All IBMers had access to this micro-blogging status and unlike Twitter, he/she was able to post the customers name. IBM guidelines prevent employes from specifically sharing customer names unless authorized. Had it not been for he/she stating she was working with “Endicott College”, the thread would not have generated local responses and the details that followed.

Now I took great interest as any business would love to have open range chats and discuss confidential possible customer data.  The article went on to give a fictitious scenario in how the flow would work, allowing the employee to get feedback ad possible insights into the new lead.  What caught my eye is a few things I pieced together from numerous posts.  IBM does have a new initiative around social business.  Even going so far as to grade performance on use of the tools, followers and sharing (unconfirmed but heard from numerous places inside).  Further up in this social lead passing article a mention was made how the IBMer connects to the possible lead.

After a couple conversation, connecting on LinkedIN, and additional information is provided, the customer wants to see how the product works and talk with other customers.

Some may have just caught where I was going with this posting.  I went to LinkedIn, searched for employees at IBM that are in inside sales, telecenter and more and soon found I could watch as they connected to companies after becoming connected myself.

So the idea about social lead sharing takes an interesting twist in security when you blend external data sites along with internal communication channels.  I know many reps that never even check in using Foursquare or other services for fear that competitors are watching where they go.  LinkedIn provides even more information as it shows exactly who they are talking to at the companies themselves.

Watch how you blend customer data and social privacy management.  Couple this with rating employees on social interaction and some things are bound to slip through.

Throughout the book are case studies on different companies, including the author’s own company,  I found those to be quick and helpful bits, often more than the chapter they are included with.  She makes some basic points clear, but it seemed to stop there, at the basic.

I often grade a book on how many pages i bookmark, this one only has three pages marked.  The title section of the book hits on page 115, breaking down what the author considers the social media business equation and how to calculate your efforts.  it is helpful, I had only wised the 100+ pages before it had the same effect.
Disclosure: The above links are Amazon affiliate links.

Cisco^® SocialMiner is a social media customer care solution that enables your company to proactively respond to customers and prospects communicating through public social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook or other public forum or blogging sites. By providing social media monitoring, queuing, and workflow to organize customer posts on social media networks and deliver them to your customer care team, your company can respond to customers in real time through the same social network they are using to communicate

It is a good play when larger companies invest heavily one a select number of vendors.  Offering a wider array of services, like Cisco is doing here, gives them leverage into installing and hooking into existing enterprise deployments at a rapid rate.  If you already run the call center servers, phone systems, VOIP and even network hardware from Cisco, then extending it with hooks into the social networks makes more sense then staff installing and managing an entirely new set that may not integrate at all.

IBM has done the same with their Customer Experience push and the upcoming Project Northstar (see my Part 1 and Part 2 launch coverage).  Aggregation, metering and deriving value from communication is a key driver in this world of scream out your concerns for many to read.  BOth require you to purchase more of their hardware and services, but that would be exptected.

Cisco is launching light with support for RSS and only Twitter and Facebook.  Mining into the social datra goes much further.  I trhink the investment in any of these enterprise solutions needs to be weighed heavily against the costs and capabilities of the free or smaller company deceloped products until more meaningful interactions can be derived.

While I could begin listing sites I have recently discovered value in, let me first make my quick list of what catches my attention:

• Does the site offer an informative About page?  How hard is it to give me some actual information, even if you have a closed beta.  Tempt me.  Draw me in.  Give me a want to apply for the beta, wait it out and then dive in
• Do you make signing up for the beta easy?  Most sites are good at this with a large box asking for your email address with some follow-up email
• Do you show me samples of what the UI might look like or screenshots of your dream look?  I know it isn’t finished.  Hence the beta tag.  I do not like not knowing what your idea of the site I am about to use will look like.  If you are so early in beta you haven’t gotten that far, let me know.
• Provide me a way to get in contact for press/blogging/podcasts to get visibility for your site and ask questions.  If you are not ready, that is fine, just give a way to let me ask.  Most of the time I want to have some early talks to blog or podcast about your site.  I know screencasts may not be possible due to the beta, but some early talks might be.
• Provide a good feedback system or link to one that is made for that purpose.  Some new btea sites make this mistake while others invest in GetSatisfaction (as an example).  An email black hole does not leave any type of impression a user wants.  I need to now you take feedback serious and will comment, reply and note if the suggestion was helpful or even already in the works.
• Have someone assigned to work the forums/feedback in a reasonable time.  Too often I go to sites to read if someone had the same issue to find that questions have gone unanswered for months.  Not even a tag that is has been considered.
• Update a simple screenshot or two as the beta progresses
• Involve your highly active beta users in small group forums/discussions
• Think superusers to allow you to manage/monitor without investing in more employees (Foursquare did this and fell flat after the first rollout)
• Post reasonable updates via a blog or newsletter.  Keep my interest.
• Make the launch exciting and bring in comments and highlights profiles of your top users.  This makes users want to be involved.

I think that is a good summary and high end of what I look for.  If you are building one of these launches, maybe some of those will help.  I enjoy testing the sites, finding ones to enter into my workflow and hopefully promoting you along the way.

Major sponsors of the event are Sony with their 3D TV initiative, a local cellular carrier (MTN) and Budweiser beer. None of them have been pushing any activity over social media channels.  Signs at the sites and around cities only pointed you to SMS codes.  By sending in a keyword you could get a prize, coupon or information only.  No one was pushing presence on Facebook, Twitter, location services or anything else we know in the social media world.

I am not saying this is bad in any way at all.  Just a difference in how we interact.  I was pleasantly surprised to see many places already listed on Foursquare and tons of people checked in.  But can you guess what some investigation found?  Those large amounts checking in were not from South Africa.  Sure, by mere percentage you would think there would be more non-locals due to the draw.  But I am also talking about local malls, shops, restaurants and a few other places we have visited.  It just is not something they do.  SMS and calls are the mainstay.  pre-paid phones are common.

Are we way beyond the curve in what we expect of business and individuals?  It seems to me the word is carried out quite well without it.  Everyone knows where everything is (locals we constantly ask for help and direction) without having to be engulfed in social media.  Products are still displayed prominently on billboards, radio and signs on transportation.  No one says check-in here or be our fan on Facebook.

Once I get back from World Cup 2010, I might adjust how I think about the way I interact.  Not saying cutting back, but how I can communicate more effectively with all the channels I reach all of you through.  I welcome you thoughts and suggestions and also from my new friends and readers I meet while in the amazing South Africa.

I was surprised to see the compact look and feel of The Social Media Marketing Book when it arrived.  It was also outside the normal form from O’Reilly books normal look and feel.  It was longer and wider than the usual arrival.  Strangely, it was fitting for Dan. At a mere 225 pages of actual content, you would guess that there would not be enough tips and tricks that you could learn from.  A huge mistake.  Each of the 11 chapters runs through the same format as much as possible:

• Introduction
• History
• Takeaway Tips

The rest of the sections depend on the topic itself for that chapter.  He walks through each major area of social networking, from blogging, media, microblogging, bookmarking, news and more.  Each one was in such a readable format I actually spent an evening devouring the entire book.  Screenshots of sites and examples are laid out appropriately for each major section.

ROI and metrics are the Holy Grail of what social media experts try to sell you.  Dan leaves this towards the end and hits you over the head with it.  Are you converting visitors?  Are you tracking what catches their eye when following links or visiting?  How do you read all of these metric sites?  He ends the section with goal setting and software to choose from.

While nothing in the book itself was profound, it was a refresher for the seasoned veteran and a nugget finder for the entry to mid-level person. If you want to get your hands on this book, you can follow my Amazon affiliate links in the review.

Buy and read the Amazon reviews here for The Social Media Marketing Book

Let’s Talk: The Art of   Conversations and Marketing Through Them

The end person does not know nor trust you, but might respond back after they check you out or you give valuable information.  If someone stops you in the street after hearing you talk about a topic and hands you a flyer, do you trust them?  Do you check it out?  How is that different than doing the same in social media?  Trust needs to be established for growth to occur.

Instant trust is normally done via introduction from someone else you trust or a knowing through a community, group. friend or family.  Trust is rarely given just because you see their website or phone number on tv. Learn to illustrate your expertise and not just your products and catalog.  Learn to overshare others content over your content.  It doubles credibility.

Learn that helping others is not always about just helping yourself.  It is about the building of trust that you care about their needs and are willing to truly read their question and find the answer.

• Tools chosen to implement social media in higher education
• Policies and privacy controls
• Deployment and management

I am considering publishing the entire slide deck on Slideshare after I add some content I present live or verbally only.  I wanted to pass along a summary though while it was fresh on my mind.

Summary
Universities and colleges should align the goals of the school itself while considering the needs of the individual departments, groups and activities they encompass.  I watched and listened as each group presented their own versions of how social media should be included and what tools they were currently testing and have already implemented.  I am not saying each choice was valid or had a viable place in the future architecture.  However, putting a mechanism in place for global communication, direction and input was obviously missing.

Following this, we are launching a project for engagement with higher education institutions to help create and drive social media into their infrastructure offering policy creation, tool selection and deployment planning.  Please send me an email with any immediate interest as the engagement page is built.

• Aaron – there is a lot of fundamental misnomers.  He polled on the importance of social media in marketing before starting with his presentation.  We need to change our behavior, which is the core human behavior.
• Leslie – Tactical enthusiasm is no substitution.  Social media needs to be nurtured and loved like a pet.  Social is human, not a bot or feed.  It can be part of your strategy, not the whole thing.  Strategy should be matched with objectives.  Work from an editorial calendar, review analytics and establish goals instead of don’t.  We are in the age of transparent, authentic and intimate.  Early web was an anonymous space.
• Ekatrina – Learn your target audience and their passion. Then move to pilot testing and focusing on results before going live.  Are we starting to gain on our objectives.  Personal branding trumps corporate since there is less coordinated strategy.  So corporate needs the strategy in place.
• Allison – It isn’t the shiny new object.  it is about the takeaways.  It takes 4-5 touches of someone before you change their behavior in most all cases. There is a social media long haul that includes: consider your policy, objective and staffing ; how does this fit into your existing business plans; who will be the strategist assigned; what was learned in quarterly checks and what needs to be adjusted

This was a good panel, yet it wasn’t a panel.  They all took about 10+ mins each, so it was like 4 mini presentations in one session instead.  It was a shame that most of the Q&A time got washed away and should have been 50% moderated Q&A with a fixed 5 mins each.  That would have provided so much value to the attendees.

Don’t get me wrong, what they each presented was succinct and great material.  All needed more time to present individually or we needed more Q&A.  Either way would have made this a great session excellent.  Oh and don’t have 14 bullets on one page to look like less slides

December 12 2009: I ran across this post today from Spark Media Solutions and it summed up handling panels at conferences to get the most value most amazingly well.

He focused on Google and Bing as two of the biggest users of social media.  Are rankings based on social media, he says yes and will increase as they race to include these results when returning any search results.

Every methodology of a discovery sales call asks for an hour of time in return for some basic information on how you can help the business or consumer.  Unfortunately 78% of business decision makers report a decrease in time with sales reps.

ME: Are influencers taking a portion of this decrease so you remove discovery and get a flow of recommendations from those you trust via social media.

If you can’t provide more information than Google, then you have nothing to offer.  Buyer honesty is low when giving feedback on web forms and other information pulling devices.

Buyers of whatever you are selling, even information, need help.  You need to keep your message in front of buyers all the time.  The data we need to collect information on individuals is free.

Google is his business card, except the higher ranked Steven Woods is a serial killer from Texas.  Having a brand/identity is important, ask the TSA guys.