Chris Brogan Never Did Give Nothing To The Tinman

Likening Chris Brogan to the Wizard of Oz may or may not be a good analogy but it worked well for me as I thought about Chris’ impending visit to Birmingham. For those of you too young to know, the headline comes from the song “Tin Man” by the band America and the actual words are, “But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man That he didn’t, didn’t already have.”  The line obviously references the revelation in the movie, The Wizard of Oz, that the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion already possess what they seek, they just need to seek within to find it.  So now you’re thinking, I get that part, what the heck does that have to do with Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan on Twitter)?

Well, as I mentioned, Chris is coming to Birmingham Wednesday, August 25 as part of the Green Building Focus Conference & Expo (Tickets still available. See more on Chris in the sidebar at the bottom). He’ll be leading workshops, a presentation, book signing and reception. I’m excited to see Chris because as long as I’ve ‘known’ him, we’ve never met in person. I met him on Twitter and we’ve been conversing on and off ever since.  Chris is one of the top thought leaders in the technology and social media space and I can say without a doubt that he is one of the most thoughtful and helpful people on the Web.

Chris is also one of the most prolific content creators I have ever seen. But sheer volume is not what’s most impressive, its the way that Chris is able to take a complex issue or a complicated theory and simplify the concept for everyone to understand. Chris makes learning and participating in social media approachable to everyone. In my social media consulting I often find that people are uncomfortable and sometimes fearful of getting started in social media. The high profile social media gaffes they see in the news have left them gun shy and full of self-doubt about this new sensation.  Chris Brogan has provided so much useful content-from how-to, to why not–and in the process has taught each of us that we’re all human and social and that we have what it takes to be successful in social media inside each of us. We just need to pull the curtain back on the mystery and move on to mastery.

Welcome to Birmingham, Chris!

Chris Brogan is an eleven year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at [chrisbrogan.com], a blog in the top 5 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. He is co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Trust Agents, and the recently released Social Media 101.

You’re Not Getting Older, You’re Getting Better (Networked)

If you don’t recognized the headline of this post then you’re likely not among those in the latest survey of Boomers about social networking (The slogan is from a 1970s ad for Loving Care hair color).  AARP just released the results of its national telephone survey: Social Media and Technology Use Among Adults 50+.  Among the results of adults age 50 and over 2/5 of them consider themselves extremely or very comfortable using the Internet. That number of comfortable Internet users rises to almost half if you look at adults ages 50 to 64.

The most popular networking site among the  over-50 crowd is Facebook followed by MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Kevin Donnellan, the chief communications officer at AARP says the latest data tells us that social networking is becoming a part of everyday life for Americans 50 plus, and boomers in particular.

In terms of news preferences:

• Most adults 50+ prefer to get their news from print newspapers and magazines  (40%) or through a combination of print and online news sources (26%)
• Among adults 50+ who use social media websites, three-quarters (73%) are connected to relatives other than children and grandchildren, three-fifths are connected to their children (62%), and one-third (36%) are connected to grandchildren.
• Among those introduced by a family member, three-fifths (63%) said it was their child.

See the survey: http://www.AARP.org/socialmediasurvey

Keeping the Feather Afloat

Being an online community manager is sometimes a bit like keeping a feather aloft in the air. It floats along nicely but every once in a while it needs a blast of energy to boost it higher and keep it from veering off course.

Definitive Guide to Social Media Strategy Before Tactics

I think for most people tactics are fun and strategy is boring. That’s the only way I can think to explain why so many people go straight for the shiny new objects (tactical tools) and then back into the strategy to explain it. You on the other hand, being the smart marketer that you are (you’re reading this, right?) know that it’s just smart business to come up with a strategy and a goal and THEN figure out what to use to get there.

I was excited to see Lee Odden’s post that bears the title above. What Lee did was ask over 40 of his A-list friends about the issue and then post their responses. BUT WAIT! Before you go running off (and I really do want you to read it) please look through a few of my favorite quotes from the piece, which include Guy Kawasaki’s contrarian advice: “Don’t focus on some kind of high-level strategy. . .”

So read through this, bookmark it, share with a friend and then leave a comment to tell me what you think. I’d love to create my own post of MY A-Listers - YOU!

Jessica Smith – JessicaNow
VP Digital and Global Co-Chair WOM Fleishman-Hillard
What it comes down to is asking the question ‘How do you define success?’. Tactics don’t answer that question. Strategy does.

Toby Bloomberg, Diva Marketing Blog
Strategy First helps you identify which are the best opportunities to put into play to achieve your goals. You do have goals? Oh, that’s another conversation.

Aaron Kahlow – Online Marketing Connect
CEO, Online Marketing Connect : Online Marketing Summit & Institute
Strategy before tactics on Social Media is equivalent to diving into a pool before looking to see if there is water let alone the depth to handle such.

Jay Baer
Founder, Convince & Convert
A “strategy” that is based on tactical execution isn’t a strategy at all, it’s a recipe for playing a constant game of catch up. The trick is to focus on how you’re going to be social, not where you’re going to do social media.

Julie Roehm
Marketing Strategy Consultant
Social media without strategy is like cooking without a recipe. Sometimes it works but sometimes its disaster.

David Alston – Community Instinct
VP Marketing & Community, Radian6
The C-Suite talks strategy, not tactics. And you are going to need their support if you even want ’social’ to take root in the soul of the enterprise.

Guy Kawasaki – Blog – Alltop Social Media
Don’t focus on some kind of high-level strategy because no one really knows how to use social media yet. Focus on tactics: Get more followers, make them happy, promote your stuff to them every once in a while. That’s all you need to know about strategy right now.

Three Part Series on Social Media Strategy

First, let me credit and thank Charlene Li and Jeremiah Owyang from the Altimeter Group for putting this together. Charlene and Jeremiah are two of the great thought leaders in this space so if you aren’t familiar with them take time to review their work. This is an Open Research project so please share with others.

If you have seen any of my presentations or read my posts and articles you know that I’m emphatic about creating an effective marketing strategy based on business objectives not the newest, hottest technology.  That’s why I think this is a valuable series for those who want to fine tune their social media strategy AND for those looking to create their first one.

Please leave comments for me after viewing and let me know what you think? Are there any questions that these bring up but don’t answer? What else needs to be included in this discussion?

The Social Strategy Trilogy

You can watch the hour-long recorded presentation with audio below.

Part 2: Developing a Social Strategy

Developing A Social Strategy Webinar

You can watch the hour-long recorded presentation with audio below.

Part 3: Getting Your Company Ready

Excellent presentation of how to utilize and identify your customers by recognizing certain social behaviors.

Above: Download the slides from slideshare and use as you see fit. The “crises plan” is a slide that can be customized for your needs, just provide attribution.

Social Strategy: Getting Your Company Ready, by Altimeter Group on Vimeo.

Above: Listen to the recording, including the presentation and attendees Q&A