isn’t he just the cutest?

i hope that your 2009 is getting off to a great start. may 2009 be filled with much happiness for you.

xox

i’ll be back in a second!

i’m currently in the process of switching servers, so i’ve had to switch off comments for an ickle momento, but they’ll be back in no time and then you can get gas bagging as much as you like… it’s good to talk after all.

plus, there might be a nice little surprise for you. now that carrot’s been dangled, back to it…

x

okay, so for those of you who haven’t been, sxsw is an awesome festival that takes place each march in Austin, celebrating interactive, music and film (not necessarily in that order, but we all know i’m a geek!). it’s by far one of the most fun events that i’ve ever been to and i’ve made some amazing friends and had some amazing hangovers as a result.

a change

now don’t get me wrong. i don’t have a drink problem, i don’t go to sxsw just for the parties. i do actually attend the presentations and boy, there have been some amazing ones – from the Zuckerberg keynote to the lifetime of secrets with Frank Warren where i actually cried (not many people know that, i blamed it on hayfever, sorry if you’re one of those that i fibbed to).

now, i’ve got the partying off pat…. i can do it rather well… i no longer fall asleep on people or lean on poor Ryan King to hold me up. i know to take plenty of paracetamol and water ready for the next morning and it always helps to have you outfit pre-picked so that you can sling yourself from the shower straight into your clothes and off you go. you see, i’m a bit of a pro.

this year though, i thought how much i’d love to not be able to drink one night and be “one of those” that have to be sensible because they have a panel the next day. so i set about submitting my panel ideas and they have been accepted for the panelpicker. excitement doesn’t describe the emotion when i found out and my smile was stuck for a good day and a half (i think people thought i had wind).

the panels

i know that i’ve already pimped it out and to be honest, short of flashiing my gnashers one more time, there’s not a lot more i can do with that. but, i did think that it would be good to give you some more background about the panels themselves (always helpful hey?).

walking the tech runway in stilettos

Lickle old me, Aubrey Sabala (digg), Tara Hunt (Citizen Agency), Sally Strebel (Best Party Ever), Kirstie Wells

all about being a girl in a boy’s world. and succeeding. a fun and lighthearted discussion that prepares females for greater success by helping them get comfortable in their own shoes. 5 panelists share the lessons learned on their journey toward success. plus i have some amazing stilettos lined up to wear if this gets through!!!

clear your ears for instant success

Lickle old me, Aubrey Sabala (digg), Tara Hunt (Citizen Agency), Sally Strebel (Best Party Ever), Vero Pepperrell (That Canadian Girl)

it’s a well known fact that whilst you’re in a conversation with someone you’re often thinking about what you’re going to say next rather than listening. this can be the same for businesses too. this panel discusses the skills it takes to have effective communication with your users and the benefits that brings.

and…

i’ve also been honored to be asked to speak on a further 2 panels that have been submitted by the lovely sally strebel. 5 Common Misperceptions of Technological Creativity and Climbing the Corporate Ladder in a Mini Skirt. i’m really excited about these panels as they’re both something that i’m passionate about. you can find full details here.

so, if you’d like to see me with my sensible hat on (for the whole of an hour), oh heck who am i kidding – it will be me being me, joined by some truly amazing women, i’d really appreciate you taking a couple of minutes out of your day to support us.

now to work out how i’d actually get there if the panels are successful… maybe i’ll party a little harder and save on hotel costs?

btw

thanks so much for the support that you’ve shown so far. things like this and this below really make me glow inside (even more than buying great shoes!!!). thankyou.

thanks for taking time out to watch my ickle video, i hope the sun shines really brightly on you today (but not so bright that you get sunburn… always wear suncream). i think i’ve had too much cola and the e-numbers have gone to my brain! back to work…

happy thursday lovely people,

m x

the lovely Kevin Marks recently sent me a link to this article and it got me to thinking…

the article by FastCompany.com primarily talks of the research done by Malcolm Gladwell and Duncan Watts. now, i’m the first to admit that i’m a huge fan of “The Tipping Point” and i can also see many of the points made by Watts, so i suppose i’m somewhat a fence-sitter.

what the smart people say

for those of you who haven’t read “The Tipping Point” (what have you been reading?), Gladwell believes that that are a limited number of influential people that shape trends and have the oomph to make a product or service successful. Watts on the other hand believes that it’s spreading the word through enough people that’s key and is very much dependent on how receptive the market is at that time.

what i say

now, here’s my thinking…

the main component of a viral campaign (i hate that term by the way, it provokes thoughts of really horrible viral diseases, but that’s another matter) being successful, is for the people talking about the product or service to be genuine. they have to really use it, really like it and want to spread it’s awesomeness.

when influential people are sent a product or service to review and talk positively about it (maybe sometimes because they have received a free sample of the product etc) the message can soon feel less genuine if they feel obligated to be nice. the risk with this is that this person’s reputation can become diminished as well as a negative reflection on the brand or product. therefore, it’s crucial that the key influencers chosen fit perfectly with the product or service that they’re promoting and that they’re honestly excited about it.

it’s all about the product

you could have the best campaign planned in the world, but at the end of the day, the product has to be top notch. there’s so much competition nowadays that you have to be able to offer something that you’re competitors aren’t. that doesn’t have to necessarily be features, bells or whistles, but can be as simple as doing something really well, like customer service for example.

give the community something that they’ll want to talk about… give the influencers something that they’ll be excited to get their hands on and start playing with. make them excited and people will tell. your product has to stick… driving one-off traffic is the easy bit, it’s keeping those people that’s the real challenge. back to the campaign…

it’s a numbers game

the benefit of Watts’ approach of “attacking the masses”, is that there’s a good chance of a few people really taking to the product and taking it upon themselves to spread the word and become evangelists for the brand. however, this becomes somewhat skewed when seeding companies come into play. now, don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying all companies are like this… but… when students are paid to digg items, blog about products, join facebook groups etc… it becomes disgenuine again and whilst followers/fan/traffic may go up, it’s not going to be people that will stick around for any length of time. i know that i’d rather have 5 subscribers than 50 one off site visitors for example because it means that they’re actually interested and a part of that community.

a friend of a friend

switching back to the Gladwell theory, what i find really interesting is that key influencers can have the power to endorse individuals around them, therefore transferring a certain level of their influence. the best example of this can be seen when someone on Twitter who has a large number of followers can tweet to say “you really should be following X person” and you see their followers jump immediately. this can not only increase the expanse of reach the influencer has, it can strengthen the message being spread as there are now an increased number of influencers talking about it.

the ideal scenario

so, back to the fence. for me, the ideal scenario would be a mixture of the two. it’s true without doubt that there are industry movers and shakers that will get your stuff noticed. sending some kind of video device to a fitting web-celeb such as iJustine for example will give you exposure and endorsement.

however, combine this with approaching niche communities that fit the product or service that you’re promoting too and it’s likely that you’ll find a swell of support that will help take you onwards and upwards. so i don’t think it’s as cut and dry as saying one theory’s correct and the other one isn’t. a lot is down to intuition, it’s knowing what fits, whether it’s genuine and what the general vibe is… that’s not a stat you can stick in a computer or compare the analytics of… you just feel it, you know when it’s right.

be true to your product/service, brand and self. don’t be afraid to contact influencers because you don’t consider yourself a peer. be honest to your community. don’t be scared to ask for help and most importantly listen. listen to your users. listen to your team. listen to the market…. because there’s always room for improvement!

p.s.

if you can personally spread the word to a few that you trust, you might developer a slower or smaller groundswell, but i’m pretty confident it will be much tighter-knit, genuine, long-term and fulfilling than seeding for immediate effect. just my thoughts anyway, and hey i am a community gal after all

all items are being held hostage, to be returned upon realisation that they’re actually missing in the first place… after all the bow and arrow must be essential daily items right?

happy happy thursday lovely people, hope that you’re having a great week.

m x

oh you should probably know before you watch that i’m incredibly drunk, although you probably would have sussed that for yourself.

now yes, i can hear your chuckling. i know i was terribly drunk. i know that i could hardly stand and yes, yes, i know that texas is not north america… it was humour in my drunken state.

i hope that it made you chuckle, even if it was at my expense… taxi!

thanks for taking a couple of minutes out of your day to share in my randomness with me. happy thursday.

m x

community bricks

i’m currently working on the social strategy for a really fun project. it’s challenging and rewarding. it’s what i enjoy and it’s something that i’ve spent a lot of time developing. as such, i’ve gone through what i consider to be the basic steps of building a successful community:-

1. establishing who the community is that you serve
2. deciding what problem it is that you’re solving and how you plan to solve it
3. working out where your community are having their conversations and how they want to be communicated with
4. finding out what it is that interests the members of the communities, what it is that bonds them, what tools they use etc.
5. what it is about your service/product that is actually going to distinguish you and make them give a damn

the company thang

having done that and established the networks i believed our users have adopted, i created corporate accounts on a number of sites that people who were interesting in what we were doing could connect with us on. for me, the benefit to this was that they’d easily be able to identify the tone and character of the brand and creates something for the company that anyone can use, rather than just myself. that makes sense right?

well why is it then that i still find myself updating content on my own networks as well as the branded networks? you’re guaranteed if i post a link on twitter i’ll get more than ten times the response as if i were to post it on the corporate twitter account. fact.

reputation

the change in our culture of late has meant that people zone out when they’re being marketed to – they rarely listen to ads, hate sales people (especially those of the stripy suit variety) and can see through thinly veiled social media attempts from the old boys trying to be cool.

someone that i barely know can recommend something on twitter or save a link on magnolia and i’m way more likely to check it out than a company persuading me to do so.

do your job

Brian Oberkirch recently wrote a really interesting piece about consumers not wanting to be talked to all of the time and i couldn’t agree more. for me, the perfect combination is having a company that let’s me have a nose (without that annoying person on your back asking if they can help until you have enough and leave) but is still on hand if you get lost and need a little point in the right direction.

the perfect company is one that uses their products and services as much as you, knows it inside out and is part of the conversation because they truly have something interesting to contribute, not because they feel they need to be seen to still be in the loop.

the insider

if the truth be known i think that people want to know who’s behind the scenes, they want to interact with someone that they know or have heard of, they want to know you’ve got flaws as well as sheen (why do you think so many mags sell when there’s pics of celebrities with blemishes – people don’t like perfection).

i realise for corporations that brings with it issues. you can’t rely on your marketing coming from a few individuals, after all what happens when those people leave? i’ve thought about this issue long and hard and i’m still not sure that i know the answer to be honest. it is a risk, but it’s a risk that you need to take, at the beginning anyway. surely it’s better you have people doing a bloody good job and getting your product or service out there into the domain and cross the other bridges when you come to them – after all, the hope would be that the brand would be well recognised by the time that happened?

the solution that i’ve settled for is to use both personal and professional. i converse with community members using the corporate name, encouraging people to recognise that there’s a human voice behind it. however, those same community members are also more than welcome to talk to me using my personal accounts. on twitter for example, my followers know if they follow me, they’ll hear about good days, bad days and the days where my heel snapped on the way to work. if they follow the work twitter account, they’ll hear about website developments, legal issues and exciting launches.

it becomes a different issue again when you throw seeding companies into the mix… but i won’t even get into that here. maybe i’m a small town girl with small town ideas but i’m going to stick with my beliefs. my beliefs that if you’re genuine, you care and you want to make a difference, your community will build. have nothing to hide, don’t be afraid to wear your heart on your sleeve and willing to share (collaboration is much more fulfilling than the feeling of hiding your ideas to keep that competitive advantage!).

onwards and upwards

it’s really not an easy situation to tackle and i think you need to remain open and flexible with your approach. be okay with the fact that you’re learning and developing – you’re on a journey and given time, your community members will be coming along for the ride too. i’d be really interested to hear how others approach this issue…

www.zeldman.com – timely, relevant, funny and insightful @mozster

www.blackcountrygrammar.co.uk – because it’s mine @jonthebeef (you cheat!)

www.cafehayek.typepad.com – russ roberts realistic take on economics @jimdittmer

www.dvorak.org/blog/ - because i’m an old crank @jimdittmer

www.jdapdx.com/users/jim/blog/ - it gives a chance to explore and comment on the constant media spin that swirls around us – @jimdittmer

www.randommel.com – the thursday vids keep me going @gold123finger & @kallardnyc

www.notcot.org – all of the world’s coolest stuff dumped in one handy place @LucPestille

www.seomoz.org – the content, the staff and the community @ciaranj

so there we have it – a bunch of tech blog and economic readers (who’d have thought it given that i did the shout out on twitter? haha). oh and a couple of brown nosers thrown in to the mix too, but hey you made me smile