Monthly Archives: January 2012

Monday Night at Miriam’s Kitchen

Don’t Let Your Social Media Hypothesis Dictate Your Conclusion

300px Einstein1921 by F Schmutzer 4 Dont Let Your Social Media Hypothesis Dictate Your Conclusion

Image via Wikipedia

While neither marketing nor social media are sciences, one needs to use scientific principles to be most effective when it comes to both branding and prospecting online. It doesn’t take an Einstein to succeed in social media marketing, but to does take a scientist. Are you rigorously collecting metrics and data  to see if what you’re doing is resulting in sales conversions or extending your brand or are you relying on things you’ve learned from The Secret? Is your social media marketing campaign relying too much on magical realism, the power of positive thinking, and general superstition? Continue reading

President Chris Abraham in Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers

social media icons 300x209 President Chris Abraham in Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers…And he gets double credit for being 33, my favorite number. The man, the myth, the legend has done it again. Abraham Harrison President Chris Abraham made the cut this week as one of Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers. Way to go! He’s in great company alongside Chris Brogan, President of Human Works and Gary Vaynerchuk– wine and video king. The list was compiled using PeekYou’s social pull metrics, a handy tool measuring the number of people in your secondary networks. Check out the whole list and let us know who else you think you have made the cut.

 President Chris Abraham in Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers

Are you social media agoraphobic?

To follow up on my last post, Being pretty isn’t enough for social media success, I wanted to discuss what I like to call Social Media Isolationism or Social Media Agoraphobia.

agoraphobia3 Are you social media agoraphobic?And there are two forms of this sort of isolationism: invitational and exclusionary. They both mean you don’t venture outside your own four social media walls; however, the first is welcoming and the other is dismissive.

The welcoming pineapple

Jay Gatsby was a welcoming pineapple. He desperately wanted to woo his beloved Daisy and opened his grand home hoping he just might, one night, find her at one of his lavish parties. Or, at the very least, create enough buzz so that his lost love might hear of him and ask about him.

Not always the direct result of a grand romantic gesture, the welcoming pineapple is often associated with the feeling that one is so appealing, so compelling a brand, product, or service that your friends and neighbors should very well come a-calling. You host awesome dinner parties, right? You have the biggest television, have your own pool and tennis court, and have several guest rooms. Why would you ever want to leave your own social media home?

Why wouldn’t everyone want to take advantage of your generosity and party favor to want to go anywhere else, to say nothing of staying home in their pallid, beige, one-bedroom apartments? This generosity often comes with the stink of superiority or ego that eventually turns people off.

And if the proffered goodies are so compelling as to compel, this commitment might very well be contingent only upon the bounty, the booty, the swag lavished. In other words, your friends are bought and paid for and are your friends forever (or until you run out of cookies and candies and a subscription to cable).

In terms of a country, this open-border country would be glad to allow anyone in but since this country is obviously so awesome, offering everything and anything you could very well ever want in the first place, people just visit, nobody really ever leaves and a majority don’t even possess a passport.

Good fences make good neighbors

There are other social media isolationists who treat their following like a gardener maintains a Bonsai tree: letting it grow then pruning it back. Limiting its natural growth patterns with the goal of cultivating something elegant, controllable, exceptional, and beautiful — and planned. The operative word here is control.

There is a strong desire among the good fences variety of social media isolationists to want to maintain a semblance of control over brand perception, brand response, and brand buzz. This social media isolationist would surely turn off (or moderate) comments if at all possible.

This form of social media agoraphobic never lowers himself to engaging with riffraff and never suffers fools gladly. In many cases, he blocks competitors, rarely follows anyone back, and limits real engagement to the worthy and the notable. Only A-listers need apply.

This is the sort of social media expert who most likely has a pristine living room with white couches and chairs neatly enshrined in a clear vinyl cover. This is the sort of person who collects beautiful heritage silver and china, never to see the copious staining gravies and beet juice of a holiday dinner.

It doesn’t matter that social media is, by its very nature, chaotic, organic, anonymous, spontaneous, unpredictable, and crazy; it means nothing that the life of something beautiful can readily be strangled out of it when the collar’s too tight; and it means nothing that your detailed business plan and marketing strategy may be too macro, too myopic — that what you’ve made exclusively for one use may well be adopted “off prescription” for something completely different and more profitable — something this sort of isolationist would very well never be able to see.

And, if he could, he wouldn’t want it that way because that’s not the right way and it shouldn’t be done this way. Social media’s just not cricket.

In terms of a country, this walled-up land would be glad to exclude everyone; but, more realistically, it’s willing to limit visas and green cards to only the pedigreed: money, power, influence, esteem, connections, or education. Full funding for controlled borders and everyone had better carry their papers with them. I mean, why allow anyone in, since this country is obviously so awesome.

A majority possess passports; however, why leave? Too much chaos, uncertainty, and people who don’t look like the sort of people they’re used to.

Social media globalists unite

Neither the welcoming pineapple nor the good fences are effective in social media marketing because there are innately no borders in the Internet. Yes, maybe there is are language and cultural barriers, but these are as meaningless as the lines that separate nation states.

The Internet has rendered the world flat. Facebook is expected to reach a billion members in April.

And that’s to say nothing of the bloggers, the tweeters, the pinsters, the borders, the messengers, the redditers, the diggers, the flickrers, the tumblrs, the googlers, and, yes, even the spacers — they’re global, they curious, they’re ambitious, and they have as much right to your attention as anyone else.

Whether you’re an exclusionary or inclusive isolationist, you’re still unwilling to leave your social media homeland. You’re unwilling to go out there and meet your future real best friends. Instead, you either having to buy them or remain too afraid and afeard to make friends at all–or at least the wrong type of friends.

To be sure, you’ll never know where your next windfall will come from. You also don’t know who that fairy godmother is or what she looks like. It’s essential to get out there and spend some of your time and energy going exploring, finding new lands and new faces, and expanding your natural core, your natural base.

While there may well be zero barriers to you because the Internet has flattened the business world for you, there are also zero barriers between you and your best future customers! So, go git ‘em Tiger!

Continue reading

There’s a 5% Increase in Homelessness in DC

I just received this missive from the gang at Miriam’s Kitchen. The email is titled “Homelessness increases 5% in DC” and here’s what it said:

miriams logo2 Theres a 5% Increase in Homelessness in DCLast week, we shared with you the The National Alliance to End Homelessness‘ new report, The State of Homelessness in America 2012 (you can view the highlights here.)

This week, we’d like to share with you the trends from DC as well as what we’re seeing at Miriam’s Kitchen.

Here’s what’s happening in DC:

  • There are 6,546 homeless individuals on any given night in DC, an increase of 5% from 2009.
  • The number of chronically homeless individuals increased by 9% from 2009 to 2011.
  • The number of homeless families increased by 17% from 2009 to 2011.
  • The number of homeless veterans decreased by 20% in the last two years.

What we’re seeing at Miriam’s Kitchen:

  • Our guest population continues to consist primarily of chronically homeless individuals. We have also seen an increase in the number of families we’re serving.
  • The number of guests we’re providing case management services to has gone up by 23% from 2010.
  • The number of meals we’re serving is down slightly from 2010. We served an average of 273 meals per day in 2011 vs. an average of 289 per day in 2010. We attribute this change to two factors: the relocation of emergency shelters to the outskirts of town has made it difficult for guests to join us for breakfast, and 150-200 of our guests are now in permanent supportive housing and no longer dependent upon our meals.

The numbers don’t tell the whole story, but what we’re seeing in DC is troubling. Homelessness is on the rise in DC and is predicted to get worse before it gets better.

If DC hadn’t been making the significant investments in housing solutions that they have been the past few years, the increases we’re seeing now would be even higher. That’s why we know that permanent supportive housing is the answer for our guests, and why we’ll continue to provide the highest-quality services possible while advocating for the permanent supportive housing our guests need to survive.

Continue reading

The anachronistic social media agoraphobic

red velvet rope policy 300x212 The anachronistic social media agoraphobicTo follow up on my last post, Being pretty isn’t enough for social media success, I wanted to discuss what I like to call Social Media Isolationism or Social Media Agoraphobia. And there are two forms of this sort of isolationism: invitational and exclusionary. They both mean you don’t venture outside your own four social media walls; however, the first is welcoming and the other is dismissive.

The welcoming pineapple

Jay Gatsby was a welcoming pineapple. He desperately wanted to woo his beloved Daisy and opened his grand home hoping he just might, one night, find her at one of his lavish parties. Or, at the very least, create enough buzz so that his lost love might hear of him and ask about him.

Not always the direct result of a grand romantic gesture, the welcoming pineapple is often associated with the feeling that one is so appealing, so compelling a brand, product, or service that your friends and neighbors should very well come a-calling. You host awesome dinner parties, right? You have the biggest television, have your own pool and tennis court, and have several guest rooms. Why would you ever want to leave your own social media home?

Why wouldn’t everyone want to take advantage of your generosity and party favor to want to go anywhere else, to say nothing of staying home in their pallid, beige, one-bedroom apartments? This generosity often comes with the stink of superiority or ego that eventually turns people off.

And if the proffered goodies are so compelling as to compel, this commitment might very well be contingent only upon the bounty, the booty, the swag lavished. In other words, your friends are bought and paid for and are your friends forever (or until you run out of cookies and candies and a subscription to cable).

In terms of a country, this open-border country would be glad to allow anyone in but since this country is obviously so awesome, offering everything and anything you could very well ever want in the first place, people just visit, nobody really ever leaves and a majority don’t even possess a passport.

Good fences make good neighbors

There are other social media isolationists who treat their following like a gardener maintains a Bonsai tree: letting it grow then pruning it back. Limiting its natural growth patterns with the goal of cultivating something elegant, controllable, exceptional, and beautiful — and planned. The operative word here is control.

There is a strong desire among the good fences variety of social media isolationists to want to maintain a semblance of control over brand perception, brand response, and brand buzz. This social media isolationist would surely turn off (or moderate) comments if at all possible.

This form of social media agoraphobic never lowers himself to engaging with riffraff and never suffers fools gladly. In many cases, he blocks competitors, rarely follows anyone back, and limits real engagement to the worthy and the notable. Only A-listers need apply.

This is the sort of social media expert who most likely has a pristine living room with white couches and chairs neatly enshrined in a clear vinyl cover. This is the sort of person who collects beautiful heritage silver and china, never to see the copious staining gravies and beet juice of a holiday dinner.

It doesn’t matter that social media is, by its very nature, chaotic, organic, anonymous, spontaneous, unpredictable, and crazy; it means nothing that the life of something beautiful can readily be strangled out of it when the collar’s too tight; and it means nothing that your detailed business plan and marketing strategy may be too macro, too myopic — that what you’ve made exclusively for one use may well be adopted “off prescription” for something completely different and more profitable — something this sort of isolationist would very well never be able to see.

And, if he could, he wouldn’t want it that way because that’s not the right way and it shouldn’t be done this way. Social media’s just not cricket.

In terms of a country, this walled-up land would be glad to exclude everyone; but, more realistically, it’s willing to limit visas and green cards to only the pedigreed: money, power, influence, esteem, connections, or education. Full funding for controlled borders and everyone had better carry their papers with them. I mean, why allow anyone in, since this country is obviously so awesome.

A majority possess passports; however, why leave? Too much chaos, uncertainty, and people who don’t look like the sort of people they’re used to.

Social media globalists unite

Neither the welcoming pineapple nor the good fences are effective in social media marketing because there are innately no borders in the Internet. Yes, maybe there is are language and cultural barriers, but these are as meaningless as the lines that separate nation states.

The Internet has rendered the world flat. Facebook is expected to reach a billion members in April.

And that’s to say nothing of the bloggers, the tweeters, the pinsters, the borders, the messengers, the redditers, the diggers, the flickrers, the tumblrs, the googlers, and, yes, even the spacers — they’re global, they curious, they’re ambitious, and they have as much right to your attention as anyone else.

Whether you’re an exclusionary or inclusive isolationist, you’re still unwilling to leave your social media homeland. You’re unwilling to go out there and meet your future real best friends. Instead, you either having to buy them or remain too afraid and afeard to make friends at all–or at least the wrong type of friends.

To be sure, you’ll never know where your next windfall will come from. You also don’t know who that fairy godmother is or what she looks like. It’s essential to get out there and spend some of your time and energy going exploring, finding new lands and new faces, and expanding your natural core, your natural base.

While there may well be zero barriers to you because the Internet has flattened the business world for you, there are also zero barriers between you and your best future customers! So, go git ‘em Tiger!

Continue reading

Using Consumer Loyalty to Determine Your PR Medium

Public relations in the non-digital world can certainly be a messy and complicated affair. If your business is looking to offset bad press, respond to a story, advertise business speaker for conferences, or highlight a new promotion there are numerous strategies for properly conveying that message to the public. But regardless of the content, the medium used is usually the same – a press release or a statement.

Digital PR, on the other hand, offers multiple ways for communicating a message to the consumer. You can send out an email to all subscribers. You can post your message on Facebook or Google+. And, of course, you can announce it via a post on Twitter. Of all these options, which one is the best? Which medium provides the most effective and beneficial way of signaling a piece of information to your target customer? These are questions that digital PR managers often find themselves asking. Continue reading

The Social Media Isolationist

47529674 589102cc04 m The Social Media Isolationist

Image by marcusrg via Flickr

To follow-up on my last post, Being Pretty Isn’t Enough for Social Media Marketing, I wanted to discuss what I like to call Social Media Isolationism or Social Media Agoraphobia.  And there are two forms of this sort of isolationism:  invitational and exclusionary. They both mean you don’t venture outside your own four social media walls; however, the first is welcoming and the other is dismissive. Continue reading

Creating A “Unique” Social Media Experience

These days, it often seems as though every person with a business or a product has chosen to market their idea via social media. The impetus behind this is completely understandable: social media is cheap, highly accessible, and provides access to a wide demographic of current and potential consumers. A business loses nothing and stands to gain greater exposure by going the social media route.

This is great, of course, because social media opens up countless PR opportunities for businesses both large and small. But the increasing universality of social media use does, however, have a downside. With a larger and larger percentage of companies turning to online PR solutions, the internet has become a far more “crowded” place. Internet users are bombarded with social media marketing every time they go online. It’s harder to stand out and get heard. Continue reading