As [>>]]]> The birth of Google Buzz into the grand cacophony of social updates that is the modern-day Web is nothing special—not unless you want it to be. And you should want it to be.  There’s a special place in Internet Hell reserved for those who connect their social networks together in one almighty amalgam of real-time updates.

As a marketer, I respect and appreciate the need to stay on message and deliver viewpoints across all the places an audience lurks. And as a Tendo editor (and Web site admin), I realize that we do this very thing on our own platform—anything that gets posted to the Tendo View gets automatically updated to our respective Twitter feed. So am I just as guilty of feeding the flames of social media as my online friends, who have managed to port everything they do across every Web platform they subscribe to?

Not really.

The difference here is that I’ve recognized the value of Twitter as its own communications platform—essentially, its own entity. Think of the service as a little lemonade stand and Tendo’s updates as the fresh, yellow ingredients. Increasing the amount of available lemons doesn’t hurt the stand. In fact, it might even help the fledgling business attract some new customers.  That’s the business of social media—a network of portals that receive content that others can use to connect and form relationships, both with you and amongst themselves.

Would I want my lemonade stand to suddenly partner up with the lemonade stand on the other side of the street? No. I wouldn’t call them the enemy per se, nor even the competition. Even though we have the same ingredients, it’s apples and oranges. Perhaps I’m fueling up the schoolchildren who exit the nearby elementary school, whereas the other lemonade stand is offering double-sized portions for the firefighters who wash their trucks every day at 4 p.m. I could get into this huge capitalistic description of why it would be excellent for one lemonade stand to rethink its business strategy to attract new customers and such, but this is a metaphor and these are lemonade stands: They are independent, period.

Lemonade, the Social Web, and You

It’s long-winded, but my little simulated scenario (likely brought on from playing too much Lemonade Tycoon on my iPhone) is an accurate description of the Web’s  current social offerings. For simplicity’s sake, let’s consider the Big Three: Facebook, Twitter, and the upstart Google Buzz. Post whatever you want to each source—that’s not the issue here. The problem arises for users who blindly post the exact same content on each platform or, worse, link the three such that anything posted to one gets automatically duplicated to all.

Here’s why. Each platform caters to a different audience—one that subscribes to a particular interest based on a given need. My Facebook friends are just that: my friends. I list enough personal details to make me a bit loathe to allow random strangers into this personal hub of my life. By the same token, I extend these friends the same courtesy of not having to read through all the different articles I’ve written and subsequently promoted on other social platforms. I don’t post very frequently on Facebook to avoid burdening my friends with inane details that they probably don’t want to hear about; Twitter, however, obviously gets these updates, and I’ll friend anyone with a pulse in a vain attempt to increase my own social standing on the Internet.

Buzz, the ugly duckling, is a strange beast. Ignoring for a moment the launch-day privacy issues that allowed anyone under the sun to follow what I said (hello, work contacts!), there’s nothing that irritates me more than having a Buzz feed that’s been overpopulated with the exact same information that’s already available on other platforms. No, I do not need Buzz Tweets; no, I do not want Buzz Facebook updates. It’s a different medium, a different playing field, and those running around on it should realize the value it brings rather than trying to mindlessly transform it into yet-another-[social network of your choice]-clone.

This is the real gist of conversational marketing: Identifying when and where the very act of conversation can and should take place. Marketing can’t be a carpet-bomb that relies on the copied content to blast an audience into submission. Though they might appear similar at first glance, each online platform embodies real strengths in its setup and the psychographic profiles of its users. If you fail to recognize this, you risk annoying your audience with improper messaging for their online lifestyles. Or, in layman’s terms, don’t turn your conversations into a total buzz-kill.

It’s a fundamental question of both marketing and geek, and it’s not getting any easier to answer. If anything, we’re on a technological overload right now. You and I can connect on a multitude of levels: We can be [>>]]]> Does technology serve as the means for new relationships, or do new relationships generate the need for more technology?

It’s a fundamental question of both marketing and geek, and it’s not getting any easier to answer. If anything, we’re on a technological overload right now. You and I can connect on a multitude of levels: We can be friends on social platforms; we can send each other files through a variety of protocols and interfaces; we can share links, thoughts, pictures, online achievements, and resumes; we can support each other’s needs through an established, updated corporate presence.

In short, we can talk in many different ways.

That’s what makes the hubbub surrounding the launch of Apple’s iPad device so interesting, and I mean that in the nebulous way one can use the word. It’s a neat product. But here’s the thing—tablet PCs have existed for quite some time. Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch devices are a little different from the norm, but their oversized bigger brother isn’t as groundbreaking for its technology as it is for its potential. And I’m not even talking about the hardware itself: To paraphrase the famous line from Frank Herbert’s Dune,  the store—like the spice—is the key.

It’s Not Just Books

Think about it.  All Apple needs to do is open up the App Store to e-book-like creations of all kinds, regardless of the strength or size of the supplier. It needs to allow a publisher—amateur or otherwise—to be able to deliver content in an easily digestible, highly customizable, potentially updatable fashion. I won’t bore you with the technical details, but I envision a future where a consumer would be able to buy inexpensive access to an HTML5 and JavaScript-based “book” of sorts, a combination of text, multimedia, and whiz-bang that can be updated by the supplier without Apple’s direct involvement.

And who would sign on to make these books?  In short, anyone—anyone and everyone. But I’m not so much interested in a future of the “David Murphy’s Guide to Life” novels as I am intrigued by the potential of a widely used, accessible digital platform for corporate America. Think about it: Instead of print manuals to accompany products, a company could include a link to a discounted (or free) version of a digital user’s guide. No longer would customers be faced with a droll manual that lists out the features of their favorite products or devices in a painstakingly boring fashion. A branded e-book could serve as a much better how-to guide and introduction for a product’s features. Videos and interaction could accompany designed text to create a presentation, not just a product manual.

Cementing the Relationship

Of course, the implications this could have  on the actual relationship between a brand and its loyal customers is, in a word, staggering. Print manuals are one-shot items. They’re costly. They can’t be changed once they’re put into place. They’re bound by the dimensions of the packaging and, if not done well, can be as helpful to educate a customer as  it is to give them the product and say, “here you go!”  Nor can you personalize a product manual based on one’s interests, desired color patterns, or technical abilities.

Digital e-books as manuals present a wave of possibilities, the least of which being that they’re roughly 3.5 thousand times more portable than carrying around a stack of manuals or stuffing papers in the glove compartment of a car. Something happen with one of your headlights? Pull out your iPad and look up the accompanying text, infographics, and video to figure out what to do. Rate the solution on its effectiveness by touching your finger to the screen or, better yet, ask for help from a connected forum of users, experts, or representatives from the manufacturer itself.

So, why Apple? Is every consumer in the world going to go out and pick up an iPad on launch day? No. But Apple has the clout, the mystique, and the App Store powerhouse to really make a lot of push in the handheld market—or the oversize handheld market, mind you. It would take some negotiation and a willingness to do things differently, but it would be awesome to watch a device manufacturer really turn the notion of customer service on its head via digital distribution of help products. Would you pay an extra $5 for such a slick, comprehensive, updated guide to your product?  I would.

That’s because of a little thing called conflict [>>]]]> Last I checked, Dr. Eric Schmidt wasn’t jumping on to Google financial briefings to preach about Apple’s latest iPhone firmware update.  And last I checked, the same good doctor wasn’t running across the stage at MacWorld–or whatever events Apple’s keynoting now–arm-pumping to the chant of, “Google!  Google!  Google!”

That’s because of a little thing called conflict of interest. I come from a print journalism background, and these three words are akin to the Great Wall of China for content creation.  That’s not to say that an average marketer or businessperson has no moral code, but it can be a tapdance to do what’s best for a brand without looking like a complete shill–be it for your company, your clients, or your competing interests.

Marketing on Someone Else’s Dime

Consider Sarah Lacy, the Bay Area’s favorite female tech journalist–or, at least, one that’s been talked about a great deal since her big Facebook interview snafu in 2008.  No stranger to inserting herself into the story, Lacy writes about Facebook, of all things, in her BusinessWeek column this week.  The premise of the story is simple: Facebook employees are cashing out their shares of the company’s stock at a high enough rate as to overload the company’s $100 million share buyback program.  Simple.  Done.

Instead of pointing to similar occurrences across the tech sector and drawing some kind of parallel between the companies’ respective situations, or taking the larger spin on the effects of an economic recession on an individual’s desire to keep money close at-hand, what does Lacy do?  If you guessed, “shill for her other job,” you got it.  She references her employment as a blogger at TechCrunch, talks about the site’s awesome environment and strong financial growth, and even uses her BusinessWeek column to jokingly beg her boss, Michael Arrington, for stock options.

Talk about eating where you… well.  I’ll let you finish the metaphor.

Suffice, the entire ordeal makes Sarah look like a wide-eyed fangirl for her other paychecks.  The weight of her words loses legitimacy.  BusinessWeek looks like it has no idea how to manage its employees and, worse, is effectively sponsoring the endorsement of a competitor.

So what?

As marketer, it’s important to realize the walls in which you play.  You can’t just blast your marketing message in every  medium of interaction, otherwise your constant attempts to bring your brand to the forefront of any and all discussions will look like an official kind of astroturfing. The conflict of interest is one of you, an everyday person trying to say everyday things, versus your hidden agenda.

If you’re going to try and frame a brand within the context of a larger, topical issue, at least do it with grace. In Lacy’s case, her TechCrunch employment might be relevant as it relates to working for a startup and the subsequent issues of stock options.  The context of her blog, however, makes this relationship sound like an advertisement–not a genuine piece of insight sparked by insightful comparison, rather, one that’s arisen out of hubris.

You can talk about your brand.  You can be passionate about your brand.  You can even shill for your brand a little bit–it’s okay, everybody else does.  But crossing the line is like the difference between a martini with a twist and a straight shot of booze.  One keeps life pleasant; the other gets you hammered.  Don’t get hammered by your community because you couldn’t keep your words straight.

In this first [>>]]]> We sat down with technology entrepreneur Trevor Traina to get his thoughts on the social marketing landscape.  But who’s Trevor Traina?  He’s the founder of DriverSide (amongst other Web properties), a huge Web portal that combines a large, interactive community alongside buying recommendations, online repair tools, and other awesome features for car owners.

In this first interview installment, Trevor takes us under the hood of the online marketing world and dishes out the top three things marketers need to know before they take the plunge themselves. We’ll be back with more of Trevor’s advice in future Tendo Video installments.

Check back with us Friday morning for an alternate look at online marketing–the behind-the-scenes distribution plans of a successful viral campaign.  The kicker?  The promoted product didn’t even exist in real life!  We’ll bring you a full Q&A with the person behind the campaign and a complete timeline of events for how the product reached more than 50,000 pageviews across a ton of Web sites.

I’m back again, fresh off my last listing of four big social media blunders that served as helpful examples of what not to do when enterprise meets Internet. It’s not all doom and gloom in the YouTubes, Facebooks, and Twitters of the online world. But before we get to the success stories–which should give you [>>]]]> Social media.

I’m back again, fresh off my last listing of four big social media blunders that served as helpful examples of what not to do when enterprise meets Internet. It’s not all doom and gloom in the YouTubes, Facebooks, and Twitters of the online world. But before we get to the success stories–which should give you a starting point to climb your own social media mountains–it’s important to reiterate the difficulty that lies in trying to take tangible lessons from these examples. Like snowflakes, no two social media campaigns are the same: What makes Dell millions could make you pennies. What makes David Hasselhoff so irresistibly popular will make your customized social network as ostracized as Bruno at… well… wherever he goes.

Consider these success stories building blocks for your own personalized social media initiative, one that combines a concrete understanding of your audience’s psychographic profile with a desire to look beyond the common ground.  Don’t be a copycat–or, as the rule goes here in Silicon Valley, if you’re going to copy someone’s idea you had best beat them to the market with a cheaper or faster way of doing so.  Now that we’ve agreed on the ground rules, here are four big names that have made a showing in social media:

Breaking News Online Breaks Conventional News Gathering

In an land where content is king, the world of online journalism has no shortage of news aggregators. Be they full-fledged news sites, Twitter feeds, blogs, journals, videos, RSS feeds–there are nearly as many ways to get your daily news as there is daily news to report. But one entity stands out: Breaking News Online.

Strictly harnessing the power of social media, Breaking News Online combines strong editorial judgment with a wide network of feeder news sources. Editors offer up the day’s top stories as they break–and here’s the catch–often faster than competing, professional news entities can push the topics out themselves. If you try to look for a homepage or landing site for Breaking News Online, you won’t find one. The service owes much of its popularity to its social networking presences, including a commanding Twitter base of more than 800,000 followers, as well as its friendfeed and email subscribers. The site will soon be launching its own iPhone application to push news elements out to its audiences, and plans to eventually transform into a full-fledged global wire service.

Not a bad ending for a simple concept: The most important news you need to know, delivered to you before you can find it anywhere else. Sometimes, simplicity speaks volumes. Instead of trying to innovate through length or snark, consider cutting to the core of what your audience wants. Deliver them that, minus the bells and whistles that everyone else tacks onto their efforts, and you might become a unique voice in a crowded playing field.

Don’t Change the Game: Change the Game-Changers

I took Ford to task in the sister edition of this article for its lack of perception and follow-through in trying to connect Internet user with its cars via Facebook. But just because one piece of Ford’s social networking pie has a fly on it doesn’t mean that we should toss the rest out. Ford’s social networking presence is a powerful, alternative approach toward generating interest in a brand, one that goes beyond generic pockets of promotion via the standard methods: a Twitter, a Facebook, et al.

Notably, the company’s Fiesta Movement is a wonderful example of how to leverage online popularity. Instead of going out to build popularity for the vehicles themselves, Ford partnered with 100 different “agents”–average people with their own stories, hobbies, interests, relationships, and influence–and gave them cars with the added task of achieving particular missions in a road trip-like environment. Rather than force these personalities to become generic Ford mouthpieces, however, it appears that Ford is allowing its agents to maintain their online lifestyles as they see fit. They can write and Tweet about what they want, and they can do whatever it is they normally do online. Ford will link to their exploits regardless.

Although some agents use their social networking status to chat up Ford’s Fiesta–go figure–a number of personalities go about their everyday lives as if the Fiesta deal was just one more link in the chain. This is an excellent example of one major facet of social networking done right: Using others to further your own goals in an unobtrusive fashion. Rather than connect with your potential audience by drumming up support on your own, leverage the support others have already created and shape it to your own objectives. It’s a scenario that’s been played out time and time again by new Web presences looking to make an impact on a greater scene, and the message is clear: Investing in the invested can be a lot easier than trying to build your own devoted following from absolutely nothing.

Reinvent the Wheel? Just Add Another Spoke

Do you shop at Home Depot? It’s okay to admit it. I’ll admit it. Sometimes, Home Depot is  just the most convenient place to find the one infinitesimal screw you need to finish the task you’ve been putting off for months. But anyone who’s been to Home Depot knows that the store can be overwhelming. Huge, sprawling aisles stuffed with every permutation of screw, every brand of table saw, every polished toilet seat… it’s a lot to take in, but not nearly as hard as it is to search through.

Perhaps the Home Depot shopping experience made me skeptical about the company’s push into social media, but as it turns out, my expectations–like Home Depot’s store layout–were much too complex for the eventual outcome.  Instead of reinventing itself using the same tired social media cliches, Home Depot decided to stick to a simple spin-off of its existing product. It goes like this: Home Depot sells hardware related to home improvements. What a person typically does before or after purchasing the parts for the a home improvement project is to look up directions on how to accomplish said task.  Thus enters Home Depot with a YouTube campaign, designed to teach you how to actually do the improvements based on the parts you’re buying from its stores.

Has it worked?  You betcha. As of this article’s writing, Home Depot’s YouTube account is ranked 54th on the site’s sponsor section for most user subscriptions, topped by no other companies in its competitive set. The company reinforces its expertise with home improvement while simultaneously offering legitimate value to its customers, not to mention unsaid connections between its audience and the specific products that Home Depot uses in its videos. Promotion, people, products–Home Depot has hit a winner without having to think that far outside of the box.

Appeal to a Common Denominator

Money. I like it. You like it. Dell likes it. Dell’s followers like it. Based on this single unifying principle–that money is a pretty great thing to have–Dell has woven not only social success into its Twitter offerings, but it’s managed to rake up more than $2 million in sales from the platform.

What?

The solution is as simple as any other. People are interested in what you’re doing because you offer some kind of incentive for them to stick around. Sometimes, the strength of your prose is enough to keep people coming back to what you have to say. But more often than not, you’ll want to dangle the carrot in front of your audience to keep them close to the fold. In Dell’s case, this carrot comes in the form of coupons and savings for the products it sells. Check out Dell’s “exclusive” Twitter feed and you can save yourself some money on your next Dell purchase. It’s a basic incentive that works wonderfully: Aspiring purchasers stay interested until a deal pushes them over the threshold to purchase. Super-fans of Dell sign on to save money on their continued purchases. Coupons and savings get passed around the social networks, giving Dell’s presence even more prominence. Rinse, wash, repeat.

“But David!” you interject.  “I don’t sell computers!  I have nothing to give away!”

Ahh. And we have now completed the Circle of Life for marketing. Remember the first example? Breaking News doesn’t have anything to offer, save for a faster and easier digest version of what everyone else offers. Perhaps you could set up your Twitter presence as a master link-library for other people who are using the service to deliver deals. Maybe you could create a “best of” site that catalogs the best daily interactions around your product or product sphere. You could even just eschew the notion of using the social space to market directly for your brand and just be a cool, hip, interesting person for others to listen to–with the added link to the equally cool, hip, and interesting company you work for. Social media doesn’t have to be complex, obtrusive, or self-serving. You’ll save a lot of money and migraines if you just stick to a simple theme: Make it interesting.

The phrase should evoke some kind of nervous sweat if you’re one of the legions of marketers looking to boost your Web 2.0 savvy. That’s because there are nearly as many ways to engage an audience online as there are essays, tip lists, and best practices for doing so. Pocket that idea—you could make [>>]]]> Social media.

The phrase should evoke some kind of nervous sweat if you’re one of the legions of marketers looking to boost your Web 2.0 savvy. That’s because there are nearly as many ways to engage an audience online as there are essays, tip lists, and best practices for doing so. Pocket that idea—you could make a fortune creating the latest social network for wannabe social networking gurus.

I digress.

It’s difficult to conjure up a list of tips and techniques for social media because each engagement is just a little bit different from anything you’ve ever encountered. Yet there are real ways to interact with modern social networks. There are ways to deliver your message without looking like a shill. There are ways to engage with these new hubs of Web activity without spending a fortune. But these practices are muddled by a litany of bad advice that gets tossed around as a de facto standard for social media involvement. So check out these examples of social media flops, and use their stories to influence your own original ideas.

Liar, Liar, Social Network on Fire

In late 2008 online editors began to notice a peculiar trend appearing in the comments of their gadget- and tech-related blogs. A number of users were referencing just how awesome the new Motorola Krave handset was; only, they were doing so in a suspicious way. It’s hard to define exactly how these comments were suspicious. But just like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography, you’d know them if you saw them.

And these online editors sure saw them. What began as a social marketing campaign ended up becoming a giant egg on the face for Motorola. Instead of currying favor amongst the readers of these top gadget sites, the biased comments attracted editors’ attentions for the wrong reasons. They, in turn, ran stories blasting Motorola for its patent astroturfing.

Keep Your Fans Close—and Your Competitors Closer

Once upon a time, there was an online application called Scrabulous. It allowed Facebook users to challenge each other to a tile-based word game that had an uncanny similarity to Hasbro’s popular Scrabble title. After the app amassed more than 500,000 users, Hasbro decided to launch an “official” version of Scrabble on Facebook. Oh, and they also decided to sue the pants off the Scrabulous creators for copyright infringement.

Scrabble is still competing against Scrabulous, now rebranded as “Lexulous,” with both running neck-and-neck at roughly 550,000 monthly active users. Instead of working together to create a one-shop approach to this popular game, both companies are now stuck competing for a diluted pool of Scrabble enthusiasts. Keeping in touch with how your fans are engaging with and promoting your product is important, but if you need to escalate the situation, at least consider a scenario that unites—not divides—your customers.

The Power of Proactive Pizza

Time and time again, a corporate disaster plays out over the social networks and the companies involved are chastised for their lack of response. And as they scramble to fix the damage, the flames turn into a forest fire. Take Domino’s Pizza: In mid-April, the Internet found out about a series of videos featuring two Domino’s employees mixing bodily functions and unsanitary practices with the normal day-to-day life of their pizza franchise.

Even though Domino’s fired the employees and began a top-to-bottom evaluation of the store’s sanitary efforts, the company didn’t bother discussing its response on the very social networks that were aligning around the news.

That plan lasted a single day.

Two days after the original video starting burning its way across the Web, Domino’s had established a new Twitter account and YouTube apology video in an attempt to mitigate the damage to its brand. Although a lot can be said about the company’s ability to control an out-of-control PR nightmare, the better point is that this is the kind of activity that Domino’s should have already been watching.

All it takes is a cursory Google News Alert to discover an impending Internet explosion against your brand. From there, it’s important to get a new message out clearly and succinctly, but personally. Nobody wants to hear corporate-speak when they feel they’ve been slighted; they want to hear a real explanation from a real human being, and they want this resource in the places where they’ve been reading the information. That said, treating social media as a messaging tool after the fact is the surest way to dilute the power of what you’re trying to say. A Web presence can’t be built in a day, especially if you lack the clout of a national pizza chain.

Number of views of Domino’s YouTube apology at the time of this article’s writing: 43,358.

Number of views on a single Web site featuring a video of Domino’s employees putting peppers in their noses: >130,000.

Social Media != Advertising

For the non-geeks, “!= ” means “does not equal,” in that social networks are not acceptable breeding grounds for one-sided conversations. Here’s looking at you, Aquafina MySpace. And you, Facebook “Ford Drives U.”

You can’t have a conversation with a car. You can’t talk about the latest movie with a bottle of water. An audience of users doesn’t sign up for a social network stream just to be bombarded with a series of promotional messages or thinly veiled advertisements. But that’s exactly what’s happening on landing pages like Aquafina’s bottled water MySpace and Ford’s… well… whatever Ford happens to be pitching on its Facebook page.

And it’s worse when entities like PepsiCo and Ford create these online presences and leave them to rot. Although the former has 9,728 fans and the latter 7,148, there’s absolutely no continued engagement. For all the work that was put into the admittedly meager network, there’s no follow-through whatsoever. Even having a water bottle talking to you is better than a water bottle that doesn’t want to be your friend after it has extended its hand/cap/label.

Social networks are a means for interacting with customers and building your brand while you tangentially engage in discussions that might not relate to your brand in the slightest. That’s why these bottled water and car pages just aren’t cutting it in the digital world. There’s no conversation, just advertising, and social media is not a new advertising medium. At least, not explicitly…

So what about the success stories?

You’ve read a lot! Stew on it. Research some funny marketing failures yourself. Chat about them with your friends. Avoid them in your business life. We’ll be back next week to show you a few examples of companies that rocked the social marketing space harder than a late ’90s music video.