photo by dvidshub

I usually don’t engage in the whole self-delusional New Year’s resolutions routine that we’re encouraged to torment ourselves with each year. If I see one more article on how I should lose weight/get in shape/find my dream date/dig out of debt/fix my finances/fix my relationships/get the job I’ve always dreamed of/score that promotion/start my own business/become the perfect person just dying to emerge from my current imperfect cocoon, all tied to the turning over of another year, I may just have to give up all forms of media, social and otherwise.

On the other hand …

This blog reaches its first anniversary in another month or two (I should probably figure that out), and I am reflecting on how to be a better person from a social media perspective.

Contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, using social media to achieve your marketing or communication objectives is hard work. It may be relatively inexpensive, but it doesn’t come cheap. I’ve devoted much time and energy to this blog and Twitter in particular, less so to some of the other tools I use. I’ve received amazing encouragement and support from others whose own social media efforts continually astonish me. I’ve learned more about my craft and profession in the past year than at any other time I can remember. And I’m constantly reminded of all the things I don’t know. It’s exciting, intimidating and humbling, frequently at the same time. In case you haven’t figured it out, this is a friggin’ amazing time to be a marketing or communications professional.

If true expertise requires 10 years experience or 10,000 hours deliberate practice, then we all have a ways to go in our mastery of social media. Given the fluidity and moving-target nature of it, I suspect they may have to come up with a new measure for capturing true social media expertise, all the SM gurus, masters and other self-proclaimed prophets notwithstanding.

With all that said, here are my social media resolutions. I hope they spur some soul-searching in others who share my belief that self-improvement is good for the soul. Regardless, feel free to hold me to them.

1. Be more effective in my mission. Poke the Beehive’s stated mission is to provide effective writing and communication strategies for the communication-challenged. Looking back at a year’s worth of work, I think I’ve been uneven at best in achieving it. I need to either do a better job or rethink my mission. (Again, feel free to share your own thoughts on where you think I might take PtB.)
2. Be more conversational. I tend to focus on serving as a guide to what I consider to be great marketing and communications content out there, especially in my use of Twitter. But that can lead to a broadcasting model I have no wish to emulate. I’ve been extremely fortunate in connecting through this blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook in particular to an amazingly rich community of fellow marketing and nonprofit professionals. I need to take greater advantage of being part of that community and engage in more conversation.
3. Be more generous. The flip side of taking advantage is being more generous, of course. My social media generosity tends to be reactive. I need to actively seek out opportunities where I can share my expertise and knowledge with others without waiting for them to ask for it.
   
4. Be more original in what I share. Oooh, tough one. Let’s face it, there’s very little originality to be found out there. Much of the sage advice and brilliant insights you find through social media are nothing more than a rehash of something someone else said earlier (and better). Personally, I cringe at much of the writing advice I see being offered as fresh and new. There really isn’t anything out there that wasn’t said long ago by Strunk & White, Zinsser, Bly and a whole host of others.
5. Comment more elsewhere. Being conversational and a more active part of the community means offering feedback to others. I’ve been pretty inconsistent on this front, and need to comment more on the blogs and other websites I find so incredibly informative and useful.
6. Practice what I preach (and share). I actually do read pretty much everything I link to and share via Twitter. But I find myself falling into the same excuses we all have for not putting into practice what I learn and believe to be true: It’s hard, there are too many obstacles, too much resistance, I don’t have time right now, blah blah blah. We all need to have the courage of our convictions and practice what we preach. Anything less is a betrayal of our organizations, our clients and ourselves.
7. Don’t let up. If you’ve ever felt the urge to chuck this whole social media thing because it’s like being caught on a treadmill with no end in sight, you’re not alone. Why do you think there are so many lifeless husks of websites orbiting out there? Or dead Twitter handles? Or LinkedIn profiles with three connections? Don’t give up. The rewards are worth the effort.

Not to belabor the whole resolutions thing, but using social media feels to me like eating right, staying fit, meeting financial goals and all the other stuff that makes you a better you (whatever the hell that might mean). It’s a lifetime commitment that can enrich your life. As corny and preachy as it sounds, I do believe it. And that’s why I stick with it.

Now if I could just get a handle on the whole eating right/staying fit thing …

photo by dariuszka

This one is for the multitude of marketing and communications pros who have yet to seriously engage in social media, whether on behalf of their organizations or on a personal basis.

Maybe you’re overwhelmed with the workload you already have. Or family obligations make it impossible to devote the time it takes outside of the office to really support your social media involvement. There are many excellent, valid reasons not to dive into social media.

And there’s really only one reason you must … You have no choice.

This is where our profession is and will be. It may not be Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Wave or any of the other tools with which you have a nodding acquaintance. In another year or two it might be something that doesn’t exist. But the concept of online communication for whatever purpose, enabled and supported by technology, isn’t going away. You need to understand it and put it to work for you or run the risk of becoming obsolete.

I won’t embarrass any of my colleagues by name, but it astonishes me the number of people working in marketing or communications who still haven’t taken the pledge. When I look for them online, I feel like I’m playing Where’s Waldo. Are they on Facebook? Not there. Are they on LinkedIn? Not there. Are they tweeting? You’re kidding, right?

It’s almost worse when I find someone “using” social media in the most pathetic way possible. They have a Twitter account with four followers and three tweets. “How was your Fourth of July?” it reads in December. Or a LinkedIn account with 20 connections. You’re communicators, dammit! Connect! Communicate!

I’ve run across agency folk, designers, marketeers and other extremely smart, talented pros whose social media footprint suggests borderline imbecility. Better to do nothing than to be lazy or halfhearted.

Here’s a question for the Luddites among us. If you had been handling corporate communications back when movable type was introduced, would you still be pushing block printing and illustrated manuscript? Or would you be figuring out how to introduce the new technology into your marketing and communication efforts in a way that laid the groundwork for the inevitable transition that was coming?

I’m not one of these “Print is Dead” fanatics. I love print. Print will have a valuable role long after we’re gone. But it’s time to retire print as a channel for some forms of communication.

I am no social media guru. I like to think of myself as an enthusiast who’s trying to figure out how to make the best use of new technologies on behalf of my organization. That said, here’s my simple advice to those who haven’t braved the waters yet:

1. Blog. I don’t care what you write about. Make it work-related, hobby-related or just share whatever’s lurking in the deepest recesses of your mind. But get into the habit of writing for the web by blogging. Others have waxed poetic on all the benefits. I won’t. Just do it and don’t ask a lot of questions.
2. Join LinkedIn. It’s the Chamber of Commerce mixer, your Rolodex and your social network wrapped into one great tool. Join in the discussions, reach out to fellow professionals or just people you respect. Connect, connect, connect.
3. Open a Facebook account. I’m a little ambivalent about this one given the amount of crap you have to wade through in terms of advertising, inane games and the like. I use it mostly to stay connected to friends, although I do feed my profession-oriented tweets into it (and no doubt bore the crap out of some friends).

That’s it. Just do these three things for the next several months. I love Twitter, but that’s a hungry monster that demands to be fed on a constant basis. Stick with the gateway social media drugs to start.

I welcome comments from those who agree and those who think I don’t know what I’m talking about. Feel free to whale away. That’s part of the social media fun.

photo by fotodawg

I don’t remember who I first borrowed the idea from, but I really love reviewing my top 20 tweets each month. My approach to twitter is as editor/curator: I look for posts I think will appeal to those who follow me in the areas of marketing, communications, social media, journalism and related subjects, especially as they relate to nonprofits and small business. I of course liberally tweet my own posts since those happen to be the subjects I tend to write about.

What is particularly interesting is what my highest-performing tweets tell me about my followers on Twitter: they’re a fairly discerning bunch interested in real substance, not fluff. I can always tell when I’ve missed the mark, and it helps me quite a bit when considering what to blog about.

Here’s what was most popular in October. I encourage you to check out any you may have missed when first we tweeted. It’s all good stuff. Even my stuff (I think).

No More Excuses for Crap Communications

If Marketers Today Created the Stop Sign

Social Media and the Paradox of Choice

Why Every Communicator Should Blog

The Dangers of No Content Strategy

Your Communications Plan: What It’s Really For

Small Business: Get in the Social Media Pool

Why Nonprofits Are So Good at Social Media

All You Need is the Story

Results of the Fourth Annoying PowerPoint Survey

Build a Social Network for Your Business

Why Uncensored Blogging is the Future of Corporate Communications

Blogging is Dead, Long LIve Journalism

A Tagline is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Is Philanthropy Ready for the New Consumer?

Five Reasons Corporations are Failing at Social Media

My Five-Year-Old’s Future in Marketing

Hyatt: Managing the Boston Aftermath

Debating Seth Godin’s “Non” Slam

Small Business, Social Media Not Mixing

photo by lepiaf.geo

I have a confession to make.

When I first decided to start blogging nearly nine months ago, I dreaded it just a little. Any writer can tell you about the slightly nauseous feeling they get when faced with a looming deadline, and the thought of a regular schedule of self-inflicted blog post deadlines (something no one was asking me to meet) was a bit intimidating.

What if I don’t have anything to say on a given day? What happens when inspiration fails me? What if I just don’t want to?

I got over it. And the way I got over it, to paraphrase Nike, is by just doing it. My first post was no deathless piece of prose, just a simple welcome and explanation of what the hell I hoped to do here.

As I try to add a little something of value to the vast, dark reaches of the web, I’ve come to one simple conclusion: Every professional communicator should be doing this. No excuses. No B.S. Just do it.

Why? What I get out of it is as good a place to start as any.

It’s good for my writing. What does it take to become a better writer? Uh, writing. A lot. And rewriting. And editing. Then writing a lot more. Improvement comes through constant, consistent effort. Practice really does make perfect … or at least pretty good.

“Gimme a break,” you say. “Bad enough I do it every day at work, now you want me to do it in my free time, too?” Oh, quit your whining. You wouldn’t be in the communications business if you didn’t (on some level) enjoy writing.

And here’s the good news: You can blog about anything your little heart desires. I write mostly about communications and social media because that’s what really fascinates me. Someday I’ll start another blog on horror fiction because that really fascinates me, too. But for you it might be the daily drama of parenting. Or gardening. Or Death Metal. Or how vaccinations are part of a government conspiracy to track our every movement using alien technology. If so, I probably won’t be reading you, but go with God.

It’s good for my brain. Even the laziest, most ill-conceived and poorly structured post will generally force you to think and maybe do a little research. I’ve found myself with the germ of a half-assed idea that has dragged me deep into the web, reading all kinds of fascinating stuff that, admittedly, has little to do with my original thought but stretches my brain in new directions.

It’ s good for my employer. Blogging was my first real step into the social media arena. It and Twitter have helped me build a fairly robust network of fellow professionals that I can tap when facing issues outside my areas of expertise. Anything that makes me better at my job is good for the people who employ me.

It’s good for my career. The organization I work for isn’t ready to delve deeply into social media. I can’t wait. My current and future value as a communications pro requires building experience in crafting social media strategies and comfort in using the tools. Poke the Beehive is as much about building my skills as it is sharing my knowledge and expertise with others.

It’s good for my soul. Let’s face it. If you’re in marketing or communications, you produce work on a regular basis that makes you hate yourself just a little. Maybe others tell you it’s great, it’s brilliant, it’s just what’s needed. And you look at it and think, “This kinda sucks.” Because you don’t create in a vacuum. You have people you report to, committees that review and weigh in on your projects, politics to contend with, compromises that must be made. And the result is work that may meet or even exceed the standards of others, but not your own.

(An aside: If this isn’t the case for you, if you work where you never have to compromise or settle for anything less than your personal best, then give me a call. I’d like your job.)

My blog, on the other hand, is me for better or worse. Sure, there’s a certain degree of self-editing that goes on (because I enjoy having a job, and friends, and family), but what I write here is for me, and you to the extent that I want to create something others find valuable. The limitations you find here are my own, not the result of editing by committee or business realities or any other external influences.

So when someone says, “Hey, that was a great post!” I feel pretty good about myself. Actually, I feel pretty good when someone says “Hey, that didn’t totally stink up the internet!” But that’s because I’m easy to please.

photo by jurvetson

A recent survey of small businesses conducted by Citibank Small Business found that three-quarters of respondents didn’t find Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter to be useful in generating business leads or expanding business.

Having owned two small businesses of my own, I can understand why this might be true. Small business people wear enough hats as it is without diving into the high-maintenance waters of social media. In the current economic climate, many are simply doing everything they can just to stay open. As Maria Veltre, executive vice president of Citi’s Small Business segment, put it, “… small businesses are very, very focused on running their business and on generating sales and managing their cash flow and doing the things that are really important, especially in these economic times.”

But the number that really floored me was that 86 percent hadn’t used social networking sites for seeking information or business advice.

Seriously? Imagine that there’s a vast pool of marketing, sales, finance, human resources, operations and other professionals who have been taught to offer their advice and support freely and without expectation of immediate reward. That’s the world of social media, folks.

Think of the Best Buy commercial where a customer asks a stadium full of customer service reps what kind of HDTV he should buy. Small business, you’re that customer. Now replace all the Best Buy blue-shirts with every business advisor imaginable. They might not write your marketing plan or review your books or  interview prospective employees for you, but many will offer you solid actionable advice that, in the old days, still cost you a pretty penny.

If you take no other step into social media right now, at least avail yourself of the business relationships you could be building with minimal effort. Personally, I’d suggest starting with LinkedIn, which is essentially your Rolodex on steroids. I’m willing to bet that many of your customers and business partners are already there, so the time investment could be fairly minimal.

The survey also found that 42 percent of small businesses are making greater use of their websites to generate business leads and sales. If that’s true for you, then take the extra step of setting up a blog on that site. Enable those most interested in your business to keep easy tabs on what’s going on through your blogging. Setting up a blog can be as supremely simple as setting up a Posterous account and linking to it from your website.

Again, the time you spend could be no more than a few minutes a week to post a few short items of interest. Just make sure whatever you’re posting is truly of interest to your audience and not some lame attempt to sell something. Share your knowledge and expertise, for example, and build your reputation as someone who knows what you’re talking about.

Whether these survey results reflect the overworked nature of small business folk or the fact that we’re still in the early-adopter phase of social media, I don’t know. I suspect a little of both. And as someone else pointed out, Citibank is hardly expert when it comes to social media.

But the day is coming when social media use will be as ubiquitous as email and taking credit cards for payment (whether you want to or not). I suggest you get on board now and start learning to master this stuff.

photo by HA! designs

Outspoken Media’s Lisa Barone wrote a nice little rant the other day on why bloggers are mostly pathetic, boring, whiny, bad writers who should be expunged from the internet. Can’t say I disagree with her, although I think she painted this particular barn with a mighty broad brush. She and her partners, for example, blog in an interesting, entertaining and informative manner. And I’ve run across many others … OK, dozens … who do the same.

But as Lisa points out, one big problem with blogging is that the printing press is now free. When everyone has one and the license to use it, then you’re going to be wading through fields of blogcrap in search of those little pearls of wisdom.

When someone publishes a bad newsletter or magazine and it doesn’t find an audience, it tends to go away. The costs associated with traditional publishing make it next to impossible for poorly conceived, badly written and pointless publications to survive. Bad blogs, on the other hand, flourish in ever-growing numbers. If you’re willing to invest the time and don’t care if no one ever reads your posts, you can be pointless and annoying to your heart’s content.

But let’s not confuse the source with the tool. Blogs are just another vehicle for either great content or bad content. It’s no different than books or magazines, newsletters, TV shows, radio programs, etc. Good content is good. Bad content is bad. Good blogs good. Bad blogs bad.

If you choose to blog, don’t be a whiner. Don’t annoy. Strive for at least competence in your writing (bonus points for good spelling, grammar and punctuation). Be sure there’s a point to your writing. Entertain, educate and inform us. Or else Lisa will get you and your little blog, too.

Happy blogging.