Five Plugged-in Dudes Get Fired Up About New Media at Pub Club
Before I headed over to the Publicity Club of New England’s “Buzz Word: New Media” panel tonight, I thought to myself, “When are we going to be able to stop calling this stuff ‘new’ and what kind of marketing/communications world would we live in that could allow that to happen?” Since you’re reading my blog right now, you’re probably at least somewhat technologically inclined, making you about 17 gazillion light years ahead of the average anyone. We tech/media geeks forget that too easily. I’m sure all the panelists would agree that we have considerable work to do before all this “new” stuff becomes widely adopted and understood. That said, I think moderator Brian Reich (EchoDitto and author of Media Rules) and panelists Adam Ritchie (Adam Ritchie Brand Direction), Mike Volpe (HubSpot), Patrick Richardson (Schneider Associates) and Mark McLennan (Schwartz Communications) gave their audience a push in the right direction.
One of the gems that stood out to me (besides the chocolate-covered raisins in my dinner package, mmm) was the discussion around being “on message.” Mike really hit the nail on the head as he explained that there’s simply no such thing as the crafted, corporate message working anymore and that “the message” is what people are saying, regardless of what you put in a PR plan or what your client’s legal team approves. I really liked that Mike took this idea one step further to say, “If you don’t like what people are saying, YOU have to change something. You have to change what YOU’RE doing if you don’t like what people have decided the message is.” I’m a firm believer in this concept, and it pains me when I hear stories about clients pulling their hair out over “this” vs. “that” word choices and ignoring what’s really being said about them on the Web. You don’t own your message, so listen to the people who are creating it and respond and collaborate accordingly.
Another key takeaway from the night was the discussion that social media tools and tactics aren’t always right for every client or in every situation. As much as we get excited about this stuff and see the value in bringing it to light for our clients, there’s no merit in rolling out a Facebook campaign or a YouTube contest if it doesn’t make sense for the goals you’re trying to achieve. The panelists mentioned that while Facebook might work for getting in front of college students, some almost-100 percentage of students also look to and trust their university papers for news. And let’s be real–no one is hosting an event with panelists getting fired up about how awesome newspapers are and fresh ways to use this sweet PR tool, but it’s good to remember that a little traditional/new mix-n-match can be the magic potion for meeting client objectives and achieving success.
Each of the panelists also stressed the importance of practicing what you preach by being engaged yourself. I really liked what Mark said about “social media finally enabling PR people to do what we’ve been WANTING to do for 100 years.” We have countless tools and opportunities to connect with people, learn new things and share interesting content, so why are so few people taking advantage?
In the car ride home after the event, Pamela Seiple, Mary Sullivan and I got to talking about the connection between online and offline interaction. In my opinion, the Web has given us a digital reflection of how social relationships exist in real life already, which makes the transitions from online to offline remarkably fluid. Brian alluded to a PR team in crisis mode taking angry bloggers offline to talk about issues as possibly revealing a flaw or failure of new media. I have to respectfully disagree. (Or honestly, maybe I just missed the point? Brian’s a soft-spoken guy.) I think taking plugged-in people offline is just an extension of the way they’re able to socialize online, and vice versa. And when bloggers and tweeple congregate offline, they’re most likely still texting, updating Twitter, sending emails–still connected to their online interactions. The fluidity of online-offline social interaction is pretty sexy if you ask me. Engage me online, engage me offline and let’s talk about online when we’re IRL and real life when we’re online.
And let’s remember: most people who are participating in this social media and social networking stuff are into the idea of engagement. These people generally want to connect, so if PR people are passing up opportunities to form relationships with the people who are driving “the conversation” on the Web (and offline!) about brands, products, public figures, whatever–they’re pretty insane.
All in all, I feel like a lot of my values and ideas about social media and its marcom uses were brought to the surface and that the overall excitement in the room tonight was promising. Every day we’re takin’ this thing closer to the future.
What do you think, boys and girls?
MarketingProfs Take Over Boston, Entertain Me at a Tweetup
A whole bunch of social media and marketing people converged on Boston over the past couple days for the MarketingProfs Business-to-Business Forum 2008. As usual in this city, there was a tweetup for the occasion and I had the pleasure of attending. Lots of familiar faces were at the Barking Crab (pronounced bahhkin krab) laughing, chatting, meeting, photographing, tweeting… you know the deal.
A few notes:
- Ann Handley is a riot. Ann, you are so much fun and I really hope we can “hook up” [her words, not mine!] in Boston sometime soon.
- I managed not to spill any beverages on Todd Van Hoosear. FTW.
- Chris Penn is pretty stealthy with that camera.
- We knew this already, but Brian Solis is a definite rock star.
- It’s impossible to talk with Steve Garfield and not smile.
- Rebecca “repcor” Corliss and Shelley “thespottedduck” Greenberg are aces at the buddy system. If you’re in Boston and don’t know these two, get on that.
- Dough’s first day at SHIFT was a thumb’s up.
- The only person who loves hugs more than I do is Joe Cascio.
- Paul Dunay is not only a great client, he’s a down-to-earth master of conversation. Great to finally meet IRL.
- Rich Krueger is a hoot. What an energetic personality. Hello, new friend.
- Greg Verdino unleashed his tongue in public… again.
UPDATE: Big shout out to long-time SHIFTer and A-Team leader Catherine Allen, for whom this was her first tweetup!
Twitter may be broken 98% of the time, but tweetups always work.
(Photo by Chris Brogan)
You Know What? My Blog Isn’t a Conversation.
I’ve read a few interesting posts about this concept recently, and I want to give my two cents. My two cents being that my blog (not all blogs necessarily) just isn’t a conversation.
Here’s how it came out after marinating in my brain: a conversation isn’t me saying something and then people lining up to give me a response. And it’s not a kissing booth. A conversation is a real-time (or close to it) dialogue where information, ideas, views and opinions are shared back and forth. To me, that’s what a conversation is.
Online, conversations are happening on Twitter, FriendFeed, Seesmic, Google Talk, ooVoo (maybe even Plurk?)–the conversation is where people can speak and respond the way we do in real life. In snippets, with others chiming in and a mutual sense of engagement on both sides.
On my blog, you can leave a comment (I always appreciate your feedback), and I might respond to it, but that isn’t a conversation. That’s not how people talk to each other in real life. In a true conversation in real life, you don’t give your big spiel and then step aside so others can give their big spiel back. That’s not a conversation. That’s an announcement. At best it’s pseudo-conversation.
Don’t get me wrong, I think blogging is a valuable form of communication that allows for a sharing of ideas has fundamentally changed (for the better) the way we create and consume media content. I just don’t think it’s a conversation. For me, my blog is more like a bulletin of announcements that encourage responses. There’s a definite two-way flow of information and ideas here, but it’s a different type of communication that I consider separate from the concept of “conversation.”
What do you think? Is your blog a conversation?
5 Products I Will Never Buy
I watch a lot of commercials and do my fair share of shopping. I see tons of products online, on TV and out and about in real life all the time. Here are 5 products I would never buy, because they’re dumb.
1. Crocs: I don’t care how comfortable they are–they look like the dopiest shoes on earth. I know in the past few months the company launched some new lines of footwear that was supposed to be more fashionable than their signature look, but I would never buy Crocs of any kind even if they looked exactly like Louboutins. Never.
2. Kinoki Foot Pads: Seriously, what? How could you even sell something like this?
3. Go-GURT: Yoplait’s Go-GURT grosses me out. What a disgusting, squishy idea for a snack. That stuff must not stay cold for very long, and warm yogurt has to be one of the worst concepts ever.
4. CDs: I think it’s funny when people own actually CDs nowadays. When I was 13, I wanted a million CDs and thought the coolest place on the planet was Newbury Comics. Not so much anymore. I would probably sooner buy a cassette just to be funny than buy a CD for any reason.
5. Clairol hair color: In August 2007, I used a dark brown Clairol hair color on my brown hair. I just wanted to take the brown a couple shades darker. It dyed my hair Elvira black and then foamed gray-purple in the shower for the next 10 days. Over the next couple months, the dye faded out of my hair in horizontally banded strips so I looked sort of like a cross between a tiger and a clown. When I spoke with Clairol’s customer service, they were absolutely not apologetic or kind to me and offered me only a reimbursement for the $9 I spent on the hair color. Absolutely terrible.
Thoughts?
Quickie Time: Fond Memories Edition
Lightning speed, answer these five questions:
1. What is your first memory?
2. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
3. How old were you when you decided you weren’t a kid anymore?
4. Who would you go back and thank from your past?
5. How have you dealt with regret?
I’m Back.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention the term “Internet Hatorade” per Matt McDonald’s expert suggestion. It’s safe to say that I guzzled some major Internet Hatorade back in May. It’s out of my system now, thankfully.
I decided I hated the Internet for a couple weeks. I think I just needed a break from all this crazy stuff. Between being sick, then feeling tired from being sick and generally being in a pissy, anti-social mood, I was just like, “Eww, Social Honeycomb is gross. I hate you, Internet.” I don’t unplug enough (ever?), so it all hit me at once, and I took my break.
But I’m back. Hello, Internet. Can we be friends again?
But I’m Feeling Anti-Social!
When talking to a friend tonight about how sick I’ve been feeling lately, he asked, “Is there anything more than feeling sick? You are getting me worried–you haven’t even blogged for a while.”
It’s just funny how we become so immersed in the content we create and the communities where we participate, that if we don’t make some noise for a few days, people wonder where we go.
I’ve been feeling really sick for the past few days, and the extra energy I’ve had hasn’t really been going into Social Honeycomb. And isn’t that part of the beauty of blogging? I have no deadlines, no one to report to, no editorial calendar to contend with… If I’m feeling like poo, I have the luxury of just being lazy about producing content.
I’m on my couch, watching the SYTYCD auditions and gagging at food commercials. I’m going to be fine, but that’s what I’m doing while I’m feeling anti-social and sick-like.
Boo the conversation, boo participation, boo anything that requires more focus than just lying here doing nothing.
I’ll be back and nice when I’m healthy, yo.
Congratulations, Class of 2008
As I am scrambling to get my apartment looking like something resembling the word “clean” before my family arrives today, I wanted to take a breather and give a shout out to my fellow BU 2008 grads.
I’ve made some incredible friends over the years I’ve spent at Boston University. So many people have made me laugh, inspired me, challenged me and taught me new things since September 2004 when we all arrived in Boston to start the crazy chapter in life called college.
Congratulations, my friends: Maria Thurrell, Vanessa Gerard, Tiffany Maykel, Pamela Seiple, Rebecca Corliss, Juliana Buendia, Pallavi Joshi, Maanuv Khurana, Shivna Vasavada, Ryen Robinson, Danielle Katz, Anna Rose Roisman, Ashley Haliko, Lauren Fox, Elise Kohen, Lexi Kalil, Liz Sicuso, Monica Derevjanik, Emery Markles, Allison Lavey, Natasha Patel, Cynthia Jorge, Amir Raed, Lara Quest Schmitz and countless others.
I hope the “real world” treats you well and you grab life by the balls every chance you get. W00t 2008!
Ridiculosity: The Philips Smart Handbag
My bud Brian Polensky pointed this techie handbag out to me, and I obviously had to share it here. If this thing ever becomes reality, someday I may be plugging my handbag into my laptop… Sexy.
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Lez Get It Poppin’ at POPSignal
I’ll be at the POPSignal Party tonight at Tequila Rain in Boston with a few hundred tech rock stars. Let it be noted that I may or may not have a Flip and I may or may not get you on video. Looks like there’ll be a huge turn out, so here’s to a great night. See you there, Boston!
