Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

Yes. This blog is focused on business, and how to use social media tools to generate business and enhance marketing. I get that. Let there henceforth be an implicit agreement ‘twixt us (yes, I just went old school on you) that the subject matter of this blog, by and large, is understood. Just because we’re in business to make money doesn’t mean that we should do that without heart and soul.

During the Gravity Summit last week, a presentation was made on Cause Marketing – if you’re unfamiliar, it’s when a company strategically aligns itself with a non-profit organization in a mutually beneficial relationship; the charity benefits from raised awareness and the brand benefits from the publicity. I have no problem with cause marketing, because it’s an idea that in and of itself is harmless at the very least and life-changing at best. The real problem I had was the presentation I saw, in which a commodity leveraged a charity to differentiate itself. The whole talk made me feel sick to my stomach, and the angry tweets I was firing off at the time are a good indicator of that.

I know Cause Marketing is a form of marketing – it says it right there in the name! I think, however, that there are companies that approach charity more as an obligation and privilege and less as the road to increased marketing share. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

I’m not saying that you should ignore any benefits you get from charitable work – I’m just saying that they shouldn’t be your main motivator all the time. The foot you put forward makes all the difference here. Instead of hearing the story of a company using their considerable resources to make the world better place and the side effects they brought, I was treated to what seemed like an endless parade of bar graphs, pie charts and statistics touting increased marketing share and Paris Hilton tweeting about them. For all of the gentleman’s talk about how great charity has been for business, I had two thoughts running through my head:

1. I’m glad to know about the charity
2. I will avoid this company’s products like the plague

Clearly this is a personal opinion, but I don’t think charity is about campaigns. It’s about people making a difference in any way they can because they have the ability to facilitate change. Does everyone need to know that you make big donations? No. Do you make donations so you can tell people about it and come off as a hero? I don’t know. Only you can answer that. I just want you to consider this: Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

I don’t know if I believe in altruism, but I do believe that intention is every bit as important as action, for anyone that wants to engage in the “So what? The charity got some benefit too…” argument. In cause marketing, seems like there’s a fine line between being a saint and being a weasel sometimes. For me, that line was crossed.

Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

How do you feel about this? Am I off-base?

One week ago I wandered out to UCLA for their 2nd annual Gravity Summit. I had scored a free pass due to my work with Social Media Club Los Angeles. Having never been to a Gravity Summit (they’re held at college campuses around the country from what I’ve been told) I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Those of you who followed my Twitter Stream that day know that I was basically live-blogging the conference to the best of my ability. Have become used to the unconference format of BarCamp it was difficult at times to sit in one room to listen to a series of lectures, but at the same the information was interesting and many of the speakers were very engaging.

I have to say, though, that the day belonged to Ramon DeLeon, a Domino’s franchise owner in Chicago who has integrated social media into his business in a way that I don’t think I’d seen before. He just plain got it, and his understanding of what made a BUSINESS work made it all successful. Like I said on Twitter, any guy who can sell franchised pizza in Chicago must be doing something right. Rather than listen to me talk about him, though, check out his keynote for yourself. This is particularly useful as an afternoon pick me up.

A lot of traditional marketing methods have a built-in acceptance of failure. We might send a targeted direct mailing hoping to get a 2% conversion rate and be thrilled with that because that 2% represents a significant amount of income.

What about that other 98%? Are we hoping to scoop them up somewhere else in our “marketing funnel?”

Maybe those people don’t want to be bombarded by ads and promotions. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t do business with you. It could just mean that they aren’t interested in being treated like a number. Chris Brogan wrote a great post yesterday about how important “custom” is – how feeling “heard” or “seen” can make a huge difference for any of us. Social media allows us to engage the consumer as a person when they want, where they want and how they want.

One part of integrating social into your marketing plan is taking what you’re doing with you current marketing and figuring out how it can extend/adapt into the social media space. Another big part is allowing social media to change and evolve all of your other marketing. All of a sudden you have the ears and eyes to hear and see your market. You can connect with them and grow a relationship by listening and giving them value without asking anything in return and create a loyal group of people who share in your success.

Let’s go back to the numbers of the first example but look at it through the social lens. You’ve got a 2% return on your “investment” (of time, expertise and hopefully a little emotion), but now, instead of being “lost” that other 98% just aren’t looking to buy right now. You haven’t lost them at all.

Let me set the record straight here, though. I’m not saying direct marketing sucks, or that you shouldn’t send mail out if that works for you. I’m just saying that there are other options for reaching and connecting with that 98%. That’s where the power of “custom” comes in.

…Don’t wipe your hands on my drapes.

That’s not what they’re for, you know? I use ‘em to keep the windows covered, or at the very least as decoration. If you’re like me, your home is your place, where you have your own rules. When you visit someone else’s house, you don’t conduct yourself the same way you would at home because it’s not your place. That’s the golden rule, right? Simple.

For whatever reason (maybe because it’s “not real”?), our online “homes” are no different. How many of you have left a promotional, self-serving post on someone else’s Facebook wall? It’s OK to raise your hand – none of us can see you. Now, how many of you have FOUND other people’s spam (that’s what it is – unwanted, unwarranted, unbelievable) on your wall? Sucks, doesn’t it? Hell, I get upset when I see a friend getting spammed, even if they don’t mind. I think it’s rude, if I’m not mistaken it’s a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service (psst! It’s in there! Check the first item in the “Safety” section).

If you’re a smart business person, you know better than to storm into someone’s cocktail hour like a bull on speed and start shouting about your exciting new service. If it helps you, spammers, think of Facebook as a cocktail hour. Or a birthday party. Or a baby shower. Or a wedding. Or some other place where your well-honed “hard sale” is not only ineffective but offensive to some. Is it worth the few sales you might make to turn off 100 for every 1 you sell? If your answer is “yes” feel free to leave my blog (if the lack of a zillion ads didn’t drive you off in the first place). If it’s no, consider this alternative: Contact people privately if you think they might be interested in something you have to offer. If they say no, let it go. How about a Facebook BUSINESS page where you can PROMOTE your business openly?

Don’t get me wrong here: There’s no need to keep mum about your job or aspects of your work on the personal side of Facebook since they’re a real part of your life and can spark engagement with people. It simply means that your personal profile (and anyone else’s, for that matter) is not a billboard or a place for you to promote.

They have places for that. They’re called ACTUAL Billboards.

Am I off base here? Tell me what you think.

When you start out, improvising is all about rules. Actually, a lot of it is about don’ts:

• Don’t deny
• Don’t ask questions
• Don’t go for the joke

Most people are so nervous starting out that you can actually see their brains working, trying to remember all the rules so that they can have a “successful scene.” Because of that, most of their scenes are not so successful, but hey, it’s a class, so it’s OK. (To be honest, all the side coaching from an instructor can sometimes make it worse, because you’re just waiting to be corrected. But that’s just my opinion – I’d rather get my notes after a scene, so we can go over it moment by moment.) As long as you follow the rules, you’re going to be successful, right? All of your scenes will be hilarious because you refrained from asking questions, said yes to everything, and never went for a joke! We’ve finally boiled comedy down to its mathematical essence! Sorry to say that this just isn’t so. I speak from experience. I’ve had terrible scenes where I followed the rules and transcendant scenes where I ignored them. Or did I?

The key to successful improvising lies not in the blind following of rules, but in the understanding of the purpose they serve. Don’t deny doesn’t mean “don’t ever say no”; it means that you should be open to any direction a scene takes, and go with premises rather than stopping them in their tracks so you can squeeze your ideas in.

You don’t have to avoid questions, but you need to understand that everything must add information, and questions tend to put the onus for information on the other party, so you might think about why you’re asking a question and purpose it serves to the overall scene. When you’re really in tune with the other players, questions cease just being questions, and instead become bridges, set-ups and even buttons to a scene.

Going for the joke is frowned upon in improv because it feels cheap and easy, and going for it right off the bat is definitely proof; improvisers earn their laughs from the unexpected twists and turns that come from nobody, not even the performers, knowing where the next moment is coming from. When someone tries to lead you down a path with their “schtick”, it’s boring and predictable. However, there are cases where you can earn the joke, making it a payoff to audience expectation rather than a predictable and hacky attempt to steal a laugh. The point is that the rule exist for a reason, and until you grasp the reason, you can neither truly abide by the rules or break them successfully.

Businesses using social media are given all sorts of guideposts, graphics and do’s & don’ts – we’ve even given a bunch of them here – but that doesn’t mean that your success or failure is dependent upon your following these “rules” to the letter. Instead, cultivating an ability to interpret and really understand why those steps are important can lead to bend, stretching or even breaking what are fast becoming the conventions of “social marketing” online. THAT’S how this medium will grow.

What do YOU think?

In catching up on my “tween-holidays” blog reading, I came across this article from The Social Customer which stated:

According to a recent survey, poor customer service costs $338.5B per year in lost business. The reasons for this lost business are when customers defect and abandon their purchases. The hardest hit industries across all countries surveyed are financial services, cable and satellite TV providers, and a variety of telecommunications companies.

If you’ve been reading this blog or talking to me in the past few months, you know that I’ve been talking about the need for a more consumer-centric approach to service. Since we as consumers have so much power (think about it – who do you trust more – recommendations on Yelp or the claims made by a restaurant about itself?) and influence over other customers, it only makes sense to have a good relationship with your customers, and that can (and should) mean going the extra mile to provide excellent service.

I’ll pay more to avoid dealing with douchey, ineffective service, and I’ll bet that you will too. What interested me the most about this article was a reaction I got after I tweeted it. My friend Dan Green wrote the following response:

It also GAINS $338.5B for other companies!

Is that really true, though? In all of the industries mentioned in the article (and some that weren’t), is there always someone ready to step into the void and provide the service others can’t, won’t or just don’t? If you’re in an industry known for horrible customer service, you have the opportunity to be the hero. Think about the ways that you can integrate superior customer service into your brand, possibly through social tools, possibly just by hiring people who will care.

I’m still annoyed by past problems with customer service for car rentals, cable companies and more. I’m sick of dealing with level upon level of people who have nothing to offer but a repetition of the instructions from the last person (and stop asking for my #&$%! name and address; I gave it once. Let’s all get on the same page here, mkay?) On the plus side, I remember companies that went the extra mile (I’m looking at you, Apple) because customer loyalty trumped standard operating procedure.

Look at the opportunities you have to gain the business lost by others and keep from losing business yourself. I firmly believe that excellent customer service is the cornerstone of the successful modern business plan.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpstyles/ / CC BY 2.0“>

Have you heard about foursquare? For the uninitiated, it’s game where you earn points by visiting different points of interest in a city (nightclubs, restaurants, museums, etc.). Visit a place more often than everyone else and BOOM, you’re the Mayor. It’s simple, fun and extremely addictive (especially when you’re 1/2 OCD to begin with. I’ve been addicted to everything from Guitar Hero to Trader Joe’s Mint Chocolate Chip meringues. I actually called the company when I couldn’t find them in my local store only to learn that they’d been discontinued). I used to “check-in” at various places using my BB Curve, which was slow, inaccurate and led to a lot of double check-ins. Then I got my sweet, sweet Droid, with its pimpin’ GPS and compass, not to mention a dedicated app for foursquare.

There are a few great things foursquare is/can be:

• A way to see what my friends are up to  & where they are in case I want to go see them
• A living travel guide for a city (as people add “to do’s” at various locations)
• Inspiration to go explore everything that a city has to offer
• A travelogue

I’d been wondering how foursquare would monetize their site. To be honest, I was wondering how their monetization would ruin things for the rest of us – I’m always wary of too many ads or having to pay a subscription fee – sometimes irrational fears left over from MySpace. My friend Josh was looking at foursquare on his iPhone when he got a pop-up notification: check in at the Fatburger down the street and get a discount.

Well played, foursquare.

I actually don’t mind seeing offers for checking in at local businesses, provided they don’t dominate the screen. I’d even like the option to receive or NOT receive them.

Here’s another idea: Mayor Discounts!

I recently became the mayor of an awesome pizza place called Fresh Brothers. They congratulated me via twitter, and I asked if I would receive the mayor’s discount (I was joking – I do not feel any actual sense of entitlement from being a fake mayor). They replied that I could have a t-shirt and a free tweet-up tasting. Great move on their part. Here’s why:

- They actual gave some legitimacy to the game and are encouraging others to play and come to their shop.

-They’ve rewarded me for my repeat business and pimping their brand

-They’ve seized the opportunity to take integrate our online and offline relationships. Hosting a tweet-up is a no-brainer for any restaurant/bar.

I think some reward system for mayorship is going to be the next step for foursquare. What do you think?

I’ve been improvising for 15 years now. I love improv; the challenge of creating entertainment from nothing has always attracted me; I get a rush from working without a net like that. I’ve taken classes from a ton of different theaters: Groundlings, Second City, ImprovOlympic and more, but there are two big things I’ve learned from improvising a lot:

1. Trying to save a scene by pulling off an imaginary mask and saying “I was Hitler all along” is never the laugh-getter you think it’s going to be; and
2. The best way to make a scene work is to concentrate on the other person.

While both of these guidelines might apply to social media, for the sake of argument, let’s just look at #2. Social Media, like social interaction, works best when you take an active interest in the other people out there. That’s the best way to learn, grow, and as a company, find out how you can improve (a combination of learning and growing – from the department of redundancy department). Stop friggin’ shouting for two seconds and make it about the customer. Just for a little. Try it out. See how it fits. Give it a whirl. Some fifth analogy.

In improv, the person who goes for laugh and tries to steer the scene ends up looking like an ass and is more likely to bring a scene down than they are to lift it up, because they’re do busy trying to get their “bit” in and less concerned with concentrating on the things that make a successful (& funny) scene. It’s more important to listen than it is to speak, because if you spend more time listening to what the other person has to say when the time comes, you’re going to contribute something meaningful based on the information you’ve been gathering.

Sound familiar?

"The Old School, Upper Mill, Saddleworth" used courtesy of dullhunk

I don’t use newsletters, and I tend not to read them unless they’re from my wife. If you’re reading this and I’m somehow on your newsletter list, don’t be surprised. The reason why is simple: I don’t opt in to any of them so I’m not really looking for any of the information they provide. I just want to be left alone. I’ll tell you when I want to hear about your November specials or the new employees you’ve hired. Promise. I’ve tended to look down my nose at “traditional” marketing methods because I’ve discovered the possibilities social media provides. But maybe it’s time for me soften my stance a little bit – old school marketing has its place. Instead of throwing it all out, why not make a little room for your social media too? If you’re sending out newsletters or email blasts, why not let those people know about your Facebook fan page or that you’re now on Twitter? The people who actually read your communications might just start engaging you on those platforms.

I’m tired of the fighting, the comparing of old to new and which is better. Social media isn’t going anywhere, but traditional media ain’t exactly gone either; the amount of television I watch and the number of newstands still in business can prove that. If you combine your efforts you’re not just finding new ways to grow your network online; you’re also creating a more comprehensive approach to reaching consumers. Go do that, because if you don’t, pretty soon you’ll be like the people in 1997 who thought that having a website was enough – nobody needed to be told about it. That’s not a good thing, just so you know.

How do you combine your efforts? I’d love to hear about it.

Image "What happens when AV nerds grow up..." used courtesy of DSmous

One of my favorite panels from the BlogWorld Expo was called “The Twitter Game: How To ‘Play’ Social Media and Why It’s A Bad Idea.” It was all about “gaming” Twitter – what should be automated, what should, best practices, all that tasty stuff.

Before I really get into anything here, I think it’s worth pointing out that social media people are REALLY protective of social media surprise). Sometimes we behave like preachers in the Holy Church 2.0, and we’ll let you know when we think you’re off track. Don’t use MY precious twitter to shout at people, sell your male enhancement products, or tell me how to get more followers or make money – I’m doing JUST fine, thank you.

I’m bringing this up because among the panelists was Jesse Stay, who was greeting with a mild bronx cheer when he was introduced as the man who created auto-DM (direct messages on Twitter to the layperson), but also the man behind SocialToo, which allows you to block auto-DMs. I’ll talk about auto-DMs another time, though – I want to talk about a statement Jesse made that stuck with me. At one point, he called Twitter a “broadcasting platform.”

GATHER YOUR TORCHES, PEOPLE! CLEM, GET THE PTICHFORKS! WE’RE STORMING THE CASTLE! How DARE he refer to Twitter as a “broadcasting platform”?! It’s about engagement, right? We’re connecting with people, not shouting at them, right? Why I oughta… Lord knows there are enough people out there shouting and spamming. Now we have homeboy up on stage outright calling it a broadcasting platform, and to certain people, that’s all the validation they’d need to go on talking to nobody about themselves all day. If I’m honest, though, I actually agree with Jesse. Twitter IS a broadcast medium.

Twitter is a broadcasting platform; the difference is in how you’re broadcasting. I can broadcast over the radio by rockin’ the mic and using the technology of magic (and transistors) to reach my audience, or get in front of a camera and use it and magic (plus satellites) to appear on your TV. On twitter, however, my message gets distributed through other people, and if I’m not out there cultivating relationships and adding value to people’s lives, they have no reason to pass things on (retweeting, mentions, etc.). So while Twitter does provide you with a platform for broadcasting, if you don’t have a real connection with someone, your satellites are offline, your transistors are broken, and you’ve lost the magic.

What do you think?