I’m about halfway through Mitch Joel’s book called Six Pixels of Separation and in the early chapters he talks about how he started blogging as a way to grow his business and even though it felt weird giving away content for free (he used to be a journalist), it wasn’t long before it producing content for free led to tangible benefits, the latest of which of course is his book deal.
[note: throughout this blog post I use the word "attention" not in a "HEY LOOK AT ME" way, but in the way we choose to give a person attention over other people, or a brand attention over other brands. It is a form of earned attention, not interruptive attention like TV advertising]
This got me thinking about my own journey with blogging and social media and I realised I never shared the story of my first job offer, so I’ll do it here.
This led to me getting called up by someone present at ad:tech and after a couple of interviews, they offered me my first job offer (coincidentally, the company had a colour in it’s name as well). I didn’t take it but I sincerely believe that blogging and starting Social Media Breakfast | Singapore for free led to all these opportunities and it is all these opportunities and connections that eventually built enough of a network and experience to land me my job today.
At job interviews, people have given me flak for not being “entrepreneurial” enough and giving away stuff for free. I think that’s losing the forest for the trees. For me, everything changed when I realised I was now my own TV, radio and print channel rolled up in one. As Seth Godin says “In a world of free, everyone can play.”
As Chris Anderson illustrates in “Free” the first step is using free to get people to pay attention to you, the second step is converting that attention into something of value. This is especially true in the attention economy, as ours is.
My blog and Social Media Breakfast earned me the “attention” that was converted into references, networks and relationships which in turn served as a way to earn more “attention” that was converted into a job.
People balk at free because of their inability to convert the earned attention into something of value.
I really wanted to write this up over the weekend, but I got hit by a flu bug (and fever) and was literally knocked out all weekend, so better late than never.
Challenging
Week One at Blue has been really challenging, but fulfilling at the same time. As much as I know I can bring some knowledge to the front end of things, the extent to which Blue has the back end of things nailed down really, really blew me away. These are the hardcore people who will slice and dice your email database, implement a targeted (not shotgun) approach to executing a campaign, calculate the predicted results to +/- two standard deviations, prove it makes financial sense across the board, and go right ahead to do just that. From day one I’ve really felt that what I know is like 2% compared to what my colleagues know.
Accountability
It shouldn’t be surprising to me that this is a big deal at Blue. After all, their tagline is “the measurable marketing company”. But on the second day I was told accountability and results are “something we hold close to our soul”, and I’m reminded about that every day. (By the way, that would make a great Blue t-shirt). The whole kumbayah soft approach “engage customers” and all that is thrown out of the window and I am really having to dig deep to find powerful, compelling and trackable ideas that come from well-regarded sources.
Data data and more data
On Friday I was introduced to the “listening” tool we use at Blue and it took me close to six hours to get familiar with the terms, what they do, what I should look for, the story it tells and how it makes a difference to our clients. The sheer power behind that tool and how we use it is just staggering. I’ve always kind of flipped through Avinash Kaushik’s blog for stuff on analytics, but I’ve never read them word for word. Needless to say, I am now, for every single post. (And his posts are long).
One thing I’m sure of is that my decision to get into digital or social media over a year ago was the right one. There is no way I would have ever been picked for this job if I graduated from school with what we’re being taught in marketing classes these days. Understanding how social technologies empower marketing and conversations and conceptual understanding of how the back end stuff like SEO and optimisation has really saved me a lot of pain. And you know people ask me all the time why I never monetised Social Media Breakfast, the answer is plain as day: It created a platform for me (and anyone interested) to meet industry practicioners who were dealing with this stuff every single day. Many of whom I respect and are happy to call friends. I don’t think that would have happened if I made them pay $20 a session. Hell, I couldn’t buy the experience and exposure I got from it if I tried.
On Tuesday, I checked my Feedburner account and was pleasantly surprised to see this:
RSS Subscribers
It’s taken me 14 months since January of 2008, but it’s finally happened. I suppose 100 doesn’t sound like much to many, but the idea that there are 100 people in the world who are interested enough in what I have to say that they want the content delivered straight to them really makes me feel fulfilled.
If you’re curious to find out how you can get the latest content delivered to you instead of bookmarking and returning to this page, check out this handy guide for help.
Let’s hope the journey to 200 subscribers will be as fulfilling, and happen in a shorter amount of time!
Twitter/Brand Monitoring
Jesse Stay has an exclusive interview with the woman behind @BritneySpears on Twitter over on Louis Gray’s blog, and I found this to be a very, very interesting read. When you think about Twitter, you think about people in social media or tech people or people who live their lives online. Yet @BritneySpears has found some footing with an audience of more than 10,000 (maybe it isn’t even her audience, maybe it’s a wider audience than her usual), and the results look to be, for the most part, positive.
It just makes you think, if a female pop star with a tarnished image in the last few years can get on something like Twitter and begin to make small steps to getting back on the right track, what can your company do with it?
if you have a “spying” culture you distrust your employees’ reading habits and how they spend their time. You will therefore distrust their ability to engage with customers on your behalf or you will put so many controls over it that it will sound 100% inauthentic. Think of people willing to speak in public in dicta rial countries – they have zero credibility, as most people assume that they are shills for the regime.
If your company is one of those that blocks Facebook, all it does is signal an extreme lack of trust in your employees. And most of Gen Y aren’t going to take it (Minus the bankers. They’ll do anything for money)
Generation Y/Millennials/Digital Natives
Read Write Web tells us that Millennials Will Route Around IT Departments – There are statistics in this research, but here’s the bottom line:
This report definitely makes it clear that IT departments can either choose to adopt some of these technologies, or they will risk that a large number of their young employees will simply go rogue.
I’ve had a little bit of experience with this in the past and I can say with some certainty that whatever organisations think they’re blocking, they’re not. Whether I want my email forward to Gmail and IT won’t do it for me, or running Firefox from my USB stick because I can’t download Firefox, there are ways to get it done. Blocking IM and/or Facebook? Pretty much useless with the 3G iPhone. (not that I have one).
Just let it go and find more meaningful work for the IT department to do (like improving web analytics, for one).
Blogging
Bryan Person of Social Media Breakfast asks whether blog sidebars are useful. I think they are and I feel I could definitely utilise mine more efficiently. How do you use yours? What are the must haves for your blog sidebar?
That’s it for this week, do share links with me on Delicious.com (I’m uniquefrequency) or just leave them in the comments below!
Reading the comments for the last couple of posts really got me thinking more about this subject. I feel like the “this is new media and there are new rules” excuse is quickly wearing its usefulness thin, and there is no excuse for people not to know these things anymore. Even if they don’t know, there are tonnes of places on the internet to research, like this one:
Are You Willing To Invest The Time?
It’s taken from Beth’s Blog and the primary focus of the blog post was how much time it takes non-profits to use social media, but I believe it applies pretty much across the board.
A quick note to the people who have been spamming the SMB Facebook Group and other groups? Social Networking comes last. If you’re not willing to spend that 20hrs/week investing in all the steps, then maybe social media isn’t for you.
I commented on this blog last week and said “I guess to some in the social media world all the steps are sometimes done simultaneously, but demonstrating them in increasing commitment levels and in a “linear” format will definitely help people just coming into it to understand it better!”
So take note of this. You start from listening, not plunging head on to creating content and “spreading the word”.
The Photography Analogy
I draw parallel to learning how to understand the technical functions of a DSLR camera for the first time (a situation I’m in). I came across this post from Digital Photography School which says:
ANY friend of mine who comes to me early on in their photography “career” asking for lessons is forbidden from shooting in any mode other than AUTO for at LEAST 3-6 months. In my mind that’s enough time to get your framing style down to the point where it’s just, for lack of a better word, automatic. . . second nature. When that happens, THEN you’re ready to explore other settings.
As someone who bought a Nikon D40x last December and is still shooting in auto and only just beginning to understand terms referring to manual settings like “exposure”, “aperture”, “ISO settings” and the like, I identify with this completely.
Similarly, if the fundamental concepts of conversation, feedback, community, partnership and dialogue are not understood by you or your company, leaping ahead to more complex ideas like blogger outreach or community management or setting up a Twitter account is probably not the best move for you.
In Closing
Take the time to familiarise yourself with the social media scene that is relevant to you, and don’t jump in expecting to yield results. More often than not it will frustrate the people you’re trying to reach out to, and yourself.
While a lot of thoughts here at Podcamp Montreal have been personal, a fair amount of them relate back to the social media scene as a whole back in Singapore as well. I do have a couple of observations comparing the different parts of the world:
1)Singapore may not be as far behind as we think
I’ll be the first to say I’m constantly bewildered about why companies don’t use or experiment with social media enough back home, but from what I’m seeing, the business questions are only just starting to be raised here and even then, not the tough questions yet. Maybe it’s the lack of people back home talking about the space or social media is more common in the tech or social aspects of the web that makes it seem like it’s more quiet than overseas, but it’s not necessarily the case.
I will say this though. I feel like people here have been dealing with social media as a passion for the last year or two, and are now moving into the business aspect of things, whereas back home, people are jumping the first stage, and immediately looking at results and implementation. I’m not necessarily saying it’s wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s going to yield very different results and have very different implications.
2)Social Media usage may not be as different as we think.
Again, maybe because there are just so many more social or Meepok blogs back home, we tend to think that it’s just us who are really into using the web as a social tool, but I do see a lot of Seesmic users who are here purely for social reasons with minimal business or personal applications. And that’s alright. Everyone gets something different out of the podcamp.
3)No one’s really an expert
Maybe what people at home need to learn more than anyone. No one is really an expert in all aspects in the field. Different questions go to different people, some are better suited to answer some questions than others, and depending on what field you’re in, the answer actually changes. It’s more important to get someone who understands your niche and how it works, than someone who is a self-declared “expert” in all things social media
4)These events don’t have to be a big affair.
Compared to the events in Singapore, Podcamp Montreal is almost simplistic in its setup. Three rooms for talks and a hallway is all we have. The value is created in the interactions, not the venue.
5)Sponsors are largely invisible
This was an observation made by someone else. There are pretty big sponsors here (not huge corporate identities), but they aren’t putting up booths or waving pamphlets in people’s faces. They’re just here to interact with people and see where that leads. This, combined with point #3 really gets me thinking about Social Media Breakfast | Singapore, and all our sponsorship/venue issues all over again.
6)It’s strange being new
I’m not naturally an outgoing person, but it’s easier to deal with that back home at events because people know who I am and what I do. Here it’s a bit different. I know who they are in most cases, but it’s not always two ways. And that’s a little bit intimidating. I didn’t push myself totally out of my comfort zone, but I did go around meeting a couple of people, and had very, very awesome conversations.
7)Gen Y is startlingly missing.
I asked the question “Where are the youth” in my video yesterday. And I’ll ask it again. I don’t understand how I’m the youngest person here at all. Exchanging stories here I hear how the misconception is “Let the person in her 20s handle it because they understand Web2.0”, but the managers who are supervising these people will tell you that’s not true. In some cases, they know more than the younger person does.
Call them Gen Y, millennials, digital natives, what have you. I think there is a very large distinction between living in the digital world, and understanding it. I cannot imagine how anyone in school right now can think they don’t need to know how the digital world works to get by later in life.
If you were at Podcamp Montreal, do let me know if you agree or disagree my thoughts, or if anything particularly stood out for you, or if any of these differencesI mentioned make sense to you at all. If you’re reading this from Singapore, do you think the similarities exist? Or are there truly cultural differences that we need to think about?
Van Tan has a very very good post on feedback to PR teams from a blogger’s perspective this week. So good it earned a share on my Google Reader. (Reader Trends tells me I’ve done this exactly thrice in the last 30 days).
I’m not going to rehash what she said here (you need to check out her post), but I will give a few additional points that I’ve noticed having been on both side of the coin (albeit very briefly for the PR side).
#1: Personalisation Is Shitty, But Necessary
Van talks about this in her post and I’ll elaborate on it from a PR person’s point of view. When we organised the HP TouchSmart event, it was absolutely laborious and took half a day to send personal emails to over 40 people. But it had to be done. Maybe with those bloggers you’re close with you could send a two-liner over Facebook, but for those you’re reaching out to for the first time, don’t expect a run of the mill email to get any attention.
#2: Blogger Public Relations Is Still About… Relations
I don’t normally name companies, but one company that does handle the relationship angle very well is Text 100. Whether it’s casual chat about Social Media Breakfast or highly personalised emails with invitations to blogger events, I really feel like I’m being invited to a friend’s event rather than a “company’s” event. Even when I can’t make it, they still make an effort to update me on what went on and direct me to a few links.
It’s a long process, but it definitely creates a difference. And that difference is crucial. Just because a blogger attends an event once, doesn’t mean they are branded yours like cattle. Like it or not, #2 is one of my ways to see how “actively” a company is involved in the social media space. If you’re all talk talk talk about social media but have no visible relations with bloggers, it doesn’t count.
I’d like to hear about this from bloggers and PR folk. What are your pet peeves? Other advice for the companies? Biggest difficulties from PR folk approaching bloggers? Let’s hear it!
Saturday’s conversations at SMB3 was about blogger outreach programmes (the theme was set way before I received the email) and I think it’s apt. I’ve had conversations with people from various companies asking “How do you decide who to invite?” or “How do you decide who are influencers?” or “How do you quantify influence” and such questions. Clearly who the companies are associated with is a key priority by people both on the agency and the client side. The trust issues in the local blogosphere just means that companies who dare to venture into it, need to take note of some things.
First to the companies: It’s scary but this is not new. Any decision from which newspaper you associate yourself with to which celebrity endorses your product, runs the risk of external events happening and aversely affecting your company by association. Be cautious, not scared.
Here are a few steps you might want to take when deciding who to reach out to or associate your brand with:
1) Credibility & reputation over reach
Reach is an old metric. It doesn’t matter that a blogger (or for that matter, a publication) can reach tens of thousand of people, if no one takes that particular source of information seriously. In fact, associating yourself with a blogger who has a bad reputation that reaches out to tens of thousands online, may do more damage than good to your brand. In essence, you’re much better off finding a fledgling blogger with a solid reputation and small following, and allow the following to grow.
2) Follow the blogger for a decent amount of time
Seeing as how a blogger is viewed in the community can change literally overnight, it would be prudent to follow their blog for awhile before deciding if he or she is a good fit. A couple of good product reviews doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Consistency is the key.
3) See how he/she deals with conflicts
Issues and conflicts pop up every now and then, the important thing is to see how the blogger deals with it. It could range from name calling and personal attacks to open honest discussions resulting in agreeing to disagree. I don’t need to tell you which is preferred.
4) What does the community say?
Ultimately, I find this to be the true litmus test. It’s not really about what the blogger posts, but the community’s reaction to it. What they say in the comments, what they say in the forums, what they say in outbound links. It’s the easy and lazy way to just read a blogger’s content and gauge, but doing proper research means looking at what others say too.
These are just four points that came off the top of my head, I’m sure there are more so feel free to add on in the comments!
SMB3 broke huge new grounds yesterday at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) thanks to great partnership with the National Heritage Board (NHB). I was getting messages all Friday long about people being excited to attend SMB at the ACM and I heard about the River Room from the NHB folks and saw the pictures at the website, but I was completely blown away when I stepped into the venue. It’s a HUGE space that looks like a swanky ballroom rather than a location for an informal event like ours. In fact when I met Claudia to set up, I said “Wow, maybe we should’ve gotten a smaller room so it won’t look so empty if less people turn up.”
The reception table
NHB!
Enter… the River Room
Huge, classy and stylish.
I needn’t have worried because this was the most amount of people we’ve ever had at an SMB for sure. When people were sitting the chairs were full, if not there were throngs of people standing around. It was really quite something.
I felt the vibe this time round was a little more “intense” than previous SMBs. Maybe it was the more official looking venue compared to the previous cosy cafes, but I definitely sensed a lot more interest and enthusiasm and mingling this time round compared to the previous two. It was as if everyone knew they were in a room with bright, like-minded people and wanted to make the most out of every minute and maximising their time there.
One thing that didn’t go too well, was the discussion topic. We wanted to have a panel but that didn’t work out so we thought going ahead with “table discussions” would work. But I guess they didn’t. We’re still experimenting with the format, but SMB is the community’s not ours. We just organise it. So if you felt the topic was too serious, too trivial, too boring, needed facilitators, needed moderators, let us know! We’re going to figure out a way to make this work for SMB4.
Walter from NHB sharing with us NHB’s social media efforts.
For me, the biggest thing at any SMB is the people. And I was incredibly excited that I didn’t know about half the people there! It’s amazing that almost six months after the first SMB, it’s still generating interest among people who are willing to come for the first time. I particularly enjoyed meeting Pat Law in person after so much communication on our blogs, Twitter and Plurk, Todd Murray from Active Channel who I only met online the day before on LinkedIn, Willy Foo from Live! Studios who provided great fun with his photography, and many many others who are too many to list here.
I really love how SMB is becoming this melting pot of people literally from everywhere in the social media space. Bloggers, podcasters, videocasters, in-house people, agency people, casual enthusiasts, academics, entrepreneurs, tech people and everyone else. It’s great to have Miccheng from Podfire filming Geek Goddess TV at SMB2, and the Tech 65 crew recording live at SMB3. It’s truly bringing together the best of both “social” and “media”.
Tech 65 recording live!
Admittedly right now SMB does not have a firm “mission” to drive here in Singapore, but we started off wanting to provide a platform to get everyone together to mix, share experiences and learn from each other, and I think it’s doing just that. Not necessarily at the three hours during brunch, but all the connections and conversations that happen after that. As much as I was delighted to see so many new faces, I was equally ecstatic to see so many returning faces who have been consistent supporters of social media in Singapore in general, and SMB in particular.
At this point I’d love to hear from everyone how you felt about the event. Be frank, be critical. After all if you’re waking up on a precious Saturday morning to come to SMB, it should be worth your time. Let us know what worked, what didn’t work, what you’d like to see more of in the future, etc etc.
Finally, I’d like to thank Walter, Wei Chong, David and Kenny from NHB for agreeing to partner up with us. I cannot state enough what a great help they were with the venue. It was really good knowing that we secured a great venue and not having to worry about it for the last few months. I completely forgot about signage but they had all bases covered with great signboards everywhere ensuring that no one got lost. Thank you so much. Of course, it wouldn’t be possible without my co-conspirators as well: Sheylara, Claudia and Derrick.
Willy has great photos up on Facebook. I’m going to insert two of the group pictures here. Memories of a good Saturday morning well spent meeting great people.
As always I’ll be posting a full rundown of all the blog coverage sometime next week, do let me know if you blogged about it so I can include you! Tagging your posts as “social media breakfast singapore” and “smb singapore” would be greatly appreciated!
It was really nice to see yesterday that of the 10 most popular posts on ping.sg, three were about SMB:S2, even though it was three days after the event!
As always, I think it’s great to have a central “collection” point for all the media generated around the event, so here’s the rundown:
Video: Social Media Breakfast 2.0 by Miccheng (ps another video on Geek Goddess TV should be out June 4th!)
‘
