DavidLibby.com

Social Media's Law of Evidence

If there's one thing I know from being forced to watch too many episodes of NBC's Law & Order is that there is a "law of evidence." Evidence must be relevant to a case or it doesn't apply. The same can be said for how we apply the law of evidence to social media. Sure, social media is growing by leaps and bounds, not a fad, but is it relevant for your business? Prove it.

 
Social media may not be that old, but by now, if you're running a foodservice company , I can point you to many good examples of foodservice companies leveraging social media, and making money from it. That, of course, doesn't mean that it (social media) is what you need to do now for your foodservice company. But, at least you don't have to consider doing it blind folded. Here's some ideas on how to get started:

1) Research which foodservice companies are using social media - Make a list of your closet competitors and complementary companies. Start searching for those companies on Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social media channels. Also, Google search "social media" and those company names, even "foodservice" and "social media." Finding articles on what your competitors are doing? Of course you are. Now you've got a list of best practices, assuming you can identify what works and was doesn't (or what hasn't) for those companies.

2) Write out why social media is relevant to your company - Social media may be a good success story for another company, but doesn't necessarily mean it will be for your foodservice company. Think about your business and marketing objectives. Will social media be relevant for you if your company creates an iPhone Application, and what kind? Will social media help you discover how your fan base is talking about you, what they want and where to direct your product development and marketing? What are the 5-7 ways social media can benefit your business. After all, if social media doesn't work to improve your business performance, it isn't for your company, right now. Others will argue that "building brand awareness" is good enough. Yes, if that's your objective...in this economy.

3) What's your plan? - You've found great examples, best practices, know why it's relevant for your foodservice company, but where do you get started, what's first, and what will follow? Social media isn't rocket science, yet pulling together a plan for it may be. You may be too close to your business. It may be more important to first do a social media audit than think about what kind of Page to make on Facebook. You may need social media to help you get out of a crisis. It may be needed to rally your customers toward a new direction. What are your marketing objectives? Is your messaging in line with your current and upcoming marketing programs?

4) Brainstorm! - If you're got this far, you're all creative. Think about the short and long-term creative ideas you can build or borrow from to take out your brand using social media. Don't forget that consumer activation is easy - it's consumer retention that's the BIG challenge. Make sure your ideas fit back within your plan, speak to your overall business objectives, marketing objectives and point to improving your bottom line.

Bon Appetit!

  

Does the online ratings system need a redux?

I had the pleasure of taking my sweet little family away over the weekend to Carmel. If you haven't been there, make it a trip. Carmel-by-the-Sea, as it is officially named, is a California fairytale, maybe even a place comparable to the mysterious, adventures of Harry Potter. Most retail stores are cottages, some restaurants and bars are neatly tucked away in cavernous alleys, and all people are euphorically happy. The challenge is, there's too many places to eat. The same can be said about it's neighboring town, Monterey.

We took a day trip out to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and after hours of site sea-ing along famed Canery Row, the troops got hungry. We didn't know where to eat. There were too many restaurants to choose from. The old, chain standards that we knew didn't tickle our fancy. And, too many unknown options popped up through my Yelp application on the iPhone.

Sure, lot's of friendly known and unknown folks Yelped about restaurants around us, but there were still too many choices, and when looking for a great Mexican place, most local haunts rated the same.

I finally decided to do the unthinkable, unsocial, unnatural thing. I asked a couple of locals where the best Mexican restaurant was around the aquarium. After a quick debate, they agreed on one that was 1.5 miles away. I hopped on Yelp! and sure enough, it was there, and one of the highest rated in the area, even if rated similarly among others.

But, I was with my wife and kids. Why does that matter? I just can't take them anywhere.

"Was the area safe?" I asked the locals.

"Yes," they replied.

"I've got an 8 and 6 year old with me. Can they walk there from here?"

"No."

We jumped into the car, and started on our journey. Yelp! mapped out the directions, but something was wrong. Aside from the kids being starving and me not having enough time to get lost, which I often do, I noticed that the streets around us were mostly one way.

I asked the parking attendant to help us navigate the best way to the restaurant, and he said, "up one street, make a left, through the tunnel, stay on the right, make a right at the light, then another, and it will be on your left." Funny that I can remember the directions now, but not the name of the restaurant.

We trucked up and around, got lost, of course, hung a u-turn, then found one of the best Mexican restaurants in Monterey.

Papa Chano's!

The moral of the story. There are many determining factors when it comes to getting recommendations and making choices best for one audience vs. another.

I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble if I was alone. I wouldn't have checked in with the locals on the safety of the area or walking distance if we didn't have the kids with us. Food value was a big deal for the locals, and they said Papa Chano's was one of the best too. Though, that wasn't top of mind for me at the time because vacation food never seems to be of "value." It's either good tasting or not. What it costs is what it costs.

I think there is room for a local Yelp! run by locals for out-of-towners. There's probably, of course, applications that could serve this need, even those that would integrate nicely on Yelp, since I use it so much, along with OpenTable, when it comes to everything food, through my iPhone.

I'm just glad that in the end, it was so cute to see my kids gobble up their food at Papa Chano's. We've definiltey bookmarked this one, and will be back again.

Pop quiz: You LOVE the TV show Mad Men, go to its web site, what's missing?

You watch Mad Men on AMC every Sunday at 10PM. You love it! There's something Thirty Something about it, in a 60's kind of way. You want more. You go to the web site. There's a blog. Cocktail guide. Facebook Page. An iPhone app. What's missing? It's (maybe not so obvious) bigger impact aka broader influence on its audience.

Mad Men is so wildly popular that's it possible the show could influence how people (not just ad execs) dress up in the office. It could also influence, or maybe it has already, office style. Yet, there's no note of it in the experience of the show off TV, online. And, why not?

It's no secret that the show is one that highly rates next to The Sopranos and other famed cable series. People are talking about Mad Men online, offline, and back online (again). The show isn't getting old. It's only getting better, and more people are watching it now, at least in my personal circles.

Maybe the show's producers are too close to tell, so I'll give it up - media influences, even in the smallest of ways. Media can make a huge impact on the U.S. culture - TV, film, and online I'm referencing, of course.

Look what TV did for the Vietnam war. You can't tell me that TV didn't influence JFK's win over Nixon, right? Rocky, Star Wars, Schindler's List all had cultural impacts on and off of the screen. Now it's Mad Men's turn.

Don't get me wrong. Mad Men will not have the same kind of massive societal influence as did the televised event of the Vietnam war. But, in it's only little way, Mad Men will change (and I believe it already is) the way in which we see ourselves in our work, and at work. And, how our work reflects who we are, at least in part.

My message to the producers of Mad Men?

Leverage it through social media...

Here's some ideas:

1) Furnish online - Partner with a style shop such as Room & Board, which resembles the show's furniture style, and re-create the sets - in their showrooms. Bring people into the stores to sit at Don Draper's desk and take in the real feel of what it's like to be "Mad." Maybe even tie a contest into the recreation of the set design.

2) Create your own office - Take real world photos of Room & Board like furniture and allow visitors of the site to build their own Mad Men office. What could your ideal office look like?

3) Make a suitable wardrobe - Get in touch with Wil Boehlke (one of my former clients) and ask him to guest blog about the latest and most stylish wares for men, on your blog. Give away a private fitting with Wil, photographed of course for posting on Facebook, your Mad Men blog, etc.

4) Run an architectural contest - Maybe Mad Men is thinking about opening a new office, say in LA, what would it look like? Take it to your viewers to decide. Give them the tools to design the LA office, and award the winner an all expense paid trip to a glam hotel in LA.

Where do the producers of Mad Men begin?

Brainstorm.

Hook up your show writers, publicists, with a team of social media strategists, and get cracking on how you can widen your brand awareness online and really touch on the influence that your show is making on your viewers. It will be a win win for both you and your viewers, believe me.

I would love to be sipping scotch sitting at Don Draper's desk. Even if just in a virtual world...

Small businesses think too small when it comes to public relations and social media marketing

I've been running my public relations consultancy for over 8 years now and can tell you that when it comes to marketing, the small businesses we've worked with think too small. It's not that the small businesses don't think about what they can do with their small business, they don't know how to think about it - beyond what it's going to cost, and, in some cases, don't know where to start. Here's some tips on how to think about public relations and social media marketing for your small business.

1) Just admit it, you're not the marketing expert - Often times our clients get sales, business development, and marketing confused, jumbled, and lump everything into one basket. The truth is, one is very different than the other. Don't expect to know how they all work, nor find one person that does. Hire the right public relations expert who can suit your needs. Sometimes these means finding a person who has experience in your field or someone who you like and feel you can trust. Other times, it's a person who's reaped great success for their clients, similar to your company.

2) Don't focus on the tools - Your public relations staffer is no more going to know more about your business than you will about theirs. Just because you've heard of Facebook, Twitter, press releases, etc., don't assume to know how those tools may best suit your business. They may not. One thing's for sure. Make certain that your public relations professional has an open mind, that's focused on how to help you grow your business, not on how the success of your marketing will influence theirs. If they create a customized public relations and social media marketing plan for you, it's most likely it will be successful, especially if done in concert with your audience targeting and messaging.

3) Take your time - It's not the quick "hit" in a local newspaper that's going to turn your business on it's ear. Public relations is an evolution, not a revolution. It takes time to build up brand awareness, develop relationships with journalists, industry analysts, and generate new business leads, partnerships, etc. What's important is that you start with a plan, and stick to it best you can, of course being flexible to any market or inside company changes.

4) Push, don't pull public relations - Running a public relations campaign is much akin to planting and growing a garden. You can't wait for it rain. You've got to water your own plants. Get out there, tell your public relations professional everything that's going on in your business, the related economy, what's up with your competitors, and get marketing. Your public relations plan should consist of many elements which compliment one another. Don't just rely on one press release. Create a calendar of your upcoming announcements, look at what your key publications are writing about / what they could write about, think about what you can do with your partners, and much, much more!

In conclusion, public relations and social media marketing are not thankless jobs. Assuming (and hoping) that all of your efforts point to your business and marketing objectives, you will have marketed your company well in a very challenging environment. It's not an easy task to take, but one that has to be collaborative with your public relations professional and supported by the energy, enthusiasm, and growth which your company deserves.

Listen up PR peeps, make social media work for you, now!

If you're a public relations professional like me, you're probably using Cision (aka MediaMap) or Vocus or EdCals.com, or one of the many other tools to make your life more effective for your clients. But, many of you are not using social media tools. And, those can be just as effective for informing your target audiences on your messaging and client news.

But, wait! You say you are? How? What?

Because every time a press release comes out or an article you secured hits the Google News Alert, you "tweet" about it? What you're really doing is wasting your (and your clients') time, and not maximizing what you could be doing on the social web.

Here's some tips on how to make it all worth it:

1) Research off Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn - There IS life beyond those networks (ie. Ning, Google and Yahoo Groups, etc.) where you can find niche networks (and email list serves) where you can non-commercially become a part of those communities and add value to them, engage in dialogue, inform, and spark conversations. And, you don't have to necessarily be the focus of the conversation either...

2) Use social bookmarking services - Get creative on how you're tagging your news and information on social bookmarking services (ie. DIGG, StumbleUpon, Delicious, etc.) to attract a broader set of audiences. Also, find like people who may be interested in your information and news and befriend them. If you're consistent with the information and news that you send them over time, you'll notice that they'll be sending you the same.

3) Don't worry so much about the numbers - So, you're targeting a certain group of people (ie. web developers) and have a couple hundred followers / friends on Twitter. Don't try to make conversations with them all. That's impossible and not needed. Only a very small number will influence the many. Target the most well liked and conversational. Notice I didn't say to target the one or two with the most followers / friends. When you converse with those few folks, keep it within the context of a group (ie. #webdev - if one such exists - research it first on Twitter search), and expand the audience in that manner, not by spamming another person's Twitter followers.

4) Re-read your content to see if it has a broader reach than you originally thought - Your press release was about a new product for web developers. But, after re-reading the piece, you realize that it could be of interest to security minded folk too. BTW, This kind of realization is best done prior to the initial outreach because the messaging to different audiences will be, different. But, now you can run the same exercise as mentioned in 1-3 above and expand the brand footprint of your client's information and news.

There's a lot more we could do as public relations professionals to leverage social media tools, but this is just a start. I hope it was helpful in expanding your mind on the subject.

Good luck!

How to cultivate your social media garden

Social media is organic because it's authentic, unpredictable, and natural. The 64 million dollar question? How do you make the unnatural, organic? Social media is organic because it is derived from living organisms. How do you direct it? How do you harness it? How do you control it?

How do you cultivate your social media garden?

If you believe your social media program is alive, hence organic, feed it. The grass in your garden will die if not watered. The flowers in your pot will wither if not placed in the Sun. A garden needs to be nurtured. And, you're its gardener.

How do you know if you have a green thumb for your garden?

First off, ask yourself if you like to garden. You may be a better landscape architect. You may be a better owner of the property the garden is growing upon. You may be a better admirer of another person's garden. Know thyself.

Next, are you an expert of all things gardening or just great at growing the grass under your feet?

Ask yourself if you can indeed see the big picture of what is the garden today and what it will be in the future. It's knowing that you can create what you can not see is what makes you the expert gardener. There's no fault in being a masterful grass-ethician. Though, do not try to fool yourself into thinking otherwise.

What's out there now?

No garden starts with nothing. Weeds can be beautiful too. The content of your garden, what's working and what doesn't, and how it's managed, all comes into play as to whether or not it is best to add more plants, nurture them, or start over. There are always set legalities (ie. the biggest tree in the backyard simply can not be cut down without causing great harm to the landscape of the neighborhood, and subsequently fighting off an ensuing homeowners association lawsuit).

How do the plants work together?

There are obviously dominant plants in your garden. Those which can uproot others, and stand out among the pack. Do those need more attention, or less? How does the climate affect your longest and best standing trees? Do they prevent others from being the same?

What else is in your garden?

The non-organic always mixes with the organic. The placed rocks. The iron gate. The outdoor furniture, and obscure pieces of art scattered across the yard. Do they need to be moved? Taken out? Replaced? Why were they put there in the first place? Do others need to be added?

Then there are those of us who garden with cement.

The wall is built to hold back the displaced hill. The shrubbery is only there to hold up the heavy dirt. The trees and plants are only watered by nature, or by an automatic watering system which takes no person to control. Is it too harsh? It is stale? Or, does it work for the community which is serves. Is it only meant to serve a purpose, and not be cultivated?

There are dozens of magazines on gardening, even more books, how do you learn how to garden?

There are also websites and experts. There are speakers and conferences. There are tens of thousands, if not millions of examples, globally, of gardens, and plants, flowers, trees, and gardening tools. There is no right or wrong way to garden. Some gardens are more pleasing to some cultures than others. And, others are just down right frightening, and disturbing to some.

What's the first thing to do before tending to your garden?

Look around and ask yourself what surrounds it. The people? The structures? The weather? The earth? The stars? And, remind yourself, every single day, that even though you may be the gardener, this may not be your garden, surrounding your house, in your community.

But, you know how to cultivate it.

Why informational needs, not conversation will drive social media

Do you want to show your boss, investors, partners, or clients that you ran a successful social media program? If so, show them the results. The results of how it grew their business, how it met the bottom line, and how it met their goals, business objectives. That's how. Doesn't it sound easy? Well it's not. Most people can not think that clearly, at least not in terms of how what they could do could meet their business objectives.

I'm not saying you have to go back to school to learn these terms or pick up a book on marketing. But, I'm suggesting that if you're thinking about social media as how you can leverage a tool to get the most followers or fans or just use social media as a direct marketing tool, you'll only be using it for a short period of time.

What's happened is that we've lost the importance of a brand because the industrial revolution industrialized our society. The Internet has taken it further by two dimensional-izing our lives. And yet we preach about how social media will fundamentally change that conversation, but the fact is, there is no conversation. There is information.

It's the information that will drive social media, the need for information. Think about it. The most active social networks online are those where people need a constant flow of information (ie. parenting, healthcare, entertainment, travel, etc.) It's those industries where "social business design" will flourish, but not part of some grand scheme where marketing takes no place in it all.

The brands must earn the trust of their customers through marketing, slowly, then the customers will take part in the brand experience, and the two will learn from one another. The customer will engulf information needed to maintain a healthy and happy life, and the brand will watch - en masse - the behavior and attitudes of those groups - and adjust their marketing to fit those groups' needs. Isn't that classic marketing on an Internet scale? Call it online focus groups, whatever.

The point is while some of us are trying to figure out what we should be doing with social media, others are focused on industries where there is a real need - today - for a social business design that speaks to the people who really need it.

Meet Us @ SocialMediaTalk on LinkedIn

We're taking the conversation one step further and have launched "SocialMediaTalk" on LinkedIn. Our mission is to provide a community where small business owners and professionals can help one another navigate the convoluted social media world for their businesses and themselves. We hope you'll join us in conversation. Click here to join.

Looking forward to talking with you further!

David Libby

A Deeper Understanding

As I write this I'm thinking it may be best to post this blog entry as a personal log of sorts, maybe write it, publish then delete. It's always embarrassing, and scary to boot, being honest, even transparent with one's thoughts. But, this I can not hold back. It's tugging at everything in my being, from how I interact with my children and wife to how I am in the workplace, one not being the same as the other, though not as far apart as I would like. What it is that I have come upon, realized in my maturity as a father, husband, and public relations veteran is that whether it's in the bedroom or the boardroom, everyone and everything needs a deeper understanding.

Honest to gosh, it's probably to my benefit now for not being the kind of person who responds well under pressure. I need time to think, understand, evaluate a situation. I used to think that that was my way of looking for the easy way out, trying to escape, while all along it was me thinking of a way to figure out the not so obvious. I can certainly state the obvious in "real-time" and expand based upon my experience, but what truly shines is the ability to "take a step back" and think about the unknowns, be creative, and come back to the person in question with a deeper understanding of what it is they are facing and how they may tackle that situation in question.

How did I get here? Mentors.

While public relations is an aged old practice, and social media relations is but an infant, it shocks me to think that very few of talk about our mentors. Those who without fail continue to inspire, teach us, and drive the profession forward. It's those people who have helped me grasp a deeper understanding of my thoughts and actions in the public relations field. Funny enough, as my practice is moving more and more toward social media relations, not just the traditional PR, my mentors remain offline, nameless as you would think, yet quite famous, and infamous, in their own rights, and god bless them, the underpinnings of who I am today.

Everyone of us has regrets. Everyone of us would have wanted to do one thing, if not more, different than the last. But, truth be known, if it wasn't for the experiences we shared and gathered from those mentors, and peers, we wouldn't be where we are today. So, as we celebrate Labor Day, as it comes to a close, my hat goes off to all of those who struggled to share their love of the profession with me, their teachings, and may their memories, and experiences live on in the lives of others.

Delete me as your friend

I'm begging you to delete me as your friend. This is not a dare. I am not drunk. For those of you who know me, I can hold my liquor. And, that's my point. For those of you who know me, know me. For those of you who don't, let's either get to know one another or not. I am not good at my public relations profession because you can see that I have many connections on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

I did a quick look around and found many like individuals who have been in the PR biz for over 15+ years like yours truly have the same amount of "friends" and followers. My lists have gotten so out of control that on Facebook I created separate lists and only regularly check on those - and make comments - as those people I truly know.

So, why bring this up now? Yes, our digital Spring cleaning has come and gone. And, the summer is about to come to an end. However, with every end, there is a new beginning. With every death of an idea, a new one is born. By that I beg of you to delete me as your friend on any one of the social platforms, or choose to make conversation with me, or be deleted. 

I also imagine that at some point this will become an emerging trend. People will begin de-friending one another, and brands. They'll have to. As the web widens, and we become more naturally social online, so too we will need to limit our interactions with people and brands, and only keep a simple few (or a little more) within our circle of trust.

With that said, I'm going to take a stab at what defines how a person and/or brand can build that trust in me.

1) We share a past connection - you and I went to a school together, and knew each other, dated, are family, worked together, shared common business interests, former competitors, were close or distant friends, or friends with my sister.

2) We're the same religion - not just that we're both the same religion, but have identified around it together, by attending the same religious school(s), camp(s), youth group(s), etc.

3) We both like the same things - not saying that everything has to be identical, but if you're a big Depeche Mode fan, I'm sure we'll find something to talk about. I also love Radio Shack, science fiction, Apple, Nordstrom, Build-A-Bear, Sprite, Red Vines, etc.

4) We behave in similar ways - I love to be creative, generate ideas, be playful, sing, share and tell, etc.

5) We're at the same point in our lives - you're married with two young kids, living in the San Francisco Bay Area, are an active Dad / parent, etc.

6) We share the same hobbies - you like to collect stuff, read business books and science fiction, watch independent movies, listen to music like Zero 7, play the guitar, walk the dog, etc.

...and the list can go on and on. 

If someone said, "David Libby I dare you to sit down right now and delete a bunch of people (and brands)," it wouldn't be hard. And it won't be difficult for you either because you'll find that once you've shed those who are stalking you, and not talking with you, you will begin to recognize who is listening to you, and who you are listening to.