Tag Archive for 'Social Media'

Social media viruses? What’s next?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on December 14, 2009
in Online technologies, Social Media and e-Business
. 1 Comment

Did you know you could get a dangerous computer virus as a result of using popular social media sites? Oy ve! Is nothing sacred?

Actually, just logging in to Twitter and doing regular stuff won’t cause you to become a victim of those malicious mavens of Moldavia who want to use your computer as a zombie for their dastardly deeds. BUT … if you get suckered into following something that you would recognize as phishing if it came in an email, and then you make two more clicks, they gotcha. Here’s what it might look like:

1. You get a post on Facebook, for example, from “someone” who claims to be a friend, or might even look exactly like a friend (more on that later).
2. The post says something like, “I can’t believe you were caught on this YouTube video.”
3. You can’t wait to see what this is all about and click on the link to what you think is YouTube.
4. But, instead of going to YouTube, you’re taken to a page that instructs you to download an “update” you will need to view the video.
5. STOP! You are now one tiny thumb-stroke away from being infected with a virus like Koobface, which is standing by, ready to wreak havoc on your IT system and all of your friends.

On that “friend” thing, the post might actually come from a real friend who, like a big dummy, did Step 5, got infected and thereby introduced you to the handy-work of mischievous Moldavians, or those crazy kids in the Ukraine.

Okay, I admit that most of us would not actually click all the way through to download at Step 5. But the news is that the virus vandals are out there, they know who you are, where you live, how you like to behave online and they want a piece of you – at least your computer. And now that we know they’ve entered the social networking universe, we also know they will get better at their dastardly deeds, which means we have to be more vigilant at intercepting and eradicating them.

Recently, on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I spoke with e-virus eradication expert, Chip Reaves, CEO of Computer Troubleshooters Global, LLC. Chip is also a member of my Brain Trust, and he provided more information on the social media virus issue, including how to protect yourself. Take a few minutes to listen to this interview and, as always, leave your own thoughts. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Executives are not confident of their social media activity

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on September 9, 2009
in Online strategy and Social Media
. Closed

How confident are you about your company’s social media strategy? That’s the question NFI Research asked thousands of corporate managers in a recent poll.  NFI’s president is Chuck Martin, who is also a member of my Brain Trust. 

The results of Chuck’s poll might shock you: Approximately two-thirds of the respondents were not confident about their company’s social media strategy, and only around 10% were in the confident category.

When you think about it, the response to Chuck’s question isn’t that surprising since we’re still basically on the threshold of the development of corporate social media strategies. And clearly, developing a social media plan for a business is a lot more complicated than creating a personal Facebook page or Twitter account. Plus, the larger the business the more complicated the process. So for a majority of executives to be less than confident about their foray into social media should actually not be a big shock.

But the primary reason for executive exasperation with social media is not just because it’s an emerging market discipline that most of us are just learning. Indeed, I predict that larger companies will still be unsettled about their social media strategies five years from now. I think the real reason is all about control – actually, the loss of control.

It’s in an executive’s DNA to control corporate messaging, whether PR about the company or their marketing messaging. But when a business launches into the social media universe it literally is an exercise in watching control evaporate. As I’ve said many times before, in the social media world, companies – large or small – cannot control conversations in online communities, they can only influence them. And influencing takes time and patience, the latter of which is not a natural by-product of the quarterly report mentality so prevalent among managers of big companies.

Small businesses don’t operate with a short-term attitude; our business decisions aren’t based on what analysts will think or how the stock price will be affected. We’re already comfortable with merely influencing community activity, and operate so close to customers that a two-way conversation has always been the norm for us.

Social media is nothing if not about connecting on a more personal level, which is good news for small businesses. Consequently, once social media has evolved to becoming just another tool – like websites, email and instant messaging, which will happen soon - small businesses will not only become confident in their social media activity, but will thrive with these tools to a much greater degree than the Big Boxes.

The advent and ultimate universal adoptions of social media practices (for businesses: creating online customer communities) is just more evidence of something I began predicting in 1999: The 21st century is the century of the entrepreneur.

Recently, Chuck Martin joined me on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, to talk about his research and our thoughts on it. Take a few minutes to listen to this conversation. And, of course, be sure to leave your thoughts. 

Find social media value through your community values

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on August 7, 2009
in Social Media
. 0 Comments

This is the second of two posts about how small businesses find and stay connected to customers as the marketplace continues to evolve in the 21st century. In the previous post, I talked about creating online communities as a way for small businesses to find relevance with social media.

Going forward, connecting with prospects and customers will be less about 20th century marketing strategies and more about having at least one type of online relationship with them, including information delivered in one of the online channels like email, texting, even Twitter. And you haven’t created a true online community until members can comment on every aspect of their experience with your business.

Increasingly, prospects will turn into customers more because they’re attracted to the values of your online community than because of what you sell. Your online community values should be comprised of these element:

1. Brand elements – brand promise and brand image.
2. Quality information delivered to the community.
3. The tone of connection the business wants to set with its community. Your “tone” is how brand messages are included in information you deliver to the community, and it can be anywhere from crassly commercial to so subtle it’s almost subliminal. The “volume” of your tone will depend on your ROI patience, which in the social media universe needs to be long.

Establishing community values is a critical element of community growth not only because that’s what attracts members to connect with you, but it also causes them to encourage members of other communities to which they belong to join them in your community. Indeed, the most viral element of any online community is the feeling members have for the community values, which could range from devotion to derision.

In order to foster community longevity and quality, a business should create its own social media platform and technologies, rather than counting on public sites, like Facebook or LinkedIn. Here are a few guidelines:

1. Establish compelling community values.
2. Create an environment where communities can flourish around these values.
3. Acquire the technology that makes online community building possible.
4. Protect community values and control how the community is served, while accepting that the community founder cannot control member activity.

Ultimately, as a result of their experiences with your online community, members will turn into customers and possibly your best salespeople.

Get connected - and stay connected - with customers through online communities.

Recently, I talked about the critical component of community values on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show. Take a few minutes to listen, and of course, be sure to leave your thoughts.

Control and Value: Rules for the Age of Community

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on July 9, 2009
in Sales - Sales Management and Social Media
. 3 Comments

According to Brain Trust member and global marketing executive, Kirk Cheyfitz, we’re entering the post-advertising age. Now comes Brain Trust member and branding expert, Jonathan Baskin, who says we’re entering the post-marketing era. What’s the difference in these prophecies?

First, there really is no difference in what these two thought-leaders are saying because both mean that paradigms are shifting in the marketplace with regard to the relationship between a company and its customers. Second, there are two words that marketplace paradigms are shifting around: Control and Value. And both of these concepts create the rules for what now comes after post-advertising/marketing, which is building and serving communities.

In the 21st century, relationships between businesses and customers are moving from the marketing dimension – where businesses talk at customers about themselves, to the community dimension – where businesses and customers talk with each other about what customers want. In this new dimension, customers have control and businesses must define their values and then execute by delivering value.

For generations, companies had control of the relationship with customers because they were introducing new products and services, and doing so in such a way as to drive adoption and consumption with their marketing strategy. Now, in the 21st century, virtually everything we sell, including services, is a commodity. That means the only thing unique about what we offer customers is the experience they have with us when we do business.

Customers have always controlled how they feel about that experience, but now, with social media technology intersecting with generational shifts and technological innovations they have the tools and social acceptance to exert control by the ways they want to be reached and by the ability to publish their experiences so others can see, learn and evaluate.

In the Age of Community, the only way a business can influence its customer communities is by establishing and being true to its values and delivering value by doing more than is expected.

Recently, on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked with Jonathan Baskin, author of Branding Is for Cattle, and Kirk Cheyfitz, president of Story Worldwide, about the post-advertising/marketing era and building communities. Take a few minutes to listen to my conversation with these thought-leaders. And, as always, be sure to leave your thoughts.

My interview with Jonathan Baskin:
My interview with Kirk Cheyfitz:

How to be a failure at networking

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on June 26, 2009
in Innovation - Creativity, Networking and Start-up
. 1 Comment

There are two terms floating around these days that I’ve gone on record as thinking they’re not useful. One is “social media,” which is intended to describe online communities, but is actually the technology that allows us to do that. As you may know, I prefer intuitive terms, which is why I am on a one-man crusade, when speaking of the business application, to replace social media with online customer communities.

The other term is “social networking.” There are two problems with this term: 1) It’s redundant; and 2) It is typically used as an alternative to online networking. Humans are a gregarious species and millennia before we could go online we were networking.

Sadly, as true as the last sentence is, too many humans still don’t get it when it comes to how to behave in face-to-face networking situations. I wonder if online networking has harmed our in-person manners. Here are a couple of the most egregious mistakes people make:

1. Not understanding that networking is not ALL about you. As my friend and galactic guru on networking, Ivan Misner, has taught the world, “Givers gain.” I also like this passage from Ecclesiastes: “Cast your bread upon the water and in time it will come back to you.” Put someone else first and prepare to be swamped by the goodwill - and business - that will follow.

2. How you behave around people who can refer you to prospects is directly connected to how motivated they will be to refer you. If you’re habitually late or are intermittently reliable, that’s how to guarantee no referrals. As Confucius said over 2,000 years ago about how to live a successful life, “Be in reality what you appear to be.”

Recently, on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I visited with Ivan Misner, founder of Business Network International (BNI), and we talked about the Top 10 things to do if you want to make sure you are a failure at networking. We had a lot of fun with this list, and I think you’ll enjoy the lessons and the energy. Take a few minutes to listen, and be sure to leave your own addition to Ivan’s list.

May the social media Force be with you

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on June 23, 2009
in Networking, Online strategy and Social Media
. 0 Comments

Earth, Stardate 8506 (20th century)
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, businesses controlled all new information about existing products and services, as well as information concerning anticipated innovations. Such information was only available through the business’ representatives. Consequently, customers learned what they needed to know from salespeople, who traveled far and wide throughout this great land dispensing information to, and collecting sales from, grateful and beholden customers.

If one had observed such a meeting, the customer would be seen nodding his head in wonderment as the salesperson, sitting right in front of him, revealed the virtual magic that was his product.

In this land, the Force – control of information and timing of its release – was with businesses.

Earth, Stardate 10906 (21st century)
On present-day planet Earth, some things haven’t changed: Customers still buy from businesses that still produce information about products and services, plus news about anticipated innovations. But if you now observe a meeting between a customer and a business’ salesperson, you will see the customer explaining what she knows about the business’ products and services, while the salesperson nods his head in wonderment at the fact that this person – as if by magic – knows as much about what he sells as he does. The salesperson, in this era, is the one who is grateful and beholden if, and when the customer gives him her business.

In the 21st century, the Force – access to information and control of its use – is with the customer. It began with remote controls and progressed through video recorders, TiVo, DVR, the Internet, on-demand everything and, finally, what is commonly known as social media.

Social media, or, as I prefer for business purposes – building online customer communities – is the Light Saber of 21st century customers, whether business or consumer. Armed with this power, customers not only have access to virtually all the information they need to make a better decision, but they also control all of the sub-space chatter about any given company or product, as it is being evaluated in the online dimension.

Alas, too many small businesses are still operating a Stardate 8506 strategy in Stardate 10906. The predominant emotion identified when observing one of these companies is frustration that they have diminishing control over relationships with customers and the future of their businesses. Destruction will come to those who don’t learn that the only way to end this frustration and find their way to the current age is to embrace the online community reality and join the conversations that are being conducted about their industry as well as their business.

The good news is that this “joining” is not only relatively easy, but also can be done without direct cost. The great resource commitment for a business is in determining how it wants to engage with – and be engaged by – online communities.

Recently, on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked about how to enter the Light side of the Force and operate in the current age of online communities with two Jedi Masters. Neal Creighton is with Ratepoint.com and Adam Boyden is with Conduit.com. Both are experts at establishing, growing and serving online communities. Take a few minutes to listen to what these two Masters of the Force have to say, and be sure to leave a comment.

For Neal Creighton:
For Adam Boyden: