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You know what really grinds my gears? Twitter Followers.

July 22, 2009 – 8:54 pm

ninja_shoeShoe: Ninja Shoes.

Note: This post is a rant.Okay. Not a rant, per se. But moreorless a semi-rant that may make you think I need to take a kickboxing class. Which I can’t take because of my knee. So if you’re suggesting I tear my ACL again in exchange for getting a bit of  anger out, then I’m really going to rant about you next.

I’ve been on Twitter for a year now and I’ve been slowly growing my network on the platform. And I really like Twitter. It’s great.

I get Twitter followers I’ve never talked to or met. In a lot of cases, these followers are influencers in my field, and I’m actually quite honored that they would follow me, even if it’s out of the blue. Anyway, I think It’s because I’m so cool I probably show up in TweetDeck as a ‘Recommended Follower’.

Where’s the rant, Meg?

Okay here’s the deal, though.  They don’t @reply me or tell me WHY they are following me, they just do it. They don’t RT my tweets. They don’t tell me that they know I’m really cool which is why they are following me saw my name as a ‘Recommended Follower’ on TweetDeck.

Thus, I don’t know why they are following me at all. As far as I’m concerned, it is as if we never connected at all. I don’t think that clicking the ‘follow’ button on Twitter constitutes networking.

Oh man. Here it comes.

Here’s why it’s not networking: I value genuine human connection. Clicking a button and doing nothing about it is pointless (IMO). But it seems that this Twitter etiquette (Twittiquette?) has diluted the meaning of genuine human connection.

I think that is possible to form genuine connections with people through Twitter. For example, I recently attended Blog Potomac. We tweeted under the hashtag #BlogPotomac. Practically everyone in the room was microblogging under that hashtag, which was great. When I saw someone tweet something particularly interesting or noteworthy, I would RT their tweet and then follow them. Because they were similarly following #BlogPotomac, they would follow me back, and we would exchange where we were sitting in the room and meet up at the next break.

Now THAT is how it’s supposed to be done.

Also, Twitter helps minimize the spacial distance between business contacts. For example, I was recently in a contest to compete for a permanent blogger position on the Community Marketing Blog. We’re now in frequent discussions on how to make the blog a better community. It’s been great. We have conference calls under the hashtag #CMBCC. I follow the people I’m having these conference calls with because it’s great to follow what information they find important and newsworthy in our field. It’s also great way to keep up with these people in between our conference calls.

I’m not saying Twitter has to be used for business purposes only. For example, my last three tweets were about my weekend, (which I spent in Delaware). I just happen to use Twitter as a great way to keep up with insights into my field. I’m actually guilty of NOT following a lot of ‘acquaintances’ I met in college because I don’t want to dilute my twitter feed. However, I’m considering changing this because of TweetDeck’s utter amazing capabilities.

The point being is, please don’t follow me if you don’t have the intention of establishing a genuine connection with me. I’d rather preserve some integrity in this platform if possible.

Fin.

By meganmcq | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (3)

Major League Baseball Tryouts

July 22, 2009 – 2:11 am

cleatsShoe: Cleats

Over the weekend, I ran into a friend of mine, Noah (disclaimer: my sister’s friend).While we were catching up, he told me about his recent try-outs for Major League Baseball.

No shit, ya’all.

He didn’t make the team. But he has always been an avid baseball fan (He’d be my first pick for baseball trivia any day), and I’m quite impressed that he tried out for the team. He had to get up at 4:45 to get to the tryouts on time. He was competing against 150-200 other people on the field when the team was only looking to fill a limited number of slots. I can’t imagine how nervous I would have been. But, he was telling me about the experience on a real field–looking into the stands and completing the tryouts (which, apparently, took about 1 minute out of the 4 hours he was there).baseball_diamond

To make a cheesy comparison, the conversation we had made me think about my decision to pursue independent social media consulting. It seemed like an easy decision to me. So far, it’s been a tremendous amount of work. And, so far, I have encountered some barriers. But I’m happy with what I’m doing.  I’m passionate about the field, I care about making sure I’m as current in the field as possible, and I want to exceed expectations when it comes to all of my client work.I like meeting with people, I like having to do the accounting and marketing on my end as well as for the clients with whom I am working.

I would have been more disappointed with myself had I chosen not to pursue this venture. I think Noah would think the same about his. And, I didn’t pursue this venture for any other reason than attaining a higher level of happiness and pursuing my goals. For me, it’s about going passionately in the direction of my dreams (cue inspirational music here). Moving away from the norm to make my own way. In the words of Babe Ruth himself, “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”

And sometimes, we don’t make the team. Sometimes, we don’t sign the clients to whom we pitch. But in the end, it’s always been worth it to me. I would rather have tried than not. I would have failed miraculously than failed myself by not following my passions. I would have rather played on that field than walked away.

To me, he made the team.

Image via Kaboodle and Baseball Field Design

By meganmcq | Posted in Misc | Tagged | Comments (0)

Bloggers Block

July 22, 2009 – 12:35 am

baby_shoeShoe: Baby Shoe

First I should say that I’m using a baby shoe as the theme of this post because I think that the overall theme is timid, similar to a baby’s first steps.

I’ve been blogging over at my industry blog and my company blog for a couple of months now, and I find that I get writers block (bloggers block?).

I literally have a list of about 25 topics that I want to write about, but I just can’t get the inspiration to start. Perhaps This is because I’m a perfectionist. It’s a handicap, I assure you.

That’s why I find it relatively easy to write on this blog in particular. I can make my own comparisons, be pretty optimistic, or insert whatever tone I wish here. It’s not that this blog is separate from my life, I actually agree that there will be an increase in the cross-hatch between personal and professional life, especially on the social media forefront. People can expect to see a greater blur between their personal and professional life. And it’s awesome because at the moment, I think that my personal life is my professional life. Everywhere I go, I’m finding that social media happens to be a topic of conversation, and a lot of my potential clients have come from random conversations at my physical therapist appointments or other random places. I’d have to say that discussing social media is probably one of my interests. Think I’m a nerd? So do I.

But getting back on track, some of the things that run through my mind while I’m debating writing a blog post:

  • Do I know the topic better than my audience?
  • Do I have enough information to substantiate my claims?
  • What if I’m wrong?
  • Will I be able to answer questions if a commenter asks them of me?
  • Is this topic even interesting to anyone but myself?
  • Has this topic already been discussed?

The list goes on. But I’ve decided to take the advice that I’ve been giving to clients. Just do it. I think that it’s important to acknowledge that we’re not experts. I also think it’s important to add value to your readers. And, I think it’s important to publish something than just let 25 potential posts sit in the queue.

My posts typically take a lot of work, but I’m willing to re-evaluate and try to get some of them up on my blog as opposed to letting them sit, half finished.

And I recognize that it’s difficult to join the blogosphere–there are more passive readers to blogs than those who comment or have started their own blog. But I think that those who read blogs actually re-act to the material but never tell us what they are thinking in comments and in their own posts. And it’s a nerve-wracking experience for some. But, it doesn’t have to be.

Thus, here’s how you begin a blog post.

  • Ignore all of your doubts. This means that: It’s alright if you don’t know more about your audience. It’s alright if you’re wrong–no one is perfect. It’s alright if you doubt that anyone else is interested–if they aren’t, who cares? At least you’ve added your own opinion on the matter. And, even if someone has already written a post on the exact same subject, maybe you will have thought about it in a different way.
  • Pick a topic that you know a lot about, or that you want to know more about.
  • Write.

There are times when I’m going through my RSS feeds that I’ll find a particular post interesting, and reflect on that post itself. Or, I’ll comment on that post and subscribe to the RSS feed for the next comments on that post.

Here are some other things I’ve learned along the way:

  • Link to posts to which you refer in your blog post.
  • Encourage readers to reflect on your post–especially if you didn’t arrive at a conclusion.
  • If your commenters ask questions, and you don’t know the answers, let them know. That’s fine.
  • If you make a mistake, and your commenters point it out, all you have to do is correct the information on your post and re-publish it with the corrected information at the top of the post. See an example here.
  • Oh, and spell check. Do a lot of spell-checking.

And I think you’ll learn things as you go–but you won’t learn unless you try, right? I’d like to hear what things you’ve learned along the way while you’re blogging or commenting on blogs. Maybe this will be your first blog comment–I have to tell you, there’s a thrill when you press that “publish” button. Kind of like when you buy a scratch-off lotto ticket and you’re rubbing the penny from the “leave a penny” jar to see if you’ve won.

To comment: All you have to do is put your name (or “Anonymous”), write your comment (example: “You’re awesome, Megan!”), and your email address (which only comes to me, and isn’t published).Then click “post.” Yep. That easy. (Insert Easy Button here).

Oh! And, if all else fails: Just do it.

image via Plum Party

By meganmcq | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Fractures, Feet and Crocks, Oh my!

July 21, 2009 – 10:21 pm

crocks

Shoe: Crocks


Recently, I broke my foot.

sesamoidNo, really. I broke my foot. Actually, it happened a few months ago. I fractured my foot wearing cute shoes. Ironic? Perhaps. I thought that it was a sign to start blogging here. I mean, what a great first post topic. Feet.

So here’s the story: I fractured my foot over time wearing unsupported heals and flats. Ouch. I play a lot of volleyball and go to the gym (and continued to wear said shoes deemed ‘unsupported’ by my orthopedic doctor), and the fractures continued to grow. More ouch.

Finally, I went in to see the doctor for my elbow (hyperextension injury), and mentioned that I’ve had persistent discomfort in my foot. While the x-ray of my elbow showed no obvious impediment (duh, hyperextensions are muscle and tendon problems), the x-ray of my foot resulted in the doctor alerting me that I had “sesamoiditis.”

I laughed.

I mean, I found it funny that I’ve been walking around in gorgeous 4-inch wedges with a broken foot for the past few months.

Moral of the story is, I now have to wear crocks or very comfortable walking shoes to help heal the injury, or I will have to get cortisone shots and wear a boot (not particularly fashionable).

Perhaps the real moral is that we’re going to encounter broken feet (insert potentially cheesy metaphor here) throughout our worklife. The question is: how will we overcome them?

image via YepYep and image via Ohio Health

By meganmcq | Posted in Misc | Tagged | Comments (1)

If this arm were a GPS, it would be *my* GPS. It’s just that broken.

July 20, 2009 – 12:23 pm

My GPS busted a few weeks ago on the way to a lunch with Patrick Ashamalla from A Brand New Way. Needless to say, locating the office via Blackberry while driving was interesting.

arm

Finally, I get around to calling the GPS company to see what we can do to fix the problem.

Unfortunately, when we have products that break, we’re unable to speak directly with the person who invented this product, nor speak with the manufacturer of the device. I’m going to have to speak with a customer service representative. Ouch.

Thankfully, I realized a few years ago that customer service representatives are humans. (Profound, I know). As such, I try to treat interactions with customer service representatives as I would any other client or acquaintance I meet.

Just like any introduction, the first thing we do is say hello and exchange names. Thus, after getting off hold (the typical 45 minute wait), I obtain and remember the name of the person with whom I am speaking.

“Hi, thank you for calling Broken GPS, Inc. This is Josephine, how may I help you today?”

“Hey there, Josephine! How is your day going so far?”

…This is typically where a stunned pause takes place…

“…Um, well, I’m doing alright, how about yourself?”

“I’m doing okay. I’m sure it’s been another long day, huh?”

…This is where they realize I actually, genuinely, care what they have to say.

“Um, well, yes, it has been a long day. Thank you for asking. But, what can I do to help you?”

…Note that by this point, the tone of their voice has changed completely. Just as I genuinely cared about establishing a positive working relationship with Josephine, she also genuinely wants to do her best to help me.

…This is where I instill my three rules for solving whatever problem I’m having with the company/product/bill/etc.  in question:

1. Recognize that it’s not Josephine’s fault that my product is broken and that I’ve been on hold for far too long.

2. Understand that Josephine has typically annoying company policies that will limit the amount of help she will be able to give me, because she has to follow them.

3. Know that I can not get any resolution on the situation without Josephine’s help.

In other words, I’m going to catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Hopefully, Josephine doesn’t have 1,000 eyes or 6 legs. But even if she did, I’d still need her to be on my side to help me resolve my situation.

After a deep breath:

“Well, Josephine, I was hoping we could work together to figure out a way to solve this issue I’m having with my GPS which happened to stop charging a few weeks ago…”

Being genuine in my interactions with customer service representatives has been a mutually pleasant experience (note: except for long hold times), and has typically led to getting the problem resolved (in the way I wanted it to be resolved).

If at any point there seems to be a difficulty or lapse in communication, I try to make a comparison we will both understand:

“You see Joesiphine, it’s as if my GPS was like a Happy Meal, except I didn’t get the french fries, but I got two toys…”

I mean, who hasn’t been to McDonalds?

Anyway, while I was on hold, I had a lot of time to think about companies who are using social media to their advantage. I also had a fair amount of time to listen to the elevator music version of ‘Reflection’ from the Disney movie ‘Mulan’ and finish my goat cheese enchiladas (they were delicious, thank you for asking).

Point being is there are several advantages to using social media within a customer service realm:

1. Proactive is Powerful: Instead of companies having to be reactive in their approach with customer service, companies who use Twitter to proactively search and resolve customer complaints almost put the company in charge of the situation. They are able to resolve situations before they get out of hand.

2. Enhanced Online Reputation: Also, I’m willing to bet that because they conduct the customer service through a social media platform, the company is more likely to have the individual who ‘complained’ about the service turn around and speak as an advocate of the company once their issue is resolved. In essence, the company has a greater opportunity to have a larger, more positive, digital word-of-mouth conversation. Social media makes it possible for individuals to interact with a brand and then disseminate their (hopefully) good experiences with the company to their friends and followers. The potential for having an increase in brand awareness through social media customer service is profound.

3. Genuine Human-to-Human Connection: It’s beginning to bring us back to genuine human interaction. Companies and brands can humanize their brand and make it easier for people to identify with who they are.

image via active rain

By Megan McQ | Posted in Monitoring, WOM, social media | Comments (0)

‘Expert’ise Examined

June 15, 2009 – 4:17 pm

Last week, I attended Blog Potomac, an industry ‘unconference’ in the DC area. I had the opportunity to hear from several industry thought-leaders in different areas of corporate communication.

bp1

One of the most thought-provoking topics of the day regarded the concept of “personal branding,” an online strategy for an individual to consistently position their ‘unique brand’ across social media platforms.

There have been several emerging “personal brand experts” on the Internet that help individuals understand how to market themselves online. Traditionally, these ‘experts’ encourage others to brand themselves as experts in specific industries–specifically ones that companies are desperate for more knowledge in.

But I find a lot of issue in this matter. While these “personal branding experts” eschew the ideology that an individual needs to “pursue their passion” to become an “expert”, I think a lot of individuals are pressured into following the mainstream or forcing a passion that will help advance their career.

But I wholeheartedly agree with one of the speakers, Liz Strauss, who lightly addressed the issue of personal branding during her portion of the conference. While this is not an exact quotation, she said in response to personal branding that:

“Do not lay an ‘idea’ of who you are on top of your image. Live who you are.”

I believe that this ideology parallels one of the quotations I strive to adhere to. The quotation is from Frederick Douglass, one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement in the US:

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”

I believe that companies may need to be wary of “experts.” Especially those who claim to be ‘experts’ in social media.

For example, While I subscribe to well over 50 blogs which I try to read every day (amassing to 1,000+ blog posts weekly), I would never refer to myself as an ‘expert.’ This decision is primarily due to the nature of our business. By the time I finish reading my blog posts in the morning, the information is already obsolete.

The exponential rate at which my industry moves is one of the reasons I’m so drawn to it. While we understand our theories of transparency and authenticity (disclaimer: oversimplification), our industry trends and tactics evolve so quickly that the title ‘expert’ is in and of itself an indicator that one would be obsolete. For example, by the time one takes the time necessary to brand oneself as an ‘expert’ in a particular aspect of social media, they have already fallen behind the curve.

By Megan McQ | Posted in personal, social media | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Blog-off Contest Strategy (Wrap-Up Part 2)

June 1, 2009 – 12:56 pm

As most of you know, I was recently selected to participate in a Blog-off competition at Community Marketing Blog.

The contest ended on May 30th, so I wanted to take this time and explain my strategy for generating the most traffic and comments as possible. I’m going to break down my strategy into 3 parts:

1. Pre-Competition

The pre-competition phase consisted of identifying my target audiences and how I was going to alert them about the competition. Since this contest was located online, I identified my audiences to be:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Offline (occasionally)

I wrote several emails, Facebook messages,  Facebook notes, and direct messages on Twitter to different groups of people online. I split up these initial emails at first so I could personalize them and thank individuals in advance for their participation. I explained why I was doing the contest and allowed any member of these emails they could OPT-OUT FROM THE EMAILS AT ANY TIME. I think it’s important not to spam people. While no one ‘opted-out’ of receiving the emails, I did have several people tell me which email address they would prefer to have the emails sent to them.

This pre-competition organization left me with time to prepare my blog posts and form my strategy for generating traffic to the site after it began.

2. After the gun shot! (During the competition)

After the competition began, I had already identified my strategy for reaching out to interested parties on several platforms.

Note: I’ll write another blog post on my ‘blogger best practices’. Here I’m only going to concentrate on my strategy for driving traffic.

After I wrote my first blog post, I was able to act accordingly:

  • I grouped all of my contacts and emailed them the bit.ly link I had created for my first post. The email consisted of several ways they could help. These included:

1. Go to the link

2. Email interested parties the link (and I included an email template)
3. Write a note with the link in it (and I included a note template)
4. Comment on the post! (and I left detailed instructions for how people could comment)

Note: I also left instructions on how people could sign up for a RSS feed if they did leave a comment so they knew if another person had responded to their comment directly.

5. Make the link your status on Facebook! (and I left a short text that people could copy and paste into their Facebook profiles)

6.Tweet the link! (and I included the tweet that they could copy and paste into their Twitter accounts).

I think it’s important to note that I made these instructions as easy as possible on the individual. People didn’t have to write their own emails, they could simply copy and paste my template into their draft. I think this helped my contacts reach more people.

Also, I only sent this email to them one time so that they knew I wasn’t spamming their inboxes and wasn’t trying to take up much of their time.

  • Commenting on comments: when people wrote an especially important comment or a conversation was being generated between commenters on a post, I made sure to comment back to the individuals in a comment as well. I believe this helped to spur conversation further.
  • Also, I would receive emails telling me the email addresses of people who commented. If I recognized the name, I was sure to send a direct email to that individual thanking them for their comment, and usually responded to what they had written. I believe this action helped generate more conversation and I was genuinely thankful for all of the effort people had put into helping me.

Another note: When I sent out my links to the posts, I had converted them into bit.ly form (a URL shortening service) so that I could track how many people had clicked on the link and from what source! Here’s what I have:

‘App’vertising: Monetizing Mobile: 167 Clicks, 20 comments

RIP Journalism 1.0:86 Clicks, 9 comments

Brand-jacking and Pickles: 87 Clicks, 11 comments

3. Wrap-Up

  • Now that the contest is over, I will be writing emails to the individual groups I made at the beginning of the contest. I’ll be thanking everyone for their time and announcing the results of the contest.
  • I’m also back to blogging here!
  • I believe all of the contestants will be having a conference call where we discuss all of the things we learned. I’m excited to hear everyone’s stories.
By Megan McQ | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

We’re Back! (Contest Wrap-up Part 1)

June 1, 2009 – 12:18 pm

The Blog-off contest at Community Marketing Blog ended on the 30th of May.

Over the course of the two week competition, I ended up posting 3 times. These posts ranged in scope. One covered mobile advertising (or ‘app’vertising). It discussed the recent trends in the mobile marketing industry and how companies can increase brand awareness through effective mobile applications.

The second post talked about journalism in the social media era. I talked about how traditional journalism is being replaced by citizen journalism and how I thought this was a good thing in terms of marketing and branding campaigns. Citizen journalism increases transparency and strength of message from influencer bloggers.

My third post talked about the importance of digital monitoring due to digital WOM (word of mouth). It also touched on how companies must understand their online digital conversation before they engage their customers online.

I learned a lot from this competition. I’m proud of the conversation that was generated in the comments as well as how many people read the posts!

In my next post, I’ll talk about some of the ‘blogger best practices’ and my strategy for the competition.

Also, I’ll write a post and let you know who the winners of the contest are. If I am picked to be a permanent writer to the blog, I’ll have a press release with my bio sent out to 1+ million people on Linked-In and other prominent industry blogs. It will be very exciting.

By Megan McQ | Posted in Blog, WOM, social media | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Guest Blogging: May 18-30th

May 17, 2009 – 11:07 pm

I’ll be taking a brief hiatus from tomorrow through May 30th, as I’ll be participating in a blog-off competition over at Community Marketing Blog!

Over the next two weeks, I’ll be blogging about social media marketing strategies as a guest blogger alongside several other marketing professionals.

I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to be on the blog and encourage you to head over to the site and check out my posts!

By Megan McQ | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Social Media Isn’t for Everyone.

May 13, 2009 – 3:48 pm

Okay, Okay, the title of this post seems contradictory with the entire purpose of this blog. But just hear me out.

On Monday, The San Diego Business Journal wrote an article after an interview with Michael Olguin, who heads Formula PR. Formula PR was ranked No. 1 on the Business Journal’s 2008 Public Relations Agencies List.

OlguinThe article discussed Olguin’s opinions on social media, who does claim that social media is as important as any other element of PR. However, he doesn’t think that social media is for everyone. According to the article:

Olguin is a firm believer that Internet media, whether it’s social networking, online versions of print publications, or columnists and reporters who maintain their own blogs, is vital to his business. But he also concentrates his client roster on national firms, or locally based companies that are national.

I agree with this framework completely. There are a lot of companies who are hearing a lot of buzz words and want to get active in the sphere. But companies may not benefit from having a social media presence, especially those in the B-2-B sector. I also think that Olguin is wise to implement social media campaigns for national firms and companies.

However, I do think that all companies should understand social media. Just because an active presence on the sphere may not be in the cards for your integrated marketing communications right now, it doesn’t mean that companies can just ignore the sphere altogether.

This is especially true for companies who are B-2-C. Chances are, your consumers are talking about your company on online communities. Companies should therefore instill a social media monitoring system to be aware of the online conversation and the ‘loudest’ allies and opponents. Having this system in place will make the entrance into the social media sphere more seamless as it becomes necessary.

By Megan McQ | Posted in Monitoring, social media | Tagged , | Comments (0)