This post title was crafted for me inadvertently by Mike McClure, in a tweet he posted with information about a conversation I will be leading this Thursday in Detroit. It is being hosted by the Social Media Club Detroit chapter and the #Tweetea community, with the venue provided by ePrize. As I am in the process of writing a lot these days, I wanted to bounce some ideas around the room in Metro Detroit (aka “the D”) to get new perspectives and possibly some case studies.

My working title for the book is “Running Your Business As If None of It Matters.”

Just in the run up to this event, several ideas have shown up. I present four of them to you here, in gratitude to my new friends in the D, as I look forward to many more (ideas and friendships!) come Thursday, 6 October 2011.

Walk Through Discomfort via Samantha Welter

Add in the fact that social media relationships have an interesting business-mixed-with-pleasure dynamic, and it can be hard to ascertain who is real and who is just marketing themselves as real. In the age of the personal brand, taking the brand out of the personal can be an uncommon occurrence.
I’ll admit that I’m relatively uncomfortable putting this out there. But again, I have to walk through the discomfort and be true to myself.

This is a Game and It is Real via Therran Oliphant

Crowdsourcing of the Unlimited Kind with Mike McClure

Harmonic Convergence with Nikki Little

Clearly, that has changed, now hasn’t it? I look forward to seeing you on Thursday, arms full of Aloha coming your way to the D!

Please bring your ideas of how life is working for you outside of traditional rules and tribal practices, and/or how social media has expanded your confidence and consciousness.

Aloha,

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In the spirit of transparency and speed, I am posting the notes I made as moderator of the Social Media Influence Panel at the Social Media Seminar being hosted by Technology News Bytes with their nonprofit partner, Social Media Club Hawaii Chapter. Stay tuned; I will be updating this post!

Please add your opinions/question in the comments or on Twitter; we are using the hashtag #SMSHI. This conversation will run from 10 am – 10:40 am HST today, April 14. Find me on Twitter @roxannedarling.

For background, I find Tom Webster’s work best in class. Read his blog at BrandSavant.com and follow him on Twitter @webby2001.

For Tammi Hitchcock: (Based on your work with small Hawaii businesses) – what factors do you consider when trying to build influence online for a client – what tactics do you use to accomplish that – what works and what doesn’t work in your experience – case studies and real examples are very welcome

For Rob Bertholf: (Based on your work building things and SEO expertise) – what are the top “crossover” factors that build SERP AND socmed influence – what tools do you use to measure/monitor online influence – which ones work well for what factors, or not? – case studies and real examples are very welcome

For Tara Coomans: (Based on your marketing experience and socmed practice) – are clients interested in understanding and/or measuring influence factors – what different strategies do you based on the type/size company – what do you see as the failings of online influence measures – case studies and real examples are very welcome

For all:
How important are twitter rankings in the overall online influence question
What are the qualitative tools important for building influence
How much “gaming” of the system is taking place IYO
Would you rather have a high Klout score or be on page 1-2 for a first-name-only SERP on Google?
Would you rather have 500+ connections on LinkedIn or 5000 followers on Twitter?
Would you rather see influence be used to create change or achieve personal power?
What forest are we not seeing by focusing on the trees?
Does this work differently in Hawaii?

How will you use your influence? Are you about sharing, connecting, and uplifting? Support causes – one of the better ways to improve your influence and do good. Let’s tweet some Hawaii nonprofits! Make some donations. Share some link love.

We will naturally show HawaiiKlout.com built by our Rob Bertholf and provide links to these:
http://www.twitalyzer.com
http://www.twittergradr.com
http://www.peerindex.com
Klout – What’s it all about by Tara Coomans
Social Scoring will change your life

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Here are links and handouts for two of my recent speaking opportunities. I used the same bones of the presentation though one is geared to businesses and the other is geared to volunteers and nonprofit organizations. Both are targeted to the newbies who are thinking about social media use. I am offering them both in this one post. Please enjoy all the links! All links open in a new window.

General Information:
My presentation to Hawaiian Telcom University
My presentation to the Network of Volunteer Leaders

The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide (PDF)
ROI Examples for Nonprofits
How Nonprofit Organizations Can Use Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change (from my friend, the amazing Beth Kanter

1. Listen
Search.Twitter.com Enter your name or keywords; save the search and subscribe to it for updates.
Google.com/alerts
Facebook page insights
Yelp.com Search your name; claim your business if applicable (@emihart is our local guru)
TripAdvisor.com Search your name; claim your business if applicable
@ComcastCares on Twitter
David Jones Reviews Microchip
Network for what now? Using the Give Well blog to address fundraising concerns

2. Be Your Own Media
MarylandZoo.tv
“Volunteer” on Flickr / Ford Motor Company on Flickr
Blendtec – Will it blend?
EpicThanks.org
Beachwalks.tv and the USS Nimitz
@DellOutlet on Twitter

3. Share and Engage/Share before sell.
Johnson & Johnson on YouTube
Podcamp Hawaii
Watch the Social Media Revolution

4. Identify & Support Connectors
Todd Cochrane, RawVoice Podcaster Network
Honolulu Twestival
Idealist.org Volunteer opportunities

5. Understand the New Math
1000 True Fans

KnowHow Cafe – join our free email list to receive an intro eBook and be notified of upcoming classes!

Aloha,

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I am giving a talk today to a private company who is exploring the use of social media as an internal tool. I certainly want to recommend these books, first Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social TechnologiesGroundswell, by Charline Li and Josh Bernoff, and also Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business, by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler.

Below is a link to the HERO Diagnostic tool (Highly Empowered Resourceful Operatives) Forrester has shared with us, to help companies evaluate their resources and look in very direct and simple terms: do you have what it takes to engage in social technologies and if not, how do you identify what is missing and how do you get it?

Key to this discussion are several truisms: what used to be thought of as slogans or biz school clichés that have proven themselves to be as true as ever in the context of our always on, socially connected world:
* Relationship Marketing It has proven itself to be the core building block. Social networks have shown us how “insignificant” touch points become the tipping point for purchasing decisions and brand affiliations.
* Everyone is in sales. With people talking about their real lives in real time on places like Facebook, it is not possible to build firewalls around the day job. Our work and our play now interweave and influence both our social and our buying behaviors.
* Customer service is marketing is customer service. Yes it is a perennial feedback loop and you can no longer separate one from the other.

The takeaway for me is that it doesn’t matter so much where you begin – we are a co-creative wholistic organism these days and external customers and internal employees are no longer on opposite sides of the fence. Any investment in either side is bound to have a ripple effect. Having said that though, if you are a risk-averse company I heartily agree that investing in training inside the company is the smart way to proceed. Why stress out unnecessarily?

Photo Credit: Employee of the Quarter by absoblogginlutely on Flickr.com

UPDATE March 11, 2011: More links!
1) Since a lot of you use Android phones, here are Five Ways to Keep Your Android Phone Secure.
2) Watch the Social Media Revolution again and again.
3) Watch the entire interview on Multitasking with Clifford Nass, Stanford professor at gigaom.com.
4) Watch the entire series of seven video episodes from my embark to the USS Nimitz.
5) Check out some of the conversation on Twitter via @mktgconf. (I can only imagine what this will look like next year!)

I have sent a summary of the questionnaire data to Jondi for internal distribution, along with a copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto to keep in your library. Here is a link to my main presentation if you want to download and save a copy. (PDF; 967K)

Aloha,

You can find and play with HERO and all of the other interactive tools here at Forrester.com. (Update: I removed the embedded copy as it was breaking the code on our blog. Just follow the link to use the interactive form on their web site.)

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Here are the notes from the networking event at the Hawaii Chapter of the Social Media Club: Build a Social Media Strategy. We mixed up our format to complement the venue, Ka Restaurant. We met in the intimate (read: packed!) lounge room for a brief presentation of the highlights of social media strategy. Presenters were Tara Coomans, Rob Bertholf, and myself. We were limited to one slide each, plus the cheat sheet that we posted on all the tables scattered throughout the bar – and to where we adjourned for robust conversation after the overview. Download the PDF here.

Tons of links at the end of this post; get your goodies there!

Building a Social Media Strategy is like building any strategy: you start with that brilliant question, “What’s the point?” The catch with many of us in these rushed times is that we tend to jump into social media before thinking about strategy, and then forget to come back and revisit why we jumped in, in the first place! It is very easy to get sucked into the stream of activity and distractions, playing a few rounds of copy cat, and then being stuck having to write an annual report that basically says, “Well, we were really busy this year but don’t have a clue what we actually accomplished!”

This SMCHI meeting was an antidote to that. And, it used our guiding principle of “If you get it, share it” to bring us together as business collaborators. Of course, there were companies in attendance who normally think of themselves as competitors, but the beauty of social media is that we actually can help all of our businesses grow though collaboration. Just like how the gas stations learned long ago to all set up on the same corner.

Another aspect of social media at present, is that there are so many tools to use and it is not easy or obvious to know which ones are more efficient at specific tasks. I find people complaining that they don’t get results with SM, however when I look at their platforms in use and the activity taking place, I can see why. ;-) Twitter is the easiest example – where people start accounts, post some things, yet aren’t aware of the faux pas they are creating or the opportunities they are missing by not using links, keywords, and etiquette to their best advantage. As we help each other get smarter, our Hawaii business community gets stronger.

The concept was simple, even if the execution is not so easy – pretty much a metaphor for our evening. Seems the flat screens at Ka require a very obscure cable: VGA to RCA. Not being able to secure one in time, we could not use the TVs for the intended live Twitter stream. Nonetheless, we pursued our goals and you can see the results by searching “smchi” on Twitter. Here’s a screen shot with a curated sample of some of my favorites! (Click the image to see full size.)

We are purchasing a couple of those mystery cables and will be gifting one to Ka Restaurant so other groups who meet there will have an easy process of connecting their laptop media to the house screens. We’ll be heading back there December 15 for our Social Media Year in Review Party. Please join us!

Thanks for reading! Here are the goodies I promised above.
Handouts that we shared can be dowloaded here. Thanks to Tara Coomans for posting those.

You can the slides and photos from this event on Flickr.

You can view the live stream video of the presentation on uStream.tv.

You can play with the interactive Social Technographics Tool from Forrester Research.

Follow the tag #smchi on Twitter to catch some of the comments from the evening. (And remember, if you don’t include the tag, it’s nearly impossible for us to include you in the conversation and discover you!)

You can see who attended this event on our RSVP page.

Mahalo to Lululemon for donating a $25 Gift Certificate. Lucky winner was @lorenawire (photo attached of the cool Lululemon bags.) YOU can win a free yoga class, just by checking in to Facebook Places the next time you are at a Lululemon store. We have one here in Honolulu at Ala Moana Center. Tell them Tess sent you!

Aloha,

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I wanted to push the limits of the garden-variety talk on Social Media last week when I presented the keynote address at the Hawaii Social Media Summit. First let me thank Quincy Solano and team from Technology News Bytes and our own Social Media Club Hawaii for creating a high energy event! (You were awesome Tara and Rob – I loved having you there with me.) And check out NonStop Honolulu’s photos from the Tweetup afterwards. And be sure to check out this video interview on KITV from 6:15 am that morning! Mahalo Yasmin Dar.

I expected a small percentage of people from “the choir” in the audience, with the large majority being local businesses – and this turned out to be true. So how can I entertain and keep my peers not just interested, but hopped up and motivated for the rest of the day, while talking as jargon-free as possible to the business managers who gave their precious time to be there?

Well, I relied on the tools of our trade, the principles of our practice, and the voices of my peers.

Tools of the Trade:
Use Twitter. I made sure to put up an advance slide listing my Twitter handle and the hashtag for the day, #HISMS. This allowed people to start interacting even before I came on stage. I was tweeting myself as I was being introduced (by the lovely Ramsay Wharton) and by sheer, beautiful coincidence, my friend CC Chapman direct messaged me right in that time-space continuum. I clicked “submit” on my reply to him as I walked up the stairs – telling him I was actually using a video of him in my presentation! That is the “Psychic Friends Network” for real.

Use More Interesting Presentation Tools. I completely understand the comfort and usefulness of having a presentation, but we really can now move beyond the “death by PowerPoint” type of presentations with too many words at too small a size, and nothing left to the imagination. I built my preso in Prezi – which is like a mind-mapping tool for presentations. The audience loved it and there was an entire side channel happening on Twitter talking about Prezi, among people in the audience as well “out there.” I love that! Here is the link to my Prezi.

Incorporate Rich Media. When I first learned I would have 90 minutes, I mildly freaked out! “I am not going to stand up there and lecture at folks for an hour and a half – we will all be brain dead by 10:30!” Speakers, I recommend wholeheartedly you resist the urge to feed your audiences facts and figures. Those can be found on Google. Or Hubspot. Instead I used a lot of video. Some from clips I had in my archive from 3-4 years ago, some from YouTube, some new video slide shows I made using photos from HawaiiIRL.com and also from Flickr. Remember, a picture is worth 1000 words, but a video is priceless!

Principles of Social Media Practice:
Transparency. I showed them my computer, in WYSIWYG fashion – when I goofed on switching applications, I made a manini mistake and they got to watch as I fixed it. That is so much more interesting, in these times, than just trying to be perfect. I also shared my nervousness about using Prezi for the first time to such a large group; I had previously only used it in small, private training programs. Share some of you, your energy, with them. Be real. It’s not as scary as it sounds, and I can tell you, I had as much fun as ever, and experienced a lot less stress. Walk at least as much as you talk. Better yet, dance! (We did. I love music and I love movement, so I shared that part of who I am.)

Get People Involved. Disruption is OK. Can you believe we were dancing to a large screen YouTube video of Cheryl Lynn’s, Got to Be Real? Well, I was, and a few people even joined me! I also stopped between each of my six points…to give people something to do related to the previous point, and give me a minute to check the Twitter stream!

Give People an Experience, don’t just talk about the experience. Oh baby we did this! I planted a trick on the audience, to let them know first hand how a social media event is different from your typical conference. (Think disruption, opinions, etc.) Thanks to my colleague, Jesse Stay, we had some drama of the entertaining kind, that was perfectly on point.

The Voices of My Peers:
Crowd-Sourcing. As I mentioned above under Rich Media, I used video clips I had taken from several of my peers. Why hear just my perspective, when I can bring you the insights of Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, Laura Fitton, CC Chapman, my Mom, Blanche Benton, and Bubbe of Feed Me Bubbe! The cool thing was that those peeps got shout outs too on Twitter from the precious people in my audience.

Share My Network With You. I wanted to include the local Hawaii “social media types” so that the businesses in the audience would start to get to know all of you. Even though I was running out of time, with close to 30 hours into my prep, I put together a brief slide show of some of you – thanks to HawaiiIRL again. This is about real people, not just lists of names somewhere. And of course I included all of my fellow speakers too.

Go Outside My Network. I also used videos from YouTube that I found inspiring, most especially the Lost Generation and my new friend, @MermaidKariel. I also shared excerpts from a video from GigOm about how Multitasking affects our brains.

The Result?
We had a grand time. People left the room highly buzzed and ready to go absorb as much as they could from the other sessions and hallway interactions. I was so happy to receive so much praise – from so many new people as well as from my peers. We do things so often in something of a vacuum – for me, having my colleagues entertained was a very sweet feeling! You can look at the Twestimonials in our sidebar – it shows the tweets I favorited and for which I am so grateful!

Here are the presentations from my colleagues that have been posted; I will update as I get more:
Dan Zelikman, on Communities and Advertising
Andy Beal, on Reputation Management

Aloha,

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Last night I facilitated a panel discussion at the Hawaii Chapter of the Social Media Club, featuring three Hawaii musicians: Jenn Wright, Kenneth Makuakane, and Shawn Moseley Livingston. They represent what we call here “mixed plate” in several ways. Male and female, native and haole, classical, funky, and Hawaiian style music, and each person sings, writes, plays multiple instruments, and produces!

Although they were talking as musical artists, many of their ideas are relevant to all of us. Their biases and perspectives are quite different though, and that makes for a good panel that keeps us from drinking just one brand of social media koolaid!

Here are some highlights from my notes I wanted to share with you.
The best social site for musicians currently: Reverb Nation. (Unanimous!)
Love your fans, respond to their comments, give them stuff! (For example, free downloads)
Beware of perfectionism – though do put some effort into making your music come from your heart. People can tell when you are just a copycat versus really committing something to your art.
Ken and Jenn recommended getting a presence on several social networks.
Jenn is using YouTube a lot and getting results.
Ken is using Facebook a lot and getting results.
Shawn uses his website and email list, and keeps his social web contacts truly personal.
Use the tools! Tagging, commenting, sharing your schedule and your samples. Give people links to share with their friends to your music, to your gigs, etc.
Make a really good demo! You will instantly stand out from the crowd.
We can’t rely on mainstream radio – we have to market ourselves.
Use the podsafe music communities to share your music with podcasters. This is a way to share networks and offer mutual support. Try these: Ioda PromoNet, Ariel Publicity, Music Alley (formerly known as the Podsafe Music Network).
Search for podcasters who have radio shows that play your style of music (or cover your type of services) for interest.

Now for some plugs!
Welcome to our Canadian visitors! Jake Bergen, of TractorBeam, was there visiting us from Alberta, Canada with his Dad Rod Bergen.

Many thanks to Fresh Cafe for hosting our event. There back room warehouse space is perfect for our meetings, and the staff is so supportive. Please check out the many other happenings there, especially the fine jazz from Fresh Standards (Bruce Hamada and Jim Howard) every Tuesday night starting at 8 pm.

For our event, awesome live music was provided by Yoza Allen. Please check her out around town and on her web site. Read this review of her at the Honolulu Weekly.

Go Waimanalo! And visit the East Honolulu Clothing Company. They shared their postcards with us so it’s easy to share their info with you!

Yes it takes a village to host these events and I have tremendous gratitude for Tara Coomans, Judi Clark, Angie Blaisdell, and Rob Bertholf – my co-leaders at Social Media Club – for helping produce this event. You can watch the recorded live stream at uStream.tv/smchi.

Aloha,

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This presentation was for the Hawaii Court Reporters and Captioners Association. These are the fine folks who work in the courtroom transcribing the proceedings, in lawyer offices taking depositions, and providing captioning for the hearing-impaired. Where would be without them?!

Here is a transcript of the slides I used, which was followed by real time web surfing looking at real life examples and Q&A. I will update with links after the presentation. You can download the PDF of my slides here. View and share the slides on SlideShare.net.

Promote Yourself with Social Media

• People Talk. Help them! Your identity. Your locations. Your messages. Your time.
• A Picture Is Worth…
• The Person – The Biz: Be clear about your identity: Keep it consistent across the internet. It’s not just your name and your avatar! Actions speak louder than words.
• Free eBook on howto manage your online identity: www.KnowHowCafe.com
• Your website is your prime real estate.
• Online Networking You’re invited! Culture matters. Find friends. Schedule smartly.
• Marketing The Good News: Other people can spread your message for you. You are no long limited by small staffs. You can benefit by creating “assets” that serve others as much as they serve you.
• Your New Media Voice Text Blog Podcast Internet Talk Show Photo Blog Live Video Stream Internet TV
• Tech IQ: Smart Phone Mobility RSS Efficiency Etiquette Literacy
• Best Practices: Ask. Respond. Share. Centralize strategy and Deputize across the organization. Personalize your goals and measure accordingly. Incorporate into normal j-o-b activities. Make it easy for others to talk about you.
• Online Self Promotion! Open 24-7!
• See you online!

Here are the links we visited

Note: All links open in a new window!

Aloha,

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Let’s discuss the data, technology, and humanity trends that make online video so powerful for business. This presentation was given at the Next Level Social Media Hawaii Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii on April 30, 2010. View the entire presentation here.

Here are the other speakers: Organized by Kelly Mitchell, aka @HawaiiRealty on Twitter and featuring Chris Pirillo, Geoff Livingston, Andrew Hyde, Aaron Brazell, and Jesse Stay.

I will be updating this post as I add more links and get the actual slide deck posted.

Companies who use social media are making more money.

Why Choose Video?

Many Choices for Online Video

Roles that Online Video Can Play

View the entire presentation here.

Here are the videos I included in the presentation:
Kanoe Miller Dancing Hula at Sunset at Halekulani Hotel.

Kanoe MIller Dancing Hula at Halekulani Hotel.

David Jones v Microchip

Watch the original video from David Jones.
Watch the original video from Microchip.

Johnson & Johnson Shares Even the Bad News

Watch the original video.

Gary Vaynerchuk Says Stop Waiting

Watch the original video.

The US Navy’s Social Media Policy

Watch the original video.

Aloha,

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We had an open forum on Facebook at the March meeting of Social Media Club Hawaii, held free of charge courtesy of ING Direct Cafe in Waikīkī. People were invited to submit questions and tips in advance. We shared these at the meeting, while my colleague Rob Bertholf and I moderated the meeting and added several tips, along with Joel Tomyl, Tara Coomans, Vernon Brown, Angie Blaisdell, Jon Lewis, and Bruce Fisher while Tess Staadecker managed the live video stream and chat. Looks like we forgot to hit the record button on the love video streaming, so we don’t have that this month. Look at the Flickr photos here.

Privacy Issues on Facebook

• Use Lists to organize your friends in to groups.
• Use your Privacy Settings to adjust who can see what.
• Additional privacy settings are available under many of your Tabs.
• Check monthly as Facebook changes their TOS (terms of Service) frequently.
• Test what others can see by going to My Account > Privacy and typing someone’s name in.
• Some say forget worrying about privacy – if you are a business, you want to get as much exposure as you can.
• When posting content, use the “except” feature to post only to selected people.

Advertising on Facebook

• Go to the Create an Ad link from your page or account and walk through the steps to test all of the available options.
• You can add one photo, one link, and a small amount of text. You can see how the ad will look as you are creating it
• You will be able to target your ad very specifically: by age, gender, location, education, keywords, etc. You can also have it display friends who are also fans.
• You can use pay per click or pay per view; most people felt pay per click is more reliable.
• You can set the amount you want to pay per day and per click. Individuals can go into Account Settings and choose to block all ads.
• Facebook has advertising standards: no X-rated, etc. Read common mistakes here; the full Ad Guidelines are here.
• Run several different, short term, targeted ads first to test response. Watch your ad stats
.

Increasing Fans & Best Practices for Fan Pages

• Post frequently with useful, interesting tips and links (not just selling.)
• Look at stats to see what types of links are most popular.
• Provide Facebook-only coupons to create interest and motivate action.
• Add a Facebook Page widget to your blog so you can add fans from outside FB.
• Send Facebook links to your regular email list
• Offer discount codes your fans can retweet/repost.
• Poll your fans on topics of interest.
• Use the FBML application to customize your page.
• Target non-fans with a unique URL when they land on your page and provide custom messaging.
• Fan pages are more for customer retention than customer gain; talk to them accordingly.

Saving Time by Cross-Posting Content to more than One Social Network

• WordPress Plugin for Facebook: Wordbook
• On other sites, use the FB login, such as Trip Advisor.
• On your blog/website, provide links to your other networks on every page.
• Here are some applications you can use to post simultaneously in one place:
HootSuite Chi.mp Ping.fm Twitterfeed to auto post your blog entries to Twitter Blog RSS Reader Facebook App

Credibility of social messages and people connections

• Facebook is now subject to phishing emails; don’t follow links from email! If it is a legitimate request, you will see them when you log in to your FB account directly or “by hand” in the browser. (Same goes for other social networks, gmail, PayPal, your bank, etc.)
• Some people do create multiple accounts on the same network; in some cases it is legitimate as people want a personal and a professional profile. In other cases it can be as a poseur.
• Look at the quality of a person’s feed or entries: are they just adding links or are they engaging in legitimate conversation? Do you know any of their friends?
• Check out their main website: are there many pages of authentic content? Or are there “coming soon” pages? Do they provide verifiable testimonials and clients?
• When choosing friends, many recommended to be more selective on your personal account and to be very “open tent” on business fan pages. In other words, practice non-discrimination on your business page
.

Pro Tips from Mari Smith

• To help build “social equity,” generously share relevant content…with no agenda.
• To increase fan page “stickiness” (fans keep coming back for more) and fan engagement, thank and acknowledge fans. Often.
• Use their first names. With a string of comments, reply using ”@name” (a person’s first name is the sweetest sounding word in their vocabulary!).
• If you know (or can find out) a fan’s Twitter ID, also send out acknowledging tweets from time to time!

Aloha,

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