"nothing like this has ever happened here"

I began writing this post on those little note pad sheets in my hotel room because my laptop was stolen from my room.  The sliding door was shattered and my bag, containing my Macbook Pro and my beloved Panasonic Lx3, was taken.

I began writing this on little notepads because of how infuriated I was with the process and how I was treated at the Courtyard Marriott Las Vegas.

Thursday’s final keynote by Chris Brogan hit on a fantastic subject, which he calls human business.  He stressed that businesses need to create and foster communities, not audiences. “The difference between an audience and a community: one will fall on its sword for you and the other will watch you fall.”

Imagine if every person that interacted with your company was treated as a friend.  I don’t mean a “move your couch” friend but perhaps a friend of a friend, someone you know.

• Perhaps the security guard who came to my room could have introduced himself, shook my hand, expressed some lament for the scene in my room instead taking a quick glance and telling me, “Metro is on the way”
• Perhaps the front desk person could have come or sent someone with a key to another room rather than waiting for me to call them
• Perhaps she should not have repeated the same statement that the security guard made, “nothing like this has ever happened here”.  The neighborhoods near the convention center are not exactly plush luxury homes, this was an insult to my intelligence.
• Perhaps if I did not have to keep asking what I needed to do or if I should get them a copy of the police report or what happens next
• Perhaps if today, four days after the incident I had some sense of what the hotel is going to do about it

Perhaps then, I would not have such a great lesson in what not to do to your customers.

I suppose you could talk to your employees and make up some procedure and try to teach them this at orientation but I would just ask them if they treat their friends that way.

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I wrestled with the subtitle of this blog and went back and forth a few times which is why the about page makes no mention of this as I write this post.  But I feel that I can wrap up all want to do here with this simple title.

I am a huge Quentin Tarantino fan and the line comes from the last scene in 1994’s Pulp Fiction, one of my favorite movies of all time.  The character of Jules Winnfield played by the legendary Samuel L. Jackson utters this line (its actually, “tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd”) in the dinner scene as he talks down a pair of armed robbers from making out with his boss’ briefcase rather than trying to kill them. His character is a hitman in the movie could have easily killed them.

Jules at the start of the movie is like much of traditional marketing and promotion, just trying to get the quick sale (the easy kill) or trick you.  Bang bang, another promotion, another conversion, another profit collected.  I see new Jules as what Chris Brogan refers to as human business.  Relationships and being human should come first for individuals and businesses.

At one point in the conversation with the robber Jules even utters,  “I don’t want to kill you, I want to help you”.

“Trying to be the shepherd” is about making a meaningful change (trying to become a better version of yourself or your business).  I want to empower you or your business by sharing in my experiences and thoughts.

Here is the complete ending scene.  If you have scene it, watch it again but think about what I wrote here. (Warning: tons of explicit language)

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Forget what you know about marketing, marketing is a conversation. Traditional marketing (ads, direct mail, push) is not dead but it is less and less effective everyday.  I am often asked for assistance in marketing education programs and specifically using social media to connect with prospects.

The biggest challenge comes from explaining the idea that your/our job should be to listen, provide great content and engage.

Listen, because today more than ever there are many ways to get feedback on your product or service.

Provide great content, meaning content that is useful and entertaining to your target market.

Engage, social media has made engaging with your customers easier than ever.  When coupled with active listening, this will allow you to react quickly and address issues before they affect your institution’s reputation.

Marketing has at times had a sleazy salesy connotation.  Truth is, that is usually bad marketing.  Usually when you cannot identify it, its great marketing.

If your exposure to marketing is limited or you have not read anything on the subject in a few years I can understand why it may be easier to not think of it as marketing.  So don’t.  Consider and take to heart the three points above and you will succeed.

Here is a fantastic explanation by Perry Belcher:

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“We need a Social Media Policy”

Why.

This is the most important question that an organization should ask themselves. Because the answer to this question will dictate the nature of the policy.

If the reason stems from a control issue, wanting to ensure content which is not sanctioned is not created, then the policy will be of no use.  The very nature of social media dictates that it not be vetted, sanctioned or filtered.  It is afterall, real conversations by real people.

The policy should provide a guideline and as in the case of IBM’s policy, it should refer back to a business conduct policy if one exists.  Technology does not change the ethics of interacting with others.  Online or off, people should be treated with respect and employees should take ownership and responsibility over their actions.

Make sure to take a look at  Sharlyn Lauby’s article on the 10 Must-Haves for your Social Media Policy. She referenced two great policy examples. The IBM policy (referenced above) and a shorter example by Headset Bros embedded below.

The Headset Bros policy is a great example for a small to medium size business.  It embraces the nature of Social Media by asking employees to go out and join as many networks/communities as they like.

The only thing I would add is something specific to the employee representing themselves online. There are cases where a network, such as facebook, requires a profile to interact with a group and there is no language in the policy about representing the company via your profile as well.

Bottom Line: The Golden Rule should be a part of every social media policy.

HEADSET BROS – SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

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I read this post last night on Techcrunch about Best Buy’s twitter campaign and thought it was a fantastic idea.

I think this would be a phenomenal way to improve customer service and live our brand promise. I understand that not everyone is on twitter but getting an account is so simple and there are so many ways to access it (a new user is bound to find one they are comfortable with).

Training
Obviously, the first step would be to make sure employees understand how twitter works and what the do’s and don’ts would be. (identifying oneself as an employee, not asking for any personal info, etc).

It is also important to offer training to new twitter users.  An easy solution to this might be to aggregate the best training videos (for the various twitter applications) from the web.

Sign-up
Best Buy created a custom web application that includes an employee number for sign-up.  The legal information is also a great template.

How it works
It is actually a rather simple solution for the users. By signing in, employees add their tweets to the best buy stream and also have the ability to tweet under the collective twitter account.  They do this by adding a keyword to their tweet.

Alternates
I know there are solutions out there to have multiple users share an account (co-tweet, hootsuite) but I really think that this is a better enterprise wide solution that does away with the scheduling aspects and makes it easy for all to get involved quickly.

Imagine if your university could have at least 1-2 employees from each department/school/program using this system.

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Just came across this slideshow on on slideshare.net and thought it was incredibly informative.

In short: It describes the importance and the process of creating a community of brand ambassadors and/or users.

I think this is yet another great take away for higher ed from the corporate sector.  While there are many great examples of social media and communities being used by universities, I have not seen any take on the subject of creating a brand community.

Perhaps the closest example I know of may be @rachelreuben’s cafe new paltz ning network but then again I believe that is more about connecting new admits.

I would envision a university brand community including students, alumni and faculty who love the institution and want to contribute on all levels.

If anyone has other examples, please post in the comments.  I would love to see some.

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Eye-fi is a memory card with built-in Wifi.  You shoot a photo, its uploaded immediately to a photo account, like Flickr.com

At my university we hold various donor and alumni events and awards ceremonies and often have sponsors who help cover the entertainment and audio/visual costs.  Add a line to the budget to either hire a separate photographer or get this technology to your existing one.

Most events involve a computer with powerpoint or some other form of audio/visual.   Obviously, you will need to make sure that Wi-fi is available, which should be a non-issue for on campus events.

Have the photos uploaded to your flickr account and set up a slide show on the fly.  The guests will be blown away and who knows maybe event raise some extra support. If you have a developed photo account this is event better as you will have fans following your photo feed, garnering even more exposure.

Tip 1: make sure you get sponsor logos in a few shots, they will be all over it and not mind the extra cost for the next event.

Tip 2: promote the photo account at the event using moo cards with a direct link and even prior to the event via email

Tip 3: have a laptop on-hand and you can delete unwanted shots and organize your slide show right on the website in minutes

Recommended Equipment:

• Eye-fi 2GB SDHC Card
• Eye-fi 4GB SDHC Card
• Adapter for CF

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South by South West or #sxsw, as referred to in twitter is a yearly festival on the topics of interactive (web, mobile, etc), music and film. I am only speaking to the interactive portion in this post as that was my area of exposure to the event (for the first time this year).

The interactive portion alone was massive.

As my friend and collegue @mherzber described it, “its like opening up a fire hydrant and sticking your face in the stream of water”.

Nearly every successful online company is represented in some form or fashion.  Panel discussions, book signings, interviews and keynotes are happening all day in multiple locations on extremely different subject matter, which all tie back to interactivity.  At times there were 3-4 conferences that I wanted to attend at the same time.

It was very fitting that at the entrance they set up a massive piles of legos because this conference is truly what you make of it.

Who should go and why?

Anyone working in or interested in the interactive space.  It sounds broad but that’s because it is.

Web developers, designers, technology companies, game developers – these are all “no brainers” for attending.

If you’re a marketer, you need to be there to learn about managing brands online, managing communities and learning how to use social media technology to be more effective. Same goes for public relations, journalism and communications in general.

I was sent to SXSW by my university.  Based on some of the panels I attended, I would say there were around 100-200 higher ed folks at the conference. Also based on how full one of the higher ed specific talks was, this seems like it will be growing niche at SXSW.

Party like a SXSW Rockstar

Yes they are plentiful and yes there are mostly open bar events.  Much like the conferences during the day, the parties at night offer the same variety.  Many people feel that they are the most important part of the SXSW events.  From a networking perspective, you could meet web celebs like @garyvee or even get a chance to speak with the entrepreneurs behind the most successful websites in the U.S.

As a marketer,  I would mention again that it’s what you make of it.  There were meet ups specific to higher ed but I personally found the most value in learning at the conference and following the “back channel“, as twitter is referred to if I was unable to attend a discussion.

Can’t we just get most information online after or even during the conference?

This is absolutely true.  Especially this being a conference full of web cams, bloggers and social media mavens.  If you have the discipline to do this, you could absolutely try.  In fact, I wonder if a good exercise for my communications team back at FIU would be to take a full day and watch a best of, or a tailor made list of events and discuss amongst ourselves. The truth is however, that the amount of knowledge and excitement about these topics is only present at the conference.  One could also argue for not needing to go to class to learn and I say if you have that discipline or you are wired that way, it just might work for you.  I for one do not believe it would be even half as beneficial.

It’s what you make of it

Chris Brogan used “legos” to describe social media in general while speaking in a panel discussion and this analogy is fitting for the entire event as well.

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The following is a great presentation by Kevin Kelly, Executive Director of Wired Magazine. It goes along nicely with my guest post on doteduguru.com

If its not online, it doesn’t exist”

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