In tech circles, the general consensus is that “Google doesn’t get social.” Up until a few days ago I agreed. And for the most part it was true. But Google’s product Buzz might be an indication that this is changing. In fact, there is a lesson to be learned in why I think Buzz will succeed.

The single greatest thing Google has done in social media is embed Buzz in Gmail. Why? Because there are already millions of Gmail users. Simple as that. People use Gmail all day every day, so Google has a huge user base to launch Buzz with. I never used Google Wave, but I now use Buzz heavily already. All because I’m already on Gmail.

In social media, too many people are focused on building their social campaigns from scratch. Just like Google tried to build Wave from scratch. But what if you could launch your social presence or campaign with thousands of users already in place? Like how Google launched Buzz in Gmail.

My point is that instead of always thinking of ways to build a social following from scratch, first look to see if there are any opportunities to leverage another brand’s following. This can often be cheaper and much more effective.

Thanks to Facebook’s delightful Live Feed, I discovered my mom added a local Chinese restaurant to her friends (love you mom). This made me laugh, and I couldn’t resist commenting on this item and telling her how I felt about the restaurant. Curiosity began to set in, and I checked out Ho Wun Chinese’s Facebook profile. Have you ever seen a Facebook page for a Chinese restaurant? For me this was a first.

I was pleasantly surprised. Ho Wun Chinese does something very few organizations do.They offer a value proposition for the Facebook page.

Thank you for adding Ho Wun to your facebook friends. The reason we made this facebook page is to benefit you, our customer. We will be posting the daily special, coupons, and jokes for your pleasure. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns please feel free to speak your mind.

Would I call it innovative? No. I would call it common sense. But it is common sense that even the biggest organizations and deepest pockets seem to forget about. Here is what I like about this simple value proposition:

Thank you for adding Ho Wun to your facebook friends.

Recognition that Ho Wun is not entitled to your friendship simply because they set up a page. Little humility goes a long way in building trust.

The reason we made this facebook page is to benefit you, our customer.

Right off the bat, I’m told why this Facebook page exists. More importantly, I find out who it is intended for. Too often companies fail to pick an audience for their Facebook page. Is it for employees, investors, existing customers, or potential customers? Failing to clearly specify an audience can create unintended consequences, something I’ll detail in a future post.

We will be posting the daily special, coupons, and jokes for your pleasure.

Now that I know who the page is for, Ho Wun tells me what I should expect. Setting clear expectations helps give people a reason to become a fan and it also lets them know that this page is actually going to be regularly updated. Notice they also don’t promise to make my life better or claim that I can’t live any longer without being a fan; just a simple “take it or leave it” value proposition.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns please feel free to speak your mind.

Finally, Ho Wun encourages participation while at the same time setting expectations for interactions on the page.

Now I know Ho Wun probably didn’t sit down and plan this elegant greeting to their Facebook page. I guarantee you they don’t have a social media expert on staff advising them how to manage their presence. This is simply the result of an entrepreneur practicing common sense and doing the same thing they would do if you walked into their restaurant. Also, I know they only have about 100 fans. Keep in mind, this is a small Chinese restaurant in the suburbs of St Louis.

• Does your Facebook page have a value proposition and elegant greeting, or is Ho Wun Chinese running circles around your social media presence?
• What are some other pages that you feel have a clear value proposition and elegant greeting?
• What’s your favorite Chinese food?

Many are only now catching up on the rush to social media. Are you too late? You might be unless you change your assumptions and expectations of social media.

About three years ago, marketers were beginning to talk about the value of social media because of the opportunity for more peer-to-peer recommendations. The mantra for the emergence of social media was “People trust people more than they trust advertising.” As so many people did, I also  confidently professed this message and cast visions of powerful recommendations via social media. For a little while, we thought word-of-mouth was in our realm of control.

A new post from AdAge http://bit.ly/9zDfZV highlights the fact that in 2010, people trust people a lot less than they used to. Oh, how things have changed! The following chart confirms the social media mantra of years past was likely accurate, however those late to the party might find it time to change their tune. In 2010, peers as a trusted information source has dropped from 45% to 25%. I guess “People trust people more than they trust advertisements” is a fading.

However, this does not necessarily mean people trust people less anymore. As an advertiser, I’d still rather have someone personally recommend my hospital than rely completely on a billboard or newspaper ad. What this information is pointing to is the fact that social media novelty has worn off; the wildebeests have figured out that the watering hole can be a place to be slaughtered by hungry lions looking for an easy kill (read advertisers). Thus the watering hole is not as safe as it used to be.

“Driving word of mouth” as an objective still works, but not with the power that it used to. Also notice in the chart below that trust of all channels has decreased. Marketing is not failing, it is just being redefined and more integrated into your organization than ever before. It is no longer just media buys, social media pages, and funny commercials. It involves better customer service, product offerings, and market fit.

It is time for us to stop moving from one extreme to another and putting our budgets into silos. Slow down your move to social media, adjust your expectations, and find a balance in your marketing plans. Sometimes we over complicate campaigns for the sake of using social media, when advertising dollars would be used much more effectively in a more traditional channel. Word-of-mouth is not necessarily the gold at the end of the rainbow. And if you’re still selling social media with the old mantra, change your tune fast and educate your organization on the reality of this channel.

People trust people less in 2010 than in 2008.

“The future of the company is not based solely on cost takeouts. It’s based on innovation and the emotional connection and trust we have with our customers.”

- Howard Schultz, Starbucks

Spoken about Starbucks. Made me wonder, does your health care organization take this same approach to growth, or are you more focused on cost takeouts? Be honest.

Everybody wants a Facebook page, and everybody tells you that you need a Facebook page. While I would agree that everyone does need a Facebook page, I don’t think that the need for a page matches the value of a page. Just because you really need it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get much value from it. So here I am today to do what I wish more people would do – look at social media from a skeptical point of view.

But before I rain on everyone’s parade, let’s take a quick look at why Facebook pages are important. This in itself could be a whole new post, so I’ll stick with just a few highlights for now.

• Visibility: Your page comes up on search engines and people can find you directly within Facebook without having to leave it.
• Interaction: Consumers are used to interacting on Facebook and they will likely use your page’s Wall as a replacement for customer service calls or emails. This gives you a chance to respond to questions or concerns that might not otherwise be brought to your attention.
• Brand: Today digital branding is all about touch points. Facebook pages give you a chance to create yet another unique brand experience with a very personal and intimate feel.

There is definitely a clear benefit for having a Facebook page (when done right). But as I think about how I use Facebook pages, skepticism begins to creep in. Why? Because I never look at the things I’m a fan of! In fact, I probably couldn’t even tell you what pages I’m a fan of. With unaided recall, I could maybe name one or two of the dozen pages I’m a fan of.

This makes me wonder, can you recall all the pages you’re a fan of on Facebook? Even more, can you name one page one of your friends is a fan of?  My guess is that like me, most people become a fan of a page and then completely forget about it. Facebook pages are generally a one-time interaction. With this in mind, are your expectations for Facebook pages beginning to change at all?

I see an immediate impact of this issue on social media analytics and ROI. If you knew that fans were one-and-done interactions with no ability to recall what they actually are fans of, then would using # of fans as a social media metric really be relevant? To me counting “total fans” sounds a lot like counting “total customers… including former customers.” You are lumping disengaged fans (or customers) into a total group where it is assumed they are active customers when in reality that is not true for the whole of the group.

Moving on, I often times I hear people say “brand advocacy” or “brand champions” as a reason for brand pages in social networks. We assume as people align themselves with brands they love, their friends will see this alignment and desire to do the same. This in fact was one of the major arguments for social media in its infancy. But again I wonder, do you really know what your friends are fans of on Facebook?

What I’d like to see is for someone to conduct a research project on this issue – unaided recall of Facebook pages. Addressing this issue will first help us understand whether Facebook pages are having a real impact on the average consumer or not. Futhermore, as we begin to understand which fan pages are recalled without help, we can begin to understand what common characteristics those pages posses that make them more memorable. If anyone finds this topic interesting and has research capabilities, I would certainly like to partner with you and help publicize the results.

I have regretfully grown very frustrated with my Twitter experience. Many of the people I was following were becoming more of an annoyance than anything, and something had to be done or I was going to tear my hair out. So for the last two weeks, I spent some time carefully evaluating my connections and giving culprits the big boot. This post looks at the top reasons why over 20 people ended up as a part of my #unfollowfriday experiment, and how my life is so much better because of it.

Multiple Twitter Accounts

One thing that is worth noting is that I maintain three different Twitter accounts. Most of my readers here are familiar with @aldeneaton, my professional account. I also have a second business account for my startup @showasis. Finally, I have a third account (personal) which I keep private and use to talk with my friends and family. Here are how the numbers broke down:

Total Unfollowed: 24

• 92% of the culprits came from my professional account
• 4% of the culprits came from my personal account
• 4% of the culprits came from my startup account

I bring this up because I was shocked to see that an overwhelming number of the people I unfollowed came from my business account, which primarily includes advertisers, entrepreneurs, and more than anything – health care professionals. This is surprising because you would expect the advertisers and all the “social media experts” to have the best Tweeting habits. Alas, I learned they were actually the worst. No wonder so many people beyond advertising are so skeptical of Twitter.

Below are the top four reasons why I unfollowed people:

Reason #4: Never saying anything interesting.

I follow people because I think they are interesting. Many of the people I follow on Twitter hold important positions in the marketplace – they are CMOs, entrepreneurs, consultants, and “social media experts.” However I quickly found that a lot of these people do not live up to the title.

The key is to strike a balance between demonstrating your personality while staying relevant. I love to follow people whose 4 out of every 5 Tweets are specific to the reason why I followed them in the first place. The remaining Tweet can and should be about your children, the bike ride you took last weekend, or what you’re reading right now. If I unfollowed someone for this reason, it was because the majority of their Tweets did not do anything to make me smarter, more informed, or entertained.

Reason #3: Tweeting too much.

I keep a pretty close watch on my Twitter stream, so I’m checking it multiple times a day. What drives me crazy is when I have to scroll through 6 Tweets from the same user every time I check my feed. I don’t want using Twitter to feel like a scavenger hunt, where I have to diligently scroll through one person’s trash to find a gem just because they can’t practice some self control. If you’re going to Tweet 10 times a day, at least spread it out so they don’t pile up and cause a problem for your followers.

Reason #2: Re-Tweeting your own links.

Entrepreneurs are especially guilty of this one. We have multiple businesses with multiple Twitter accounts. I’m in that boat too. But one thing that drives me nuts (and makes you look bad) is when you constantly Re-Tweet your own links. Doing so only makes you look desperate for traffic and it reflects negatively on your personal brand and affiliated organizations.

Reason #1: Overkill on social media advocacy.

Most of the people I follow include CMOs, entrepreneurs, consultants, and “social media experts.” I follow because I think they are interesting and have something to offer. Yet the majority of the people I unfollowed were the social media experts, consultants, and entrepreneurs who are supposed to be great at this stuff. The problem I encountered was that many are drunk on the social media kool-aid and shamefully contribute to groupthink and irresponsible messaging.

The scary thing is some of these people include key industry influencers and “thought leaders.” Embracing social media is great. In fact, I have a professional interest in social media succeeding. I want it to grow as big as we all expect it to. But only a fool approaches it without some level of skepticism. I feel like some of the famed “thought leaders” in health care social media especially are blindly leading the industry to a dangerous cliff without any sense of responsibility.

Conclusion

The moral of the story is, find some balance in your Tweeting habits. Don’t Tweet too often, but don’t Tweet too little. Be interesting and relevant, but don’t completely neglect your personal life. Embrace the comprehensive social media discussion, but do it with a level of maturity and skepticism. We will all be more grateful for it!

• What Twitter habits bother you the most?
• Do you ever give other people the boot?
• Should Miley Cyrus return to Twitter?

Every now and then, I come across a simple use of social media links that I actually find valuable. The example below is a screenshot of a Thank You page I encountered after requesting a product demo. Notice the “What happens next?” section…

Click to view full size

The company does a great job of first managing expectations. They let me know what to expect next, how long to wait, and what I need to do in the meantime. This matters because now I can navigate away from the website with the confidence that my request is being serviced, without wondering how or when I will be contacted next. There is a certain satisfaction with this simple knowledge, and it leaves a positive impression on me. This is important leading up to the product demo because I’ve already had a positive brand experience before ever talking to anyone.

The company also does a great job of keeping me engaged. Most companies just abandon the user after they capture contact information, but in this example I’m actually invited to experience the brand in social spaces. Since I just completed a contact form, they know the next thing I’m probably going to do is leave. So if I’m going to leave, why not try and make my next destination one of their social pages?

I like this example because it’s an elegant and purposeful use of linking to social sites. They weren’t rammed down my throat on the home page.  Instead, they were strategically placed on a page where there is actually a good chance I’ll look at them. The company is trying to manage my engagement path and move me between the right channels at the right time.

Why is this the best time to move me to social sites? Because the website’s job is done, and they know that. I’ve already done my homework, and am intrigued enough to ask for more information. And since I’m asking for more information, that probably means I have more questions than the website can answer. So the natural progression is to move on.

The alternative is to push social sites earlier on in the experience. The problem with this strategy is that the user probably isn’t ready to see your Facebook page if all they’ve done so far is land on your home page. They came to the website to learn more about your products. Only after their need has been satisfied will they really want to navigate away from the place they willingly chose to visit. Anything in between need recognition and need satisfaction is just an interruption.

The moral of the story is, don’t just toss out links to your social pages and hope people click on them. Instead, use them more strategically and place them on traditional exit pages (like a “Thank you” page) where they are more likely to be clicked.

In the example this post began with, I had no plans to visit the company’s social pages. In fact, I didn’t even know they had any. But when they got the right link in front of me at the right time, my interest was suddenly peaked and I clicked through. They didn’t interrupt me, but rather gently prompted me while I was on my way out anyway, and the end result was a positive experience with the same brand at numerous social sites.

• Where do you use social links on your website?
• Have you considered only using social links on common exit pages?
• Do you even know what your most common exit pages are?
• Do you even know what you’re going to be for Halloween this year?

This blog focuses primarily on digital strategy, including social media, online advertising, search marketing, websites, and beyond. But every now and then it is worth mentioning that sometimes the best information you can get (because you’re always in listening mode, right?) might come from your patients in face to face encounters.

As you are well aware, social computing offers excellent opportunities to listen to what people are saying about you, your products, and your industry. By now, hopefully you have developed a habit for “keeping your ear to the ground” and solidified a set of tools to help you manage all the conversations you need to be in tune with. Now, I want to talk about how you can take these skills offline and really wrap your mind around the cloud of ideas that exist in the minds of your customers.

The thing is, not all your customers are on Twitter or Facebook. In fact, since you’re in the health care industry, I’m guessing most of them aren’t. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have something to say.

The moral of the story is, although the current trend is to focus on listening to online conversations, you shouldn’t ignore the offline conversations. A strong balance between offline and online conversations, coupled with professional brand research, allows you to get a more complete understanding of what your customers are thinking and feeling.

In the past, I’ve written about how social networks will change how people browse the Web.  My argument has focused on the fact that you will browse the Web through a lens consisting of your social profile. In other words, wherever you go, your social profile will go with you.  You’ll take it to NBA.com like you’d take your physical self to a basketball game.  While you’re on the site, the social features that currently only exist within the Facebook platform will suddenly be embedded into the site. When you leave, you take that profile with you to the next site.  Along the way you leave digital footprints.

I’m still betting my money on Facebook being the virtual lens through which we view the web, but Google seems to have taken a big step lately with their introduction of Google SideWiki.  Since so many other people have done a better job of explaining Google SideWiki, I’m just going to refer you to a good link and continue with my analysis of what this means and how it impacts your business.  Read more about SideWiki at http://searchengineland.com/google-sidewiki-allows-anyone-to-comment-about-any-site-26420.

What Google is doing here is making the whole web one big social network.  They are literally making your social profile an embedded component of every website.  For businesses, this might at first sound like a bad thing.  If Google SideWiki succeeds, it might feel like you lose a lot of control of your website – and to an extent, you do.  But of course, Google has thought of everything and has a solution for that.

While this web-as-social-network model does give the web user more control, it also matures that control to a point we have not yet seen.  That point of maturation is influence, which happens to be a factor that is all too often ignored by companies.  (Side rant: always look at the matter of influence in social media.  A bad blog post about your brand might sound awful, but if it is from a zero-influence whack job then you don’t have to worry.)

Influence is in fact key to making the web-as-social-network model work.  You can’t just have a bunch of senseless idiots writing the web and littering the digital space with inaccurate, spammy, or just plain juvenile comments.  To date, that is a big problem YouTube (a Google company) faces – YouTube is infamous for its immature and senseless comments on videos.  So what Google came up with was a ProfileRank, determined by of course numerous secret factors, to prioritize comments generated in the SideWiki.  Your social profile must be in good standing, something built by writing sophisticated comments, a positive track record, and reputation.  In other words, you have to earn your voice.

There are many implications of this that you need to be aware of.  I admit these are pure speculation given the fact that this model is only beginning, but this is what I see in my crystal ball.

• You can feel slightly more comfortable embracing this model knowing that Google is putting influence on the front lines.  Thus, the risk of a raving maniac successfully coming by to trash you is less likely.  Just don’t let the big influencers have a bad experience with your brand.
• The playing field is now level.  Say what you want about yourself on your own website, but know that users have an equal voice in the exact same channel.  Authenticity is even more important than ever.
• You’re out to impress Google; don’t leave the intern to work the social media profile anymore.  Every comment and action on the web must be carefully considered, so as not to diminish your reputation and therefore rob yourself of a chance to participate in the discussion.
• The game is changing fast, so don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  This is particularly relevant for Twitter; it is exciting and powerful, but something like SideWiki can completely flip it upside down.  Be prepared strategically to adjust to these new technologies as they happen.

Another great article, with a more skeptical point of view (which I love), can be found here: http://www.onlinemarketingconnect.com/marketingpilgrim/2009/09/why-i%E2%80%99m-not-sweating-reputation-bullets-over-google-sidewiki/

One of the biggest challenges health care marketers face when it comes to social media is selling the idea to top executives and doctors.  Since you’re likely one of those people faced with such a task, I’ll spare us all a vivid description of the agonizing task and jump straight to recommending a technique for handling tough questions and improving your pitch.  If you’re looking for new ways to improve your social media sale, then read on.

Entrepreneurship is one of my greatest passions. Nothing excites me more than a good idea.  The only problem is that an idea is no good unless you can first communicate what it is.  So for every good idea I have, I spend a lot of time explaining it to other people.  When working with new and often abstract ideas, there are many uncertainties.  With uncertainties come questions – questions I don’t have answers to.

The same is true for selling social media in your organization.  There will naturally be questions that you don’t have answers for.  But that doesn’t mean you should wait until you have all the answers to pitch your social media plan, and it also doesn’t mean you should have to let the words “I don’t know” diminish the credibility of your vision.  I propose an alternative, where the often humbling “I don’t know” suddenly becomes your most empowering answer and demonstration of competency.

“I don’t know” by itself is not an acceptable answer.  A stronger alternative, however, would go something more like, “I don’t know, but…” then followed by a series of scenarios.  The goal is to demonstrate that you don’t really know what is going to happen, but you’ve thought of all the possible scenarios and are prepared for them.  This instills confidence in C-level execs and provides a potent mix of humility and preparedness.  It shows that in every scenario, you’ve anticipated what is going to happen and therefore reduces doubt caused by lack of familiarity on the part of executives.

One time when I was pitching an idea to a mentor, someone asked who my users of the product were going to be.  Honestly, I didn’t know the answer because one thing I’ve learned is that the people that actually use you product aren’t who you expect, nor do they use it how you thought they would. My response was, “I don’t know, but it could either be younger MySpace-friendly teens or older 23-35 year olds.  In either case, I’m ready to serve their needs and adjust accordingly.”  The response was well received and led to a series of discussions that really made me look good.

The result of my experience was that the people I was presenting to trusted me more because they realized I’m honest with my projections, humble enough to admit when I don’t know something, and smart enough to have thought of everything.  When you’re selling an idea, people actually care less about the idea itself and more about your ability to execute it and adjust on the fly.

If you take this entrepreneur’s mindset into the boardroom with your social media strategy, I am confident that your proposal will be received with less skepticism and more trust, all the while inspiring new discussions you wouldn’t have otherwise been able to get to.  So remember, answer the tough questions with “I don’t know” and follow it up with every legitimate scenario you can think of.