Professionally Speaking » Social Media

116 top tweets from #ragancisco

The Ragan Social Media Summit, hosted by Cisco Systems, was held in San Jose June 9-11, 2010.

The event promised the latest Web 2.0 strategies for PR, marketing and corporate communications.

Attendees generated over 2,700 tweets under the hashtag #ragancisco.

Ragan Social Media Summit at Cisco

Twitter is ephemeral. It only maintains 10-14 days of content, so this information will soon disappear. However, here’s a useful permanent archive all of the tweets. It’s with deep gratitude to all the attendees who posted their messages that this content has been made available worldwide on Twitter. Thanks!

Building on an idea of listing of “top tweets” I first experimented with at the Detroit Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference at the GM Headquarters in May, I’ve curated a list of 116 tweets I found most content-rich and interesting; adding links where appropriate for easy reference; consolidating others; editorializing.

Full disclosure: I am employed by Cisco as an executive communications manager.

I aimed for brevity and so none of the Twitter handles or attributions are listed below, so search the archive if you need sources.

Please share your own experiences of the event in the blog comments (or on Twitter!). Let me know which of the many suggestions were of interest and how you’ve implemented the ideas you picked up at #ragancisco. If I omitted your favorite tweet please add it to the comments below.

Enjoy!

A listing of Twitter handles for presenters at the event.
@codella: my slides published for 17 social media tools.
Notes from @JeanetteG ‘s excellent talk on social media evolution.
@jowyang slides: On Future Trends in social media.
@GuyKawasaki is running his preso from this excellent list of sources.
Brands breaking boundaries: Notes on a great talk by @Britopian of @EdelmanDigital
@JeanetteG asks What’s your “twitch” – your business pitch in 140 characters. Tweet it!
Cisco started Social Media by blogging in 2005 (high-tech policy blog). Today 25% of blogs are video blogs. 5X more retention.
Videos need to be “snackable” … 90 seconds or under typically.
60% of Cisco social engagements are on Twitter.
We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it?
Once on the net, it is there forever — no do-overs. Twitter is even archived by the Library of Congress.
“People die, but their posts never do.”
“Deleted messages often reappear in court” one can’t erase messages in social media.
Whirlwind tour of over 30 social media tools by @codella – learned about this directory of social sites.
Instead of a 30-page white paper, consider doing 10 or so blogs. Have employees use Flip cameras to save video production $
Cisco saved $250k in one launch using the corporate blog!
Cisco encourages all employees 2 use internal & ext social media, but NO ANONYMOUS POSTINGS-keeps ppl in check when posting online.
Cisco & video. THEN: video blogs, video data sheets, web video. NOW: meaningful engagement: public Q&A using video+Twitter+blog.
Use of Flip camera: NBC+Cisco Flip Sponsorship during 2010 Winter Games. 292,000+ mins watched. Showing video w/ Queen Latifah.
Live customer polling via Twitter is way cheaper than other ways of doing it.
@Cisco has 2 versions of their press releases in their newsroom 1. Social media press release 2. Traditional version.
Cisco’s currently tracking >20k social mentions per week.
Cisco is using crowd sourcing with the Cisco I-Prize to get new ideas prize= $250K http://ow.ly/1WMj7 cool stuff!
Check out A Special Valentine’s Day Gift ….from Cisco.
54% of companies still block social media – Stopblocking.org a resource you can use.
If you Block Social ask your CEO these Q’s: What does it say about culture? Trust? Innovation? Attracting employees?
Suggestion to sell stock if you hold it in companies that block their employees from social media. Competitive disadvantage.
Lower video quality is an okay trade off for increased timeliness & better transparency. Some call it “scrappy” video.
“The purpose of a business is to create customers who create customers” says @kirasw of Ant’s Eye View. 40% of twitter users have recommended a product or service.
97% of your customers are using search to research products/services.
Why use social media: 1/because of solution selling. Customers have pain points, not needs.
Social media policy is about allowing confident and competent engagement online.
Intuit told all the dev team: spent 10 minutes a day on their community…their code got better.
Social media team trying to increase engagement, cctr team trying to reduce call volume. …not on same page.
Customers expose/show you your silos all day long on social web. Like a mirror showing your flaws.
Put a screen in front of execs showing what customers really say (not just a metric of customer satisfaction based on survey).
Brands become believable when they listen AND ENGAGE. Listening not enough: http://ow.ly/1WQir
Intel humanizes the brand through video! “A Rock Star is Born”
Wow! Cisco’s TelePresence is amazing! @LionelatDell speaking from Dell’s headquarters to communicators at Cisco.
You know your brand is socially relevant when your content is shared without you asking.
Common blogging error … Not giving the reader a clear next step that keeps them on your site.
Marketers who don’t sell a product should use traffic analytics as justification, not the typical metric of product sales.
Focus on what your customers want more than what “outside experts” recommend for social media.
Twitter is no more a social marketing plan than a phone is a telemarketing plan.
Fact – there are over 20M tweets per day.
Social media is word of mouth on steroids!
The more people you know, the more you can do.
Consumer 1.0 gets unhappy and just doesn’t come back. Consumer 2.0 gets unhappy and shares with the world their opinion.
In social media you don’t need be fancy; you just need to be useful.
Millennials grew up on mobile screens that’s where they live & one day they will have $$ to spend! Do you have a mobile strategy?
You can’t prevent Facebook usage in the enterprise because of mobile devices!
Email is the original social media. Don’t leave it behind. Still relevant and great for 1:1 communications.
Social media does not create buzz, it uncovers the buzz -that’s when we should react to the buzz.
“If you talked to people the way advertisers talk to people, they’d punch you in the face.”
Twitter is your new (low barrier) newsroom.
Yahoo Pipes will pull all your content together – “everyone who uses it loves it”
EMC took an inside-out approach to drive social proficiency with employees first.
Now: Everywhere: EMC Gang: 500 emp. on Twitter w/ 90K collective followers, 25 public bloggers w/ 2M unique visits in 2Q last yr.
Community-generated example- 450 ideas with 20k views on “how to save EMC money” during dark days of 2009.
Great tips for Online Press Release: Use key word search engines before you write your story and use it a lot.
Social web is catching up with the many human interactions we have had since the beginning of time. Not new and scary.
Key to productive social media: educate, enable, & scale, teach best practices, etiquette, goals, and have social playbooks.
Never say anything online you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.
Etiquette in social is key and must be learned because ur reach is bigger than u think it is.
By 2020 there will be enough digital info that two stacks of DVDs will reach 1/2 way to Mars @LenDevanna. Now there’s a picture.
It’s in your best interest 2 figure out collaboration/knowledge sharing/social media b/c your next employer will expect it of u.
Part of a successful corp. social media strategy: Put someone in charge.SM should ultimately be pervasive throughout.
Database of Corp Social Media Policies.
@guykawasaki: Wow, have to go to work for Cisco. This is the speed there http://www.speedtest.net/result/843448685.png
Guy Kawasaki: If your first rxn to Twitter was not ‘This is the dumbest thing ever’, you fail the IQ test. Then you find http://search.twitter.com
Guy Kawasaki recommends following back on Twitter as polite, and notes you can’t DM unless you’ve been followed. Solicits DM’s.
Engaged followers are more important than a high number of followers if you’re trying to sell – example Dell Outlet.
Google searches like this one: ‘intext:”bio” “speechwriter communications” site:twitter.com’ find types of people.
Spokeo.com – type in someone’s e-mail address and find out what social media channels they are using. Good for finding nut cases.
How to find interesting stuff to tweet? Stumbleupon + Smartbrief + Alltop
Grab links in 1 click to tweet out: Objectivemarketer.
Source for nice photos on Boston.com/bigpicture
Use “LinkedIn” on Twitter as it’s a popular topic and you’ll get RT
@GuyKawasaki uses MarsEdit for blogging.
Typinator – efficient way to creating repeat messages in email, blogs.
There’s 2 kinds of people on Twitter 1/ ppl who care about how many followers they have and 2/ people who are liars.
@GuyKawasaki aims to gain 500 followers on Twitter every day (every Tweet goes out four times to hit primetime)
Email Extractor: grab email addresses from any text, remove junk. Spammers delight!
Tweetmeme I love this! Drives traffic. A good approximation for measuring quality of posts.
Who’s copying your text from your blog? Tynt knows…
Compelling reasons for execs to begin tweeting: Life is all about embracing change, so experiment with it.
Biz doing social media facing issues with scaling – too few employees, too many customers.
3 ways to scale: Harness the Rings of Influence, develop p2p systems, invest in social CRM.
In social influence, prospects trust customers more than brand and customers trust employees more than brand.
CEOs are NOT CREDIBLE among most US consumers (26% trust a CEO). Edelman Trust Barometer
Crowds can work for you by developing robust customer communities. The self-service support model.
Rather than ghost-write exec blog, have them do video or podcasts.
The Intel Employees blogs give customers an “inside look” at their ops and lets outsiders interact w/ insiders.
BestBuy example of @twelpforce as a way to allow thousands of employees to support customers.
Wal-Mart failed at social media until it launched Elevenmoms that lets bloggers post on Wal-Mart site.
Microsoft recognizes Most Valuable Professionals (MVP’s) annually – knowledgeable, passionate, etc. It’s a badge of honor.
Google SideWiki shifts power to customers. Not big yet, but a hint of the future.
Starbucks partners with Foursquare to empower check-in advocates. Expect more advocate programs.
Prospecting: they may not be talking about you. So monitor their pain points, what they say about your competition.
Reputation, ranking, ratings | helps identify top advocates. Example: TurboTax users rank Best Answers; Oracle Super Users recognized on leaderboard.
What is social CRM? Connection between social web and your customer database.
Starting with 5M’s for Social CRM-Monitoring, Mapping, Management, Middleware, Measurement.
Make sure to do opt-in rather than scraping when you’re in a sensitive, maybe regulated area like healthcare. People get touchy.
Prediction from @jowyang: Insurance cos. will use what you say/don’t say on social web to determine rates. So don’t advertise how many times you go to a bar, for instance.
Will location-based social media platforms be used to affect your personal insurance rates?
Whether a Fortune 500 company or a small business, the approach is the same: show customer care in a public way.
Word clouds are a great way to visualize conversations and understand customer priorities.
Adoption of tools requires pioneers to test them who then become educators Culture of innovation helps.
Think of your social programs as parties. Be a host. Make it rock. Enable conversations, don’t drive all of them.
Hallmark used #flip to record moms at a live event then post to YouTube to continue the conversation when ppl went home.
More video was uploaded to YouTube in the last 2 months than if the major networks had been airing new content since 1948.
Average life span of a Fortune 500 company: 40 yrs. – so how to live longer than 40 years as a company? Embrace change, experiment, learn, leverage.
Three reasons you know you’re at #ragancisco: 1) Great people 2) Wifi is 5 bars strong and 3) You hear “bleep bleep” of flip cameras.
@guykawasaki: At Cisco, there’s always something to aim at. http://yfrog.com/bgxqoj
Not to mention that @cisco campus smells so amazing! Love the flowers!

197 top tweets from #hay

The 2010 Hay Festival of Literature and Arts generated somewhere between 4,000 – 5,000 tweets. The ephemeral nature of Twitter means the stream of commentary is no longer available inside the tool used to write them. However, they’re all here, in an archive of #hay tweets. Rather irritatingly, this includes all the #Hayward, #hayama, #HayleyWilliams and other tweets cluttering up the archive. A purist can view these 1,879 #hayfestival tweets. One suggestion for next year: use the hashtag #hay11 to create a clean record.

As someone living in California, whose never been to the festival, Twitter was a wonderful way for me to eavesdrop on the event.

I’ve selected 197 of my favorite tweets. The list is, like a blog, in reverse chronological order, with the tweets from the start of the event at the end, the most recent at the top.

I didn’t include tweets which pointed to the blogs or podcasts, or contained commentary which could be found there.

These were the tweets which gave me a sense of the event, and perhaps even a feeling that I was there in spirit.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their impressions, wisdom, wit and entertaining insights.

(Lurking as @cheshirelad)

@divagari Thanks for taking time to report on Hay Festival, Tweeters. Good coverage from those in attendance.
@Vinny64 Taking all the books I purchased at #hay with me to Dubai. I might get stopped at customs for smuggling in expression, thought and free-will
@marcmack: It’s official. http://bit.ly/9eohXt Thanks @stephenfry & @hayfestival. Still probably need to keep physics job, though.
@EmiratesLitFest A Steward’s View of #Hay: Last Day: http://bit.ly/boh9ed
@unfortunatalie Reliving #Hay via medium of twitter – deffo now to be an annual event on my calendar, & will go for many more days next year!
@katheastman Back from #Hay and now halfway down a glass of wine. Bit weepy and sad it’s all over for another year.
@nosycrow #Hay to London journeys: @stephenfry chopper, champagne, memories of adulation; @nosycrow: post-1/2-term M4, pringles, kids fighting in back
@chiggi: #Hay is like a drug. My supply has been cut off, and it’s not funny. What a festival it was this year… new friends + mind expansion
@Philippa_Perry No more #Hay tweets for 12 months. Quite a relief, they are only fun when you are there after that it’s like listening to a party next door
@soozworld From Jonathan Ive, to Oscar Wilde and Twitter – Stephen Fry kept me spellbound for two hours! Thank you Peter also!
@Making_Hay: Review: John Julius Norwich: The historian John Julius Norwich took us on a whistle-stop tour #Hay. http://bit.ly/acu2kP
@HelensWitter Leaving #Hay full of inspiration, organic ice cream and cider. Crossing fingers for @SkyArts at Baftas tonight
@trishdever Given the demographic at the #hayfestival am astounded & annoyed at complete lack of humble veggie burger.
@bonobobookcafe Fav. Hay moment: Yann Martel describing a letter he got from Barack Obama, personally thanking him for Life of Pi.
@Marjakingma Sun, great talks, books, autographs, friendly people everywhere, honeydew beer!! Must be #hay
@Vinny64 Welsh artist supremo Linda Norris sketches “The Early Edition” http://yfrog.com/evlxzj
@melissadenes Just seen the v beautiful, v smart, v self-deprecating Zadie Smith: “I have a small talent”. She needs to borrow a bit of Amis ego
@BOOKSA, thank you for your excellent reporting from the Hay Festival. Next best thing to being there. –A reader in Montana, USA.
@roadgoer John Simpson v chatty signing books, took an interest in every person. Charming
@jolwen: God this is good! Both Martin Amis & Peter Florence interviewing excellent – too many gems to do justice with tweets
@ClairRatcliffe: Nick Clegg fails to mention Wales at #Hay Festival – Yes Hay-on-Wye is in WALES.
@nosycrow Shields quotes William Gibson “Who owns the words? We all do.” He says literature has to be mashable and borrowable esp in digital age
@melissadenes Amis: writing autobiographically about sex can’t be done. Porno sex is the only non-embarrassing way
@BOOKSA: Amis: The difficulty of a novel is exactly proportionate to its length.
@BOOKSA Amis: To be a novelist, you need a monstrous egotism. Poets aren’t like that – they’re much weirder. Novelists must be Everyman.
@edielush Martin Amis: having a grandchild is a mixed blessing. Delightful but like a telegram from the mortuary.
@joy_lo_dico HSBC chairman Stephen Green says Christ approved of banking – see last paragraph http://bit.ly/9hOxwr
@crimeficreader: Some good pics from #Hay http://bit.ly/axWt9E
@XanBrooks: Fighting our way through the crowds of #Hay. David Remnick: ‘It’s like high-school between classes’. But where are Chad and Mary-Sue?
@grannylook When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes. –Erasmus
@BOOKSA Remnick: Chicago’s south side is emblematic of black life in the US. Obama finds a cause, finds a church.
@beckycad Fascinating listening to Antonia Fraser in conversation with Melvyn Bragg. What an incredible woman & such a romantic life she’s had #hay
@toadmeister Listening to Melvyn Bragg interview Antonia Fraser at the Barclays Wealth Pavilion at #Hay. Smells like Wayne Rooney’s jockstrap in here
@JohnFinnemore Think this must be the first time I’ve spent 24 hours in a town without being completely sure what country I’m in.
@thomascooling Time to leave #hay. What a delight! Lovely talks, company, cottage and horse-riding.
@PaulBlezard HayFlash: Beautiful misty morning presages a day of scorching hot sun, searingly brilliant events and ice creams. Hay’s where it’s at
@matatatatat There would be nothing funnier than walking around #Hay festival wearing an england football shirt. Everyone would go very politely beserk
@rupertbu Stewards View of #Hay: Special Duties: http://bit.ly/dcUXKa
@ginbat @hayfestival Hay bluff, where sunlight spins a web on broader shoulders of velvet age and greening consciousness.
@mikeappleby Overheard in q at #hay ‘it is quite impressive the way Rwanda is going at the moment’
@chiggi John Sutherland sidesteps a nuts question by rambling about Plato, Aristotle and Schopenhauer. Oh and Eliot, + Goebbels.
@BOOKSA Sutherland: Twain: a classic is a book everyone wants to read but no one wants to have read.
@megmacleod Drinking pimms & reading the guardian alongside peter barlow off of the telly. Off to see chris evans in a mo #hayfestival
@sarlitchin Queuing, Hay stylehttp://twitpic.com/1tv5zi
@BOOKSA: Pollan: The healthiest food in the supermarket is the quietest: the unlabeled apple, the unpackaged fish.
@nosycrow Gleitzman: The basic dynamic of a story is what character does to resolve a problem they have.
@nosycrow @AndyStantonTM And moral of story for writers is write down your ideas however mad they seem
@Ferders I have eaten too much cake / meat at #hay with no regard to impending bikini scenario. Best, most forgiving swimming costumes out there?
@XanBrooks Roy Hattersley in #Hay to tell us why he loves England so. But joke’s on him, because we’re dragging him over the border … to Wales.
@BOOKSA Here’s a did-you-know from Peter James: AC Doyle never wrote the words ‘elementary, my dear Watson’. A screen writer coined the phrase.
@BOOKSA Peter James to cop: How did you meet your wife? ‘We met at a quadruple homicide.’
@ostephens Enjoying good coffee, company and sunshine at #hay http://flic.kr/p/87zjty
@BOOKSA Matthew Syed: if you believe success hinges on talent, you’ll walk away after failing once. If you believe it hinges on hard work, you won’t.
@mommy_grrl @Making_Hay It has been a really spectacular week, weather-wise (all things considered.) I’ve only worn my wellies once!
@Marllo words are spoken never broken
@DanThomasUK: #Hay would be able to capitalise further on being a ‘town of book shops’ if they didn’t all close at 5:30
@Skeenathon o laura marling, you are so wonderful and marvellous. I’m drunk and happy and this is the best festival ever!
@sarlitchin Back at the site for a spot of Marcus Brigstocke. Sunburn successfully keeping me surrounded in a warm glow despite chillier air.
@monnowman Easy to tell most ppl at #hayfestival are from big city: they walk briskly with grim determination as if rushing to catch the Tube
@BOOKSA: In the middle of writing the book, Ranulph decided to climb Everest, which put him off schedule a bit.
@BOOKSA: Lancaster: There cannot be many occasions when you’ve someone in the room whose forebears were at the signing of the Magna Carta.
@IzzyMiller: The average adult knows about 50-60000 words… Shakespeare used a total of 20000 in his works – David Crystal
@Pete2Boogie Only at #hay the duchess of Rutland telling a story of unblocking the guttering in her nightdress, wellies and umbrella
@HelensWitter This time tomorrow I will be reclining in a deckchair, eating strawberries & people watching Boden Mums. Bring on #Hay
@guardianhay: Overheard at Hay 2010 http://bit.ly/avYecT
@JasonBradbury on the train to #Hay Festival, writing a Tokyo chase scene for my new book Dot Robot: Cyber Gold as I go.
@chiggi Hannah Rothschild’s documentary about Peter Mandelson, The Real PM, has been pulled from #Hay. [Arch of the eyebrow]
@hermonhermit Anyone wanting a free Guardian World Cup guide should go to #hayfestival on Saturday. The recycling bins will full of them by 09.30.
@SelfMadeHero @GeekSyndicate ‘The Sign of The Four’ graphic novel will be out this Aug and those lucky people at #Hay (event 300) get a sneak peek.
@SelfMadeHero Currently perched on a luggage rack with a French man dreading the hours to come. Not the best start to #Hay
@mePadraigReidy: “Skeptical bloggers are among the greatest forces for good in society” @slsingh
@alisonflood louis de b and friends all read l’etranger avidly as teenagers to discover what they had in common with the murderer
@Pete2Boogie Sitting in the evening sunshine, sipping champagne waiting to see buona vista social club at #hay. Life is good!
@chiggi Viking Harold Bluetooth was killed by Sven Forkbeard while he was taking a dump, Tom Holland tells #Hay
@DanThomasUK A sea of grey hair fills the Ritzy for Mark Hudson on Titian. Feel lonelier than the Welsh Language Books shelf in the shop.
@DanThomasUK #hay would get more tweets if it advertised/encouraged it. Twitter especially in mid Wales is not such an obvious thing to so just yet
@zany_zigzag Need to get more water – seriously thirsty! Tip for anyone coming to #hay – it gets VERY hot inside the marquees!
@adlandsuit Michael Holding at #hay. If the Guardian was a town, it would be a lot like this.
@zany_zigzag @hayfestival Just been to see Daisy Hay (name = coincidence!) talking abt Shelley, Byron & co. – fascinating stuff!
@andrewtghill “Research is the sap, the story is the leaves and the flowers” – Eleanor Updale, author
@patrick_barkham Porritt, Attenborough, Jeremy Irons’ fears of overpopulation are ‘dangerous nonsense’ according to Fred Pearce at #Hay
@thestephmerritt: I’m going to pretend I’m still in #Hay by sitting in a field and reading out loud from my book then tweeting about it while eating granola.
@zany_zigzag Off to Hay later. Slightly worried about parking etc. Is ground going to be quagmire, do we think? Should I wear my sexy red wellies?
@mpphillips Back from #hay. This means my tweets will no longer be full of famous people I have met (I walked past Jerry Hall!) as fewer in my house.
@geraintdmorgan #hay my dad got mistaken for simon schama. Think my dad can be offended by that. He didn’t turn this mistake into free pimms though, fool.
@PaulBlezard Hayflash: The sun is warm and shining bright. The birds are on the wing. Bonobo blew us all away last night. Great day ahead.
@lezlaig There are two sides to every story, but six sides to every book.
@hermonhermit: #hayfestival mountain wind / the stillness of a lamb / gathers the crows #haiku
@anitasethi Amazing music at #hay this year…can’t wait for Laura Marling, I Speak Because I Can, to echo into the night. (i tweet because i can)
@chiggi: Simon Armitage: there are more bodyguards than poets at #Hay this year
@mattgreenough @speedupdating @ahiggitt – its probably more to do with Hay being full of people who had a note from mum excusing them from PE!
@alisonflood: Wonderful funny & moving anecdotes from Joss Ackland at #Hay, on his wife’s grave it says ‘room for one more’…When he joins her it’ll say ‘here I am’.
@Sarah_Crown Poetry is ‘not the thing said, but a way of saying it’
@sumitsays #HayFestival . So twee it makes Latitude seem like a shebeen in a burnt-out squat. Think I might have to wee in a bottle for some edge
@patrick_barkham: More MI5 history at #Hay. Codebreaker Alan Turing wore gas mask to MI5 interview so wouldn’t catch flu. He got the job.
@PD_Smith: “I don’t think the future of writing will be menaced by new technology”: Peter Florence http://bit.ly/9ZIucL
@patrick_barkham Britain definitely the worst country for attitude to maths – only here is it ok to admit you are rubbish at it, says Alex Bellos at #Hay
@patrick_barkham MI5 historian Christopher Andrews’ cure for banking crisis? Move GCHQ staff to City jobs. Tells #Hay ‘It isn’t likely to happen’. Obviously
@adlandsuit Waking up in Wales is fucking cool. Cheese platters 11.30am are fucking cool. My Sky Arts wellies are fucking cool. #hay is FUCKING cool.
@guardiang2: “Like most high cultural events, most of the audience would rather be on stage” Grayson Perry’s take on #hay http://gu.com/p/2hcx7/tw
@journojourno Just back from the G #HayFestival: never been amongst a more odious bunch of poseurs in my life.
@James_Rock lots of new peeps @hayfestival this year but most seem to be @guardian employees – the #Hay tribe are not yet big on twittering it seems?
@Sarah_Crown: Seems Henning Mankell was on the boat in the Palestine aid convoy that was attacked. We’re trying to find out more #gazaflotilla
@Sarah_Crown News from #hay – Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor has cancelled his event tomorrow. No one v surprised…
@hannahwoodstock People walking out of Tim Minchin at hay because he calls the pope a motherfucker. Hilarious and scary!
@MissHClose Love seeing all the tweets about #Hay. Especially as I’m here, right in the middle of it. It is properly unbelieveable.
@Red_Books Oh what a Hay day…in a good way. Fantastic and sold out Jo Brand event AND I met John Snow. Amaze.
@UsborneMktg Celeb spots so far at #hayfestival: Jefferson Hack, Robert Winstone, Rob Brydon, Simon Schama, Anneka Rice, John Snow and Simon Armitage
@jamieandlouise after being at #Hay today with such clever people – feeling like i really should work on intelligence – surely it’s not too late?
@hannahwoodstock Simon schama is absolutely fabulous! He talks like most people would love to write
@crossland I abhor camping. Uncomfortable, cold, noisy and a queue for a shower. #hayfestival made up for it though.
@ecrjones At the risk of boring you…I am still ill, but am trying enjoy #hayfestival Highlights incl. Shappi Khorsandi. Peter Hitchens is vile.
@adlandsuit So far, the #hay festival is a lot like T In The Park, only with fewer Scottish schemeys puking everywhere, and more Jo Brand
@warmstrings Big breakfast, caffinated coffee, Morris dancing, antique searching. #hayfestival
@dm0 So it seems both Miliband’s will be at #Hay this weekend. Talk about finding needless wannabe leaders in a Hay-on-Wye stack
@janemartinson Last session on science made #hay almost total success for 8 yr old. “Will there be footballers nxt yr, Mum?”
@mpphillips Me: who was that guy we were just talking to, the one who looks like a pop star? Friend: Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet. #hay #clueless
@mpphillips Just walked out of a talk, first time ever at #hay. Five minutes of maths enough to persuade me that ice cream in the sun far preferable.
@sarlitchin Just looked up from reading my paper to see Robert Winston carrying a plastic bag standing in a queue for ice cream.
@Penders1 Don’t ask her about one’s private life, she can be savage!
@mePadraigReidy: OMG! Mariella!
@MichaelOrmerod Tweeting from a #hay deckchair. I think this is the most middle class place in the world.
@Sianz i am drunk on middle-classness
@hughesroland I’m in a bookshop in #hay that has a section on hitler and another on premature birth. Pretty obscure.
@MjkeW Nothing booked at #Hay this morning. Time to catch up. Time to write. Time to process. Time to… oh… empty the chemical toilet.
@pokomon night night from cold tent at #Hay. i have lent out warm clothing to my ill equipped fellow campers (@goatrick & @crossland)
@lozhead I think today will be a book day. I’ll pretend I’m sitting on a deckchair in #hay looking clever.
@Philippa_Perry All your tweets r making grayson & I homesick for #Hay. Not missing gypsy caravan though.
@Madhviuk Sunday was by far the most interesting @#hay Although I would not recommended 7 events in one day. Brain meltdown
@so_she_writes #HayFestival adventures in Wales a success. Jeanette Winterson is unreal – the entire room was hers from the minute she walked onstage.
@PaulBlezard Hayflash: Bank Holiday Monday and glorious skies, hot air balloons & swifts screeching through the site like fighter jets.
@thestephmerritt Well, it’s not often you find yourself dancing with Simon Schama, AC Grayling and Hugh Cornwell from The Stranglers. God, I love #Hay!
@andydickson Sounds like #fakehay I know, but hv just been at a party where both hugh fearnley-whittingstall & Pervez Musharraf were present. Yikes #hay
@sineadgleeson Odd to see the laid back vibe of #hay interrupted yesterday by lots of police and compulsory bag check-in for Pervez Musharraf.
@mpphillips Disconcerting sniffer dog presence in Marcus de Sautoy’s fun presentation about maths. Turns out former pres of Pakistan in tent next
@JillLawless: My best celeb spot in three days at #hayfestival? Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet queuing for Alain de Botton talk.
@saulpims Explaining the joy of twitterising to charity bods at #hayfestival. They want to like but are confused.
@njhamer Considering Sky are a major sponsor of #hay you think they’d make a better job of recording the events. Shocking sound on Andrew Marr talk.
@NatalieHanman Reading is lover’s talk – a private, subversive act
@guardiang2: Bryson too scared to take citizenship test to become British
@NomDeGuerre Enough with the edifying. Time to go gy ready for another party…swapping soup thermos for hip flask
@NomDeGuerre So many Hay questioners just want to hear themselves out loud (maybe to drown voices in their head)
@Irish_Andy Having an epic time at #hay festival. So far, Quentin Blake, Ed Byrne and I got on Sky News!
@katheastman Amazing culinary delight discovered at #hayfestival earlier today – Blackcurrant & Licorice icecream. Scrumptious
@darrananderson Christopher Hitchens probably thinks of himself as a modern Orwell rather than the big bag of fermented shite that he actually is #hay
@neilsonandrew first trip to #hay over. highlight may have been getting palm read by a Russian novelist, as you do
@rsutcliff @chiggi I’ve stopped listening to historian Niall Ferguson #Hay, I find it contaminates my enjoyment of historical fiction.
@Making_Hay: There is nothing worse for writers than cranking it out and getting no response. Tina Brown
@soul_of_twit Ed Miliband update #Hay. Preppy jumper on. Still hanging with the plebs having an ice cream. Still pretty handsome. #shocktometoo
@squizzey In my funky festival gear while the sun shines at #hayfestival – drinking Pimms with @katheastman & joyous Joyce who has macadamia nuts!
@hughesroland Feeling out of place without panama hat at #hay.
@annecharnock Overheard this minute at #Hay in queue: steward tells Ed Milliband to please move over to the left.
@Cafedirect_HQ Double deckchair, your best mate and a cup of cafedirect coffee. Good #hay times! (Yasmin) http://twitpic.com/1sg9cf
@mpphillips Standing ovation for Tom Buergenthal, Holocaust survivor and Hague judge. So calm, serene, inspiring. This is what #hay is all about.
@benbryant Scored a lift to #hay today, allelujah! Would not advise anyone to try getting there via the mythical Hereford bus
@soul_of_twit Apologies to people of #Hay. That was me striding across a field in pink neon ski thermals & wellies to powder my nose at dawn #fashionfail
@DanThomasUK Glad to see #hay is trending hard this year. Lots more twitter awareness and mobile connectivity
@MjkeW Alain de Botton believes ipad will not kill books, but diminishing levels of concentration from social media might. So er…
@neilsonandrew My lady wife has spent 10 minutes chatting to Jerry Hall about Mick ‘n Bryan not jealous just impressed
@chiggi So I bummed a ciggie from Jerry Hall at #Hay. She was rather delightful.
@emilybell everyone on my feed is either watching #eurovision or at #hay … there’s a mash-up possibility if ever there was one
@andydickson Coren on Twitter: “full of rubbish for illiterate people”
@patrick_barkham Grayson Perry a #Hay highlight. Witty critique of deadening consumerism and a great frock. Wisdom without pomposity. Audience loved it
@sarahlphillips Got told off for tweeting in Grayson Perry
@Skeenathon Seen at #hay blue eyebrows, lindisfarne gooseberry wine, fat lady in skirt of many handkerchiefs and many, many pairs of cords
@Making_Hay I’m a great user of Twitter but I’m aware of the dangers. Social media is like pornography #alaindebotton
@nosycrow de Botton the most offensive q you can ask a child is “what did you do today” because they live in moment
@nosycrow de Botton Western thinking unhelpfully divorces mind and body – over-intellectual. You have to know when to stop thinking
@siwhitehouse Anyone here from Tower Hamlets? I’d venture that’s the first time that questions been asked at #Hay #HeatherBrooke
@Skeenathon #Hay must be the least edgy festival ever. There are Renoir prints in the portaloos.
@siwhitehouse And hello to the man walking *out* of the #Hay urinal with an ice cream cone in his hand.
@melinwynt Bant i’r Gelli Gandryll am y dydd fory. Off to #Hay for a day of politics, poetry and science tomorrow. Hope the sun shines!
@Making_Hay: In the Friends Cafe, glass of Veuve, listening to Roddy Doyle on the PA, reading a recycled Guardian.
@Sarah_Crown Roddy Doyle: ‘if someone has to piss on you, let it be Henry fonda’. Quite #hay
@Sianz there are so many good looking men here. who are so good looking, they know it too much so then they become ungoodlooking
@mommy_grrl #hay festival tip: careful with the beer imbibing if you have weak bladder – lines to the WC are wicked long *crosses legs*
@neilbeynon will be at #Hay tomorrow, looking forward to some brain food and, hopefully, the weather clearing.
@iankatz1000: Prez nasheed of maldives to sceptics: come to the Maldives and look me in the face and tell me it (climate change) is not happening
@mpphillips A man with a bi-horned hat just ran past me shouting ‘I am the apocalypse!’ Expect to see him later on panel later with Chris Hitchens
@susannar100 Being at #Hay makes me want to get on with writing my book. Now, if only someone would look after these 3 kids ….
@Sarah_Crown Just off to squire Bill Bryson round a cafe, so to learn the history of salt&pepper, tea&coffee, forks … just another day at #Hay
@nosycrow Bill Bryson “Never had people found more ways to be worried in a confined space than Victorians in their bedrooms”
@benbryant So being stranded at Hereford has given me a chance to reflect on the irony that nobody going to #hay seems to use public transport
@siwhitehouse That @jenny_drew has just been serenaded by a clown on an 8 foot unicycle with a frog on his head. In a tutu.
@siwhitehouse We’re getting competitive today. Both on the look out for women in summer dresses and brightly coloured wellies. Today’s top #Hay points
@siwhitehouse: Early points scored. Just seen a bloke with a cream linen jacket, chinos, a straw boater and a cravat.
@digestedread Raining so hard can barely hear a word bill bryson is saying
@MjkeW Good morning #Hay. Ah, the Niagaran roar of rain beating on the drum skin roof of the caravan. That’s more like it.
@sarahlphillips Only at #hay: chalked lines instead of ropes to keep queues in order
@sineadsillars Just passed Andrew Marr asking for directions to a tent at #hayfestival. In a session with Nigel Mansell now.
@MjkeW Arrived in #Hay. Sun shining. Caravan pitched. Fine meal in The Granary. Excellent! Now for some Islamic calligraphy
@andydickson Setting up shot in wiggly wigglers garden. group of teens has just come past and dared ea other to eat maggots
@andydickson First roadsigns to #hay! Gold and green fields, blossom, bluff in distance. Hurrah
@thespyglass Yes, hurrah to #Hay. If only you weren’t so gorram expensive. Have fun, you rich-ass intelligentsia. *bitterauthenticgrumble*
@sineadgleeson Standing ovation in a packed tent for Christy Moore at #hay. And brilliant version of Shine on You Crazy Diamond for an encore.
@thethingisgav Pics of setting up at the Hay Festival – http://bit.ly/bZEo5j
@Making_Hay @hayfestival #Hay worked very well last year. Is short, distinct enough, everything a good hashtag is

Twitter Hashtags and Meeting Presentations

Big shout-out to Doug for nailing the details on how to use Twitter and other social media before, during and after a speaker makes a presentation at a meeting.

Twitter can reflect true value for any meeting, event, or education class as long as the meeting planner understands first what a hashtag represents, and second how to use it effectively.

This post has a very clear, step-by-step, guide explaining how meeting organizers can use a hashtag to spread the word about their upcoming conference and boost registration.

Doug also lists the many creative ways organizers can add value during and after the event. He suggests everything from using Twitter to alert people about program changes to posting links to attendees blogs and re-tweeting messages of interest.

Hopefully Doug’s post, and the guidance in Cliff Atkinson’s great book The Backchannel, will encourage more meeting planners, and professional speakers, to embrace the many ways social media can magnify the impact of a presentation beyond the walls of the auditorium.

Guest Posting: Lessons from Social Media Plus, by Erica V.

Last week I curated a list of 230 tweets from the Social Media Plus Summit held May 25 in Philadelphia. I asked Erica V., who was at the event, to explain what role social media plays in her life and some of the takeaways from the day.

Manners, Content and Audience: getting Back to Basics at Social Media Plus, by Erica V.

Blogging

Erica I like to tell people that I have my blogging habit to thank for the path my career has taken.

I began blogging in 2005, but it wasn’t until November, 2009 I began taking blogging and social media seriously as a means to transform myself into a social media maven that could find her own place in the corporate world.

I started Mommy’s Still Fabulous, a blog dedicated to discussing the ins and outs of motherhood, managing a full-time career, and having fun along the way. And I soon found myself in great company; there are a lot of us Mommy Bloggers out there, and we have a lot to say.

Because of my blog, I began to learn about and explore other sites and tools as a way to find new followers and develop new relationships.

Twitter

I began to tweet. I started a Facebook fan site specifically for my blog where I could RSS feed new posts as I wrote them. I joined Ning communities and hopped my way through Blog Frog.
I engaged with my audience. I spent time replying to their comments and visiting and commenting on their own blogs. I even installed a plug-in on my blog that would allow those who left comments to highlight their last post on their blogs.

I started to network, go to tweet ups and spend time at conferences like Bloggy Boot Camp. I found my tribe.

Today, I average about 200 post views a day and have a significant number of subscribers who read me through their RSS feeds and e-mail subscriptions through Google’s Feedburner. It’s not earth shattering, but I do credit all of this with where it got me today in my full-time position.

Before blogging, I was managing internal and consumer publications for a large healthcare organization. It’s because of blogging, and my involvement with social media, I was able to transform my job description into what it is today: Manager of Interactive Marketing.

Who says social media is a time-waster?

Social Media Plus

I recently attended great social media conference, Social Media Plus, and learned a lot about engaging customers, being authentic, building a brand, creating social media policies, and creating fabulous content for social media outlets.

I spent the day listening… and tweeting. I tweeted with #SMPlus and my followers who were not at the conference found a lot of value in the things I had to say and what I was learning.

One of the things I learned is that there are a lot of things I am doing right both personally, with my blog, and professionally with my career. I also came to the realization that I’ve known these ideas for a long time – about 33 years to be exact. Why? Because my Mom taught me them long before the phrase “social media” ever existed.

But she called them Manners.

Here are some takeaways from the day I found very helpful. I posted this on my personal blog as well, and got a lot of comments in reply. I guess we could all use a little reminder that it’s important to get back to basics.

1. Say Please and Thank you.

As someone who manages social media for her full-time job… as well for her blog, I can tell you one thing is for sure: If you want someone to do something for you, say please. Please re-tweet (RT), Please comment, Please link up, etc. The word “Please” goes a long way. Use it. Love it.
“Thank yous” require a little bit more work. When I get a new fan on one of my Facebook pages for work, I drop them a small message that tells them:
“Thank you for joining us on Facebook! I am a real person:) and I look forward to talking with you! Let me know if I can help you with anything!”

That’s it. Done.

I admit, I don’t always have time to do it, but it is a nice touch. Also, when people RT your Tweets, link to you in a blog post or tweet… say “Thanks.” It takes a minute, but goes a long way.

2. Think about what you say before you open your mouth.

Whether you blog or tweet for yourself, or for your brand, you are speaking on someone’s behalf.
Words will travel. Don’t tweet, update or blog about something you wouldn’t want your Mother to read. And, if you’re lucky like me, your Mom is your biggest fan. Don’t be stupid. Type with care.

3. Do the right thing.

Gossip, Bullying, Cat-fights… don’t engage in the drama. Stand by your product {yourself!} and your followers, friends and fans will respect you more. Show you have an opinion, but make sure it’s valid. Don’t jump on a negative bandwagon for the sake of sensationalism.

4. Listen.

A good rule of thumb is to give out more than you expect to get back. That means… don’t make it all about you all the time. Listen to your audience. Give them what they want. Treat them as you would want to be treated – that means listening when appropriate, commenting for encouragement and supporting others with re-tweets and sharing.

5. Share.

Find great content? Share it. Tell others. Make it viral. Approximately 51% of online users are generating original content. That’s a lot! There is good stuff out there. Build relationships with a new audience by sharing with others what you find interesting. They’ll thank you for it, and share the things you put out there that make you and your content unique.

Conversely, if you have great content, and think others will benefit from it, share it. You’d be surprised by how many people will appreciate you {and your expertise} on the subject.

So there you have it… 5 rules… 5 pieces of wisdom… 5 ways to mind your manners on the web.

230 top tweets from #SMPlus

Social Media Plus Summit The Social Media Plus Web 2.0 Business Summit was held in Philadelphia May 25, 2010.

The one-day event promised to put attendees on the fast track to incorporating Social Media into their overall business strategy.

Attendees generated over 2,100 tweets under the hashtag #SMPlus. Twitter only maintains 10-14 days of content so this information will soon disappear. Thanks to Adam Hymans (@LeMulatreGentil) here’s the archive all of them. Like Adam, I was not able to attend the event. But it’s with deep gratitude to all the attendees who posted their messages that this content has been made available worldwide on Twitter. Thanks!

Building on an idea of finding of “top tweets” I experimented with at the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference earlier this month, I’ve curated a list of 230 tweets I found most content-rich and interesting; adding links where appropriate for easy reference; consolidating others; editorializing.

I aimed for brevity and so none of the twitter handles or attributions are listed below, so search Adam’s archive if you need sources.

Please share your experiences in the blog comments (or on Twitter!) about your follow-up to this event and how you’ve implemented the ideas you picked up at #SMPlus.

Enjoy.

Jason Falls presentation (voted #1 by many), “Conversational Marketing” http://bit.ly/agDqOI
Shashi Bellamkonda presentation “Social Media and Small Business” http://bit.ly/99JwRI
Phil Baumann presentation, “Healthcare Uses of Social Media” http://scr.bi/dATKKF
Valeria Maltoni presentation, “Why Social Media is Important for Brands” http://bit.ly/bKsL4e
Director of Social Media from GM brings a different take on social media. Big business is more structured but good ideas shared.
GM has weekly “Social Club” of all involved w/social media: Brands, Mktg, Comm, Cust Rel, Law.
The best person to own social media in your company is the person who wants to – they need to breathe it. Brilliant.
Social media ROO: Brand awareness Engage customers; create fans; provide customer service; crowd sourcing product features.
Anybody who is listening to their customers will win in social media.
Building Trust with Empowered Consumers: Individual engagement for healthy brand relationships http://ow.ly/1POxI
Why are students studying Mass Comm anymore? It is all personalized communications now.
Social media dashboard – http://www.unilyzer.com (free trial available). Dashboard looks pretty good.
Twitter has a “shut up” button, it’s called a 140 chars limitation.
Be the MC to build an audience – Master of Content, Master of Ceremonies, Master of Community.
Conversational marketing success occurs when our participation in the conversation is GENUINE.
Extremely important for SEO by taking the first step towards getting linkbacks. Link out to other bloggers!
Twitter = a great way to draft compelling marketing messages. “I wanted to write a shorter note but didn’t have the time.”
Fundamentals of SEO: Optimize your titles/content, tag, categorize your content, optimize digital assets like photos and video.
Look at http://www.knowem.com. The place to find lesser known social networks.
Have a blog? Look at http://www.wibiya.com. Great widget-esque toolbar.
Apparently Bozeman, MT thought it smart to require applicants to furnish FB passwords. What do you people drink in the Midwest?
Tweets from 10:25-10:35 (East Coast Time) get 15-20% more click-throughs.
@jasonfalls Stated Twitter Strategy: “Share good Shit!”
Mobility is about context – It’s real time, via location.
Bandwidth is the paper of the digital era. If you don’t have enough, get more bandwidth. No need to cut trees to get it.
If someone calls himself a social media guru but not a social media STRATEGY guru, then he’s neither.
Thought: why do we never hear case studies from gaming industry about recruiting?
The era of the destination sites is over. The attention is gravitating towards the edge – social networks
You haven’t made it as a blogger until you get a negative comment.
T-shirt says it all: Foursquare – I am the mayor of my pants.
Avoid pitching. Illustrate expertise not products. Share good content. Create a buyers channel. Offer help if interested.
Interject into the conversation. Monitor and search, interject when appropriate
One key theme at #smplus is leveraging employees as a social media asset.
Yes! Everyone needs 2 think they’re in customer service 4 your company.
Tap into your ee’s. Egaged ee’s are your best marketers, salesmen, and service reps – no matter the job title.
Sprint employees (termed “social ninja’s“) encouraged 2 engage in social media as company advocates but not company spokespeople.
Look at the social network usage of employees at the largest corporations – http://bit.ly/b2nkBU
There is untapped gold in your employee social graphs.
Everybody is a front line employee today.
Pimp your brand and what your company is doing and have employee advocates! Make sure your SM efforts are driven by real people.
Identify your evangelists and trust them to lead the charge.
Overshare with others, even if they are competitors.
Illustrate your expertise, not your catalog.
Avoid pitching. Don’t say click my junk all the time.
We’re going from contact-management to community management — from simple transactions to relationships.
Our intent can be plural. Contribute & market & learn & engage.
Not being perceived as an early adopter but an early achiever is a fine line 2 walk.
Build trust by being there when your customers have a question.
112% increase of people accessing Facebook thru mobile in 3 months.
Advocate communication and training when it comes to setting up a company-wide social media initiative.
Tip: if you’re a brand, grab the Twitter handle early – people like to hijack names.
Companies should remember that we are serving – it’s the audience that we serve and not product roadmaps.
“We can glean trust from even quick little interactions” < The Art of Conversation.
I really like what @zappos is doing socially with http://twitter.zappos.com/ – The ultimate in corporate transparency and responsibility!
Social Media doesn’t kill productivity; unmotivated workers do.
http://www.stopblocking.org – tips to help stop blocking social media sites for employees. Stats on employee productivity.
Re: blocking social media at work: At some point, you will not imagine doing your work w/o social media. Exactly.
Top 4 reasons for blocking SM: productivity, loose lips, IT security, and bandwidth.
Access to social networks leads to an increase in productivity (by 9%)
54% of orgs block access to social media. Can we say epic fail?
Love the common themes in sessions – trust, conversations, connections, authenticity.
Consumers want like minded people for recommendations and referrals. They don’t want conversations to become SPAM.
Every presenter so far has said exactly this, “find out where your target market is and where they are”.
No matter how bad the news is, it is better you tell it.
On Twitter: re: Customer Service: Easier to be mad at a logo, not a pic of a real person! Personalize your relationship.
We live in an area of the 140 character news cycle and if u don’t have it flooded, other people will with their news.
Good blog post: “Community Manager Goals and Responsibilities”http://tinyurl.com/288zpcv
“…no one cares about your company, we want your content. When u pitch u lose us!”
Social Media Rebellion Coming Against Marketers http://amplify.com/u/6dvv
Era of destination website is over. Still need sites, but traffic is dropping in favor of social sites.
Social media leads are 25% more likely to become sales opportunities (http://www.genius.com).
Leaderboard for #smplustweets @wthashtag http://wthashtag.com/smplus
Only 24% of people are creating original material – so by RT’ing this I join the 76% – cogito ergo sum.
Canadian Rev Agency video contest – http://bit.ly/cej7Ib
Social media is here to stay… And more and more, it will permeate everything we interact with.
Most orgs completely unprepared 4 what could happen online: e.g. Nestle & Greenpeace.
Nestle’s SM failure? Instead of embracing feedback, they picked a fight. Result – substantial negative feedback.
Social media will not be the destination – it will be everywhere you go.
People don’t want to have a relationship w/all brands. What they want is to have a company address their questions problems & issues.
People generally don’t want to have a relationship with the brand. Who wants a relationship with toilet paper?
A brand is a gut feeling about a product or service..
You can’t control brand message but you can control your brand relationships.
When you build value, are you thinking of intangible or tangible value? All value is perceived; make sure your brand has both.
People want to be taken care of when they have an issue, and want to be listened to when they have an idea.
Are we engaging our consumers with the right conversations? Need to talk about business practices w/consumers.
Find out where people are talking about your competitor and join the conversation to offer choices.
Word-of-mouth drives 70% of all commerce in US (McKinsey) – why doesn’t marketing $ reflect that?
Separate from the connections, Twitter makes you become a better writer because you have to be more concise.
Data shows more people go to social sites for product info rather than the brand’s home page.
Twitter is here/now and blogs are more legacy. So what about magpie or starring certain positive updates on your brand stream?
Word of mouth one of the strongest ways to get people to buy. So why don’t many leaders don’t get? Lack of control.
95% don’t trust ads, 92% don’t trust what cos say, 91% don’t trust cos to act in consumer best interests.
Over 90% of people really don’t believe anything that comes from the mouth of a company. Especially BP!
Oil spill forced BP to create social strategy.
Unfortunately, many companies avoid SM (until a crisis pulls them in), rather than prepare and join-in.
33% of social media users believe cos are interested in them. 93% say cos should be on social media.
People are dividing their attention based upon on what resonates with them.
The only company that needs a YouTube strategy is YouTube. For the rest of us it is a tactic.
Social media helps you get unstuck because there is a community to help you with what you need.
“Start with the free stuff first,” social monitoring tools – you bet!
Social media likened to a garage. Some stuff used every day, some stuff every once in a while, and all of it is a mess.
“Getting it Right: Social Network Recruiting”: http://ning.it/a95fXu
Check out these sites: http://hubspot.com http://twitanalyzer.com http://refollow.com
Wise words for job seekers: “Don’t go on Facebook drunk”.
Cool tip for job hunters. Target company employees on FB.
Using RSS to Job Hunt: http://ow.ly/1PABa
If you’re not posting blogs every day, find other ways (e.g. comments) to get your name and ideas out there.
Don’t get timid. Find out so you can correct it! -> when told, “you suck”, ask, “well how do I suck”.
Best place to start social media measurement is with a Brand Audit.
Measure: increase revenue, decrease cost, increase cust satisf’n. Arrange tracking. Unique URL, landing page, 800#. Set benchmarks.
Top 3 measures: visitors, network size, and quantity of commentary. What, no quality?
Data data data! What good is yapping on SM sites when you can’t tell what the results are or who you are reaching?
Adding a share button helps you figure out where your customers are talking.
Social Media is creating “compression” around customers not “convergence” across Marketing, PR, Services
@comcastcares can’t wait to see your new FB page with the service tab & other goodies.
How many people does @comcastcares employ? 10 people. 1 person monitors blogs (among other things).
If anyone else asks me about a silver bullet, get me a gun. SM takes good, hard work; no more and no less!
Turn messaging into conversation starters.
Embed bit.ly links into mktg campaigns to track SM response. Wonder if that works with Google urchin tags. Anyone?
Great insight into writing content that aligns with buyers decision journey – http://tinyurl.com/yfol4x7
If you market to a gear head you better be a gear head.
The key to social media is speed – opposite of PR.
One of the best reasons to be online is to be found.
Use IaaS to scale quickly and then scale down based on trends. Very cool concept. Company jumped from a few servers to 5000 in week.
You have 30 seconds to capture someone’s attention.
Using Gmail to find your customers on Facebook and Twitter!! AMAZING!
Marketing and how SM ties into it. 5 R’s: Relevance, Receptivity, Responsiveness, Recognition, Relate.
Oddly enough, my mom taught me a lot of social media policies… but she called them manners.
Use the “Mom rule” when posting content online — if you wouldn’t want your mom to see it you shouldn’t be posting it.
It’s an oversimplification to say that SM policy is just about being polite, that’s part of it. There’s more to it that for brands.
Don’t ask the lawyers “can we do this?” but “how can we do this?”
Seems most legal concerns really revolve around the fact Legal can’t install chips in our brains to jolt us when we think.
Compliance is always the goal with social media. Risks include control, bandwidth, cybersmearing, negative press, etc.
Largest age group using social media is 35-44 at 25%.
65+ men and women – 3rd most visited web page is Facebook.
Women over 55 were the fastest growing demographic on Facebook last year; added 10 million profiles.
35-44 age group is the largest age group that uses Social Networking.
30 case social media case studies http://bit.ly/aHR7v4
You cannot start with tools. First (after people) define objectives & goals, then strategy/tactics.
Not one CEO in the Fortune 100 has a blog. Chickens!
No Fortune 100 CEO with social profile including Linkedin. They should – to be more authentic.
Advice to C-level Execs: Don’t Say anything stupid, be nice, don’t give away trade secrets.
C-suite: don’t fear going into social media – fear NOT going in.
Senior Management is blinded by the numbers. They want numbers, but they don’t know what to do with them.
C-suite, esp of publicly-traded companies, can B translucent but not transparent on social media.
Social Media needs buy-in from senior management to be successful.
If there is a theme to #smplus, it is definitely “look before you leap” – don’t get into SM until you have an aligned strategy.
“A good reputation is more valuable than money.” Isn’t that in the Bible somewhere?
People don’t buy what you make, they buy why you make it.
I don’t do presentations…I don’t do “Decks”…I have conversations.
Marketing is the ability to bring brands across an increasing # of media.
Marketing s/b responsible for Website, Blog and Social Media. Sales should have access to them.
What can Marketing do to engage sales in Social Media? Send them a lead that gets them a deal!
Why should sales participate in SM? If they could stand next to the fax machine and pull off orders they would. Dated, but yeah.
Sales 2.0 is about shift from hard selling to helping customers buy from us.
Let mkt people lead the conversation. They lead with the proper messaging. Allow sales to contribute to that discussion.
The key to aligning S & M is attacking the process. Getting two groups together: http://yfrog.com/6ghh1zj (grin)
Marketing 1.0 “spam cannons”; “what color is our company”; “sales can’t even be in same room”.
Favorite piece of knowledge: “Add value, don’t extract it.”
I like SM policies b/c they can help cos relax & focus on ways 2 help employees participate
After launching SM guidelines, set a date a year later to review and talk about successes/fails.
Policy as order makes me cringe in general, but it doesn’t have to. Our policy is 3 bullet points.
Nordstrom’s has a one rule corporate policy – use good judgment in everything you do. There is no rule #2.
Don’t assume employees know the social web risks, spell it out in your policy.
Tell people the real risks of using SM improperly. Use real-life examples (of which there are plenty).
Key takeaway, you have to set your employees up to succeed and to do that, you need to educate them!
Don’t ban – educate. Study by U. of Melbourne shows that people engaged in social media are more productive.
I hate social media policies. It’s the perpetuation of myth that employees need policy to communicate.
Only 29% Of Companies Have A Social Media Policy: http://bit.ly/b8hZzT
Not a policy to communicate it can dictate what is & is not acceptable to share, relevant in highly regulated industries.
Implement a social media policy that reflects the company’s values.
Education + guidelines/governance applied 2 asset audit (ID social/digital best practices) + social ideation = blueprint for success.
Engage, Contribute, add Value, Join conversation and turn it around really, really fast.
In the last few weeks, 1100 social media jobs posted on Monster.
Small biz – use your FB page to promote the community as well as the personal. Helps engage 2-way conversations.
Are many who believe SM is a realtime thought stream. Sad, but you do need to tell people how to properly communicate…
Be transparent and credible at all times.
See http://groundswell.com. They lump ppl in 6 categories but it comes down to 90 lurk, 7 contribute and 3 create out of 100.
I think the myth is that employers need to control all communication media.
Interesting thought – consider separate twitter acct for diff products.
New reality for marketers to create and nurture conversations.
Not all businesses are or belong on Yelp, not all businesses have easily accessible target audience or content that’s easy 2 share.
Banning SM in the workplace is a bad idea. Period. Employees are your brand… When your brand is unhappy… Duh.
Some still use Yellow Pages … to prop up broken furniture. Heh.
Advice to everyone – get a signup form on your Facebook page.
Everyone is in customer service. Conversations with people are the 3rd most trusted source for information.
5 things to create your “Army of David’s” for social media in the work place: [1] Get Senior Mgmt in place [2] Have social media policy in place. [3] Get everyone involved- HR, PR, Corp communications. [4] Determine who will speak on your behalf [5] Have monitoring tools in place.
9 ways brands are using social media effectively: [1] Create more utility: USPS Virtual Box Simulator; Sherwin Williams; iPhone app – iPee. [2] Be bigger than what you sell: Huggies crowdsourcing “mom inspired” ideas [3] Offer talkable surprises: Mr.Lucky’s Cafe at the Hard Rock Café – gamblers special $7.77 not on the menu [4] Answer latent but important questions: DTXTR to translate teen text speak to actual English [5] Recruit through real stories and people [6] Use SM to enhance what you’re doing now, take unique moments, make them special: UK bev. maker had guy w/camera stream annual mtg. [7] Put Use a calendar to create anticipation and map out the content you plan on sharing – helps to strategize [8] Identify your company voices: Flickr page with photos of the people behind the P&G social media account [9] Curate content along w/creating it.
Yahoo answers, if you’re not answering questions re: your brand, you’re missing out.
Blogging grew 68% in 2008.
Follow the UAT formula: be unique, authentic, talkable.
Everyone needs to think of themselves as customer service reps. You represent your company. Your people are your brand! So true!
25% of small businesses use social media, which has doubled from last year.
Action plan – Join communities, comment on blogs, ans ?s, thank biz reviewers, and look for guest post opportunities.
Give more than you extract (from social media).
People use data and Internet on phone more than they make phone calls.
Setup Google Alerts to track your company and keywords.
How many friends you have on fb, etc, doesn’t matter – how many you can build a business relationship with does.
Strangers are shaping your brand.
Forrester says 16% of online Americans are mass influencers.
People are tribal by nature.
Create insider moments for your customers to share. IMO…So true.
In social media the internet is our database – Never thought of it that way.
Be real. Be nice. Tell the truth. Under promise. Over deliver.
Companies very active in social media see greater revenue growth, gross margin gross & net margin growth than those that do not.
Companies that respond quickly to Social Media comments can gain a follower for just responding! Has this happened to you? I agree!
Don’t know if Facebook will be here in 3 years, but we know there will be something else – be willing to shift with the movement.
Social Capital – Like the Aunt you love – we are predisposed because people have done nice things for you.
Most companies have centralized social media around PR, but that’s limiting and not useful anymore.
Personifying your brand can be done by providing content pieces to create a single voice using multiple sources.
If you want to be part of the community, you have to play by the community rules.
“Common thought == common user experience”. Company standards are important parts of successful SM.
Creating videos for corporate use? Brand a YouTube channel. Interesting tip.
If you need to search Flickr, try http://compfight.com. It’s been so useful for me. Search for “Creative Commons” licensed content.
Yes, but what do they actually sell? Financial client list might surprise you: http://ow.ly/i/1K3K
People. Objectives. Strategy. Technology. POST in this order. Not tech 1st.
One of the main goals in using social media in HR recruiting: build a pipeline of followers.
Unisys estimates they saved a million dollars in HR recruiting costs by using social media.
SM & HR: access to competitor’s talent, better tools to attract, easy to get followers, and easy for candidates to contact you.
Use http://www.flowtown.com/ to market yourself on the social networks where your customers are. Shape your message appropriately. Connects w @mailchimp.
SM can be faster and more frequented than search engines to find content.
Transparency matters; Authenticity is more important. Genuine intention trumps nuts & bolts processes.
Create blogs, FB, everything … create a social media presence with a purpose.
IT folks talking about harnessing rather than controlling online interaction. Refreshing.
Faberge Shampoo – Classic social media example, http://ow.ly/1PxX4
Social media is not one bucket – it’s lots and lots of different buckets – different for every company.
Sharing ‘insider moments’ with customers can be a powerful social media tool for a brand.
Virtual trust is real and powerful & being faceless doesn’t work & media is circular.
People need a face in order 2 have a connection & loyalty or they don’t want to tell others about your brand.
Your challenge on SM is not to suck. Hopefully, by the end of today, you now have the tools not to suck!

Guest Posting: Screencasting with Jim Carrillo

Following my recent trip to the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit I created a listing of 108 “top tweets” from the event – tips, suggestions, ideas and topics which people found noteworthy.

Now, I’m as guilty as the next person of attending conferences and workshops, getting all fired up with ideas and suggestions, and failing to follow through and implement any of them. So, in the spirit of implementing at least some of these ideas from Detroit, I plan to examine some of the tweets in more detail.

Top Tweet: learn Screencasting

The first tip, which came out of Shel Holtz’s seminar at the event, was “Use Camtasia Studio to create audio “screen-casts” of apps – embed in departmental websites as training aids. Create animated preso library.”

I’ve asked my National Speakers Association colleague and uber-geek, Jim Carrillo, to explain in detail how screen-casting can be accomplished. His explanation includes a screen-cast – of course!

Screencasting – the Fourth Dimension in Communication

by Jim Carrillo

You may have seen Screencasting, or screen recording in its generic name, when you’ve watched online training snippets for some popular websites. Screencasting is a name coined by Jon Udell, and is a digital recording of a computer screen’s output that usually contains voice narration.

Before diving in to how you can use it, let’s start by explaining the fourth dimension concept. Communication is the backbone for all we do. The best form of communication is when we’re face to face with our counterpart, which I consider our first dimension. Unfortunately, one of the worse forms of communication is written, or email, which we use far too much. With email, we lose the tonalities of our voice, the excitement in our gestures, and the other forms of visual and audio interaction; this would be the second dimension. The third dimension of communication would be recording ourselves for distribution to a single person or an audience. Recording has been around for quite some time, and with voicemail, or HandyCam video cameras, we’ve all become accustomed to the word “recorded message”. It’s clearly either a video or audio recording of a communication (or both).

What do you call a video communication that doesn’t involve a camera though?, a communication that brings in a new element of reference that both the presenter and receiver can focus on? With the explosion of the integration of the computer screen in our daily lives, bringing this medium into the focus of the communication has become natural. Screencasting is exactly that. It’s a recording of a communication with the focus on the computer screen, not the presenter.

Oddly enough, Screencasting is one of the easiest methods of recording. Bypassing the Video or Audio recording industries, screencasting was born out of the computer generation. Ease of use was top of mind in creating this technology.

Don’t be misled though, just because something is easy, don’t expect professional production ready results. To give an analogy, many people know how to type in a word processing application, but it doesn’t make them an author. Everyone can learn how to create a Screencast in minutes, but don’t start calling yourself a producer just yet.

You can try it right now! The best out of the box (and there is no box), get your feet wet Screencasting system I’ve found is Screen Toaster (www.screentoaster.com) . Screentoaster is completely web based (meaning no software to install), and it’s FREEEEE! What a beautiful word isn’t it? FREEEEE.

Considering becoming a director or producer in Screencasts for a more professional production? I’ve tried many, and with much reluctance, I finally gave Camtasia Studio (www.techsmith.com) a try. The price is inexpensive for professional use (only $300), and is not only packed with features, they’ve made it very simple to use. The simpleness is what brought a tear to my eye.

Interested in seeing a demonstration? In this Screencast, I’ve created both a simple Screencast showing you how to create your own Screencast in about two minutes (ouch, that circular explanation hurts my brain every time I write it). I’ve also added three examples of Screencasts that I often produce. Screencasting is part of my daily communications, and professional marketing services. Not a day passes that I’m not recording my cursor fly by.

Interview: Shel Holtz – Business Communicator

Having spent 30-plus years in organizational communications in Fortune 500 companies, consulting firms, and as an independent consultant since 1996, Shel Holtz, ABC, brings a depth of experience to his engagements. Shel has worked with online communications since the mid-1980s; he currently focuses on the application of social media to strategic business communication. Shel also provides counsel and guidance on traditional online communication and conventional media.

Shel is the author of five books, including Public Relations on the Net, Corporate Conversations, Blogging for Business and the recently released How to Do Everything with Podcasting. (Along with co-author John C. Havens, Shel is currently writing “Web 2.Open,” addressing the role communications play in organization efforts to attain transparency.) He has also written countless articles for magazines and journals. He is in demand as a speaker at conferences and workshops around the world.

Shel keynoted at the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit. I asked him what was new in his world. To hear what he told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:20 — 1.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

108 top tweets from #ragangm

The Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit (May 4-7) was festival of presentations on Social Media, Speechwriting, Corporate and Internal Communications. Over 250 attended the event held at the General Motors Headquarters in the downtown Renaissance Center and hosted by GM.

Attendees generated over 900 tweets under the hashtag #ragangm. Since Twitter only maintains 10-14 days of content live they will soon disappear. Here’s the archive all of them.

I curated a list of the most interesting 108 tweets,adding links where appropriate for easy reference.

Use Camtasia Studio to create audio “screen-casts” of apps – embed in departmental websites as training aids. Create animated preso library.
Internal comms compete w/lots of entertaining options for employee mindshare. Videos & Photos need to be quality & entertain to compete w/Rolling Stone & People Magazine.
Every internal web page should have star rating system and allow comments.
When developing messages for employees, ask the question “What does this have to do with the key audience how does it speak to their concerns?” WIIFM at two levels for employees: 1) What does it have to do w/ me? 2) How does changing my behavior make my life better?
Three steps to changing employee behavior: 1) Handle comms logistics – content, design, 2) capture employee attention and 3) do be relevant. Result = change behavior.
Comms is responsible for simplifying complexity of business – diagram things.
We can no longer have internal comms messages targeted to everyone – the branch office does not see things same way HQ staff do. Gen Y workers diff. from Baby Boomers.
Every communicator (esp. long-timers) eventually stops communicating 4 their audience and starts communicating 4 their boss. Do whatever it takes to avoid this. Bonus be damned!
3rd party media training is often more effective. Execs seem more receptive and less defensive/dismissive about their advice. Hire an outside coach for faster results.
People now have now gone from having ADD to ADOS – Attention Deficit … Ooh Shiney!
Executives need to understand Gen Y. “Connect with the coming tidal wave.” Try reverse mentoring, people!
Irrelevant information is not benign. Limited reader attn means messages must be focused on benefits or risk losing readers.
Write for the range of target audience that has least understanding of your topic. Duh!
89% of journalists say they turn to blogs for story research. Lazy or smart?
78% of people trust recs of other consumers; 14% trust ads. This is why social media is so important. Who do you trust?
62% of employees who tweet, tweet from work.
66% of employers have monitored employees’ internet use; 1/3 of companies have fired someone (mostly for visiting wrong websites).
Make sure to integrate comms channels with each other. Example given: The Petco Scoop blog.
Wildfire has a fun ways – sweepstakes, contests and give-aways – to engage SM audiences.
Ideal number of words in a graf before losing reader attention: 42.
Listening is the most important thing you can do on Twitter – check out http://search.twitter.com/ and http://www.socialoomph.com/
Speechwriter Rob Friedman: Eli Lilly’s main purpose is to show “the value of pharmaceuticals” – ask: what is it for your company?
“A speechwriter is a playwright for the client – script them well”
Era of destination website is over – archival ‘.com’ sites being replaced by social media.
68% of online content read by Millennial’s is created by someone they know personally.
Check out cool tool PubSubHubBub.
Real-time search engines can tell u the sentiment & reactions to ur org’s news. Look at https://brandmentions.com.
Twitter is not a personal communication tool. It’s a news distribution service.
AT&T uses Twitter Ambassadors found those already on Twitter and take that passion to help your brand in a real way.
Write tweets in ways that add value to the reader to aid optimization.
Augmented reality is the next big thing. @shelholtz: “It’s going to be huge.”
Are u using http://www.evernote.com/ – It will change ur life.
Polleverywhere – Cool live polling technology. Used my phone to txt a vote and watched live results on the screen!
General Motors: Changing the public’s perception 1 customer at a time. Personal correspondence with GM execs. Actively seek unhappy customers.
Re finding/responding to online complaints, “It costs less…than finding a new customer,” Says GM’s Susan Docherty.
SM lessons learned by GM: Don’t be boring, don’t over-promote, cut the hyperbole, respond to people w/real people.
Social media “policy” for employees: if you can’t say it at your daughter’s bday party, shouldn’t say it online.
“Stop treating customers like a one-night stand,” GM CMO Susan Docherty. Great advice for all companies!
“Emerging” media is now traditional media. GM had 8-fold increase in digital media spending since 2001.
In communications, if you start with the consumer, you will do the right thing.
Qumu – great option for internal communications webcasting: Ragan Conference using them.
GM has “social club,” informal, regular meetings of those from all depts w social media responsibilities.
Remember you (your comp. or org) are a publisher and you compete with media outlets.
PR & Marketing need to have a ‘”happy marriage.” Audiences can’t tell the diff between the two. They just see you.
GM lets employees spend worktime in Twitter & Facebook so they can interact w/customers, which is now part of everybody’s job.
Viral is a phenomenon, not a strategy…absolutely true.
Any GM employee can tweet about the company, says @maryhenige. Co keeps them advised of rules, links them to info & asks them to be smart.
In the end – just provide value. Don’t lead w/your messages; community’s needs come first.
On Social Media…don’t be a brand, be human.
70% of successful outcome depends on how well you communicate. The last thing u want is 4 execs to be hiding behind their desks.
“SM is like having a kid – you can’t just leave them when they’re done being cute.”
Writers are ditch diggers. Can’t wait for a muse. Get your ass back in there and DIG!
Any speech longer than 20 minutes is too long. If they want longer. Tell them you’ll speak for 20, QA for the rest.
How to determine speech length? 100 words = 1 minute is good benchmark. Anyone speaking faster than that needs to SLOW DOWN, pause for audience to absorb message.
Speechwriters: Make 3-4 big points. No more. Get them from the principal in ur 1st mtg, or they’ll throw ur 1st draft out.
Get a 2nd monitor for your computer (to monitor Twitter).
Use flickr to spark yr creativity.
Use flip cams for fast ‘scrappy’ videos (caveat: content must be good).
Greatest gift of YouTube culture: low expectation for video quality. BUT compelling content + authenticity is extremely high.
Using humor in Corp comm is not always a fireable offense.
Keeping it real: Bullfighter: – eliminate jargon & b.s. in your documents.
Hire a presentation/speech coach to help ur executives improve. Not overnight, but 3-4 months.
Use http://bit.ly to shorten URLs and track clicks.
Stay current: Read http://mashable.com/
Do a short 2 sentence interview with multiple ppl and mash together for a good video on a single topic. Example: http://bit.ly/aqzoCd
Create a presentation homepage for upcoming events, preview videos, outline, slideshare, ask for comments. Example: http://bit.ly/aWBAow
Flip camera tips: Clean the office behind you; use a desk light to highlight face; watch for b/g noise; bump sound with Windows Movie maker post-production.
Keep your language conversational. Test your writing by reading out loud as if you were talking to someone in an elevator.
Writers: Get rid of passive sentences; capture the essence of your press release in a Tweet.
Stop blocking social media from ur employees. Train them and empower them.
Spice up internal comms: Roving reporters and employee film fests: uncovering talent in ur organization.
“Who died & put IT in charge of employee productivity?” @shelholtz
Amplify employee voices thru low-cost podcasting. Can listen at user convenience, develops trust and community. And cheap to produce.
Journalism graduates today are trained to shoot, edit, and publicize. Get a dedicated staff member to focus on video.
@MarkRaganCEO on why authenticity matters: “We live in the age of bullshit.”
Useful podcasting tools: Wavepad, Camtasia Studio, Audacity, Levelator.
On podcasting…the tool is not the message.
Podcast Production Lessons: Cozy up to your radio. Get comfortable with being seen & heard. Prepare, prepare, prepare.
Podcasters: Think like a marketer. Create full campaign. Don’t 4get your global audience. Measure every podcast.
Podcasters: Your leaders make for great content. Look for your influencers. Let employees be the interviewers sometimes.
Internal Podcasts: You’ve got experts in your community. Help them tell their stories. Find the moment when the mike goes away.
Podcasts complement crisis communications. Can quickly be on the scene or respond to rumors. Easily done over the phone.
Time length for videos is controversial. Brevity important in most cases. 90 secs or less. BUT if it’s good, ppl will watch longer.
Executive communications is like a high wire act…eventually something will go wrong.
Public Speakers: Common mistake – spending more time on slides than on delivery. Dry runs are important.
Public Speakers: Conversational tone in a large audience doesn’t always work. Stage presence is important.
Speechwriters: Beware of tongue twisters. “Red Buick, Blue Buick”.
Speechwriters: Prep your exec in case their time gets cut. Provide a 60-30-15 minute version of the speech as a contingency.
Understand Cultural Sensitivity/Diversity issues: Resource: Culture Crossing – Beware of culturally-specific analogies (e.g. Sports US= “4th down”; UK= “batting on a sticky wicket”).
Think about mic’ing your exec when they present so u can re-purpose their speech/audio for other things (website, podcast, transcript, etc.)
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized”- Sun Tzu. Especially true for the internet.
@aribadler suggested we’ve moved from work-life balance to work-life blend.
Avoid extended online debates with ppl who disagree with a message.
28 Best Praactices for virtual presentations, WebEx sessions: www.whatworks.biz
Best way to brief ur exec? Know them, their style. Personalize ur approach and style.
If your employees love what they do, make them ambassadors.
Pre-flight checklist for exec-comms events available as .doc source: http://bit.ly/bzzoTh
Blogs must be authentic. Don’t ghost write your CEO’s. Ppl expect authenticity. If they can’t write it, look for something else.
If ur CEO is a bad writer but a good speaker: have him dictate it + ur comm staff can transcribe to the blog.
Comm cascade often fails. Focus on interpretation + location! Help staff take the message, interpret, + pass it on accurately.
Branding: Detroit is considered “gritty”. Baby Boomers equate that to dirty. Gen X define it as “authentic”. Detroit’s brand position: Detroit is where cool comes from.
Ask your agency to pitch ideas they don’t think you’ll approve. Creativity will flow.
Whether it’s online or in print. If you don’t know if people are reading it, why are you doing it?
Interviewing tip: Don’t be afraid to go where your answer leads you and not where your question sent you.
Complaints are inevitable in any biz. Look at them as opportunities to showcase problem solving and communication skills.
Comms must compete for your employees’ attention – Paying employees gets them in the door, but that doesn’t engage and motivate them.
Measure communications by business goals/objectives.
Consider Prezzi.com instead of PPT: Animated visuals are dynamic and impressive. As shown in @shelhotz closing keynote.

Video: Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference

The Ragan’s Corporate Communicators Conference held May 5-7, 2010 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. Hosted by General Motors.

Full background on my own two presentations – slides, script and references:
Speechwriting in the age of social media: Magnifying the impact of a speech to increase your reach

What can go wrong in executive communications: Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Video of first-hand impressions by 15 attendees.

2010 Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference

Next month I’m giving two presentations at the 2010 Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit, MI. It’ll be my first ever visit to Motown and my first time at this conference. The event is hosted by General Motors.

I’ll be podcasting interviews with attendees and presenters and grabbing some video with my Flip video camera to post to YouTube. It all fits with the theme of my own workshop, scheduled for 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday May 5:

Speechwriting in the age of social media: Magnifying the impact of a speech to increase your reach

Social media add exciting new options to the traditional speechwriting toolkit. From researching audience interests to developing speech content, tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and blogs can save you time and make your speeches more compelling—if you know how to use them.

Speechwriters can now leverage social media to greatly improve the value of their services in the planning, preparation and scripting of a speech. Then, once the speech is written, social media can magnify its impact beyond the confines of the auditorium.

After attending this session, you will know:

How to identify trending topics that will grab an audience’s interest
Where to find facts, opinions and stories to include in the speech
How to create buzz in advance of a speaking event using blogs, Facebook and Twitter
The risks and rewards of engaging an audience in an online conversation—while the presenter is on-stage
How to leverage the viral power of podcasts and video to reach a global audience

A full preview is available at this Presentation Home Page.

On the second day of the event I’m giving a presentation from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

What can go wrong in executive communications: Common mistakes and how to avoid them

It’s sometimes the logistical minutiae that cause irreparable damage to executive speeches. From scheduling conflicts to malfunctioning equipment, a presentation can bomb for any number of reasons. You’ll hear about a number of improbable and unexpected (even hilarious) ways in which things have gone wrong for hapless executives and threatened the careers of their communications staff. You’ll then learn ways to avoid these embarrassments, including:

Why it’s your responsibility to sweat the details
A range of best practices to avoid an onstage melt-down
Safeguards that help prevent product demos from crashing
The value of checklists and standard operating procedures
Ways to recover from the inevitable mistakes

Again, a full preview is available at this Presentation Home Page.

Feedback and Ideas Needed

I’m eager to hear from anyone with comments on how to focus these two presentations. Go to the presentation home pages and leave me your suggestions; things you’d like to hear me cover (especially if you happen to be going to the event); war stories I can include and even witty items for my Top 10 List on “Things a client does not want to hear from a Speechwriter the night before a presentation”. (Things like “Boy, you should have been here for Obama’s talk last night, now HE was good.” – you get the idea…)

Follow the conference on Twitter at #ragangm

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"…the most prolific blogger in the speechwriting business." – David Murray, Vital Speeches of the Day.

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116 top tweets from #ragancisco

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Guest Posting: Lessons from Social Media Plus, by Erica V.

Manners, Content and Audience: getting Back to Basics at Social Media Plus, by Erica V.

Blogging

Twitter

Social Media Plus

1. Say Please and Thank you.

2. Think about what you say before you open your mouth.

3. Do the right thing.

4. Listen.

5. Share.

230 top tweets from #SMPlus

Guest Posting: Screencasting with Jim Carrillo

Top Tweet: learn Screencasting

Screencasting – the Fourth Dimension in Communication

Interview: Shel Holtz – Business Communicator

108 top tweets from #ragangm

Video: Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference

2010 Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference

Speechwriting in the age of social media: Magnifying the impact of a speech to increase your reach

What can go wrong in executive communications: Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Feedback and Ideas Needed

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