Many folks ask how to go about creating social media for their company. As a service to the industry, find here an open source version of a draft social media content development process.

This process is general enough to guide development of specific initiatives. It does not recommend blogging or video, per say. Rather the process allows content creation to move towards the market’s needs, and within the company’s resources. There are 14 steps in all:

1) Clearly articulate who your stakeholders are before you begin.

2) Clearly articulate the key issues these stakeholders care about as it relates to your offering. Use a bulleted list with no more than three or four words per item.

3) Begin by researching which, if any, top bloggers are discussing these issues. Use your bulleted list to search. The following are good places to start…

• Technorati
• Del.icio.us
• Google Blogsearch
• Ask.com Blogsearch

4) Inevitably, any substantial subject matter area has a back channel where top bloggers and influencers chat. For example, PR and marketing bloggers and tend to connect on Facebook, Twitter, and to some extent, LinkedIn. This back channel can yield powerful connections to highly influential minds who may not have blogs with top statistical ranking.

Marketers looking to find their subject area’s back channel should start with a basic search. Once your initial search yields important blogs, please visit them and note which social networks the bloggers use to connect. Join their communities. And learn what your stakeholders really care about.

5) Don’t just observe, participate. Comment on blogs and social networks in a non-promotional way. Become part of the community.

6) Note several things in your research:

1. Top industry issues
2. Top bloggers/thought leaders that write about your issues (you will need these for marketing purposes after your content creation process is done)
3. Preferred content forms (video, white papers, blogs, podcasts)
4. Ideal places to connect with the larger industry (social networks, etc.)
5. Other companies playing in the space: Who’s successful, who isn’t? Why?
6. Behavioral norms.

Write this information down in a formal analysis.

7) Using the analysis of your social media marketplace, identify the outcomes the organization would like to achieve. These outcomes will determine the measurement benchmarks once the company decides on its preferred communication tools. Possibilities include:

• Influence
• Awareness/changed perception on a particular issue
• Third party credibility through Word of mouth
• Brand awareness
• Return on investment (sales)

8 ) Identify the company’s value for the marketplace. Specifically, the organization’s subject matter expertise as it relates to the top industry issues currently being discussed amongst bloggers and thought leaders.

• Can the company provide enough information to add to the conversation?
• If so, is it enough to consistently be a part of the conversation, or is it limited in nature? Will it only be valuable for a short time?
• Can the organization afford to give away this information or does the information comprise trade secrets?

9) Based on the company/organization’s value offering and the marketplace’s issues and needs, draft an editorial mission to serve the community/stakeholders. For example, here is the Now Is Gone blog editorial mission:

Continue serving as a primer for those business executives new to social media or considering engaging with these new communications tools. The conversation should be educational, pragmatic and weigh the pros and cons of social media to provide an authentic, genuine viewpoint of social media marketing. We believe in social media’s potential to better communications, but do not think it will replace traditional tactics. Instead we believe social media will be integrated into the larger marketing mix and may influence change in other disciplines.

10) Now examine the company’s resources:

• Time
• Thought leaders
• Technical capability and savoir faire: Blog, audio, video, social networking
• Financial resources for some of the above, plus graphic design, SEO, web hosting, application development

11) Select the outreach mechanism(s) that best fits the industry’s preferred content needs (#6), can achieve outcomes (#7) the ability to convey the company’s ability to deliver value through it’s editorial mission (#8 and 9), and that the company can afford to invest in (#10).

There are Many, Many mechanisms. Each has its assets and detriments. And blogging is not a cure all silver bullet solution. Consider these more popular initiatives:

• Launch a blog
• Execute a blogger relations program
• Podcast
• Create video(s)
• Develop social network community
• Create social network application
• Build your own social network
• Build a widget

12) Determine who will create the content. Group efforts can help distribute load as well as protect the company from an individual departure. Assign a schedule and make the person responsible. Participation in larger networks should be part of your content development plan and resource allocations.

13) Select general content categories to provide guidance on a weekly basis (if the effort is ongoing). Remain flexible to allow for larger industry and community events.

14) Determine measurement based on outcomes, social media communication vehicle(s), and dedicated effort the company intends to commit to the effort. Select tools to attain measurement. Tools and measurement can vary greatly. Research what is right for you and your effort. Some are free, some are not.

We gather here for a discussion about the socialization of business communications. But it’s more than just that.

Really, corporations have a problem. They don’t listen to their marketplaces, control and push messages, and act in relative vacuums. As a result, the public doesn’t trust companies.

Many social media and marketing minds have envisioned how the Internet can make business better. In some cases, it already has.

Imagine a world where business can profit, but not just for the sake of their investors. Their profits result from bettering their communities by enabling buyers through great services and products that meet real needs. Companies engage with their stakeholders, and actually listen to them, evolving their offering to serve market demands.

To get there, companies really need to open up and interact with their constituents. They need to embrace community concepts. Social media can serve as a change agent to get there. When embraced in full, social media creates relational collaboration. Companies stop acting as forceful entities and start becoming service organizations.

Most organizations won’t embrace this kind of change. At least not yet. It’s too much of a stretch. But market leaders, competitive risk, and eventually poor financial performance can be great motivators.

Those that do make the change have an easier time of business. Indeed, they have a new pair of glasses, and view the world with much clearer perception. And it’s a better world for it.

A pipe dream? Maybe, but one worth working towards. One company, one communication at a time.

Poor Bill. He’s going to have to suffer through another review of Now Is Gone, this time from Rich Becker.

Before I highlight Rich’s points, I did want to remind folks one more time that on Saturday, February 16 from 1-5 p.m., I will moderate four consecutive one hour sessions on Now Is Gone for the my ooVoo day project. Participants get an autographed copy of Now Is Gone.

If you can’t catch me on the road, this is the perfect opportunity to have a deep dive on social media and how it can benefit your organization.Here’s how it works, visit the my ooVoo day project site and sign up. You’ll download the software (for Mac or PC - both are still in beta).

Rich’s Criticism

Rich thought the book worked: “Now Is Gone is a book that attempts a daunting task and mostly succeeds. It captures new media conversations by communication leaders as it occurred. It’s something David Meerman Scott did with The New Rules of Marketing and PR. For this reason alone, Now Is Gone is exactly what it says it is: a primer on new media for executives and entrepreneurs, people who are starting to realize they need to catch up on several months or years worth of conversation.”

But did have some strong criticism. First up was the use of an informal poll he ran in Chapter 3:

Sure, poll respondents called the Wal-Mart flog the biggest social media transgression to date (36 percent), but only 23 people voted. Nine opinions is hardly as valid as it seems in print.

What’s also missing is that I followed up on the subject, stating that the poll participants were a bit off: John Mackey and Julie Roehm had much larger lapses in ethical judgments. The Wal-Mart flog merely stands out because it was perpetrated by a number of people who knew better, and could have been avoided by the tiniest of disclosures. This doesn’t really detract from the book; it’s just something to keep in mind.

And then there’s the common criticism of the book’s rough copy (a result of the book being rushed to market), and the fact that it really is new media. Meaning that some elements may be inaccurate or overblown in importance as new developments occur.

These latter two criticisms strike me as true. I finally re-read Now Is Gone for the first time in five months. The writing has numerous grammatical errors as a result of our rush to market.

While I still feel right about rushing to market and providing accurate timely info to the marketplace, its effectiveness reminds me of Patton. A bloody, ugly execution that while effective, lacks delicacy and cleanness. True fans of prose (identified by public proclamations of Eats, Shoots and Leaves) will be annoyed. I know I was when I read the word “brand” three times in the first sentence of page 40. Feel free to add your favorite gripe in the comments.

And yes, the conversation has evolved. Though I was pleasantly surprised by how relevant a good portion of the text is. If written today instead of nine months ago, I would add more on measurement, blogger relations, more industry-specific social network communities, and additional information on the symbiotic relationship between traditional and new media. Brian Solis has also indicated a desire for an updated text.

Of course,we have discussed these specific topics in unrelated follow-up posts on Now Is Gone, PR 2.0 and the Buzz Bin and. If there’s a second edition, the text will be re-edited, and updated with the latest social media marketing strategies and information.

P.S. (added 2/15) In addition, I also agree with Chris Thilk and Chip Griffin’s criticism that book uses too many absolutes in the form of musts. More Patton-esque writing. Strong suggestions would have been more productive.

Also, it should be noted that every single person that has taken the time to review the book  — critical or not — has recommended the book.  The total number of reviews including Amazon readers is well over 50 now.

This year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona — the most expansive wireless telecom show in the world — highlighted the impact social computing and entertainment is making in wireless. I attended, and concluded that while WOM marketers and PR pros may be inclined to dismiss mobile marketing as a holy grail that’s never been achieved, they’d be wise to keep close tabs.

Social networks for mobile are coming fast and heavy. These networks compete with m.facebook.com and m.myspace.com with unique, region-specific and/or geographically-enabled specific solutions. A flurry of networks are launching, and some are succeeding.That means marketers will need to get ready for mobile social marketing. Here’s a look at the seven that most impressed me.

1) itsmy.com had perhaps the most subscribers of the many upstart mobile social networks, coming in at 2.1 million subscribers. Members can engage in communities, microsites, mobile video and picture blogs, homepages, flirt functions, ring tones and much more.

Driven by ads, itsmy.com is mature compared to most mobile social networks. It’s very robust, with 60 percent of subscribers in the U.S., 20 percent in the UK, another 10 percent in the EU with a smattering around the world. Some potential for itsmy.com includes a more localized version of myCity, adding GPS functionality for by the block searching, friend finding, and security applications.

2) Perhaps the most interesting of the mobile social networks is Zyb. Self described as a “social phonebook,” this network reinvents the way users engage their phones. Results have been strong with 230,000 users attracted by word of mouth in more than 40 countries.

Zyb started out as a back-up service for mobile phone address books, but has evolved to become a Plaxo on steroids. The contact manager offers complete updates on your handset, and maps all of your contacts social capabilities, listing their various online portals such as Twitter, WordPress, Facebook, Flickr, etc. RSS-feeds create a lifestream from these applications, too, allowing contacts to view a person’s latest developments.

Privacy is protected through contacts identifying which pieces of data will be accessible by friend networks. In the third quarter, Zyb expects to launch GPS enabled search, allowing users to know where their friends contacts can be found in proximity of a users handset. Zyb has not done as well in the United States due to carrier control of network content, and phone synchronization.

3) Location-based mobile social network gypsii is picking up momentum with somewhere between 500,000 ad 700,000 subscribers. The company expects to reach 1 million in short order using community based approaches in Facebook, Digg, Hi5 and mySpace. gypsii’s strategy is to fine verticals with in the larger consumer market, such as sports fans, artists, and private label social networks for content providers. A very serious location play with lots of robust

4) Nokia’s mosh is a great social network, but one that’s completely user generated, allowing its users to add and develop everything from screen savers and ring tones to widgets and applications. This is really Dell’s Idea Storm taken to another step. The mobile phone manufacturer does not edit or license content, instead just seeking to foster a development environment for its rabid fan base. The result? More than 200,000 users, 80 percent of which access Mosh through their phones.

5) Symbian OS-only social network locatik.com was in beta and would not disclose its subscriber-base. Robust use of GPS chips and cell finder tech. provides great friend finder applications, and the ability to generate social activity on the street level. There are no plans to expand to Windows, Blackberry or another OS, and the company does not plan to leverage GPS for additional functionality.

6) Don’t think IMing offers a social network? Think again. eBuddy claims 60 million users (most of which are on carrier-branded platforms) of its general IM solution that ports into various existing interfaces like Yahoo! and AOL. Next up for eBuddy? Location, allowing users to leverage GPS capability and sort their IM contacts by closest proximity. if eBuddy extends functionality it could be a various dangerous social play.

7) POK is currently launching its beta in Spain. It’s very early to tell, but POK wants to be like itsmy.com, though simpler and more robust. It’s already got a corporate partner in Spain, and is actively seeking more partners to accelerate its acceptance in global markets. Techcrunch was supposedly interested in reporting on POK at the event.

Best of the Rest

Yahoo! Go offered a mobile package, which was basically an aggregation of mobile mySpace, downloadable widgets, local search and navigation. But make no bones about it, this package was complete and tailored towards carriers looking to define portals on handsets. AOL’s was similar minus a Facebook or mySpace component.

OZ is another IM player that works with carriers to port between IM networks. Unfortunately, OZ does not see itself adding more social functionality at this point, and may remain a pure play.

Like every other aspect of business communications, the new trend we see is the incredible impact social media is making on human resources outreach. There are three main thrusts to this trend (image credit: seniorserviceamerica):

1) Searching candidates history has been a controversial topic. While Google (and other search engines) can reveal a lot about a person, some cultures and conservative legal teams are rejecting this kind of intelligence as transgressing boundaries.  But around the country background checks are considered legal.

SMB Finance magazine recommends online checks as a way to avoid fraud from potential employees. In addition to formal services, employers often use Google, Facebook and other applications to determine character.  Strange college incidents, cursing, personality attacks and other negative comments can really hurt someone’s ability to successfully integrate into a culture, especially if those searches become public knowledge in a company.

2) Blogs and social networks have turned into fantastic recruiting mechanisms, demonstrating some of the exciting activities a company can offer potential candidates.  One of my local partners and friends, Brian Williams at Viget Labs, always says one of the biggest benefits of Four Labs is its ability to attract great talent. In Great Britain there’s a new site called Vlog, which allows employers to video blog their site.

LinkedIn has become its own art for both companies recruiting and job seekers alike.  LinkedIn in has great potential to be a hyper-local recruiting tool. Facebook seems to have become a millennial version of LinkedIn, a necessary place to fine entry level talent.

Another aspect of this specific trend is the use of social media by end users to find and locate new jobs. Increasingly, savvy people use social networking to get themselves in front of potential employers. 

3) At the same time, social media reputation management becomes increasingly important for companies who must be ready to deal with disgruntled and former employees that use blogs and other social media outlets to attack and criticize the company.  Consider how rapper/media mogul Jay Z’s 40/40 club in Las Vegas has garnered a bad reputation for abusing its employees. Or Shell Oil’s treatment of its North Sea workers.

It’s essential for companies to build monitoring programs so they don’t get blind sided by such events.While legal action may be the obvious recourse, blogs can be great mechanisms to counter disgruntled employees and tell your side of the story. Further, a blogger can provide a voice of reason in other blog’s comment sections, while not attacking said employee, the company’s policy and position can be equally represented.

Chapter Six of Now Is Gone features a strategic approach to social media called Think Liquid. Yesterday on Marketing Profs, I published a new, amended version of Think Liquid which features three examples of this strategy applied.

Those examples were:

• Goodwill
• Ford’s use of SMRs
• ACDSee

It’s great to see strategic approaches and movement in social media worlds. Hats off to Brendan Hurly, Maggie Fox (and team) and Connie Bensen for their work in these initiatives.

On Saturday, February 16 from 1-5 p.m., I will moderate four consecutive one hour sessions on Now Is Gone for the my ooVoo day project. If you can’t catch me on the road, this is the perfect opportunity to have a deep dive on social media and how it can benefit your organization.

Here’s how it works, visit the my ooVoo day project site and sign up. You’ll download the software (for Mac or PC - both are still in beta). We are limited to five people in each session so don’t wait too long!

ooVoo is thanking us by sponsoring the the Frozen Pea Fund, a fund established to support the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign, in honor of blogger, Twitterer and cancer patient Susan Reynolds. Thanks to Scott Monty for inviting me to participate in this great project!

Click To Play

Social networks are not always an easy thing to approach for B2B organizations.  Engaging a more conservative professional set — particularly outside of IT buyers — online takes intelligent use of social networks. 

First of all, you absolutely have to know where your community gathers online.  Otherwise it’s going to be a failure.  For example, Facebook may not be a good gathering point for copier buyers in large enterprises.

Unlike Jeremiah, I don’t think every company should go out and create their own social network. In fact, very few should.  There’s already quite a few established social networks. Unless your social network adds to the mix with something completely new for the marketplace, then you wil just be adding to the noise. This is particularly true for B2B organizations with their relatively smaller customer bases.

A recent conversation with GM’s Christopher Barger revealed that the nation’s #1 automaker understands this.  They are actively engaging communities within established social networks.

Some Specific Uses

A good place for B2B companies to look is within their own profession. Many professions are starting to develop their own micro-social networks particular to their niche.  IT Toolbox is the big hit for IT professionals. While I personally don’t use MyRagan, a lot of communicators have found this to be a comfortable place to engage in social media. How about LawLink for lawyers?

If there is no profession or vertical-specific social network, then there might be an opportunity to create one.  For example, there’s no social network for federal IT buyers. Yet. Consider if this significant investment is worthwhile (image from Google’s Social Graph).

LinkedIn provides interesting asymmetrical relationships, and is more trust oriented.  As a result, it has become a preferred business social networking tool over other networks like Facebook.  Some top LinkedIn uses include:

• Recruitment
• Networking
• Sales prospecting

Facebook can also be quite a recruiting tool for Gen Yers and Millenials as well as some professions (like PR).

Second Life has been a great meeting place for some companies trying to reach buyers externally as well as internal constituents.  Examples of Second Life usage include crayon and IBM.

Facebook can be a great place to start a community surrounding a subject matter.  Communities on these groups have to have fantastic value, so be sure to think about the real issues the market faces, then create your group. If it’s all about you, publish a PDF brochure online instead. You’ll save some money.

A few more reviews have emerged over the past week, and these have held the course, all recommending the book.  In addition to new Amazon reviews, it’s great to see people are enjoying the book. I am aware of at least one study group that have evolved, and have been asked to develop a curriculum based on the book by several organizations.

Our first review comes from WOMMA stalwart and Community Guy blogger Jake McKee:

This book is a fast, easy read; something most business books don’t tend to be. I’m generally a slower reader than most, so the idea of reading a business book cover to cover typically makes my brain hurt. When I started reading this book, however, I was surprised how fast I was making it through. For a book meant to help people understand the basics, this is an admirable trait…. If you’re looking to put a book in front of a client/colleague/executive that helps them understand what this social media space is all about and why they need to pay attention to it, this is a fantastic place to start.

Jake did bring up the typo issue, a result of our decision to race the book to market rather than go through the full editing process.

Next up TechnoBuzz’s Susan Tatum:

Social media is here to stay and every business technology marketer, executive and entrepreneur needs to get a grip on what that means. Now is Gone, Geoff Livingston’s primer on new media is a great place to start. This book provides a good high-level overview of the so-called New Media and how it affects the way we communicate with traditional PR audiences — such as journalists and analysts – as well as prospects, customers and our extended “communities”.

And finally, Rodger Johnson wrapped up his two part review on a much higher note:

Speaking broadly, without giving away all of Livingston’s book, he addresses how to use your company’s current marketing activity to affect social media communities. To be honest, chapter 4, on it’s own, will set the novice a step ahead of the newbie in just a few short minutes.  

Thanks to Jake, Susan and Rodger for taking the time to write these reviews.

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) Shel Israel - Consciousness in a time when every marketer on earth is trying to figure out social media to make money. Shel offers a voice of reason and experience when we most need it. He has been my favorite read for some time.

2) Wkinomics (team) - Continuous and intelligent coverage about the ongoing social media revolution. This is the best blog about social media from an executive management trend perspective. If Read/Write Web is too geeky for you, check out Wikinomics.

3) B.L. Ochman - At a time when PR bloggers seem redundant, B.L. offers a breath of fresh air. I wouldn’t call her a PR blogger though, especially after her recent run-ins with PR Week. Anyway, lots of great insights into social media with B.L.

4) Ignite Social Media (Tobin and McNeil) - A great team blog with outstanding insights into marketing, backed with stats and figures. I always look forward to a new piece from this North Carolina-based blog team.

5) Chris Brogan - Ahh, grasshopper. Always on, always thinking about his community. It’s hard not to get something from Chris Brogan’s blog. Chris is a regular on the monthly most influential list.

And the 2008 rankings begin!

• Shel Israel - 5 points
• Wikinomics - 4 points
• B.L. Ochman - 3 points
• Ignite Social Media - 2 points
• Chris Brogan - 1 point