Month: June 2010

It is about teleportation–not time travel

I dreamed the other night that I was a physicist working on a time travelling machine. While I am fascinated by the concepts of quantum mechanics, time travel and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, I have to admit that my understanding of the real possibilities in this area stretch no further than popular sci-fi movies and Hawking’s Brief History of Time which I read more than ten years ago.

Yet the realm of dreams is where a woeful lack of experience is hardly a disqualifier. No one ever dreamed about writing resumes. So there I was, in my lab with odd mechanical doo dads that looked something like the inside of the Jawa’s droid transport in Star Wars and a big white board for me to doodle out my calculations and formulas.

As I was toiling away staring at the aforementioned white board, I suddenly came to a major realization–I was working on the wrong problem.

In my dream, most scientists were focused on the main the challenge of time travel–the fact that you have to create a doorway (or a rip) in the space time continuum to travel from one moment to the next. While this is a daunting problem, many scientists had made great strides and the overall field of study seemed close to solving the problem.

This is when I realized that despite this progress, the community was focused on the wrong problem. The doorway was going to be created, but no one was focused on getting through the doorway. It’s not about time travel, it is about teleportation, I realized. Suddenly my entire outlook changed. It was no longer a problem of theory, but a problem was physical mechanics….and something that I could solve.

I woke up before I was able to build my machine for teleportation, but I realized that my dream was a fable for solving problems in business. It is very easy to get laser-focused on problems and solutions, but you need to ask yourself if you are focused on the real problems. This happens all the time, we are focused on budget cuts instead of real efficiency, we are focused on technology integration instead of the issues that real users have in the system.

At the end of the dream, I think I was able to solve the time travel problem by thinking differently–by zigging when everyone else is zagging.

The wrapper matters

When you have a big idea, the question is, how to spread it?

You can go through a traditional publisher and have it printed in the tried and true way, like Clay Shirky. I had a chance to read Clay’s new book a few months ago. No surprise: it’s pure gold, unalloyed insight about the state of media and the world.

If you’re looking for big ideas and are prepared to lose a little sleep, there’s no better book to buy right now.

You can have someone take a short speech based on your book and have them turn it into a animated video. Dan Pink’s video has been seen about 20 times as often as his book has been purchased. Video spreads.

You can turn your idea (like a focus on entrepreneurs) into cool trading cards, like Evan did.

You can skip the printing altogether and start your own video university, like Khan Academy.

Perhaps write a short manifesto and watch it spread as a free ebook. Like Changethis, a free service that has reached millions with the work of top authors from around the world.

Don’t forget podcasts or mp3s, which can be very funny or motivational.

Consider starting a conference with a unique platform and worldwide reach, like TED.

Or you can blog your idea for several years in a row, slowly building up trust and making an impact over time.

Of course, there’s no right answer. But there’s probably a best answer that matches your time frame, budget, audience and idea.

Seth Godin

Can your website pass the 20-second test?

Twenty seconds.

That’s about the amount of time you have to grab a visitor’s attention on your website. To keep them there, you better have something great to say and it better be quick! There are four messages you need to deliver in those precious moments that will determine whether somebody is a sales lead or a passerby:

1) Graphic impact. Everything you do (and don’t do!) communicates about your brand. So before they read a single word, the graphic impact of your site is already going to leave a big impression. How does the look and feel of your site contribute to the story of your brand? Is it buttoned up? Is it bold? Is it inviting?

2) The big deal. So the graphic impact has held their attention long enough for them to begin to read. Way to go! The first thing you need to say to your visitor, powerfully and succinctly, is “I am different.” Why should the reader go to the next sentence? Tell them! Are you the biggest, boldest, newest, safest, most innovative, best value, most experienced, wisest, or the most colorful? What are you, and why should they spend their time here rather than going back to play Farmville?

3) The unmet needs. Now let’s get very specific. Next you need to tell them how you serve them uniquely. What needs do you meet? This is different than explaining what you “sell.” Customers don’t buy what you sell. They buy what they need and want. Explain what problems you solve for them. For example, every caterer delivers delicious food. But what customers really WANT is a worry-free, memorable occasion that won’t break the bank.

4) What next? OK, you have their attention ever so briefly. Now give them a reason to stay on your site to learn more. This is commonly known as the call to action. Ask them to call, respond, or register. Offer them a free white paper, menu, trial offer, consultation, podcast, eBook. Ask them to view your portfolio, blog, testimonies, case studies. Create another touch point between you and this sales lead. Don’t let them go quite yet!

And really, that’s it. There’s not much more you can do in 20 seconds to give yourself a shot at creating a sales lead out of a visitor. I’m sure you have your own ideas, too. Please leave a comment with your own ideas, problems and questions!

— Mark Schaefer

Mark can be found on Twitter at @markwschaefer and at www.businessesGROW.com

The Role of Proactive Listening in Social Media Communication

Here’s the problem: we believe that once we’ve delivered a message — written it, recorded it, spoken it aloud, hit “SEND” or (truth be told) even outlined it in bullet-form — that we have Communicated. Put another way (and maybe a bit more to the point), when we think about communicating, we inevitably think about message delivery.

Conventional wisdom views “Great Communicators” as those gifted in the art of articulation. When it comes to marketing communication, we seek a wordsmith, an award-winning designer, and those able to grab an audience by the eye and ear, create and produce at the highest level…and deliver the message.

Enter the “Social Media.”

View social media marketing tools through conventional eyes — that is, see them primarily as message delivery vehicles — and you sacrifice the opportunity to organically add a new dimension to your marketing efforts. Am I the only one who, upon first hearing about Twitter, scoffed — wondering what value could be contained in 140 character limit for each message? How profound or poetic might one be when brevity is enforced? (My appreciation for Emily Dickinson notwithstanding.)

Clueless. Because I was thinking only in terms of delivering my message.

And while I may be slow, I did eventually come to realize that the real power of social media is that listening is at its core.
In fact, unlock the art of proactive listening in the social media, and you’ll discover a way to connect with your audience that will change your marketing — both in terms of strategy, and execution.

To that end, here are three ideas on how to use social media to proactively listen.

1. Master two or three questions. That’s all it takes. Pose the right query to followers, fans and even foes, and you tap into the best marketing research available — insight into what matters most to your clients/customers and targets, directly from them. And never underestimate the potential of a 140 character survey.

2. Build a Feedback mechanism. What this ends up looking like will depend on the tool, but you can bet your unhappy customers will utilize every tool at their disposal (remember the United Breaks Guitars video?). Be proactive and facilitate (encourage) conversations about your product or service — the good and not so good — and you’ll hear about problems and opportunities in real time. This “conversation-context” is significantly more productive than a complaint box or traditional reactive approach to customer service. (By the way — defensiveness has no place in a proactive feedback mechanism. Avoid it at all costs.)

3. Spend more time taking content in than you do dispensing your message. There is, no doubt, a more poetic way to articulate that idea; but we’ll forgo poetry in favor of connecting. You get the idea. Listen (much) more than you speak. Read more than you write. I’ve seen varying suggestions as to effective ratios, and don’t profess to have a proven formula. I think in terms of no more than 1 in 5 communication efforts revolving around a marketing message. I know a few folks who hit more like 1 in 10 when it comes to Twitter.

Three ideas. I’d appreciate hearing yours.

Imagine a marketing strategy built around on-going proactive listening. No telling how the marketplace might change!

Why Social Media will drive adoption of SaaS CRM

SaaS CRM ( Software as a Service) has been around for a while. Salesforce.com, one of the largest service providers in SaaS CRM space has been around for more than ten years and has been listed on NYSE for almost six years now. I can still recall the day Salesforce.com was listed on NYSE, having seen a giant banner with the letters “CRM” (ticker symbol of Salesforce.com) on NYSE building on that day on my way to work in lower Manhattan, where I was working as a CRM Program Manager for a Fortune Top 10 client (on how many occasions you get to see “CRM” banner on NYSE building!)

But inspite of the fact that SaaS CRM has been around for a decade, it is not as popular or widespread as what some might have expected it to be by now. I think this is about to change. As I noted in my previous post, four independent trends, namely Social Media, Smart Phones, Predictive Analytics and SaaS are now converging to bring about a Paradigm Shift in CRM.

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Is social media the great equalizer?

Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for “Liberty, equality, fraternity“ – is the French national motto that has inspired this post: Is social media the social equalizer?

Events such as the French revolution, leaders like Martin Luther King and Barack Obama, make us all wish these three words were true.

Social media seems to congregate intellectual freedom, equality and fraternity. Sure, we will tend to lean towards people like us, sharing the same values as us, the same ideals; however, mutual respect and acceptance will come from our thoughts, output and virtual manners.

The 3 words resonate as follows:

Liberty of thoughts, of information; liberty to share what we are about. It is really up to us to decide if we want to put it all out there, whether we are a hotshot offline or a regular person trying to make it;

Equality – whether, we are a woman, a man, disabled, black, white or blue, we have the possibility to build a share of voice as much as another. We establish our credibility with our hard work .

And finally, fraternity, because, social media has managed to break down, at least, a few barriers – social and physical. The importance is that We are humans and we care!

Am I too optimistic to think that our physicality is not as important anymore? Most of us have a profile picture that gives a limited glimpse into our being, some will use avatars, and also others will use company logos. Whatever the decision, visualizing who we are talking to remains of small importance in building meaningful relationships.

I deeply hope that social media will succeed where politics, society and religion have mostly failed. I believe social media can bring us together on a more noble level where indeed, it is What we are, Who we truly are that matters.

Social CRM Excellence Awards Presented to Industry Leaders at Lithium Network Conference (LiNC)

From Business Wire: Lithium Technologies, the leading provider of Social CRM solutions to power the customer network, announces the winners of the 2010 Social CRM Excellence Awards. With the dramatic growth in Social CRM adoption over the last 12 months, Lithium wanted to highlight the lengths companies were going to and the results that companies are realizing.

The awards represent the depth and breadth of social engagement that Lithium customers are achieving with their end customers. The categories in the Awards are designed to showcase the broad scope of the Lithium customer base – from customer support to social evangelism and how users immerse themselves in community activity on behalf of companies.

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How do I increase my influence on Twitter?

A business colleague asked me this question and I figured if it was on his mind, it might be on yours too. While it remains to be seen if I have actual influence anywhere, I have undoubtedly created substantial, tangible business benefits through Twitter and the social web. So here’s my strategy. It’s very simple and I think it could probably work for anybody.

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