Toluu

Conversation Agent

Connecting ideas and people -- how talk can change our lives.

You Need to Get Out MoreToday

It happens in every company, eventually the internal dynamics become more important than what happens with the customer, what he wants to talk about, what he's thinking about. Often, in fact, we prefer the detached rooms of research to a human contact. Asking while you're eyeball to eyeball, knee deep in his world, would be too simple.

It happens even in FriendFeed rooms and at social media conferences. Sometimes I think these are the modern versions of rock band tours - meeting the same groupies from event to event. There is nothing wrong with having one long conversation with those who we perceive as like-minded, those who live and breathe the same issues, in the same environment. 

But, the forward movement in awareness and growth happens when we encounter differing views, different ways of seeing the world - especially when those views are those of paying customers or potential partners for business opportunities.

Are you prepared to broach the topic of marketing, communications and public relations on social media with them starting from where they're at? Do you truly take their seat and begin with their world, their reality, their challenges? It can be uncomfortable, it can get down right frust

Direct Response on Social MediaYesterday

Involve, Create, Discuss, Promote, Measure - the Social Media CampaignNovember 18

[Social Media Campaign by Gary Hayes and Laurel Papworth - hat tip Luca Conti]

Whenever someone asks me about social media marketing, my first question is if that person is immersed in the space. Because without that, all that comes afterwards may as well be Greek to them. Gary Hayes and Laurel Papworth put together a useful visual to help explain how things would progress from that starting point. As they say (in bold), and I expand upon:

• INVOLVE - live the social web, understand it, this cannot be faked. Come back to it after you have truly participated. This means going beyond the creation of a Twitter account and posting about your meals, as delicious (and rare) as they may be. This means putting skin in the game. Amber just wrote a timely post on why we should keep giving it away - it being not only content, time and attention are high on that list of qualities you will learn to employ effectively by getting involved.

• CREATE - make relevant content for communities

How Much Can You Ask of Your Customers?November 17

CUSTOMER-MADE: “The phenomenon of corporations creating goods, services and experiences in close cooperation with experienced and creative consumers, tapping into their intellectual capital, and in exchange giving them a direct say in (and rewarding them for) what actually gets produced, manufactured, developed, designed, serviced, or processed.”

Creating ads is not very exciting for savvy customers. Remember to think about where is the benefit to them? When you move to co-developing products, co-creating and selling them, while the opportunity expands, the issues may require some thinking. Who owns the intellectual property (IP)? How do you determine that? 

Then there are the ongoing conversations - this is for companies that have read and digested The Cluetrain Manifesto. Companies set up mechanisms to talk with their customers about topics that go well beyond their products and services. However, questions like how would you change "name the product"? are still asked more successfully by third

NPR Reinvents Community Experience Through New MediaNovember 16

"We're going to get our stories and our storytelling and our journalism out to people wherever they are and in whatever form they want to experience it." [Ellen Weiss, VP for News, NPR]

In order to do that, it needs not only to learn how to think differently about the assignment, it also needs to become comfortable with those who do think bigger.

As I was reading this story by Jennifer Dorroh on the Transformation of NPR, I could not help but draw parallels between what NPR is facing and what every organizations is trying to keep at bay - change in the way customers use your products (who, how, where, when, and why). Information is a product - what you sell and what you get as a result of the relationship.

Who is Listening?

Becomes who is watching online. The story wants to pop out of audio into visuals, narrated slides, images that are connected with the sentiments of the community where the story came to life. NPR piloted its "Tell me More" show online in 2006 before offering it to member stations and today the organization is experimenting with communities.

Radio listeners are not a