We try to feature social media marketing case studies on Now Is Gone.  Though this list is far from comprehensive for all the great work being done out there, it continues to reaffirm the power of this medium.  We’ve recently updated the Case Studies Page (see tab in the masthead) with these case studies:

Have a social media marketing case study? Want us to feature it on Now Is Gone? Email your link to geoff [at] livingstonbuzz [dot] com, and we’ll write it up and include it in this list.

Otherwise know as Participation is Marketing.

Today’s PR and marketing professionals really seem  bent on botching social media. Whether its blindly pitching bloggers or simply publishing a blog without any regards for how that effort fits into a community, the attempts to fit social media into one-way models don’t work! All in all, it’s a general push mentality that companies can’t seem to get over. 

In a one way, mass communications world outbound controlled communications can work. In a two-way fractured media environment, companies need to understand that they are not the center of a customer’s world. Far from it. In fact, a customer probably couldn’t give a damn about Company X UNLESS it’s an active member of their community, a member who understands them and tries to resolve particular needs. Companies must become part of the larger whole.

Getting a blog out there is great. But so what?  It’s not special anymore.  People that say folks will flock to your site are operating off old marketing information from last year. 

How are people going to find out about it unless you are participating in the larger discussion?  Which social networks do you play in? Why will they care without relevant context to their problems. Ditto for blogger pitches.  Don’t treat bloggers like media!!!! Why bother unless you really know what the blogger wants, writes about and cares about? 

Consider the traffic sources for the Buzz Bin over the past year. Note that ten of the top twenty referrers by far are social networks rather than other bloggers (thanks to Pam Sorensen and Kami Huyse who are the only two bloggers in my top twenty referral list).   Community first works! Especially if the content is geared for them.

Do your homework, and participate! Then you will attract people to your social media. Corporate social media becomes what is called in advertising a capture mechanism or call to action.  On the Buzz Bin the very first call to action is the RSS subscription button on the right. And the #1 source is Google Organic, or repeat visits from RSS readers who have subscribed to the blog.

By interesting parties in your larger network on relevant issues, blog posts, white papers, podcasts, videos, webinars, events (note a mix of 1.0 tools in here), etc., become more compelling. Community members are more inclined to engage and subscribe. A social marketer pulls customer interest through attraction rather than demand it by pushing.

Yet this push attitude prevails throughout the industry. Consider Richard Edelman’s comments 10 days ago:

That means we must help clients provide their own original content and enhance the dialogue with credible and creative material. We need to continue to convince clients about the importance of including bloggers in the outreach to media, of allowing their own executives to speak spontaneously, because there is a clear dialectic between control and credibility.

Edelman runs one of  the largest PR companies in the world.  His attitude reflects his company’s approach and probably 90% of the industry. 

What we as an industry must come to understand is that two-way media forms are different.  To succeed as a PR pro or marketer, participation needs to happen.  Social media has its own unique nuances that inherently social because of two-way communication.  This change is as big as when TV introduced video to the media environment in the 50s. So much of Now Is Gone revolves around this concept. My only regret is we didn’t reinforce it with more social network discussion. 

Stop playing by the old rules, and learn the game.

Cross-posted on The Buzz Bin.

The Wall Street Journal listed Now Is Gone as a resource today for “… companies [trying to] build buzz even when marketing budgets are small.” Thanks to Scott Monty for including Now Is Gone in his interview.

Other resources listed by Scott:

• MarketingProfs Daily Fix
• Web Strategy by Jeremiah
• What’s Next Blog by B.L. Ochman
• PR Squared’s Jedi Training for PR 2.0 Tactics
• For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report
• “The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media” by Paul Gillin
• “The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly” by David Meerman Scott

An extensive piece on the future of business social media was published yesterday on the Buzz Bin. While a little too futuristic for the average marketing exec just trying to figure out social media, there was a very relevant section, which was a carry over from previous conversations about business social media and personality:

Like Shel, I also disagree with Forrester’s Josh Bernoff that companies can act as an entity in socialized worlds. Because of the very nature of social media, it will be much harder for companies to diffuse their messages as an entity… Instead, personality must be infused into social environments. Identifiable people that work inside companies must represent the entity.

This strong stance finds it basis not in purists as Josh would state it, but because the social environment itself is inherently relational and community based. Without identifiable people to associate with, companies become inherently monolothic, relying on the brand identity to communicate. By its very nature, this is antisocial relying on something to build trust that even political pollsters know just doesn’t work - that’s corporate identities.

At bare minimum, corporations need to use an avatar or a personality to associate with the social media effort. For example, Nokia’s Mosh uses Russell the empty shirt and Goodwill of Greater Washington uses the Fashionista. In short @richardatDELL works a lot better than @DellCorp.

Here are some examples of personalities and why they work and don’t work…

The Bad

Ah yes, the suit. Mr. Safe and Corporate. Who trusts this guy (geez, these are my book photos)?

Point being, this shot was intended for book promotion to a community of business managers just trying to figure out what social media is. I mean, if its the Rayhteon blog targeted towards defense buyers, maybe, but otherwise, where’s the soul? It in its own right this photo is not ideal for social environments because its too stiff and formal.

Let’s be frank, would you rush to go talk to this guy in his office on your coffee break?


The Ugly

Oh yeah! The prototypical crazy blogger! This meets the general executive perception of a blogger, a member of an unruly horde. People are afraid of this guy. While it may get fans in some social media circles, this type of avatar is not likely to appease executives trying to bridge the gap between formal corporate communications.

The Good

Finally, a happy medium. Turkish coffee in Aswan Egypt is quite good.

This is the persona of a real person, an identifiable person, the fellow next door, that you would talk to on a coffee break. Real enough to socialize with, yet refined enough to engage in a conversation.

There is no one-size fits all approach to corporate personalities in social worlds. What’s most important is that conversational marketing include it. With personality comes a sense of authenticity, rather than an ivory tower that people think may screw them over for a profit.

Rohit Bhargava has an excellent book coming out on this topic, “*Personality not included.” Parties interested in this topic should pre-order it today.

To start the week I will be speaking and liveblogging on WordPress.com for my client the Human Capital Institute in Phoenix (see picture of summit host The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa). The 2008 Human Capital Summit covers the movement from traditional HR administration towards fostering talent management  as the new lever for market success. Liveblogging has its unique role at such an event.

First and foremost, liveblogging can create an air of excitement at an event, not only for attendees, but also for extended members of the HCI community. Other benefits liveblogging offers:

• Google juice for the event
• Recorded history of the event
• Helps an organizations and companies see social media at work
• Better retention of information for the liveblogger (I personally hope to gain a lot as an exec who runs his own companies. HCI revolves around reinventing the organization around talent and to communicate the value driven by cutting-edge talent practices to investors and other stakeholders.).

Their are many philosophies and beliefs on the best ways to liveblog. Here’s some of my favorite tips based on my experiences as a sole liveblogger.

1) Pre-identify who and what you want to cover. For example, after the keynote and first session, I will crash the video interviews of many speakers and give readers an inside scoop on their thoughts. Also do a little research on speakers in advance.

2) Have camera, will travel. Make sure you have comfortable gear for your camera so its readily accessible and can be used easily. My neck strap was bought for just these situations. Also be sure to have all of the necessary cables and pretest your equipment. Visuals are critical to great blogging, and you must be able to quickly add photos to each story.

3) Write, read and send: Don’t overthink the writing. You are a scribe in the ancient Egyptian sense, analysis is great, but in reality people just want to know the prescient points. Read through the script after writing, and send. Don’t over-edit. You come back that night and clean it up. If you are truly liveblogging, your job is to get the posts up almost as quickly as events happen.

4) Be flexible: Livebloggers get called into all sorts of weird situations. “Cover this, write that, don’t take my photo.” Just roll with it, and have fun.

5) Headlines matter. Like any blog post, be creative and try to get folks interested. Liveblogging can be an entry point for larger engagement with the subject matter and/or organization.

6) Don’t kill yourself. After three or four posts, you’ll be tired. Take that break. No one needs to be Brett Favre.

7) Limit your tools. Don’t overdo it. You can’t vlog, podcast, blog and tweet an event. Or at least you can’t do all of it well. Choose your most comfortable tools and execute well. For me, writing, photos, and maybe a couple of podcast chats.

Ethan Zuckerman’s right (any real liveblogger should read this excellent treatise). Sit in the back or on the side. Make sure you scope out where the outlets are so you can keep optimal battery levels throughout the event.

What does RSS mean anyway? An embarrassing question for some, but one that a lot of newcomers may want to ask.

Mike Sansone, author of Converstations, has been quietly building a glossary of terms for those who need a quick answer. While only 25% of the way through the alphabet, Mike’s glossary is a good resource for those who are just getting comfortable with new media forms.

Heck, it’s good for those of us who have been around for a while, too. I now know what AJAX is (An acronym — Asynchronous Java Script and XML — representing a way to create real-time Web applications).

Thanks for your service to the industry, Mike.

It’s time for the completely shameless monthly exercise in subjective measures of greatness…the Most Influential Blogger post. Winners get complimentary Blogs of Fire T-Shirts.

This list changes quite a bit from month-to-month, and ranking by cumulative score allows for a better picture of my most influential bloggers.Year-to-date rankings for the blogger of the year are accumulated from month to month. As this is the first ranking of the year, we are beginning with a clean slate.

1) Web Strategy by Jeremiah - I think Jeremiah ended up in my del.icio.us book marks five or six times last month. Just when you think there can’t possibly be anything more this guy has to offer, bang, another shot over the fence. Recessions, employees vs. companies, interviews. Keep it going, Jeremiah.

2) Laura Ries - She blogs infrequently, but when she does it’s a sure-fire hit. This month she had analysis of the Oprah endorsement, a discussion about Starbucks closing and Microhoo analysis.

3) Neville Hobson - I like Neville quite a bit and have been following him for some time. His posts can informative, educational, and are often backed by great stats. A great staple for anyone’s reader.

4) Chris Brogan - Note repeat from last month: Chris is still on, always thinking about his community. It’s hard not to get something from Chris Brogan’s blog. Like Neville, Chris is a must read staple for anyone’s blog.

5) Todd Defren - A strong month from, Mr. Defren. Todd frequently appears on the listing, through this is his first appearance of 2008. Strong posts this month included blogger relations for small cos., a location-based future, wire services and criticism of ooVoo day.

January Winners: Shel Israel, Wkinomics (team), B.L. Ochman, Ignite Social Media (Tobin and McNeil), Chris Brogan

The 2008 rankings to date:

• Shel Israel - 5 points
• Jeremiah Owyang - 5 points
• Laura Ries - 4 points
• Wikinomics - 4 points
• Chris Brogan - 3 points
• Neville Hobson - 3 points
• B.L. Ochman - 3 points
• Ignite Social Media - 2 points
• Todd Defren - 1 point

Last month’s winners have not received their shirts yet due to a short staffed Livingston Communications. All apologies, they’re coming!

Last week I spoke at the Public Relations Society of America’s Ft. Worth chapter. The effort included a 2.5 hour discussion of social media based on the book. Here’s the PPT. It seems like SlideShare doesn’t like Office 2007, but all of the content is there.

Please excuse a bit of exciting company news…

Now Is Gone won the Silver Medal in the Advertising/Marketing/PR/Event Planning category (#17) of the first annual, 2008 Axiom Business Book Awards! Congratulations to my co-author Brian Solis and Bartleby Press Publisher Jeremy Kay.

The Axiom Awards are run by Inc. and Independent Publisher. More than 400 books were judged for the awards, and a little more than a 100 won medals. The official awards ceremony is in New York on March 10!

Due to ties, our category had the most winners. Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, by Lois Kelly and Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, by Andy Sernovitz tied for Gold. We tied with Press Releases Are Not a PR Strategy: An Executive’s Guide to Public Relations, by Linda B. VandeVrede for the Silver. The Science of Spiritual Marketing: Initiation Into Magnetism, by Andrea Adler won Bronze. Congratulations to all of the category winners!

Cross posted on the Buzz Bin.

So many marketers think that blogging’s the first step in social media (image credit: Lego blogger by minifig).  As indicated last week, on the contrary, blogging should not be the first step. Further, it may not ever be the right step for a company for a variety of reasons:

• Time from a resource perspective: Some companies just can’t commit to the long, weekly grind that blogging demands.
• Time from a results perspective: Others may not have six months to a year to get results. Community development and readership requires more than just a blog launch.
• Blogging may not be the right platform: In some cases, the community’s conversation may be occurring in other venues, like social networks. Or vis a vis video and podcasts.
• Subject is anti-social: Company or organization’s subject matter expertise does not lend itself to a conversation. Examples, defense industry (go missiles!), manufacturer of simple goods or singular products like philips screwdrivers, .
• The required social networking to make a blog successful may be too much: Let’s face it. 2008 is not 2003. It’s not a special event to have a blog and getting one socialized requires an enormous effort. 

Research and understanding ones own

For example, at Thursday’s Forth Worth PRSA session on social media, we went through the draft Social Media Content Creation Process with a local arts organization. In our research, it became apparent that there’s not a vibrant blogging community for the arts in Forth Worth, but Facebook is a different matter. As a result, we decided to develop a Facebook community strategy instead of blogging.

Blogging offers a great series of advantages, from SEO and thought leadership to lead capture (through calls-to-action) and community development. At the same time, it’s not a panacea.