results, visit www.mengonline.com/visitors/newsroom

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Redefining the Role of the CMO

Paul Dunay — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:07:00 +0000

Highlights of a Panel at the Media Convergence Forum featuring:

Jeff Hayzlett – Chief Business Development Officer, Eastman Kodak
Russ Klein – President Global Marketing Strategy, Burger King
Nicholas Utton – CMO, E-Trade Financial

Role of the CMO faces evolution and reinvention unlike any of the peers of the CMO.

What the CMO role mean to each of you?

Jeff – My role as the CMO of the company is to create “tension” to move the organization and brand in a massive way. If I stop creating tension or pushing the envelope – I will be fired. And whenever someone says I am getting a little to edgy I show them the – ExtendedStay viral video – that usually works.

Nick – My role was to guide us thought a crisis time where we launched a 10M ad campaign to stem redemptions and customer defections – now our customer numbers are up, revenue are up, retention is up – CMO role is about acting when the chips are down!

Russ – CMO role is defined by being the best all around athlete – it takes the Power of Versatility. The Burger King was a brand people “knew more than loved” – I needed to turn that around – re-mystify the brand so consumers would reengage with the brand to become a “brand people would love to know more about” Digital was a perfect choice for that. Moved past the banner ad quickly to get into “content generate share of voice” rather than buying eyeballs.

Messaging in the digital world

Nick – web is our storefront – need to try to get more customers engaged with our brand online – I don’t have the fortitude to pull all the print and ad dollars offline. Don’t care about the price of media as long as it meets the target CPA.

Jeff – Moving the business model from broadcast to a narrowcast model. There is a 400 employees twittering with Kodak in their name – have to acknowledge how the brand is being using – don’t necessarily condone it or endorse it. The Apprentice integrated campaign mentioned Kodak 4.4 times per minute for 43 minutes – to make it more relevant to end users – making it more branded content.

Russ – there is user generated content which we love to fuel but there is “Content Generated Share of Voice” – if you get a 1/2 Billion hits on a viral video – what can you do to get that to spread? You create more content that is inviting and give them that content – it’s no different than the old P&G ad of the next 30 mins has been brought to you by P&G. Whopper Freakout – that spawned lots of parodies on YouTube – got a lot of hits and generated tons of traffic on the web. We love to see that stuff happen.

What advice would you give a CMO if you met them in an elevator?

Russ –Versatility – beyond the expected things – get smart on it fast
Nick – If you don’t take care of your customers someone else will
Jeff – Just go and get it done – no one is going to die!

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Vlogging with Doug Simon

Paul Dunay — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:15:00 +0000

Every once and a while you meet someone who inspires you to elevate your game to a whole new level and for me Doug Simon is that person.

I first met Doug on a panel speaking about Web Video and he invited me to do a vlog with him. Candidly I have wanted to use more video for my own blog so I jumped at the chance.

As my team knows I have been looking for ways to incorporate video in the marketing mix at BearingPoint not just as a nice to have but as a staple of our interactive go-to-market. And with the proliferation of tools out there to allow you to capture video that should be easy right? After visiting Doug’s facility I can safely say it’s still hard to do if you want to do it well.

Doug has an award winning Communication Company and he started a Vlog to document the change he see going on in his industry. Check out his mission captured on his Vlog and some of the impressive names he has been able to interview from companies like: CNN, New York Times, Southwest Airlines, Burson-Marsteller and Fleishman-Hillard.

Here is our talk about how BearingPoint is using Social Media to help define the brand!

And here is a link to his original post – http://www.dssimonvlogviews.com/paul-dunay-bearingpoint/

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Content IS your Brand

Paul Dunay — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Because of Google – everyone today has access to research that we have never had before. So when you are considering a purchase what’s the first thing you do – Google it. Therefore shoppers (B2C) and buyers (B2B) are armed with more data than ever before and its going to get worse thanks to social media.

In Web 1.0 we saw companies create websites as outposts of their companies and immediately everyone had to have one. But in today’s Web 2.0 world all you have now is your content.

I used to hate hearing in the Web 1.0 world – content is King. But you know what? It came true. It’s been a game of whoever can create the most content wins.

Everyone is into thought leadership, custom content, podcasts, videocasts, community – which I think is great. And this hasn’t gone unnoticed – recent B2B Magazine article mentioned the top M&A target is a marketing company strong in integrating custom content and live events!

So what? So that means the entire first experiences of your brand online are all around the quality of content you put out there AND what people have to say about it. It’s time to crank on the quality of your content machine not just the quantity!

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Next Generation Companies

Paul Dunay — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:01:00 +0000

John Chambers CEO of Cisco’s speech on Next Generation Companies at the World Business Forum

Keep an eye on Market transitions – always be looking at what’s going to happen in the next 18-24 months. The importance of Market Transitions cannot be understated. For example, look at how children with their social networking are growing up and how that will change the way businesses collaborate.

There will be no separate networks for voice data etc – the network will become the platform. Web 2.0 will usher in a new way to collaborate. Collaboration is nothing more than a group of people working toward a common goal – that’s what Web 2.0 is all about.

Next Generation Company – is highly collaborative. John can talk to twice as many customers and travel 50% less by using his own technology. Also they started a program called I-Prize – took in 1200 submission from 104 countries and identified 12 finalists. This was a way to identify ideas that Cisco can implement by collaborating with people outside their own organization.

The ability to be a Next Generation Company is the ability to transform how you interface externally but also internally. Example: John Chambers can post a video blog, have his employees comment, identify an expert with an internal Facebook-like application, have the expert post a short video on his/her expertise and train others on the solution via internal WebEx.

This era or an era even more dynamic is definitely coming Cisco is seeing network loads up 400% over 2007!

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