Workflow - Social Media Pastor
( cowritten and deeply inspired by Jon Swanson) Emilio rises at six and starts coffee. His RSS reader has many blogs to read, plus links to a “Bible in a Year” website that sends him daily updates. It’s no longer strange to be reading the Bible in his RSS reader. It just feels like another way to connect. Emilio is thinking of setting alerts for his community in general, plus for specific issues facing the people in his congregation.
Emilio has a personal blog for reflections, and a website for the Church, as well. Most recently, he’s added a section for using UStream.tv to show live sermons. Not that every house has a broadband Internet connection, but if this is another way that someone who can’t make it to the church can feel connected to the community, why not give it a try.
Other churches are putting up sermons and special events on YouTube and GodTube. Emilio has found ideas for sermons online regularly, or rather, ways to refresh his own ideas with the wisdom of others.
Some churchgoers in his extended online community are doing things like Twitter their local service. Others have been confronted for bringing technology into the church. In some affluent churches, there are even Second Life outposts, and online campuses. It’s a balance of concerns and considerations: are you still part of a community when represented digitally? Does God hear your prayer in pixel form? Emilio leans towards yes, but he knows that others aren’t as understanding.
Emilio knows that there are more challenges to taking religion into social media. He’s read and studied the book UNCHRISTIAN, by David Kinnamon. In this book, Kinnamon talks about what outsiders think about Christianity: hypocritical, focus on conversion, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, judgmental. Emilio feels there’s a much greater risk of these concerns spreading in the online world, where some context is lost.
Emilio recently upgraded his cell phone, which allows him to receive email from people with questions, receive text messages from people seeking a quick check-in during a rough moment, and it’s allowed him to be able to take pictures and share them online with the larger community. As Emilio visits a lot of hospitals, he sometimes records quick audio messages with someone sick, to be able to store and play this message for a family member later on.
There’s still so much face to face that he does, and much that doesn’t require an Internet connection, but through these options, Emilio has reached out far beyond his local congregation. He feels friendship with people from all around the world, and he understands the larger struggles people are having through his exploration of other blogs and online media.
With so much more to do, Emilio is happy for his first steps, and looks forward to even more respectful contact with others.
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How does this sit with you?
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These posts are made for sharing. Feel free to repost all or portions of this (as long as it’s not for profit). If you do post it, please make sure you kindly link back to [chrisbrogan.com] and give me credit. Thanks!
Photo credit, Chicago Eye
Workflow- Social Media School Teacher
Dharmesh wakes up a little late. After a quick shower, he skips checking email, but goes right to his RSS reader to see updates of where the students worked within the social network. Luckily, Ning (and lots of services) send new activities out via RSS, so they’re easy to track.
It looks like Margarite has added more YouTube videos to the video section, and Franklin has written a blog post about the town’s historic water cooler. Jeremy has already commented that Franklin forgot to cite a source, saving Dharmesh the effort. He eats a breakfast bar, and hops in his car for the commute to work.
On his iPod, Dharmesh listens to last week’s book reports read out by the students. The quality of their work has improved a great deal since switching to the audio requirement. The second report, by Kelly, is a little loud and the audio clips a bit. Dharmesh makes a mental note to show Kelly how to level the audio in Audacity.
At school, the first period media students are all frustrated. They’ve built a media room in FriendFeed, but haven’t figured out what they’re going to use to present their collected information. Dharmesh lets them discuss the benefits of a blog versus just adding a group to Ning. He asks if they’ve tried Scrapblog yet, which makes simple pages in a primarily drag-and-drop interface. They agree to check that out.
Period four is right before lunch. Dharmesh has special permission to mix the two time frames, so he takes his class out on a walk, asking them to snap pictures with their cell phones’ cameras. Only one student doesn’t have a smartphone, and Dharmesh gives him a Flip camera, instructing him to shoot some video of the student’s collecting their photos. Now there’ll be a documentary to go along with the photo walk project.
There’s only one fast computer in the class room. The others are horribly out of date. But Mister McBrian has done a great job of keeping them updated, and their browsers work well enough to be mostly useful. Because the school has opted to use only web apps instead of buying software for each computer, they were able to use some money to improve memory on the machines. It’s not ideal, but classrooms are rarely state of the art for long.
Before the end of the day, Dharmesh has recorded a quick video on the fast computer, giving the next week’s assignments audibly. He’s already sent the assignments as a forum update to their Ning group, so the class doesn’t have to write anything down to remember. It’s already in their RSS feed.
On the commute home, Dharmesh listens to more podcast book reports and thinks about what he can do to raise money to get just a few more good computers into the class room. Before these kids get to fourth grade, he figures, they should know that not all computers take two minutes to load a page. Maybe a fundraiser, he think, as he drives home to meet up with his family for dinner.
What do you think? Make sense? Was it surprising that I have this as a 3rd grade classroom? It’s not inaccurate. My daughter is entering first grade and she knows how to navigate a browser, iTunes, and various websites.
These posts are made for sharing. Feel free to repost all or portions of this (as long as it’s not for profit). If you do post it, please make sure you kindly link back to [chrisbrogan.com] and give me credit. Thanks!
Photo credit, LizMarie
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
We really can’t deny the fact that businesses are testing out Twitter as part of their steps into the social media landscape. You can say it’s a stupid application, that no business gets done there, but there are too many of us (including me) that can disagree and point out business value. I’m not going to address the naysayers much with this. Instead, I’m going to offer 50 thoughts for people looking to use Twitter for business. And by “business,” I mean anything from a solo act to a huge enterprise customer.
Your mileage may vary, and that’s okay. Further, you might have some really great ideas to add. That’s why we have lively conversations here at [chrisbrogan.com] in the comments section. Jump right in!
Oh, and please feel free to reblog this wherever. Just be kind and link back to the original article.
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
First Steps
- Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
- Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
- Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
- Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
- Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
- Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
- Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
- Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
- Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
- Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.
Ideas About WHAT to Tweet
- Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
- Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
- When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
- Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
- Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
- Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
- When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
- Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
- Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. - Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
- Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.
Some Sanity For You
- You don’t have to read every tweet.
- You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
- Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
- Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
- 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
- If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
- If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
- Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
- If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
- Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.
The Negatives People Will Throw At You
- Twitter takes up time.
- Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
- Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
- There are other ways to do this.
- As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
- Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
- Twitter is just for technonerds.
- Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
- Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
- Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.
Some Positives to Throw Back
- Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
- Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
- Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
- Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
- Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
- Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
- Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
- Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
- Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
- Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)
What else would you add? How are you using Twitter for your business?
By the way, Jeremiah Owyang has a great post on this, too.
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.
My Best Advice About Social Networking
If one understands the way social networks can deliver value, they have the opportunity to do more for themselves than ever before. What used to be a fairly linear world, one with ladders to climb rank, and lines to wait in for limited resources, are now built of vast and flexible networks, some loose and some rigid. Our social networks, both the old-fashioned type in real life, as well as the new constructs created by social software, give us the ability to do amazing things for ourselves and for others. But it does require some thought and consideration. Here are some ideas for you to use as springboards.
My Best Advice About Social Networking
- Will Companies Value Your Personal Network?
- The Vital Importance of Your Network
- What does Facebook actually DO for me?
- Facebook Could Get Really Creepy
- Threading the Social Needle
- Social Networks- Time to Specialize
- Starting Points for Online Presence
- The Way Today’s Web Changes Things
- The Value of Networks
- Social Networking Features are Toilets
Photo credit, Spigoo
Write Your LinkedIn Profile for Your Future
I was speaking to one of the best upcoming tech bloggers the other day about LinkedIn, and how I view it. To me, LinkedIn isn’t a place to dump a snapshot of where you’ve been. It’s an opportunity to stay connected to people, and to demonstrate where you are now, and where you plan to go next. To that end, I’ve got a little advice for you to consider applying to your own profile.
Write Your LinkedIn Profile For Your Future
First Impressions
First, your headline matters. It’s what people see when they accept your invite, and it’s probably the fastest first impression one receives. If you work for a company, put that name in the headline. When I don’t see a company name, I wonder if you’re solo.
Your Summary
Here’s where I think the most work can be done. When I look at my profile, I think it’s a bit long, but otherwise, I’ve done the following:
- Lead with what I do most.
- Lead with the type of business I want to do.
- Move into the reasons why you’d do business with me.
- Move from there into all the nuances of what I do.
In every case within the summary, your plan should be to write from the mindset of the prospective employer (or client), such that when they read it, they think, “I need to hire this person.”
Tip: refresh your summary every two weeks.
Your Work Experience
Here, I do something you might not expect. I make sure my past experience still supports my current and future aspirations. I write the past work experience summary to highlight those functions I performed that will still be useful to the current and future goals. Why? Because if you’re still reading that far down my summary, you want to kick the tires a little on my experience.
Tip: Refresh your past work experience sections every four weeks or so.
Power Moves: Recommendations
Ask people for recommendations. Be smart about it, though. Ask people who can vouch for your abilities.
I receive a few requests for recommendations a week from people I know from Twitter. I’m sorry, but I can’t really vouch for you. And this, to me, the reputation engine part of LinkedIn, is the most important part of the product. I will only recommend people that I would hire for myself, or that I would work for. At the time of this writing (August 2008), I’ve written 146 recommendations.
In both cases, I feel that recommendations are powerful.
What’s Next?
A list of next steps:
- Review your LinkedIn profile. Look at it as if you’re a prospective new boss, or a client. Would you hire YOU to do something? If not, rewrite it. Keep it tight. Do as much editing as you can.
- Enter your blog’s RSS feed on the profile page. People want more color.
- Add a photo. Not one of those weird grown up versions of a school class picture. Find a good candid. If you don’t have one, go to a social media meetup. Someone will snap you a good one. Worried about discrimination? Guess what: they’ll figure it out eventually. Get it out of the way up front.
- Start writing quality recommendations for people you can vouch for. If they can do the same for you, ask for one back. If not, hold off. No sense making someone feel awkward.
- Grow your network. LinkedIn and I don’t agree on this. I say connect to whoever. It helps you build a network. (I only recommend people I can vouch for, and to me, that’s where who you know or don’t know really matters).
- Keep looking at your profile as it applies to your future.
My own LinkedIn profile is here. If you want to connect, I use linkedin at chrisbrogan dot com as my address.
And you? What’s worked well for you?
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.
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50 Online Applications and Sites to Consider
For those of you already pretty much deep into social media applications, skip ahead and blaze through the list. If I’ve found five sites/applications that you haven’t seen or considered, leave a comment and give me a point. For the rest of you, here’s a list I put together the other day when thinking about just how much of my computer use is spent online and attached to the web. Some of the applications I point out aren’t things I use currently, but I have used them, and/or have an account there.
For those of you who are getting involved in social media a little bit at a time, consider this a list of things you might check out a little bit at a time to see what appeals, what fits into your workflow, and what you can dismiss as unnecessary for your needs.
AND, if you have some resources you think would be good to add to the list, feel free to add them in the comments section.
50 Online Applications and Sites to Consider
- Blogger - free blogging and hosting.
- Movable Type - paid software, needs host.
- TypePad - paid blogging and hosting.
- WordPress.com - free blogging and hosting.
- WordPress.org - free blog software, needs host.
- Tumblr - free blogging and hosting.
Microblogging
- BrightKite - microblogging, mobile, location.
- FriendFeed - microblogging/ aggregator.
- Identi.ca - open source microblogging.
- Jaiku - microblogging, mobile too.
- Posterous - microblogging, and/or sends to other sites.
- Pownce - microblogging and file sharing.
- Plurk - microblogging and threaded conversations.
- Seesmic - video microblogging.
- Twitter - microblogging and mobile.
- Utterz - microblogging, mobile, video.
Social Bookmarking
- Delicious - bookmarking.
- Ma.gnolia - enhanced bookmarking.
- Sphinn - bookmarking/voting.
- StumbleUpon - bookmarking and browsing.
Social News Sites
- Digg - social news.
- Mixx - social news.
- Reddit - social news.
Social Networks
- Facebook - general networking.
- Flickr - photo and video sharing.
- Last.fm - music sharing.
- LibraryThing - book lovers.
- LinkedIn - professional social networking.
- MySpace - general networking.
- Ning - white label social network.
- Pandora - music sharing.
- Yelp - rating restaurants and businesses.
Miscellaneous and Useful
- Twitter Search (formerly Summize) - search for what matters to YOU.
- Picnik - free online photo editing. Good for avatar pic touchups.
- Evernote - online and desktop note syncing/storage.
- Upcoming.org - event sharing site (great for finding cool conferences).
- Netvibes - web start page (has Ginger social features now, too).
- Twingly - blog search.
- Compete - web ranking analysis.
- AideRSS - rates your blog posts.
- Skitch - screen capture tool (mac).
Video Platforms
- Blip.tv - video hosting, sharing.
- Google Video - video hosting, sharing.
- Viddler - video hosting, sharing.
- Vimeo - video hosting, sharing.
- YouTube - video hosting, sharing.
- Mogulus - live video platform.
- uStream.tv - live video platform.
- BlogTV - live video platform.
- ooVoo - live video chat.
Blogging
Photo credit, klynsis
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Do What Works for You
Tonight, I found myself in a strange spot. I left a comment on a microblogging site called Plurk where I said that I didn’t much like the service for me. I don’t. The user interface doesn’t work well for me. It’s a little too slow, too disjointed, and doesn’t scale well. It works great if you have a hundred or two hundred people to follow, but beyond that, it gets messy fast.
People responded back that they were upset that I didn’t like it, or that I hadn’t given it much time, etc, etc, etc. All of their thoughts were valid. Except it didn’t matter to me. I’m not saying they shouldn’t like it. I’m not saying it’s not a good platform. All I said was that it wasn’t for me.
Do What Works for You
Welcome to the fishbowl. In here, we get a little bit too excited sometimes. We get zealous about the bleeding edge. We sometimes get tired of things before most of the rest of the Internet has even found it. And we often crave connections and meaning and value out of these shiny objects.
But don’t let people tell you that you’re wrong for not liking something. Not into blogging? Swell. Don’t like Twitter? Fine. Hate podcasts? Perfect. It’s okay not to need/want/love the whole landscape. There are lots of services that people love that don’t fit my personal needs. I appreciate the services, but I’m not using them much.
If you’re here for business, for entertainment, to meet new friends, great. Do what works for you. Don’t let everyone else call you wrong for not liking MySpace, or for liking MySpace. If you’re excited about Second Life, don’t let me tell you that you’re silly just because I’m not a big fan.
Learn what works. Try out lots of things. And then go with what you end up liking. No harm. No foul.
I’ll be over here trying out new things still, but also going with what works for me.
You?
Photo credit, lbonnett
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BlogCatalog- A Social Network for Bloggers
My friend and PR professional Alan Weinkrantz did a yeoman’s job of giving my a break a few days back when I was struggling, so I feel I owe him a look-see at his new client, Blog Catalog. (Note to other PR types: Alan built a relationship with me well before he needed it, and so when he asks for things, I try to be helpful where I can.) >>Side note: Alan - please don’t make me have to get an account to comment on your blog. It keeps me from commenting there.
BlogCatalog is a social network for bloggers. The features on the site involve profiles, discussion lists, groups, a directory, some widgets, and I think that’s all (ish). If I had to guess what the site hopes I do most, it’s engage in discussions with bloggers. There’s also a directory, which would help folks (like PR and marketer types) find which types of bloggers signed in.
Okay, truth: I didn’t see any bloggers I know. Not a one. But hey, it’s not like I know *everyone*, and I’m not knocking on the folks who have an account there. I do. I’m also not sure what I want to talk about there, but here’s a sample of the discussion:
There’s something there in those discussions, and it could well be a very helpful space for bloggers looking for advice and support. But my knock is that I want there to be groupings around the threads. Everything’s all willy nilly, and I couldn’t really find a topic that engaged me right off the bat without a little digging. If it were broken into categories of discussions, I could skip threads about love and pictures of babies, and move into the topics I might want to discuss.
If you’re a blogger, it wouldn’t hurt to go there, get an account, list your blog there, build up a profile (yet again), and look around a bit. If you’re looking to do blogger outreach, there’s something useful there. Beyond that? I’m not so sure.
Are you there? What’s your take?
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50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice
You’ve told the boss that you’re going to implement social media stuff for your organization, and in your mind, you’ve decided that means an account on Twitter and a blog. Maybe there’s a bit more to it than that. For instance, what are your goals? Are you there to show customers and prospective new customers that you care? Are you there to solve customer issues? Are you building awareness and attempting new forms of digital marketing? Knowing this up front makes a world of difference.
In the mean time, here are some things you might consider for when it comes time to implement. They range from ideas for starting out, things to augment your efforts with, writing ideas, next steps, and metrics. You’re welcome to share this with others. Please link back to [chrisbrogan.com] and especially this post if you use it.
50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice
- If you’re blogging, make that a home base for all your other efforts.
- Re-read the “passports” section of this post and use it to think about your blog promotion efforts.
- Pick 3 social networks to join based on where your customers might be. 3 might sound like too few, but it probably will be too many.
- On those networks and on your “passport” accounts, make sure you link everything back to the blog.
- Get a second (maybe even a 3rd) person in the company to build accounts on these places. Nice to have backups, in case you get busy.
- Build an editorial calendar to think about your posting schedule and subject matter.
- Subscribe to 50 or more blogs in a similar space as yours, including competitors, and any industry blogs.
- On all your presence points, be human, and write a human-sounding profile. Use a human-seeming profile picture. (Did I mention “human?”)
- After you’ve written your first blog post, take some time to comment on some of those 50 blogs, but NOT about your first post.
- Set up a few searches as explained in this post.
- Make sure it’s easy for people to subscribe to your blog, via a reader and also via email. (Nearly 50% of my blog subscribers are receiving [chrisbrogan.com] in email).
- Run periodic checks of your blog/site using Website Grader to see if you’re technically sound and findable.
- Use tagging and other metadata to improve your blog’s search features. Most newer blog software has this built in. If not, look for plugins.
- For whatever reason, graphics in posts improve audience. Check out Flickr’s Creative Commons pool for how to use which kinds of graphics appropriately.
- Consider a nice clean theme for your blog’s design. There are many free themes for different blogs, and some inexpensive ones like Thesis that are worth every penny.
- Outside of your blog, be sure to update/refresh the information on your social networks every two or three weeks. USE the networks more often, but refresh your profiles and other info.
- Seek out opportunities to guest post on more popular blogs in your space. Don’t be spammy and over-link to your own site/posts. Add value.
- On social networks, look for ways to contribute, even when it’s not directly related to your company/product.
- Continue building relationships outside of having a specific need. Don’t ONLY try to build relationships with customers, for example.
- Remember that social networks are a great place to look for hiring prospects, competitors, etc.
- To create consistent content, read daily, and not just for your industry. Skim, synthesize, and post.
- Use notepad files to jot post ideas down when you don’t have a moment to write. Return frequently.
- Riff off other blog posts you like, and add some value beyond linking back to those original posts (and always link back to those posts).
- Go to the grocery store news stand and find popular magazines. Convert their story titles to blog post titles for your field. (Hat tip Brian Clark, who taught me this).
- Skim news aggregator sites like Reddit or Digg (or what’s appropriate to your industry), and create posts from there.
- Ask your audience what they need, what they’re struggling with.
- Revisit a month of posts and see what you’ve covered the least.
- Think about things your customers/stakeholders/prospects might need and write about that, even if it’s a bit off-topic.
- Check your stats to see what people are searching for, and address it.
- Use these blog topics posts for inspiration. (Wow, I write on that a lot).
- Look into creating additional materials like an ebook or online course from your best materials.
- Branch out your blogging into video and audio where appropriate.
- Look into building a community platform around your content platform.
- Invite your audience in to guest post where appropriate.
- Add social bookmarking plugins like Add This to your blog to improve distribution.
- Look for cross-promotional opportunities for like-minded blogs in your space.
- Consider starting groups on your social networks (such as a Facebook group) to further discuss the space you’re covering.
- Remember to comment on other people’s blogs frequently, and show your participation in the communities where you have presence.
- Occasionally produce PDF versions of your better posts and email them to customers and prospects to encourage growing your audience.
- Consider a conversion engine like a free offer to help sort prospects from fans and audience.
- Move towards measurements quickly, as these are often where companies decide their vote.
- Create a simple report on how you will report what you’re doing for upper management.
- Work out which numbers might matter. Comments received. Links in. Times bookmarked?
- Rank each blog post on effectiveness based on your own criteria. Review weekly and monthly.
- Figure out a “downstream” metric that drives real business value. Reduce costs to call center? Sales leads?
- Never count # of friends or # of followers as a valuable metric. It’s quality in that case.
- As soon as you can, find ways to tie your numbers to marketing and sales numbers where appropriate.
- Move to automate the numbers collection parts early. Keep the sentiment reporting parts human.
- Set 3 month goals to review progress with upper management. Determine if this is having any impact.
- Though these last 10 tips are about numbers, NEVER treat people like numbers in social media.
Your mileage may vary, and some of this advice ranges from dead simple to over-simplified. It will also require some customization, depending on your industry, goals, and interests. But consider it a starting point.
What else would you add?
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The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.
Photo credits:
50
Grocery Store
Gears
Brains
Cash Register
Would Blockbuster Movies Benefit From Social Media
After reading this review of the advertising and marketing programs for Marvel’s IRON MAN movie and Warner’s DARK KNIGHT (batman) movie, I started wondering just what a social media contingent to the program would have looked like. The article’s author, Antony Young, gave the edge (they tied at 4 stars) to the Dark Knight and cited the web presence to be one of the differences between the two efforts. But what could either side have added with social media?
Possible Movie Promotional Extensions With Social Media
- YouTube video conversation: Why I Love Batman (or Iron Man).
- Podcast: behind the scenes on the set of Iron Man (these seem to be getting more popular)
- Blogger Outreach: give 5 top comics/entertainment bloggers early access for interviews, photos, etc.
- Flickr campaign: Marvel did this with Hulk.
- uStream chat with _____ : Wouldn’t it be cool to hang with Christian Bale for a bit?
- Affiliate sales program: what if they gave bloggers a little button that offered movie goers a dollar off for an early ticket purchase, and gave bloggers a dollar for each sold?
- Wiki “barn building” campaign: ask fans to find every scrap of interesting web presence for Iron Man or Batman (great for lawyers to use later for copyright infringement - ouch).
Would It Work?
I’m not so sure. Think about it. Movies are SUCH a mass medium. It’s all about bulk, and though social media tools are inexpensive and pervasive, wrangling millions of people isn’t exactly their strong suit (anybody remember Snakes on a Plane?).
But maybe it dosn’t have to work to be worth doing. As a lifetime superhero fan, I’d have really enjoyed any of those above efforts, and probably would’ve nerded out with lots of people on them. It would’ve raised my sentiment for the movies. I’m sure it would have left me with a resonating experience, and others like me.
So you tell me: should a blockbuster movie do something like that for the reason that it would improve sentiment and spread good will? Or would that even matter in the long run? Let’s be real for a moment: businesses do exist to make money, not to make me happy. But I’m not sure. What’s your take?
