The Socializers | Social monitoring tools

Your social network is a symphony just waiting to happen!

admin November 4, 2010 No Comments

The music of teamwork is what the world needs now. Your social network is a symphony just waiting to happen! One tweet, one FB status, one posted video, one posted presentation is all it takes to activate the song d’jour, the solution of a lifetime, or the love you seek! Good social networking and business acknowledges the power of the connections you have to get what you need and want done! Power in the new realm of business has to do with leveraging the crowd and your relationships FOR THE BEST AND HIGHEST OF ALL!

1. CREATE your offering. Get encouragement here: http://www.behance.com/. Also, you can re-purpose your
current content as the type of content used in social networks in the form of tweets, FB status updates, blog posts, videos, recorded information, presentations, etc.

2. LISTEN to the network in order to find where others resonate with that offering. Use keywords from your content and social monitoring tools for your listening project.

3. RESERVE your social properties at KnowEm.

4. CONSTRUCT the microsite using blog software (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Posterous, Moveable Type, and the social footprint in reserved social properties.

5. BRAND and POPULATE your social footrprint with graphics/images/text. ACTIVATE desired functionality (shopping, forums, blogs, chat, social plugins, widgets).

6. SOCIALIZE the microsite and social footprint through campaigns, friending projects and scheduled updates.

7. GET INTIMATE your network and tribe through meaningful conversation, dialogue and contribution. Every individual in your network is a galaxy unto themselves and represents a rainbow of opportunity.

8. SHIP YOUR OFFERING! If you have a product/service that you want the world to know about, then let them KNOW! Tell them about it, tell them that you told them, tell them what you told them and then tell them again! Seth Godin’s little pamphlet ShipIt is EXCELLENT as a 30 minute path to realizing movement in any project!

Spreading the news of your offering to the World

admin October 24, 2010 No Comments

A BEST-PRACTICE PROCESS in SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING is the following:

1. IDENTIFY your customer by doing a writing/drawing/brainstorming project wherein you describe 5 DIFFERENT members of that audience.

2. CREATE THE SOCIAL GRAPH: Generate keywords from those descriptions and use the Google External Keyword Search + any number of paid/free social monitoring tools to create an initial social graph of where these 5 members locate. Buy these posters, laminate them and put them on your wall as MAPS of INFLUENCE in the social web! http://www.theconversationprism.com/

3. OBSERVE and STUDY: Go to the locations on these maps and study the behaviors and likes of YOUR AUDIENCE there!

4. DESIGN: Design your offering in a way that matches OR exceeds what ATTRACTS those individuals. CREATE CONTENT THAT WILL FIT IN THE CONTEXT OF YOUR AUDIENCE!

5. GO LIVE: Take the microsite (blog) and social footprint live. Use WordPress, Posterous, Blogger or Drupal as the platform for your microsite (each has their benefit depending on your technical skill level and time available). In terms of social properties, set up in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr and Slideshare. Add to these from your research project above and through studying the maps from The Conversation Prism, basing your decision upon contexts populated by YOUR key influencers, customers and community.

6. SOCIALIZE: Use the following sequence as a model for populating the microsite AND social footprint WITH content: http://bit.ly/the_cycle_of_social_spread

7. GET INTIMATE AND GIVE POWER AWAY TO YOUR AUDIENCE! BRING THEM ONSTAGE: Respond to all comments AND build content from your feedback. Create a virtuous cycle by LISTENING and then creating content from what you hear…crowdsourcing a percentage of your content WILL reap HUGE rewards in terms of buzz because your audience wants to get up on stage WITH you! Imagine one man on stage at the outset and then see more and more people JOINING you on stage. This is an image of how crowdsourcing works. Find a great resource on current crowdsourcing examples here: http://bit.ly/THE_crowdsourcing_LIST

IN A NUTSHELL:

LISTENING, STRATEGY, ACTION

LEARN MORE by following this trail meme on social media monitoring and brand creation: http://trailmeme.com/trails/social_media_monitoring or use this Rollyo Targeted Search Window that focuses solely on social media monitoring. Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World is an EXCELLENT book on Archetypes and very helpful in terms of identifying HOW your key influencers may accelerate your audience’s awareness of your offering to the extent that a REAL contribution is made to the world.

HEALING THE ECO-SYSTEM AND THE HUMAN SOUL: How Transmodern Leaders And Social Strategists Gave Golden Keys To The Most Valuable Online Community And Set Them Free To Usher In a New World

admin September 9, 2010 No Comments

“If you had time, you succeeded in working the human mud internally and turning it into spirit.”— Nikos Kazantzakis

“You have your brush, you have your colors, you paint the paradise, then in you go. ”
— Nikos Kazantzakis

INDIVIDUALS ARE DROPPING INTO SOCIAL NETWORKS LIKE DEWDROPS INTO THE SEA: Social networks are a dynamic eco-system of individual minds, isolated communities and seemingly opposed ideologies melding into an increasingly ripened spiritual entity.

The whole of humanity is in a process of realizing the fantastic truth of Oneness, of what it means to be separate AND one, of that famous Buddhist saying about dropping like dew drops into the sea. Producing intelligence reports for major brands and media projects using listening AND social monitoring tools, I have regular experiences of seeing this phenomenon occurring over and over within multiple online communities.

AN EXTREMELY VALUABLE ONLINE COMMUNITY – THE CULTURAL CREATIVES: I am currently working on projects for a major film, e-commerce platform, several media-conglomerates, global dance collective and several luminaries who all market to/live within the Cultural Creative tribe. A defining characteristic of Cultural Creatives is the ability to see oneself as part of something bigger. CC’s see that everything relates as an interwoven piece of nature. The movement is a healing movement. A core desire amongst CC’s is for things to be made whole and for mankind to wake up to their true desires. The core values of Cultural Creatives include:

▪ Authenticity, actions must be consistent with words and beliefs
▪ Engaged action and whole process learning; seeing the world as interwoven and connected
▪ Idealism and activism
▪ Globalism and ecology
▪ The importance of women

THE COMMUNITY WITH GREATEST POTENTIAL IN THE SOCIAL FABRIC OF THE WEB:It is my firm belief that no community has more potential to activate the social web spiritually than the Cultural Creatives. I will say it again: leaders of the various sub-cultures within the Cultural Creative movement ARE the movers and shakers when it comes to being Innerpreneurs, those who capitalize on the soul of humanity.

THE GOLDEN KEYS TO THE CULTURAL CREATIVES: One of the most amazing words in internet marketing is “keyword” or “keyphrase.” As I have worked this week to produce a list of the top keywords or keyphrases for the Cultural Creatives and their various sub-cultures AND thought about their potential to potentiate global spiritual revolution and activism, I am realizing that these words are golden keys…keys to open vaults of spiritual material within this swiftly forming global Homo Universalis or Collective Polymath.

In keeping with this, some of the TOP “GOLDEN KEYS” to the Cultural Creative wealth (ACCORDING TO global monthly search volume) include:

Family (37,200,000)
Secret (16,600,000)
Crystal (11,100,000)
Therapy (7,480,000)
Yoga (7,480,000)
environment (5,000,000)
psychology (5,000,000)
stress (5,000,000)
relationship (4,090,000)
success (3,350,000)
motivation (2,740,000)
counseling (2,740,000)
wealth (1,500,000)
the secret (1,500,000)
meditation (1,500,000)
spiritual (1,220,000)
inspiration (823,000)
home health (673,000)

HOW TO USE THE GOLDEN KEYS (KEYWORDS) TO ACCESS THE HEART OF A COMMUNITY: One of the world’s foremost social community and strategy architects, Brian Solis, writes, “Gathering intelligence to inspire meaningful and actionable social programs is priceless.” Every golden key above contains etymological, mythological, cultural and personal significance.

To create “meaningful and actionable social programs” a social marketer should consider delving into each of these disciplines AS A MEANS OF UNPACKING THE SECRET OF EACH KEYWORD AND KEYPHRASE. For a social strategy to find its seed in a set of keywords with HUGE POTENCY is the equivalent of possessing Jack’s magic beans that led to the giant’s castle in the clouds. Use keyphrases, their meanings and their histories to inform your understanding of the living quality of the WORD, the COMMUNITY, and the OVER-ARCHING CAMPAIGN PHILOSOPHY. At the root of every word, there is a god or deity…a living and breathing presence. Understanding words AS living and breathing presences transforms keywords from plain data into VIBRANT DATA, DATA WITH VITALITY!

AN EXAMPLE: THE OVER-ARCHING CAMPAIGN PHILOSOPHY FOR THE CULTURAL CREATIVE UNIVERSE AND ITS VARIOUS SUB-CULTURES

To find an overarching philosophy for guiding an online social campaign, I suggest discovering THROUGH the keyphrases KEY INFLUENCERS and studying their root philosophies. Since the MOST COMMON theme for Cultural Creatives IS weaving community together and holistic practices in all disciplines, I submit that a person who captures the essence of WEAVING THE HEARTS OF THE WORLD TOGETHER could be a perfect informer of a CULTURAL CREATIVE strategy.

A LEADER FROM THE FUTURE IN OUR MIDST: Ziauddin Sardar, perhaps one of the world’s greatest living Polymaths (Renaissance Person), has said ‘there is more than one way to be human’. He writes ‘I do not regard “the human” either as “the” or as a priori given’. ‘The western way of being human is one amongst many. Similarly, the Islamic way of being human is also one amongst many. The Australian aboriginal way of being human is also another way of being human. I see each culture as a complete universe with its own way of knowing, being and doing – and hence, its own way of being human’. The corollary is that there are also different ways of knowing. The question that Sardar has always asked is: ‘how do you know? The answer depends a great deal on who ‘you’ are: ‘how you look at the world, how you shape your inquiry, the period and culture that shapes your outlook and the values that frame how you think’. (Source)

Sadar is from a tribe of people known as the Transmodernists. As the social web enters a season of vigorous competition in the Transmedia space, bringing multiple technologies, software platforms and “walled gardens” (large AND separate communties like Facebook, MySpace, AOL and Yahoo) together, philosophers who speak like Sardar speaks will be increasingly relevant. The programmers and software developers who can weave Transmodernist philosophy into their conceptual process WILL win in today’s pluralistic world.

HOW DOES ONE WEAVE TRANSMODERNIST PHILOSOPHY INTO AN EFFECTIVE SOCIAL CAMPAIGN:

Paul H. Ray’s summary of Transmodern culture informs a process, as follows:

1. LISTEN and DISCOVER THE LEADERS IN THESE FOLLOWING AREAS:

KEYWORD is ENVIRONMENT: Ecological sustainability, beyond environmentalism: If you can name an aspect of ecology and sustainability, they are emphatically for it, and are leading the way. Cultural Creatives demonstrate awareness of a large range of issues, including wanting to rebuild neighborhoods and communities, ecological sustainability and limits to growth, seeing nature as sacred, wanting to stop corporate polluters, being anti-big-business, wanting voluntary simplicity, being willing to pay to clean up the environment and to stop global warming.

KEYWORD is RELATIONSHIP: Globalism: Two of the top values for Cultural Creatives are xenophilism (love of travel to foreign places, of foreigners and the exotic) and ecological sustainability, which strongly includes concern for the planetary ecology and stewardship, and population problems.

KEYWORDS are WOMEN and FAMILY: Feminism, women’s issues, relationships, family: The fact that Cultural Creatives are 60 percent women is a major key to understanding this subculture. Much of the focus on women’s issues in politics comes from them-including concerns about violence and abuse of women and children, desire to rebuild neighborhoods and community, desire to improve caring relationships, and concerns about family (though they are no more family-oriented than most North Americans, it is near the top in their list of values).

KEYWORDS include SPIRITUAL, PSYCHOLOGY, HOME HEALTH: Altruism, self-actualization, alternative health care, spirituality and spiritual psychology: This is a complex of highly interrelated beliefs and values centered on the inner life. In reality, this is a new sense of the sacred that incorporates personal growth psychology and the spiritual and service to others as all one orientation. It also includes a stronger trend toward holistic health and alternative health care as part of this complex.

KEYWORDS include INSPIRATION, SUCCESS and MOTIVATION. Well-developed social conscience and social optimism: Contrary to some social critics, an emphasis on the personal does not exclude the political or social conscience, though individuals may focus on them in sequence. Cultural Creatives are engaged in the world just as much as in personal and spiritual issues. Rebuilding and healing society is related to healing ourselves, physically and spiritually. With that goes a guarded social optimism.

2. EACH OF THESE ASPECTS OF THE CULTURAL CREATIVE IMAGINATION IS A COMMUNITY WITH REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL. FIRE THIS IMAGINATION WITH AGGREGATED, CONTEST-DRIVEN, COMMUNITY-SOURCED ACTIVITIES USING EXISTING SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY.

Discover media, products, in-the-flesh activities/meet-ups/events, and delivery platforms currently used by these communties and AGGREGATE this content/software THUS harnessing ALL that this community is. THEN conceive and run contests and reward-based programs that DRIVE or ATTRACT this community toward the fulfillment of it’s “ULTIMATE GOALS”. Show through these contests how quick goals are being scored GLOBALLY and LOCALLY to achieve these bigger goals.

3. KEEP THE VIRTUOUS CYCLE GOING!

Announce the victories won and capitalize on these wins through positive PR and by raising up new leaders to foment successive, community-sourced campaigns. Community-sourced EVERYTHING is a HUGE aspect of the social web and knowing what your community’s NEED is the MARK of good leadership.

4. AND IF YOU NEED HELP FUNDRAISING FOR YOUR CAUSE, CHECK OUT THESE FANTASTIC WORLD-SOURCING TOOLS FOR DOING SO!

           a. KickStarter
           b. Giveo
           c. Kiva
           d. 8 Funding Contests for Jumpstarting your Big Idea!

Passage to the heart of vitality: Why brands must humanize in the context of social networks

admin August 18, 2010 No Comments

Last night I sat with a client in LA discussing the growth of social networks, social monitoring/intelligence projects AND transparent social eco-systems. We agreed with one another that no matter how transparent the eco-system of social networks becomes, there really are countless skins of the onion left to peel off. And that applies from the individual to the corporate level.

Could it be that complaining about transparency in social networks IS REALLY FEAR OF IDENTITY TRANSFORMATION? I submit to participants within social networks that your very participation in the social fabric of the internet IS a transformative act.

“Social-networking sites, blogs, online discussion forums and online journals represent modern arenas for individuals to write themselves into being,” writes Theresa Sauter. “A lot of people see social networking as a new way for people to interact but I’m interested in examining it as a way to form an identity and understand ourselves,” she added.

The potential of an increasingly transparent eco-system in social networks is an OPENING OF THE HEART. This opening is a kind of humanizing of all that was once mechanical and commercial. And, as a result, phenomena like brands, corporations and products take on a living nature as brand ambassadors, community managers and Chief Customer Officers interact with customers in a dialogue format. Communication between the “storied heights” of corporations and the humans that buy from these corporations has NEVER had such an opportunity for intimacy.

How does this work? We now have numerous examples of major international brands who have realized the necessity of humanization. Pepsi’s Refresh Everything project, Nokia’s Shot By Fans project AND Zappos, Best Buy and Jet Blue Twitter-customer-service portals are ALL great examples of brands relating on a one-to-one basis with their customers in helpful and generous ways. DTC’s “Drop Everything For Love” campaign is one of my favorites, where people logged in with stories about how they had “dropped everything for love”. The best stories were awarded with the opportunity to do just that.

So here’s a direct challenge and invitation to the CEO’s, GM’s and MM’s of the world: Would you drop everything for love? Consider the benefit of falling in love with your customer and steering your brand(s) in a direction that ATTRACT and enroll him/her/them in the process of brand vitality through intuitively designed reward-driven campaigns. We must hunt for dollars as the leaders of corporations with a responsibility to our shareholders AND we must also create a brand culture that fosters generosity, reward and a community/environment of friendliness. In a world where “friending” and “following” have catapulted customer equity beyond brand equity AND elevated customer lifetime value over current sales, IT BECOMES THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS LEADERS TO CREATE HOSPITABLE BRANDS. The identity of corporate culture AND brand presence has never had a more favorable environment for transforming identity and re-making the world.

Virginia Satir, the fabulous author of The New Peoplemaking, writes, “I believe the greatest gift I can conceive of having from anyone is to be seen by them, heard by them, to be understood and touched by them.” Brands that design/implement product, communication and sales strategy BASED upon listening to their customer WILL win. Listening IS the action that opens every petal of the human community and gives individuals and brands passage to the heart of vitality and re-productivity.

The year Oprah leveraged her audience as hosts for maximum profit

admin August 16, 2010 No Comments

By Nathaniel Hansen (dedicated to Terri Plewa, one of the planet’s most exciting and rising webutantes)

Gathering intelligence to inspire meaningful and actionable social programs is priceless. ~Brian Solis

Crowd-sourced content sprinkled with fairie-dust by expert producers will find its way via social-intelligence experts to decision-makers within global brands seeking top-of-mind status updates characterized by organic virality. This is the wave of the future and it is called TRANSMEDIA: a brand (advertiser/sponsor), a cause (giving back), an audience/tribe (customer) and their beloved content (the soul of the community), all wrapped up in online communities designed to facilitate a blend of virtual and physical interaction — the archetypes ruling each of these tribes require pro-creation on all levels AND digital-media midwifes mind-children by the billions every day.

The opportunity in the social fabric of the internet is to access deep need via listening tools and deliver heart-fare direct from niche-specific content producers direct to audience members accompanied by messaging from that tribe members’ favorite brands. This is what Saatchi + Saatchi identified when they came up with Lovemarks vs. Trademarks AND it is what GoogleTV will be selling advertisers on by the droves through the coming 24 months.

Colin Donald, of FUTURESCAPE.TV writes, “Facebook and Twitter buzz affects TV ratings, while broadcasters that use the social networks for viewer engagement are effectively sharing their audiences with them. The social networks know in real time how people react to TV programming – this is an essential supplement to Nielsen-type viewing data.”

Developing content that matches at the location where audiences are trending in their interests is THE most forward thinking activity by marketers currently AND the social fabric of the internet gives us real-time intelligence on this. Social monitoring tools combined with temporal analytics tools offer strategists opportunities in this area.

YOU are the next Oprah!

And Oprah should show the world this via her new cable network, stepping aside to allow 100 hosts and hostesses to lead her shows. She should crowd-source her content AND advertisers using social intelligence gathering and acknowledging the dynamic movement of attention and related influence. Those around her who only understand the old methods of marketing will fall away and those around her who get how audiences gather around content will ascend. Her new media channels will be a template for how GoogleTV operates and she may become the tribal leader of TRANSMEDIA.

Of course, Oprah’s media advisors may not do what I just wrote about…which will open the door for a competitor of hers to overtake her in multi-tribe and brand loyalty. An intelligent Director of Strategy for Oprah’s new cable channel would not raise the cost of the network BUT would rather show Oprah how the cost may be cut in half or more through intelligent useage of free/inexpensive third party tools and solutions.

A perfect example of how advisors take from wealthy leaders may be seen in the recent building of Jack Canfield’s personal social network at GREAT COST to Canfield Companies by advisors focused more on money than practical and, quite honestly, more effective FREE delivery.

More money needs to go toward effective Chief Customer Officers, brand ambassadors and social intelligence officers than fancy “custom” tech that ALREADY has a FREE and proven counterpart.