Successful Blog

8:00 – Shannon Paul on Internet People and What They Do

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. Relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, coworkers, builders, contractors, developers, and CUSTOMERS — in the form of readers, buyers, clients, and others — are the success of any business.

How do we form the best relationships; bring our best to them; build environments that nurture them; and measure our success?

Join the Comment Box Conference. Ask questions. Discuss answers. Meet people in the comment box. Find out.

Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul currently works in New Media with the NHL Detroit Red Wings as a creator of web-based content and digital marketing strategy. She is responsible for fostering relationships across the social web for the organization and the team.

Shannon began her career as an intern with the NBA Detroit Pistons Community Relations department before making her way back into the sports industry in her current position. Her professional background is in traditional public relations but her interest in social media communication dates back to her time as a student when she created an independent study program aimed at building and exploring the impact of blogs on mass communication.

Today Shannon is bringing research and insights on

Who’s Online Anyway?

Maybe everyone still isn’t online, but the gap is certainly closing, and it turns out we’re not all the same.

Of the 138 million people, age 13 and older, with broadband Internet connections in the U.S., 105 million (76 percent) are active contributors to the Web via social media, according to a study conducted earlier this year by Netpop Research.

The problem with identifying who’s online isn’t a matter of behavior, but of semantics. A lot of people regularly contribute to the social web without realizing that they’re contributing to the social web.

Case in point: if you ask someone who’s not a marketer or web development professional whether or not they participate in social media and they’ll probably look at you like you have two heads.

However, ask them whether they’ve ever uploaded a photo or passed on a YouTube video to a friend and you’ll likely get a definite yes.

Add to this communication gap a tendency for marketers and/or businesses to treat the populations online as if we are all the same and you’ll soon realize that identifying an audience as “online” simply isn’t enough.

I referenced the same study mentioned above for a recent post on my blog about the differences between the populations on MySpace versus Facebook, but the differences don’t end there.

The study utilized the following five population segments to differentiate the variety of broadband users.

  • Social Clickers rely on the Internet to maintain relationships with friends and family and to seek out new friends. A generational divide runs through this group, yet all Social Clickers share a desired to connect and communicate with others online.
  • Content Kings pursue a wide range of diversions available on the web. Deciding when, where and how to access entertainment, Content Kings create their own entertainment experiences. Content Kings see the Internet primarily as an entertainment source, and spend an overwhelming amount of their time online in the pursuit of fun.
  • Everyday Pros use the web quickly and efficiently. They are less likely to express their ideas online, nor are they interested in engaging with others. Everyday Pros focus on accomplishing mundane activities online, like checking stocks and managing their bank accounts. Everyday pros are short on time and disinclined to linger online.
  • Fast Trackers flock to the web to get their daily dose of news, sports, and weather. With a constant need to stay up-to-date, this group use a mix of major and specialized sites to get what they need. Focused and efficient, Fast Trackers spend half of their time online pursuing the facts, news and information they crave.
  • Online Insiders do more of everything there is to do online. They know about the Internet and see themselves essentially “living online.” Online Insiders divide their online time more evenly across major areas of online involvement.

As a supplement to this post, I recently discovered this new slide deck posted by the busy researchers at Netpop on Slideshare that helps explain the differences in the types of users you’re likely to encounter on the social web.

Netpop | Snapshot: US 2009

View more presentations from Netpop. (tags: tracker fast )
With so many businesses clamoring to develop an online presence, doesn’t it make sense to get to know how yours fits in and what kinds of engagement your customers are looking for?
Before contemplating whether your business should be on Facebook, take a look at your objectives and find your people. They’ll tell you where to go.

In 2008 Shannon Paul launched the Very Official Blog where she continues to write about social media for professional communicators.
Follow @shannonpaul at Twitter.

Blog World Expo: Internet People 3

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The Energy Was Amazing

relationships button

Bring out a bunch of bloggers and you’ll soon see a conversation get rolling. After all communication, information, and relationship is at the heart of every great blog.

Still on Wednesday night . . . I finally got a chance to speak with Des Walsh and Suzie Cheel. We’d been passing each other for days. They introduced me to Rich Brooks. Rich was interviewed earlier that day by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff of the Blog Squad — two ladies I’d had a chat with the night before. Teresa Valdez Klein introduced me to Matt Mullenweg and he gave me a fine WordPress t-shirt. Of course, we only spoke for a minute, but still Lorelle’s name was mentioned as a mutual friend.

Later I was thrilled when a fine man came up and said, “Liz, I’m Kevin Dixie.” It was a thrill to meet this guy, who first showed up in my email at 4a.m. Chicago time with a project that would become a dynamo. I so enjoyed talking to all of his team. It was a highpoint of the Las Vegas Trip.

Early on the next day, a voice said, “Liz! I’m Maria Palma!” Of course a hug shortly followed. Maria soon became a cohort of Robyn and mine.

John Hong introduced himself after I gave a came small talkon content and community that morning. John is the a virtuoso-to-be of Zappos’ soon to launch blogs . . . Zappos had an after-conference party. John and Ned gave Robyn and I a ride over in a real car. (Taxis are much less comfortable.) It was luxury. A little later, Maria drove over to the party in her own car.

The elegant host, Mr. Hong, showed us to the best seats, and saw we were taken care of. A special thank you to John who made sure our evening was with a friend who cared.

Thanks for the conversation about airplanes, business, and great music goes out to Matt Colebourne. And a thank you to Jeremy Pepper who joined us for a talk.

I heard a story about a pink shirt, and a shopping trip Jeremy went on that night with Robyn and John. hmmmm

I wouldn’t know about that — Robyn was already asleep . . . while Maria and I were still in the cafe drinking large cups of hot chocolate.

Those are just some of the Internet people . . . even more will be showing up next year in September.

Thanks to Dave Thomas and Rick Calvert and all who put the show on.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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Blog World Expo: Internet People 1

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How Cool Is All of This?!!

relationships button

If I said it once in Las Vegas, I must have said it a million times — no I don’t exaggerate . . . much — still the point is the same, blogging is NOT about writing, it’s about the people. The people are who bring the ideas, who give an event life. The halls are quiet and desolate without the people walking in them.

Will you visit a few with me? I thought I’d check what they’re doing today.

Friends I Know and Friends I Met for the First Time

My blogging friends were there. . . . those that I’ve met before.

Thank you for the opening hello from Aaron Brazell and his tech guys — Mark and Lee. A fine hello from Mr. Jeremy Wright started Tuesday evening off beautifully. It wasn’t until Wednesday that I met Brian Layman in person.

Christina Jones was as tall as I am for that that entire night. Mary Jo Manzanares can attest to that! The conversation that followed with Mary Jo, the lovely Leora Zellman –who has so many blogs no one knows which to link to — and the famous Deb Ng set the tone for the event.

Christina’s hospitality was generous and ever so fun!

Chris Brogan’s smile lit up Wednesday morning and was still going strong through to Friday evening. I got to sit by him at the networking lunch, then on Thursday night, we had an impromtu take down in the casino. Barbara Rozgonyi was witness to the event, though she had her back turned as a PR professional might in such delicate circumstance.

In the first b5 media session on Wednesday, I met the notorious Glenda Hyatt Watson and her dear man, Darrell. They are a pair of talking troublemakers. Don’t let them fool you. Mike DeWitt and Susan Reynolds you have that red-haired Glenda pegged.

Also early on Wednesday, I met up with my dear cohort, Wendy Piersall, . . . she wowed them all with her presentation. Who was surprised by that? She was a driving force in getting me to find my way to speak. Thank you, Wendy.

Easton, Tim, Hal, Dan, and Kimberly were there from KnowMoreMedia. Hal got me to play my first game of Wii. How cool is that?!!

Robyn Tippins, community manager for MyBlogLog, and Sleepy Blogger herself, was my boon companion again. So much so that people had trouble telling us apart — except for the part where she’s about 7 inches shorter, with long dark hair, and much younger . . . people were sure that we’re twins.

Wow! And this is only Internet People, Part 1 . . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!