The Business Tribe – Social Tuning and the Vibe
If you were going to create a 21st Century "Business Tribe", what would it look like? How would it work? What would 
motivate the tribe?
Lately, the idea of business tribes has been on my mind. Two years ago, we experimented with "small business, small group consulting" where we coach 3-5 small businesses as a group. The offering fell flat. There were some good business conversations - and more than a few useful business tips... but not enough to justify the periodic meetings and commitment. Why?
The group did not "Vibe". The businesses had different models and were at different stages. By default, we had to generalize the conversation to fit everyone - or cover topics that left some participants out. Neither approach worked.
So, starting this week I'm experimenting with some friends on creating a "business tribe". The businesses and their entrepreneurs are all of the same:
- Business stage - we specifically chose 3 companies at roughly the same stage of their business growth.
- Business model - they share the same basic product model, although some are B2C and others are B2B. I'm wondering how critical that ends up being?
- World view - Used Spiral Dynamics to assign "memes" to candidate companies. I think this might be a very important intangible to consider.
- Pursuing the same objective (to be selected by the tribe). One of the members suggested this in our kickoff meeting. I really like this since it gets everyone aligned around a common activity, but specific for each of their businesses.
So, do you agree with these "tribe building criteria"? What would you add or change? I'd love to riff on this with you!
(Photo Credit: from http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/entrepreneurs-university-resources-a-win-win-for-all-335985/)
Setting goals for Social Media efforts
Get more leads! Close more deals! Grow my business!
These are the typical answers I hear when I ask small business owners what they hope to accomplish through their use of Social Media. I suspect, though, that they would have the same answer for just about any marketing investment I asked them about.
What do you hope to achieve by investing in social media, radio advertisting, paid search, attending networking events, running an workshop, building a new web site, renting an airplane banner at the beach ?
When asking my tribe about what topics they'd like to see in a Social Media workshop for Small Business, my friend Adam (also a SEO and business intelligence guru) asked about setting goals for small businesses with respect to their use of Social Media.
Ultimately, people want to know what return their can expect on their investment. This is a big topic and one I've been listening to some smart people debate. Some of favorites are Erik Qualman's post and video on Social Media ROI. Qualman asks, "What is the ROI on your phone?".
Before I move on from ROI, I have to include Olivier Blanchard's hysterical slideshare deck on Social Media ROI.
Blanchard's presentation shows that there are lot of ways to use Social Media to drive and improve engagement. At the end of the day, that engagement will frequently drive sales and tangible returns.
But what happens in the middle with Social Media is a critical factor in deciding what kind of Social Media Strategy a small business should employ. In another post I outline our process for assigning channels to a Social Media strategy for a business. A key factor in deciding which channels to use is the match between the business goals and the best uses of the channels chosen.
We put together a baker's dozen of potential goals for a businesses Social Media strategy. These goals fall into 3 categories:
- Knowledge-centric goals are used to promote credibility and deepen a businesses's knowledge.
- Relational goals are used to develop relationships with different constituents of a business.
- Outcome Oriented goals are ones in which Social Media is more directly tied to an outcome. These often have more of a fixed duration, a targeted message and a campaign structure.
Our framework is outlined below:
While detailing each of these "objectives" will take a bit more than I planned to spend on this blog post, I hope it provides you with an idea of how more specific objectives can be gleaned from a thoughtful conversation about Social Media strategy for your business.
It opens up the conversation about how you might use Social Media based on the unique signature of your business. For example:
- a copier and printer business might be interested in how they can use Social Media to provide excellent Customer Service.
- A software development company might want to share their Point of View on a new application framework, establishing themselves as thought leaders in the process.
- A restaurant might be focused on promoting an upcoming event.
Every business may have multiple goals at different times in their business cycle. Social Media is a powerful amplifier and tool for creating a business that resonates with your marketplace. However, it is only a tool - and how you put it to use determines whether you have a "black hole" investment or a winnng formula to grow your business.
This framework is a work in progress. What other goals and uses do you feel are missing from this "baker's dozen"? Do you feel that any of these are more effective uses of Social Media than others? Let us know your thoughts!
“Success Breeds Success” Steve Goodman on Building Entrepreneurial Community
Stephen M. Goodman is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Business and Finance Practice and has been with the firm since 1994. His practice, focused on corporate finance and acquisitions, is dedicated to fostering emerging growth companies in the region through direct work with clients and active involvement in the emerging growth community. As strategic counsel to startups in the technology and life sciences sectors, Mr. Goodman identifies companies with potential and then takes them from conception through product development, growth and beyond. Some of the companies he has nurtured include CDnow, VerticalNet, ICG Commerce, AirClic, ExcelleRx, and AANet.com.
Social Media Participation Policy for an Individual – w/ example
Uncle! I'm officially overwhelmed. This week, Google launched Buzz and suddenly my already under-serviced, over-informed social media channels went sagging under the way of a brand new social media contender.
Its not fair. Especially to anyone who is expecting me to "show up" and contribute in the Social Media sphere. But in fairness to me, I'm feeling inundated with "channels".
My brain grew up in the 1960s. We had 1 telephone line per household and it took 30 seconds to rotary dial it. I didn't see an email until the 80s. I was taught that you should focus on a problem, not skip from one to the next to the next to the... or worse, do them all at once!
So I've been making a map to help me manage my Social Media channels. I WILL be the master of my communication Destiny! Soon. Read on to hear my plan...
Recently, Valeria Maltoni (Twitter: @conversationage ) asked if people regularly prune their under-used social channels. It sparked a short conversation between me (@skipshoe), @communimatrix and @conversationage.
Turns out that Colleen Wainwright is all over this. She has her Twitter Policy page, complete with her philosophy, top 5 reasons for using Twitter, her follow policy and her Twitter Colophon. (Yes .. I had to look up Colophon as well).
Colleen gives a nod to Ike' Pigott's Twitter Policy page. Ike focuses on how he plans to show up on Twitter - his follow policy and his rule that there are no rules (or at least no etiquette).
Valeria posted this ConversationAgent thread on the idea of how Valeria participates in in social networks while articulating her generous philosophy of:
- be helpful
- be in conversation
- connect ideas and people
In that post, Valeria responds to a comment pointing out that individuals and organizations have different approaches to Social. In that spirit, I'll start with my Social Media Participation Policy for @skipshoe.
I'm thinking that my participation policy needs to address my broad use and intent, the channels I plan to use, and topics I might cover. This is for my audience AND for me. If I can identify and commit to a handful of channels, then I can improve my effectiveness.
How about something like the following?
Channel: The name of the Social Network and Media Channel
Purpose: Why are you there. Best not to make it completely self-serving... it is a 2+ person space, afterall
Topics: What kinds of topics am I looking to cover here.
Attire: How I plan to come to the party. From Professional to Business Casual... to Flip-flops, towel and beer.
Attendance: How often might you expect to find me here. No promises... just an intention
Lets give it a try. I plan to do this for four channels: Twitter (@skipshoe), Facebook, TalkaboutTribes (this blog) and LinkedIn. I may add in some IRL (In Real Life) Networking channels and some specific online forums later.
Channel: TalkaboutTribes Blog (this blog)
Since this blog may have many contributors, this is only my perspective on using Talk about Tribes. Some of my colleagues may have a completely different take.
Purpose: To share, gain feedback and co-create ideas, strategies, frameworks and other perspectives around Social Media. I love the idea of tribes and tribe-building as a primal ground for our participation in today's social networks. New generation tribes are emerging daily, which include the best of tribal practice, but transcend by incorporating new practices enabled by new technologies and new ways of thinking.
Topics: Ideas, strategies, frameworks and other perspectives around Social Media
Attire: I'll be wearing my lab coat ... with a scientist's eye, I hope to dabble in anthropology, psychology, network theory, analytics and marketing
Attendance: I'll be monitoring your comments regularly (multiple times a week). I'd love to be blogging 2-3 times a month. At least once a month is more likely.
Channel: LinkedIn
Purpose: To engage in conversation (sharing, listening, learning) around my profession as social media strategist, internet marketer and entrepreneurial coach. There is a strong IRL-virtual intersection here.
Topics: At the time of this writing, I'm following threads on Social Media Metrics, Analytics and ROI. Social Media Monitoring is a close second. These areas of focus will follow the cycles of my own professional learning and curiosity.
Attire: Professional attire - I'll wear a sports coat. I hate ties.
Attendance: At least weekly. Oh yeah, I follow my friend Ed Callahan's advice on only connect to people I've met in person. This really helps keep my network on LinkedIn strong. If you want to link to me and we haven't met, we can connect outside of LinkedIn (here for example) or we can meet in person (I drink a lot of coffee).
Channel: @SkipShoe
Purpose: Exploration, learning, sharing, joking, coordinating, water-cooler chatter.
Topics: Twitter probably best represents my work-life balance. I'll talk about business stuff, especially sharing cool learnings about Social Media, but also Aikido, Integral Theory, parenting, my friends and the Philadelphia, Western 'burbs lifestyle
Attire: Jeans and tee-shirt
Attendance: Erratic. I'm trying to use Tweetdeck and Gist to hone my Twitterfeeds into streams of really useful content, which I can then share - or comment on. But I might get busy and disappear for days on end. I will watch for your mentions or DMs. And if you DM me what looks like a broadcast message, I will probably unfollow you. I sometimes cross-post business stuff with @teamandadream, my company Twitter account.
Channel: Facebook
Purpose: Facebook can be addictive fun. I don't take it seriously at all... but it keeps drawing me back in.
Topics: Mostly goofy stuff about things that happened in high-school (they didn't have technology back then), commentary on life... or really just commenting on others commentary on life
Attire: 70's clothing.
Attendance: I indulge probably once or twice a week
Channel: Meetup. Integral Philly Meetup Coordinator.
Purpose: Individual and collective development in and through an integral context.
Topics: Our intention is to practice both form and formlessness. We hold conversations to explore and unpack challenging topics raised by members using an AQAL (Integral Theory) lens. We actively explore movement, beauty, art, silence and nature.
Attire: My Gi for Dojo practice
Attendance: Weekly. This is mostly an event management site, although I do hope our members start participating in dialogue. Hmm. Maybe I need to seed some conversations?
So that's my first cut at my personal Social Media Participation policy. Do you have one? If so, please share in a comment below. Anything you would change or add to what I've included here?
Let me know!
5 Practical Tips on Following People on Twitter
I know there’s a lot of talk about Twitter these days. According to a Nielsen survey, it’s the fastest growing social networking site on the Internet today. Individuals, businesses, and celebrities alike are using it to communicate and connect with others. Back in June, I participated in a workshop called Twitter for Business 101 (sponsored by Team and a Dream).I explained the benefits of signing up, basic usage, and covered some Twitter etiquette (what and when to “tweet”).
A big part of my presentation was about searching for people to follow on Twitter. I focused a good bit on how to qualify the best people to follow. Knowing your target audience is a good first step in figuring out whom to follow. Know the topics and issues that they are interested in and ensure they align with your own. Use that as a foundation in order to start a conversation and build a relationship with them.
Note: it’s important to read people’s Bios as well as scan their most recent tweets before following them. Take this extra qualifying step so you’re not just randomly following people. It will also assure you that their tweets are of value to you. Are they frequently sharing news, links or other information that interests you? Are they actively engaging in conversation with others?
5 Twitter Follow Tips
1. Finding People on Twitter – Twitter allows you to search for people you already know or based on keywords. You can also invite people to Twitter. http://twitter.com/invitations/find_on_twitter
2. Real Time Twitter Search – this seems like a no-brainer. Write down a list of keywords that you’re interested in or that describes your business. Plug those words into Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com/) and you will immediately get real-time results of people who are using those exact words in their tweets. Real Time Search also includes trending topics which are the hot topics at any given time.
3. Friend Followers/Following – Scan your friends’ following/followers from time to time. It never hurts to see who they are following or who is following them. Chances are you will find a common thread in which to start a conversation.
4. Twitter Directories – Directories are like Yellow Pages on the web. On most Twitter directories, you can submit yourself to the directory listing that's most relevant to you – usually you will be grouped by categories/keywords or interests. Great Twitter directories to get listed on and find people are Twellow, WeFollow, and TwitterGroups.
5. Tweet Alerts – set up a tweet alert on your keywords so you can have conversations emailed to you. It is essentially like Google Alerts for Twitter. Good examples of online tools that can do this are Tweetscan and TweetBeep.
Let us know how you find and follow people on Twitter!
By: Marilyn Moran
Social Media Crowdsourcing for Social Good
We had the opportunity to attend a remarkable meeting about "Social Media for Social Good" sponsored by the Social Media Club Philadelphia. The first hour included a panel discussion featuring speakers from 3 local causes. The last hour, attendees were encouraged to brainstorm a broad range of Social Media strategies and tactics for a non-profit benefitting children and their families.
Northern Home for Children (@NorthernHomeFC) is the nation's oldest orphanage and child support non-profit. Annie Heckenberger (@anniemal), of Philadelphia-based ad agency 
Red Tettemer, raised them to the group's attention. She wanted to brainstorm on ways that Northern Homes could better utilize Social Media. Annie wrote the first idea down and stood at the whiteboard, marker ready. She was not disappointed.
The flurry of ideas did not end for a full hour. The moderator Gloria Bell (@gloriabell) did a wonderful job directing the chaos. There were still four hands in the air with fresh ideas when she reluctantly called an end to the brainstorming.
As a result of this impromptu brainstorming, they have already shown remarkable results. When the SMC-Philly meeting started, @NorthernHomeFC had 3 followers. Today, just five days later, they are up to 126 followers. Mary Fran of Northern Home tweets for them. She reported that they have already exceeded their first Twitter challenge of 100 uniforms in 100 hours (@anniemal contributed this first idea).
While it was my first meeting, our colleague Marilyn Moran (@PhillyMarketing) is a social media veteran and member of the @SMCPhilly operating board. Marilyn confirmed that what happened on Tuesday night was indeed unique.
The range of ideas ran the gamut of tactics to strategy including: platforms, audiences, content, memes, talking points, comparable non-profits to study, strategies and campaigns.
While the results that came out of this particular brainstorming would take a small e-book to fully capture, here were five of my favorites:
- The 100 uniforms in 100 hours was a call to action that was easy to get behind. Targeted, focused and with an interesting story behind it. It turns out that many kids in economically distressed situations can't attend public schools because they don't have the $20 for the required uniform! It sounds crazy, but this is exactly the kind of plight Northern Homes is struggling to overcome.
- Follow Journalists on Twitter. Susan Jacobson (@susanjacobson), Professor at Temple University's School of Journalism, reported that journalists are quickly moving to Twitter. They are publishing their editorial calendar. Christine Cavalier (@PurpleCar) layered on that the Journalists can be easily monitored as a group using a tool like TweetDeck or Seesmic desktop.
- But what if the staff at Northern Home doesn't have the time to write relevant articles for the journalists? "Consider crowdsourcing!" one SMC Member exclaimed. "Just ask your followers if someone could help with an article on a topic by a certain date." What a great way for someone to make a contribution if they aren't able to help financially!
- Collecting money online? Consider using the Chipin Widget . These widgets can be customized to your needs and embedded on the web site.
- Finally, taking inspiration from @headmutha Rocky Turner, the organization called Mothers Fighting for Others was highlighted by one group member as a successful Twitter fund-raiser. A quick check of Rocky's Twitter stream revealed what seemed to be a globe-trotting, world-changing mother hoping to just "pay it forward".
Now, a lot of this content needs to be organized, prioritized and otherwise scrubbed before Mary Fran has a full-blown Social Media Strategy. But I'm betting she saved weeks or months of time learning the hard way. Furthermore, the collective wisdom she tapped into was far beyond what any single agency could provide. Hats off to @anniemal for pulling the wisdom of the crowd around this one pressing need.
Got me wondering if any of you are using crowdsourcing to help with aspects of your marketing campaign strategies? We've used a variant of this approach by have the public provide usability and aesthetic feedback client Web sites through usertesting.com. I've also seen a number of people crowdsource their logo at 99designs or similar sites.
This blog post covers crowdsourcing for a social media strategy. What other areas could benefit? In what ways have you used crowdsourcing to help your team or your clients? What problems might you see with crowdsourcing a marketing strategy?
Also: if you were at at the SMC-Philly meeting, what are your thoughts? What did you like or not like about the impromptu brainstorming? Did you find it worthwhile? Did you learn something from it? What are other ways you can crowdsource social media strategy?
Please drop us a comment and let us know what you think about crowdsourcing your marketing?
Credit: Crowdsourcing Pic
