“The intranet is a direct reflection of the ethos, soul, and culture of a company,” says Jeremiah Owyang.

Would you rather cut off your right hand before navigating your company intranet? A treasure trove of social capital is waiting to be discovered beneath the clutter of broken links, duplicate files and outdated information.

(Stifle the drones of despair. Your company’s intranet should not be perceived as an IT beast with an unending hunger requiring massive amounts of additional labor.)

Too often I see companies get caught up in the design of the intranet instead of the function. First determine the strategy and direction of the company intranet.

1. Identify needs and requirements of users.
2. Identify business requirements.
3. Identify best practices.

Needs and requirements of intranet users are constantly evolving, so continuously monitor strategies and direction to prevent stagnation of use and content.

Senior Leadership and an isolated IT department cannot be the sole authorities of how the intranet is designed, used or fed. Social capital cannot be built and kept current by a few. Increase efficiency and effectiveness by knowing what reports, fact papers, case studies, discussion boards and various applications are relevant to your workforce.

Next, simplify the unearthing process and reap rewards quickly with a map key of your company intranet.

Performance and merit stand strong among other principles as foundational stones, but the ground is shifting. The “shoulds” are sabotaging the new marketing landscape.

Your company should have a blog.

Your company must have a blog.

Your company ought to have a blog.

Your company has to have a blog.

Get rid of the ’shoulds’ and learn how to choose in a grey world.

In Neurosis and Human Growth, Karen Horney states the erection of a system of “shoulds” is part of the attempt to actualize the idealized self. Grandiose expectations feed “shoulds.” We want to be perfect. We want our companies to run perfectly. Everyone is telling us what we should do to achieve perfection…in a black and white world.

“Shoulds” don’t work in the real world. “Shoulds” are argumentative and close-minded. “Shoulds” apply to Old Marketing.

This year, resolve to take out “should”, “must”, “ought to” and “have to” from your thinking and conversation. Stop “shoulds” from creating victims of “I don’t want to, but THEY are making me.” You always have a choice.

We are facing a conservation gap. “Shoulds” are barriers creating the illusion of safety. New Marketing exists in an ecosystem without limits. Old Marketing is not in dire enough circumstances to be classified as endangered or common enough to be hunted. ”

Not yet.

The TV is still blaring. Using New Marketing tools is your choice. Accept the world is growing and changing. Let go of the expectation of perfection.

“Perfectionism is simply putting a limit on your future. When you have an idea of perfect in your mind, you open the door to constantly comparing what you have now with what you want. That type of self criticism is significantly deterring.” –John Eliot, Ph.D.

How do we work together and manage this new ecosystem by fostering social and economic factors in relation to a comprehensive communications strategy aimed at protecting and enhancing sustainability, diversity and productivity of our natural resources?

Open questions. Open mind.

Several folks have asked me which books I would suggest reading in addition to Now Is Gone (Shameless promo moment: Have you bought your copy yet?) to quickly grasp of the new social media environment. There is an appendix in the back of the book listing more than 20 books, but here are the five books (all books are hyperlinked) I recommend to quickly understand the new two-way conversational media. Two of the books are not in the original appendix.

The first book is the quintessential book on collaboration using social media technologies. Wikinomics gets into the economic underpinnings of enterprise activities using social media. This book demonstrates the power of web 2.0 and how it’s defeated traditional web 1.0 properties to become the predominant form of online media. More importantly it builds a case for business sense.

Robert Scoble and Shel Israel’s quintessential classic Naked Conversations really makes the case for corporate blogging. A few years later it still makes a great case for engaging with your community. Just consider the larger social media mix in addition to blogging. I highly recommend this book as it is full of great examples, ranging from Microsoft’s Channel 9 to the Horsefeathers restaurant blog.

Risk Issues and Crisis Management from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations has nothing to do with social media. Yet it has everything to do with communicating when your organization is under fire. Companies can find great insights on how to speak directly to stakeholders through social media with this book. It recommends prompt, timely communication, how to offer factual authentic information and demonstrate transparency into critiqued affairs, and just downright common sense. It’s too bad more companies don’t use these principles in their everyday communications.

Odd Bedfellows

You can’t market in social media environments without reading the Cluetrain Manifesto. It’s the dream of the new conversation, the heart and soul of every blogger and socially engaged individual. It understands the spirit of new media environments, and makes some pointed comments about marketing to people instead of the masses. Yet at the same time, Cluetrain is flawed in that it represents an ideal, a beautiful one, but one that may not be obtained. Of particular relevance to marketers are the passages by Christopher Locke and Doc Searls.

This next one pained me. I really didn’t want to recommend it as Keen’s reactionary prose often reads like neo-conservative rants from Pat Buchanan. At times his hypocritical depiction of web 2.0 users as monkeys reminded me of Joseph Goebbels.

Yet this book does finally cede that web 2.0 will not go away, and that a balance will need to be struck with traditional media. That’s why I recommended Keen’s book. Because old media is not going to go away, and eventually the social media trend will level off, creating a need to integrate outreach across both forms. Somewhere between Cluetrain and Keen lies the end result. Readers who find Keen’s kvetching to be tiresome should just skip to the final chapter on solutions. I wish I had.

Also, I realize that some folks see my views of social media to be utopian, and may view recommending Cult as a big departure. Not so. See past my past posts on the topic:

• Fractured Utopia
• Not one, not two, but three posts on journalism versus blogging.
• And in Chapter Two, Now Is Gone takes a moderate approach to social media, challenging executives to determine if social media is right for them.
• New Media Here to Stay details a balance between new and old, “The major brands still and will have authority, but at the same time, they are challenged to become more relevant.”

It must be the week of the interview! I had the distinct honor of appearing on the Diva Marketing Blog, thanks to the Ad Age’s #2 female blogger Toby Bloomberg. Here are two Q and As from Toby’s interview (Toby’s Buzz Bin interview was also featured in the book). All six Qs here.

Diva Marketing: Love the title of your new book – Now Is Gone. Where did the inspiration come from and what is the significance for you?

Geoff Livingston: I wish it was really cool, but it came while watching Casino Royale on DVD.  It seemed like a great title for one of the Bond movies, but afterwards the name kept rolling around in my head. 

Within days of that night the need for a book became apparent. The title fit the current need to engage in social media. Now Is Gone was born, and the Broccoli family was opted out. 

Now Is Gone really conveys a sense of urgency.  I think the business marketplace senses that urgency, and smart players understand competitive advantage can still be gained… But it has to be done in the next 12-18 months.

Diva Marketing: Now Is Gone contains a wealth of examples and case studies ranging from large corporate B2C companies like Jet Blue to smaller B2B organizations such as Reston Limousine and even Not for Profit where you highlight the Red Cross. In your research did you discover any common lessons learned that you can pass along to Diva’s community?

Geoff Livingston: It’s all about them… Meaning the readers.  This is a theme Meerman Scott picks up on, too, in his excellent book The New Rules.

Look we’re in a fractured media environment with millions of options out there, particularly for those that like to partake in social media. Corporate social media is fighting for time with every single one of them, from the New York Times and NBC to the brand new blog on Blogger and someone’s first Seesmic post.

So the only way to get and keep eyeballs is to understand you must publish something interesting.  Interesting in their minds, not yours. Having an editorial mission to serve those community members goes a long way towards achieving that goal.

Allan Cox’s “Your Inner CEO” offers executives a really hard gut check. Their journey forces them to understand what’s going on inside their company… and them.

The theory is until a CEO really understands what drives him or her, they will not be able to meet the challenges facing them in day-to-day business. The book is particularly relevant for organizational leaders challenged by dynamic market forces… such as the advent of social media and its impact on marketing.

Your Inner CEO follows the precept that executives are not in control; that they must adapt to the current market conditions. To do that, an executive needs to ask him/herself some tough questions as simply as possible. And he/she may not like the answers, possibly causing the executive to reinvent their goals.

This is an outstanding exercise for any leader. Here’s what I came up with:

• I am: an energizer
• Life is: an opportunity to grow.
• My central goal: is to be of service.
• Main obstruction: is wanting to be liked.

What’s amazing about Your Inner CEO (available on Amazon) is not only the rigorous gut check, but the success stories. There are so many executives and companies that turned it around by taking the time to check out what drives them, both positively and negatively. The resulting knowledge lets executives and their companies refocus on what’s important.

Veteran Author Alan Cox grounds the book in spiritual principles, and does CEOs a great service by forcing them to look at who they really are, and what their companies are actually doing. A brilliant and worthwhile read.

Discussions on corporate social media often revolve around the importance of engaging in a conversation, the participation marketing ethos, etc. However, we all know that businesses blog and create social media campaigns to market themselves… and make money.

Lots of marketing folks like to talk about Southwest Airlines’ fantastic blog. Fewer mention the $150 million in ticket sales Southwest has garnered from its widget, part of its social media mix. Guess which of these two tactics management cares more about? Yes, it’s all integrated, but business social media campaigns have a purpose, whether that’s PR and branding or sales.

The participation ethos should be mandatory for all businesses. But ultimately, businesses care about the return on investment (ROI) from the conversation. Otherwise they won’t bother participating.

I know my client Goodwill of Greater Washington loves its blog, and the dialogue it has created with the vintage industry. It also really appreciates the more than 700 unique visitors the three-month old blog receives weekly and its shopper conversion rate of 4.5%.

The discussion on corporate social media needs to be more than just ethics and conversation methods (vlog, podcast, etc.). In many ways, these represent the rules of engagement and forms of interaction, respectively.

What companies care about is measurement. Whether that’s SEO, impressions, transactions, change in brand perception and/or resulting PR opportunities. Businesses will demand results that are planned for, not coincidental by-products of a conversation.

This is the great challenge for marketing departments and social media consultants. Finding ways to build campaigns that deliver planned-for, measurable results that positively impact the organization.

Toby Bloomberg and I wrote a Yellow crayon post last Friday taking Jonah Bloom to task for his crayon coverage. Boy, did that set off a firecracker. Bloggers thought it was an OK post because it was just a blog rant, and others saw it as a defense of, or an opportunity to talk about crayon — and Jaffe in particular.

Unfortunately, our intent was to call out Bloom on a perceived abuse of ethics — not defend crayon’s performance. This redux post serves to refocus the conversation on the ethics at stake, and the blurring lines of blogger versus journalist. These issues are increasingly at play as the blogosphere garners more respect and the traditional media has begun moving towards social models.

Because the offending post is under the Ad Age masthead, I personally hold great issue with it per reasons outlined in the original post. Again, Jonah’s post occurred on an official Advertising Age blog with a by-line from its executive editor. That means it may as well have been its editorial opinion page.

Believe me when I say that crayon’s prospective clients who read that post with its Advertising Age masthead will see it that way. Jonah’s blast will live forever in the ether as official editorial coverage, not a blog rant. Thus in my mind, it demonstrated extreme abuse of Jonah’s power and position.

In summary, as someone who grew up in a newsroom, served as a journalist and has a ten year career as a PR pro, and now a two year career as a blogger, I believe that newspapers and trade pubs have a right to editorial opinion. But they need to present a balanced view somewhere associated with this, either as a cross linked companion piece or as a counter opinion. With all of the cursing and very pointed remarks, this was a long, far cry from balance.

And Toby said in both comment streams:

I’ve been thinking more about why Jonah’s words hit a nerve for me. The post was so off target of what I expected from a leading professional publication.Of course Jonah has every right to his opinion. But for me this was like a school yard bully - because of the reach and influence of Ad Age - throwing mud at a mate. My expectations of Ad Age’s content, developed over many years, was thrown off balance. And was dis-concerting .. thus my reactions.

Ethics of Journalism versus Blogging

This does bring the question of what separates a journalist from a blogger ethically. Given the FEC’s recent ruling — judging blogs as a form of media — we can see there is much gray here… perhaps the post should have been dubbed gray crayon instead of yellow. What would someone from Annenberg or Northwestern or NYU — what would a Jay Rosen think of Jonah’s post and its context: A journalist blogging under the publication masthead?

CK asked some great questions in Toby’s version of the post, which I will attempt to answer in this new, refocused thread:

CK: What would have been ethical in your opinion? If Jonah hadn’t been so strong…or if Jonah had used several examples, not just one?

You got it, CK. For reporting and editorial actual reporting, facts and a professional tone would have done better instead of the atypical blog rant in the form of a personal attack. Criticism from a journalist is fine, but it needs to be backed with facts and more than one incident.

I think Jonah was commenting on crayon, not Jaffe bad writing. If it was just writing, what was Jonah smoking that day? If you’re going to do this, then cite all of the missteps, call Jaffe out on Nikon, Holtz and Hobson’s departure, his perceived demeanor. Discuss the difficulties of launching new businesses and start-ups in unproven markets. But this had no merits beyond a ridiculous mocking in a Strunk & White falsetto.

Strong is subjective. Strong writing could have occurred without the blog rant tone. The New York Times, New Yorker and the Washington Post serve as benchmarks in this realm… And yes, their reporters blog without these kind of rants.

CK: Or if Jonah hadn’t blogged on it at all?

Ahh, the real issue. Well, if journalists want to blog under a publication masthead then they are still governed under the ethics of journalism. Thus the unwavering point of view. Blogging yes, fine, but clean it up and play by the rules… Or conversely, post it on a personal blog.

Just because a journalist blogs doesn’t mean they lose their role in the conversation. But they have a different tone and ethics — which by the way makes them more credible than the average blog.

One of the best examples of an executive editor blogging with a decent voice is Federal Computer Week’s Insider blog written by executive editor Chris Dorobek. Chris blogs, has tone and personality yet doesn’t sacrifice the integrity of the masthead like Jonah did.

Is it as opinionated as some blogs? Maybe not. But is Gig-Om as opinionated than a lesser ranked blog? Maybe not. Break out your gray crayon.

This is a special edition of Great Blogs of Fire, usually hosted on the Buzz Bin! For the last two months, a post noted the five bloggers that were influencing me the most during that month. It’s a good idea to recognize influencers, so this will be a continuing monthly feature to be hosted on the Now Is Gone blog.

September’s Top Five Influential Bloggers

1) Jeremiah Owyang: Jeremiah went into overdrive with impressive weekly round-ups, primers, and great trade publication-esque tutorials. Then he went and got acquired by Forrester, demonstrating his incredible value to the industry. And that blogging can lead somewhere. Great job, Jeremiah!

2) Toby Bloomberg: Toby, the blue-chipper, because she is always reliable and helpful. Graceful, masterful, and really thoughtful. Her blog is a driving force in the marketing marketplace, and many credit her W-List posting as the tipping point for that meme which gave so many lady bloggers outstanding links.

3) Shel Holtz: Shel’s had a lot of great content lately. I don’t always agree, but think that any marketer can benefit from a weekly perusing of the wares here. He pointed out Delta and A&P, and this week features a podcast (with Neville Hobson) noting a study that demonstrates Facebook causes productivity downturns.

4) Ike Pigott: His blog is humorous, but make no bones about it: Ike’s one of the leading marketers in the biz. A thought leader at the Red Cross, he is leading their charge to adapt social media. He is commenting everywhere. Off-line chats are impressive. And almost every prominent PR blogger cites him. But the funniest thing about Ike is that the Ad Age Power 150 won’t list his satirical blog thus demonstrating that sometimes getting banned is a good thing.

5) Seth Godin: I do tend to stay away from A-Listers, but I’ve been reading a lot of Seth lately. Simple, always thoughtful, and very useful. Seth Godin’s blog always sends me away thinking.

Honorable mentions go to Kami Huyse (back from maternity leave and blogging again!), Valeria Maltoni, Brian Solis.

Quick recap: August’s top five in order were Valeria Maltoni, Rich Becker, Shel Israel, Toby Bloomberg, and Eric Eggertson. July’s were Brian Oberkirch, Chris Heuer, Kevin Dugan, Jeremiah Owyang and Kami Huyse. Yes, continued link love for the rest of the year for all noted parties.

I started assigning weights to these: Five points for first place down to one for fifth place, and cumulating the score. Yes, this is completely silly and subjective, but as the list changes quite a bit from month-to-month, ranking by cumulative score allows for a better picture of my most influential bloggers. And this also creates a nice year end post.

• Jeremiah Owyang - 7
• Toby Bloomberg -6
• Valeria Maltoni - 5
• Brian Oberkirch - 5
• Rich Becker - 4
• Chris Heuer -4
• Kevin Dugan - 3
• Shel Holtz - 3
• Shel Israel - 3
• Ike Pigott -2
• Eric Eggertson - 1
• Seth Godin - 1
• Kami Huyse - 1

Last night I had the opportunity to spend time with some members of Women In Technology. We talked about participation public relations. Nothing like a roundtable of 15 powerful women CEOS to get a great conversation going.

My intent was to talk about the modern Public Relations environment. Specifically, how social media has forced contemporary media to become 1) much more accountable to its readership and 2) extremely trend oriented.

Well after we got through a great conversation on blogs and their impacts, we started to discuss participation PR. The WIT CEOs were quick to pick up on the following facts of the new PR world:

• Message control is gone
• Media outlets cater to the communities, not the companies, and want great info to serve those communities
• Ethics and transparency are musts. Companies will be held accountable if they are caught wandering from the path…

The way we react to social media’s impact is by moving away from message control, and getting back to creating value for the community served by the newspaper (or TV station or…). This is participation PR.

Give them the information you have as a subject matter expert… The information that the community values, wants and needs. Not necessarily the information the company wants to promote. Generally speaking, reporters respond to this kind of pitch. This is no different than the general precepts used to create an editorial mission for a blog or social media campaign.

Yet this thinking has become lost in the past twenty to thirty years. And the basis for this participation public relations thinking? The dictionary definition of PR is (via Dictionary.com):

1. the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.

2. the art, technique, or profession of promoting such goodwill.

Perhaps public relations is an art. So many practitioners don’t get it (see Brian Solis article). But in my mind social media is just another form of old-fashioned public relations: creating goodwill by being a contributing, participating member of the community (see Kami Huyse article).

At the end of our two hours, I think all of us got there. I enjoyed my conversation with the women CEOs at WIT, and hope we can pick up the thread again soon. Thank you to Helios HR CEO Kathy Albarado for asking me to participate.

Additional Related Reading:

• Online Marketing Blog: Future of Online PR and Reputation Management
• Chris Heuer: Participation is Marketing

Photos by Susan Rook Photography, a former CNN anchor working the camera.

An organization can identify social networks that it could participate in with pools of community members, like Twitter, Pownce, Facebook or MySpace. Social networks allow an organization to aggregate contacts in groups of self-identified and voluntarily interested parties. In essence, the community members opt in to the organization’s network as a friend or follower (or whatever the network’s preferred nomenclature is).

Opt-ins don’t give a company a license to engage in shameless promotions. It’s important to note that they expect an organization to behave according to the principles of social media conversation (openness, transparency, etc.)… As a contributing member of the community.

Within these networks, Internet “friends” are interested in content and developments generated by members within their network. This is true and even expected of companies and entrepreneurs. Friends may be interested in a book, a blog or an application you are developing. But whatever the initiative may be, organizations should strategically try to share efforts that contribute to the community in some way.

En masse, that means a company or organization can update large subgroups of people about initiatives. For example on Twitter, the Live Earth initiative used its microblog updates to keep almost 2,000 bloggers apprised of the July 7, 2007 concerts. Here are some sample “Tweets:”

“Switching between the live earth stages at liveearth.msn.com. alicia keys dueting with keith urban. beastie boys rockin’ london. 12:40 PM July 07, 2007.”

“Rallying up a road crew. Carpool to relieve congestion on your daily ride to work. Americans waste 2.3 billions of gas a year in traffic 02:27 PM July 06, 2007”




Inside the Social Network

Intelligent companies use periodic calls to action within their dialogue. For example, many corporate social network members reference a blog post, list a wiki on their identity profile, or collaborate with the community on a social media initiative. By bringing community members closer to the organization’s primary social media initiative larger constituencies are built.

Other networks, such as the very popular Facebook, allow organizations to build private groups for contacts to discuss issues in. Facebook has designed an open application programming interface so that companies can create applications and introduce them into the social network.

If successful in creating value for community members, these applications can create a tremendous groundswell of interest in an organization. At the same time, some applications fail because they don’t offer value to the community.

“It’s not just about the ability to connect with people,” said Brian Solis on a post relating to Facebook. “It’s about creating, cultivating, and promoting a strategic online presence and personal brand. Remember, participation is marketing.”

Companies and organizations should look at social networks as a way to engage potential community members outside of the confines of a corporate URL. By participating intelligently and building value, a company can create a great conversation with its constituents as well as future customers. Further, they can encourage them to take actions and engage them within the confines of the company’s own social media initiative.

As Kami Huyse says, it’s important to define performance measurements. That’s not how many friends or followers, but what kind of perception does an organization have, and was it changed. Has this increased the amount of leads received on a website, or more sign-ups for corporate email initiatives? Define performance goals before engaging in a social network initiative.