Gatorade DOES Get It

September 16, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes 2 Comments

This is getting a little rediculous. Go and read it. The premise, “Gatorade doesn’t get it.”

People push brands and companies to interact, and when they do, let’s jump on them about it! They obviously can’t win in the eyes of some, with big broad general labels of “They don’t get it!” or it’s #FAIL!

Look, do I think the name of “Mission Control” isn’t perfect? Maybe. However, do I get it considering the edge of their brand and the fact that it does look like a mission control center? Yes. Would I go so far as to call it “foolish?” No.

If you decide to read their stream, they do good things like at-reply, and sure, whoever is back there is passionate about it. Which is what you want.. for me personally, it’s almost impossible to get that hyped about a drink without caffeine, but my coffee addiction isn’t the point of this post.

It used to be online interaction through social media was -only- an afterthought. To put four full-time folks on this is commitment of time and resources that shows that, in fact, they DO get it. They’re trying to make it work for them. They’re trying. They’re engaging. They’re doing it. Which is more than a lot of companies.

Attack posts, especially in situations where they don’t deserve it, is just more digital noise.

There’s always room to improve. But the running around with the “They Don’t Get It” bumper sticker and throwing it on every car in the lot (which a lot of folks seem to be doing now) isn’t productive… nor, from the outside view, the truth. We should be encouraging steps forward, not condemning them.

Disclosures: There has been no financial relationship or contact with the Gatorade team. In short, we don’t work for them.

Filed Under: Business, Rant, Social Media Tagged With: Gatorade, Haterade

Influence Metrics: What Can Klout Do For You? An Interview with Megan Berry of Klout

August 25, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes 1 Comment

Our semi-regular podcast called “Conversate” is glad to have a special guest this week, Megan Berry (@meganberry) from Klout (@klout). In this 16-minute episode, we get into what are some of the benefits of Klout and also challenges – as well as way to use Klout and ways that maybe you shouldn’t.

Not to mention, we ask why with some apps like Hootsuite why those scores aren’t in sync with the Klout scores on the Klout main site. Also, there’s a short bit on what she happened to get out of #140conf (140 characters conference) San Francisco and what we might be able to expect in Detroit.

Inside, you’ll also find a case study of how Virgin America used measuring influence to make solid decisions on reaching targeted influencers that are right for your vertical.

If you don’t know what Klout is, it’s a San Francisco based company who has a tool to help businesses and organizations find influencers and measure their influence online across 25 variables broken into three categories; True Reach, Amplification Score and Network Score. Over 450 partners such as CoTweet and Hootsuite utilize their data.

So we proudly present the newest episode of Conversate. Download here or listen in the player below:

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Filed Under: Business, Conversate, Social Media Tagged With: #140conf, Conversate, Hootsuite, influence metrics, Klout, measuring influence, megan berry

Five Things The Funk Brothers Teach Us About Community

August 22, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes 1 Comment

The other week, I revisited “Standing the Shadows of Motown,” and although I’ve seen the movie a few times (including a memorable show in Campus Martius Park), this time it had a different kind of impact.

So if you’ve got the ability to play it, here’s a song to go with the post from the soundtrack…

The realization was that no matter who front-lined, the music was as timeless. As someone who generally eschews covers, I must admit I was surprised by this. But that’s because it didn’t feel like a cover.

And then I realized – with the numerous members – the Funk Brothers aren’t just a band – but a small community that made some of the best music in American history together. Don’t forget, there were, depending on your standard, between 13 and over 70 funk brothers.

What are the lessons your community (online or off – it’s the same in my book) can take away from the Funk Brothers?

1. When a community is solid, it doesn’t matter who’s lead singer. And, in fact, the best lead singer is but a servant for the community. It’s not – and can’t be – all about them. The songs of Motown prove that. In the movie, Joan Osborne, Bootsy Collins, Ben Harper, Chaka Khan took the place of some legends like Martha Reeves and Marvin Gaye – it didn’t matter that it wasn’t the original singers. It felt real, because it was.

2. You stick by each other. You call when someone’s dropped off – just because someone is not giving you three useful social media links a day doesn’t mean they’re not important or you shouldn’t talk to them. Real friends do that.

Maybe pick up the phone – it might be just what they need. If someone suddenly drops out, there’s probably something actually wrong. Communities send love, networking groups gossip.

Frankly, if the number of links someone shares or retweets they do of your stuff is your judgement of community, you’re operating in a networking mode, not as a community member.

3. People mess up. People have problems. Because, newsflash, they’re people. And when they do, you love them. Make amends. Make apologies all around. Ten years from now it won’t matter, and if it still does to you, you’re petty, and I don’t want to know you in ten years.

I’m sure almost all of us have an internal list of things from the past to right – and I’m gonna do my best in the next few months to make that happen. We all make mistakes and I’ve made my share.

4. Communities are much stronger than just networking. The Funk Brothers are here after decades not just because they’re good – lots of good bands break up. There’s love there. It’s obvious in the movie that love; the love for each other and what they do. That’s the difference. If you’re judging who you talk to by the type of car they drive, you’re missing the boat.

5. Don’t overlook any instrument or any community member. Think Jack Ashford, “the fabulous tambourine man” – it was obvious he kept the stories and at times helped keep the group together. Not to mention, can you imagine the sound without that tambourine? Just like the Motown sound is marked by the solid bass, it’s top sounds are just as important. Don’t let your tambourine men and women fall silent.

What are your community inspirations? Your tips? Leave’em in the comments.

Filed Under: Business, Social Media, Tips Tagged With: community, funk brothers, motown, networking, Social Media

Facebook Pulls A Tonya Harding On Third Party Update Services

August 11, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

Facebook has decided to Tonya Harding third party update services, like Hootsuite, as I found in my news feed today.

Not that they’ve decided to end their career, but they’ve made them way less useful. Now, if you use a third party service, like Hootsuite, to update your personal or fan page profile, what it now does is stack those updates together (much like they have for Foursquare, where now you’ll see one check-in in your feed and have to click it to see the rest of your friend’s check-ins).

There’s implications around this for you if you’re representing a brand, organization, or someone trying to get your message out. First, there’s a good chance depending on the whims of Facebook’s algorithm, your updates are going to be hidden if you use third party services. For instance, this morning, I found three updates from other people and pages completely unrelated to the friend whose update I clicked on, and the common theme was they’re all from Hootsuite (there was even a “See more updates from Hootsuite” link).

This isn’t a knock to Hootsuite per se – this is Facebook obviously choking third party interfaces in the name of “cleaning up the experience.” We can complain all we want, but the reality is, Facebook is going to do what they want and we simply have to adapt as ambassadors of the message. And that means back to the days of not being able to schedule updates, or having a central dashboard to put things into. Obviously, for a litany of logical business reasons, Facebook wants us to use their site directly.

Welcome the walled garden, folks. It’s the reality of the online world now but that doesn’t mean I have to like it :)

Filed Under: Business, Social Media, Tips, Uncategorized Tagged With: brands, facebook, fan pages, hiding third party updates, Hootsuite, organizations

The Value Of The Personal Invitation

August 6, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: Gary Bridgman, southsideartgallery.com

This isn’t yet another rant about spam blasts on Facebook. No, I understand why sometimes it’s necessary, and well, the promoter friends I have I half expect it. I deal.

I get all sorts of “like my page” requests, event requests, but here’s the thing. Some of them are obvious – like, I know so and so works somewhere, so sure, I’m gonna like the the page and no explanation is really necessary.

However, most times, there’s not one bit of personalization. Almost no one, especially no one who has anything to do with marketing for a job title, sends me even a shred of “hey, you should look at this, I know you’re into -insert passion here-.”

It’s not just my network, I know this. I talk with my non-marketing friends, and they seriously lament this, and in fact, have used quite a few choice words for people who don’t take the time to be considerate.

Most folks obviously can’t be bothered on Facebook, where supposedly we’re “friends” to take a minute to even include my name or even a perfunctory pleasantry. Why should I go? When I make recommendations to friends, “in real life,” I generally try to tell them why. If Facebook and these tools are an extension of that real life, why shouldn’t it be the same? And if I hear something about “scaling the interaction,” your answer obviously doesn’t get the point I’m going at.

We’re supposed to building communities where people “care” and we’re “in it together.” If you can’t even be bothered to dash off a seventy characters (the equivalent of half a tweet) why it’s important to particularly me at least once in awhile, you’re simply using social networks as yet another broadcast channel and I have to call into question your “community” intent. Or is it really, as Dan Blank says, “developing a market” for you? If it is, we’re going backward, not forward, with these tools to help build groups. And the idea that this is a “social” interaction is a bunch of BS if that’s the case.

Maybe I’m old school. But my grandma taught me over a manual typewriter (why I type so hard and loud to this day) that direct notes, personalization, and actually including something that shows you know the person go a long way because it’s not just about the party, event, or whatever. It’s about the community. We’ve got Facebook today instead of the social register, and we don’t have to type doubly hard to make an impression on the carbon copy paper, but that doesn’t mean we always have to “send to all” the same message. You might be surprised the results to take a moment and actually dash something off.

Filed Under: Business, Rant, Social Media
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