Tag Archives: conversation

Two months ago I was in a yoga class where I sensed a whole host of similarities with my other passion — social media; hence, Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Yoga and Social Media.

Today, ten days into my Puerto Vallarta vacation, I can see how Social Media is, indeed, so much like a Day at the Beach.

Conversations with new friends

Without a doubt, the Number One reason that comes to mind is the conversations with people outside my day-to-day routine. In fact, when people ask what I like most about my annual Mexican vacation, it is exactly that: Meeting so many new interesting people to share ideas and experiences with.

Listening to their stories

Of course, Listening is the First Rule to success in Business and every kind of relationship. So many times when we meet new people, we think the way to make a great impression is to “pontificate” about our own lives. But if you think about it, how much will YOU learn just talking about yourself? Plus, my experience is that people love those who really listen attentively. Way back when I started this blog early in 2009, I shared some of my business communication tips on How to Listen better.

Learning about the local activities and customs

Whether we are visting a place for the first time, returning after a long absence, or simply coming back to a favorite location, there are always new things to find out about:

How to get around
Where are the best deals
What’s new and different
What’s traditional and not-to-be-missed

Finding people to do things with

What’s better than meeting new friends and trying out the restaurant that everyone is talking about? It’s the SHARING that makes every experience richer and more powerful. I can’t help but be reminded of a great sharing opportunity for everyone with a blog — whether you are on the beach to day or, most likely, not. My fellow Baby Boomer social media evangelist Larry Brauner is inviting everyone with a blog to post it to his fan page: While you all start collaborating with Larry and our friends online tonight, I’ll be joining a bunch of friends — new and old — at the Barcelona tappas restaurant in PV.

Enjoying life

Personally, I’m enjoying my experiences learning everything I can about all of our marvelous ways to connect, but since I’m still on vacation in Mexico [and I don’t want to get sand in my computer], it’s Off To The Beach!

BUENOS DIAS, ALL!

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Social Media Marketing 101: More strategies to get you started

November 27, 2009 Shari Weiss 7 Comments

It almost doesn’t make a difference where you are on the Social Media learning curve, there’s always more to discover and integrate into your strategy . . . even if you are just getting started.

"I am always doing that which I do not know how to do in order to learn how to do it." -- Picasso

STRATEGY is the key word of the day

i.e., what do you do first, second, third, and so on . . .

As a teacher for umpteen years, I subscribe to a learning philosophy, which is introduced to my students on their first day of class.

It’s so simple, I break it down to these Four Words:

Confusion
Silence
Focus
Effort

Confusion: Accept it. If you already KNEW what you were studying, you wouldn’t need to be in the class, workshop, consulting session, etc.

Silence: Stop worrying, i.e., quiet the FEAR [False Expectations Appearing Real] or you’ll never be able to Listen and Learn.

Focus: Multitasking is the ruination of perfection [according to Suze Orman . . . and me]. So concentrate on one thing at a time.

Effort: Without work and persistence, nothing will be produced or achieved.

Therefore, STEP ONE is to get past your feelings that there is too much to learn, and it takes too much time, and you’ll never get a handle on it.

You are correct: there is a lot to learn; it does take time; BUT you can get a handle on it if you can Listen, Focus, and do the Work.

So what should you do today?

Well, reading through the rest of this article could get you headed in the right direction: I’m going to list some of the “lessons” I heard in a webinar called “Capitalizing on the Conversation” that was sponsored by Social Media Magic, a firm that offers free webinars and fee-based courses and coaching.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write about them, but I found their information extremely useful.

During the first 40 minutes of the online presentation, I tweeted many of the webinar insights under the hashtag #COC. [If you go to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23COC , you will find all of them.]

Top Ten Lessons from Social Media Magic Webinar:

1. Social Media is a complex Organic Conversation.

2. Your customers and prospective customers are “out there” talking — and they may be talking about you.

3. Not having a presence in Social Media means not having a Brand out there.

4. The three MAIN sites to establish a profile on are Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

5. Optimizing your profile on each of these sites will have a huge impact. What you say about yourself is one of the key ways that people find you and connect with you — and then buy from you.

6. Don’t worry about numbers. Instead look for targeted users and build relationships with them.

7. The most powerful way to build relationships is to be personal, transparent, and authentic.

8. Twitter has lots of value that people either miss or don’t understand. Twitter search offers Real Time results, i.e., what people are talking about now.

9. On Twitter you can share timely information, promote contests, spread useful links, personify your brand, follow competitors, and build credibility and influence.

10. Know the goals of your company and plan your strategies around them. Then find your target audience and create messages for them.

So now, what do you do first?

Get started.

Get started where?
How?
With what?

Okay, if you are still asking these questions, then my suggestion is to set up accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter AND Optimize your profiles . . . then we’ll talk some more.

FURTHER READING:

9 Ways to Master Social Media Strategies

Guest Post, LinkedIn

So you’ve joined a LinkedIn Group . . . what’s next?

November 18, 2009 Shari Weiss 1 Comment

No matter what level of social media understanding you are at, you will ALWAYS find exciting new information and ways to get the most out of your online experience.

Sometimes it’s a matter of being READY to appreciate the information.

And I, personally, am ready to dive into Group conversations.

How about you?

Joined any groups yet?
Did you know what you were doing?
Are you in the right groups?
How are you participating?

All of the above are great questions, and I’ve now joined several groups on LinkedIn BUT I’m not so sure that I (a) knew what I was doing; (b) joined the right groups; or (c) knew what was expected of participants.

So when my SOCIAL MEDIA MAVEN group included a discussion on groups, I was really intrigued.

And then when I read Delores Wilson’s article, I thought “WOW, I have to share this.”

Delores was kind enough to allow me to re-post her article on my blog, so you can read her insights on HOW GROUPS WORK – AND HOW YOU CAN MAKE THEM WORK FOR YOU:

I’ve Joined a Group….Now What?

by Delores R. Williams:

http://www.socialmediadiet.blogspot.com
You’ve finally set up all of your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and all of the other seemingly endless social media platforms. After wading through the plethora of applications, plug-ins, connections and friending, you suddenly find yourself in the world of Groups. You scratch your head, deepen your breath while you ponder this new social media frontier.
What the heck is this? Nobody told me about this “group” thing! Do I join a group? Host a group? Does this require more time? …I don’t remember signing up for this! Now what?

Understanding how communities REALLY behave is important to know BEFORE you either join or/and host a group.

People that join groups may have agendas/goals that may/may not align with those of the host or other group members. Making the mistake of assuming that community members are all on the same page – that once someone joins a community, they are going to abide by the rules & guidelines- could be further from the truth.

How do you get around the daggers that may put holes in the successful functioning of your group?

Best solution – a discussion of objectives, goal and rules for, both, the group and its community. In essence, what I refer to as – THE ROLL CALL. Short and sweet, this is it:

The Moderator:
aka, Host, Admin, Organizer. The Moderator is the ‘mayor’ of the community. It is the job of the Moderator to ensure that the goals, objectives and rules are abided by all of the community members. Monitoring and enforcing group guidelines ensures that the group runs smoothly and that community members feel ‘safe’ and have their basic needs met at all times.

The Influencers:
These are members who, naturally, take on roles like policing ‘bad’ behavior, welcoming new members, inviting other new members and attributing to group discussions. Influencers are self-motivated, enthusiastic community members who are invested in the success of the group.

Second Tier Influencers:
These are members who, through listening to the discussions and conversations from others in the community (usually The Influencers), are learning to appropriately utilize the group for its said purpose. Second Tier Influencers often times are converted into becoming Influencers themselves.

The Individual:
The individual, despite being aware of the guidelines, objectives and rules, has his/her own agenda for joining the group. Behavior is often times contrary to the rules set by The Moderator and results in creating discomfort within the community. These members push the envelope by constantly testing the rules (i.e., blatant product advertising instead of discussing brand/industry standards). The ‘Individual’ keeps The Influencers busy and definitely requires prompt intervention from The Moderator.

That’s it! Social Media Communities…in more than 140 characters.

Tell me your thoughts? Did I hit the mark? or am I way off?
I’d like to hear from the community….

Click on photos to link to other Howard Blum photos or go to his website

Twitter

So now you can Tweet . . . What comes next? Getting Started lessons continue:

September 30, 2009 Shari Weiss 10 Comments

You’ve played with Twitter and perhaps gotten past the “Emperor’s New Clothes” feeling that there’s a lot of Buzz about nothing.

You have gotten past that, haven’t you?

Let’s chat

Today’s Getting Started lesson is going to “resemble” a conversation . . .

However, since I’m the only one in the room, I’ll have to make up your part, i.e., the questions.

That gives me an edge — especially if I select only questions I can answer 🙂

Our Conversation Begins:

“Describe Twitter & what it does”

Twitter has often been described as “Micromedia’ or “Microblogging.” As a user, you are provided with a tiny notepad — think IM on your computer and text message on your cell phone.

What Twitter DOES: (a) forces the writer to be concise, but (b) allows messages about an unlimited number of topics for an unlimited number of uses.

What you DO: (a) decide Who is worth “listening” to, i.e., following
AS WELL AS (b) choose what you broadcast according to Why you have chosen to use this online tool.

for example: refer to objectives in previous lesson

Drive more traffic to your website?

Find out if your customers, and prospective customers are on Twitter: (1) Follow them; (2) Hope they follow you back; (3) In the meantime, engage them in conversations by using the @name function [after you have read their tweet]; (4) Offer VALUE with your own tweets — give them a reason to click on your website link.

Build a closer community feeling with your customers?

See answers (1) – (3) above, but this is your new (4) Your tweets should show that you are listening by offering sincerity and solutions — inspire trust and offer value from the relationship.

Establish or change your organization’s reputation?

This requires LOTS and LOTS of “communication auditing,” i.e. listening.
TIPS: (a) Go to search.twitter.com and begin by simply putting your company name in the search box. You will see a REAL-TIME [i.e. as it is happening] stream of the Tweets that mention your name; (b) Click on the icon; read the person’s tweets; follow him or her; and monitor their tweets.

LATER you will want to engage them in Twitter conversations. This is where the “community-building” will offer an opportunity to spread good will and good words.

Find out what your competitors are up to?

Again, search.twitter.com for mentions of those “others” in the marketplace.

Know how to find and hire the best employees?

Of course, LinkedIn [Step THREE] will be your best source to act on this objective. However, you can tweet your job opportunities and then check our responders by their other online presences — as well as their personal tweet streams.

Discover trends as they are happening?

Here are some Twitter-related websites to check out the Trend Landscape:

Trendtracker

Trendistic – hot trends on Twitter

whatthetrend – what’s trending and why

Share your knowledge and expertise?

Here is where you can shine — and promote that “lustre”: Blog about your expertise, start a Squidoo lens, answer a question on Linkedin. Whatever you do, tell the Twitterverse with a teaser and a link in your Tweet.

Monitor the marketplace to see what people are saying about you, your products, and/or your industry?

Search.twitter.com ONCE AGAIN: Put in who and what and see what’s being discussed — and the tone of the discussion. Whom/what do people like, and what don’t they?

Learn how to be a better, more efficient, effective business person?

Love this one. Find smart people to follow; then click on the links they suggest; find time to read the information. [Bookmarking won’t be enough. Do you ever get back to those bookmarks?]

“And now, I want to know . . .”

Ooooops, time is up for today’s session. But don’t you have some homework to do?
And, besides, you can always add those questions to the comments, and we can look at them next time.

Happy Tweet Day

Blogging

Social Media Tools — are just “tools,” not the all-important-strategies

September 11, 2009 Shari Weiss 2 Comments

Part 3: Putting the PUBLIC Back in Public Relations

If you think about the title of this post, I hope you’ll get the message that even though it’s the SM platforms, i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, etc. that get the “Buzz,” it’s HOW YOU USE THEM that is their true significance.

Because Brian and Dierdre devote a lot of ink to individual tools in this section of PPBPR, readers should note that some of the content will be outdated by the time they read it — the Web is so dynamic, and the Social Web is even more so.

But that is the Key Point of this section:

“Remember that these are merely tools to communicate with others; they’re not representative of the strategies and methodologies for observing and communicating with people.” — p. 153 PPBPR

Four chapters in Part 3: “Participating in Social Media”

Ch 11 – Technology Does Not Override the Social Sciences

Ch 12 – Social Networks: The Online Hub for Your Brand

Ch 13 – Micromedia

Ch 14 – New “Marketing” Roles

Valuable re-quote from The Cluetrain Manifesto:

These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking.
Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can’t be faked.
Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your call-is-important-to-us busy signal.
Same old tone. Same old lies.

My take-aways:

Conversations will go on — with or without you. Watch that the competition doesn’t get there first.
Negativity in the conversation can present opportunity, e.g., to change a perception.
Basic PR has not changed: YOU are the communication bridge between your company and the people you want to reach.
Social media helps uncover relevant online communities: LISTEN, OBSERVE and, then, ENGAGE.
Reach out to individuals not audiences.
Everything you do online today, whether it’s personal or on behalf of a company you represent, contributes to public perception and overall brand resonance.
Social networks are forcing PR practitioners to evolve — to step out from behind a cloak of anonymity.
“Socialize to Survive” : The days of focusing solely on Web stickiness, eyeballs, and click-throughs is waning. These are the days of immersion, conversation, engagement, relationships, referrals, and action.

NOW FOR SOME QUESTIONS: (especially for those of you who may want to consider discussing this chapter next Tuesday, September 15, at the 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT meet-up of #smbookclub)

As a “communication pro,” how do you [or anyone] keep on top of Networks and Apps?
What platforms and apps have you chosen to use and why?
What success stories have you had/or heard about that have impacted the way you feel about social media?
How do you feel about “lifestreams” and/or posting updates on multiple sites simultaneously?
Can discussions really take part in micromedia?
Where would you like to see Social Media go from here?

I hope to hear your thoughts in comments below and/or next Tuesday during our book discussion.

Next Post: Description of Community Manager role as organization’s guide along Social Media Revolutionary Road

Blogging

Facilitating Conversations: Talking the Talk – Part 2 of my glimpse into Putting PUBLIC Back in PR

September 9, 2009 Shari Weiss 5 Comments

Want to join the discussion of “How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging PR Business”?

I did yesterday when I began the day writing my take-aways from Part 1: “The True Value of New PR” — Putting the Public Back in PR by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge — and ended the day engaging in an online chat with the Social Media Book Club discussing Part 2 of the book.

The five chapters in PPBPR’s second section covered these areas:

Ch 6 The language of New P’R – suggesting that terms like “user” and “audience” are out-dated.

Ch 7 Blogger Relations – for which Brian has published an entire Ebook, and the main point is that PR people, and anyone who wants to get a blogger’s attention, needs to read the blog BEFORE making contact.

Ch 8 Social Media Release [SNR] 2.0 – includes an actual template for a recommended format.

Ch 9 Video News Release [VNR] 2.0 – features strategies for creating successful video programs.

Ch 10 Corporate Blogging – my favorite portion of this section because of the tips and links to more resources for planning blogging strategies for companies.

My first experience with Tweetchat and the Social Media Book Club

Not ever having participated in an online chat before [I can’t believe I’m admitting that], I was surprised to see how easy it was to (a) sign up at Tweetchat through my Twitter account, (b) write in the hashtag #smbookclub, and (c) VOILA, I was in and waiting to begin.

Lara McCulloch, an event planner from Ontario, moderated the discussion for the seven or so Tweeple dropping in. The key points discussed included the following:

For effective blogger relations, PR people need to read and understand what a blogger writes about BEFORE contacting him or her.
If bloggers have a large following, then the comment section can be as valuable as the blog post itself.
Gobblygook [i.e, meaningless jargon and cliche expressions] does not belong in press releases.
Many companies are finding the news releases, distributed by wire services, may only be necessary for huge product launches.
PR is all about relationships, and if you want someone to write about you, you need to establish a relationship.
The problem with most traditional releases is that they are designed for a mass audience — and that’s no longer effective, either for the media person or the end consumer.
Marketers and PR people need to stop thinking about sending messages, but rather tell stories, i.e. telling rather than selling.
Social News releases focus on the facts clearly stated in an easy-to-read format as in the template offered in the book.
Newswriting — and the teaching of newswriting — is a different ballgame these days.
Print media is looking for community engagement and is doing more stories on local residents.
VNRs are time-consuming and expensive, but they are very effective.
Video logs, or Vlogs, are not as common as their likability would suggest because they are more time-consuming to create, and they are not as searchable as text-based blogs.
Corporate types find it difficult to get into the dialogues that ought to be achieved through company blogging.

The final task of the discussion was to list some quotes that resonated with us:

“We earn the relationship we deserve.”

“To be an effective marketer, you must think like the consumer.”

“”The true influencers are the peers of your customers.”

“Blogs are little First Amendment machines.”

“The game is changing: It is no longer about survival of the fittest, but also the most capable and sincere.”

Don’t forget that you can join next week’s discussion of Part 3 to share your ideas on “Participating in Social Media” – Tuesday, Sept 15 at 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT. Log into Tweetchat and put in the hashtag #smbookclub.

If you missed this week’s chat, but want to add to the conversation, please write your comments below.

Sharisax Is Out There