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Time & ROI Keep Marketers Concerned about Social Media

Paul Chaney, author of The Digital Handshake, comments on the latest SmartPulse weekly poll - "What is your greatest concern regarding the use of social-media marketing? His response is very insightful and may even have you sleeping better at night.

Read on >>

CMOs plan to increase social-media spending, monitoring - MediaPost

Chief marketing officers plan to spend more on social media in 2010 and also will keep a close eye on whether the investment has a payoff, a survey by Bazaarvoice and The CMO Club has found. Almost two in three CMOs anticipate a greater outlay for social media, and almost three in four of those who didn't monitor social media's ROI plan to do so in the new year.

Source: 12/9/2009 - MediaPost Communications/Online Media Daily

Is Email Dead in the Era of Facebook, Twitter & the iPhone?

Clara Shih, author of "The Facebook Era," examines the question is email dead in the era of Facebook, Twitter and the iPhone? With eight billion minutes being spent on Facebook a day, people are not only logging in, they are engaged and communicating actively there. So what role does email play going forward? Watch this BNET video to learn more:

Also, be sure to take BNET's poll: What’s the Etiquette for Social Media and the Workplace? Give them your insight.

Creativity is not a luxury, but a necessity

The exploration of new ideas, the expression of different ways to present those ideas, and most of all the unique nature of communicating complex ideas simply or provocatively -- all require time and an open opportunity to explore, test, and try again. Creativity is not a luxury, but a necessity.

Reading through my feeds, I came across this great "tongue-in-cheek" article by Paul Sloane, author and speaker on leadership, innovation and lateral thinking, entitled - Ten Great Ways to Crush Creativity. 

Sloane says, "Leaders have more power than they realize. They can patiently create a climate of creativity or they can crush it in a series of subtle comments and gestures. Their actions send powerful signals. Their responses to suggestions and ideas are deciphered by staff as encouragement or rejection."

Here's how Sloane sees a top 10 list to "crush creativity" in an organization:

1. Criticize new ideas
2. Discourage brainstorming or collaboration to explore new ideas or creative solutions
3. Hoard problems - don't seek ideas to create innovative solutions
4. Focus on efficiencies not innovation
5. Overwork - "hard work alone will solve the problem"
6. Adhere to the plan at all costs
7. Punish for mistakes, reduce taking any risk
8. Don't look outside (the organization, the processes used, the existing solution in place)
9. Promote only those who think and manage like you
10. Don't waste money on training - just learn as you go

For the full article, read on >>

See Paul Sloane's latest book, The Innovative Leader: How to Inspire Your Team and Drive Creativity.

Writing for the Web - Articles, Blogs, Books, Oh My!

To all of our Web content creators out there, here's a list we've compiled to help inspire, guide and instill good writing techniques for effective online communications:

Insightful Articles - Give These a Try

• Optimizing the User Experience
• Usability Basics
• Content Organization
• The Importance of Headings, Titles & Labels
• Writing Web Content
• Writing for the Web/Plain Language

Blogs & Feeds - Read & Subscribe

• How to Write for the Web
  By OJR: Online Journal Review | Online Journalism Wiki | RSS
• Copyblogger
  By Brian Clark

Books - Get Them Off the Shelf

• Developing Online Content - The Principles of Writing and Editing for the Web
  By Irene Hammerich, Claire Harrison
• The Web Content Style Guide
  By Gerry McGovern
• Writing for the Web - Writers' Edition
  By Crawford Kilian
• Call to Action - Secret Formula to Improve Online Results
  By Bryan Eisenberg
• Persuasive Online Copywriting
  By Bryan Eisenberg
• The Elements of User Experience
  By Jesse James Garrett
• Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
  By Steve Krug
• Information Architecture - Blueprints for the Web
  By Christina Wodtke

Also, be sure to visit past posts, Viaspire has written on Writing for the Web.

Social Media - Fad or A Revolution?

Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics (the blog and the book) covers the latest trends in social media. Socialnomics, the book, looks at how social media transforms our lives and the way we do business.

In a recent post, Qualman reports Statistics Show Social Media Is Bigger Than You Think.

Citing over 30 statistics, Qualman reports:

1. By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network
   
   
2. Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
   
   
3. 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
   
   
4. Years to Reach 50 millions Users:  Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
   
   
5. If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia
   
   
6. Yet, some sources say China’s QZone is larger with over 300 million using their services (Facebook’s ban in China plays into this)
   
   
7. comScore indicates that Russia has the most engage social media audience with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month – Vkontakte.ru is the #1 social network
   
   
8. 2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction
   
   
9. 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum
   
   
10. % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80%

Check out this great video for more:

The Listener Is As Important As the Sender in Social Media

I stumbled upon a great article this weekend written in 2006 that tells the story of a man, John Francis, PhD, who "gave up speaking" and realized how much he hadn't been listening.

When I read this article it really made me think about where we are in the era of Social Media. Like any rush to be a part of something new, the push has been to PARTICIPATE, but I don't think there has been an equal push to honestly LISTEN. We are in an age of processing information, sending out information that can be syndicated to multiple sources, pushing "our words" out to the masses.

There's communication that spins off of that, even tremendous action, which can influence local and even global groundswells.

But, yesterday, on a quiet Sunday afternoon, as I read this article, the message for Social Media has been to  PARTICIPATE, CONVERSE, INTERACT, ENGAGE, but it strikes me that the passive notion of LISTENING has been under-valued. 

Francis, author of Planetwalker, said - "sometimes we forget that the listener is as important as the person sending the message. Communication is a shared responsibility."

In 2009, three years later, when there are so many ways to communicate via post, tweet, status, DM, text message and feed - we may need to take a step back and LISTEN.

In social media it is important to PARTICIPATE, but it is also our "shared responsibility" to LISTEN.

How can you LISTEN better on Twitter, on Facebook in your blog circles? You'll be surprised what you hear and how much clearer your response is when you really can really see what's being said.

"It's not so much that we get to where we're going, it's that we're on our way there." - John Francis

Being Proactive & Prepared for Response in Social Media - U.S. Air Force

There is an excellent business process workflow map published by the U.S. Air Force Public Affairs Agency - Emerging Technology Division addressing their standard of operations for reputation management and response in social media.

It's simple, clear and addresses the way in which the U.S. Air Force Public Affairs intends to engage online. For any organization assessing their level of engagement -- what it is or will be, this visual decision map may help create a framework for discussion and planning.

Special thanks to Joey deVilla for sharing this at Global Nerdy.

iMediaConnection: The art of self defense against brand-jacking

As a follow up to our earlier post today, we came across another good article further emphasizing the need to actively monitor and protect your brand.

Tim Lynch, senior experience design specialist at Molecular, explores the concept of brand-jacking. "If your brand is online, it's susceptible to consumer influence -- both benign and malicious. See what steps your company can take to mitigate the risks."

Read More >>

AIGA Initiative - Get Out the Vote 2008

AIGA, the professional association for design has taken the charge to "Get Out the Vote," by creating an outlet for AIGA members (to participate, you gotta join) to design around the simple message to vote on election day 2008.Through print posters and YouTube submissions, AIGA has welcomed designers to "create" around this important call to action.

Since 2000, the AIGA initiative has welcomed the design and distribution of videos, motion graphic pieces as well as print materials like Get out the Vote posters.

"AIGA invites its members to create nonpartisan videos and motion graphics pieces that inspire the American public to participate in the electoral process and vote for a presidential candidate in the 2008 general election."

This year, the Get Out the Vote 2008 posters reflect a wide variety of styles and treatments, including many familiar iconic pop culture influences.

As AIGA notes, "good design makes choices clear."

Be sure to view the rest at AIGA Get Out the Vote 2008 posters, including the set of 24 posters chosen for professional printing and national distribution.  You can also download any of them available on the AIGA Web site as PDFs to save and print, like this one!

Also, be sure to view and share the video of 50 selected posters as well as the AIGA YouTube channel for more info.