I’m really beginning to like Sarah Evans (@PRSarahEvans).  She is always interesting and has great information to share.  Here’s something I read on her blog just recently. 

The social ask is when you ask someone to fan, like, follow you on social media.  What do you think?  Is it time for us to stop asking people to get on board with us and just let them make up their mind without the push?  I’m not saying that we should stop putting links or buttons on our various sites to give people a way to find us.  Sarah isn’t saying that either.  But it seems that by now people know what to do once they get to your site.  Won’t they like you if they really like you?

Let’s talk about it in the comments section below. (Opps, I think that I just made a social ask.) Well, you know what to do.

Community Manager Motto: Remember why we party.

When I think of the job title, community manager, I think of a very enthusiastic smiling face that belongs to someone with a lot of contacts floating around in their head.  Ten years ago, the term community manager was not even in existence as it pertains to social media today.  In 2011, the community manager is emerging as an integral part of preparing a company to embrace social media.

Social media represents a big change from business as usual.  It’s disruptive and frightening for the staff member who may be more concerned about losing their job over a tweet than solving a customer’s problem.   On the flip side, it can be confusing and frustrating for the customer who is trying to connect to a company only to hear nothing but echo after they tweet.

So what is a community manager’s role in helping the company shift to a social mindset?

In a nutshell, it is to educate, communicate, and motivate across all departments.  Seventy-five percent (no survey for this number, I’m just saying) of a community manager’s time should be invested in communicating to the staff why the change to social.  Yet, it’s not enough to say, here it is good luck.  People can’t utilize what they don’t understand how to use.  I know how to use Excel but some of my old employers thought that should mean being proficient with pivot tables.  Ok, this is not a common function; a little training class would have been appreciated.  And in addition to all that, the community manager needs to understand how to encourage people to change, make it fun and rewarding.

What is the biggest mistake that companies make when hiring a community manager?

You might think that it is hiring or promoting a person that doesn’t have deep knowledge of social media and that could be a problem.  But, lack of executive support is the biggest issue.  Let’s face it, change must come from the top.  If the CEO and VPs are not actively using social media then a community manger is fighting a fierce battle to change company culture alone.  When I’m consulting at companies where the CEO is at the meeting but not in the meeting, I know this company has an uphill climb.   And there are some very good reasons why a deep cultural shift must take place; Facebook has 500 million users and the sales funnel may be dead.  Need I say more?

What are the two most important characteristics of a great community manager?

Great Communicator

This means a social butterfly or a people person.   A community manager must be effective at communicating the value of social media to customers as well as the corporate employees.  They should listen well then participate in a way that causes others to be interested enough to engage with them and the company.

Great Strategist

This person has to be able to see the big picture for all the schmoozing they will do.  In the end, this whole effort is still about revenue.  No matter the action, tweeting, facebooking, blogging, partying the main reason has to be getting people excited about the brand’s offering without being a hustler.  Now a days we say don’t shill.

Social media is remaking the traditional corporate culture.  Are you a company leader who is wondering how to reach your business goals in this “new media” day?  What are some of the reasons why (or why not) you hired a community manager?  If you have a great community manager, give them a shout out!

Yes, I said it.  That’s the ticket!  Who says you have to tell everybody everything?  Let me be clear though.  I am not saying be so afraid of protecting your privacy that you don’t participate at all.  I’m just saying be smart.  I see people all the time who slip up just enough to make themselves a target for people who are less than honest.  Good example, I just saw a Facebook status update that read, “Can’t wait to visit my folks in VA… 3 days to go.”  Does that make sense?  How about this simple but fact filled tweet that I saw that read, “Hungry, going to get a sandwich at the Subway.” Ok, just say you are going to leave the door open because this guy is very well known in the city.  It wouldn’t be hard to know where he lives and he’s always tweeting like this.

I ran across this very interesting article by Christopher Penn that puts a statistical spend on this issue of being transparent.  He reminds us that everybody is not a friend.  Now I know that stings but social media has made us drop our guard a little bit more than our mothers would recommend.  There are over 4,000 people who follow me on Twitter.  The moment I forget that I’m not just tweeting to my known business associates and my family then I’m putting myself at risk. 

Again let me emphasize that this is not about being so afraid that participation is impossible.  I’m saying be as smart online as you are in person.  In person, I take certain percautions, like keeping my purse on my arm instead of in the basket at the store.  Or, if someone who looks friendly approaches my car, I will not open the door or window.  Why? Because everyone is not friendly. That’s the reality of our world.

So what are some ways to share online without being totaly exposed?  I have a few suggestions.

• Never say that you are in a certain place at the time of your tweet or update.  Use past tense verbs.  Enjoyed my sandwich from Subway or really liked having coffee at Starbucks.  You’re not obligated to tell everyone that you’re still there.
• Don’t follow people automatically on Foursquare, Gowalla or any location based service.  Be a little bit more prudent here than on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or your blog.  The whole point of the location based services is to let people know what you’re doing and maybe even join you there.  Perhaps you have an app that let’s you see who’s near you.  So, just like we do in real life when we are deciding who to hang out with, vet these potential followers a little more before letting them in on your whereabouts.
• The changes Facebook made to the personal profile gives more information.  Be sure you visit the edit section and take out what you don’t want seen.  Also, Facebook decides what your top 5 pictures where you have been tagged will be but you can untag yourself on any that you don’t want or create a list of the ones you want to show.

I’m sure there are way more suggestions than this.  What would you suggest?  How do you remember to stay safe when online?

Now we have come to the meat and potatoes about using Twitter to help you achieve your business communication goals.  I say that you need to have a lot of tenacity to stick to going after building relationships with people that you meet on Twitter.  It is a major mind shift.  No longer are we just networking in person trying to get an introduction to someone important to our publicity strategy.  Now we need to understand how to play well with others on the digital playground or else we may not have many friends.

Use Twitter to connect with anyone you want.

Millions of people have a Twitter profile.  It can seem like a daunting task to really get to know anyone.

How do you connect and build relationships using Twitter?

Use Twitter to earn attention by establishing that you know what you are talking about.  You could:

Be the first to let the media know something is happening in your industry.

Be the first to report any news that you see along the way. It may seem unrelated to establishing your expertise but think about it like this, the squawking bird gets the attention.  The point is to just get used to using Twitter frequently and to get people following you because you are interesting.

Start blogging!  Twitter and blogs make a perfect pair.  Make sure your blog has an RSS feed so that it can be automatically tweeted whenever you create a new post.  Blogging is another way to be seen as the expert and it gives you the forum to put that expertise on display.

Give away information.  Write e-books, conduct surveys and give away the results in the form of a white paper or a PowerPoint presentation.  To get the most traction out of giving away information you should set it up like this: 

Create the content and build a landing page for it on your site,

Tweet the link to that landing page,

On the page, ask the person to fill out a form that ask for simple information (email the most important)

Let them download the content

Use Twitter to gain intelligence about the people with whom you want to connect.

After you follow the person, then go deeper.  You could:

Check their Twitter profile for links to their other places.  Are they on LinkedIn, FaceBook or do they blog?  Use the information to find out other places where you can connect with them a little closer.  For example, are you a 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd connection with them on LinkedIn.  You’d be surprised how many times you’ll find that you are already closer to the person than you know.

Notice what the people you want to connect to tweet about and find ways to involve yourself in the conversation.  Do they have a question you can answer or do you share a real love for dogs.  What can put you on common ground so your conversation will be natural.

Do you remember all those business cards in your desk drawer?  Get them out and try to find the people you’ve met in person on Twitter.  This will extend the conversations you started having in person.

Here’s a few tips that will help you play well with others on Twitter.

It’s about the business of being human, reaching out to people and creating community.

It’s ok to form communities outside of the ones under your own control.  For example, subscribe to someone else’s blog and really participate.

Always be humble. You’re not really the owner of your brand.

Listen and acknowledge.  Participation will help your community grow.

We’re talking about Twitter but building community is not about where. When you met people on Twitter you will find that they may be more visible on other sites and you’ll want to be willing to connect with them where they actually are.

Don’t you hate being at a party or event and end up talking to someone all night who just talks about themselves or who you feel only wants relationships as long as they are making money from you?  Once your basic needs are met, then the pursuit of happiness becomes more important.  In your desire to connect with people (and make money), think more about bringing happiness. Everybody needs that.  Listen to Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.  He explains this much better and his company is one of the best examples of good use of social media and creating company cultures that work (community).  Tony was interviewed on HP’s Input | Output program.

You can’t outsource community building.  Don’t give it to interns or outside workers.  You can outsource some of the administrative work like setting up the profiles or dashboards, training, or research.  However, do use consultants to help you develop the strategy and tools you will use so you don’t waste time figuring it all out.

Should you separate your personal life from your professional life?  The lines are blurring but you need to think about whom your main audience is so can tailor your online message.  Everything about you does not have to be broadcast.

Are you using some unique ways to connect with people on Twitter?  What are you doing?  We all want to know!

1. Content is king.  People have questions and you have answers.  Plus, the search engines love variety.  When you post frequently, your SEPR (search engine page results) will continue to rise.
2. Blogs are interactive.  When you have interesting, educational, entertaining, or inspiring posts, people will respond at length.  This creates conversation of a caliber that doesn’t happen anywhere else other than eye to eye networking.
3. As a blogger, you become an author. There’s no need to get a publishing house involved.  You publish your own material and your reach is just as far as any established author.  As people get to know you through what you write about, you’ll gain a fan base.
4. Blogging helps you to develop your reputation as an expert in the industry.  Why should your friends and family be the only ones to benefit from your deep knowledge of your trade? Share it with the world. We used to say that everyone is only separated by 6 degrees, now it’s 2 or 3.
5. Links are love.  Linking is when another site actually puts your URL on their site in some way.  Maybe another blogger links to something you wrote in their blog post or perhaps your blog shows up on another blog’s roll.  Also, whenever you comment on someone else’s blog that links you to them.  So, getting linked to high traffic, high quality sites improves your chances of being found too.

I hope this helps you make the decision to start blogging today.  What are your questions about getting started and developing strategy for blogging?