I joined Twitter! I’ve been holding out on a personal Twitter account due to the number of company accounts I maintain. I decided to move to Twitter as my primary social network tool for a simple reason, Facebook is cluttered. Yes, I know I could filter my Facebook news but I shouldn’t have to. I fear that flaw might be fatal for Facebook eventually, simplicity is the greatest of all challenges.

I’m taking it one step further, I’m limiting the number of who I follow to 50. I’m finding solace in simplicity these days. I was like many of you, a fat kid in a candy store (don’t take it personal), my network quickly expanded to so many I don’t have a REAL relationship with. This will be an experiment in the proverbial quality of relationship vs. quantity. This is not to say that social media is probably the best tool for networking to new roles, new friends and so on, I’m finding more value in quality connections at this point in life.

I’m not sure I fully understood the social media gospel I’ve been preaching until WholeFoods retweeted one of my first tweets… to 1.7 million of their followers! Here’s the tweet. It was nothing special, just a little wit and honesty about how much I love their product. My message reached a potential audience of 1.7 million, for free. The point is, this changes everything! I get it!

I stumbled on this insightful post on CNN by Pete Cashmore (yes, that is indeed his REAL last name), founder and CEO of Mashable.com: 10 Web Trends to Watch in 2010. Enjoy.

“…360i purports that a majority of social media search listings that appear for brand-related queries are created by individuals not affiliated with the brand. In fact, 77% of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook listings that appeared for brand searches were controlled by a party other than the marketer.“

Social Media in Search: User-Created Content Dominates the Brand Message [Stats]

I stumbled on this, a blog post from a very active Twitterer, he recaps the “top things accomplished with Twitter,” you’ll be surprised at the connections he’s made and opportunities he’s created by simply twittering. I could ramble on about the outcomes I’ve experienced with Twitter as a small biz owner and digital marketer, but his post says it best: http://thecoffeemaverick.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-things-accomplished-using-twitter.html. Twitter works because it enables us to be knowledge hubs vs. knowledge hoards (read this).

To wrap this up, I want to share this quote that keeps popping to mind from Mavericks at Work which is applicable and very relevant: “Our basic argument is as straightforward as it is urgent: when it comes to thriving in a hyper competitive marketplace, ‘playing it safe’ is no longer playing it smart. In an economy defined by overcapacity, oversupply, and utter sensory overload–an economy in which everyone already has more than enough of whatever it is you’re selling–the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for a truly distinctive set of ideas about where your industry should be going. You can’t do big things as a competitor if you’re content with doing things only a little better than the competition.” Are you playing it safe or letting go of control, standing for a truly distinctive set of ideas?

Social Media Club Nashville

Many thanks to Jessica Murray and Georgia Cross for organizing this informative and fun event. The panel members were: Dave Delaney, Social Media Coordinator for Griffin, Jared Degnan, Interactive Marketing Consultant for Mars Petcare, Eric Shuff, Social Media Coordinator for The Tennessean and me.

If you missed all the fun, below is a recap of my answers to the formal panel questions. And if you’d like to here the audio head on over to Dave’s blog, he recorded the session.

Q. What have been your goals for integrating social media into your business strategy?

A. On the solutions side, our services, the goals are of course to engage members in behavior change. The goals of our corporate e-marketing strategy are summed up in connect, communicate and participate online, the outcome being opportunities to influence the purchasing decision. Further, for us it’s important to demonstrate that we’re technology savvy, that we’re innovators in using technologies to engage and most importantly change behaviors to create a healthier world.

Q. What is the demographic your company is trying to reach and what research have you done in order to find where they are most active online?

A. Our research has been informal to date, but this is something we’re really interested in deepening over the coming year. Our customers tend to come in many different forms. We are reaching chief medical officers at large health plans, heads of HR at Fortune 50 companies and lower level “managers” and supporting casts. What we do know is that our target audiences are online, they are somewhat active in social networking but they are not as sophisticated as they WILL be in the near future. With that said, we are seeing more and more demand from our customers on how we’re leveraging 2.0 in our solutions and early signs of our initial experiments in social media suggest we are going to be effective in communicating with them via this technology.

Q. To remain fluid with your customers and the rapidly changing market, have your goals or strategy had to change? If so, what changes?

A. We’re just getting off the ground. And that’s probably our change, a change from non-participation to participation. The rapidly changing market, ours being a rapidly growing market, has indeed created an environment where we’re looking for new tools, new methods, innovative ways to be different, stay ahead of competitors and to be relevant with our current customers.

Q. What metrics are you using to measure ROI and results?

A. I have a unique perspective with feet in two very different businesses. First as a small business owner, Chief Executive Janitor (CEJ) at CREMA, Nashville’s foremost no-nonsense coffee and espresso bar, I see very clearly the ROI and immediate results of participating in the community. Twitter, Facebook and our blog I’m certain have facilitated our fast growth, predicated on a quality product and outstanding service of course. We’ve done virtually no traditional advertising, most of our customers found us through word of mouth, and social media facilitates those interactions. The ROI, the measures are simple to me, it’s connections. If someone told you that you could connect with your customers outside of the retail establishment, learn more about them daily and have real relationships – who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity? The ROI is connections, a product that markets itself and an extended customer lifetime value. At the small business level the measures, the ROI are extrapolated most by intuition. That doesn’t work at the corporate level, “hey boss, I have a hunch we’re doin’ real good, gooder than them.”

At Healthways, where things are bigger, our measures are items like, measurably soften the market, broaden brand awareness and generate leads. These measures are at a high level for all our digital marketing, not solely for social media. In regards to measuring social media, run fast if an executive wants to see a fast and hard dollar ROI on social media. It’s not measured in dollars, it’s measured in connections, customer learning’s, ideas shared, and opinions influenced. At the end of the day I’d say our most important metric is leads generated, that’s a real and measurable number and it is actually possible to tie, overall, our digital marketing campaigns to it.

Q. Have you found case studies to be helpful for your social media strategy? Can you suggest any we may learn from?

A. Yes, helpful. But probably more so are the informal little stories shared over email or casual conversation, like “oh I saw company XYZ doing such and such with Facebook” creates an internal buzz and awareness. Just this week I was forwarded an email from our VP-President, Innovations Design team about how Mayo is using Twitter. It helps when your partners are active, we’ve partnered with Gallup on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and Gallup makes great use of social tools like YouTube. When your partners are social media experts it raises a lot of questions, and in turn opportunities for conversations about our own “e” strategies.

Q. Have you encountered any internal resistance to Social Media?

A. Yes. Who hasn’t? I estimate that the corporate world on average runs about 5 years behind. When I hear of new technologies, I immediately think “sweet! that will be really cool for us in 5 years.” That gives you 5 years to whittle away misnomers. Sarcasm aside, its small wins and lots of patience. The upside to the down economy is that companies ARE trying new things; they’re willing to take chances now more than ever, willing to take risks to stay competitive. The differentiating value of digital marketing is that it is highly measurable; companies need initiatives that can be measured. The last item I’d mention is that it’s been, for us, a ground floor up push. Colleagues, such as our recruiting team, demanding access to “social sites” to be successful in their roles. Management “gets it” when we can’t perform a requested objective without access and utilization of relevant tools, such as Facebook. A last thought I’d offer to decision makers is that as a Colleague I feel proud to work at a place that trusts me as a Colleague, I work harder when I’m at a place that trusts me, that enables me to do my best work.

Q. What’s the recipe for communication within your company with the various departments such as, public relations, operations, marketing and perhaps human resources?

A. With anything, communicate often. We don’t have at the moment a stated policy or process but I do have often conversations with others in the company around social media, my projects and their projects. Debbie Weil, in her book, The Corporate Blogging Book, has some case studies and good examples of recipes for social media communications and plans. I think the recipe will look a little different for each company, it all depends on how much control and alignment is needed or desired by the company. I think Debbie suggests, as standard to have a review team comprised of a persons from PR, HR, Internal Comms, Marketing and legal for an executive blog.

Q. What advice would you give those of us still on the fence about Social Media and top three most important rules to live by within Social Media?

A. You don’t own your brand. Your customers do. Your brand is what your customers say it is. If you don’t believe me go to www.brandtags.net. If you want to compete today you must first understand that this shift has and is taking place. You can’t control the communication and message anymore. But, you can participate! And participating will give you deeper understandings that in the end will enable you to tailor your service/product more closely to your customer’s needs. Isn’t that control.

I’d suggest these rules, be original, be honest and don’t sell me.

Q. Do you think a blog is essential to engage customers and do you think it’s important for all employees to be involved in the blog or strictly the executives?

A. It depends on your customer. One might believe that the majority of their customers are technology “inactives.” But I think if you look at the stats, trends you’ll see very clearly that we’re all participating more than we ever have before, and that most are climbing the technographics ladder. Some segments faster than others, but I bet as we continue to blend technology with life and make it simple, rewarding to use we’ll continue to climb. Without doubt there is conversation occurring about your product, a simple blog, twitter or Google search will prove that. So is it essential? Unpolished, unfiltered, timely, personal and relevant conversation is. It is what you and I want, isn’t it?

What exists externally WILL permeate the internal culture. Your employees ARE participating. You can guide them, be proactive, or you can react and try to stomp them all out, whack a mole style, good luck. It really goes back to what type of corporate culture you want to foster, trust, honesty, openness or something else. Should it be just executives? Well, your employees are probably already speaking, why would you not include them.

Remember that according to a recent study by Forrester, company blogs were identified to be the least trusted source of information when compared to other mediums such as email from people you know. A “company blog” may not be your best strategy.

CONGRATS TO MARK OTT FOR BEING THE 5TH VISITOR TO MY BLOG!!

May 19th, 2009: Social Media Club Nashville
Aloft Hotel, Cool Springs, Tennessee
Using Social Media in Business

But you couldn’t care less about fads. Why did you raise your hand? I digress.

How many people are on LinkedIn from your organization? Check, I bet you’ll be surprised. Yet as companies we pay no or little attention to online identity management. It scares us. Boo! But we all want to be linked. That’s just weird.

By the way, it’s ok to be a social tech miscreant – I get it. Unless we learn to make sense of all this we’ll each reach that point.