It is like herding cats getting our resident Abraham Harrison computer genius, Phillip Rhoades, to put pen to paper and share all of the amazing things he says off-the-cuff every day via IM and on management and tech calls.  Well, I surely don’t know what I did — or maybe the stars and planets aligned — but I am dancing around because some amazing stuff came out of his pen in the form of To Herd Cats in Social Media Bring a Can-Opener

To Herd Cats in Social Media Bring a Can-Opener

Some people say that social media optimization (SMO) is like herding cats. I say, “if you’re going to herd cats, bring a can opener.” Just like cats, the people on social media sites will run to where ever you are if you make noise in a way that lets them know that you have something that they want.

The denizens of social media are waiting out there, listening intently for any sign of interesting information. They will respond with a mass amount of activity if you let them know that you have something “cool”. You’re job isn’t over with just the first rush though. If you want to keep them near by then you’ll need to be responsive, keep them engaged, and keep the conversation active.

The people are waiting on Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, and all of the other social media sites. They are waiting for other people (and that includes you. . . probably) to start making some noise about something interesting. They want to hear the latest news about their hobbies and interests and (lucky for you) most of these hobbies and interests are listed in the “interests” section of their user profiles. The users of social media also write about what they want to hear about.

All you need to do is look at what they post to their statuses/walls/twitter accounts and if they have a blog at the very least skim it. Keep in mind that they do have filters. They only want to hear about their interests and like cats they are indifferent at best to anything not interesting to them. They want to spend their time reading, watching, talking about their interests and they will never feign interest. They will in fact feel indignant and insulted if you talk about something they don’t care about. Their time is at a high premium and they don’t have extra time for things outside of their sphere of interests. They rightfully expect you and me (savvy marketers that we are) to cater to their interests.

You need to speak to them in a way that lets them know you have what they want. The first step towards that is to figure out their interests by checking profiles, looking at blogs, and generally using the abundant resources available in the social media era.

However, don’t overlook the basic method of simply asking them. You can do this via the use of online polling systems (some of which are built right into the social media sites) and by engaging them in the topical discussion boards. Once you know their interests you need to speak to their interests.

If you’re talking about something they write about, they will listen. Bloggers are always looking for information about and surrounding their chosen field and will usually be happy to hear from you if you’re on topic. Social media sites are full of individuals who may not be bloggers, but are just as passionate about certain topics and ecstatic to hear anything about those topics of interest. Remember though, stay on demographic with them.

Don’t drift into “uninteresting” things, because, just like a herd of cats, if you get boring they get lost. Don’t reach out to dog bloggers about the latest cat food. Try not to ask too much of your audience either. They want to interact just enough and if you take up too much of their time they will quickly grow tired and bored of you and your message.

You need to be responsive to your audience needs and desires. They will ask questions that you need to quickly, truthfully, and tactfully. Keep an eye out for these questions so you can respond quickly. You can do this via RSS subscriptions to searches on twitter or google blogsearch, email notification systems on discussion boards, and there are even entire services dedicated to being a watchdog for your keywords.

Do not lie. If you lie everyone in the world will know in 5 minutes, because they will figure it out in 2 minutes by using google and they will let everyone on all of their social networks know about it, and those people will spread the message, and so on. . . until one lie ruins your entire reputation. It’s not worth it. Be honest. Make sure you address people in a way that is both natural and respectful.

Don’t talk to the teenage demographic the same way you would your grandmother and definitely not vice versa. You might think that it’s too much trouble to respond, but ignoring questions is a death sentence that may be even worse than lying.

Being uninvolved in the social media sphere is like having no voice and that can only work against you. You’re going to run into both positive and negative responses to you, your brand, and your message. It’s okay. I promise.

Thank and promote the positive responders by commenting or email back, and offering to post cool comments on your blog with links to their blog or website. A little flattery and promotion goes a long way with people.

Respond to and work with the negative responders no matter how much you think you’d rather not. Do your best to change their mind with an open and honest dialogue about their issues.

At the end of the day stay calm, collected. By keeping your cool while your detractors lose theirs the world will see you as the good and reasonable one while your detractors will be seen as ranting nutcases. Let them walk into that trap if they want to.

Whether it’s handling your social media presence or herding cats the important thing to keep in mind is to appeal to the interests and habits of the ones you’re trying to attract.

Focus on what they are interested in and what they want and keep the tools and supplies handy that will keep them coming to you. Bust out the can opener and make the noise that lets them know that you have what they want and all they have to do is come running. Once they know you’ve got what they’ve been looking for they’ll be there faster than you can keep up with.

BL and I adore eachother so I was very excited to receive an email from her last night with a link to her latest article on Business Week, Using social media to market your business is a good idea. Just don’t plan on getting your whiz-kid nephew to do it for free — check it out and check BL out over on her blog, What’s Next Blog. Oh, and when BL asks “how many of them have actually created a successful campaign for clients using social media tools? I bet you’d be hard-pressed to find half a dozen with real track records,” I can proudly state that Abraham Harrison LLC has the expertise, the experience, and the track record to boot!  Anyway, here’s the article:

Debunking Six Social Media Myths

For companies, resistance to social media is futile. Millions of people are creating content for the social Web. Your competitors are already there. Your customers have been there for a long time. If your business isn’t putting itself out there, it ought to be.

But before you take the plunge, bear in mind the many myths that surround social media.

1. Social media is cheap, if not free. Yes, many of the tools that can be employed in social media marketing are free to use. These include Google’s (GOOG) video-sharing site YouTube, Yahoo’s (YHOO) photo-sharing site Flickr, the social-network building tool Ning, and content aggregators such as Digg and eBay’s (EBAY) StumbleUpon. Free blogging tools abound too; among them are WordPress, Twitter, and FriendFeed.

However, integrating these tools into a corporate marketing program requires skill, time, and money. The budget for an effective social media marketing campaign begins at $50,000 for two to three months. I’m sure companies have spent less, and I know they’ve spent more.

Building a site that incorporates interactivity, allows user-generated content, and perhaps also includes e-commerce doesn’t come cheap from anyone who knows what they are doing. Even taking free software like WordPress and making it function as an effective interactive site, incorporating e-commerce, creating style sheets that integrate with the company’s branding, takes more than time. That takes skill, experience, and money.

As a rule, a $50,000 to $100,000 budget can cover the creation of a simple multimedia microsite that becomes the center of an online community. Add in some widgets to help distribute the content and form a credible group on Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook and other networking groups to enhance the community aspect of the campaign. Complex functions add to programming and design costs.

A high-yield, highly targeted blog advertising campaign to kick off and support the program will cost an additional $25,000 to $100,000 a month. Advertising through Google’s AdWords, e-mail support, co-registration, and other tools that drive traffic would be additional costs.

2. Anyone can do it. A surfeit of whiz kids and more experienced marketers are claiming to be social media experts and even social media gurus. Search the bios of Robert Scoble’s 56,838 Twitter followers using Tweepsearch (www.tweepsearch.com), an index of the bios of Twitter users, and you’ll find:

• 4,273 Internet marketers
• 1,652 social media marketers
• 513 social media consultants
• 272 social media strategists
• 180 social media experts
• 98 social media gurus
• 58 Internet marketing gurus

How many of them have actually created a successful campaign for clients using social media tools? I bet you’d be hard-pressed to find half a dozen with real track records.

A successful social media campaign integrates social media into the many elements of marketing, including advertising, digital, and PR. Opinion and theory are no match for experience, and the best social media marketers now have more than 10 years of experience incorporating interactivity, blogs, forums, user-generated content, and contests into online marketing.

Video contests by companies hoping for viral buzz and Google juice are as plentiful as mosquitoes on a humid summer night. But, like their insect counterparts, most video contests suck.

It’s the rare video contest that gets as many as 2,000 entries. Many, like Denny’s (DENM) recent disastrous effort, get fewer than 10 entries. Apparently, 48 Denny’s breakfasts over four years wasn’t a big motivator.

3. You can make a big splash in a short time. Sure, sometimes a social media campaign can produce substantial and measurable results quickly.

Social media is great if you’re already a star, but that doesn’t happen overnight. Amid the recent launch of my T-shirt design business, Pawfun.com, I have relied heavily on my 4,000-plus Twitter followers and 120,000 readers of my What’s Next Blog, which I’ve updated as often as five times a day since 2003. Because that network already exists, with not one dollar spent on advertising, we were able to generate more traffic in our first three days than some major companies get after years online.

ZapposChief Executive Tony Hsieh, whose company has millions of customers who are evangelists for the great service that built the brand, quickly became a Twitter star, with more than 32,000 followers. When Dell (DELL), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), the Chicago Bulls, and other love-’em-or-hate-’em brands joined Twitter, they immediately developed huge followings.

Tweets can be used to drive traffic to articles, Web sites, contests, videos, and so on—if people already care about your brand, or if you have a truly original idea that people will want to share with their followers.

One recent example of a Twitter-generated success is Savvy Auntie, a community for aunts, godmothers, and “other women who love kids” that was launched six months ago by Melanie Notkin. She has counted on Twitter to drive traffic, help her find suppliers, products, and even investors. She developed a Twitter following before launching her business, then tapped into it for help when she launched.

4. You can do it all in-house. Wrong! You need strategy, contacts, tools, and experience—a combination not generally found in in-house teams, who often reinvent the wheel or use the wrong tools.

It is rare indeed to find an in-house team that can not only conceive and execute a social media campaign but also drive traffic to it with effective e-mail segmentation, search optimization, blogger outreach, blog advertising, Google ads, and more.

5. If you do something great, people will find it. Quite simply, that never was true. Until you can drive traffic to your social media effort, you’ve got a tree falling in the forest, heard only by those standing nearby. A great number of tools can drive traffic, including StumbleUpon, Digg, and Twitter, but nothing works better than word of mouse—one friend telling another, “Hey look at this!”

6. You can’t measure social media marketing results. You can use a variety of methods, including mentions on blogs and in media; comments on the content; real-time blog advertising results, and click-throughs to your company Web site. You can get very precise statistics from a variety of sites, including Google Trends, Twitter search, Google Analytics, BackType, and Compete.

The tools are there. The gurus who know how to use and interpret them—not so much.

Ochman, president of Whatsnextonline.com, has been creating new media marketing and online brand strategy since 1995 for companies including IBM, Ford, McGraw-Hill, Budget Car Rental, Stacksandstacks.com, and American Greetings. She tracks online marketing trends and campaigns in What’s Next Blog.

I tell anyone who will listen to me that the current crop of advertisement methods is too short-lived. The moment you spend the money and your ad runs, that is the moment it is either gone to the grave or becomes a patient existing on life support. Either you’re smart and willing to keep it alive, in conversation, online on YouTube for the spots, or on a blog somewhere for the print work — or you feel compelled to keep on throwing money at it ad infinitum, because contextual ads, banner ads, etc, only last as long as you write checks.

What my specialty is is online conversation marketing, online public relations, and online earned media. When you earn peoples’ attention and when they choose to speak about you, your clients, and your services, then you have a gift that keeps on giving — this is content that lasts well past the campaign and into the future. This is both the sort of thing that Google loves — it is SEO catnip — and it is just the sort of content that flows, both upstream to A-list bloggers and to mainstream media and down to your readers, aggregators, and to other bloggers and other blogs.

If you want to see some examples of powerfully successful blogger outreaches, check out International Medical Corps (IMC) 2008, Survivor Corps Operation Survivor 2008, and Fresh Air Fund Summer 2008, Jerry White’s I Will Not Be Broken book promotion. In many cases, these campaigns are close to a year old, yet they still still live in hundreds and hundreds of blogs and feed Google’s index until all of these blogs are taken down. It is really amazing how effective this sort of “advertising” promotion works. What’s better, when the campaign is over and the client “turns off” our tap, the content continues living and isn’t just shut off like it is with banners, buttons, and contextual advertising. Very interesting, very cool, and powerfully effective.

Remember how much fun Communication Arts is to page through? — CA is intoxicating! Well, every ad you make can be as interesting, as long as you’re willing to come out of your art department and share your process, share your experience, share your steps. Keeping those ephemera alive through narrative, sharing, conversation, and story, is what social media is, it is what customer service is, it is surely what branding should be.

Anyway, There is a lot of opportunity in this time of chaos, of this time of transition. The same sort of transition (and opportunity) happened when PCs came online, replacing the IBM Selectric II; when the Internet changed E-Commerce, threatening to eviscerate bricks and mortar stores, and it is happening now, more than ever, with advertising, marketing, and PR.

I call it white knuckle syndrome: holding on to the handholds you have, frozen on the face of the cliff, because you don’t know where the handholds of the future are. This chaos is pretty amazing to watch as the economy pitches and GM bails on Super Bowl.

Advertising knows it needs to jump off the locomotive before it pitches into the gorge (the bridge is out!) but reaching out to the proffered hand of the guy in the helicopter seems pretty risky too. But, as the current handholds become chalky and you start to feel them crumble under your weight, you’ll need to find somewhere else to go, and quick!

To me, Chris Brogan said it best the other day on Twitter, “customer service is the new PR.*” Looking at what @comcastcares has been able to do, customer service is the new PR, the new marketing, and the new advertising.

So, as those handholds start to get chalk and begin to crumble, it is important to at least set your eyes on a new handhold — or maybe a helping hand — before your original handhold turns to powder.

And for you who have yet to do the reading, please check out Cluetrain Manifesto and Naked Conversation.

Last week Thursday morning, I participated as a social media PR expert and panelist in a very cool Bulldog Reporter PR University audio conference entitled Beyond Twitter PR. Here’s some information on the call-in audio conference:

8/28/08 – Beyond Twitter PR: The New Rules of Crafting a Powerful, Cost-Effective Social Media Strategy

New media communications, social media optimization, Web 2.0 marketing, Facebook publicity, even Twitter PR. No matter how you tag the movement—it’s clear today’s engagement media and online channels from blogs to online video to social networks and even virtual worlds are bonafide communication tools. Practitioners who can master these mediums and create PR-driven social media strategies that generate real results for clients and companies alike—are sure to rule the integrated and digital marketing mix (and budget). Join Bulldog Reporter’s exclusive panel of the nation’s foremost experts successfully practicing in the nexus between PR and exciting new technologies to learn how you can beat the competition and successfully incorporate Web 2.0 tools into traditional PR programs. If you’re new to the social media revolution and its impact on communications, this is one call that will bring your work (and career trajectory!) up to speed. If you’re already incorporating social media and Web 2.0 techniques into your PR programs, this 90-minute, intensive call is a sure way to take your online efforts to the next level and position your team, client or company well ahead of the competition, while engaging consumers, customers and public in exciting, productive and profitable new ways.

It was a very amazing speaker panel:

Kate Laufer, Senior Public Relations Manager, North America, Beam Global
Spirits & Wine
Paula Berg, Manager, Emerging Media, Southwest Airlines
Doug Hay, CEO, Co-Founder, Expansion Plus
Susan Getgood, Principal, GetGood Strategic Marketing
Chris Abraham, President/COO, Abraham Harrison

If you like what you read, you are welcome to listen to the event by either ordering the conference CD or by requesting it on demand.