by Sherry Heyl
I am often asked how much time I spend working on the computer. That is a really hard question for me to answer. I spend many hours reading, learning about new sites, and exploring creative ideas. Is that work or is that play? I guess I am very fortunate that how I work is also how I would spend my free time. But there are 3 tools that make exploring the Internet not only fun, but productive.
Diigo
For many years my favorite social network was a social bookmarking site called Delicious. Once Yahoo! sold it, the site became less reliable and frustrating. I finally had to give up and move to Diigo and I am so glad that I did.
Like Delicious, Diigo is a social bookmarking tool. I use Diigo to save all the articles I want to keep, read later, or share with my network on Twitter or Facebook by simply clicking the Diigo icon on my browser toolbar.
Diigo is also a community where I can discover people who have similar interests as me and follow the articles that they are saving.
Diigo helps me organize all of the articles I subscribe to via RSS feeds or through my Google Alerts. It enables me to share valuable information to my Twitter followers or Facebook friends, and is a much more effective site for research than a general search engine when I am doing research for a specific client.
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is the site I turn to when I want to be entertained. StumbleUpon allows you to select your topics of Interests and then allows you to “stumble” through the Internet, which is a lot like channel surfing.
You are able to tell StumbleUpon what you like and what you don’t with a thumbs up and a thumbs down. The more you use StumbleUpon the more it will consistently serve you great pages. You can choose to stumble through the Internet as a whole, or just photos or just videos. When there is nothing good on TV to watch at night, which is often, I turn to StumbleUpon Video. When I need some creative inspiration I turn to StumbleUpon photo.
Today I signed up for the latest site that is receiving lots of buzz, Pinterest. I am still exploring all that it can do, but my immediate thought was that this was a place where I can save all the images that make me laugh and/or inspire me. It is a social bookmarking site and a discovery site like Diigo and StumbleUpon. But unlike Diigo and StumbleUpon, Pinterest is an engaged community and a place where you can upload your own images directly to the site as opposed to only bookmark external pages. Of course the first Pin Board I started to make is of images of my younger son rockin!
The Internet is full of very interesting content that has been posted by all types of people who have found an outlet for creative expression. More and more traditional publishers of content are competing for attention with everyday people. Distribution of content is being determined by networks of people rather than broadcasting networks. This is a great opportunity for marketers who are passionate about their what they are promoting and can create authentic, creative and inspirational content that people not only enjoy seeing, but also want to share it with the world.
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Tags: diigo, discovery, pinterest, sharing, social bookmarking, social networks, StumbleUpon
Top 10 Predictions for 2012
by Sherry Heyl
It’s that time of year again when everyone writes their predictions for the upcoming year. I have read several already. Most of them read like they were written last year or…4 years ago…I mean video is a 2012 prediction? really? Or social media will be integrated in all business processes…sigh. I believe 2012 is going to be much more disruptive than any of us can really predict.
Here are some emerging trends that I am seeing that will continue to gain steam in 2012.
1. Increase in Copyright Battles
If you have not been following the legislation on SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) you are not aware that the music and film industries are starting to feel like threatened middle managers and would like to change the Internet as we know it. Most everyone who understands the impact of SOPA is against it. My personal beef is that I would be restricted from posting cool videos of my 10 year old (I have already received a copyright violation email from YouTube for the video of his band playing Sweet Emotion).
But there are much bigger concerns such as the ban of linking to sites deemed offending…who gets to be the judge of that?
The bigger concern of the bill is that, as stated in eWeek
“The language of SOPA is so broad, the rules so unconnected to the reality of Internet technology and the penalties so disconnected from the alleged crimes that this bill could effectively kill e-commerce or even normal Internet use. The bill also has grave implications for existing U.S., foreign and international laws and is sure to spend decades in court challenges.”
Meanwhile, over at Google Books, Google is dismissing lawsuits from The Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers who would like to stop Google from scanning millions of books in libraries and making digitized content from them available in libraries and online.
The only half way decent argument for SOPA is the protection of revenue for content creators. However more and more the Internet has provided additional revenue streams and serves as a broader, more democratic distribution channel. Content creators who are not tied to outdated revenue models of the recording and movie industry will not see legislation such as SOPA as a benefit, but more as a hindrence. This leads to my second prediction.
2. We All Become Free Agents.
Well maybe not everyone, but the number of free agents will increase dramatically. The lingering high unemployment numbers have pushed many people who would be happy at a 9-5 desk job into the Free Agent world, and many people who are tired of the layoffs and uncertainty have finally decided to become the captain of their own destiny. This includes musicians, comedians, and writers.
In business this movement has been announced and celebrated by authors such as Daniel Pink of the Free Agent Nation and Timothy Ferris of the 4 Hour Work Week. In comedy Louis CK released his latest stand-up special online only for $5 without any Digital Rights Management and based only on the honor system. He made his money back and more. Musically, I have witnessed my teen and his friends ignoring radio hits in favor of independent artists who offer their music for sale as well as encourage peer to peer sharing of their music.
3. Increase in Disruptive Advertising
Another industry that is feeling threatened is the Advertising Industry. For a very long time advertising as been a default revenue model. One of the first tremors in the model was the shift from CPM or cost per impression to CPC cost per click. Now, more and more there is evidence that CPC is not performing as well as expected. This may be a result of people who are not advertising professionals now being able to create and post their own ads. There are a lot of bad ads out there and it is quite noisy. But when revenue is at risk, the natural response is to turn up the noise. Facebook recently announced that we will be seeing sponsored stories in our newsfeed. Thanks Facebook – I am sure that will greatly improve my user experience.
4. Privacy Battle
My other issue with Facebook this year that I believe will bleed into 2012 is the privacy issues of frictionless sharing. Most people are not savvy enough to know that they are sharing every article they look at when they agree to the Facebook app that is in the way of them getting to the article they want to read based on seeing that their friend read it. I am feeling certain that the backlash to frictionless sharing is going to be brutal. The result of which will lead to my 5th prediction.
5. Decline in Sharing
I have seen a dramatic decrease in sharing among many of my Facebook friends and I am hearing many other people say the same thing. The novelty of “checking in” on Foursquare has dropped with the adoption of Location Based apps only increasing 1% from last year. I think enough people have been burned or read about someone else getting burned by a status update that the enthusiasm for free digital speech is tapering off. I see this as social media maturing. It is moving from the toddler years of constant exploration and ongoing dialog to being more of a utility. People will still look for reviews, recommendations, opportunities, and they will still do a bit of bragging online, but the focus will be more on sharing on social media for a purpose rather than just because we can.
6. Social Media will be Integrated into Our Physical World
Alright, admittedly I have not wrapped my mind around this trend enough yet. But I do know everything is moving to mobile. With mobile comes augmented reality. Augmented Reality enables us to gather data and contribute data to our physical world. Add in the mass adoption of location aware applications and we will be living in a world where we are surround by relevant and timely data. I know this is a huge trend and I know it is going to sneak into our lives quietly. It is going to change everything! I know this and yet I struggle to wrap my mind around it. Please share your thoughts with me.
7. Growth of Google+
There have been so many articles trying to bury Google+ before it even began to walk. However I believe the Google+ is going to become Google. Ask 10 people on the street what Google does and I would bet that all 10 of them will mention search first. But Google is sooooooooo much more than search. However all of their services have been very fragmented and the average person is not even aware of 90% of them. Google+ continues to integrate all of those services into the network. As long as it does not get too crowded or cumbersome, I can see Google+ becoming a leading network for business professionals and the main destination for Google services.
8. Linkedin Gets More Respect
Linkedin has been in the news quite a bit and I continue to get request for Linkedin workshops. The reason is Linkedin continues to evolve. I would not say innovate, but they are definitely evolving to a place where we can get valuable and up to date business intelligence. If they continue to work to own that space, they will continue to get more respect.
9. Growth of Social Entrepreneurship
There are 3 trends merging. The first is nonprofits are getting more creative in finding ways to raise money by entering into a for profit mindset. I have seen nonprofits selling tickets to private events or selling relevant products and services to raise money. The second trend is the rise in for profit companies developing a business plan that is focused on social good, also known as social entrepreneurship. One example of social entrepreneurship is Greystone Bakery who focuses on providing jobs to low income families. The third trend is the increase in corporations promoting Corporate Social Responsibility because people are paying attention to how company’s behave. Just ask Bank of America. The social good mindset is truly being embraced by today’s youth who are not only active in social good, but in taking control of their future.
10. Politically Active Youth
2012 is an election year…if you haven’t heard. I believe the youth movement of the 2008 election was only a preview of what we are going to see in 2012. Occupy Wall Street brought the youth onto the streets to make a change (take that Malcolm Gladwell). In 2010 The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, two late night TV shows that cater to college kids hosted an incredibly successful Rally to Restore Sanity . Well I do not know that sanity was restored…but a lot people attended including me and my son who will turn 18 in 2012 and will be eligible to vote along with approximately 12 million other young people who were not eligible in 2008. The politically active youth have caused the most important political analysis to be moved from TV to Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. It is truly going to be an interesting election to watch and participate in.
The world is changing fast and I believe the events that will occur in 2012 are going to be more disruptive and more life changing than any events we have witnessed before in our life time. Fasten your seat belts and drink some coffee because you are not going to want to miss this.
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Tags: 2012, Advertising, Copyright, Elections, Facebook, Google, Linkedin, Politics, Privacy, Social Entrepreneurship, SOPA, trends
Do You Believe?
by Sherry Heyl
Do you believe in your business? In the service you provide or in the products you carry? How can you put that belief to the test?
In the classic 1947 Christmas story, Miracle on 34th Street Kris Kringle puts Macy’s to the test in much the same way that social media puts businesses to the test today.
When a child asks for a toy that Macy’s does not carry, Kris Kringle directs the customer to another store. Of course the managers are not pleased and chose to fire Kris. However he has created such goodwill that the customers demand him back. It was his honesty and authentic desire to serve the customers that created such a loyal fan base.
Now that more and more individuals and organizations are starting to blog, each has the opportunity to learn from each other as well as to share information about each other. We can use blogging platforms as a way to publish our own ideas and thoughts or we can use it to actually serve our audience by giving them what they want and also pointing them to where they can find information that is either diversified or complementary to what we offer. This may mean linking to your competitors or linking to information that is not so positive about what you are offering.
During presentations we refer to a story where a blogger bashed a software company because of some annoying pop ups. The company came to the blog immediately, posted a long comment explaining their rationale behind the pop ups, offering an apology and offering to provide a complimentary product. They then went to their own blog and wrote about the incident and linked back to the original blog. The result was that the blogger wrote a follow up post about how great the service was and that he is now a loyal customer who will buy the product as opposed to receiving it complimentary. This blogger had a large audience who also picked up on the story.
If you believe in your service and/or product, could you be just as open and honest? Could you direct your customers to a competitor when you are not able to provide exactly what they are asking for?
Another theme in Miracle on 34th Street is that Kris Kringle continues to insist that he is the real Santa Claus. This causes all kinds of trouble from Psychological Evaluations to frustration from those who resist in believing in “idealistic intangibles.”
Kris Kringle knows who he is and does not back down from his authentic belief in himself no matter how much society insists that he conforms. His insistence to stand up for who he is converts Attorney Fred Gailey to quit his job and come to his defense. The impact of Kris Kringles’ sincerity on the sales at Macy’s pressures Macy to consider his belief in Santa Claus and he testifies on Kris Kringles behalf. At the end many have been converted to believe in a man who consistently believed in himself.
Social media can be a rough landscape where people push your buttons, point out your errors, and expose your weaknesses. But social media can be the place where if you believe in yourself and what you offer, you have the ability to cause a ripple effect that can convert your harshest critics into believers.
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by Sherry Heyl
It’s that time of year;
- The ringing of the Salvation Army bells
- The opportunity to donate food as you buy your groceries
- Events that require toys for tots as an entry fee
Whereas all of these activities are successful because they make it easy to give, they seem to lack the personal touch of knowing who you are supporting, where your gifts are going, or how you are changing lives. They also require enormous effort to attract partners and volunteers to be everywhere shoppers and party-goers are.
Even though the end of the year is a time of giving both for altruistic reasons and for tax reasons, it is also a time of great competition for dollars among nonprofits. The smaller nonprofits need to be extra creative within very tight budget constraints.
My client, Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation, has created a campaign that is creative, compelling, entertaining with a personal touch.
It starts with a video, Santa Claus Needs New Eyewear.
The video is funny, showcases the work that the Lighthouse does, and has a call to action. The Lighthouse produced this video by showcasing the talents that existed in their own building. The lyrics were written by a staff member and the vocals were provided by another staff member.
The call to action is for you to visit their holiday website Check It Twice. At the website, instead of just asking for a donation, the Lighthouse has developed a holiday gift catalog where you can choose the amount you would like to give by choosing the gift you would like to give. Not only does this make your gift more personal, in one snapshot it also tells the story of all the work that the Lighthouse is involved with.
While you are the site you can also read the touching letter from Gary who continues to be a productive member of society thanks to the work of the Georgia Lions Lighthouse.
Not only has the Lighthouse developed an entertaining campaign that is seeking end of the year gifts, they are also effectively enhancing the community’s awareness of the work that they do all year long; work that not only makes a difference to the lives of individual clients but also makes a difference for the whole community.
Filed under: Behind The Scences, Tactics | 1 Comment
Tags: campaign, case study, charity, donations, nonprofit, Social media
Promoting Yourself Truthfully
by Sherry Heyl
I have been invited to be a speaker for the Designing a Powerful Woman Telesummit which will be held on Dec 7th. My topic is promoting yourself truthfully.
This Tuesday, Nov 29th from 1-2pm I will be participating in a free webinar as part of the promotions for the Telesummit. This is a “getting to know you” webinar where I will be sharing my story.
My story starts 6 years ago when I launched a social media agency at a time when most people did not know what a blog was. Through the years I have personally learned lessons that can be applied to businesses as well as to organizations.
On Tuesday I will tell my story about :
- How social media helped me establish and protect my brand
- The challenge of staying focused while working in an ever-evolving field
- The value of aligning with the right people
- The importance of managing expectations
- Understanding sacrifice
I will be sharing more specifics about social media during the tele-summit. However, I am looking forward to sharing my story on Tuesday about what I have learned and my experiences through the years of promoting myself truthfully throughout the digital world.
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Tags: Brand, events, promoting, women
by Sherry Heyl,
About a year ago I was offered the gift to work with Liz Hayes, the Marketing Director for the Center for the Visually Impaired, to build out their social media strategy. Liz is one of those amazing clients who is not only a sponge for information and ideas but also someone who will effectively implements those ideas.
The past couple of months Liz and I have had the opportunity to co-present at the Georgia Center for Nonprofits. At a presentation yesterday Liz was able to showcase how all her hard work insocial media is paying off .
Each time I speak to a group of nonprofits I start by asking a few questions.
1. What is your mission?
Practically everyone can answer this question….by rote memory.
2. Why?
Because the mission statement is usually memorized, it is too common that people have to think for a moment about why their mission is what it is.
3. Who have you specifically helped?
90% of the time this question is answered with a statement that sound like it is right out of a marketing brochure. “We have helped 25,000 people who have found themselves without the means to….blah blah blah.” There is nothing to pull at my emotional strings in such statements.
The statement that more the 7,500 soldiers have died in Afghanistan does not have the same impact as hearing about the soldier who had only 2 more weeks left in Afghanistan before he could come home to see his newborn daughter but was killed while on the side of the road changing a tire for a stranded citizen.
4. How does what you do impact my life?
This question almost always stumps my audience. The typical answer is that they are there if I or anyone I know ever need them. That is great, but how are you going to raise money when the only people who know about you are the people who need you? The goal of this question is to help my audience see how what they do has a larger positive impact on society as a whole and that we all benefit from their work and therefore we all have a responsibility to support them.
This is the consultation that Liz has run with at CVI. The CVI Facebook page is full of personal stories, valuable resource information, inspirational stories, and stories of how CVI impacts society as a whole . And it is paying off tremendously.
In a year her community has grown to over 400 members – which is a strong following for a locally focused nonprofit organization. However what is so impressive is the 25% of that following is talking about CVI to their friends.
And what are people talking about? Personal stories of the impact that CVI is making on people’s lives and on society.
Jack and Luke are four years old, visually impaired, and on the path to a lifetime of learning and adventure as braille readers. You can help Jack, Luke and CVI clients of all ages with the vision to see beyond their disability.
What is the secret to CVI’s success? Liz would tell you that before she post anything on Facebook she thinks about who it is for, why they would care, and what action they would take. She always puts herself in the shoes of her community first.
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Tags: community building, Facebook, nonprofit, Social media, Virtual community
Linkedin’s Impact on Your Brand
by Sherry Heyl
Over the past few months Linked in has been making many changes to their site. What has me most excited are the changes happening to Company pages.
Whether you are looking work for a company, purchase from a company, sell into a company, or understand a competitor, Linkedin is rapidly becoming a free resource providing in-depth insights.
The information is aggregated from member profiles, which means that accuracy of the data is dependent on employees being Linkedin members and accurately representing themselves.
Just a few of the insights you can glean from Linkedin Company pages includes:
People on the Move: Within the company profiles you can see who has recently changed their title as well as who has recently departed from the company.
Typical Career Path: Within the company pages you can get a snap shot of where employees works prior to joining the company as well as where they upon departure from the company.
Most common skills are listed within company pages which represents your brands specialities.
Company pages also provides you with a visual graph of how well you are connected to people within the company.
Linkedin has also provided features within Company pages enabling organizations to market to and communicate with their followers. There have also be many new features added to Profiles as well as new analytic tools within Groups.
To learn more about the many changes within Linkedin that directly impacts your brand, request your free copy of Quick Guide to Today’s Linkedin.
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Tags: Brand, company pages, Linkedin
The Three C’s of Community
by Sherry Heyl
I am currently working on a project scope for a large, widespread organization that is seeking to create a digital community. As I lay out each of the milestones and the accompanying presentations I recognized that there are 3 C’s that are the foundation of a digital community.
- Connected Channels
- Consistent Message
- Core Values
Typically your Digital Home will be your website, but it does not always have to be. It could be your Facebook Page or your YouTube Channel. This really depends on your overall strategy.
A content calendar maps out the organization’s typical messaging schedule, such as specials, events, and reports, and then fills in the rest with content that people really care about such as holidays and typical life events such as graduation or the start of the school year. The messaging is then developed to make the organization’s content relevant to the community members lives. Space is left open on the content calendar for timely news events such as the state of the economy or the release of a popular new product.Online you get to have short bursts of attention from a divided audience to let them know what you stand for. Therefore what you stand for should be the core of every message and every level of engagement of your organization.
Do you agree or disagree that these are the foundations of a great digital community? What organizations have you seen embracing the three C’s of digital community?
Filed under: Behind The Scences, Insights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Brand, Business, Marketing, online communities, Online community, Social media, Virtual community
by Sherry Heyl
Have you ever had a person, whom you barely know, ask you to make a commitment to them that seemed out of line with your knowledge and connection to them?
I was once introduced to a business person who asked me to spend 2 days and 2 nights with her at a business event. I had just met her. I politely declined and never made an effort to get to know that person again. She may have had great intentions and may have been a great person, but she crossed my line of comfort.
We all have a comfort zone, both online and off, and when people cross into that zone, the normal response is to push that person away.
Yet many marketers forget that when it comes to the relationship between a brand and a consumer and/or advocate. This is especially true with social media. I cannot count how many times I hear someone who has no presence in any social media channel say they want to start their social media efforts by making something go viral.
Here are the four steps and expectations that are true in any relationship or business venture. This should also be applied to your social media outreach efforts.
Step 1: The Introduction
During the introduction stage you are watching behavior, learning about the interest of others, sharing your own interest as well and finding where there is common ground. To do this it is helpful if you are speaking the same language, have a common understanding of what is normal, and be in the same location. In social media that means learning what channels to be in, how they work, and overall community best practices.
Step 2: Growing and Engaging
In any business venture, you need to start growing your client base. You do this by taking care of the initial people who took a chance with your business as well as meeting new people. This is a cycle of introductions, but by this stage you are fairly comfortable with where you should be and what the norms are. Each relationship will be different at this point and you are able to identify who wants to hang out with you and who is just part of an extended circle. In social media, this is when you start recognizing your advocates and your buyers and begin to tailor win-win programs.
Step 3: Ask and you shall receive
At this point you have friends. You know each other. You have already done little things for each other. Now you can take the relationship to the next level. Now you can ask for honest opinions and brainstorm ideas(crowdsourcing). You can ask for referrals, or to retweet/share with your friends. You can ask for support from your community. In social media this is when you can create stories/media assest, based on what you know about your fans, that can go viral.
Step 4: You support your community and your community supports you
At this point you are part of the community. Stuff goes viral without you even expecting it. People share more ideas with you than you may want to hear. Referrals grow exponentially. Your job is to manage expectations, nurture relationships, and continue to add value to the community in accordance to your goals. In social media, this is when you can say you have a purpose-driven community.
When you have reached the final step, you cannot take your community for granted. If you disappear, they will disappear and you will be back to step 2 (step 1 depending on how much the landscape has changed).
Many small business owners or professionals in smaller organizations get confused when they hear how Coca-Cola, Chick-Fil-A, or American Cancer Society launched a campaign that went viral immediately. Large brands have been building and nurturing a community long before social media came along, and for most of those brands, their community was supporting them in social media long before the brand knew what social media was. They simply had to learn how to plug in and leverage that support. But if you are just getting started or wanting to connect with a new audience using social media, take the relationship step by step.
Filed under: Insights | 1 Comment
Tags: best practices, Online community, relationship, Social media
The Spirit of Steve Jobs
by Sherry Heyl
Last night I sat on my couch with my Mac on my lap while the news flashed images on the T.V. in front of me. I was reading some random blog post when I looked up and saw the words “Steve Jobs has died.”
In a brief second the air seemed to have been sucked out of the room.
I turned my attention to my online networks. On Facebook, Twitter, and Google + we shared videos, stories, inspirational quotes.
After hours of watching and reading tributes I went upstairs to my room. There was my husband watching a documentary on his iPad. He set his alarm to wake us up with the music from his iPod that was connected to it.
It is astonishing how much he accomplished in his liftetime.
It is astonishing how much he accomplished in a short lifetime of only 56 years.
It is astonishing how much he accomplished in the past 7 years…the same 7 years he was battling cancer.
As we all pay our tributes, we recognize that his greatness came from his passion, his curiosity, his creativity, his demand for perfection. But he was able to accomplish his desire to “put a ding in the Universe” because of his fearlessness.
Thank you Steve Jobs.
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Tags: creative, fearless, innovation, steve jobs
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