Robocop, revolutions and retweets: 5 tips for you

February 21, 2011 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

There was a time when one could, to some degree, ignore the power of the people who use online tools. Now, it seems, there is more power in them than ever. In recent weeks, that power has helped grease the wheels to overthrow an Egyptian government. Locally, it’s funded an oft-discussed statue of Robocop, which has opened a passionate Pandora’s box of feelings on both sides of the issue here.

Things are different now. This small group of influencers (for instance, in the case of Egypt, only 5 million of their 80 million population use Facebook) have outsized power because they’re willing to be vocal. There are visible doers, as I would call them, around the world.

“If you ever doubted the power of the people on Twitter, don’t. You could end up with a revolution or a big ‘ol statue in your backyard.” – A status update of mine

The game has changed.

In some ways, our president, Barack Obama, was the bellwether for this change. His election out of virtual political obscurity and against long initial odds was due to the fact he was able to capture interest and, in some ways most importantly, harness the monetary power of his online supporters.

In short, if you’re an advocate of anything (be it a brand, a presidential candidate, a cause, a musical sound) you have to be listening to and participating in the conversation happening (what we might call “engaged”) or your desires may well be ignored. There is simply no choice because the pendulum of power is quickly moving in that direction.

Personally, in the case of Robocop, I don’t like the symbolism. But I do think the marketing was brilliant. Many people didn’t like what Barack Obama stands for, but they sure are taking his success strategies to heart. This post isn’t meant as a debate about the merits of the causes themselves; this is about how they were effective and how YOU can be effective in your endeavors using the tools at hand.

Five quick mobilization tips:

1) Keep it simple. People like to rally around things they can quickly grasp and understand. Ask your mom. If she gets what you’re trying to do, you have a shot.

2) Be authentic and funny. Like the Red Cross recently showed, even an accidental tweet about getting drunk after work can turn into positivity. Your listeners stay engaged.

3) Be involved with the community before you need it. This is one of the most key parts. It’s almost impossible to voice criticism, answer it, drive action, or much of anything, if you’re starting cold. It’s hard to garner respect when you’re showing up late to the discussion.

4) Make the tools a part of your life. However you use Twitter or Facebook, make it a part of your life. There’s not a “wrong” or “right” way; just ways that accomplish certain goals better. It’s different strokes for different folks. Some use Twitter and Facebook as a news feed that lets them keep up with things of interest; some are more conversational, and others use it as a platform to share their ideas.

5) Shine the spotlight on others. There always needs to be an element of people getting recognition; this concept is ancient. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “It is clear to me that men will die for ribbons.” Nothing has changed since then, except the less dying and more tweeting part. :)

Filed Under: blogging, Social Media, Social Media Fundamentals, Tips Tagged With: Detroit, how social media works, retweet, revolution, Robocop, Twitter tips, visible doers

GetGlue: Making It Real

January 6, 2011 By Jeremiah Staes 3 Comments

Making it real is the holy grail of making great experiences online. There’s only so much you can do with bits and bites. The magic occurs when you take it from 140 characters to 14, or 140 or 1400 people with a shared experience.

That’s the power of all these conferences, weekly get-togethers like Tweetea, and what I think will be the stratospheric rise of sites like GetGlue.com. Making it real. Because it’s made real, these in-person get togethers are an almost religious experience for some. What is GetGlue.com? It’s a service that helps you find new favorite TV shows, movies, music, and more based on your friends tastes. It also allows you to “check in” when experiencing media, creating a joined social experience, without the uncomfortable (to some) element of a check-in saying where your location is (i.e. Gowalla, Foursquare).

I’m no prognosticator, and I don’t have a list of predictions. But GetGlue.com is blowing up from all appearances for a few key reasons:

1) It makes it dead easy to post Facebook and Twitter updates. People will always look for shortcuts, and since it’s a shared experience, it’s even more powerful. The only suggestion I’d have for them is to automatically include the commonly accepted hashtag for items when you tweet when checking in from the site or your mobile app.

The power tip? The more others use shortcuts, the more original, thoughtful content becomes important and noteworthy.

2) It is a different kind of community of shared knowledge. It gives people something easy to talk about — their interests. Facebook is built around your friends, and GetGlue is built around your topics of interest. It found a different spin on connection. It didn’t try to reinvent Facebook; it’s doing something different.

The power tip? Don’t try to outdo the big dogs in their yard. Setup your own yard and be the big dog there.

3) They “make it real.” When you get 20 stickers, they physically send them in the mail them to you. There are all kinds of possibility for interaction. After all, music promoters will tell you that stickers are a must-have for any artist. But what would make it even better? Give us the option to pay to get badges that people can stitch in. Stickers are easy and cool, but even better if I could sew them on my backpack as badges of honor, which fits in with the quirky internet culture.

The power tip? Build community in a variety of ways, online and off. The web is a merely a tool for the real action… people connecting to each other.

What are your thoughts? Are you stuck on GetGlue?

Filed Under: Business, Foursquare, Location Services, Online Marketing Fundamentals, Social Media, Tips Tagged With: Better online experiences, Get Glue, Making It Real, Social Media, why is getglue gaining traction

Tips On How To Make A Good Twitter Hashtag

December 28, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

You and your marketing team come up with what you think is a killer hashtag to try to spread the word about something. (Not sure what a hashtag is? It’s a way that you can, by putting the # sign before a word, make it easy for people see the entire public conversation about a topic on Twitter).

But the Twitterbirds and Tweeple responded with a resounding… silence.

What to do?

Here are a few tips on making hashtags. As one of the originators of #detdateline (with thousands of tweets) and others, I can tell you that the hashtag isn’t about you.

Great Hashtags Are About Shared Experiences

Twitter is a real-time medium, and if there was a “really real-time” online social tool Twitter would be it. It is anchored in random observations, life happenings, links, and humor.

What pulls Twitter out of the default “random” mode is shared experiences. Conferences (#140conf, for example), television shows (#dwts, which stands for “Dancing With The Stars,” movies (#inception, for instance), topics (#urbanism, which is about supporting city-style living and usually walkability) or even the weather (#snowtorious is one of my latest favorites, by Onion editor @Baratunde Thurston in regards to the recent snowstorm on the east coast) create group bonds. Sometimes, people use it for humor, but it’s still shared (#thebrokefriend is where folks share stories about that friend most of us have who is always broke).

If The Community Created It, Go With It

If you have a devoted enough (or interested enough) following in the topic, you’ll find that people may already be referring to what you want to talk about in a hashtag. If they made it, go with it. Don’t try to shove your brand name in the middle of it or change it; once momentum has started, all you’re going to do is slow it and hurt yourself by trying to change things.

Sometimes, if you’re the sponsor or organizer of an event or happening, you may get the opportunity to suggest the hashtag everyone goes with, especially if you’re already on Twitter and vocal. Make it simple, as few as characters as possible to get the point across, and try to be unique to avoid confusion with others.

Quick hashtag tips:

  • Use only one or two words
  • If you use an abbreviation, makes sure it’s common (DET for Detroit, for example)
  • Do not try to shove your brand name in there, especially if it feels awkward
  • Do not use hard to spell words

There is only 140 characters.. errr, 120. So leave room for the people.
Why do you need to be brief? Because people only have 140 characters per message on Twitter. And with people using old-style retweets or wanting to add their commentary, you really want to shoot for messages that are 120 characters. If you burn 15-20 additional characters with your bad hashtag, few will want to use it and they will naturally shorten it because you’re limiting them (notice a theme here? It’s not about you, it’s about the people).

The brand benefit will be the people seeing the hashtag being used and clicking on it. Then they’ll see an entire conversation and probably want to join. It definitely may be appropriate your brand name is in there, but not always. And the people, not you, will be the judge of whether it’s appropriate or not.

Don’t use special characters

The hashtag dies at the first special character (!,@,+, etc) or space. It’s especially a bad hashtag if you add the character immediately after the #. Why?

Because Twitter will not recognize and link the hashtag after the special character or space. Almost all Twitter users use the web interface on the Twitter site, and hashtags are clickable. If you sabotage your hashtag you’re making for bad usability for over 85% of Twitter users. Why would you want to make it a step harder when you don’t have to? After all, every step you add to user’s experience means you will lose people.

Caveat for my nerd readers: Sure, for high-end power users it may work. Those power users using tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck can easily search for the term. But that’s a VERY small percentage of the Twitter population. I’ve watched usability tests, and people don’t like to copy and paste. Most regular (non-power user) people will ignore the tag. By definition, if you’re using a tool like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, you are a power user.

So there are some tips for you for when you have the need or want to make a hashtag. What tips do you have? What are your experiences?

Filed Under: Love Your User, Social Media, Tips Tagged With: Hashtags, How To Make Hashtag, Make a Hashtag for Your Business, Twitter

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
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