I always have the most awesome times whenever I go to Lipscomb University.  Recently, the career development center hosted a seminar called “Social Media Revolution”.  Believe me, if you don’t think that a big change is happening with how people choose to communicate these days, then you will need an intervention, my friend.  Social media tools are revolutionizing people’s habits in how they use the internet and what they now do when they go online.

Now there’s no way I can tell you everything I heard at this seminar.  It was jam packed with useful information.  But, I’ll try to hit the high points.  In this post, I’ll tell you about the first presenter then in a subsequent post I’ll finish up with the last two people.  I said it is a lot of information!

The seminar was lead by three people who are very knowledgeable about social media tools and how to use them.  First up, was Bill Seaver from MicroExplosion.  He reminded me of Anderson Cooper!  He’s just perfect; not a hair out of place.  And he really knows marketing in the social realm.  Then there was Rob Robinson, director of social media for McNeely, Pigott & Fox.  He is a like the CIA agent of all things social media for the company specializing in strategy, tactics and policy.  He’s not scary, just well informed.  And, the last speaker was Kate O’Neill of Meta Marketer.  Smart doesn’t even begin to describe how well she understands web analytics.  Imagine the funny and quirky Sandra Bullock with brains by Microsoft.

First up was Bill.  He answered the most commonly asked questions from the people who are sitting on the sidelines wondering if they should get into the social media game. (and if they do, how deep.)  Those questions are, “Why? & Who?”.   The reason for Why is simple.  Over 70% of Americans are using some type of social media tool.  By the time you read this that number will be higher.  This statistic includes your customer evangelists and your haters.  Plus, many Americans believe that the companies they want to buy from should be present somewhere online.   There is a mind shift taking place just like it did when the internet was first introduced to the population at large.  Some of you may be significantly younger than me so you wouldn’t remember when people were skeptical about using email and thought it was a time waster and not as personal as a phone call or letter.  Yes, there was life before email!  Now look at us!  I have at least 3 email addresses that I actively use on a daily basis.  If I can’t find you on the internet, I won’t try to find you any other way.  I have a feeling that I’m not alone in that.

For businesses, which typically want to understand how to use social media tools in marketing, the question becomes “how do I get attention in the social media space?”.   Bill says he learned all he needs to know about that from an old children’s song, Old MacDonald Had a Farm.  I can hear you singing it now.  E.. I .. E .. I… OOOOOO!  Well, we don’t care about what he had on his farm but that little chorus is the formula for producing valuable content that will grab your readers attention in cyberspace and keep them coming back to possibly work with you.  On the internet people mainly want to be Educated, Inspired, Entertained, Informed, or Outraged.  In other words,  EIEIO’d.   The old marketing model of telling people how much they will like you and your product in a controlled, distant manner is an old school mindset.  It’s quickly being replaced by transparent, informal, collaborative, and conversational communication.   Increasingly, people are filtering out the plain old advertising messages in favor of something more stimulating and engaging.

The other subject Bill touched on is the issue of who do you want to build a conversation with online.  He told this great story about a blogger who was telling her audience about the new Bible that she had received as a gift.  This lady really loves Bibles, especially the way that new leather smells.  In her post, she said that she could never work at a place like Lifeway Christian Bookstore because she would be fired for sniffing the Bibles!  Ok, that’s really funny!  However, Lifeway’s social media consultant saw something more.  When they checked out this lady’s blog it turns out that she has a fairly high number of people subscribing to it.  With the way she loves Bibles, she is already possibly a raving fan of a number of Bible selling stores.  So what could Lifeway do to differentiate themselves from the others?  Here’s what happened.  One of the execs from Lifeway sent her a brand new Bible with this note written on the outside of the package: Yummy smelling Bible inside.  She was floored and delighted and talked about this on her blog causing many people to contact Lifeway looking for yummy smelling Bibles!  How much did that promotion cost them?  About $10 and the cost of mailing the package! 

So the point for you is to take your time to listen to the conversations that are going on in whatever social media realm you choose to occupy.  Listen for people who are in agreement with what your company produces.   Find ways to get into a conversation with them to build relationships and create streams of conversation about your company.  As Bill put it, find your Bible sniffers.  It’s still networking … on steroids!!!!   One other great tip that Bill shared is to be prosonal.  That’s professional plus personal.  (Yeah, he made that up.  But it works.)

Tune in next time, when I share the nuggets of inspired thought that flowed from Rob Robinson and Kate O’Neill. 

So here’s the discussion question:  Do you know why you are using the social media tools you chose?  Who are your Bible sniffers?