Analytics Is King

One of my favorite movies growing up was Grumpy Old Men. Not only were Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau hilarious together, but for some reason the movie really resonated with me. Most likely, the movie resonarted because Jack's and Walter's characters were so much like my grandfather it was scary. That was what I grew up with --- a grandfather who, like most in his generation, was a little prickly. I didn't mind it. In fact, I thought it was hilarious most times.

Fast-forward 18 years (dear God that feels awful to say) to the explosion of social media and the development of online personas. Whether you believe in personal brands or not (I tend to believe they exist and not in an insidious way like some do), the way we act online does help shape how our respective communities view our personalities. It's natural human behavior to see someone talk, and then form your own opinion of that person and their thoughts. I know that sounds very judgmental, but I don't mean it to be that way. Humans see things, and then form their opinions.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this in the first place is to clarify something about my own online persona -- I'm not a grumpy person. TRUST ME. The people who follow me, subscribe to me or have friended me on Facebook see one, very narrow view of who I am. Sure, I might appear to be a little prickly at times but if you view that as me being grumpy I'd say you are wrong. What you are viewing as grumpy is actually passion for topics that are important to me.

Call me a sap, or come here and make fun of me if you want, but I have a sincere passion for this business. I made the transition about 8 years ago out of the political world and into professional communications because it sounded interesting and challenging. Professional communications is the reason I'm able to pay for my car, my apartment, my bills, give to charities, help out my family when necessary and, oh yeah, go out to nice restaurants when I feel like it. It's also the reason I was able to break into the social media world in 2007 and continue evolving my career. It led me to Austin, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois for two amazing jobs. It has allowed me to work with, and mentor some incredibly talented people. And, saving the best for last, it has allowed me to meet some INCREDIBLE people that I truly do care for... I owe this business a huge debt of gratitude for making that happen, and I can't be thankful enough.

If I get grumpy it's because I see people not treating the business with the same level of respect that I do. Or, even worse, treating people in the business with a level of disrespect that's bordering on rude. Take a step back and look in the mirror... Are you trashing this business unfairly? Don't get me wrong, constructive criticism is certainly warranted (we need more of it, quite frankly), but what I can't stand are those who trash a business that's helped them (largely) get where they are.

When you see me getting grumpy, that's why. It isn't because I'm an angry person. Ask those closest to me and they'll tell you I'm really about the nicest guy you could ever meet. So the next time you notice my more prickly side coming out, take a step back before you call me out for being grumpy. Is it that I'm truly having a bad day, or is it because people are treating the business with disrespect? It could be that I'm grumpy because I do have bad days like anyone else, but it's MUCH more likely to be the latter causing my hair (such that it is) to stand on end.

One last thing before I close... Whether you're judging me, or someone else, assume you don't know the person. Of the more than 6,000 (no, I'm not pounding my chest) people who follow me on Twitter, a good 99% of them don't know me well at all. You should assume that's the case with the other people you interact with online because there's always more than meets the eye (thanks, GI Joe).

So with that I'll jump off the soapbox for the time being. Just remember, I'm closer to the passionate teddy bear than I am the prickly grizzly. Thanks, as always, for listening.

At the risk of sounding like a complainer, or as someone who is always ranting, I wanted to take a second to address some recent developments in social media. Of course, there are things daily that cause one to shake their head or pump their fist. Social media elicits strong opinions from all sorts of people. Whether you're on the client or agency side, young or old, you likely have an opinion on something related to social media. That's cool. In this case, opinions are mostly good. Opinions mostly help us push the space forward. However, as with anything in life these opinions have limits.

There are several memes in social media that should cause you to scratch your head. If you aren't scratching your head, you aren't close enough to your clients or bosses to understand what's really important to them. For example:

• Social media experts are "clowns." Let me be perfectly clear for a second - I think Gary Vaynerchuk does amazing work. He's an incredibly smart guy who's done a lot more for the space than I have done to date. However, when he called 99.5% of social media experts "clowns" he was wrong. Not that there isn't a large number of faux experts, it's just that companies don't care. If you're good, companies will recognize it. If you suck, companies will cut bait. If you think otherwise, you're wrong. And no, for the record, it doesn't make the job for those of us who know what we are talking about harder. It actually makes it easier in the end.
• Snake oil salesmen - This is another one of those memes that should die a very quick death. It's in line with my first point here, but companies just don't care. They don't care what you think of other people in social media. They care how YOU can help THEM. End. Of. Story.
• Social media is not really media - Tell you what, try an experiment with 10 people you know within large companies. Ask them whether they think social media is actually media, or whether it is an accurate reflection of what the space is or does. I'd bet my life that 10 out of 10 will either stare blankly, say they don't care or both.
• Defining ROI - Again, I'd bet you a significant amount of money that a marketing professional within a company has never once asked themselves whether ROI in social media actually means return on influence or return on engagement or whatever other stupid RO acronym you'd like to come up with. ROI within companies is return on investment. Nothing else. Stop it.
• Does PR or corporate communications or marketing own social media - This is one you could possibly argue, but realistically companies only care how those elements come together to deliver a strategic approach to social. Who owns it is a secondary concern at best.

Just so you don't think I'm a complainer, what should we be talking about?

• Measuring social media effectively - We need less talk and misinformation about measuring social media. At Ogilvy, we approach measurement as KPIs and diagnostic measures. KPIs could be things like sentiment, or positive share of voice or, gasp, sales. Diagnostic measures are those that are specific to the platforms you are using. If you are using Facebook you might look at clicks/post, likes/post, comments/post, etc... Again, it depends on your goals. Lets start talking with companies about how they can effectively measure social media success.
• Defining, measuring and implementing influencer programs - There is a significant amount of debate about how to measure and define influence. A lot of informed opinion, I might add. The jury is still out, but influencer programs aren't going away any time soon. We need to land on appropriate proxy metrics for influence, and soon. We need to understand how we're appropriately leveraging our lists, and soon. There may never be total agreement, but we need to get closer than we are currently.
• A more strategic approach to social - Unfortunately, social media is still overly tactical. Companies that are incorporating elements of paid and earned media into social campaigns are actually few and far between. We need more of that. We need more companies who want to leverage social across the entire enterprise (read: a truly social business). Social media can help your business, but only if you let it be more than a broadcast channel.
• Using listening data proactively - There is some value in using listening data reactively as a marketing intelligence tool, but it is most effective when your content is nimble enough to be influenced by conversations you are seeing online about your brand and your industry. We need to be formalizing listening teams at the brand level in order to do this well. Yes, it costs money, but ask Dell whether the social media listening command center hasn't already paid for itself. I bet it has, and not just by a little.

I'm sure there are other things we should be talking about, and I'm hoping you'll come and do that for us. Either way, social media needs to stop acting like the next iteration of Ringling Brothers Circus by focusing on things companies couldn't care less about. Lets refocus on what's important, and help to really drive business value. Who's with me?

 

I've seriously just about had enough... You can tell this hasn't been the greatest of weeks. Hey, I'm loving my job. I love my family. I have some great friends (real friends...not Facebook friends). There's little to complain about in the world, right? Heh...Obviously, you've never met me. 

In all seriousness, I tend to be overly sarcastic sometimes but I'm not doing it to complain. It takes a lot to get me to complain. Actually, what normally happens is that something eats at me, and eats at me and then I explode. That's about the stage I've reached with some people in social media...

Let me offer up a few disclosures before I go off on this bender:

1. I'm sure I've exhibited some of the qualities I'm about to outline. Who doesn't on occasion? It's nice to receive attention, and sometimes that attention goes to our heads.
2. In no way am I calling anyone out by name. These are general trends. And, if I were to call you out by name, be damn sure I'd say it to your face. That's not arrogance, it's what I'd expect from you if I were exhibiting the same qualities.
3. If you infer that any of these apply to you, you're wrong, but take it as constructive feedback. We all can get better at something.

Ok, so here we go... 

1. Writing a blog makes you relevant, but that relevancy has limits. It helps you get in the door, but if your work product is terrible, that blog gets you nowhere in the end. 
2. You aren't relevant because you get a lot of retweets. Tell me, how much did those 100 retweets on your latest blog post make you? Right, thought so... $0! 
3. Social media has helped amplify your career in some way, so shut up and stop trashing it every five seconds. Jesus... Constructive commentary? Sure. Particular platforms are "dying" because the dynamics have changed since you first joined? Stop it! Please! I'm begging you!
4. Writing a book doesn't make you relevant either. Listen, I'm writing a book with Wiley on social media metrics. Does that make me relevant? I don't know. I know that if I stop doing a good job for my employer my relevancy means diddily poo. 
5. Getting invited to a party doesn't make you relevant. It makes you relevant to your social media inner circle. It doesn't make you relevant to companies who sign your checks. 
6. Your social media reputation isn't enough to keep your job, and nobody gives a damn about it internally. Again, I take some ribbing from folks for my social media activities. However, the difference is they've discovered it on their own. I never told them. It might've helped you land the job, but stop talking about it once you've landed it. 
7. Saying you've spoken at hundreds of conferences doesn't make you relevant. Again, see point #1. All of the speaking gigs mean CRAPOLA if you do shit work on the backend. 

I'm sure I could go on here, but I'm done. Rant over. Moral of the story? Do good work. Shut up. Be appreciative for all social media has done for your career, and don't think those tweets, subscribers, commenters, etc... mean a heckuva lot in the long-term. You're one false step away from losing it all. 

 

How often do we see people talk about going on vacation and disconnecting from the Internet only to see the same people live-tweeting their vacations? I have no problem with it. Hey, it's a personal decision to share information while on vacation. My preference would be to actually disconnect from computer, email and social media while out on vacation. Guess what? That's exactly what I did starting on Friday and lasting until Sunday night. 

Now, to be totally upfront - I did post a Happy Mothers Day note to my Mom, and uploaded photos from my trip on Sunday night. Other than that, I did none of the following:

• Tweet or retweet
• Post Facebook status updates
• Like or comment on any Facebook status updates/photos
• Make any transactions on Empire Avenue
• Upload any photos to Flickr
• Write any blog posts
• Insert social media activity here

Last week, I realized that I needed some time away. No computer or time on the interwebs. I'd heard great things about the Hotel Valencia in San Antonio and made a reservation. I made no plans except to eat, have a few "pops," sit by the water and visit a few historical sites. Oh, and have I mentioned not take my computer? That's exactly what I did. 

(this was my view during breakfast on Day 2)

This little vacation was exactly what I wanted/expected. It was great to get away, even if it was only 90 minutes away from home. However, and it's a big however, I did learn a few interesting things about myself and my interactions in social media:

• I was totally out of the loop on major news events. It became pretty clear early in my stay that I rely on Twitter for breaking news. Without it, I had no clue what was going on. I had no idea that golfing legend Seve Ballesteros had died. I had no idea that Peggy Noonan wrote another clueless editorial calling for the release of the Osama bin Laden death photos. Again, I was going for disconnected, but this experience showed just how reliant I was on others for news. Good? Bad? I don't know. New reality? Probably!
• I missed connecting with friends. And no, in this case I don't mean "social media friends." I mean actual friends. Now, I was connecting with friends via text message but that wasn't nearly the same. I had no idea what was going on with people I would call friends. If it were an emergency, they would've gotten in touch with me, sure. However, I care about my friends quite a bit and like to know what's going on with them. 
• Disconnecting is much harder than most of us proclaim - Twitter, Facebook, reading blogs and checking emails are all part of my daily routine. Breaking that is VERY hard. To proclaim a disconnection from what I do every day is overly simplistic and wrong. Yet me, and several others I know proclaim they are doing it on a daily basis. I wonder if we were all true to ourselves whether we'd admit that the disconnection is some superficial self-imposition that we feel makes us "cooler?" That we can just turn it off and turn it on? Who knows. Issues like that are beyond my pay grade. 
• You can't make left turns from the center lane in San Antonio - My weekend almost got derailed early when I cut off a bus that I thought was stopped. Whoops? Thankfully, no ticket. 

Here's the bottom line - It was great to disconnect for a few days. I found it mentally refreshing. However, social media is a part of my everyday life. Going forward, I'll continue to look for these opportunities to take some time away. However, never again will I proclaim it to be easy to just "pull the plug." If that makes me a workaholic or a bad person or a nerd, so be it. That's who I am. 

 

We're all a mixture of different skill sets. Some of us come from an analytical background. Others come from a pure communications background. Still others come from a political science background. The fact of the matter is that we all need to be a little bit of all things. What's the ideal make-up look like?

• Sociologist - Understanding how offline societies interact often helps us determine how online societies will perform.
• Psychologist - This goes without saying, but understanding human behaviors is critical. If I put out a piece of content, how is someone going to "feel" about it? (full disclosure: my dad was a forensic psychologist. I tried to major in psychology but, well, quickly changed after the first class. :) )
• Communicator - Obviously, right? You don't need to come from the traditional PR background, but you need to have strong interpersonal communications skills to succeed in social media (really any profession). This also includes the ability to write, and write well.
• Ambassador - You aren't going to come up with a solution that makes everybody happy. Building on the wisdom of Solomon, finding a way to split the baby is often how you survive in this business.
• Hard ass - I was looking for something creative to say here, but "hard ass" was the only thing that came to mind. Listen, there is going to be someone along the way that challenges you. When that happens, you have to be a mixture of all of these things, including hard ass, to survive.

I hesitate to rank any of those in order of importance because I honestly believe it is a blend of all, but my intuition says, particularly in social media, that being a part-time sociologist and psychologist are most critical (probably followed by communicator). We have to be able to answer the "why." Why is someone talking about our brand online? Why do they have such a negative opinion about a member of our management team? Why are they turning to Facebook instead of a forum where the rest of our community lives? Said another way, we have to understand the motivations of our online community. Nowhere is understanding the underlying motivations more critical than when developing and then implementing an influencer program. This week, I will be participating in the Radian6 Social 2011 User Conference on a panel about the value of influence. We're going to be talking about everything from the metrics used to define influence, to how to utilize an influencer list to even something as fundamental as whether influencer lists are necessary. There has been a lot written on the subject lately, and I'm under no delusion that we're going to solve all of the issues associated with influencer analysis, but hopefully we can make a dent. One of the issues we'll likely be tackling is determining the influencer analysis output. What I mean by that is understanding how we want the list to be used, and what the heck do WE actually mean by influence. In a post a couple of months back, my friend Tom Webster pointed out that one of the ways influencer analysis could be improved is understanding motivations. I couldn't agree more. We have to know what influences people, why they are talking, what messages they respond to and how they want to interact with brands. If you can't answer those, your influencer analysis output is going to be flawed. You'll never completely answer the "why" using listening data, as Tom noted in his post. The only way you truly know is by asking (and yes, I know, people can lie). So, as you start working with influencers what can you do to fully understand the "why" when asking your community may not be practical at that stage? A few things:

1. Use your listening data - Yes, I know I just said you can't rely on this solely, but it can be helpful in gaining a basic understanding of why people do what they do online when referencing your brand.
2. Asking the influencers themselves - In theory, you should know through your research what types of content communities react to from these influencers. But, why (there's that word again) not ask them? You might find a totally different answer from the blogger/forum poster/mainstream press member, etc... then what your research is telling you. That's valuable intelligence.
3. Surveying the online community - No, social media listening is never going to fully replace surveys. They have value. No, they may not be a truly representative sample of your online community. Yes, there is valuable intelligence to be had from using a survey instrument.
4. Knowing your motivations - Why do you want to interact with influencers? Is it to increase awareness in the form of share of voice? Is it to improve sentiment about your brand? Is it to build long-term brand value. Not only should we understand the motivations of our community, but we need to understand why we're doing what we're doing. Only then can you truly grasp the entire landscape.

We have to be one part psychologist, one part sociologist, one part communicator, one part ambassador and another part hard ass to succeed in this social media world. Whether that's participating in social media more broadly, or developing an influencer identification program answering the "why" is critical. We're not going to solve this dilemma during our panel at the Radian6 conference, but likely through more informed conversation online and off. Think back to the programs you've built using social technologies... Have you sufficiently answered the why internally and the why within your community? If not, it isn't too late to course correct depending on your findings.

In my post recapping SXSWi, it should've been clear that the biggest value driver of the conference for me is networking. I love getting a chance to talk with people I don't see that often who are working hard in this business. The content isn't terrible, it just isn't for me. If I'm trying to learn something I'll go to a smaller event, like Blogworld Expo (shameless plug - Arik Hanson and I co-organize the social business track), where I know the content is more focused and practical. That being said, one of the lasting impressions of the event has to be Gary Vaynerchuck's talk. Gary's premise, based on his new book The Thank You Economy, is that brands need to become more "human." The book goes into great detail about how companies can scale that humanization. This isn't a book review (disclaimer: I've not read it, but am planning on it), rather it is me agreeing with Gary's idea that brands need to become more human. After his talk ended I thought about how my clients could achieve this vision, but also how some people in the social media world should start heeding his call. One of the things that drives me nuts are blog posts or tweets proclaiming the death of a particular platform. A common refrain is, "blogging is dead because of Twitter," or "Quora is a Twitter killer." How on earth would anybody know that? Do you have a crystal ball that the rest of us can't see? Those kinds of posts make for excellent linkbait, but the truth is that none of us really know for sure what's coming down the line. This space is expanding so quickly it's hard to know what's going to happen tomorrow, let alone a year from now. Similarly, there are those who are hyper-critical of what social media has become. Let me be clear for a second...constructive criticism about the value of these tools is certainly warranted. Certain technologies are not for every brand, and there are definitely some snake oil salesmen out there who convince companies that they should establish a presence on every network under the sun. However, slamming a social network because it is no longer you and your four buddies is not only dumb, but incredibly shortsighted in my view. Guess what? You owe part of your career to that explosion. And please, spare us the bullshit of "you've worked harder than everybody else." Most of the people in this space who are recognized for thought leadership are working hard. No, the move of social networks toward more mainstream adoption means you have more career options, most likely a cooler job than you had a few years ago and ultimately more money. Its opened doors you never thought could be opened. Hell, this space has created a book opportunity for me that I NEVER thought would've been possible before getting involved in this space. I think it is time for us all to take a moment to be grateful for those who have:

1. Taught us something new about this space - Guarantee there is someone out there who teaches you something on the regular. Have you thanked them for that recently? I know I haven't. With that in mind, I'd like to take a second to thank Tom Webster. Incredibly smart guy, with an eye for numbers that this space really needs. Read him if you don't already.
2. Gave us our start in this business - Chances are good there's someone out there who told you about these platforms. Or, better yet, helped you gain your first real exposure to others working in the space. For me, that guy was Jason Falls. I pitched him a blog topic in 2009 about social media listening and he published it. I don't thank him enough for that opportunity...So, Thanks, Jason. I appreciate it.
3. Challenged us to continue pushing the space forward - There's someone out there who is pushing you to do better. It could be your boss. It could be a friend. Whoever it is, acknowledge them for what they are doing. For me, that guy was Keith Mabee, now Vice Chairman at Dix & Eaton. I owe him so much for his advice that I could never repay him. Thanks, Keith.
4. Encouraged us to be better human beings - At the end of the day, we can always be better human beings. Have we taken the time to help someone less fortunate than us? Bringing it back to this context, have we thanked someone for going out of there way to provide us with a piece of information we were looking for? I know I need to do this more....You?

So, the next time you are planning to trash social media as "not as cool as it used to be," or proclaim the death of blogging (or insert social network here), take a second to realize that the media you are about to trash has a lot to do with where you are in your career. Resist the temptation to be ungrateful or, in more crass terms, an asshole. The traffic to your site isn't worth it. Thanks, Gary, for helping me refocus on what matters.

You'll likely read posts ad nauseam from people who were here and had a chance to experience the event. From the parties to the content to the bouncers who wouldn't let some famous blogger into an event, there's a good chance you'll hear it all. Trust me, I know full well that writing this post will help feed the post-SXSWi echo chamber beast. However, SXSWi receives a fair bit of criticism (use of "fair bit" is a byproduct of several days around Dave Fleet - sorry) and I'm feeling the need to defend it. Not that it needs defending, mind you, because this year continued its recent growth pattern. There's a reason for that -- it tends to be a productive use of people's time. What do you hear all of the time about SXSWi? "It's party central," some people say. "The content sucks," still others remark. Guess what? Some of that is true. There are a lot of parties, and there is entirely TOO MUCH content. The event would do well to scale back some of the proposals it accepts and instead focus on what's practical and applicable for as many people in the audience as it can muster. It won't be able to reach everybody, frankly no conference can. I say all of this admitting that I didn't buy a badge this year. That being said, I did have a chance to see Gary Vaynerchuk's talk on Monday and it was fantastic. We need more of that straight talk express in this business. We'd all be better off sometimes. No, I didn't buy a badge because that's not what the event is about for me. Trust me, it isn't because I think I know everything. I'm somewhere between a dumb ass and just plain dumb. There's PLENTY I can learn from other people. Ahhhhhhhhhh, the people! SXSWi the last two years has been about the networking for me. This is going to sound like a crazy statement coming from the analytics guy (most of us are serious dorks, as you know), but I LOVE people. I cannot get enough of talking to people about what they are doing, what challenges they are facing, how they've overcome those challenges (or not), where they want to go professionally and ultimately how I can help them achieve whatever they want to achieve. Getting to know, and then talking through things with people is what I absolutely love. The bottom line of it is that SXSWi allows me to do those things better than any other conference in this space. Sure some of them are smaller and more intimate, which does allow for more networking time. However, there simply is no other event where almost everyone is in attendance and available to talk with. Now, I know full well what some of you are thinking - "Yeah, Chuck, but what's the return on that 'people time?' How am I going to get my boss to pay for it? They won't approve it if the content isn't great, or if we don't get business out of the event." First of all, I'd argue you have a very short sighted boss. Secondly, here are some things you can use to counter those sorts of questions:

1. "We're always looking for the best and brightest talent, right?" A hidden (though becoming less so) benefit of SXSWi is recruiting. Most of the thought leaders in this industry are around, and open to talking to people about what they do for a living. Trust me, you never know where that conversation might go. I've seen it plenty of times first-hand end up in someone joining a new company.
2. Improving exposure for your company - Leaving out the whole personal brand discussion for a minute, you coming to SXSWi increases your firm or company's visibility. It just does. The only way it doesn't is if you go to the panels and then hide in your hotel room the entire weekend. I think we'd argue that's not only boring as hell, but an incredibly unproductive use of your time and company's resources. If you work for a well-established brand/agency, there's still plenty of opportunity to increase exposure. It's amazing how many times I've heard - "Really? I didn't know you guys did that! Interesting!"
3. It's all about the connections - I've always considered this a dramatic oversimplification of the networking idea, but in this business it is most certainly true. If you're interested in speaking, getting new business, increasing exposure, heck doing most anything in this world you need to make connections. My really good friend (I think that's safe to say) Lisa Grimm tweeted the other night in response to a question about the value of SXSWi - "Connection trumps content." That's not saying the content sucks, it just goes to show you how important the connections really are.
4. People work with who they like - This certainly isn't a new idea, but it definitely applies to SXSWi. Quite a bit of new business is garnered because folks have an opportunity to have face-to-face time with people they've only known online. If there's a spark there, it tends to turn into a business transaction. If you aren't present, you have no shot at creating that spark. None. At the end of the day this is a business where most of the "inhabitants" can be found online, and most of the business is transacted in person. This, my friends, is ultimately what your boss is hoping for and if you've done 1-3 in this list chances are good #4 will happen as well.

I'm going to cut it there because I think you get the point already. SXSWi is a great event. I love the opportunity to talk with people more extensively than what is possible online...or even via telephone. So, here are some people that helped make my SXSWi experience fantastic - Dave Fleet, Lisa Grimm, Justin Goldsborough, Shawn Morton, Jim Storer, Jaime Punishill, Bill Johnston, Adam Brown, Richard Binhammer, Sydney Owen, Lauren Vargas, Kellye Crane, Kyle Flaherty, Aaron Strout, Bryan Person, David Alston, Craig Comeau, Geoff Livingston, Tim Hayden, Rich Mcinnis, Matt Ridings, Chris Baccus, Alex Tan, Stephanie Wonderlin, Sam Ogborn, Jon Gray, Melanie Strout, Liz Phillips, Kaitlyn Frysztak, Matt Dickman, Jason Falls, Amber Naslund, Lee Odden, Geoff Knox, Rick Liebling, Virginia Miracle, Ian Sohn, Gemma Craven, Kevin Silverman, Robyn Cobb, Kelly Feller, Jill McFarland, Colby Gergen, Sara Davidson (sans the glasses), Brad Mays, Amber Porter Cox, Len Kendall, Tyson Goodridge , Mike Schneider, Deb Ng, Michael Brito, Rick Calvert, Jay Baer, Ryan Stephens, David Spinks and literally soooo many more. Hopefully you will forgive me for not linking to all of those folks. I'd be here all night, and I need to be up early in the morning :) Anyway, if you don't know some of those people fire up "The Google" and check them out. All are all-stars and all work for pretty damn cool companies.

Before you start rolling your eyes at the title of this post, please note that this isn't going to be one of the 400 million posts you've seen advocating that you "think before you post." Granted, that's an important lesson to be learned from social media, but one I'd hope you would have picked up already (please, tell me you have?). Rather than drone on about how you should setup Facebook privacy settings, think before you tweet something or create a Facebook profile photo that doesn't put you in a comprimising position, I'd rather take a second to talk about a different side of personality responsibility -- reliability and the mentor/mentee relationship. One of the inevitable byproducts of the social media growth we are seeing is that there are a lot of new people entering the space every day. Please, for the sake of my sanity, spare us the soliloquy on whether people are qualified to do the job they are currently in. There are a lot of people who aren't, but there are plenty who are. The people who aren't will eventually be shaken out of the tree. Anyway, with the growing number of people coming into the space comes the creation of more mentor-mentee relationships. Those relationships are definitely a good thing. I know I still look for advice from folks I used to work with at Dix & Eaton. An independent perspective can always be helpful for us as we grow in our careers. Over the last several weeks I've noticed just how much social media has changed the mentor-mentee relationship. Think about it for a minute... I ask you to be my mentor. I follow you on Twitter. I then "friend" you on Facebook. We're connected in multiple places, right? We have an opportunity to chat in more ways than any other mentor-mentee has ever done in the past. We're "friends!" Is that a good thing? Ah, so here is where we get to the crux of this post. Any professional relationship has a line. Where? I don't know, truthfully. It probably depends on the relationship in question. However, if we examine the pure mentor-mentee relationship I'd say it's a pretty solid line between personal and professional. Yes, we care about what's happening in your personal life. It makes it easier to counsel you on professional matters. However, if we're offering up our personal time to counsel you on professional matters you better make the most of it. Don't reschedule multiple times. Don't completely blow it off and then send a note a day or more later with an excuse. Don't get me wrong, I know things come up. However, when these things happen multiple times you make it incredibly hard for anyone to want to help in any way. Harsh? Maybe. But that's the real world. I can only postulate (nice SAT word for a Monday) that the amount of social touchpoints we have is creating this false sense of "friendship." Ok, false may have been overly harsh. We want to be your friend, but that friendship does have limits. If you're seeking counsel on professional items, the relationship needs to stay professional. If you want advice on personal matters, then sure, it will turn into more of a friendship. The line is certainly more gray than I am portraying here, but I think you get the point... Clearly delineate the line before you get started in any kind of mentor/mentee relationship. For the record, if it feels like I'm taking a shot at the younger generation it certainly isn't intentional. There are plenty of people much older who violate this all of the time. So here are just a few pieces of advice if you're seeking professional guidance from someone:

1. Respect their time - If you want to meet with them, make sure it completely works for your schedule. Yes, things do come up but do try to minimze scheduling changes as much as possible.
2. Ask thoughtful questions - Chances are good that the person you are seeking advice from is very busy. A certain amount of small talk is certainly warranted, however do come prepared with what you want to talk about. Don't leave it up to the other person to do all of the talking.
3. Don't "shop" the advice - By shop I mean if someone has given you a piece of advice don't go blabbing it around to any of your other mentors. You should feel free to say something like, "the other advice I've received suggests." Avoid things like, "Chuck told me that." Makes it uncomfortable for everyone.
4. Think how you're interacting on Facebook and Twitter - This should be pretty self-explanatory (I hope), but know the personal and professional line and do not cross it.

Anyway, if you know me you'll know that I love helping people. If you ask for my advice, I'll make sure that it is the best advice I can possibly offer. It may sound overly cliche, but I actually do care for people. The other people who serve as mentors to young professionals care about people also. Whatever you do, don't abuse that!

[caption id="attachment_169" align="alignleft" width="98" caption="I took this photo while eating at Brenner's in Houston. Delicious"] [/caption] There isn't anything glamorous about doing a lot of traveling for work. It is airport to hotel to office to hotel and then back to airport. If you travel enough for work, even heading to the airport for a vacation is something you will likely dread (I know I do). Screaming babies, long lines, cranky security guards and often unhappy airline personnel make it pretty unbearable. Enough with that negativity.... One of the really great parts about doing a lot of traveling is getting an opportunity to eat at some of the country's greatest restaurants. If you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook you will likely have seen me upload photos from a restaurant either in Austin, Texas (my hometown) or some other city in the country. I love food. I probably love food a little too much (at least I think so). Not only do I love a good meal, but I'm fascinated by how these meals are constructed. It's not a stretch to say I'm a foodie. I search out the best places to eat in a city and immediately go there to try the food. Next to my family and social media, food is a close #3 in my favorite things on this earth.  As I was out to eat this week (see, I wasn't joking) with a colleague I realized that fine dining (or just good food in general) has a lot in common with social media. No, really, it does. And when I say there is a connection between social media and food, I'm not talking about the abundance of food that tends to be consumed during the big social media conferences. Follow me here...

1. Replicate - The busiest restaurants literally see thousands of customers (and I could be dramatically underestimating that) every week. There is no way that fine dining establishments could create dishes that they would have a hard time recreating every night during service. It's a similar story in social media especially with the large enterprise. When the large enterprise is getting started in social it has to setup guidelines and processes that all of the different brands can follow. Create a process that a brand can't follow and you've likely killed the social media movement.
2. Precision - Jeremiah Owyang posted a presentation of his and in that presentation he said "fish where the fish are." It's a pretty simple concept in social media,  but you want to know precisely where your community may lie. In fine dining establishments, just the smallest mistake can cost the restaurant a positive review, positive word of mouth or at worst an existing customer. Everything from the service to the food has to be precise.
3. Measurement - This is pretty obvious, right? If you've done any cooking you know that following a recipe is absolutely critical (for the most part). You wouldn't want to include a cup of soy sauce when the recipe actually called for a 1/2 cup of soy sauce would you? Not only would the recipe likely be ruined, but you'd have achieved your weekly sodium intake in a week. It's a similar story in social media. If you aren't "cooking" with the right components of brand promotion, fostering conversation and sharing useful content for the community the final "dish" will be thrown off. Along the same lines, measuring your progress is critical in understanding how your campaign is performing.
4. Creativity - The best restaurants in the world find a way to take something familiar and turn it into something that's entirely brand new to its customers. Obviously, in a restaurant setting this creativity does have limits. You can't combine brussels sprouts with mayo and hope it tastes good. Again, it is the same thing with social media. The fancy creative campaigns are great, but creativity that's true to the original (or the brand in this case) is what we're searching for.
5. Eating with our eyes first - This is a pretty common phrase within the restaurant world. Presentation is key as we eat with our eyes first. It's the same thing with social media content. If you're putting out content that passes someone's initial "sniff" test then they are more likely to engage and do something with that content.

These are both subjects I am passionate about and as such could continue on forever... Do you think the analogy fits? What other things might you add to this list? I know there is an abundance of foodies out there! :)

Disclosure in social media is one of those topics that is very important to me. We owe it to the people we are connected with online to disclose when we have a material connection with a company or product. Not to do so damages not only your reputation, but also the space more broadly. Since this is such a large topic, Lisa Grimm and I decided to split up the discussion into disclosure from the brand perspective and agency perspective. Check them out when you have a second and let us know your feedback.