created on Thu, 2006-07-20 14:41

The Integration of Social Media

Speakers:
Kit Seeborg, Board of Webvisions, Design for ROI, Seeborg Strategies Inc.
Jeremiah Owyang, Global Web Strategist, Community Marketing at Hitachi
Brian Oberkirch, marketing consultant in social media (aka "Recovering Agency Guy")
Dan Saffer, senior interaction designer for Adaptive Path

Sharing Some of Brian's Thoughts:
• The basic problem as to why the mass media is failing right now: Attention Scarcity.
• The web provides us with the vehicle to listen in, communicate and have conversations.
• There is far too much emphasis placed on applications - who cares HOW you communicate. The two most important tools are your head and your heart.
• How committed are you to your audience?
• Letting go is not laissez-fair.
• The folks at flickr are marvelous at community building.
• Connection Over Content.
• Create consistency through persona.
• What do you think about your customers? Do you know them? Are you afraid to open up your internal community to them? Get To Know Who They Are.
• Identify the people who are interested in what you have to offer and understand who they are so you can speak to them effectively.

Jeremiah Chimes In:
• People are talking about Hitachi because of the blog. Period.
• Community Marketing is the larger envelope.
• Jeremiah created a wiki, Data Storage Bloggers, for $5 a month, to act as a resource of active contributors, including his competitors. He regularly gets competitors asking him to contribute and link.
• Link to your competitors so you can gain more control.
• Think about how to use social media tools to engage in your service and product.

Dan Saffer - Our token Designer
• Businesses are wanting and willing to use these tools to bring their audience and customers into the company and participate.
• The Power of Participation: Collective and Collaborative Intelligence. In everything that you read: question, critique, listen, emphasize, change
• Different types of users will display different types of participation behaviors... and you can design for them all.
• Participation can be light and easy on the user. The rewards will be great.

Taking These Away:
• Passion. You need to have it and take pride in what you are marketing and advocating within your community.
• One of the best blog posts you can write: "We're Not Good At ...." - initiate THIS conversation and it'll prove to be far more effective than just plainly tooting your own horn.