Mike’s Points

Some, actually only some one may say I Twitter or tweet too much. And, though I do belong to Twitters Anonymous, I say to each his own. While Twitter can be a time suck, there is a lot of personal and professional justification and value I’ve found in Twitter.

I would hazard to guess that new users to Twitter naturally are caught up in the phrase the service is known for, “What are you doing?” If you look at most people’s early tweets on Twitter, they are really answering that question. While that is fine and it’s part of the process of “finding their voice” on Twitter, if that’s all they are doing on Twitter, they won’t have much of a following and won’t find much value (unless they are a celebrity who uses Twitter to broadcast, not converse).

So,  below is the value I’ve found in Twitter. While some is self-focused, a lot is not. I would appreciate your feedback and what value you’ve found in Twitter (and be sure to include your Twitter ID).

1. Finding new information and sources via links that I likely would not otherwise know. Of course, on Twitter, you have the opportunity to help spread good information — known as retweeting or an RT — or share information yourself (thereby, hopefully helping your followers to learn a thing or two).
2. Learning about and often getting to know other great people, such as via #fridayfollow and reviewing fellow Twitterers’ networks.
3. Discussing topics and reading insight from others via events like #journchat or #carchat.
4. Brainstorming and getting feedback from those who follow me for research, as well as learn valuable tricks.
5. Often laughing throughout my day due to the great sense of humor from the people I follow.
6. Promoting myself by tweeting blog posts, and other tweets about me.
7. Venting.

Finally, if you want to check out various Twitter tools, stats and articles, feel free to browse my delicious Twitter bookmarks.

-Mike

We all like lists, mnemonics, and other easy ways to categorize and think of things. As I’ve been involved in social media, varying themes, processes and truisms repeatedly surface.

While there’s always room for discussion and revision (eh?), successful social media marketing is about the three Cs: Connecting, Contributing and Communities.

Connecting: Companies naturally want to seek out customers, prospects and other key influencers in their social media marketing. They want mass, numbers, heads, hits, targets — people. Businesses and organizations need to seek out and find common ground with their marketplace. They need to find out how THEY CAN HELP THEM. Unlike other forms of marketing communication, social media involvement cannot be one-way communication. Business and organizations need to find a way to connect with their audience.

Contributing: Connecting ultimately means businesses are contributing value to their audience members’ lives — personal and/or professional, online and/or offline. They are not just hocking products or service. They are showing what value those products and services have, and making non-company-focused contributions. That means personalizing the entity. Opening yourself up. Showing personality. Being authentic, not corporate. Once, and as contributing is done on a regular basis, then a sort of community forms.

Communities: The more companies connect with their target audience, and provide valued contributions, communities will form around their social media tools and activities. It could be followers on Twitter, fans on Facebook, readers of a blog, attendees at real-world, offline events — whatever. But, communities will form. Some bonds will be tight; others will be loose (like those shoppers who buy a product just because they have a coupon). But there’ll be community bonds of some type.

AND THEN, with some level of attachment, companies and organizations will see hardcore results via inquiries, sales, customer feedback (more positive than negative if the three Cs are done right), referrals, etc.

Whether B2B or B2C, consumers don’t necessarily want to love a company; but there does need to be some level of connection. For many companies, the sales the drive the company do not occur every day. So, the key is to be top-of-mind for consumers, and to have a positive connection — which is only achieved through contributing so communities can be formed.

And, on and on and on in circle.

The three Cs of successful social media marketing: What do you think?

-Mike

Scrabble Letter C courtesy of lwr (Leo Reynolds) on Flickr.

“Ideally, I should always be waiting on clients.”

-Mike Driehorst

If you work on the “agency side” of PR and related communications, you of course know that service is important. One way to measure service is how responsive you are: waiting on clients for feedback on a news release or something written or designed, a proposal, to schedule a meeting, etc.

If I’m more waiting on clients than clients are waiting on me, then I’m being proactive and being responsive to clients’ needs. To me, that’s a key part of client service.

UPDATE #1, 03/08/2009: If you twitter about SMB-Toledo, please use the hashtag of #SMBTOL, if space permits. Thank you.

UPDATE #2, 3/11/2009: The registration page is up for Social Media Breakfast-Toledo #1. You also can check out the profiles of our panelists.

While it may not be etched in stone (yet), it’s definitely in pen: Toledo is joining the ranks of Boston, San Francisco, Cincinnati and others with its own Social Media Breakfast series.

Well, at least the first — of many more — is scheduled:

• Friday, April 3, 2009,  7:30 — 9:30 a.m.
• Elks Lodge #53, 3520 Holland-Sylvania Road, Toledo (Yes, it has Wi-Fi.)
• A four-member panel of local professionals to discuss social media with the audience
• A quality breakfast at a low, low cost

Michael Temple, owner of Temple Development Company, will serve as the emcee/moderator with the panel members consisting of:

1. Damian Rintelmann, director of interactive business development at Hart Inc. (and formerly director of Web Operations at MS&L in Ann Arbor)
2. Dave Rigotti, a U of Toledo senior who is an award-winning online marketer, with emphasis in social media/WOM
3. Allen Mireles, owner of Allen Mireles Marketing PR
4. Victoria Kamm, owner of BizTube 24/7 and partner in IdentityCred (an SEM firm)

Social Media Breakfast was established by Bryan Person in August 2007. I’ve been to two in Cincinnati (in December and February, where I had the opportunity to meet Bryan*), and it definitely was worth the trip. Great networking, learning and the food was even good.

Toledo’s inaugural SMB will focus on social media marketing basics, plus Q&A between the audience and the panel — so be ready to fire away. (I’m getting my questions ready. )

An online registration page is forthcoming, so stay tuned.

I’ve been active in social media marketing since summer 2005, and thrilled to see how it has evolved in Toledo and the surrounding area. After a successful inaugural Toledo Tweetup last month, I and others have high expectation for Social Media Breakfast Toledo.

Speaking of others, those responsible for planning and initiating SMB-Toledo — besides me and the above mentioned Michael, Victoria and Allen — include:

• Patrick Giammarco, PWG Marketing (who’s early efforts formed this group)
• Kevin Cesarz
• Janeile Cudjoe, McGowen Properties
• Julie Cantu, 360 Graphics
• Tim Langhorst, Lauerer Markin Group & Thread Information Design
• Steve Robison, West Printing Company

To stay or become active in Social Media Breakfast Toledo, check out its own social network. There will  be plenty more SMB-Toledo events with some great speakers, learning, networking — and even good food.

-Mike

Image: CincySMB5, Social Media Breakfast, Cincinnati 003, courtesy of Krista Neher.

*Yes, I’m name-dropping!

Whether you are a manager or a coach, in a business, association or sports team, you need to know the basics to be successful.

What are the basics?

The basics are those things that you should do to be successful — and do them well. The no-brainers. The duhs. The things you really don’t have to think about. You should know them and they should be automatic.

One basic — a fundamental, must-have-no-matter-what basic — in public relations is high-quality writing skills. That is, if you want to be successful.

But, what about tactics?

A post by Lee Odden at TopRankBlog.com got me to thinking about basics, and what they are. He asked readers, “What 3 digital marketing channels & tactics will you emphasize in 2009?”

I posted my three — social media monitoring & outreach, blogger relations, and online contests, giveaways — because I thought at least the first two were among the basics any company should do in its public relations efforts. I’m a firm believer that, while you don’t have to actively participate in social media, you do have to monitor and listen.

And,  because blogger relations is so similar to media relations (though different approaches) and media relations is a common PR tactic, I naturally see blogger relations as being a basic for many, if not most companies and organizations.

But, then I posted the survey and sought feedback at Social Media Breakfast-Toledo’s own network. The two responses showed that others have their own “basics.”

While there are some fundamental skill basics, as the example I mentioned above for PR pros, the marketing communications basics differ depending what you want to accomplish.

Successful PR and other marketing communications goes a step or two above the basic tactics. The true basics are determining the objectives (ideally, measurable objectives) of what you want to accomplish. Once you have these objectives in mind, then you set the basic tactics.

For those objectives, they can be driven by the overriding, 30,000-feet-view strategies for the long-term vision of a company, or they can direct the short-term needs of a campaign. Regardless, it is the process of correctly setting and communicating the objectives that is the basic.

-Mike