Being social

I had another great opportunity to do journalism-like reporting of a couple of events involving groups that I am involved with - Indianapolis Social Media, and the #Social46 Super Bowl Klout-recommended group that helped spread the word about Indy during the Super Bowl. The two items couldn't be more different in style. I used Storify to chronicle Live-tweeting an organ transplant. Indianapolis-based IU Health's communications staff provided a play-by-play of commentary from the operating room on June 13, live tweeting a kidney transplant. Kristofer Karol and Gene Ford explained how they prepared for such an event at the IndySM breakfast, hosted by Indiana Blood Center.
I also used Storify for BrewhouseFoodie makeover menu in Indy. The marketing geniuses at @brewhouse want to create a buzz about all the changes coming to the menu and thus hosted a tasting for some social media folks in Indy. No expectations other than to use the hashtag #brewhousefoodie when we posted.

Jim Brown's MBO, 2012

No matter how far along you've brought your company through its journey with social media - either as its strategist or advocate, you should always be ready to go back to the beginning. What is the fundamental purpose of the tool. That's not just reciting your mission statement or a providing a snapshot of your metrics or spouting off the number of posts, the number of daily likers, your follower count. Those are all important - they justify the expense. Headcount isn't cheap. It can be - and should be - even simpler. Anyone familiar with an airport's TSA screening area has concluded their cattle-chute experience by using the "recovery area" – the group of benches and metal tables where you repack your laptop and retie your shoelaces. This area has always felt refreshing after a traveler has endured the disheveling experience. Yet it's also an oddity - a traveler has endured a gauntlet on their journey, one that puts you on track to your gate. Despite all that you are still just unfettered steps from being back in the main terminal. This aviation experience offers a good lesson for businesses that communicate to external audiences via social media. No matter how far along in your journey with social, you should be able to explain to newcomers within your company what the fundamental purpose of the tool is. I need refreshers which is why I like being a member of a social media club, or supporting those that do it, such as Jim Brown. Whch brings me back to my first point. I decided to attend the session just as much to see what's being said by speakers, but also because of the knowledge that you gain from attendees about the very topic of this blog post. Do they take the same approach when it comes to explaining social within the context of the company? I’ll give you an example, retaining the aviation theme. I attended a ginormous helicopter convention in Orlando, FL in 2011 and was pleased to borrow a coworker’s first-generation iPad, hook into the civic center’s wifi and tweet out news for my company. It felt so productive. But on the shuttle back to the hotel, I found myself having to explain what Twitter was to about a half-dozen marketing and sales department heads. As Jay Baer describes it, digital illiteracy in the boardroom regarding social media is still a huge issue for company social media specialists. When I worked at my old newspaper job, I was not just tweeting news, but helping to legitimize my company as an authority in social media, which is a small piece of the pie when it comes to credibility. We use social, so we get technology, so therefore we must be competent, we can be trusted. We’re with it. I’ve carried that same mentality into two successive jobs. But speaking social is like speaking Spanish. You’ve got to be fluent with outsiders, then be willing to translate your words to the English-speaking executive, or your mission will fail terribly. I don’t tend to social media conferences because I don’t see their value, beyond learning the characteristics of a particular campaign, which is extremely helpful. I’m defining my own approach. Oh yes, I keep tabs on what everyone else is doing. Experts at a conference like MBO are able to step away from the conveyer belt, take a look at the products being created, and assess not just the total numbers and efficiency but ask: is it worth it? I can then absorb those lessons, add them to my own mental equation and give an even better answer when I am asked what the fundamental purpose of the tool is.