Independent Thinking » Social Media

Twitter, Followers, and First Date Syndrome

Daria Steigman — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:02:58 +0000

I cleaned my Twitter house recently, dropping off over 200 people whose streams never grabbed my attention and/or with whom I rarely or never engaged.

This was not a lazy mass unfollow; I looked at every single account. One by one. (No, it didn’t all happen in one sitting.) And guess what? I can identify most of the avatars in my stream, and I know why I’m following you (e.g., marketing smarts, entrepreneur, funny, news source, runner, baseball fan, athlete, friend, tweet chatter, etc.).

My mantra for social is engagement.

Someone tweeted me the other day:

Informal Poll: Why Are You Following Me?

It’s the wrong question to ask me.

You see, I know why I followed you. But sometimes, like a first date, it goes nowhere.

Who do you follow–and why? Is it “the right reason” for you?

Photo by Shashi Bellamkonda (Flickr).

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The Fastest Way to Shut Down Conversation on Your Blog

Daria Steigman — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:01:41 +0000

Want to know the fastest way to shut down conversation on your blog?

Moderate comments.

(And if you’re going to hold comments, you should at minimum have a process for getting them approved quickly.)

Case in point: I followed a link to a terrific blog post the other day. Good information, well-written, and well presented. I left a comment, and then tweeted out the link to my community.

What happened next? Nothing.

“Nothing” is not a good response.

My comment never appeared. Nor did any other comments–which means either no one else tried to respond or their comments ended up in comment limbo as well. So what do you think the chances are that I become a regular reader? Put that business on my radar screen?

Silence isn’t always golden.

First contact can be the start of a beautiful friendship. Don’t squander it by shutting down a conversation before it even begins.

Photo by Katie Tegtmeyer (Flickr).

7 Digital Trends to Watch in 2012

Daria Steigman — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:01:14 +0000

From l-r: Steve Radick, Dan Horowitz, Daria Steigman, and Rick Dunham

Integration, mobile, and consolidation were all topics under discussion at the January 12 IABC/Washington panel on trends in digital communications.

Here are my top seven takeaways:

1. Silos will start to fall. According to Steve Radick of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Digital Strategy and Social Media Practice, government agencies will better integrate their social media initiatives. He noted, in particular, that people are starting to understand the disconnects that happen when customer service is not integrated.

2. Government social media will be in “wait and see” mode. Radick said not to expect a lot of big Government 2.0 initiatives. He suggested that most agencies will be in waiting mode during this election year.

3. Companies will start to clean up their act. Dan Horowitz of Fleishman-Hillard’s Digital Group and Social Media Practice pointed to a new Altimeter report that found that large companies have an average of 178 corporate-owned social media accounts. In 2012, he said, they will consolidate and coordinate better–which involves, of course, aggregating efforts via smart tools (e.g., Buddy Press).

4. Social media reaches maturation. Horowitz pointed to Forrester’s just-released research on social media adoption that found that 86 percent of adults who use the Internet use social media.

5. The press release is dead. Okay, Rick Dunham, Washington Bureau Chief of the Houston Chronicle and chief author of the Texas on the Potomac blog, didn’t really say this. But he did say that he’s relying more and more on Twitter search and other social media to discover trending stories and breaking news–and to get ideas for news stories–and not so much on press releases.

Plus two trends from my remarks:

6. Mobile has arrived. eMarketer estimates that there will be 113.9 million mobile Internet users in 2012–an increase of 17.1 percent from 2011. This includes 72.8 million mobile shoppers and 37.5 million mobile buyers. This means that every business–large and small–needs to have a mobile strategy.

7. “Find-ability” will be more important than ever. With Google rolling out “Search Plus Your World,” having a solid content marketing strategy (and quality content) will be more important than ever. Businesses that are still relying on static, corporate-brochure-type Web sites will be left in the dust.

Bonus Trend: Platforms. I just read Phil Simon’s The Age of the Platform (review coming soon), and I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and think through how small businesses will be able to take advantage of what he calls “extremely valuable and powerful ecosystems” (think Amazon or Apple) that allow you to scale, morph, and bring in partners, users, vendors, and so forth. While the business concept may not be new, technology has made doing this very different. I think Simon’s on to something. This is one emerging trend to watch.

Agree with these trends? Disagree? Think something’s being over-hyped? Please weigh in below.

Photo courtesy of Capitol Communicator.

What’s Trending in the Digital Space?

Daria Steigman — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:01:24 +0000

Web 2.0 was so last year. Or last decade.

Either way, we’re moving on.

So what’s going to be trending in the digital space moving forward?

If you’re in the D.C. region, join me and my fellow panelists for an IABC/Washington breakfast meeting on January 12 as we discuss trends in digital communications.

I’ll be joined on the panel by Dan Horowitz of Fleishman-Hillard’s Digital Group; Steve Radick of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Digital Strategy and Social Media Practice; and Rick Dunham, Washington Bureau Chief of the Houston Chronicle and chief author of the Texas on the Potomac blog.

This should be fun. If you’re in the Washington area, please do join us.

Photo by Rosaura Ochoa (Flickr).

Books, Velcro, and Celebrating Success

Daria Steigman — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:03:21 +0000

How do you measure success?

There’s a lot of conversation around business success, what it means, and how to measure it. (And we probably talk even more sometimes about lazy metrics and poor measurement.)

I’m not going to talk about measurement at all today. Just success. Because sometimes you need to celebrate the small victories.

One of my 2011 goals was to read more business books. I set two goals: (1) to read at least one book a month about business, entrepreneurship, and/or marketing communications; and (2) to review a book a month.

Velcro helps.

Velcro was one of my three little words for 2011. In a blog post to start the year, I wrote:

I’m good at coming up with ideas, but sometimes I need more focus to see them come to fruition… I need to keep the velcro handy to keep me locked in.

It worked. I started the year thinking about how 21st century businesses are putting the power of collaboration and openness to work. I also read about what makes a good entrepreneur and how to tap into your entrepreneurial DNA, received tips on how businesses can leverage social media to thrive, and ended the year thinking about being weird.

12 Books for 12 Months

Here’s what was on my 2011 reading list:

As for 2012? I have four books in the queue, including Mastering Uncertainty and The Introvert’s Guide to Business. Stay tuned.

What successes are you celebrating as 2011 draws to a close?

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt (Flickr).

How 1BandID Founder is Using Social Media to Build Virtual Shelf Space

Daria Steigman — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:03:05 +0000

What do you do when the big boys own all the shelf space?

One approach is to build a virtual shelf, one person at a time. That’s what Joe Vukson is doing.

I met Vukson via Twitter earlier this year after I saw a press release about a new runner ID product. I tweeted to a friend that I didn’t understand how the product was any different from what was already on the market. Vukson chimed in, asking me what I meant. So we started tweeting back and forth as I tried to explain that I didn’t see any competitive differentiation. (I was wrong, but more on that in a minute.)

It wasn’t until the conversation had run its course that I learned that 1BandID is his product.

The Virtual Shelf Works

1BandID has a competitive differentiator: Vukson himself. In addition to engaging with people one-on-one, the budding entrepreneur moderates an on-point bimonthly Twitter chat (#trichat) and manages an active Facebook page. And he’s a runner and triathlete, so he’s walking the walk as he builds his community.

The big boys may own the storefront space, but who would you rather buy from? I’m sending people to 1BandID–because I know Joe.

Disclosure: Vukson sent me the red 1BandID pictured above. The best part: my running motto, “Forward Motion,” etched in there with all the contact info. But I hope you know that free swag does not influence what I choose to write.

Are Your Customers Feeling the Love?

Daria Steigman — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:48:57 +0000

We talk a lot about connecting with customers (and clients, prospects, and so forth)–but are they feeling the love? In other words, are they connecting with us?

These are not the same thing.

What a Two-Way Connection Looks Like

I’ve always highly valued my University of Chicago education. And I’m the second generation to earn a degree there (my mom was first), and then my brother followed me. But other than sending me an alumni magazine, the only time I ever heard from the university was when they wanted money.

(Except for the awesome local U of C Entrepreneurs Group, but I’ve always viewed that more as a business group than a university group.)

Now, thanks to, UChicagoAlumni, I feel connected to the institution.

It’s not about a Twitter feed. It’s Tracey Swanson (the voice of UChicagoAlumni), who gets that talking to people (conversation), listening to them (he honored my request to change how he identified my affiliation with the university when retweeting me), and valuing what they’re doing (he shares the occasional blog post from here with his audience) are critical in forging a two-way connection.

What are you doing to ensure your customers are engaged with you?

Photo by Worthy FM (Flickr).

The Rich (Marketers) Aren’t So Different After All

Daria Steigman — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:04:48 +0000

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “the rich are different from you and me.” (And Ernest Hemingway, unblinded by bling, is said to have replied, “Yes, they have more money.)

Turns out, when it comes to marketing, money doesn’t seem to yield a big advantage. According to From Stretched to Strengthened, chief marketing officers (CMOs) are struggling with many of the same challenges that keep small businesses up at night.

Under-prepared for Big Data, Market Fragmentation

It seems no one is ready. As the chart shows, CMOs report feeling unprepared to manage the impact of everything from social media to decreasing privacy and the erosion of brand loyalty. “CMOs are stretched,” write the authors. “Even those who work for the most successful organizations are struggling.” They add:

“One of the most surprising findings… is the degree of consensus among the respondents. No matter where they work, their industry, or how large or successful their organizations are, CMOs are facing many of the same challenges and most feel unprepared to manage them.”

One of the most interesting findings from the report is that many CMOs are still trying to understand markets (not individuals):

At one level, looking just at the challenges of harnessing the data, this makes perfect sense:

Relatively few CMOs … are exploiting the full power of the digital grapevine. Although nearly three-quarters use customer analytics to mine data, only 26 percent are tracking blogs, only 42 percent are tracking third-party reviews, and only 48 percent are tracking consumer reviews. This is largely because the tools, processes, and metrics they use are not designed to capture and evaluate the unstructured data produced by social platforms.

And, yet, the downside of looking only at aggregate data is that they are forced to make a lot of assumptions about individual behaviors.

Is There An Opportunity for Small Business?

Small businesses can have a competitive edge. Sure, we struggle with the same challenges. But we’re closer to all our stakeholders (especially clients/customers, and prospects), so it should be easier for smaller organizations to understand what makes our customers tick.

From Stretched to Strengthened, which reports the findings from one-on-one conversations with over 1,700 CMOs in 19 industries and 64 countries, also looks at the skills CMOs will need to be successful moving forward (including cross-collaboration, creative thinking, and an aptitude for analytics). There’s a lot of good data in the report, so it’s worth taking a look.

Do you think small businesses have an edge? What are you doing in your business to be prepared to meet the challenges ahead?

Why I Quit Klout

Daria Steigman — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:04:26 +0000

I no longer have Klout.

I’m not sure what pushed me over the edge. Maybe it was the endless notifications urging me to urge my friends to sign up. Or the incessant efforts to get me to link to my Facebook account. Or the fact that it was so easy to game–and I don’t even like gaming.

Maybe it was the day Klout told me I’d lost my influence over @MagicPeaceLove (aka, my brother).

Guess what Klout? I can quit you.

Here’s the thing about influence: You can’t measure it with an algorithm. Computers can filter data, but you still need humans to provide the context.

Chuck Hemann led a terrific #socialmedia discussion on this topic recently. The transcript is here, and there’s some good food for thought in the tweet steam.

Do you have Klout? Why or why not?

Photo by Meg Wills (Flickr).

Can a Personal Brand Coexist Within a Corporate Ecosystem?

Daria Steigman — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:04:49 +0000

Love it, hate it, or deny it exists, personal branding is a hot topic. And it’s going to be THE topic today for #sm122, a weekly tweet chat around the business of social media.

Join me at 12 noon EST as I host a conversation around personal branding. We’ll explore:

1. Personal branding — good idea or bad idea?

2. Can a personal brand coexist within a corporate ecosystem? Can your stars be stars and keep your brand intact?

3. Is it okay for companies to ban their employees from blogging?

4. Should companies have a succession plan around star employees?

Before diving in, I recommend reading Jonny Bentwood’s excellent post on Forrester’s decision last year to ban its staff from having personal blogs.

Looking forward to the conversation. And, as always, feel free to leave your two cents in the comments below.

UPDATE: The transcript of the tweet chat is posted here.

Photo by J.D. Hancock (Flickr).