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1 Above All Else — People Have you had a good conversation lately? What do you remem- ber about it? Who do you enjoy having conversations with? Conversations require people, and the purpose of social media is to empower and enable conversations digitally. Blogging, podcasting, video blogging, and all the various social networks we use are all geared toward one thing: giving us a way to reach out and connect. With that in mind, let ’ s start this out right and consider people . Let ’ s think about people from their perspective. What follows are some ideas for engaging, respecting, and appreciating the people who will interact with your social media. PEOPLE LIKE TO BE ENGAGED Imagine there is a choice (because there is). You can either speak at people or you can speak with people. One assumes that the other person or persons will have an opportunity to say something back at some point. Which scenario would you pre- fer: one where you ’ re sitting idly while someone goes on and on, or oneCOPYRIGHTED where you ’ re just as important MATERIALto things as the person who started the conversation? I ’ m going to say the latter. cchapter.inddhapter.indd 1 11/9/10/9/10 110:20:560:20:56 AMAM [2] Social Media 101 One way to engage people is to ask a question. How did I start this topic? I asked a question that put you back in your head. Another way is to encourage people to take part in the activities. Don ’ t let them be the audience. Audience is a pas- sive term. Think of ways to get people into the story. Can you come up with a way that they can contribute? Are there ways you can encourage follow - on activity in their world? PEOPLE ARE BUSY Respect people ’ s time when creating your media. Don ’ t ramble in a podcast just because you can. My wife, Katrina, always says, “ Editing is good manners. ” She means that by being respectful of people ’ s time, you win their appreciation. One way to do this is to lead with your lead. Tell the best stuff up front in your blog post or your podcast. Give people a rundown of where you ’ re going as early as you can. Lots of great media makers script their productions, outline their blog posts, and otherwise use systems to stay on point. Make sure you provide many ways to subscribe to your media. Posting an RSS link isn’ t really going far enough unless you show people how to subscribe in the way they want it. If it’ s a blog, show them how to get it by e - mail, if that’ s their reading choice. If it ’ s a video blog, show your audience how they can stay up - to - date with your media. Ask whether you can notify them of special shows you don ’ t want them to miss, perhaps by sending an e - mail. If they agree, use that method sparingly cchapter.inddhapter.indd 2 11/9/10/9/10 110:20:570:20:57 AMAM Above All Else—People [3] Don ’ t make every show a must - see show. Make the best ones a must - see. PEOPLE LIKE TO BE APPRECIATED You ’ re not doing this for yourself (unless you are). The notion is that you ’ re out there trying to build a relationship with an audi- ence. If you ’ re in business, you ’ re establishing brand, or talking about a product, or pitching something in a more human, two - way method. If you ’ re an individual, you ’ re building reputation, sharing information with like - minded sources. In all these cases, it ’ s two - way, and the people on the other side want to know you respect that. Stop by other people ’ s sites now and again. Leave com- ments. Point the occasional blog post or podcast out toward the folks who spend their time with you. Go further than a blogroll. Drive awareness. Build traffi c. A while back, I promoted musician Matthew Ebel ’ s proj- ect, www.virtualhotwings.com , which allowed fans of his music to buy some very special tracks that weren ’ t otherwise collected or available. But further, the project sent out updates for new tracks that purchasers of the original project received free for having paid for the project the fi rst time. That kind of follow- on appreciation makes lifelong fans from people interested in your media. As a producer of a blog or a podcast or other media, con- sider ways to give people something more for the attention they ’ re spending on you. Think of ways to make special offers for cchapter.inddhapter.indd 3 11/9/10/9/10 110:20:570:20:57 AMAM [4] Social Media 101 free things to acknowledge that someone ’ s a fan of your work, or better still, fi nd ways to promote the people in your audi- ence as the true stars in your social media system. Make it every bit as much about them as it is about your relationship with them. MAKE PEOPLE THE EXPERTS Finally, seek ways to tap into people ’ s expertise. The point behind unconferences like PodCamp 1 is that the intelligence and brainpower in the audience is almost always going to be greater than what would normally be up on a stage at a traditional con- ference. To that end, seek ways to tap your audience for their expertise. Ask them to tell you about things. Find out what they know. (You already know what you know.) That ’ s why I end every post with a question. It ’ s a way to prompt for interaction, but it’ s also a way to learn from the people who spend time with me. I learned a long time ago that the folks spending time with me know more than me in the aggregate. I can start a great conversation, but they always have the better ideas in sum. So ask for it. Seek information. Learn from them. Besides, people love giving their opinions. It ’ s a great way to give them the chance to do so. Have you tried this before? How did it work for you? 1 http://podcamp.org/ cchapter.inddhapter.indd 4 11/9/10/9/10 110:20:570:20:57 AMAM What Social Media Does Best [5] 2 What Social Media Does Best If you ’ re still looking for the best ways to explain to senior man- agement or your team or your coworkers or your spouse what social media does, why it ’ s different than the old way people used computers and the Web, and why people are giving two hoots about it, here are some thoughts to start the conversation. I look at this mostly from a business perspective, but I suspect you ’ ll find these apply to nonprofits and other organizations as well. Further, as I ’ m fond of saying, social media isn’ t relegated to the marketing and PR teams. It ’ s a bunch of tools that can be used throughout businesses, in different forms. Think about the things social media does best: • Blogs allow chronological organization of thoughts, sta- tus, ideas. This means more permanence than e- mails. • Podcasts (video and audio) encourage different types of learning — and in portable formats. • Social networks encourage collaboration, can replace intranets and corporate directories, and can promote non - e - mail conversation channels. • Social networks can amass like - minded people around shared interests with little external force, no organizational cchapter.inddhapter.indd 5 11/9/10/9/10 110:20:570:20:57 AMAM [6] Social Media 101 center, and a group sense of what is important and what comes next. • Social bookmarking means that entire groups can learn of new articles, tools, and other Web properties instead of leaving them all on one machine, one browser, for one human. • Blogs and wikis encourage conversing, sharing, creating. • Social software, like Flickr , 2 Last.fm ,3 and even Amazon .com , promote human - mediated information sharing. Similar mechanisms inside of larger organizations would be just as effective. • Social news sites show the popularity of certain infor- mation, at least within certain demographics. Would roll - your - own voting within the company be useful? • Social networks are full of prospecting and lead - generation information for sales and marketing. • Social networks make for great ways to understand the mind - set of the online consumer, should that be of value to you. • Online versions of your materials and media, especially in formats that let you share, mean that you ’ re equipping others to run with your message, should that be impor- tant (e.g., if you ’ re a marketer). 2 www.Flickr.com 3 www.Last.fm cchapter.inddhapter.indd 6 11/9/10/9/10 110:20:580:20:58 AMAM What Social Media Does Best [7] • Online versions of your materials and media are search- able, and this helps Google to help you find new visitors, customers, and employees. • Social networks contain lots of information about your pro- spective new hires, your customers, your competitors. • Blogs allow you to speak your mind and let the rest of the world know your thought processes and mind- sets. • Podcasts are a way to build intimacy with information. • Podcasts reach people who are trying out new gadgets, like Droids, iPhones, iPods, Apple TVs, Zunes, and more. • Tagging and sharing and all the other activities common on the social Web mean that information gets passed around much faster. • Human aggregation and mediation improves the quality of data you find and gives you more “ exactly what I was looking for ” help.