What nuggets of information are waiting for us on this Monday morning?
- RSS Mixer lets you combine and force multiple feeds to play nice so you can take different streams information and use it as you please. This isn’t something new but for such a simple process that can give a user such a wide range of abilities this has always been difficult to pull off with services I have used in the past. Let my feeds mingle damnit.
- The Guardian (think Buckingham Palace) seems to think the growth in social networking will come from “niche” sites. I+A feels like you have to bring something really strong to the table to succeed as a restrictive (in terms of ability and content) or gated social networking site over something that is similar but open. We are looking at you new niche social networking sites…and you are no LinkedIn.
- Regular Geek provides us required reading for Social Media.
- As the political silly season gets in full swing we look back at an article from last year asking “Is Social Media being used to spread misinformation?“
- We give BurningTheBacon props for this map of the world showing which countries use which social networks the most and also for having one of the best names on the internet.
- And finally we leave you with the Monday morning workplace frustrations of one of our local Kansas City twitter users.
My uncle taught me a valuable marketing lesson a few years back that I try to incorporate into most of my marketing efforts today. When you teach someone, they tend to trust you. Think about that. A few people you probably trust, right off the top of my head are, your parents, school teachers, pastor, and coaches. What do they all have in common? They each taught you something! When you teach someone, you are automatically an expert in their eyes, because you know more than they do about that particular thing.
Another lesson I learned from my boss at KCFit. Always, be the connector. Even if you do not know anything about a subject, if you connect someone to a person that does, they will forever remember that you introduced them. Think about a few of the people you interact with on a professional level. Do you remember how you met them? I know I sure do. And beyond that, when I associate with those people, I usually bring the person who connected us in on the conversation.
Take those lessons and apply it to social bookmarking, I personally use Delicious. I read articles to show that I am in touch with what I talk about. I can produce material to back up what I say. Everything I bookmark can become a tool to teach. Weather it be an informative article or a great website with a collection of resources. Even if the website does not teach them, they will always remember that I showed it to them. I connected them to something they find useful. I am now a part of something that the person does often. Social bookmarking does not have to be used in this way, but it can be. It is a powerful tool that I feel is often overlooked in the world of social media. I consistently send out emails to other professionals in my field with a link to my delicious page which leads to being a connector and/or a teacher.
Do you think those lessons are true? Do you think they apply to the uses of social bookmarking? What other social media outlets can benefit from these lessons? I have a few in mind and will blog about them at a later date. I would love to hear from you all to see if these are good lessons to market by and if we are on the same page for how social media can be applied with these lessons in mind…
This is the first post of our “Companies that get it” series that works to highlight businesses that are on forefront of social media using creative and effective uses of emerging technologies to run and improve their business.
Company - Pandora
Description – Pandora is an automated music recommendation and Internet radio service created by the Music Genome Project. Users enter a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar. Users provide feedback on the individual song choices — approval or disapproval — which Pandora takes into account for future selections.
Social Media Usage – Blogging, Event Planning, Conversation Monitoring, Video, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
How They Stand Out – Pandora understands the opportunities that a passionate user base can create. If you have a comment about the service (good or bad) and Twitter about it odds are you will get a response quickly with a note of appreciation for feedback or an attempt to correct a problem. All of their mediums for communication remind the user of the value they put in the feedback that is provided.
I+A stresses the importance of being genuine in your social media efforts and this is reflected in the honest and transparent ways in which Pandora communicates with its users. You get the feeling that the employees love what they do and believe in the company which really draws people in. Everyone is very accessible.
Pandora has also leveraged the interest of its users to host events hosted all over the country from listening parties to meetups. To add another element of connectivity there is a good deal of video giving you inside glimpses into some of the processes and happenings of the company.
Pandora’s communications team has built up the trust of its user base with honest and effective connections. Practices like this have undoubtedly gone a long way to make Pandora the popular service it is today.
Know of a company that you think “gets” it? Drop us a line at ideasandangles [at] gmail [dot] com.
A blog (a contraction of the term “Web log”) is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
As you can see, a Blog is not a well scripted from start to finish, nor a fictional book. One of the most famous ‘flogs’ (fake blogs) was Wal-Marts, ‘WalmartingAcrossAmerica,’ disguised as a blog, it was actually a well scripted and plotted campaign rolled out by Wal-Mart and their PR firm. Based on an article from Intuitive Wal-Mart set up a ‘flog’ in which they attempted to make people believe that ‘Walmarting Across America’ was being written by a couple that traveled across America in an RV and parked it in Wal-Mart parking lots along the way. Only it turns out, they had scripted the entire thing and people found out.
Another piece of media that stands out in my mind is the book ‘A Million Little Pieces,’ by James Frey. He sold the book as ‘memoirs’ meaning that they are true in his mind, not necessarily factual, but true in his mind and in his perspective. After appearing on Oprah, it was found to be ‘A Million Little Lies.’
I wanted to share these examples up front in hopes that my points for the importance of being genuine while blogging will be a little stickier. All of us are gullible, some more than others. Think of a time where someone ‘got you’ good. Maybe it was small or big, important or not, joking or serious. How did you feel? Betrayed? Angry? And how easy is it to trust what that person says now? This is exactly how the people that read your blog would feel if they found out it was not truly who you are and the way you feel. As stated in the opening, a blog is regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material. People read blogs because that is what they expect. Don’t label your site a blog if that is not your intention. Don’t label your book a memoir if, in fact, it is fictional. Remember that feeling you have when you are on the other side. People are smarter than you might think. They WILL figure you out. And the up rise from people that feel betrayed, angry, and can’t trust you is one that I never want to experience.
RECAP:
- Know what you expect when writing a blog, because that is what your readers expect.
- If you are taking a different angle, that is fine, just be clear about it.
- Wal-Mart has a lot of money to plan this out, and they still got found out.
- You can fool Oprah (one person), but you can not fool everyone.
Do any examples stand out in your mind of ‘flogs’? What are some other reasons to be genuine while blogging?
