Tools of the trade
enourmouse # of technologies
cant participate in all communities – have to pick and choose
can try out all the clones for free or low cost
Not an endorsement of any tech – best tool for him or her – might not work – hosted versus local
tools out there – to get at tofay
the ecosystem
a lot of tools fall into one to one category
all web2.0 tech powerful enuff to abuse or misues
toolkit
1. Your Site
Blogs, RSS, forums, email
2. Out at the Edges
blogosphere, social networks, photo and vid sharing –
3. Offline – (3d worlds)
events, meetups, conferences
make your own presence as a company known
very interative tools
start small and private and expand over time
change from buying a superbowl as
easy to get intimidated – how to do all this stuff
how to manage all the attention and info – pick and choose little pieces, start small and expand over time
Part of the community itself
Categories of tools
Blogs
Podcasts
WIki
Rss
SOcial Networks
Chat
wiki
video
chat
email lists
forums/groups
list of 10 other things – all req interactivity and maintenance and managment
not all tech right for every org
“rules are” – they are full of it – misleading lie – everyone doesnt need the same difunct lifestyle
2 or 3 – maybe not everything
Definitions
regularly updated, frequently updated – what its all about
blogs – owner starts conv and everyone responds
wiki – share document between a number of people
social networking underpinning of these tech
enable who you have relationship in a specific way
relationship confers some status
groups and forums connect community to each other
“a series of tubes becomes a series of crossroads”
complement between the diff tools
highlights of key ones
Blogs
great starting point
immediate and ongoing connection
provides human face to the evangelist
enables you to join the community
be proactive and quick to act
low barrier to entry (just get started)
keep the relationship going in a consistent way
start with what works for you – ok to start without comments – didnt allow comments when they started
feeds , permalinks, established blogging elements
lot of the tools self correct over time – listen to the community – they will have impact and you will have a better result
not being dogmatic or bullheaded
not about the tools – blogs are forgiving and about a relationship – plenty of places to find online
great great complments to the other tools
Podcasting and videoblogging
VIdeo services – metacafe, blip, photobucket
photo tools – flickr, photobucket
desktop tools – iMovie, Quicktime, Audactity, Picasa
tools becoming commodified
WIKI
editable web pages
great for collaboration on evolving projects
need tending
hosted vs server side
hosted – social text, jotspot, PBWiki
server – mediawiki, instiki
can rapidly go out of date
inaccuracies and errors if not tended
everything has mistakes – key= people who are interested in managing and maintaingn and organize – let them organize
willing to play a littl, it doesnt have to be perfect
follow model as blogs – free or cheap and getup&go – or installed software (call IT dept) – more complex but more power
easy to move data between diff types of software
all prod are low enough to expense 🙂
not uncommon
wiki good tool for internalizing evangelism
wiki less scary inside org
tie to email address for business and internal use – people grow up – wouldnt do that with name attached to it
FEED READING
any site with a feed can be tracked passively and centralized
cuts down on the number of email newsletters
feeds for concepts, searches, topics – search the future
subscribe to feed on a topic – verticalizes what you are searching
more broad than just the exact name – not having to track all the blogs – have the software do the work
discover sites and blogs discussing the topic
hosted vs server for feed reading – power users want offline
sharepoint and portal apps allow feed reading as well
SOCIAL NETWORKING / MEDIA TOOLS
get out there in the community
anything on your blog can link out – post screenshots to flickr, upload video to youtube
ensure you are easy to find
use tags, social bookmarks
use the same screenname across the ecosystem
create a presence – product community page, events calendar
be respectful of the context you are in
myspace and plumbers 😉
devil is in the details – use the same tags – persistent vocabulary – use the same screenname across ecosystem
GM mention
find us on – and then all the networks you participate in
care about participating in those communities
authenticity – dont join a network just to be on it – if you cant add something useful and acting like a native and being honest for that group of users – dont do it – thats OK
no reason to have empty – noting lonelier than flickr without photos
SOme guiding priciples
Be Authentic
participate
you are not in control
get transparent
a Day In The Life
How do you keep up with this stuff
skillset and type of person
a day in the life of mr dash
works in blogging company
every customer has a blog
wonderful customers not afraid to kick in the ass
x tens of millions with tools
track 4-5 brands
2-3 senior executives represent the company
any mention of the brands or people is considered an obligation for 6A to respond
SF, PAris, Tokyo
25 million people, 25 lang, 20 key terms
volume in blog posts mentioning in a lang they can respond in tends to be 6-700 posts
on days when launching something new to somethign active – 10k posts
goal to acknowledge every one
over time – reduced the amount of resources it takes to do it
1. uses all of the feed search systems
a. icerocket, technorati, sphere.com, yahoo blgo search, google blog search
each tool does a search for a product term – searches for all – opens each search in own tab in FFox bookmarkes the tabs
does for each products
feed of every search for the tools
how the day begins
some agg have the tools built in
dashboard – lots of spam and people misusing the terms
take away x %
some people are tag spammers – broad brush
heart of customer comm
diff cats – hey trying out this product or service – mention it in passing
people who just formed a relationship with the org
key opps to say HI I am with X – thanks for talking, considering doing a meeting – huge touchpoint
surprised where thay benefit comes back
POC that early changes impressions
most is fairly structured – not in favor of copy and pasting – follow structure – make bullet list of main points and make them releavant
saying something that is unique to a certain community
“hello, welcome, thanks”
and add on epiece of info that isnt sales-y
“if you need information – here is how to get in touch”
will expose if there is a problem with help at your company
Asymmetrical – will find the gaps and the outliers – where to take the notes and maintain a record
second major group is moderately disgruntled
annoyed, peeved, little problems
fairly straightforward
9 out of 10 – prob aware of it if engaged in community – shouldnt be a surprise
once you set policy you can talk about what you are doing about it
justify what you get in exchange for the fees
underprmise and overdeliver
aware and working on it
fix it or explain – but be sincere
they will understand by being upfront
2 easy cases – welcome to the community or you have a problem
3rd – people who are really upset
most upset for something that has nothing to do with your company, product, service
your product failed at the wrong time – impetus is never about the failure of the prod – you can never say “here is what you are upset about” – cant do that – more exasperating
going a little beyond makes a big difference
more when the battery comes back
