Successful Blog

Social Media Grill by the Stroutmeister

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Where Were You on July 24, 2005?

The Living Web

If you want to get to the intent and motives of the suspect, Aaron Strout, CMO of Powered, Inc, is the guy. CITIZEN MARTKETER 2.1’s 45 in 45 –45 Expert Interviews in the 45 days leading up to SxSW — is grilling 2 score and 5 more social media practitioners on the art of the social web.

It was my turn in the hot seat today. Click through to read what happened.

Perhaps the lights in my eyes were brighter?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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The FIVE Ps of Irresistible Social Marketing

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Last year at SxSW, I told Richard at Dell that I thought the time of Brand You was over and the time of Product You had begun. What I meant was that brand is an interpretation of the “specs,” whereas product was the actuality. My point was that to build a career on concrete we have to build on the values and traits that are truly and always our own.

Now I’m thinking of traditional marking — the Four Ps: Product, Price, Place, Promotion — and in social media I’d add People.

In social media marketing, the view has shifted campaigns are about people not products. So lets start with the people.

People

It used to be these beings were outside a company. They were studied, feared, occasionally consulted, targeted, but considered “other” than the enterprise. Called buyers, customers, clients, eyeballs, users, and some terms less dignified, their value was often best understood by how they showed up on the bottom line. Many companies actually spoke of “customer proofing” their products, because they thought of their buying public as not too nimble or clever.

Now it’s people that we want to attract, connected and engage. It’s people who provide our best ideas and our most interesting content.

Product

It used to be that the product was what drove campaigns and the brand. Just putting a cool product in front of people hardly attract any more. Creatively featuring it, hardly makes enough single to get a mention if more interesting, informative, or intriguing conversations are nearby.

Now the product sits alongside to the ideas and actions the product enables or represents. Those ideas and actions are what connect people in conversations to form communities of fiercely loyal fans. The connection to has to be meaningful … the conversation has to be both intelligent and worth our time.

Price

The price was once derived solely from the cost of delivering a quality product into the people’s hands. Now the price is value. Value is based on the experience of being able to participate in the community, being able to meet with folks who can answer questions and who share the stardards and values the product represents.

Place

Place used to be where the product was offered — the footprint and location in relation to of ther products of the same ilk and kind. Now place is more about where people find the product helping other people and how we help customers find a place for the product in their lives.

Few of us need much more than we already have. What we’re looking for are things that give us more time and make our lives more efficient and meaningful.

Promotion

Promotion has turned inside out. It’s about showing and attracting, not telling and pushing.
Make a product that connects people with meaning and value that fits easily in their lives and they’ll it irresistble — so irresistible that they’ll tell their friends about it.

That’s social marketing.

How do you make your social marketing irresistible? What’s irresistible to you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Share a SOBCon weekend learning with Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
Brian Clark Liz StraussBrian Solis Kali Evans-Raoul KD Paine Geoff Nelson and Chris Aarons Denise Wakeman Wendy Piersall and David Bullock Stephen Smith and Michael Martine Glenda Watson Hyatt, Karen Putz, and Stephen Hopson
Saul Colt and Terry Starbucker Glenda Watson Hyatt, Karen Putz, and Stephen Hopson
The value — priceless.

You Want More Influence? Tell Us Why …

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It’s All in the Why

When I was a kid if I asked my dad for something small, like a quarter to play the jukebox, his answer would be, “Give me good three reason why.” Not every reason was so good at first, but I learned to think up reasons before I gave the request. That lesson stuck and stayed all through my life.

So I wasn’t that surprised when I read this study years ago.

Dr. Ellen Langer, a Harvard social psychologist, took a document to a line of people at the copier and said, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
Some 60% said “yes.”

But when she added a “reason,” by saying in similar circumstances, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” The number jumped to huge 93%.

I searched the web for the original study. Can’t find it. But memory says that she went a third time with a reason involving a deadline and that number rose close to 100%.

Tell me why …

Subscribe to my blog. –> Never miss information like this.
Tweet this please. –> Get more followers.
Follow me on Twitter. –> I’ll share what I value with you.

If a simple why makes a difference, imagine the effect of a reason that’s meaningful.

Your turn …

Write something you want us to do and why we should do it in the comment box. It’s a chance for you to influence what we do.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! See what you can do!

10 Blogger Best Practices: Guides as You Extend Your Reach

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How to blog series

Know Who You Are

All year long I’ve mulling on a thought I first considered when I was under 5 years old. I wrote about it on my first blog.

“Square peg in a round hole.” That’s what people used to call it.

Even as a kid I knew it was a silly waste of time to put a square peg in a round hole. That was just plain common sense To make the peg fit, it wouldn’t be a square peg anymore. It would hurt the peg, and the hole wouldn’t like it.

Whenever I try to make myself fit a situation, it’s like trying to teach a pig to sing — sounds awful and the pig gets mad. I turn into a louder, sort of a shiny green spandex facsimile of the real me. Is it a wonder then that people don’t respond well?

It’s really no surprise that trying to be something “other” doesn’t work with a blog either.

Relationships are a lot more fun with people who know themselves. Our blogs are reflections of how well we know who we are.

10 Blogger Best Practices

Here are 10 Blogger Best Practices for the social web. These 10 best practices guide me as I write and meet new people on the social business web. They help me stay focused on my quest and explain it when people ask. When I remember them, they serve me well. I hope they’ll serve you too.

  1. Know yourself. Know what you’re about and always walk, talk, and blog your own truth. You can’t write my blog post. I can’t write yours. More on that from this great speech about how Oprah found her voice.
  2. Find the people who explore thoughts the same way you do. They’re the ones who’ll enjoy what you write. Share what they say. Pass links to comments on Twitter. Use Twitter Explore to find people talking about common questions and ideas. They’re the one’s who will constantly inspire you. We always think that people who think as we do are incredibly smart.
  3. Talk about what you blog in ways that show you value what you have to offer. Talk about what you want to share in ways that make people proud to pass them on. Don’t fear the blog link that points to a blog post a friend wrote. I know you’d never use a blog link to attract attention from away someone else to you.
  4. When you meet someone new, be interested in who they are and what they’re about. Ask questions. Learn details. Find out their passions. Ideas come from being curious about what people are doing and why. Meeting someone new can be as revealing and invigorating as a rare celebrity interview.
  5. Step away from the podium. Forget what you learned in school. Writing on the internet is about conversation and listening, not presentation. Write for an intelligent friend who just doesn’t know what you do. Leave lots of room for questions and thoughtful interpretation.
  6. Whatever you blog, bring your experience to it. Tell how you learned it, how you found it, how you felt before and after you knew it. Tell the story of the information from your point of view. People come for the you in the information — the information without the you is in other places.
  7. Leave room for visitors to add to the conversation. Be complete but not thorough. You can start a list and let the folks who come add to it. If you end with a question, consider the question carefully. Make it intriguing enough that you would want to stop to answer it.
  8. Open doors and showcase others whenever you can. Connect people to information, to other people, and to answers to their questions. Serve the people who love what you do. The best promotion for your blog is promotion other people. Talk about the the people who visit your blog.
  9. Always be happy to see people who say hello! Call them by name and let them know you see them. Let them feel that they can move around freely. Make sense?
  10. Be you. Information is everywhere. It’s the you inside the information and the you that responds that will bring people back.

I’m about how relationships, conversation, and how businesses and communities grow. I help people understand the culture and sensitivities of the written word in the fast-paced Internet world and show companies how to connect with people. I’m always going to write more about how to use the social media tools to forge relationships than I’ll ever write about the tools straight out.

Knowing that makes it easier to extend my network. I can do what I love in service to people who think what I do is pretty special.

What guides you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Jammies, Teary Eyes, and My Dad's Saloon: Is Your Best Behavior Authentic?

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But I Want to Wear My Jammies!!

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it. — Salavdor Dali

When I was small, it was rare that my mom would take me to my dad’s saloon. Usually we were there to return the family car so that he could drive home when he locked up in the wee hours of the morning. Naturally the folks at the bar knew her and knew me as my mom and dad’s daughter. While we waited for my dad to drive us home, we’d be saying “hellos” to friends of my parents.

Once when I was about 5 years old. I took a great challenge. I went to my bedroom and got ready for bed on my own. I had new pajamas. I couldn’t wait to wear them. They were pale green, thin cottony shirt and pants stamped with teddy bears all over them. I prized my favorite new jammies. They had buttons and a collar. They were like real clothes to sleep in.

Rather than being proud of my self-dressing accomplishment, my mom was thrown by it. She made a face. She said it was’t time yet. I was told I to change back into my clothes. We had to take the car to my dad at the tavern.

I suggested we show everyone my new pajamas. I pointed out that they looked like real clothes. She made it clear that my thought was out of the question. I got teary-eyed and pouty. My mom got adamant that I wouldn’t wear the pajamas and that I would find a way to a new attitude. She said some behavior was for just at home.

I was the daughter of the owner. His customers were also his friends. I grew up learning that my pajamas and teary-eyed mad attitudes didn’t belong in my dad’s tavern. I met those people with my best behavior.

Is that authentic?

Is Your Best Behavior Authentic?

One of the best things I ever heard a young mother say to her kids was, “Act as if you know how to behave.” Her children were polite, kind, and a pleasure to spend time with — both in public and at home. That’s what my mom believed too.

In this brief video, Melissa Pierce offers another way to look at it. The words posted under this video suggested that authenticity may be the wrong question.

I think I agree with her about the question.

Perhaps authenticity is rooted in intent and purpose.

Showing up as my best, cleaning my house, and doing the rest, help me . . .

  • show my respect for you and for myself.
  • raise my game and my investment
  • communicate with sensitivity and grace

For me, that’s authentic. Wearing my denim shirt with teddy bears all over it is also a statement of authenticity.

How do you see it? Are you authentic when you’re on your best behavior?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Do Your Customers Look a Lot Like You? Could that Be a Good Thing?

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People Who Think Like We Do

Starting an online business doesn’t seem that complicated. People do it every day. Some even start by doing what we love — building a product or service that captures their imagination and best skills — because doing what we love makes good business sense. Then they figure out who’s like to buy it.

That’s often where folks make their mistake. They don’t know who their ideal client or customer is. As a product developer, I leanred that building products and services takes a lot of knowing how customers think.

If you don’t already have a customer base that you know intimately and well, or you’re new at making product, it’s likely that the first customers you attract will be folks who look a lot like you. Why is that?

Ever notice a pattern in the people you think of as engaging, entertaining, or just plain smart? Ever notice a corollary pattern in the people you think as … not?

Consider this:
We think people who think like us are smart and people who don’t are being difficult or unable to keep up.

Of course, we allow for migitating circumstances. She’s only 5 years old. He’s having a bad day. He’s not good at math. It’s semantics that threw us off. But if it happens again and again, that person who doesn’t process thoughts the same as we do, must be disagreeable or not too swift — no pleasure to spend time with. Who can blame anyone for that? It seems guaranteed that he or she isn’t having a great time with us.

Sometimes if we listen closely as we talk, we find that the “difficult, not so smart” folks think more like we do than we first suspected. Sometimes we even form a relationship.

Is it a good thing that our customers look like us? What should we do about that?

How Do You Use that to Grow?

So the customers we attract first will be the customers who think like us. It’s only natural they’ll think what we do is smart. They’ll see the brilliance of our products or services. They’ll work with us to fix our problems and will see enough of themselves to forgive our occasional misteps.

That’s why our first customers look so much like us.
That’s why they love what we do.
And I agree with Steve Farber that’s the best foundation on which to build a business …

Do what you love in service to those who love what you do. —Steve Farber

But suppose you’re a rare and divergent thinker … not that we know anyone like that … how can you find a group of customers large enough to sustain a business like that?

As soon as your customers get to know how you think, make it your driving goal to know everything about each one of them. That’s the beauty of the social web. It lets us do that so much easier than we could in the past. But don’t leave out on the gound networking events.

  • Meet them and talk to them one at a time whenever, wherever you can.
  • Ask them about them, not about what you’re doing.
  • Test and try their ideas, ones resonate with them — especially those that make you a little nervous.
  • Give them a stake, a voice, a place in the business.
  • Showcase your regulars so that other folks can identify with them.
  • Be curious, learn from, and fall in love with the differences in the like minds around you.

What will happen next is that, your thinking will grow and change, and together you and they will attract people who look like you and them. Then show everyone how to do the same thing again. Open ideas, open minds, and open doors are how people find their way in.

Of course none of us are the same. But especially on the social web, we know what it means to say that like minds attract. It’s a fact that can dilute a business or be a strategy.

Have you got customers, readers, clients who look like you? Can you make them a bigger part of your business?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
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