Tag Archives: Twitter

Email Is DEAD…

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So yes this is a shocking headline, but amazingly enough after googling, (yes that is a word), “Is Email Dead” there were several articles, blogs and even research papers stating both that yes email is dead and no, when used in a certain manner, it is not dead. So why the headline “Email is DEAD”?

Well lately I have been seeing several emails from email marketers stating why email is better than social media. There was a recent tweet by Chris Brogan that stated “Email marketing is the #1 conversion and revenue tool for my business. I have 10x the followers and blog subs, but I get 10x MORE sales via my smallest channel, my newsletter. Email is FAR more responded to than just tweets. He also stated in a tweet…”When people tell me kids don’t read email, first, bullshit. That’s how FB tells them they were tagged in whatever…” Now I am a big fan of Chris. I met him right after he came out with his co authored book ‘Trust Agent’. And I do value what he has to say.

But based on my own research and working with Universities email is changing. There is still a place for it but it is changing. A few stats for supporting the theory that email is changing.

Boston College Will Stop Offering Incoming Freshman Email Accounts

Many students don’t even want a college e-mail address these days because they already have well-established digital identities before they arrive on campus. That’s the conclusion that officials at Boston College came to in a recent review of their online services. So the college recently decided to stop offering full e-mail accounts to incoming students starting next fall.

EDUCAUSE’s annual survey of 930 higher-education institutions showed that about 10 percent of respondents are considering getting rid of student eMail accounts. For doctoral institutions, the number is 25 percent.

So you might ask yourself where are the student’s getting their information? They are still students mobilechecking their current emails like gmail, hotmail and others but on mobile devices. Universities are allowing them to move university emails to one of these services or getting rid of emails all together and creating text messaging for important notices. The point is they are not trying to change their behavior they are trying to reach the students where they are already spending time. This is on platforms like FB, Twitter, Bebo and yes folks, MySpace is coming back. So whether it is a text, a post on one of these platforms or an email account forwarded to another service the message is clear that our email world is changing.

So why are email marketers and others promoting email? Well it is my belief that corporate america changes slowly. I’m not disagreeing with Chris and others that email is still a valid marketing tool, but that the climate is changing. I sat next to a gentleman that works for one of the email providers at a conference not too long ago and this topic came up. His response was that email will always be around, I’m not so sure. But his argument was that once Gen Y get’s into the workforce they will be forced to work on email. Guess what folks…he’s wrong. Gen Y will choose where they work and what they do based on their current behaviors not the behaviors of corporate america. If you don’t believe me ask Readers Digest why they are going bankrupt; well it is because they did not adapt to the new marketplace and the new consumer. Email companies are trying to adapt and change. But I hold to the belief that Email is not Social Media…Period. No matter how loud these companies keep yelling and saying that it is.

I’ve put off writing this blog because I know it will ruffle some feathers but those feathers are due to be ruffled. The bottom line is that behavior’s have changed and corporate america must change with these new behaviors. The status-quo is no more and email is just a small piece of how the new customer, employee and vendor is changing the way they want to be communicated with by companies. Think about how much of your email you don’t read because you consider it spam. Now think about the last few texts, notifications and posts you’ve actually read from platforms you are already on.

Just something to think about…

Profile PicLes Adkins is the CEO of Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Business Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn Join us on FB and Google+ as well.

Social Media Expert?

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      So is there such a thing as a “Social Media Expert”? Lately I have been seeing a lot about this subject on the group “Social Media Today” on LinkedIn  and Google +. As well as several other blogs. Yesterday I was in a meeting where I was called a “Social Media Expert” several times but I do not consider myself an expert, just someone who has been working with Social Media for over 6 years and understands how to make it work and also I keep my eyes on what’s new and what the new trends are.

I don’t believe anyone can be an expert on Social Media or any industry for that matter unless you keep learning about the industry and the changes that happen within that industry.  When I first started working in Social Media I used to love to ask people who said they knew all about Social Media if they had heard of Second Life and Kaneva. Most said no, so that told me something.

For those of you who don’t know they are virtual worlds that allow individuals to interact in a social way using an avatar and many businesses are using this as well.

Here is what I wanted to say. I have seen many lists and many opinions on what to look for when looking for a Social Media Strategist or so-called “Expert”. I agree whole heartedly with most of these but I have one big question.

How are the people who are deciding what’s on these lists coming up with the information. Yes it needs to work, it needs to be more than how to create a FB (Facebook) page, and it needs to be a part of a holistic strategy. But who is right?

One of the big ones I see all the time is that if you have 1008 followers on Twitter and you follow 1010 people this is a flag that you may not be a social media ex… But I have to ask the question, does having a large following on Twitter make you an expert or does what you communicate to that audience, no matter the size of the audience, matter more?

I have been thinking about this for a while and just wanted to state that just because someone thinks that you have to be a certain way in order to be a Social Media Expert doesn’t mean that you should let them have the last word. You should pick consultants and firms to help you with your Social Media based on your relationship with them, their knowledge of social media overall, their knowledge of integrating it into your current business processes and (here comes a big one) – helps you build trust and affects behavior with the social media strategy and implementation you are, or plan on doing.

See, couldn’t help myself, had to give my own opinion. But keep in mind that this is a young industry and remember that the “Experts” used to state without a doubt in their mind with many measurable results that the “World was Flat”. This was a common and accepted thought for years. So the next time you see a list (and I have some out there) or someone stating how to pick a Social Media Expert just keep in mind that it might be a good idea to think that it is just their opinion.

The World is not Flat it is round but we did not figure that out until one man overcame this old thought which was prevalent in the first half of the 20th century. Not that long ago. So lighten up out there on what you think or don’t think a Social Media Expert is.

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and a Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

 

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The Medium is the Message

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So from the same Blog “The Daily Dose” by Mikal E. Belicove comes the next Lie of Social Media Marketing.

“Just because it’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace or some other newfangled online or mobile-powered platform, the message still carries more weight than the medium. It’s always been about the message. It’s not about the platform or the technology. The technology is just a tool, and just because younger people were the first to use Twitter and Facebook, don’t think for a moment that older employees can’t effectively use them just as well.”

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY!!!! Ok sorry to yell, but just wanted to make this point loud and clear.  As we discussed whether or not Size Matters yesterday we discovered that quality of followers and likes weigh out over size.  You want to convert these followers to become loyal to your brand or buy something but first you need to add value. The message is where you add value and begin the process of building trust. The message  is more important than the medium especially in Social Media.

The hard thing that is being felt by businesses and organizations is allowing others to comment on the message. This means they must take the good with the bad. The  adage is that one dissatisfied customer would lead to the loss of 100 customers and you would never know. Now you can satisfy a customer before the loss by responding directly to their comment. This does not mean you have to accept what they say but now you can have a dialogue and sometimes people just want to know that they are being heard.

I speak with companies about creating a message with “Whole Brain Advantage” this is a scientifically researched methodology created in the 60′s by Ned Herrmann to determine thinking preference. It remains relevant even more so today.  I could write pages on this topic alone but for this subject  it is a way to  help you create a message based on your entire audience’s thinking preferences. How cool would that be for you if you could reach and affect your whole audience? How would that help your bottom line?

All that to say that the message is much more important than the medium. So whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, your website, or any number of platforms,  what you say is more important than what technology you use or how it looks. And don’t forget that your audience must be able to respond to your message.

CEO, Orange SMS Consulting

Staying Connected to your Audience

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The first thing you need to do in order to stay connected to your audience is know who your audience is.  I have already talked about this in First Step – To Create A Social Media Strategy . Once you have broken that magic definition of who your audience is you have to go where they are. The people you are trying to stay connected with are more than likely not on your website. You are trying to get them interested in your product or services but as we have discovered in Build Trust to Sell Stuff it is about the relationship. You have to build the relationship in the communities they are visiting and having a conversation.

I just realized that some of this is redundant but it is worth repeating. So bear with me. So where is your audience? Chances are if you are looking for executives and businesses they are on LinkedIn. If you are not currently on LinkedIn you need to be if you are looking for professional connections, prospects or if your audience is business to business. Within LinkedIn there are many diverse groups. Some of the ones that I belong to are:

  • eMarketing Association Network
  • Google Universe
  • Linked: Golfers
  • Social Learning for Professionals
  • Social Media Marketing

You get the picture I hope. The groups above and many more are where my audience is. It is your job to find the groups where your audience would hang out and talk, share and ask others for advice and help. Another business one that is still active, but not as popular, is Plaxo

If  your audience is the consumer you need to definitely be on Facebook with over 500 million members chances are your consumer audience is there. Ask Coca Cola why they are there. No really go to the link and ask them. They have over 14 million members plus several subpages like Coca Cola Australia. And with FB’s new groups and dynamics there should be many more to choose from.

Another way to stay connected is to listen for key words that your audience is talking about that would define them as your audience. You can do this through a number of services but I have found that HootSuite is a good one. You can monitor mentions and also schedule posts. We’ve already talked about Listening Stations, which are a great way to monitor what is being said and finding your audience that way.

There are many more places your audience is hanging out at. It is your job to find them.

  • Twitter
  • Bebo
  • hi5

And many more!

The important thing is to stay connected and to do that You Have To Know Your Audience. Social Media is a tool for you to have meaningful and not so meaningful conversations with your audience. Let them know you are in their world and you care about what they have to say.

Les Adkins, CEO Orange SMS (Social Media Solutions)

Second Step – To Create a Social Media Strategy

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Yesterday we discussed the First Step to Creating a Social Media Strategy is defining your audience. Ask yourself the question “Who is Your Audience?” so what do you think the next step is? Well first let me tell you about a recent Networking experience I had this evening. I met several people who saw my name tag which has my name, company name and “Social Media” on the badge. The first thing they ask is “what do I do?”. The second is always close to the same. “I just started or I am trying to build a Social Media Strategy and I just created a Facebook Page or Ning Site and set myself up on Twitter”. I always ask them the same question, Why? At this point I get puzzled looks. That is what the rest of the world considers a Social Media Strategy. A Facebook page or a Social Media Site that points back to their website. I have said several times, and will keep repeating that neither of the above examples constitute a Social Media Strategy.

It is not their fault. As I said before there are way too many Facebook and Twitter specialists out there stating how to use these two technologies, so people assume that in order to have a Social Media Strategy, you have to do both of these things. You may have to but not yet, not before you know for sure. How do you know well you find out who your audience is then you focus in on what you want them to do.

The second step to creating a Social Media Strategy is to decide on your Objective. Ask yourself the question “What do you want your audience to do? What is your Objective? So you might be asking yourself what is my Objective? Well the Business Dictionary defines objective as the following:

Mission, purpose or standard that can be reasonably achieved within the expected timeframe and with the available resources. In general, an objective is broader in scope than a goal, and may consist of several different goals. Objectives are the most basic planning tools underlying all planning and strategic activities. They serve as the basis for policy and performance appraisals, and act as the glue that binds the entire organization together.

So you can have a number of different objectives for your organization or business. In order to create a strong Social Media Strategy you need to determine the objective you wish to achieve with your audience. Meaning what do you want your audience to do. This could be as simple as “buy your product or service”,  “join a community”,  “participate in a cause” or “just know some information that may change their behavior”. Hopefully you get the point. The objective has to be clear in order for your Social Media Strategy to be clear. The objective determines the messaging.

The thing I find confusing about some “Social Media Strategies” is that they are not clear. Unless you are a restaurant, and you offer me $10 off on a meal, it’s hard to determine what you want the readers and followers to do. This is a vital step to determining your Social Media Strategy. It has to be precise and everyone involved in creating your Social Media Strategy needs to know what the objective or objectives are so there can be consistent messaging. Only you can determine what your objective/s are no one else can do it for you.

My objective for Orange SMS is to give people information about Social Media so they can make intelligent decisions when creating a Social Media Strategy. To see what other companies are doing and possibly what your competition is doing. Trends and information that can help my readers move into the Social Media realm and succeed.

What is your objective?

CEO and Founder Orange SMS

First Step – To Create a Social Media Strategy

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So what do you think the first step is to creating a Social Media Strategy? Probably not what you are thinking.    It is not deciding on whether you should choose Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other current Social Media outlet as you might of thought or heard. It is not figuring out the right way to make money on the above sites and it is not listening to “experts” on how to make money using Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

The noise about social media is getting louder and it is starting to be hard to understand who to listen to and what to do. On average you probably received at least one email or message a day stating “How to Use Social Media” and it is followed by an expert describing the best ways to use FB (Facebook), Twitter or LinkedIn or how to create your own Social Network on Ning or several other sites that allow you to create a “Social Media Site” for a small cost or free. But that is not where you start when you begin creating your social media strategy.

The first step to creating a Social Media Strategy is to decide on your audience. Ask yourself the question “Who is your audience?” and spend some time with this question. Are you trying to reach the consumer, businesses, both, a specific industry, or to fulfill a need that is out there in society? I can’t tell you who your audience is, but it is a question that as a business, organization, or individual you need to decide for yourself.

Unfortunately most of the people I see using Social Media are trying to figure out how to gain a following or grow your audience.  But if you don’t know who your audience is then how do you know what to say? People and businesses and everything in between gravitate toward a person or company that they see online which meets their needs or wants. It is something that they are interested in and that they want to spend time finding out about. Once they find them it is all about trust. So if you haven’t built the trust of your audience or the community and you are just trying to sell, then you are finding it difficult to see an ROI from Social Media.

That is why it is so important to get this First Step right. Discovering who your Audience actually is. “Who is Your Audience?” is a question that every company, writer or individual should ask themselves before they ever put one thing on any social media site. Some companies seem to have forgotten about the audience and that is why they are having difficulties in getting new business. (That is definitely a topic for another Blog).

But for this blog keep in mind that determining “who your audience is” before beginning any type of Social Media Strategy is a must. We will get to the technology but there are a few things that come before that and the first thing is:

WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE????


Les Adkins

CEO and Founder of Orange SMS

Social Media Bubble “Fact or Fiction” ?

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So first off, what is a “Social Media Bubble” anyway. Well in total transparency, as social media should be, I will start out by making the blog written by Umar Haque in the Harvard Business Review available to all of you to truly understand what they are talking about regarding the “Social Media Bubble”.

So what they are saying is, well you can read the article above for yourself. Here is why I think the Bubble is Fiction. Let me share with you that there are 76 million members in the Millenial Generation. This versus 85 million Baby Boomers who are retiring rather quickly whether they want to or not and 50 million Generation X’ers. My hypothesis is that this group will force the “establishment” to change how they do business and how they market to their services and products. You can see this currently with all of the major companies doing something with Social Media and moving traditional advertising dollars to social media. These companies are also hiring executives with the title “Social Media Director”.

Here are some things that make Millenials/Gen Y’ers  different than previous generation workers according to Clay Collins author of “The Alternative Productivity Manifesto”

  • Gen Y uses modern tools and technologies, including software that’s easily accessible and free from the Internet;
  • Gen Y easily maintains their to-do lists, and priorities by synching with the PDAs and iPODs;
  • Gen Y are not workaholics, and understand the relationship between a balanced life and productivity;
  • Gen Y are more likely to love their jobs, because they change jobs more frequently, and stay in jobs that match their passions and talents;
  • Gen Y has a continuing thirst for learning and personal growth;
  • Gen Y wants to have new experiences, try new things, and be creative;
  • Gen Y doesn’t stay in jobs they don’t like just to be comfortable and secure.

So as I always do in all my trainings ask the question “What does this mean to you?” or rather what is the WIIFY (What’s In It For You) Why should you care? As you have heard me say “Facebook is not a Social Media Strategy” in of itself, but with over 500 million users you can’t argue with the numbers. Ask any politician about how important the numbers are or a company when they are looking at a market segment.

This new Generation will force companies to communicate with them the way they want to be communicated with, and guess what, this group doesn’t watch a whole lot of TV and they don’t read magazines and they rarely listen to the radio and newspapers forget it. Why do you think magazines and newspapers are moving to an online environment. This is where this generation get’s it’s information, online and through their Social Media Networks. A new list just came out: The Beloit College Mind Set List for the class of 2014 One of the things it states is that this class does not use email because it is too slow. Guess what they text, tweet and post and “join the conversation” of people, companies and political causes that they are interested in.

Those who argue that the Bubble exists and will soon burst I have a few things to say:

  • The world was never flat
  • Electricity is not evil
  • Microsoft did not take over the world
  • Apple did not fall by the wayside
  • The Internet did not diminish productivity
  • The 2012 thing about the world ending, well we will have to wait and see
  • And we did learn to fly, really well, across oceans for goodness sakes

My point is that be careful what you say about Social Media. It is the first time that communities outside of our grandparents are truly connected by a common thread. They may not be “true friends” but we trust them if they are in our community and add value to our lives. This is what is happening in the world of Social Media:

  • Trust Agents are being created.
  • Credibility of a company or a person is more out in the open than ever before.
  • You can now know in real-time what is happening in Iran and around the world
  • And I can get an answer to any question in real-time from people I trust in my community.
  • If a company is lying to me or telling me the truth and more importantly if they care.

Social Media is a young medium but it has already passed all the numbers related to all the other media ever in existence. So for you numbers people out there. Social Media has the numbers and they are continuously growing. If you are trying to promote a brand, product or service and you aren’t using Social Media I guarantee your competition is.

So the Bubble is Fiction, and they have the numbers to prove it. It is also way too young of an industry to start looking for the burst now. I heard earlier today that every 70 years there is a major housing crisis, so Social Media has something like 60 years to go.

Les Adkins, CEO Orange SMS

Stay Tuned for MySylbert Business Community Coming Soon!

Social Media is dynamic as opposed to static

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So what is the difference between a dynamic and static website? One allows for interaction and the other doesn’t. Is that simple enough for you? Some would say to simple but from my experience keeping things simple is getting harder and harder these days.

I was at lunch today with a COO  and VP  and we started discussing what makes a website dynamic or static. We were discussing the topic of social media and why so many companies are claiming to be doing something with social media in words only and not action. We did not come to an absolute but my answer was that a website can be determined to have social media functionality if it allows for real-time dialogue on the actual site. I am calling this dynamic. If it doesn’t, I am calling it static.

So this begs the question, if I add a Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn icon to my website can I say it is dynamic or contains social media functionality. The easy answer is NO. The reason is that the dynamic functionality remains with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn not the site that the icon is on. But kudos to these companies that are at least putting in the effort to attempt to begin the conversation somewhere, even if you have to leave their website to have it.

But we also discussed that there needs to be some sort of bridge for businesses to move from doing business today, to doing business tomorrow. If you have followed any of my blogs or FB page at all I discuss doing business tomorrow in detail. I believe that the companies who embrace the Social Media tools and allow for real-time conversation between their employees, customers and stakeholders are going to attract the new talent and attract the new consumer which will allow them to grow. Those who do not adapt to this new way of connecting and doing business will not draw new talent and not gain the business of the new consumer and thus will eventually die.

So in simple terms, dynamic is having the ability to have interaction on your website in real-time and static just gives you information without the ability to comment or converse with the company or another person on that website. This blog would be considered a dynamic site because you can comment on it and we could have a conversation in real-time theoretically. It has the functionality and capability of achieving this goal.

My firm belief is that the static website is dying off. It takes too much time, money and effort to draw someone to your website to not allow them to comment on your company’s service, product or just to say hi. To allow dialogue is the future, to deny dialogue is the past.

So I say let’s boldly, dynamically enter into the future today. Your competitors are doing it so why aren’t you?

Les Adkins, CEO Orange SMS

“Watch for Launch of MySylbert”

16 Examples of Huge Brands Using Twitter for Business

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In honor of the Lunch and Learn tomorrow at ROAM. Thought I would share this great blog from Ann Smarty that gives real life examples of Twitter being used for business by some big names. Check out all the links to see the twitter accounts, great examples. If they are using Twitter shouldn’t you be???

Les Adkins @mysylbert

CEO of SMS (Social Media Solutions)

All Twitter benefits and (potential) spheres of usage are yet to be explored. However it is great to see some of huge companies already taking advantage of the tool:

  • To update customers of the company deals and coupon codes:

1. Dell has created a number of Twitter profiles, each meant for different types of deals (e.g. DellOutlet posts recent refurbished Dell computer offers).

2. Starbucks posts new offers and also participates in threaded discussions of these offers with their Twitter-followers.

* To offer an alternative customer support option:

3. JetBlue offers Twitter-based customer service (notice, they even provide the customer support employee’s name currently on duty).

4. ComCast offers a friendly Twitter customer support; what I personally like about their profile is the real person photo instead of the company logo.

5. TheHomeDepot “moonlights on Twitter to help their customers.”

  • To get closer to customers:

6. Via their Twitter profile Southwest Airlines run non-official, entertaining discussions with their customers.

7. Whole Foods Market asks what their clients like to read and watch, recommends new food podcasts and invites them to the company upcoming events.

8. HRBlock runs ask-and-answer sessions with their customers.

9. Best Buy has built a Community to communicate with their customers and friends.

  • To react to customers’ feedback:

10. Popeyes answers their clients’ feedback in an entertaining tone and also updates their Twitter listeners of the current deals and discounts.

  • To offer an alternative subscription option:

11. ATTNews updates their Twitter-followers of the news published at the site.

12. Forrester Research posts updates of their site recent discussions.

  • To post company news:

13. BreakingPoint posts updates of the company and industry news and also discusses it with their Twitter-listeners.

14. Ford posted the company internal news (the account seems abandoned).

Update: here are some cool Ford Twitter accounts you can check out:

(thanks to @ScottMonty, Global Digital Communications for
Ford Motor Company, for pointing the accounts out to me)

15. Samsung has created a Twitter account dedicated to mobile phones and posts both the company (US department) and product news there.

  • To promote the corporate blog:

16. Kodak Chief Blogger both posts the company blog updates and discusses them with the company customers.
Written By:

Ann Smarty | @seosmarty

Ann Smarty is the Director of Media at Search & Social where she serves as the Editor of Search Engine Journal. Ann’s expertise in blogging and tools serve as a base for her writing, tutorials and her guest blogging project, MyGuestBlog.

Twas The Night Before Christmas Social Media Style

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Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house you’re on Petville and Zoo World using your mouse
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and hoping your latest YouTube video soon would be shared
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, flirting on MySpace and texting instead
And mama in her ‘kerchief’ and I in my cap when both of us heard a laugh and a snap
Our children ran laughing exclaiming with pride will share this on Flickr and they ran away to hide
When then on my laptop there arose such a Twitter I sprang from my bed to ReTweet the matter
Away to my blog I flew like a flash to write down my thoughts before they had passed
The light from my laptop gave the room a slight glow I belonged to so many groups I didn’t know where to go
When what to my wondering eyes should appear but a Holiday Card from Plaxo this year
The card stated clearly with marketing bliss may you be profitable this year, please pick from the list
We’ll show you the way but make sure to pick us
We are social marketing experts go ahead you can trust us
The confusion I felt in this technical world made me almost fall down while my head just swirled
I remembered the time when email was it and out for the Holidays was all we needed to fit
So in spite of the beeping another text had arrived and all I could do was just sit down and sigh
More rapid than eagles the messages came, there were tweets and comments and all were the same
My dog is too tired, join my cause, a fan page is waiting, do you need a job
What happened to Christmas where did it go
I’m writing this down and still I don’t know
The world it is changing we have to agree on the night that we call our Christmas Eve
So don’t fret or shudder the next time you hear the sound of a text on your iPhone so clear
For all of the native’s, digital true we want you to join the community that fits you
This Social Networking is not going away its changing the power with each passing day
So this Christmas remember no matter what you perceive we are coming together as a world, yes believe
And all of your gifts electronic or real remember the change has happened regardless of how you feel
We are here to guide you relax it’s not the end
All we really want is just to be friends
So although we did not mention, all of the Sites
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Les Adkins
Social Media Solutions
follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mysylbert