Category Archives: Thoughts

Opinion, Thoughts

An Analogy

Let’s say you own, or even work for, a business of some sort.  The type of business really doesn’t matter.

On any given day, the telephone rings.

What do you do?  You answer it.

Why? Because on the other end of the line could be that important message from an existing customer, a call from a new prospect, a large sale just waiting to happen, or even that new star employee that would make an excellent addition to the team.

Now, let’s apply that same thinking to the social media realm.

In this example, social media (as a general term) is that telephone ringing.

There are those who choose to just let it ring and ring, using excuses such as ‘oh, we just don’t have time to deal with it’ or ‘we don’t know what to do’.  And yet, the phone continues to ring.

How you answer the call and respond (tactics and execution) will vary, depending on the situation of course.  But when you look at it this way, how much longer can you afford to just stand there and watch the telephone ring away before you take the first step, pick it up, and say hello.

Observations, Thoughts

Purple Carrots

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Did you know that historically, the orange carrot was just one of many varieties available?  In fact, there was no single color of carrots – they came in several different hues: Orange, white, yellow, red.

And yes, even purple.

But then something changed.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Dutch growers developed the orange carrot that we know today by selective breeding to make it less bitter than the yellow variety.  It was then adopted as the Royal Vegetable in honor of the House of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family.

Today, the orange carrot remains the most popular – and readily accessible variety in the United States.  However, they are not the only ones around.

And that, my friends, is where the agriculture lesson ends and the parallel begins.

In today’s marketing world, the orange carrot is what a majority of businesses gravitate toward.  It is the tried-and-true execution.  The television spot.  The print ad.  The radio spot.  These are the orange carrots.

And these are part of a healthy diet.  But that doesn’t mean they are the only choice.

The purple, white, yellow and red carrots offer a variety of alternatives to the traditional that is the orange carrot.  At times, they may be good on their own.  In other cases, it could be a mix of the varieties that offers the best nutritional value.

But it’s up to those of us who are charged with advising and guiding clients to make sure that they know these options are available.  We must take a leadership role in this regard, educate our clients, and when appropriate, include these different colors and flavors into the mix.

Something to stew on for a while.

Thoughts, Trends

It’s 3:00 AM. Do you know where your content is?

There was a time, not too terribly long ago, when you could just put some information on your website, people would visit, find it (usually after sitting through a two-minute Flash intro), and then go on with their browsing.

Boy how times have changed.

These days, if you want your content to be found, not only should your website be optimized for search, but you should make it as easy as possible for people to find and share your content.

How, you might ask?

It could be that you publish news, insights and other information via a blog platform, and allow that content to be syndicated via an RSS feed.  Visitors could then subscribe to that feed, and receive any future updates in a form that is most convenient to them — whether that’s through their feed reader of choice, via BlackBerry or other mobile device, Outlook and more.

It could be that you’ve created a Facebook Page for your business, and share your news and other relevant information there.

Or, it could be that you’ve established a personal, or professional presence on Twitter or other microblogging services, and share updates with your followers throughout the course of conversation over time.

No matter how you choose to do it, the fact is that you can no longer simply expect people to come to your website to find information about you and your company.  There are too many other avenues through which they can find what they’re looking for, and in many cases they can bypass your website entirely to do it.

The communications landscape, particularly online, has changed dramatically in the past few years.  What are you doing to keep up?

Observations, Opinion, Thoughts, Trends

The Power of Social Media is NOT What You May Think

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For the past few years, and this year in particular, social media has been the darling of the marketing and advertising world. The promise of reaching the customer where they already are online, coupled with meteoric rises in traffic to sites such as Facebook and Twitter have made this realm an incredibly attractive realm for marketers and advertisers.

But the real power of social media does not lie in the tools themselves.  Nor does it lie in the fact that this activity is taking place online.

The internet is an inherently social medium.  Always has been, always will be.  Even in the early days of email, IRC, chat rooms, bulletin board systems and such, the internet provided the medium through which communication could take place online.  It continues to do so to this day.

The communication tools have changed, but the process has not.

So, what is the power of social media?

The power of social media lies in what it allows you to do.  For businesses, that could be how it helps to improve customer service.  Or, how it helps to drive sales, generate demand, or increase brand awareness.

Recently, a group of colleagues and I met for lunch.  During the course of the conversation, the question was asked, “What is the future of social media?”  An off-hand comment was made that “this” is the future of social media — the face-to-face conversation taking place around the table between six people.  In a way, that’s the truest  answer possible.  However, that’s not all.  Social media helps to enable that conversation.  It allows those around the table to stay connected beyond the 60-90 minutes of lunch conversation.  It allows the conversation to extend as long and as far as necessary, through a variety of communication channels.

It helps to remove the limitations of time and space from communication.

Social media in and of itself is a tool — a means to and end — much like a hammer, a car, or Adobe Photoshop.  The real magic happens when the tools are matched with a skilled operator with a specific purpose.  Just as you have a blueprint for the house in place before you start whacking away with a hammer, a good plan and solid strategy should be developed before any social media efforts are implemented.

Otherwise, you may just be driving around in circles.

Observations, Opinion, Thoughts

Differences Between Managers and Leaders

File this one in ‘Today’s Random Thoughts’

There are those that use the terms Manager and Leader interchangeably, but there are dramatic differences.

A Manager is one who sees chaos around them, and tries to control it.  They try to quell the uprising, and maintain the status-quo.  They’re the ones who will do everything they can to make sure that the machine keeps running.

A Leader is one who looks at that same chaos and tries to harness it.  Instead of simply keeping the machine running, they encourage those around them to tear it apart and build something better. 

A Manager wants to keep control.

A Leader wants to give control to those who are ready for it.

The list could go on and on, but we’ll stop there for now.

The question is: Which are you?  Or, which do you want to be—a Manager or a Leader?