Thoughts on Strategy & Operations
Let’s face facts: social media is here to stay. I wanted to contribute my thoughts, following the lead of other people in the blogosphere. The following briefing paper covers social media, applications and emerging trends in the social networking.
The Social Networking TechBrief.
I look forward to your feedback!
At the close of the year, it’s good practice to thank your clients. I recently signed with a web agency for some substantial Web work. Before anything was signed and a check mailed, both myself and a staffer I’m training in the arcane ways of project management received a gift box. Talk about a surprise. Another vendor — who we spent quite a few dollars with in 2007 — didn’t send a thing. Bone up a few dollars and buy something, especially for important clients. If you focus on developing a relationship with your clients, it may yield a few good ideas.
Once the holidays have passed, I will write reviews on both vendors. I’m sure members of the legal marketing community would be interested to read more.
As we approach Christmas, it’s a good reminder to always be of service. As you develop your team and operations, instill client service.
Case in point: I had a project manager at a vendor scold me for discussing deficiencies with a superior. On a conference call no less. I’m not sure what’s worse. A young, obviously unaware PM, or an organization that would promote such behavior. In the past, I’ve been on the other end, dealing with high maintenance or difficult clients. It can be rough, but it’s part of the game.
Intent is more important then execution. In A Path with Heart, Jack Kornfield describes two actions: a man with a knife. A surgeon’s intent is to heal, a criminal’s intent is harm. Managers and directors take note.
Kevin O’Keefe had a great post today on the decline of Martindale-Hubbell.
Summary: Firms view the cost of Martindale-Hubbell listings as very high compared to the value received.
With agencies charging what I view as ridculous amounts for web design, implementation and content management, the Martindale effect will impact web operations at some point in the near future. As clients push back on billable hours, it will be time to cut the bloat. In my time on the outside, I’ve seen redesigns run several hunders of thousands of dollars. The results? I’ve seen interns do better work (and in fact, know better design standards). CMS and front-end builds are the same. Now, take into considersation that conversations and pressures from social networking will be brought to bear on these 1.0 properties as well.
Advice to marketing managers and directors: learn to make yourself future-proof.
Adopt a strategy to leverage change to your advantage. Your clients just might appreciate it.
Today the Skadden Alumni program formally launched a new service: a group on LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals. Groups are a great way to keep in touch with other alumni and helps to start conversations. Plus members get a cool icon to display on their profile:
LinkedIn has grown from 1.7 to nearly 5 million users in the last year, making it the fastest growing network site. As social networks decentralize through OpenSocial and other development APIs, it will be critical to leverage existing resources. Failing to do so would put an organization at a strategic disadvantage.
In my linkedIn profile, I mention my desired career path:
My long term goal is to move into a position (c-level) where I can lead others and instill a love of service and a passion for thinking.
As I was doing research for yet another paper in my program, I ran across some writing based on Ayn Rand. (Whoever can guess the topic of my paper wins a gold star!). In the lengthy speech, the central character of Atlas Shrugged mentions:
Man cannot survive except by gaining knowledge, and reason is his only means to gain it. Reason is the faculty that perceives, identifies and integrates the material provided by his senses. The task of his senses is to give him the evidence of existence, but the task of identifying it belongs to his reason, his senses tell him only that something is, but what it is must be learned by his mind.
Logic, reason and objective learning. This is what brings sucess to projects, helps us learn from mistakes and allows us to rise above emotionally-based arguments.
I love it when I have external validation to my thoughts and beliefs. Just like the market’s reaction to the rate change this week. 25 points? Nice going Bernanke.
So my favorite blog post of the day belongs to Kevin O’Keefe:
I’m not sure what is funnier: the Airbag Department of Security Blog Advisory System or the fact some clearly useless executives feel that they need to tell the publc how to blog. Tell us, o’ masters of bloated organizations how we, the plebes of the IntarWeb, all of lesser business entities, should write our blogs.
Give me a break.
Anyone who is interested what in what practices to follow haven’t very far to look. Rely on experts to guide the way. Protect your brand and your company. Think for yourself and write clearly.
And make sure to avoid the Asshat label. It’s bad for blog popularity.
After looking at the material for weeks, I’ve finished my review of user generated content. It’s the driving force that has made youtube so popular and the source of many laughs. I’m sure we all shudder to think what the Web would be like without the “O RLY” owl, the “Cheezburger” cat and far worse elements. Joking aside, what’s the business value?
There are two issues to be considered before having any UGC discussions:
1. Legal
The legal concerns are far beyond my skills to effectively answer. However, several years of Web use has resulted in some pretty good search skills. In Safely Harnessing User Content, Alan Freil documents the various legal aspects of UGC including fair use, trademark considerations and viral marketing. I supplemented this work with a paper downloaded off of the Social Science Research Network on Online Word of Mouth. For those of you that are not familiar with SSRN, it’s a great resource for scholarly work across multiple disciplinary concerns.
In Online Word of Mouth and Its Implications for Trademark Law, Eric Goldman outlines the legal arguments surrounding word of mouth and possible “problems”. Keep in mind user generated content can impact brands, and a careful analysis of WOM issues is relevant to the UGC conversation. After reading this article, it became clear that this is a subject that demands attention from counsel.
2. Business, including reputation.
Much like technology, every business wouldhave to determine if there is value in UGC. Ultimately, individual organizations would have to determine if there is indeed value. Law firms? No way.
Often times, the reputation of the company is at stake. Take GM, for example. In an effort to promote their brand, a contest was launched to see who could create the best SUV commercial. I suppose GM executives didn’t anticipate environmental activists using the content as an opportunity to share their views. As reported by CNET:
One of the videos circulating around the Web featured shots of the Tahoe zooming through snow, mountains and desert. Over the video appeared the words: “Global warming isn’t a pretty SUV ad. It’s a frightening reality.”
Way to go GM. If you are releasing content to the wild, make sure you are protected. Reputation is something that takes years to build up and one incident to destroy.
Bottom line: research your community, get legal advice, determine if there is any value and, most of all, CYA.
SEO and social media collide for AdAge’s Matt Creamer. His experiences, Optimize Me: A Reporter’s Journey into the World of SEO and SEM, provide valuable insight for organizations seeking to improve standings in SERPs (for any Luddites here, it stands for “search engine results pages”).
The google/URL mishap for a major client really made me laugh. Go check out the article, I want to keep this blog G-rated.
A blog post by Seth Godin,Time has a long tail too, points out a lesson that many strategists and managers fail to grasp. If you have an existing stream of traffic and interest, make sure you don’t drop it! In discussing a commercial campaig run by Reebok:
At the end of every commercial, a splash page sends you to www.reebok.com/terrytate. No need to click… it’s a 404 dead page.
Classic, right? Why not RickRoll them and completely destroy any interest.
