Lately it seems like “Social Media” has become “Social Marketing.” Do a Google search on “Social Media” and many of the links lead to marketing related information. Also, I don’t know about you but a sizable number of my Twitter followers seem to be pushing social media marketing. But there are many dimensions to social media. It is, after all, merely a collection of online interactive publishing and interpersonal connection capabilities that can be used for many purposes, including customer care, product development, non-marketing communications…the list goes on. Even if one does focus on the marketing aspects of social media, where and when are the discussions on product strategy occurring? If a key approach for social media communications is being authentic, how does one market a bad product using social media? Do you honestly reveal the shortcomings of your product? To market a product authentically and effectively, does the social media strategy planning need to begin with how to engineer great products, followed by how to market them socially in an effective manner? I really think that the answer to both of these questions is “yes.” To frame this simply, I think there is a chain of trust that exists that includes product, users/referrers for the product and purchasing decision-makers. If word of mouth marketing results in a sale to a purchaser who is not subsequently happy with the purchase, the chain of trust is broken. And that break might occur with a poor product or a poor word of mouth referral that doesn’t accurately address the needs of the purchaser. What do you think?
We only have three words for you “Free State Social.” Yup, from nowhere to one of the pre-eminent social media conferences in the midwest. If you aren’t going, you should be. At the very least join the Free State Social TweetUp in downtown Lawrence, Kansas, listed as a Gowalla Trip on the evening of May 29. The list of attendees for this meeting is amazing. The speakers are among some of the most influential in social media circles today. I’m betting there are going to be some scintillating conversations before, during and after the sessions.
Here’s what the meeting will be covering:
•Customer service
•Personal branding
•Blogger outreach
•News coverage
•Location-based social networking
•Future of social media
Chris Brogan has said (from the Free State Social website): “The good stuff is happening in the heart of America. It’s not just New York and LA that know what media can do for business. Lawrence is yet another hotspot of inventive, entrepreneurial spirits who see the new Web as a business tool par excellence.”
We’re going to be there. We hope we see you there too!
It has been a busy few months here at Lightthread. Between launching a new business, winding down some projects and beginning lots of new ones, we’ve been a little derelict with our blogging duties. But on the other hand, it’s important also to recognize that blogging isn’t our business, just one of the many activities associated with it!
A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of hosting Matt Haeck (@matthaeck on Twitter), Randolph Robisno (@randolphrobisno) and Joe Garner (@joegarner) as they made Lightthread offices their Kansas City “Softlegs” tour stop. They had never visited here before and we were happy to show them a few local places like The WestSide Local before they played for an enthusiastic audience.
Matt’s stop was part of our promotion and development effort for Showigniter, an online music service that brings together bands, fans and venues. The system works like this: bands create an offer in any one of 328 markets that Showigniter currently supports, they publish the offer through social media channels like Facebook or Twitter and fans and sponsors pledge to bring the band to that city. No money is paid up front, but if enough money is pledged, the show ignites, the band and venue are paid and the band plays the show. Neat isn’t it?
We hope that a whole bunch of bands that otherwise find the logistics of booking tours cumbersome or frustrating will find the system useful and like Matt, Randolph and Joe, it will enable them to play cities they’ve never visited before. But this system and this new approach to bringing live music to your town won’t succeed without YOU. We love the idea of using Showigniter to book shows in non-traditional venues like house parties and to help bands from the indy music scene who might be still building their fan base to create gigs in places they otherwise wouldn’t have visited.
We are eager to hear your input, so feel free to leave comments!
Our hats also go off to Matt, Randolph and Joe for a fantastic concert!! There’s nothing like hearing their soulful tunes and soaring harmonies with friends in an intimate setting! We highly recommend that you catch them if you are near Nashville or happen to run across them on tour!
Here’s the live video that was recorded during the concert (By the way, early sound problems with UStream are fixed later in the recording)
The earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 has again highlighted the increasing role of social media channels in major emergencies. Like the 2009 earthquake in China or the Southern California wildfires, information on Haiti is being disseminated through Twitter and Facebook, among other new media sources. In many ways these aren’t channels that replace traditional methods of communication. Rather think about them as channels that can be used to transmit information directly from those who are experiencing the catastrophe in real time, to those who can do things to help in real time, without editing or delay. In addition many traditional news organizations like The New York Times, CNN.com and National Public Radio also use Twitter to publicize their usual news stories and provide up-to-date information.
Lisa Qualls, LightThread’s chief development officer and current president of social media club, Kansas City, was recently interviewed by Action News on the topic.
These new channels have advantages and disadvantages. The information that is sent is fast and real-time. Because it is unfiltered it can also be misleading and incomplete. Balancing traditional and social information sources provides the best comprehensive approach whether one is mobilizing help, sending information to sources of aid, or simply keeping up to date on what is happening somewhere.
Besides communication social media is also being used to raise funds for disaster relief. Celebrities are using social media to publicize their giving efforts and Wyclef Jean’s use of Twitter through his Yele Foundation has been widely publicized. More traditional disaster relief organizations offering the ability to share their messages of giving through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and texting are also relatively new. Two examples of the latter include mGive and The Mobile Giving Foundation which are both communicating and facilitating contributions to the Red Cross for Haiti disaster relief.
Although convenient, these methods are sometimes not as quick as they seem, nor as easy. For example, the Salvation Army found that although they had received $50,000 for Haiti Relief from Canadian citizens by Thursday, two days after the disaster, three times the amount was originally sent to them through text messages, but only a third of those texting confirmed the donation with the required follow up texts; also, the process for depositing the money in Red Cross bank accounts can take up to 90 days.
A final concern associated with the newness and rapidity of social media effected contributions to disaster relief is its use by the unscrupulous to run disaster relief scams. The following tips have been offered by the FBI to assist consumers in detecting Haiti disaster relief scams:
Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages.
Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence and its nonprofit status rather than following a purported link to the site.
Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf to ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes.
Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions: Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.
We are preparing to meet with a potential new client who happens to be in the franchise business. They are evaluating overhauling their brand to address some PR challenges they have faced the past year. Before we can help them, we need to learn more about them. In order to brainstorm social media strategy options, we need to establish a baseline of performance, process, and expectations.
We put together the following agenda list for our first meeting together. If you are thinking about creating a social media strategy, you may want to consider answering these questions first. Please keep in mind this list was created for a company who is recruiting franchises so if this is not applicable to you then please replace “franchise” with “customer.” Also, the list was created for a specific client in mind, depending on certain factors the questions may be altered. If you’re not sure what to do once you have your answers, then please give us a call, we would love to help you!
1. Messaging
b.What is the brand identity they want created?
c.When people hear your company, what do they want those people to think?
d.Is their primary purpose to recruit new franchises, engage with existing franchises or make the general public aware of the company services?
2.Resource availability
a.What resources are used today for marketing and customer/franchise service?
b.Do they have a resource available to write blog posts, update facebook (I saw that there last update was in November), comment on forums?
c.Do their resources fully understand the online landscape? Are they aware of how to identify, engage and manage top influencers?
d.Do they have the tools and metrics available to monitor and measure progress?
3.Customer engagement
a.How do they address customer/franchise service today? Do they have an 800 number? Email?
b.Are they prepared to appropriately engage with negative sentiment?
c.Do they have a process to respond digitally to requests/comments?
d.What is their expectation regarding timely responses?
4.Marketing
a.What marketing are they doing today?
b.Are they participating in online marketing such as Pay Per Click, Banner Ads, Facebook ads, etc?
c.What marketing support do they provide to Franchises?
d.Do they offer promotions/discounts/contests? If so, how often?
e.Do they sponsor anything?
5.Franchise Recruitment/Support
a.Do they include online marketing as part of the marketing support to Franchises?
b.Do they offer a specific site/resource portal/discussion board for Franchises?
c.How are they targeting/recruiting Franchises?
d.How often do they pro-actively check-in with Franchises?Messaging:
1. Messaging
What is the message you are trying to convey?
What is the brand identity you want created? What are your brand attributes?
When people hear (your company name), what do you want those people to think?
Is your primary purpose to recruit new franchises, engage with existing franchises or make the general public aware of the company services?
2. Resource availability
What resources are used today for marketing and customer/franchise service?
Do you have a resource(s) available to write blog posts, update facebook (I saw that there last update was in November), comment on forums?
Do you resources fully understand the online landscape? Are they aware of how to identify, engage and manage top influencers?
Do you have the tools and metrics available to monitor and measure progress?
3.Customer engagement
How do you address customer/franchise service today? Do you have an 800 number? Email?
Are you prepared to appropriately engage with negative sentiment?
Do you have a process to respond digitally to requests/comments?
What is your expectation regarding timely responses?
4.Marketing
What marketing are you doing today?
What is your marketing mix?
Are you participating in online marketing such as Pay Per Click, Banner Ads, Facebook ads, etc?
What marketing support do you provide to Franchises?
Do you offer promotions/discounts/contests? If so, how often?
Do you sponsor anything?
5.Franchise/Recruitment Support
Do you include online marketing as part of the marketing support to Franchises?
Do you offer a specific site/resource portal/discussion board for Franchises?
How are you targeting/recruiting Franchises?
How often do you pro-actively check-in with Franchises?
We hope this helps give you a jump start to considering how you can adopt social media in to your business model. As always feel free to give us a call if you want to learn more.
(Kansas City, Missouri) – Entrepreneurship, networking and the opportunity to collaborate will be three areas of focus for the second annual Highlight Midwest, scheduled for October 23, 2009 in Des Moines, Iowa. Over 200 participants are expected for the conference. Drawing from the four states of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, this barcamp-themed meeting will feature some of the most innovative companies in the midwest demonstrating new applications and talking about technology and startups outside of the east and west coasts. Simon Kuo, Ph.D., CEO of LightThread, LLC, a Kansas City-Crossroads area strategy, social media and web development company is scheduled to deliver one of three keynote addresses at the conference.
“This meeting is one of the best I’ve attended as far as meeting other entrepreneurs in a setting that encourages future collaboration.” said Dr. Kuo, “When starting a new business one of your greatest assets will be the partnerships you create with similarly-minded people. I really valued the ideas that were generated from last year’s sessions and I’m looking forward to this year’s event.”
Other companies featured in the day long conference include Dwolla, a web application that allows users to send and receive money, graffititracker, a system to track graffiti for law enforcement and whatthehashtag, the online wiki for Twitter hashtags. Mike Draper, a longtime Iowa-based small business and startup advocate will be another featured speaker.
About LightThread – LightThread, LLC, established in 2008, is a next generation strategy, interactive services and web development firm specializing in optimizing business performance and brand. Through the use of strategy, social media, technology and integrated marketing development, LightThread assists businesses in reaching the next level. For more information about LightThread, LLC please visit: http://www.lightthread.com
Contact: Lisa Qualls (816) 298-9913. email: lisa@lightthread.com
The biggest tech news today was the release of Google Wave to 100,000 beta testers. Because of the limited number of invitations, the usual outrageous behavior by members of the tech community ensued. At one point sources reported that an invitation was being offered on eBay for $5100 dollars. After many of these outlandishly priced offers were pulled, remaining invites were being hawked for a more reasonable $70 to $100 dollars. Similarly Twitter users who tweeted about receiving Wave invitations were flooded with requests from users begging for invitations. At the LightThread office we were lucky enough to have received our invitation at 12:32 a.m. yesterday morning and we wasted no time in trying it out.
When one logs into Wave the very first time, one is greeted with several messages created by the Wave team. Cleverly they actually use Wave to illustrate how it can be used. How’s that for a recursive demonstration?
Though initial reviews highlighted the less-than-enthusiastic response from certain high-profile tech geeks, the usefulness of Wave and its interface design are most apparent when more than one person is using it. It was immediately apparent to us that Wave solves a few of the most obvious issues with the Twitter interface: conversations that are totally sequential yet threaded at the same time. In other words, Twitter’s interface only presents tweets as they occur. Streams of conversations between various people that are threaded have the tendency to become lost in the relentless wash of tweets from everyone else. Google Wave solves that problem by allowing replies to anyone anywhere in the stream of messages. Thus one can have multiple simultaneous real-time conversations with a number of people without losing the thread of any of the simultaneous conversations. Without a doubt this takes a little getting used to–many people aren’t naturally adept at tracking more than one simultaneous conversation–after all how often does this really happen during a verbal discussion? I’m certain however, that people will quickly adapt to this paradigm. Making it easier is the fact that the conversations don’t simply fade into the ether–they persist on the page. The Google Wave team has also incorporated a handy feature–the ability to “play” the wave, step-by-step to catch anything that might have been missed when it occurred in real-time.
As reported previously, the application also allows those participating in a wave to insert videos, graphics and other files. The inclusion of rich media makes this more than simply a many-to-many text messaging application. In addition, gadgets are also supported by Wave. This enables the platform to be extended in ways that will increase its usefulness. Included in the Wave beta are a mapping gadget and an yes/no/maybe gadget. These are both used in demonstrations to highlight their usefulness for tasks like making group plans and planning trips, respectively.
Ultimately, like many new tools and applications, we’ll have a much better understanding of Google Wave and its usefulness after it has been tested by the initial group of users. The LightThread team is looking forward to using Google Wave in our day-to-day activities and we’ll be eagerly reading others’ impressions of the platform in upcoming weeks. We’ll report back to you as our testing continues. In the meantime, if you’re also on the platform, start a wave with us!!
We recently had the privilege of hosting Terrence Shaw, managing partner at Wirevibe and Kerstin Deppe, COO at Patricia Seybold Group at our LightThread office to discuss social media and online security concerns. Terrence is known for creating fun and informative interviews that are posted regularly at his Wirevibe blog. He typically hosts these interviews at local watering holes in the KC and Dallas areas so we were excited when he asked us if we would like to host one at our place. Even better he asked me if I would like to be part of the interview and share my experience with social media and how I address the growing concern of online personal security risk. When I found out that Kerstin would be sharing the couch with me I would have paid Terrence to participate.
You will notice in the interview I make the analogy that online isn’t all that different from offline when discussing female security vulnerabilities. I think this is an important point as it can become all too easy to forget the number of eyes watching your updates, pictures, status, and comments when online. You have a similar situation when you are consumed about your shopping list as you walk in to the store and forget there could be “bad” people hanging out in parking lots. The answer to minimize the risk is the same for both offline and online…be aware, pay attention to your surroundings, and prepare for the unexpected.
A few tips:
In the offline world – Keep your head up and look for people just “hanging out.” Look under your car and in your backseat before entering the vehicle. Have your keys held so you can poke someone in the eye. Take a self-defense lesson or two so you can defend yourself if needed.
In the online world – Know who your friends, followers, and connections are online. Read profiles and look at a person’s online activity before accepting their invite. Understand the applications you are using and how to block people, hide your updates from non-followers, and who to notify regarding security concerns.
At the end of the day, vigilant observation and preparation can keep you safe so practice them always.
Facebook announced today that it had acquired FriendFeed. Multiple sources carried the news after Technorati broke it, minutes before Facebook made its own announcement. Largely believed to be an acquisition for talent, the 12 members of the Friendfeed team include founder Bret Taylor the creator of Google Maps and Paul Buchheit, who developed Gmail. Facebook indicated that the four Friendfeed founders would all serve as senior executives in their product and engineering departments.
Articles have already been written about what FriendFeed brings to Facebook, including public profiles, conversations that involve people you don’t know, aggregated content from multiple sites and real time information. Whether some of these features will continue to be supported if Friendfeed is fully incorporated into Facebook or not remains to be seen. Without question the biggest impact of this acquisition might be on Twitter. Past analysis has shown that a majority of the content that Friendfeed aggregates is from Twitter. Given Twitter’s very recent and very public snubbing of an acquisition offer from Facebook, is this simply the first volley in a capabilities war where Facebook will use its superior financial funding position to acquire companies that have advanced Twitter-like features so that they can eventually eliminate Twitter’s dominate position in microblogging?
But it’s not as though Facebook should be worried. With over 250 million users against Twitter’s 4-5 million, adding Friendfeed, a site that reached over 1 million visits earlier this year, will not make an appreciable difference in the lead it already enjoys. In Facebook’s and Friendfeed’s press releases, in addition to talent, shared platform and work culture philosophies were cited as reasons for the acquisition. But what might be good for these two companies might not be good for Friendfeed users.
Most of the feedback was negative when the deal was announced. Indeed Friendfeed oftentimes seemed to be a haven for social media practitioners. Prominent members of that community, including Robert Scoble, are avid users and as one commenter stated on Bret Taylor’s feed, “Uh, well that’s the end of that.”
Friendfeed now joins Pownce as yet another Twitter-like social media service that was hyped by the “social mediarati” only to be acquired by another company with different designs on the industry.
I spent quite a bit of time this evening reading articles and posts highlighting the challenges associated to measuring social media Return on Investment (ROI). Simon also mentioned in his Social Media for Business post the challenges associated to social media metrics, specifically engagement metrics. Measuring dollars is more important than ever so if we want to see companies accelerate their social media adoption we need to show a direct correlation to the bottom line. I speculate this is why the ROI topic is getting big buzz as of late.
Leads, sales, and new revenue get most of the headlines when discussing ROI. However, cost reductions need to be considered as well when figuring/estimating ROI. Social media introduces new possibilities to traditional business practices such as customer care/service, research and development (R&D) and internal communications. These may not be as “sexy” as marketing and sales but anyone of them can be the Achilles heel to even the strongest of companies.
Customer Care/Service: listening & engaging = retention ($$)
Customer care/service is a huge cost area for companies. Social media provides a cheaper and faster way to address customer concerns vs. having to call an 800 number. With the various sentiment monitoring tools available (check out local KC companies Spiral 16 and Social Radar) a company can proactively help customers. Not only does this help decrease call volumes but a company can get good PR and positive brand recognition for reaching out. If a company isn’t quite ready to make an investment let me suggest Google Alerts. You can’t beat the ROI on this handy tool as it’s FREE and super easy to set-up.
You may not be able to get rid of an entire call center but even a 10% reduction in costs can be significant. Don’t forget about customer retention “save” possibilities too…keeping existing revenue is just as important as generating new revenue, especially if your company is being pressured to maintain their customer base. The cost associated to getting a new customer is high so keep that in mind when considering retention dollar benefits.
Using social media in this manner may also introduce an opportunity to reduce labor costs. Many companies are organized by function so you may have one employee who is a sales person, a second employee that handles the customer service call and a third employee who serves as a retention specialist. Social media may allow a company to employ one resource who can support sales, care and retention all at the same time. Again, this is a much lower cost than the 3 individual resources that they more than likely are paying today in the individual business units.
Research and Development: gain access to the WORLD
Research and Development (R&D) is another cost area that can be supplemented using social media. Market research, product research, strategy considerations, and user groups are just some examples of information that can be gathered through social media. A smart company knows that R&D is important to long term health and growth but during tough economic times R&D becomes vulnerable to cuts. Utilizing social media as a knowledge gathering tool provides a cost effective method to supporting R&D which can save or possibly even grow this very important part of the business.
Internal Communications: knowledge sharing = accelerated growth
One more cost area to consider is internal communications. Big companies typically have an entire organization focused on nothing but employee oriented communications. By leveraging social media and online communities specifically, they can lower their costs in this area. Security and keeping proprietary information safe is often a concern when considering online communities. Doing your homework and developing an effective but simple social media policy can typically address any security concerns.
At the end of the day remember to under promise and over deliver, especially when discussing money matters. Be honest about worst/best case scenarios and forthright that there is still a lot to be learned in this area. If you would like more information about the tools or methods discussed in this post please give us a call or send us an email. Would love your comments on other costs to consider when evaluating social media ROI.
Lately it seems like “Social Media” has become “Social Marketing.” Do a Google search on “Social Media” and many of the links lead to marketing related information. Also, I don’t know about you but a sizable number of my Twitter followers seem to be pushing social media marketing. But there are many dimensions to social media. It is, after all, merely a collection of online interactive publishing and interpersonal connection capabilities that can be used for many purposes, including customer care, product development, non-marketing communications…the list goes on. Even if one does focus on the marketing aspects of social media, where and when are the discussions on product strategy occurring? If a key approach for social media communications is being authentic, how does one market a bad product using social media? Do you honestly reveal the shortcomings of your product? To market a product authentically and effectively, does the social media strategy planning need to begin with how to engineer great products, followed by how to market them socially in an effective manner? I really think that the answer to both of these questions is “yes.” To frame this simply, I think there is a chain of trust that exists that includes product, users/referrers for the product and purchasing decision-makers. If word of mouth marketing results in a sale to a purchaser who is not subsequently happy with the purchase, the chain of trust is broken. And that break might occur with a poor product or a poor word of mouth referral that doesn’t accurately address the needs of the purchaser. What do you think? 
A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of hosting Matt Haeck (@matthaeck on Twitter), Randolph Robisno (@randolphrobisno) and Joe Garner (@joegarner) as they made Lightthread offices their Kansas City “Softlegs” tour stop. They had never visited here before and we were happy to show them a few local places like 
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