I have been using Google + for a few days now (and no, this is not a post all about Google +) and have noticed an interesting phenomenon already. Everyone wants a “do-over” on social connectivity. Much discussion is happening around posts like, “Will you build your network differently here?” And the consensus seems to be that many people want to approach the whole concept of networking differently. Either they intend to be more selective in who they follow or add or they intend to be more rigorous in the groups (“circles” in + parlance) they form or maintain.

Another common thread is the desire to return to the halcyon early days of social networks when the novelty of connecting with other people – interesting people –was the driver behind the growth of Twitter or Facebook. You know, back before brands and marketing became the main focus of those old networks. Yes, that was a tiny bit sarcastic, I admit. Google + could potentially be much larger than Twitter given its much larger reach and the opportunity for even the most casual, non-networked internet user to be exposed to it every time someone does a search. Google + will be baked in to the search experience in a very seamless way by early indications (new “share” buttons have appeared in my gmail and my Google Reader apps already).

I remember the euphoria that accompanied my early days on Twitter, now nearly three years back, when someone new followed me. I long ago turned off “new follow” notifications because the emails were swamping my inbox. But I have the “notifications” from Google + turned on and that old feeling is back…. a little rush when someone adds me or comments on a post or shares something with me. Will it last? Probably not. Google + may end up being a better tool for personal connection, but professional networkers will soon be all over that platform and newly minted Google + jedi, knights, gurus and the like will be hawking their professional help. Soon, the who is following whom will become a game of sorts… social climbing for the 21st century.

Will anything be different in two years? Won’t Google + (or whatever is next) become what the users make of it and choose to do with it? Is a “do-over” really possible if defining relevance online via social cues – really the reason Google is doing this – will continue to be driven by who you know/are connected to and who’s talking about you, your brand, your company, your last presentation, slideshare, blog post or content bit? What do you think?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Blake Ewings’ closing keynote at last weeks’ Social Media Tulsa conference. One of the key takeaways for me was this statement:

It doesn’t mean only “tweet positive” but it does mean when sending thoughts, links, info etc. out into the world, we should all be mindful of the larger effect. It’s easy to say, “If you wouldn’t want your Mom to know, don’t post it,” but really, most of us feel a little more insulated in our online worlds than that. We use the public conversation to share our private frustrations. Sometimes, before we’ve taken the time to try to solve them privately. I have been guilty of this…

I’m still processing how and what I want to change about how I participate in the public conversation. What kind of social responsibility comes with a larger-than-average audience online? Mine isn’t anything like the superstars of the Interwebs, but it’s exponentially larger than the “average Jane” on Twitter, Facebook, etc. What obligations does that, or should that, entail as far as sharing?

And… based on some feedback I’ve already gotten on this post… does being more human actually give you more of a voice? Do people just care more if they “know you?” My instincts and experience tell me yes.

Like I said, still processing… and interested to hear your thoughts!

Twitter became meaningful for me two years ago today. Happy Anniversary, sweetheart

Today is the anniversary of the day I figured out the power of Twitter. I’d joined a few months before, in November of 2008. I’d tweeted some, and found and followed about two dozen people I respected in my industry… names I knew from MarketingProfs.com or from reading blog posts or articles. But mostly it was just for fun and a way for me to collect links and articles more quickly. I’d yet to really utilize a news/blog reader very well, so Twitter was serving that purpose. I’d first become intrigued after spending the previous year on Facebook, joining FriendFeed, and then hearing/seeing/reading about Twitter in industry articles. No one seemed really clear on what to do WITH it, just clear that everyone should be DOING it. I began to read… a lot. I didn’t follow anyone else and decided to start tweeting the good content I found, and commenting on it. I knew nothing of hashtags, really, other than that they existed. I’d never participated in a chat. I was determined to see if sharing good content was a strategy that actually worked, though…. so away I went.

After a couple of months, my following had grown to several hundred, based on luck and retweets of the content I’d created or shared. I still wasn’t actively following anyone, but I’d begun to talk to the followers I did have and with those I’d initially followed. Cool… but still not earth-shattering or profoundly game-changing. Then came Superbowl 43. I sat down to watch with my family, with my laptop… and started tweeting about the commercials (Hey, the Dolphins weren’t in it, and growing businesses is my profession). Suddenly, as the hashtag for the ads connected me to a slew of people across the globe all seeing and reacting to the same thing I was, at the same time, through a single medium, the power of Twitter (indeed, of all social media) became crystal clear to me. The conversations and engagement were infectious and addicting. I debated, agreed, challenged, tweeted and retweeted though the entire game, and have been actively engaged ever since. Because life is always happening, everywhere, all the time, and people are talking about it. Online, offline, all the time. The power of Twitter is not that I can talk to you, or you to me… it’s that WE can talk to EVERYONE else out there, anytime we want, one conversation at a time. Even if all we have in common is a love of Superbowl commercials, for today, it’s enough. Let’s connect.

What was your moment like? When did social media hook you?

Because together is better.

I miss my blog (and blog readers!). I miss writing. And that is my resolution for 2011…. to write more. More often. More places. Covering more topics. In more styles. Just to write… MORE. And, further, I hereby promise that many of the yet-to-be-written sentences will be longer than three words and will contain punctuation other than ellipsis.

This past year has been one of the roughest I’ve ever been through. Losing my Dad to an awful fishing/boating accident 16 years ago tops the list, but 2010 comes in next on the list of years I could have done without. Part of the reason I’ve written less was because, as previously mentioned, I tend to be a private person and hesitated to overshare my personal struggles on this “professional” blog and website. I will spare you all the gory details (or I will protect myself by choosing not to share, however you want to look at it… ) and give you the short and dirty run down, below (note… if you’re just here for the marketing lesson in all this somewhere, you can skip this one. No hard feelings.):

In late 2008, pregnant with our fourth child, we bought a bigger (older, but bigger) home. We closed on Halloween… and the next month the housing market tanked. We hadn’t sold our previous home, either. ’08 was a banner year for my business, and the bank determined we could support both payments (!!) until we sold our first home. Since we only moved about 7 blocks and I was pregnant, we didn’t really “move” as much as we “transported” bits and pieces every day or so. It took awhile for the old house to be ready to sell… and by then we couldn’t sell it for even close to what we owed.

Fast forward to the last quarter of 2009. That year sucked as far as business went, and we’d been making 2 house payments for nearly a year. And then… we just couldn’t. There was no way to borrow, or take more from credit cards, or anything else, to take care of the bills for our now-family-of-six. It was either not pay the mortgage on the home we lived in or not pay the mortgage on the home we DIDN’T live in. Guess which one won?

So… 2010 brought a personal bankruptcy, a foreclosure on the old house, a repossession of a car (they don’t give you any grace period AT ALL after you go through a bankruptcy, just FYI, and getting it back is difficult and expensive), tax and IRS issues, and continued depressed business billings. Depressed, and depressing.

The bankruptcy, while a crushing blow to the pride and a burden of paperwork like you’ve never seen, was a good decision. It gave us a platform from which to plan, budget and begin to rebuild. I’m grateful that option exists for people who have done all they can, and then just can’t any longer. My car, which we recovered, is now paid off and altogether mine, and that’s comforting. The IRS thing is going to be a thing for a while, but we’ll get through it.

And the biggest thing that 2010 taught me? That the WE is important. The “WE” of our family, of my husband and I, of my extended family, and of my friends and colleagues who supported us emotionally through all the struggles. And the WE of you and me… everyone I’ve connected to digitally one way or another. Everyone who took the time to stop by, to read, to comment, to share, to tweet a reply… who kept me focused on moving forward, growing my clients’ businesses and thereby growing my own. Because while most of 2010 was dark and difficult, the last few months have taken a decided turn for the better. It’s time to move from the worry and stress of going broke to the excitement of going for broke. I intend to carry that outlook into 2011 as I shove 2010 forcefully out the back door of my life. Buh-Bye.

While this blog will remain mainly marketing and PR focused, there might be a few bits and pieces of me that creep in here, too. Because we’re a family, right? See you all next year… it’s time to rock some upward momentum.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeveeaar/4910032429/

As business has picked up these last few months, I’ve noticed my time spent online on social nets has dropped off. In some cases, significantly and in others less significant but still noticeable. The obvious reason (and easy out) is that I’m busy… working! Doing the things that earn me a living and keep my family warm, dry and fed. The time I spent on social networks from 2008 forward was always, in part, about building business. And it’s worked, of that I am certain. My investment of time and content in the ‘net is a very real part of the reason why I’m “too busy!” to tweet or post as frequently these days.

The real issue, though, isn’t whether I’m too busy today… it’s how busy will I STAY without continuing to invest time and content into my networks. What I’ve noticed is that the parts of online social networking that always felt like work I don’t miss doing. I need to do some of that “work” anyway, but I don’t miss making sure I post something valuable every day to LinkedIn, or that I’ve found, read, commented on and posted X number of blog posts in my field/areas of interest and expertise. I still do those things, but I do them as I have time at the moment.

I DO miss, however, the interaction and relationships I’ve developed over the past two, almost three years… and that is a sign of how necessary networks are for us. There are people I’ve met (mostly only digitally) whom I truly miss interacting with, and that I intend to change. I suspect that more regular interaction with some of the smart, savvy, challenging, entertaining and just downright cool people I’ve come to know will organically lead me to great content I WANT to read, comment on, and share with the rest of my network. It always has Thinking specifically here of people like Mack Collier, Bobby Rettew, David Spinks, Becky McCray, Amber Naslund…. people who make me think, who help me grow and who help me find and share content that’s worthy of a wider audience.

I’m beginning to realize that it’s not the networking I miss, it’s the key people in the networks. It’s not a news flash that relationships are the engine of social networking. Social networking took off in a time of recession, job hunting, and shared woes. What happens as things change? How do we continue to fuel that relationship engine? How will we hold on to our best digital friends when we get busier? Have you noticed a difference in your own habits, and are you planning any changes?

NOTE: This post will be the framing for the #SMchat on Twitter on Wednesday, August 18th, from noon to 1 PM CST.

Or…. Why winning new clients, friends or donors is so much easier when you do the hard work of investigation, positioning and delivering, and how to do it better.

Get going on the path to community and conversion.

First, some quick definitions:

I’ve written about Complacency before, and how complacency breeds contempt for your audience. In this case, I’m talking about having a George Lopez-like attitude of, “I GOT this!” when it comes to making sure you’re offering something of value to people who have the ways and means to buy it and that you’re operating in the right venues to get their attention.

Context is the real and the digital landscape we operate within. It means all of the influencing factors we consciously or unconsciously take into account when we evaluate the potential, intent, or veracity of a bit of data. Context is what changes data into information.

Collaboration is purposefully working together with another entity… person, place or business, to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

Conversion is the golden moment when a prospect becomes a client, a shopper becomes a buyer, or an idea takes hold and becomes a movement.

Now… here’s why all this matters and why you should consider the “Four Cs” of doing business in 2010.

Today context (all those influencing factors) changes more rapidly then ever before. If you assume, as a business or brand, that what worked last month or even last week, will work this week… you allow complacency to frame your offerings and your engagement.  Better to seek feedback, monitor and listen actively, find new ways to be relevant and timely through smart collaboration and the use of tools like social media, integrated marketing, relationships and networking, dashboard-type web monitoring applications, community (meatspace or meetspace) to keep tabs on context. Conversions aren’t permanent since context is always influencing customers. Building community in whatever way is most appropriate for your brand, business, idea or personal cult is a long-term way to collaborate directly with your most important audience. If they think you care, and are actually listening, they’ll  tell you what they want and need from you. All (ha!) you have to do is deliver the goods… whether that’s information, product, services, results-as-promised is what converts a customer into an advocate and someone who’ll want to be in community with you.

When you become part of the context of your customer’s lives to the extent that you’re in community with them, it’s much harder for you to become complacent…. would you let down your friends? Lie to them? Make assumptions and not even bother to beg forgiveness? Of course not. You won’t want to let your community down, either.

Bottom line? Remember that complacency breeds contempt for your audience, and that audience uses the ever-changing filter of context to determine who gets their attention. If you want to stay relevant and get through the filters, spend some time collaborating with people, offline and online. Use social tools, use engagement mechanisms like web sites and email, use old-fashioned suggestion boxes if they work. Because conversion, in the usual sense of the word in online circles, isn’t the ultimate goal.It’s just a step on the path building the kind of contextually relevant community that leads to long-term brand or business success.

What do you think? Do we need “4 Cs” along with the “4 Ps” these days? Give us your best examples of relevant communities creating their own context? Am I just nuts?

photo credit: Landscape_Photography on flickr.com (some beautiful work there!)

QUESTIONS we’ll be considering:

How do you guard against complacency?

How do you determine contextual factors? How can SM affect or provide context?

How can you collaborate with your audience through SM?

(and others, as the discussion develops)

I live a digital life. I don’t mean that I’m involved in digital media, though I am (hey, you’re reading this, right, and you probably got here via Facebook, Twitter, or Google). I mean that my first instinct to discover, research, connect or share now involves digital platforms. Cases in point:

I saw a tweet by Heather Caliendo on Twitter about the movie Inception last Friday. It was positive, and I know and like Heather and more importantly, respect her opinions and know she has high standards for smart stories. So, when my husband and I considered a movie on Saturday night, guess what we saw? Yep… Inception, based in large part on Heather’s tweet to the world. I’ve not seen Heather in months, since she’s moved to Colorado, but our relationship matters to me regardless of our “face-to-face” interaction (or lack thereof).

I recently dropped my iPhone into a toilet. It suffered a severe case of PTSD (Post Toilet Submergance Dysfunction) and then died. Through my digital friendship with Bobby Rettew, who sympathized with my phoneless plight and had also recently upgraded to an iPhone 4, I became the very happy owner of his lovely 3G S phone. I’ve never met Bobby in person, though we keep threatening to make that happen. However, I consider him a friend, not just a “friend” in the Facebook sense of the word.

On a trip through southeast Kansas over the weekend, we stopped in Pittsburg to eat dinner. I used my UrbanSpoon app to check out possibilities and we discovered some awesome Italian food at a place called Napoli’s, located on Broadway in Pittsburg. I posted via Foursquare & shared the post to Facebook that we’d really enjoyed our visit. A FB friend, local to the area and someone I’ve not seen in person for many years, said they’d been hesitant to try it, but now they might after hearing our experience.

What is the point of all this? Digital relationships matter. People do pay attention. The relevance quotient for digital relationships is high…. I didn’t do a Google search for restaurants in Pittsburg since I didn’t want to know about all of them… just the good ones. I didn’t buy a phone from Craigslist because I depend (and Crossroads Communications depends) on my phone for my business and I trusted Bobby. And the movie… we see maybe two or three a year. So we choose carefully… and Heather is a writer. She knows a good story when she sees one. Her recommendation elevated Inception to the level of “worth spending one of our two movie nights left this year on” status.

Relevance is the engine that drives our digital decisions. The future of the web as a connection medium  lies not in creating more information nor in more platforms for sharing information. It lies in better ways for relevant information to be funneled to the people who care about it. When you think about how to use the web to drive business, or use social media, or anything else “2.0″ related, start with answering the question, “Who cares?” because that forces the question of relevance. It’s not about creating buzz, or getting hits, or driving traffic… it’s about nurturing relationships that allow your offering, be it information or an iPhone, to become relevant to a very specific set of consumers at exactly the right time. THAT is what translates digital interest into business or brand success.

Reflections? No time for that!

It’s almost my blog-o-versary… I started this blog on July 23, 2009. I have seen many-a-reflection post from other bloggers about their first year, or their fifth, for the ones who’ve been around a while. And this isn’t one of those posts. Mainly because I’m not one to do a lot of looking back… when you (or I) screw up, we need to absorb those lessons where we are and then move forward. Take the time you need to feel the pain and then, Just. Move. On.

So, in the spirit of moving on…

I’ll continue to write about relevance, digital convergence and future trends that connect people to other people, places, spaces and ideas, because that seemed to resonate with many of you who took the time to comment on a post or retweet it.

I’ll ramp up my posting frequency. Yes, yes I will. Even if it’s a short post… if it’s relevant to this blog, I’ll get it up here more quickly.

I’ll use Twitter more strategically to gather ideas, feedback and take the temperature of the audiences out there. Little less arrogance, little more serving the readership.

I’ll continue to tweak the blog and the site to better serve the readers… sharing integrated marketing insights, strategies, tips and foibles, seasoned with my Tulsa perspective. I’ll include public relations content more frequently and I’ll be inviting guest bloggers to post this year. I use this blog as my front door… people hire me because they want help thinking about, strategizing and implementing integrated marketing solutions. They want -need- to know how I think… and I want to attract potential partners, clients and build relationships with others who get, or at least are intrigued by, how I think and who see the value in relationships and connectivity. I want to connect with people out there who will challenge what I think, who will share what they think, who will help me grow and bring all of their goodness to bear on this blog and community we’re building.

So as I said… Reflection doesn’t suit me, but red does… and we’re going full-on, redlined into the future here, and I hope you’ll not only come along for the ride, but help build the engine.

Photo Credit: flickr user becksshaw

Many thanks to Doug Stewart, a guy dedicated to helping small businesses dominate their space on the web, for asking me to talk with him for a few minutes about effectively using social media and PR together to market businesses. If you’ve never heard me speak, here’s your chance If you have and you’re game for more… bless you, firstly, and secondly, enjoy the interview!

Have a topic you want to see me cover here? I’ve been toying with the idea of breaking my no-video style… what would you most like to see/hear for the first vid post on this blog?