Video from Gary Vaynerchuk for My "What Tracks are you Making" Presentation

My Digital Media Secret Sauce...or How Do I Keep Up?

Recently there has been a plethora (yep a bunch) of blog posts highlighting the "Top [insert no. here] People to Follow" on Twitter. Here's a few of them:

@PRsarahevans "Top 50 Tweeples to Follow"
@InkFoundry "20 Social Media Marketing Leaders on Twitter"
@iancapstick "20 Leading Women in Social Media" (this one is a response list to the InkFoundry list which had only TWO women in the list).
@jasonhiner "Techies: The Top 10 People You should Follow on Twitter"

And then, of course there are several lists by @kenthuffman:

Top Marketing Professors to Follow on Twitter (I'm currently #8 'cause I don't have 2,000 followers yet)
Top Marketing Authors on Twitter

In my Internet Marketing class in addition to the required reading for the course I include both blogs and twitter id's on a "must read for current events" list. All students in the class must have an RSS feed reader set up by tomorrow (Friday) and have subscribed to a certain list of blogs/twitter accounts. Many of my recommendations below are on the list for students.

So, not to be outdone by the above lists and warning of some overlap, here is Elaine's Recommended List of People to READ (both blogs AND tweets) for Students:

This list is based on overall VALUE to me as an educator. Where do I learn the most and who keeps me up to date the most so I can pass that information on to my students. So folks, these people make up my Digital Marketing Secret Sauce (for all the people out there wondering how I keep up on it all):

Oh, and this is in no particular order just a mashup of greatness if you will.

Beth Harte via Twitter and #pr20chat: She works at Marketing Profs, is an adjunct faculty and an all around smart, strategic thinker. Must follow for anyone in communication.

Marketing Profs (Ann Handley) via Twitter: All around good info - knows her stuff, great RT of others. Value, Value, Value!

Conversation Agent (Valeria Maltoni) via Blog AND Twitter: Excellent point of view about all things MarComm. Makes you think, makes me think.

Brian Solis via Blog and Twitter: Talk about critical thinker! Looks at PR and what makes it tick, rips it apart, builds it back up. Visuals describe it all.

Avinash Kaushik via Blog and Twitter: Web Analytics Evangelist at Google. If you are NOT following him you miss out on the keys to Data Driven Decision-Making.

Danny Brown via Blog and Twitter: The nicest Marketing person on the web hands down -- great point of view, relevant info and all about social media for good with his 12for12k Challenge.

Sarah Evans via Twitter and #journchat: Twitter stream of value and fun, great retweets, good links and runs Journchat. Always thinking about intersection of journalism, blogging and online communication tools.

Danny Sullivan via Twitter. Edits Search Engine Land. Been following Danny via his search work since before I was teaching. Solid gold info on all things Search. Must. Follow.

Andrew Keen via Blog and Twitter: The anti-social media person on my list (although he uses social media). Makes you think about all the social media hype and frenzy and questions the value. Cult of the Amatuer is a must read.

dana boyd via Blog: Academic. Researcher. All over online communication tools and environments. 'nuff said. Really.

Diedre Breckenridge via Blog and Twitter and the new #prstudchat: PR2.0 Strategist, writes books, connects PR/Marketing and Communication. Excellent info grounded in experience.

Rohit Bhargava via Blog and Facebook and Twitter: You want personality? Author of Personality Not Included (a required text in my MKT111 class), his book is great and his blog RAWKS. Really. Great insight, important point of view and experience beyond all reason.

Ambercadabra (Amber Nasland) via Twitter and Blog: She's with Radian6 (Community Manager) and her Tweets...well....they be good. Really, really, good. And then there's those e-Books. Just might end up as required readings in some classes of mine.

SkyDiver (Peter Shankman) via Twitter and Blog: Brains behind HARO (Help a Report Out) and all around interesting PR person. Lot's of energy and one of the few people I have Poken'd (now that's another story). Fun tweets and important social media perspective.

Barbara Nixon via Twitter: Aside from the occasional NASCAR tweet (grin), Barbara, a PR Prof from Georgia Southern University, provides great info on teaching PR, using different tools in the classroom and current issues.

Robert Scoble via FriendFeed. Yes, the world follows him and so do I. I friend feed because of him and I learn about all sorts of nifty things from his Tweets and FF. Follow, Listen, Learn.

and now...a special shout out to #BTV:

Joe Mescher via Twitter: The Social Media Commando is a prolific vlogger and provides great tips. Works at Dealer.com.

Nicole Ravlin via Twitter: Local PR Maven with emphasis on FOOD. Great clients, great energy, good info and retweets. Works at People Making Good, great PR firm in BTV and one of the founders of the Social Media Breakfast.

Ryan Mercer via Twitter: Part of our local news media at the BFP -- Photo Journalist. Pushing the edge. Always trying new things.

Rich Nadworny via Twitter: Owns local shop Digalicious, big part of the BTV social media scene and one of the founders of the Social Media Breakfast.

So there you have it. Another list.

Free as a book choice in my Fall 09 Internet Marketing class

I heard about Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson while I was at SxSWi last spring. I'm a Chris Anderson fan and reference the Long Tail concept often in my classes, so I was intrigued as I heard Chris talk about his theory about pricing and how a service or product that is free might very well drive stronger profits for items that are connected to that service or product. His point that the three pillars of technology: storage, processing speed and connectivity speed are so abundant and so cheap that products and services that rely on those could change their whole pricing approach seems more than plausible to me.

Disclaimer -- I'm a Marketer NOT an Economist.

I decided that Free would fit in nicely into my supplemental book list for my Internet Marketing class.

Scheduling being what it is, I made that decision BEFORE I READ THE BOOK. The bookstore wants the Fall book list by the end of the spring semester so I went on faith.

It was the right decision.

First let me point out one of the highlights of my Internet Marketing class. All students are REQUIRED to read one book for the course: DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media and Digital Marketing (please don't judge the book by the website which suffers from GSNFI or gratuitous stupid non-relevant flash idiocy). This is the one book that actually works well for a course that is almost impossible to use a traditional text book for. Besides the content challenge of the course itself, many different majors take the course. It is required for Marketing and PR majors. Business majors who are interested in Marketing take it. I get some graphic design students (which I got more of these), an occasional web development student (more of them should take it too!) and International Business majors. Because of the disparate nature of the majors I came up with the idea to also have the students read a second book -- they would have a choice from a list of five that I provided -- all chosen based on their potential relevancy to the major so that students could gain a field perspective and context for why the Internet Marketing tools and techniques we are working with are important in their chosen field.

Free fits in well for Business and International Business majors. The economic emphasis along with the examples that Anderson provides and the breakdown of "how can ? be free" visuals really hits a home run...and Anderson does a great job of connecting all of this to the main topic of my course -- the Internet as a full-blown communication tool.

Overall I found the book an interesting read and one that brings forth a theory that I would like to see more explore. Great research for economists in higher education!

I am, however, disappointed in the approach both Anderson and his publisher took when it came to vetting sources and more importantly citing his sources. As the Virginia Quarterly Review pointed out in a June 23, 2009 post, Anderson did not appropriately cite his sources of historical information -- he used a lot of Wikipedia entries but didn't identify them as such nor cite the authors of the entries. While he did respond in a post and explain what occurred it is clearly an issue that I face in my classes all the time -- how do you accurately cite your sources? What are the different levels of plagiarism? How do you appropriately utilize community generated content information such as Wikipedia in research and information gathering? It's a challenge that will become even more difficult and one that has shown up here. Because of this I did think about pulling the book, however I have decided not to because the focus for me in the book is the theory that Anderson brings forth and his ideas around the impact of free pricing on products and services.

As even the author of the VQR blog post, Waldo Jaquith, wrote in response to comments:

While we’re on the topic of plagiarism in the form of ideas, I must note that I did not find any evidence that Chris Anderson’s thesis contained any plagiarized ideas. That’s an important point. All ideas that form of the core the book are credited, and his own thesis that he builds upon that showed no signs of being anybody’s but his own.

Hopefully other book authors and publishers will think about this issue, which can have a decidedly negative impact on the book, and not loose site of good editing practice in the rush to publish.

On a side note, Anderson made corrections to all the DIGITAL copies -- because he can. The hard copy editions won't have those corrections. Now isn't that an interesting dilemma that the digital age has brought us.

All my students have to write brief summary and analysis papers on the supplemental book they selected. I will look forward to reading their takes on Free.

Putting Burlington (BTV) on the (Social Media) Map

This morning I attended the second Burlington Vermont Social Media Breakfast (twitter hashtag #btvsmb) at the Sheraton Hotel. For info on the background of this event and a quick overview, read Rich Nadworny's account at his blog. The speakers for this one where Sarah Evans known as @prsarahevans on Twitter and Jason Kintzler of PitchEngine who is known as @pitchengine on Twitter.

I enjoyed both of their presentations -- Sarah's on general PR and social media, and Jason's on Pitch Engine and the evolution of the Press Release -- because they provided a strong case for why the social media space continues to grow and evolve and why it is NOT a fad.

My main take-aways from today's presentations and breakfast have a little to do with what the presenter's actually presented, but more to do with my impressions of our BTV community when it comes to this thing called Social Media.

> PR and Marketing and Advertising have to work together now in ways they never have before. Ok, so this didn't really come from the audience -- but is a key take away. No longer can it be advertising in one corner, PR in another and Marketing somewhere else. They must work together to craft an integrated communication strategy. Things are moving too fast and your brand is too important to segment these skill sets any longer. @pitchengine talked a bit about Advertising vs. PR as did @prsarahevans and it is clear that PR pros have to consider Adwords and SEO in their pitching strategy and Marketing/Advertising must consider not just the outgoing messages but the incoming messages as well.

> It's NOT ABOUT THE TOOLS! I believe both @prsarahevans and @pitchengine highlighted this fact and I couldn't agree more. The tools keep changing and evolving. It's how the PR pro uses the available tools to leverage their message and connect with their brand influencers that is key. That's the strategy. And each tool should be used differently.

> Burlington, VT is Rock'n the Social Media. Well...kind of.... What I saw today was a group of individuals in the room who are all over the map when it comes to social media -- some are swimming in the deep end and others are standing on the side wondering if they even want to dip a toe in the water. But, what the #btvsmb has done is provided an affordable way for all of these individuals to come together to meet and hear from thought-leaders in the field about how social media is evoloving and how a brand/business can benefit from the use of social media. Did this morning move anyone closer to getting their toes wet? I think it did. The ongoing conversation including the Wednesday evening #iBTV Twitter chat might help too. (Thanks @joemescher for jumping on that!)

> There's a vacuum at the top. So here we are in this room with these two innovators in the social media space and questions focused on moving people in the organization (in other words, the boss/ceo) to be willing to give social media a try. And this, my friends is the challenge. While there were a mix of individuals in the room, many got the fact that they had to at least know what is happening in the space. BUT when they go back to their 9to5 will the boss LISTEN to them? I get this question when I do presentations too -- how do you get the administration to LISTEN and allow you to try the social media, and I certainly experience it in my roll as a prof at Champlain -- and my answer is simple. Keep at it. Be patient. Provide information. But, CEO's if you value your brand and your company perhaps instead of sending your staff to these events you should come too.

Next week EpikOne is hosting another Seminar for Success that will include speakers from Google, Gannett Digital and Core Industries. Part of the event will be at Champlain College and the last day in downtown Burlington. It's another opportunity for our local businesses to learn about strategies and tactics -- and if I know the Epik crew it will be well worth it.

So in two weeks time we have @prsarahevans, @pitchengine, @avinashkaushik, @schutzsmith and Matt Jones all here in Burlington, VT.

How cool is that?

Here we go again....

In case you haven't noticed, I'm on blog hiatus. What that means is that I'm on summer break and I'm really taking a break.

However...I was moved to post an observation based on an article from THE TIMES entitled, "Twitter is for old people, work experience whiz-kid tells bankers". In short, a young man (around 15) has told his internship site (a bank) how "Teens Use Tech".

According to this young man, games consoles are for communicating with friends, computers are for listening to music and Twitter is for old people.

Hmmm...

In particular what I found interesting was this quote from the article, "His supervisors thought the report “one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen” and published it. "

Um...back the truck up people.

While this young man may have one particular experience with technology communication tools -- his lifestyle does not mean that ALL TEENS have the same experience. It took him one day to write his "report" and he reached out to his circle of friends to do it. So here we have a group of business people who are now talking about how teens communicate based on this one individuals experience.

Getting caught up in things like "Twitter is for old people" and "All teens use Facebook" and "they don't listen to radio". Love this comment from the young man, "“Most teens would say the same things,” he said. “We talk about this kind of thing at school quite a lot. Though the way we talk about it you probably wouldn’t understand it.” "

So Wall Streeters and Business-types take a minute and before you decide that this young man's experience is TEEN GOSPEL, and you begin to make business decisions based on it, what facts do we know?

Facebook Use: A recent study on Facebook demographics from iStrategy Labs highlights the shifting user base of Facebook: more growth in FB use among 35 - 55+ than in younger users. Teens may be using FB, but so are a whole lot more -- and it is interesting to note that more females than males use FB.

Twitter Use: According to QuantCast, Twitter users skew female, with highest use amont 18 -39 (although there is use among 12 - 17).

Radio Use: Taking a look at arbitron ratings (only available through Sp07) we find that the group least likely to listen to radio are young men ages 12 - 17. That's been the case according to this listing since FA 98. The same goes for females in that age range. Overall radio listenership is declining.

Newspaper Use: According to the Newspaper Association of America, in a readership report with 2008 numbers, they don't even show teens as part of their research. The 18 - 24 age range reads the least and individuals within the 35-44 age bracket are the largest reading demographic.

What I see here is that what this young man has "revealed" is not a secret nor is it a surprise. The data from numerous sources show the overall trends with these different communication choices. So much depends on factors that include gender, background, socio-economic status, parental influences and education.

I hope that most business people keep that in mind when they read articles like this. My own daughter uses Twitter and she's 12. Does that mean that all tween girls use Twitter? Nope. It just means that a young girl whose Mom uses Twitter, uses Twitter as well.

Qualitative data that focuses in on individual experience is very helpful to gain insight into other data and facts, but when one person's experience is taken to be the "truth" and therefore applied to EVERYBODY...that is a big mistake.

Now...back to vacation.

See you in August!

Tried and Truism: When you hear that EVERYONE is doing it...

I had the pleasure of being part of the Leadership in a Connected Age conference yesterday here at Champlain College. Great information shared by speakers Steven Shepard and Elliott Masie. I learned a great deal as always and had some great take aways. If you want to see a "tweet-by-tweet" of the conference, search for #cxage at http://search.twitter.com.

What the speakers got me thinking about even more, however, is the power of perception. We often here that "perception is the reality" and in Marketing we often work to create a perception of success, want, need, etc. around a product or service.

When it comes to the use of social media tools and new communication technologies, however, the "perception is the reality" mantra is not only untrue, it is downright misleading. Some "truisms" I heard and felt yesterday from speakers as well as from attendees included: 1) Gen Y is all about teams, collaboration and technology. 2) If you aren't using social media tools you are behind. 3) Giving/empowering individuals to create content will elect a president. (therefore it will always be a success) 4) Social Media will save the world.

Ok, so that last one is a bit over the top (grin).

The reality with these points is that there is a thread of truth in all of them. But at the same time, there is much about them that may lead you down a primrose path.

Yesterday at #cxage I presented a workshop on Social Media Tools to expand your community, business and mind. And as with all of my workshops, sessions, etc, I started with a disclaimer. Believe it or not, NOT EVERYONE is using Twitter. Not EVERYONE is using social media.

Where did we get the idea that EVERYONE is using these tools? When did we get the idea that the old rules no longer apply to new tools?

As a professor it is my job to teach the foundation of marketing to my students. I weave in so-called "old school" stuff like, target market and competitive analysis and goal setting with all the possible tools in which the message can be delivered. We talk about RADIO, TV, PRINT and WEB. We talk about engaging with you customer via MAIL, PHONE, EMAIL, FORUMS, BLOGS, MICRO-BLOGS. In short we talk about how to utilize best-practices to reach and engage with your audience.

The tools themselves, while providing a host of opportunities, are less important than the message and the goals that are set.

Let's look at each "truism" from above in the context of REAL reality.

Gen Y is all about Teams, Collaboration and Technology

Um. No. This is not the case. While individuals who are younger (remember I teach them) do work in many group settings, not ALL want to be collaborative. Not ALL want to work in a group and certainly not ALL are good with technology. Time and time again, I see students who are a whiz with their cellphone and an iPod freeze up when it is time to use a content management system, or work with blog software and explore Second Life. We get ourselves into trouble if we base decisions in the workplace on the sense that Gen Y knows ALL of these things. Blanket statements like this mean we forget about individuals, their experiences, their strengths and their challenges. We set an unfair expectation on a "group" of people. It is just another way to stereotype a group of people. Rather, consider that often times there is strength in a group and safety in a group, especially when someone is learning. This issue is the same as we look at ANY age group.

If you aren't using Social Media Tools you are behind the times.

Um...no. Not at all. Yes, the media landscape is changing -- daily, actually. Yes, internet-based messaging and collaboration tools are cropping up all over that provide exciting and interesting opportunities. Yes, traditional advertising is expensive and it is hard to measure ROI. At the same time, one should never "jump" into a tool just because "EVERYONE" is doing it. If your target market is using social media tools then you should be there. If it works for your brand then you should be there. Does this mean you shouldn't pay attention and listen to the streams of information that are flowing out there? Nope. You may not need to use the platform to market your product or service yet, but you do need to be aware and listen. From a strategic perspective this is no different than monitoring the news media to see what letters to the editor are being placed, or what article has been written about your business. This "old school" process is the same -- there are just more places you need to listen.

A new study from HubSpot shows that not everyone who is on Twitter is even using Twitter that much. Well, how could this be since EVERYONE is on Twitter? Common sense. Twitter hasn't been around very long. People who are on Twitter right now are learning how to use it in a host of different ways but in reality, are making it up as they go. There are no rules, no best practices -- there are examples of businesses that have used it and gotten positive results and there are examples of those who have used it and failed miserably. By the way, according to Twellow there are 1,399 people on Twitter in Vermont. According to the 2008 Census, there are approx. 621,000 people in the state of Vermont. So it's clear that not EVERY Vermonter is on Twitter.

So, listen. Be aware of what is going on, but do not feel pressured to jump in just because "EVERYONE" is there.

Giving/empowering individuals to create content will elect a president. I'm sorry. I just can't buy this one. I have great respect for Mr. Masie, but while 69,498,215 people voted for Obama, 59,948,240 voted for McCain. Both candidates used a host of social media tools and let individuals create content, comment, and meet up. Remember that Ron Paul utilized social media most effectively and raised $6 million in one day! If the argument is that the YOUTH voted for Obama because he engaged them/empowered them with Social Media I would have to disagree. There were just too many OTHER factors. Take a look at this great breakdown from CivicYouth.org, the website of CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) which conducts research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25 and you'll get a sense for the complexity. Note not one mention of social media as a driver. Is it true that ALL the campaigns utilized new social media tools like never before? Yes. Do I believe that we will see more use of online communication and engagement tools in future elections? Yes I do. I just don't believe they are the reason why someone will be elected.

Finally -- Social Media will Save the World.

Yeah, I believe this one (smile). Seriously, I believe that what has changed is that individuals now have access to a myriad of tools in which to engage around issues they care about. The potential to use these tools to make positive change in the world is amazing -- but, let's all remember that these are just tools and much like any tool can be used for pretty much any purpose. Andrew Keen would argue that giving this much power to the people dooms us all to a world of frivolous, insipid content that is meaningless because, well, most of us are just amateurs (See Keen's book, The Cult of the Amateur) and we need some type of editing.

The real change with social media is the access to tools that empower the individual to reach a wide audience like never before. I agree that organizations have to adapt to this actual reality and learn how to manage information better since they can no longer control it all.

Just remember not to fall into the age old trap that "Everyone" is doing it. It's a bad reason for just about everything.

Social Media Breakfast: Small Town, Pot-Lucks, Beer and Giving Back

Yesterday I was lucky to be part of the first Social Media Breakfast held here in Burlington, VT. In my humble opinion I would say we hit it out of the park. The brainchild of Digalicious founder, Rich Nadworny, our Burlington event was based on the Social Media Breakfast concept that has hit major cities around the country. Not to be out done, we had to have one here, with a double twist of local connection and giving back to the community.

Rich brought in CC Chapman and Todd Defren, two Boston Marketing and PR businessmen who specialize in helping businesses integrate social media into their communication strategies. He also was able to bring in Mike Hayes with Magic Hat Brewery. Great presentations by all the speakers....presentations which were live blogged right here by a great marketing student, Amanda Jones. The posts about the presentations from CC Chapman, Todd Defren and Mike Hayes are below this post, or you can click on their names here to get to each separately.

What really made the event special was that Rich brought in a local non-profit that is having an amazing impact on the lives of women in developing countries and had the crowd of over 100 people brainstorm ways in which Grounds for Health could leverage social media tools to further their cause. This giving back segment gave the attendees a way to practice what they had just taken in during the earlier session and provided an amazing non-profit with great ideas. Marketing student Nichole Magoon captured some of the ideas via her live tweets:

Table 7--game with backing/$$ edge, green patch model, FB fan page, video blog, celebrities, training program #btvsmb

Table 8 witter #tag, coffee drinkers, companies donating money each time #tag used, landing page w/content, highlight co-op ea. mo. #btvsmb Table 8 (con't) donate and get S.M. badge, bracelet with Twitter name, email list #btvsmb

Table 10--blogs; coffee socials @churches--donations, and social media, volunteers; women bloggers + health, WebMD (&the like) #btvsmb

Table 4(?)-- cup campaigns, coffee companies aligning with cervical cancer groups, Twitter, videos, month dedicated to cause #btvsmb

Table 11--videos, targeted ads in FB, women + coffee lovers (go where the fish are!) #btvsmb

Table 12 --contacting hospitals to only use G4H coffee, offering med. profs. lessons in Spanish #btvsmbTable 12 (con't)--video journals (follow doctors through experience), FB Spanish medical comm. #btvsmb

Champlain Students--program "building from the Grounds up", gather content and use social media to connect, going green movement #btvsmb Champlain students--connecting with colleges and passionate students, coffee talks, street teams, etc... #btvsmb #campchamp

Great local coverage and a lot of twitter-chat made the event dynamic, fun and highlighted some of the amazing, innovative work that is being done right here in Burlington, VT.

I was glad that Rich invited me to be part of the planning for this event and that our Division of Communication and Creative Media, under the leadership of Dean Jeff Rutenbeck gets the importance of bringing the local community together around social media and communication technologies. Also great to have the Burlington Free Press as a sponsor, and to see so many from the BFP in the audience. We are very lucky here to have progressive, forward thinking print publications who are examining ways in which to utilize social media and online tools to keep all of us informed.

I have to say that students Amanda Jones (guest blogger), Nichole Magoon (live-tweeter), Kelly Diamond (live-tweeter), Melissa Tuburzio (support and live-tweeter) and Riva Dumont (support) were AWESOME. Not only did they help keep things running smoothly, they really captured the high points of the event through Twitter. You should follow them. They are going to do GREAT things...maybe even for YOUR business. (Yes, shameless plug for my students...sue me!)

Here's some of the media coverage that came from the event:

• Burlington Free Press (pre-event)
• Burlington Free Press (post-event)
• WCAX
• Cynthea's Spa Blog Post at the BFP site (post-event)
• Vlog from Joe Mescher

The hashtag for the event was #btvsmb. Check out the stream before it flows away!

Looking forward to the next one in the fall.

Wizard of Wonderments and Digital Delights

Right out of the gate Mike Hayes of Magic Hat encourages businesses to get to know their customers and call them to action with contests. It is important to know your customers. He reiterates Todd Defren's point to use social networks to educate customers and to bring information to them.

What's cool in social media? Right now, Facebook and Twitter are on top while Myspace has fallen behind. Nobody knows what the next cool, or shiny, online tool is. During his presentation, Mike displayed a chart of Facebook, Twitter and Myspace users, Facebook and Twitter show the most immediate growth and more overall users than Myspace, whose aquisition of new users has leveled off and is growing at a comparatively slow rate.

In terms of tracking activity, Twitter has link and re-tweet quotients which allows us to see how and where the information is being shared. We can also track in terms of the number followers, fans and friends we have and the rate at which these numbers are growing. Facebook's new back end also provides better feed back. As users give ads a thumbs up or thumbs down, provide feedback on ad relevancy, change their profile information, click through the fan page, share information through news feeds, invitations, notifications etc. we are clued into their preferences and gain a better understanding on how to reach them in that medium.

Magic hat has used twitter in very creative ways to connect with their customer. At the release of their latest beer, they held a virtual tasting via twitter. They had a video stream from brewery and enabled followers to "tweet" about their new beer which generated a hashtag. This allowed them to gain feedback from customers on their new beer enabling them to use the information in the development of future beers.

Way to go Magic Hat, awesome implementation of social media!

-Amanda

Now onto a breakout session for a social media brain storm for Grounds for health!

Todd Defren on Social Media Content

This morning, Todd is speaking on bringing information and social media content to the right people on the web.

C.C. Chapman said Social Media is a small town. Todd Defren says Social Media is a block party. I see a theme. Here are a few take aways from Todd Defran's presentation:

Bring content to the block party
Take the information to the people who need it. Find potential-- qualified -- customers on blogs and twitter. Don't spam. Be selective.

Repurpose your content as necessary
Get the value out of your advertising dollar. Repurpose media as many times as possible or necessary. Before shelfing your old videos figure out how you can use them in social media to reach the right people.

Ask your fans/customers to create media for you.
If you're brand's fans from Poland have 250,000 views on their video about your company on YouTube, leverage that. Use their passion for your brand and their social network to promote your brand.

Advice from Todd Defren
Know thy customers
Where are they hanging out?
What content to they share?
What are your competitors doing?

Engage before content creation

Create compelling content
Start slow; experiment (nobody will get mad at you for testing new stuff)
Act on user feedback
Repeat

Give people what they want

Great presentation by Todd Defren at the Social Media Breakfast in Burlington.

-Amanda

Stay Tuned for Mike Hayes - Wizard of Wonderments and Digital Delights Magic Hat Brewing Company

Social Media as a Small Town

Speaker C.C. Champman on how Social Media is much like a small town

Online everyone knows everyone. Social media is about who you know and how you treat people. It's about your neighbors and your reputation. It is not like old media where people are forced to pay attention. Facebook, Twitter and the like are not the old-media flashy billboards.

According to C.C. Chapman the first step to using social media is not, in fact, going directly to the tools. The first step should always be to set goals. Ask yourself What am I trying to do? What do I want to accomplish? Then, move to the tools but remember, social media is not a magic cure for poor business practices. If your product or customer service isn't good then social media is not going to help you, it will make it worse.

Another piece of advice from C.C. -- don't go for the shiny new toy. Everyone get's too hyped up over the latest social media trend. Business shouldn't waste their time on new technologies until they've been tested by connoisseurs and professionals like C.C. and Todd Defren. Not everyone needs a blog just because News Week says so.

On the internet it's about who you know. When using social media for your business, focus on the people first.-Talk to them like they're humans, have real conversations, address their concerns. Don't try to force products.

Don't be afraid of what people might say about your company. People love to talk online and they're probably doing so right now. There are always trouble makers who are going to complain but there are also the loyalists who will rave about your brand and product. Do not be afraid of bad conversation it gives you a chance to step in and be a part of the conversation and find out what could be improved.

Online your personal and brand reputations are everything. People don't always buy from a place because it's cheap, they buy from the place that provides a good customer experience. Consumers trust each other more than they will trust any advertisement. Customer reviews and personal recommendations can be very effective.

Social media isn't easy. It takes a lot of work. You have to pay attention to it and constantly be involved in it. It is not a passive medium. Social media is an opportunity to have real conversations. People have the chance to talk to everyone else more openly. The conversations should be candid. C.C. advises us to keep the PR people away, as responses to critical questions shouldn't sound like press releases but genuine, non cookie-cutter feedback. It is important to know how to respond to blogs, tweets and podcasts. Social media must be there all the time, it must be current, we need to pay attention. There are opportunities to get in there and get new customers and if people are not in social media all the time then they're missing out on potential business opportunities.

C.C. Chapman's last piece of advice was don't forget to have fun. It's a fun medium, take advantage of it. Give people a reason to talk about your brand. Find customers who love your brand and ask them to talk about it. Share the love of the product.

Now for a presentation from Todd Defren
-Amanda

Stay tuned for more from the Social Media Breakfast