Be where your community is

Amy Gahran recently posted a great post about forming online communities. If you're looking to start an online community for your business, start by joining the other communities out there. Odds are the group of people you want to communicate and network with already have a place they frequent online. Join that space and begin interacting now so that when it comes time to build your own network, you have the thoughts and opinions of others in your community. You should also be allowing your employees to frequent these spaces online and communicate with others in these social networks.

What do you think? Do you have an example of joining a network and communicating with them before you start your own? Also, do you think your employees should have access to these social networking tools so that they can begin to build an online following and join the communities?

Moms Using Social Media Grows

According to Mike Shields of Progressive Grocer, moms--especially new moms--are flocking to social networking sites. In a report by BabyCenter, moms of young children have reduced their time with magazines and newspapers and converted to the online networking sphere. Shields reports that many times moms have two sets of friends, the online group of peers and their friends and family. "Because these women are so social, and so information hungry, they often meet other mothers in similar child-rearing stages on sites like BabyCenter and all sorts of mommy blogs."

How can social networking sites cater to new moms?

Real Life Social Media- Lessons learnt from Paris Hilton

I just saw Paris Hilton talking about her show "My new BFF" at the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

Now I don’t have much in common with Ms Hilton. If I ran a show like my new BFF, I’d probably have to bribe my friends to be the contestants. But then, lately, I have had my share of 'hungry tigers' in the reality show that is my life.

I spent time with all of them (at many occasions - unreasonable amounts)- mostly because I felt I should if I could, and sometimes because of my foolhardy enthusiasm to meet people. (I forget I am not Paris Hilton with the luxury of riches).
And what inevitably happens is this: People contacted through referrals and friends or social networks- mostly looking for quick assistance- professional or otherwise- and then disappear- as if a literal vanishing cream has come out in the market that does the trick.

Now I do not expect anything from them. And am surely not fishing for gratitude or anything. But it had started happening too often in the past few months. And it seems being “professional” and being “social” are two mutually exclusive things.

Now here is the funny part- many of these guys are from the digital marketing industry or belong to a ’social media marketing’ set up.

Read more on the funny but ironical escapades with these guys- and if you have had your experiences with these people.

What does your business use Twitter for?

This post on USA Today discusses how many companies are taking advantage of real-time capabilities of Twitter to foster customer service. Comcast, PepsiCo, JetBlue Airways, and Whole Foods Market are some of the companies which have begun to take advantage of twitter and opening up direct communication with customers.

Elissa Fink, vice president of marketing at Tableau Software mentions, "The more ways you provide customers to contact you, you're more likely to satisfy them."

Consumers have become increasingly frustrated with wait times in call-centers, maybe it's time we took another look at the traditional call-center and incorporate social media strategy in some of these older-styled companies.

Downfalls in online community management

I recently came across an article that looked at the Seven Deadly Sins of community management. Are you guilty of committing any of these? Were there any overlooked that you'd add to the list?

1. Pride: Preventing community members from criticizing you.
2. Greed: Failing to share with community members the results of feedback and the changes inspired by the community.
3. Lust: Using the community to try to win sales.
4. Envy: Starting a community because "everyone is" rather than defining clear goals for your own organization.
5. Sloth: Failing to devote the time and staff required.
6. Wrath: Punishing community members.
7. Gluttony: Over-surveying and over-researching members.

Tips for using online communities

The Kansas City Star has a few tips for people joining online networks:

•Connections: The more the merrier.
Connect with old colleagues and professors to build your network.

•Be profile-smart
Separate personal profiles from professional profiles.

•Don’t sign up and forget it
Stay active in your community.

Do you have any other tips for people just starting to build their online community?

Google Shows Facebook Friends

I came across this post on search engine land that revealed that while doing a search for someone in Google, their Facebook profile came up and so did their friends. This brings up the debate of exactly how much information should be made accessible to the general public over the internet? Should Facebook friends be hidden in search results in Google? What do you think?

FTC looks to regulate bloggers

The Washington Post looked at the reporting practices of bloggers over the weekend. The new guidelines proposed, which could be approved this summer, would require bloggers to disclose when they are compensated for writing reviews on their blogs. If the guidelines are accepted, the FTC could then patrol the Internet for false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest. The FTC would then be allowed to patrol what goes on online, as many readers of blogs are unaware of the compensation that could go on behind the scenes online. The article went on to say that bloggers are not held to the same standards as journalists, but they have come to represent the same thing. Journalists are not technically allowed to receive products and review them, and that is considered an ethical practice in that community. Read the full article here.

If you are a blogger, how do you feel about this? Should bloggers have to disclose if they are compensated?

Drafting Trouble-Free Social Media Policies

James Wong of Law.com, has an easy to follow guideline for understanding the legalities of a company's entrance into the social media sphere. Wong writes, "Companies should recognize the need of employees to speak in their own voices. So their policies must walk the fine line between protecting the company while respecting the right of the employees to express themselves on the Web. Use policy and training programs to remind employees to use their good judgment and avoid irrational exuberance on social networks. Crafted well, these policies should allow workers to tweet without the company looking like a twit."

Be sure to check out Wong's guidelines and template for legal departments, as well as a few best practices that all in the organization should be aware of before entering into social media.



Drafting Trouble-Free Social Media Policies

Community 2.0 June LinkedIn Update

The June Community 2.0 LinkedIn Update came out today! This month, we're looking at how Twitter is affecting journalism by providing unedited, real-time accounts from the public. We also took a look back at May's Community 2.0.

Read the newsletter here:
http://www.iirusa.com/upload/wysiwyg/New%20Media/C20JuneLinkedInUpdate.htm

If you aren't a member of our Community 2.0 LinkedIn group, join us today!

Iranians Utilizing Social Networks to Coordinate Protests

Brad Stone and Noam Cohen of The New York Times report that, as the embattled government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to be trying to limit Internet access and communications in Iran, new kinds of social media are challenging those traditional levers of state media control and allowing Iranians to find novel ways around the restrictions.

Iranians are blogging, posting to Facebook and, most visibly, coordinating their protests on Twitter, the messaging service. Their activity has increased, not decreased, since the presidential election on Friday and ensuing attempts by the government to restrict or censor their online communications.

Americans and other western nations with ties or sympathies with Iran are finding a deeper understanding of the turmoil by joining Facebook groups and following Tweets.

Twitter executives have recognized the power of Twitter during these events and even canceled schedule maintenance of the site in order to keep it open for use.

Acknowledging its role on the global stage, the San Francisco-based company said Monday that it was delaying a planned shutdown for maintenance for a day, citing “the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran," The Times reports.

For a deeper understanding of the role that social networking in playing in Iran, please visit the New York Times article here.

Social Networks Spread Iranian Defiance Online

Get Verified on Twitter

Just came across a quick Twitter tip in this post in Quick Online Tips. Make sure to verify your Twitter account, it helps to verify that you are indeed who you claim to be. The post even mentions how many news reporters got verified before John McCain. Take a couple of moments to verify your twitter account.

Making the Brain Think Differently Through Twitter

Julian Dibbel's phenomenal piece in Wired regarding Twitter is not to be missed. Not only does Dibbel discuss the culture zeitgeist that has become "micro-blogging"; but, Dibbel goes further connect the minuscule messaging medium to something scientific, perhaps evolutionary.

Dibbel asks if we are challenging our brains (like a word version of Sudoku) to relay news in only 140 characters. We must be witty, gain followers and perhaps earn more followers with our insightful 140 character thought on the merits of Wheat Thins over Triscuits.

This particularly struck me, by forcing users to commit their thinking to the bite-size form of the public tweet, Twitter may be giving a powerfully productive new life to a hitherto underexploited quantum of thought: The random, fleeting observation.


We've, by using Twitter, thereby made a fleeting observation newsworthy, we've used a new medium to do so and perhaps challenged our fleeting thoughts to think differently.


The Future of Social Media: Is a Tweet the New Size of a Thought?

Meetings Drive Business

This is why companies need to continue to invest in business meetings. Not only will those who attend gain new and fresh perspectives from other attendees, but they'll hear from top companies who have lived by the same philosophy. Investment in yourself and innovation are the key to your business. What have you done recently to invest in your business?

Did you get a chance to attend Community 2.0 this year? What would you expect to gain from the experience?

Meetings Drive Business
http://meetingsdrivebusiness.com/?utm_source=Community%2B2.0%20Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=CommunityBlog

MTV translates on air programing to online

At NewTeeVee, they look at how MTV has used the MTV Movie Awards to both increase viewership and page visits. MTV started driving traffic the Thursday before the awards to build awareness. The night after the Awards aired, MTV edited clips and put them into viral, embeddable players on their website and monitored and took down any videos on YouTube from the event. The day after the show, they had 13.1 million streams and found that 3.1 million people watched the show online. In addition, they monitored popular social networking sites such as Twitter to see which parts of the show were drawing attention from the fans. They found that the Bruno/Eminem incident was popular, but also Kristen Stewart dropping her Popcorn and the New Moon Trailer proved to be favorites of the viewers. Watch the entire show here.

What can companies learn from this? What are you doing to make your content viral?

What Are Your Social Media Goals?

Well? We talk about social media and its impact on your marketing campaign quite frequently on this blog; however, we'd like to ask you what your goals are for social media. Sure its easy to discuss case studies and to lead by example through the murky waters of social media; but what if your case is different--what if, you'd like to be the example and not just follow suit?

Liana Evans article, "What Are Your Social Media Goals?" in SearchEngineWatch.com, spurred us to think hard about our own social media goals and the goals of every organization out there seeking to reach customers on a new level.

Along with providing a list of accountable goals, Evans also reminds us, A marketing director doesn't want to hear that you can't measure social media efforts. If you can come back with a concrete way to show success with your efforts by setting goals in the social media space you're working with, you're more likely to get greater support moving forward with more social media efforts.

So, what are your goals?

Small businesses embracing social networking

A new article at the New York Times looks at how small businesses are embracing the networking abilities of social media. Using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other smaller niche sites can prove to reach the right people in a timely manner throughout the world. They're also free. Today, 38% of all small business owners are members of a social networking website, and an estimated 260,000 businesses using social networking to promote themselves. Read about specific businesses and how they're using tools at the New York Times.

10 common social media mistakes

Paige Henson of Macon.com, shares the 10 common social media mistakes that individuals and companies make when creating--and maintaining a social media presence. The list, as Henson describes, is "wincingly bad" but we think its a friendly reminder for the social media pros to stay on top of their game.

1. Posting a page and then walking away from it.
2. Setting up a social media site if you’re paranoid.
3. Spamming others with a constant stream of promo messages.
4. Joining a social media network if you don’t understand how it works.
5. Assuming social media networking can replace traditional advertising and public relations.
6. Having a presence on every social network platform you come across.
7. Expecting to realize direct sales.
8. Thinking others will flock to you.
9. Don’t think because it’s cost-free it isn’t expensive.
10. Don’t assume it’s a “necessary evil.”

Any others that you'd add to the list?

10 common social media mistakes

Social Media Involvement in Late Night Television

Here's an interesting article written by Josh Catone from Mashable that highlights how Jimmy Fallon's involvement on twitter and other social media outlets have helped him become a king of late night television. Before his show aired he had about 6,000 followers on twitter, compared to 176,000 followers when his show hit the airwaves, and 1,104,658 followers as of now!

Jimmy's clips have also appeared in several online video-sharing sites, and he's also appeared on a web video show. David Letterman and other talk show giants need to get with the times quick, before they get lost in the dust!