Analytics Is King

Content is the Queen

  • About Me

  • Trashing Social Media? Shut Up and be Grateful!

    • 19 Mar 2011
    • 8 Responses
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    • Dix & Eaton Gary Vaynerchuck General Posts Jason Falls Keith Mabee SXSW Tom Webster arik hanson blogworld social media social media listening social media monitoring
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    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.
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  • SXSW 2011 Affirmed Why I Love this Business: The People

    • 15 Mar 2011
    • 14 Responses
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    • General Posts SXSW social media
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    Media_httpchuckhemann_wrbae
    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.
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  • A Look Back at One Year in Austin

    • 13 Feb 2011
    • 5 Responses
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    • AMD Austin Dell Facebook General Posts Google SXSW WCG Whole Foods
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    Media_httpchuckhemann_cweay
    My grandmother always used to tell me that as we age time seems to go by more quickly. Of course, I was in my mid-20's and thought she was off her rocker. By the way, I'd never tell her that to her face. I'd always agree with whatever she said. She may have only come in at 5'1" (on a really good day) and 100 pounds, but she could've kicked my ass five ways to Sunday. Anyway, it turns out that once again grandma is right... Time does fly as you age... I woke up this morning and realized that I have been in Austin for exactly one year. Crazy, right? Hard to believe that a year ago yesterday I started the 21 hour trek down from Cleveland with just my clothes, some electronics, a few books and only a few pieces of furniture stuffed in the back of my car. Not only was I starting a brand new job with WCG, but I was basically beginning a brand new life in a city where I knew MAYBE 10 people. Whenever I'm speaking to a group of students or young professionals I always encourage them to look for the most challenging job even if it means moving away from their friends and family. After a year of being here, I can now truly appreciate how terrifying those words most seem to those kids...and that's realizing I have more experience than most of them. YIKES! After you get over that initial period of feeling totally alone and terrified you begin to truly appreciate why you've made the move you've made. Suffice it to say that it didn't happen in the first week, first month or even the first six months. As is the case with everything in life this kind of move is a process. Over the holiday break I had an opportunity to go home (to Cleveland) and enjoy time with the family. I absolutely love spending time with them. However, at some point during the trip I realized that Cleveland was no longer home. It is my hometown, sure, but it isn't the place that I identify as home anymore. I don't know what caused it to click in my head, but now everytime I leave town for work or pleasure I miss being in Austin. Before you make any jokes about the weather (though it is amazing - 75 and sunny today) this has a lot more to do with the people and the area than that. Instead of going on and on with introspection, I figured it might be more interesting to talk about what I know now that I didn't know before moving here... First...about the area....
    1. The marketing talent in Austin is incredible. I'll admit that when I first typed that line I said "social media." However, I knew how my friend Kyle Flaherty would react to that so I changed it to marketing. I'll save whether social belongs in marketing or another communications discipline for another post. Before I made the jump to Austin I had heard rumblings about how great the marketing/technology scenes were here, but that was mostly through the grapevine. After being here for a year I can now attest that it is 100% true. In addition to having a large corporate presence from heavyweights like Google, Whole Foods, Facebook, Dell and AMD, Austin is also home to some seriously talented professionals. We're talking about people like Aaron Strout, Kyle Flaherty, Tim Walker, Bryan Person, Tim Hayden, Richard Binhammer, Andy Sernovitz, Peter Kim, Virginia Miracle, Lionel Menchaca, Susan Beebe, Bob Pearson, Greg Matthews, Colin Foster, Aaron Brazell, Spike Jones, Stephanie Wonderlin, Brendan Lewis, Sydney Owen (even though she's now leaving us) etc... etc... etc... How's that for a who's who? I'll go to war with that crew any day of the week.
    2. The people are nicer than you think. Before making the move I had visited Austin a few times and knew how nice the people were down here. What I didn't fully appreciate was just HOW nice these people are. Trust me...when you are moving to a new city the last thing you need to be surrounded by are people who are cranky with life. There might be people here like that, but I've not met them yet.
    3. The BBQ really IS that good. I think this statement kind of speaks for itself so I'll just move on...
    4. SXSWi is a better event than people give it credit for. I wasn't sure what to expect of SXSW now that I was living here. I'll say that it is definitely unfairly trashed as an event. Is the quality of the panels as high as it could be? No. Are there good speakers? ABSOLUTELY. Is it the definitive networking event of the year? 100% no doubt. Are there plenty of brands here to network with during the event if you're an agency? 100% no doubt, and if you believe otherwise you're a flat out idiot.
    5. Traffic sucks - Again, if you live here or have visited here you know the traffic is horrific. It's almost ridiculous seeing as how this city isn't that big. Anyway, that's one downside to an otherwise glorious place.
    6. The weather. It's supposed to be 75 and sunny for a week. In February. I can leave it at that I think.
    Finally...what have I learned about myself...
    1. Comfortable tackling any challenge. No, that's not meant to be an arrogant assholic statement. I truly believe that after making this move, taking on a new job and then trying to write a book at the same time I can tackle just about anything. If I hadn't made the move would I know what I know about myself now? Probably not.
    2. Still plenty of growing to do. There are things over the last year that I didn't handle as well as I could have, and I know it. There are people who are a million times smarter than I am in this area and in this field that I can learn PLENTY from. I'm looking at all of the people I listed above as a great starting point for that continued learning.
    3. We're on the front lines of the social media revolution, but there's still a ways to go. You can't go anywhere in this city without overhearing someone talking about social networks. The enthusiasm is great. However, even though we're on the front lines in this city (I'd argue we're second behind Silicon Valley in this field) we still have a significant job ahead of us in terms of educating on how to use this stuff within large enterprise. It's nowhere NEAR deep enough.
    4. I don't hate UT sports as much as I thought. Don't get me wrong I think Mack Brown is still terribly overrated. Rick Barnes likely falls into the same camp. However, the people here genuinely love their UT sports and that's something I can admire. Plus, they throw an AMAZING tailgate party. :)
    There's probably more I could talk about but this post is ridiculously long as it is...Don't the "experts" say no more than 500 words? Well, that's shot to hell. Anyway, thank you Austin (and the people I've listed above and then some) for an amazing year. Here's hoping for plenty more where that came from!
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  • About

    I am the Manager of Research and Online Reputation for Dix & Eaton. What does that mean? Well, when I figure it out I will be sure to let you know.

    In all seriousness, I spearhead the firm’s efforts in the areas of social media monitoring & measurement, financial research and analysis, competitive intelligence, market research, issue and media monitoring and stock surveillance. That research provides critical inputs into the strategic development and execution of marketing communications, digital communications and media relations programs.

    How do I plan to use Posterous? This is likely to be a "digital notebook," of sorts, for me on a wide variety of topics including social media, social media monitoring and measurement.

    Lets see where it goes....

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