Tech PR | Social Media Advisor | Content Strategist
This is a great overview of Chris Brogan's Trust Agents.
Watch and listen.
I've read his book twice. I am gonna read it again, just to take it all in. Highly recommended.
Oh yeah- one more thing- he's also a good person.
Andrew Mueller is a consultant who helps CEO's and big companies deepen their relationships with customers using Social Media strategies.
Yes, this is a bit odd, doing an interview in the men's room during the #140Conf at the Kodak Theater, but when you think about it, any room in this place has a bit of history. We did it because it was a quiet (and sort of historic) venue.
This video is worth watching, or if you are really, really busy, proceed with what you are doing and just listen to the audio.
Chris Brogan shares his belief sets, which starts off with a focus on listening.
That's a good place to start. He talks about using Social Media to help make companies human again.
That's a good place to go.
He talks somewhat about measurement and accountability, which is a good way for businesses to justify this and justify that.
What's more important in the mix is trying, experimenting and realizing that whether or not you engage and listen to customers, they are already engaging with you or without you.
Worth a listen.Here is a presentation that you may download from Slideshare where I discuss the role of Social Media and Personal Branding for businesses. I want to thank AT&T's Michelle Thomas for inviting me to give this presentation.
via forbes.com
In the context of the Entertainment industry, here's a great story on how "tweets" are impacting movies.
Oh- if you really want to find out more about about the impact of twitter on Celebrity, The Media, Advertising and Politics, attend, or follow Jeff Puler's 140 Characters Conference - #140Conf coming up soon in Tel Aviv, LA and London.
Here's the intro to the story from Forbes....
SAN FRANCISCO -- Summer is the critical season for Hollywood blockbusters, and this summer's numbers have been affected by Twitter. Apparently opening-night movie goers have been weighing in on films via "tweets" and so magnifying the normal cycle of upswings or drop-offs in attendance. Good films are getting quicker notice; bad films are losing attendance faster than ever before. Twitter and other social networks are changing the game for the entertainment industry.
Is Twitter something that could affect your industry too? Can it help build your business--or is it just a glorified blog?
Article Controls
A quick recap: Twitter lets registered users submit tweets (messages) of up to 140 characters to followers (subscribers), and allows them to track and view tweets from others. The past year has seen torrid growth, transforming Twitter from a geeks-only tool into a worldwide phenomena.
Companies are still getting comfortable with Twitter. While many companies now have a Twitter presence, it is rare for them to use it for anything other than public relations, the distribution of marketing messages or occasional customer support. In many ways Twitter is like a blog or forum where information can be posted, yet there is a one-to-one component that blogs lack as well as a common platform.
But what's really going on? A quick survey of Twitter activity for big brand names shows lots of idle banter and the occasional complaint but not much substance. While there have been tales of people bypassing the regular customer service channels and getting the ear of a retailer or airline through tweets, I suspect that will be short lived.
There is a potential danger in that too many people will employ Twitter as a short-cut for customer service.
Reader Comments
Stories of someone getting the flight they were told was sold out or returning a product that was not returnable will only embolden consumers and raise their expectations. The fact is that most companies with hundreds or even thousands of customer-service staff around the globe only have one or two kids from the PR team manning their global Twitter presence. They just aren't staffed to respond to a heavy load of substantive tweets.
Most companies don't really want a public airing of every complaint or issue. On the phone, nobody can hear you scream! On Twitter, everyone can. That means that one of the greatest values of Twitter is as a barometer of public sentiment. It may be imprecise--but it is effective.
How can companies learn to use Twitter as something more than a public address system for the newest product launch or news of the latest golf tournament sponsorship?
I have been asking my most savvy friends this very question. I get lots of answers about monitoring public opinion, cute contests and promotions, even taco trucks notifying customers about their exact location. But most of those things can happen on Facebook, in a blog or via e-mail. Yes, Twitter can make them more effective in certain instances, but does it really make something new possible?
It seems to me that the power of Twitter is still in its one-to-many combined with one-to-one. Yes, it is a potential mass-marketing platform, but it also allows for personalization, which can be leveraged to launch brands, enhance customer loyalty, provide information and build trust. Even so, I only know of a few decent examples:
Dell ( DELL - news - people ) has been using Twitter to move incremental equipment and has apparently had good success. This is a clear case of Twitter providing a new channel, but it must be said that Dell could probably have had the same success through traditional opt-in e-mail marketing.
Best Buy ( BBY - news - people ) has built a tool to allow followers on Twitter to look up price, availability and location for any SKU in its product catalogue. Thus Best Buy is essentially pumping its product mix directly into the Twitter channel. This is a clever application, but I do wonder if most people wouldn't just visit BestBuy's regular Web site instead.
At DriverSide, we use it to help consumers track the vehicles they drive, learn about potentially dangerous recalls, and inform themselves. We have picked the 50 most popular vehicles from the last 10 years and built unique Twitter feeds for each one of them. (For an example, see the BMW 3 Series feed.) That way, Twitter allows us to segment our audience and provide them with custom information while also demonstrating some of the value people would get if they used our core Web site. We hope this will help attract new users and keep existing ones active and loyal. True, we already offer more detailed alerts via e-mail. That makes Twitter useful but not essential for our services.
It is, of course, early days. Twitter is an undeniable phenomenon and a huge force in social networking and is evolving in hard-to-predict ways. I imagine that people wondered how e-mail or the Internet would possibly be used by companies when they emerged, and this may be no different.
But so far it's hard to find genuine breakout applications for business built on Twitter.
If you are a Hollywood studio, a major personality or a public relations worker in any big enterprise, you will be using it frequently. But as a truly different tool for building business, I think the jury is still out.
See Also:
A Corporate Guide For Social Media
CEOs Say: How To Be An Executive Blogger
Trevor Traina is a technology entrepreneur and angel investor in San Francisco. His latest venture is DriverSide.com.
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From Chris Brogan's Blog....
I’m grateful for your attention, and happy that we have opportunities to communicate in various places on the web. If you’re interested in having a souvenir of all these interactions, boy have I got the gift for you!
Quick FAQ:
* Yes, there will be a Kindle version.
* Yes, there will be an audio version.
* Your country’s version is for sale. Email me to connect you to the person who manages rights.
* A movie? Let’s be serious.
Where to Buy Trust Agents
in alphabetical order
800 CEO READ (also recommended for bulk orders)
Amazon.ca (Canada)
Book Depository (UK)
Chapters (Canada)
——
Buying this book supports the last year’s efforts from Julien and I to better understand the trends beneath the technology, and how they apply to your communications experience going forward. We believe this book will be more than “interesting,” but instead, that it will be useful to you. We’ve worked hard to make that something we can promise.
So thanks, and I look forward to continuing the conversations we’ve been having at the Trust Agents community and here on this blog. My best to you. — Chris…
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Now this is Alan speaking:
I'm in the process of reading "Trust Agents," and highly recommend it.
It's practical, philosophical and comes with exercises you can put to work for you, your brand, your company, and more.
Highly Recommended
