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In the battle to get found online, organizations are using social media to wage information warfare to win the trust and confidence of their constituents.

Former DoD analyst Mark Drapeau, PhD., who is currently an online public diplomacy director at Microsoft, explains how to dominate your information spectrum with lethal generosity.

This is a recording of a presentation he delivered at my Social Media Master Class.

To attend an upcoming social media workshop, visit our calendar for dates and locations.

SHOW NOTES

01:24 - “ Mark talks about his experience prior to joining Microsoft at National Defense University, which is affiliated with the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the U.S. Department of Defense, where he studied emerging technologies and their impact on national security. His mandate at Microsoft is to create proactively social content that engages communities, including state, local and federal government offices.

03:31 - Nature abhors a vacuum. Empty spaces will be filled by something. And so, if you work in fashion, or you work in IT, whatever you do, if there's a niche, it will be filled by someone's content.

When you search for a topic, fashion, shoes, computers, is someone finding your stuff?

That's the premise I start with, says Mark.  There's an information war taking place by organizations who want to get found online.

But what's more important than analyzing your traffic, according to Mark, is understanding your audience, what they want and how to engage them.

In his case, if someone is searching Government 2.0 he wants to make sure people are finding his content.

05:01 - “ For organizations, Mark sees new media communications as a form of public diplomacy that can be used to educate the marketplace and increase the receptiveness of Microsoft's customers to their policies, products and services.

Public diplomacy is the act of influencing, engaging and activating the public softening the battlefield and it is used by government agencies and companies to help their organizations achieve certain goals.

07:23 - The convention protocol by which information moves from organization to individual is inefficient, based on the various layers of approval corporate information needs to clear before it winds up reaching the customer. The press release is an excellent example of this. But what's happening is by using social media to communicate with others, what's happening is that a lot of people are bypassing official company channels in the process.

They're not official spokespersons, but they're reaching people. So while organizations struggle to clear official information through the various layers of approval, unofficial voices in social media are filling the vacuum.

Because in most cases, big organizations are slow, and cycling information through their chain of command simply can't keep pace with open source information.

And whenever there is a significant gap between information that can be crowd sourced via open source, and the organization's own, online presence, that organization loses the trust of the community.

Slide Deck: Mark Drapeau Free The People Potomac Forum

People are sharing information and educating one another through Twitter and Facebook.  Sharing information with your online social network has becomes a social norm, and by contrast, organizations that fail to behave this way are seen as antisocial.

The important thing to understand about social media is that it's more about being social than it is about understanding media or technology.

It's not about the tools; it's about interacting with other people.

09:21 - What's amazing to me is that if you go into the marketing department,

If you sat out the SXSW Interactive Festival, this special episode, recorded at SXSW in Austin features Twitter founder Evan Williams announcing the new app platform @anywhere and Mashable Editor-in-Chief Adam Ostrow discussing the latest location-based social networking news, changes at Digg and what's coming for Google Buzz.

SHOW NOTES

00:52 -- A summary of the news from this year's conference, including Twitter's @anywhere announcement, the rivalry between location-based social networking start-ups Foursquare and Gowalla, big changes in store for Digg.com and Google Buzz in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding their decision to integrate their new social network, a public facing system, with Gmail, a system that has always been very private.

01:31 -- At the Diggnation party, Digg CEO Jay Allison unveiled new.digg.com, a new alpha site available through invitation only, which expands trending news stories beyond just digs to include tweaks, Facebook status updates, personal preferences and your social graph. Mashable Editor Adam Ostrow calls it Digg's attempt to become the ultimate aggregator.

02:20 -- Google Buzz is in a tough position given the public and the media's reaction to their launch, but Adam has confidence that they will ultimately be able to overcome those initial missteps. He thinks Google Buzz will be a lot more exciting when they launch an official API so that third-party applications that already integrate with Twitter and Facebook will be available on the service. " I think the product might have been released a little too early in Gmail. I think there were a lot more things they maybe should have considered before launching it," says Adam Ostrow. But he also says don't count them out. Google has more than 20 employees devoted to developing their Buzz product. "It's clearly a very high-priority projects there," he says.

03:11 -- On the target market for Google Buzz, Adam Ostrow says, "The way they explained it to me, not dissimilar to Twitter and Facebook, they're really looking at both consumers and brands. Right now, I think there's a lot of issues that really make it prohibitive for brands and news organizations to really use the tool effectively. I think first off, it needs to be a standalone site, not just Gmail, which is in the works. So you'll be able to use it if you're a Hotmail user, a Yahoo user or whatever. But I also think they have some namespace issues. I think, obviously, if you've had your Gmail account for four or five years and your username might not be your business organization name, it's a very tough to transition accounts. So there's some issues they need to overcome. We've been using buzz pretty heavily at Mashable and I think it has the potential as a tool for brands and media organizations but they have a lot of work to do to get there."

04:07 -- In terms of hot new products this year at SXSW, Adam Ostrow says this year it's all about Foursquare and location-based social networking. But he thinks the imminent arrival of UK-based Spotify in the US market could make it a hot product at next year's SXSW.

06:01 -- A discussion of the panel session titled "How Not to be a Douche Bag at SXSW" featuring blogger Violet Blue who used "PR people" as stereotypical examples of how not to behave at this conference. According to Adam Ostrow, the key to not being a "PR douche bag" is simply being respectful of other people's time and, obviously, knowing who you're talking to and what they cover. Bue Ostrow has a positive attitude towards public relations. "PR people are important to what we do. They do provide us, sometimes, with relevant stories and people we need to talk to," says Adam Ostrow.

08:45 -- Eric Schwartzman tells Adam Ostrow about Jeremy Pepper's blog post entitled "I Don't Do SXSWi," recaps the conference highlights for him which includes Chris Messina's presentation about why activity streams need to evolve beyond the Facebook newsfeed, Danah Boyd's keynote on dealing with privacy in online spaces that are public, Joi Ito's talk about advocating intergovernmental information sharing and Kaiser Kuo's update on the trials and tribulations of Google in China. Eric asks for Adam's opinion as to how he derives tangible business value from a professional conference that is seen by many as nothing more than a debauchery fest.

09:48 -- Adam Ostrow uses SXSW mostly as an opportunity to cement relationships initiated online in the physical world. "I love to get that face time and really know who they are," says Adam Ostrow, who benefits from the personal relationships he develops at SXSW through as yet unknown story opportunities and potential business development deals. "For people in social media and the consumer facing web, it's the best place" to network.

11:09 -- The Mashable party at SXSW was intentionally designed to afford attendees the opportunity to network and party at the same time. The split level venue was divided into a section with a live bands and another section for networking.

12:51 -- Through a joint venture, Mashable is currently writing "B2B" content for American Express's OpenForum.com. They create similar coverage to what runs on Mashable.com, but for a small business community, primarily about how they can use social media to market to their customers, which may be other businesses, or which may be consumers.

13:06 -- When it comes to B2B applications of social media, how you set your organization's presence up online, how you respond to customers and devoting adequate resources to listening is key. "That's the point of being there. You can be there and just broadcast company news, and I don't think that's too interesting. It's a way for people to keep up with you. But the way we use it as a brand, and the way small businesses we like are using it, is to interact" with customers says Adam Ostrow.

14:50 -- Evan Williams announcing their new app platform @anywhere for integrating Twitter into websites. @anywhere will allow website visitors to follow Twitter users from any website. Hovering your cursor over a Twitter ID on any website using @anywhere will reveal a pop-up window that allows you to follow that account in just two clicks. You can also control how receive information from Twitter without every going to Twitter.com or a Twitter client. @anywhere can also be used to allow Twitter users to use their Twitter account to sign in to a website. Thirteen different websites have been selected to beta @anywhere, including Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, The New York Times, Digg, Salesforce.com and others.

16:30 -- "The main thing that @anywhere does is reduce friction," says Twitter founder Evan Williams, who admits he's not sure how developers will ultimately wind up using the new technology. One of the more obvious features include the ability to tweet links directly from a participating website. But a bigger advance is the ability to follow a Twitter account directly from a website, instead of having to click through to Twitter.com and log in if necessary to follow the account. Discovery is one of the hardest challenges because of the sheer volume of content that's out there. So putting the ability to follow in the context of the individual or organization your following reduces some of the friction that's currently present in discovery.

17:47 -- The benefits of @anywhere to website operators is a connection to users that you didn't necessarily have before and a way to keep them coming back. "We hear from sites all the time that Twitter drives them tons of traffic. It should result in more followers for a site just sending out links. It should also probably result in more people who are your fans, who are your audience using Twitter, talking amongst themselves and talking about your content, so hopefully it becomes a richer experience.

18:54 -- @anywhere also brings user tweets into your site and gives the ability to create a whole community or sub community in your own site. The goal of Twitter is to help people and organizations build stronger relationships, and @anywhere is about...

If you sat out the SXSW Interactive Festival, this special episode, recorded at SXSW in Austin features Twitter founder Evan Williams announcing the new app platform @anywhere and Mashable Editor-in-Chief Adam Ostrow discussing the latest location-based social networking news, changes at Digg and what's coming for Google Buzz.

SHOW NOTES

00:52 -- A summary of the news from this year's conference, including Twitter's @anywhere announcement, the rivalry between location-based social networking start-ups Foursquare and Gowalla, big changes in store for Digg.com and Google Buzz in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding their decision to integrate their new social network, a public facing system, with Gmail, a system that has always been very private.

01:31 -- At the Diggnation party, Digg CEO Jay Allison unveiled new.digg.com, a new alpha site available through invitation only, which expands trending news stories beyond just digs to include tweaks, Facebook status updates, personal preferences and your social graph.  Mashable Editor Adam Ostrow calls it Digg's attempt to become the ultimate aggregator.

02:20 -- Google Buzz is in a tough position given the public and the media's reaction to their launch, but Adam has confidence that they will ultimately be able to overcome those initial missteps.

By DonkeyHotey - Evan Williams - Caricature, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60444056

He thinks Google Buzz will be a lot more exciting when they launch an official API so that third-party applications that already integrate with Twitter and Facebook will be available on the service.  " I think the product might have been released a little too early in Gmail. 

I think there were a lot more things they maybe should have considered before launching it," says Adam Ostrow. But he also says don't count them out.  Google has more than 20 employees devoted to developing their Buzz product.  "It's clearly a very high-priority projects there," he says.

03:11 -- On the target market for Google Buzz, Adam Ostrow says, "The way they explained it to me, not dissimilar to Twitter and Facebook, they're really looking at both consumers and brands. 

Right now, I think there's a lot of issues that really make it prohibitive for brands and news organizations to really use the tool effectively. I think first off, it needs to be a standalone site, not just Gmail, which is in the works. So you'll be able to use it if you're a Hotmail user, a Yahoo user or whatever. 

But I also think they have some namespace issues. I think, obviously, if you've had your Gmail account for four or five years and your username might not be your business organization name, it's a very tough to transition accounts. So there's some issues they need to overcome.

We've been using buzz pretty heavily at Mashable and I think it has the potential as a tool for brands and media organizations but they have a lot of work to do to get there."

04:07 -- In terms of hot new products this year at SXSW, Adam Ostrow says this year it's all about Foursquare and location-based social networking. 

But he thinks the imminent arrival of UK-based Spotify in the US market could make it a hot product at next year's SXSW.

06:01 -- A discussion of the panel session titled "How Not to be a Douche Bag at SXSW" featuring blogger Violet Blue who used "PR people" as stereotypical examples of how not to behave at this conference. According to Adam Ostrow, the key to not being a "PR douche bag" is simply being respectful of other people's time and, obviously, knowing who you're talking to and what they cov...

Pete Cashmore of Mashable sat down with me yesterday that SXSW 2010 in Austin, Texas to discuss the rise of Mashable, how the iPad might affect the print publishing industry, CPMs for online display ads, burning the boats, Mashable's future ambitions and more.

00:45 -- Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore talks about his online social media guide, which is designed to provide information to those focused on social media marketing, individuals looking to get the most out of tools like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare hands how to use social media tools and services as utilities.

01:36 -- Mashable was founded in 2005 by Pete Cashmore at the age of 19 out of his house in Scotland. Fueled by his interests in the Internet and a hunch that blogging seemed as good a way as any to get started, he decided to launch the site with no real connections to anyone in social media at the time and the belief that he could run by doing. Since then, Nashville has grown to 20 employees and over 50 writers who work part-time basis. But Pete maintains a grounded perspective by spending most of his time out of the social media bubble in his home country, the UK, where he can focus on putting out great content.

02:52 -- Given the doldrums of the ad supported media business, Pete has managed to buck the trend by focusing on delivering niche content to a premium audience, which deliver high CPMs. As brands look for ways to get people to pay attention to what they're doing on twitter and Facebook, Mashable presents a highly targeted advertising opportunity.

03:22 -- Pete sees the iPad as a potential savior for the print publishing industry. By presenting publishers with a viable, practical alternative to the printed page, mash able CEO Pete Cashmore says that since people are somewhat comfortable paying for content on their mobile phones, he believes that comfort will extend to the iPad. "It's essentially a device that lets you package media. I think it might even break the cycle of people expecting news for free on the web. And I think we might see with devices like the iPad, like the iPhone, that people are used to paying for content. believes could be channels where people are actually prepared to pay for media," says Cashmore.

04:15 -- In terms of how much a magazine publisher might charge for an iPad subscription, Pete says the numbers vary widely. But his guess is, an annual subscription might go for around $10.

05:46 -- Pete Cashmore discusses what he considers to be a good CPM for online advertising, which is anything over $15 for online display ads and as much as $20 for online video at its. four publishers with really focused content, he has seen them get as much as $30 per thousand impressions. Google ad sense, on the other hand, provides much lower CPMs of $1-$2.

06:36 -- There's a cannibalization that needs to take place, says Pete. We are seeing traditional publishers resist the transition. They're trying to keep the cash cow alive. the written word in print may be more profitable currently that is online, but obviously, there's going to be a transition. On how the mainstream outlets are doing so far, Pete believes many of the major newspapers and magazines are making the transition to digital quite well. And to those who don't make the leap will disappear by attrition.

08:07 -- Commenting on Marc Andreessen's recent comment that mainstream media outlets need to "burn the boats" Pete says "The rule of cannibalization is you either cannibalize yourself or someone else is going to do it for you."

08:30 -- To drive his point home, Pete talks about how Apple cornered the music industry with iTunes by making it easier to pay for music instead of just suing people. Through ease-of-use and accessibility, they become major players in the music business, simply because the music business stayed focused on milking their cash cow, leaving themselves open to cannibalization, which is exactly what Apple did. And now, the same risk exists for print publishers. Blogs have sprung up, and if print publishers don't make the leap, they too are vulnerable to be cannibalized. In the tech space, where consumers are early adopters of technology, that cannibalization is well underway.

10:45 -- Pete thinks all media companies should be open to a variety of formats. But Mashable's expertise currently is creating great text. Rather than divert his focus at this point he is steering clear of audio and video. Nevertheless he can foresee approaching those opportunities through media partnerships.

12:16 -- Mashable does not currently cover B2B extensively. But an example of a company he believes is serving the interests of B2B marketers is CoTweet, which makes it easy for multiple authors to collaborate on a brand's Twitter account. The other area of B2B that Mashable covers are the analytics firms that monitor, measure and evaluate the effectiveness of social media marketing initiatives.

14:16 -- In terms of people who Pete associates with social media marketing, he mentions Chris Brogan who speaks about how brands can command and communicate well with audiences.

15:15 -- For those interested in having their social media products or services featured in actual, the best way to pitch is by sending e-mail to [email protected] which is staffed 24/7. For best results, keep it short and to the point.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES

* Getting Buy-In and Resources for Social Media with Brian Solis

* Power Social Networking and the Real Time Web with Jeff Pulver

* Twitter Strategy: Humanizing Brands and Building Loyalty with Shel Israel

* Daily Candy Editor-in-Chief Dany Levy goes On the Record…Online

ABOUT THE PODCASTER

@EricSchwartzman provides online communication training, strategy and governance to public relations, public affairs, corporate communications and marketing specialists. He has extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs through public speaking, hands-on training seminars, consulting and the development of corporate policies on social media usage. His clients have included Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, the United States Marine Corps and many small to medium-sized companies and agencies. Schwartzman is currently co-authoring a book on business-to-business social media communications with Paul Gillin, to be published by Wiley in Fall 2010. He is the instructor behind PRSA’s top-rated social media and emerging treads training seminars, the Social Media Boot Camp and the Social Media Master Class, which are offered monthly in the US through PRSA. Since 2005, he has been producing the weekly, award-winning public relations podcast “On the Record…Online” (@ontherecord) about how technology is changing the way organizations communicate, the official podcast of the PRSA International Conference for the past three consecutive years.

On the Record…Online is the Official PR Podcast of the 2010 PRSA International Conference. Subscribe via RSS or follow us on Twitter @ontherecord.

Pete Cashmore of Mashable sat down with me yesterday that SXSW 2010 in Austin, Texas to discuss the rise of Mashable, how the iPad might affect the print publishing industry, CPMs for online display ads, burning the boats, Mashable's future ambitions and more.

00:45 -- Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore talks about his online social media guide, which is designed to provide information to those focused on social media marketing, individuals looking to get the most out of tools like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare hands how to use social media tools and services as utilities.

01:36 -- Mashable was founded in 2005 by Pete Cashmore at the age of 19 out of his house in Scotland.   Fueled by his interests in the Internet and a hunch that blogging seemed as good a way as any to get started, he decided to launch the site with no real connections to anyone in social media at the time and the belief that he could run by doing.

Since then, Nashville has grown to 20 employees and over 50 writers  who work part-time basis.  But Pete maintains a grounded perspective by spending most of his time out of the social media bubble in his home country, the UK, where he can focus on putting out great content.

02:52 --  Given the doldrums of the ad supported media business, Pete has managed to buck the trend by focusing on delivering niche content to a premium audience, which deliver high CPMs.  As brands look for ways to get people to pay attention to what they're doing on twitter and Facebook, Mashable presents a highly targeted advertising opportunity.

03:22 --  Pete sees the iPad as a potential savior for the print publishing industry. By presenting publishers with a viable, practical alternative to the printed page, mash able CEO Pete Cashmore says that since people are somewhat comfortable paying for content on their mobile phones, he believes that comfort will extend to the iPad. 

"It's essentially a device that lets you package media.  I think it might even break the cycle of people expecting news for free on the web. And I think we might see with devices like the iPad, like the iPhone, that people are used to paying for content.  believes could be channels where people are actually prepared to pay for media," says Cashmore.

04:15 -- In terms of how much a magazine publisher might charge for an iPad subscription, Pete says the numbers vary widely. But his guess is, an annual subscription might go for around $10.

05:46 --  Pete Cashmore discusses what he considers to be a good CPM for online advertising, which is anything over $15 for online display ads and as much as $20 for online video at its.  four publishers with really focused content, he has seen them get as much as $30 per thousand impressions.  Google ad sense, on the other hand, provides much lower CPMs of $1-$2.

06:36 --  There's a cannibalization that needs to take place, says Pete.  We are seeing traditional publishers resist the transition. They're trying to keep the cash cow alive. the written word in print may be more profitable currently that is online, but obviously, there's going to be a transition.

On how the mainstream outlets are doing so far, Pete believes many of the major newspapers and magazines are making the transition to digital quite well. And to those who don't make the leap will disappear by attrition. 08:07 --  Commenting on Marc Andreessen's recent comment that mainstream media outlets need to "burn the boats" Pete says "The rule of cannibalization is you either cannibalize yourself or someone else is going to do it for you."

08:30 -- To drive his point home, Pete talks about how Apple cornered the music industry with iTunes by making it easier to pay for musi...

If part of your job involves building a business case and winning executive buy-in for social media initiatives inside organizations, you don’t want to miss this episode with Brian Solis, released on the eve of the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas.

Over the last few years, Future Works founder Brian Solis has shot like a rocket to the top on the social media influence pyramid. His Conversation Prism has become the de facto graphic for appraising social media channels. His first book, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” which he co-wrote with Deirdre Breckenridge made the argument for social media engagement, and his just released new book “Engage” provides practical guidance for piloting social media initiatives inside organizations.

In this episode, which was conducted in association with research I’m currently conducting for a book on B2B applications of social media to be published by Wiley late 2010/early 2011, Brian reveals how he wins buy-in and acceptance for social media pilot programs with corporate stakeholders inside organizations.

01:24 – Brian talks about the “ah-ha” and “uh-oh” moments, which usually crystallize the perceived need for social media engagement inside organizations.

02:49 – Using the Conversation Prism to collect meaningful research by searching the each of the different social media channels to uncover where the hot spots are for any given organization. And based on the findings from those queries, Brian talks about designing social media initiatives that address tangible business needs.

03:31 – Without the research that comes from a thorough investigation of who’s saying what where about a given product, brand or service, there’s no way to ask the right questions to have the “ah-ha” moment. According to Brian, it is important to understand that conversations are constantly occurring online that drive all kinds of business decisions. And unless we actually seek out and gauge in the right conversations by listening through filters those decisions will be made without us. It’s the realization that there are not just conversations taking place across the social web.

03:46 – “There are not just conversations taking place across the social web. There are influential decision-making steps and processes and considerations that are taking place that are transpiring right now, without us. And when you can demonstrate the exact cause and effect of what’s transpiring and to what extent, then that “ah-ha” moment is pretty profound,” Brian explains.

05:54 – Successfully implementing social media initiatives inside organizations requires that the projects lead ultimately transition from champion to diplomat, because it is critical to raise awareness of what needs to be accomplished and the required resources to pull it off among the executives who can fund pilots, and who or may not be directly involved in the initiative.

06:33 – “What’s going to be important to these folks [decision makers with P&L responsibility] is that we apply information to them in a way that they’re used to measuring it. Even though this is new medium, we have to help them learn by speaking their language, and then ultimately teaching them something new, almost like learning a new language through immersion,” says Brian.

07:12 – Much as when ad agencies bid accounts on spec, in order to make the case for a social media initiative, it is necessary to invest the time and resources to figure out where the relevant conversations are taking place, and to try and determine which departments of the organization are most impacted by these conversations. Are the conversations surrounding customer service issues, engineering issues or marketing-related issues? The idea is to collect and attribute online conversations to the specific business units or departments inside the organization that they apply. For Brian, the key to winning buy-in is research, but once he’s got it completed, he’s still not done.

08:01 -- Brian takes all his research, puts into a snazzy PowerPoint deck and presents it to the C Suite business decision makers to win buy-in. It’s important that the presentation be distilled to the point where it’s not overwhelming. It must provide clear overview as to the opportunities that exist, and provide tangible suggestions of what can be done to address them and then how those efforts will be learned over time.

09:43 – When it comes to the argument about whether or not it’s necessary to justify the ROI of social media engagement, Brian takes the high road. “Change isn’t always something that’s easy to embrace. Maybe the demand for metrics or ROI is stall tactic, because there’s this fear of change or what have you. But whatever it is, don’t spend your energy and resources debating it. Just work with it,” says Brian. And social media can be measured more effectively than old school marketing and public relations.

11:21 – When it comes to measuring social media, Brian likes to establish the cost per action because in his mind, that’s the most tangible metric for determining the value of a conversation. In other words, what happened as a result of the conversation? Whether its click-throughs, links, registrations, shares, downloads or sales, cost per action focuses on the outcome of the conversations, rather than the conversation itself, but it’s important to note that sales are not the only measurable transactions that have real business value to organizations.

12:18 – The most common question Brian gets from stakeholders inside organizations about social media implementation is, “What is that we’re going to accomplish? How many people is this going to take? And what’s going to cost? And then, what does success look like? I hear that in every single conversation,” says Brian. And one way to get those answers is through research, which he has a blue print for conducting at www.conversationprism.com.

13:01 – By documenting, categorizing and quantifying the results of your research by issue and the part of the organization impacted, you build the business case. Based on the formula Brian lays out in his book Engage, finding relevant conversations, engaging whoever’s behind them, monitoring for their response and then following up takes roughly 25 minutes of someone’s time. So if you’re going to try and measure cost per action, it really comes back to the amount of time you’ve invested in a conversation to try and stimulate that action. So if it’s 25 minutes per action, you just look at the research and evaluate which conversations the organization has the organization has the most to gain by engaging, count up the number of conversations and multiply by 20 to 25 minutes per engagement, and that will give you some idea of what kind of resources you need to address that opportunity.

15:14 – In terms of where the pockets of resistance for social media engagement are inside most organizations, Brian says it’s different every time. But a lot of it has to do with where the champions for social media inside that organization are. “The thing that I’ve learned is this. If there aren’t already champions there -- and based on the research you will find that there are multiple opportunities, you just have to prioritize which one it is that you pilot based on the data that comes back – everyone has concerns, or they also have incorrect perspectives with respect to what can be accomplished through social media. So there’s a lot of education there. So having answers to all the skeptical questions that you could possibly get before you go into that meeting is going to be extremely helpful because people will ask you more questions that will postpone doing it the right way. So having those answers is what it’s going to take to get at least some, initial level of support,” says Brian. You might not get enterprise wide acceptance from the get go, but that’s okay. Focus on getting the resources for the pilot program and use that as an opportunity to demonstrate value to others inside the organization.

16:42 – When Brian is doing his research, his uses the Katie Paine method of coupling words indicative...

If part of your job involves building a business case and selling digital marketing initiatives inside organizations, you don’t want to miss this episode with Brian Solis, released on the eve of the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas.  

Over the last few years, Brian Solis has shot like a rocket to the top on the social media influence pyramid.  His Conversation Prism has become the de facto graphic for appraising social media channels. 

His first book, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” which he co-wrote with Deirdre Breckenridge made the argument for social media engagement, and his just released new book “Engage” provides practical guidance for piloting social media initiatives inside organizations.  

SHOW NOTES:  

01:24 – Brian talks about the “ah-ha” and “uh-oh” moments, which usually crystallize the perceived need for social media engagement inside organizations.  

02:49 – Using the Conversation Prism to collect meaningful research by searching the each of the different social media channels to uncover where the hot spots are for any given organization.  And based on the findings from those queries, Brian talks about designing social media initiatives that address tangible business needs.  

03:31 – Without the research that comes from a thorough investigation of who’s saying what where about a given product, brand or service, there’s no way to ask the right questions to have the “ah-ha” moment. 

According to Brian, it is important to understand that conversations are constantly occurring online that drive all kinds of business decisions.  And unless we actually seek out and gauge in the right conversations by listening through filters those decisions will be made without us. It’s the realization that there are not just conversations taking place across the social web.   

03:46 – “There are not just conversations taking place across the social web.  There are influential decision-making steps and processes and considerations that are taking place that are transpiring right now, without us. 

And when you can demonstrate the exact cause and effect of what’s transpiring and to what extent, then that “ah-ha” moment is pretty profound,” Brian explains.  

05:54 – Successfully implementing social media initiatives inside organizations requires that the projects lead ultimately transition from champion to diplomat, because it is critical to raise awareness of what needs to be accomplished and the required resources to pull it off among the executives who can fund pilots, and who or may not be directly involved in the initiative.  

06:33 – “What’s going to be important to these folks [decision makers with P&L responsibility] is that we apply information to them in a way that they’re used to measuring it.  Even though this is new medium, we have to help them learn by speaking their language, and then ultimately teaching them something new, almost like learning a new language through immersion,” says Brian.  

07:12 – Much as when ad agencies bid accounts on spec, in order to make the case for a social media initiative, it is necessary to invest the time and resources to figure out where the relevant conversations are taking place, and to try and determine which departments of the organization are most impacted by these conversations. 

Are the conversations surrounding customer service issues, engineering issues or marketing-related issues?  The idea is to collect and attribute online conversations to the specific business units or departments inside the organization that they apply.  For Brian, the key to winning buy-in is research,

Social networks have been mainstream for less than five years, but HR.com has been delivering much of the same value to its members for more than a decade. Founded in 1999, the site today serves nearly 190,000 members, most of them human resources professionals. Its jewel in the crown is an active calendar of webcasts which attendees can attend to earn professional certifications. The site also has many contributions in the form of blogs and expert articles.

Like any site that's been around that long, HR.com has had its share of twists and turns. Originally founded as an online magazine, its site was recast as a community when social networking became popular. Today, the Ontario, Canada-based company employs 32 people, is profitable and has a successful model in which all of the content is contributed by members. A diversified revenue stream includes advertising, events and webcasts; speakers pay $3,000 for a chance to get in front of the site's coveted audience.

Debbie McGrath calls herself the Chief Instigator of HR.com. A serial entrepreneur with a background in computer science, she founded HR.com in 1999 after selling her previous venture, The CEO Group, to the Washington Post Co..

This interview is guest hosted by Paul Gillin of Paul Giilin Communications and was conducted in association with research for an upcoming book on B2B applications of social media, to be published later thia year or early next year.

0:35 How HR.com was started

1:05 The evolution from magazine to community

2:00 The most popular features with the audience are in learning and education. About 30 sessions are webcast each month with average attendance of about 400 people. Contributors can get certification credit for what they learn in the webcast.

3:00 Why experts pay to give webcasts: “They get to showcase their expertise, be a thought leader in the space and for lead generation in some cases.”

4:15 HR.com’s primary revenue sources include events, advertising and suscriptions

5:25 Requirements for registration. Anyone can register as long as they agree to receive one ad per week.

6:15 How forms are administered

6:50 Debbie had no prior experience in VB communities. She discusses how the characteristics of different professional communities makes the learning process a constant challenge.

7:20 Surprises of managing communities. “There seems to be no relationship between quality of content and attendance.” People who charge $60,000 for a one- hour keynote seem to draw no better than unknown speakers.

9:45 The role of HR.com's surveys and the goal of creating product and service guides. “We believe the Forrester/Gartner model is flawed.”

11:10 The upside surprises of running a community. "I'm shocked at how many people come to us from all over the world."

12:25 Guidance to would-be b-to-b community organizers: unique domain experts and it's really hard to get started in today's crowded market.

13:15 How HR.com runs virtual events

14:25 HR.com’s revenue mix: events, e-mail, PPC advertising, events

15:00 Memorable moments in HR.com’s industry. It was the first site in its industry to do webcasts. Internal resistance to the transition to a social network model.

17:30 Plans for the future: making events more self-service and profitable

19:30 Strictly regulating webcast content. “If presenters gave sales pitches, attendance wouldn't be as good.”

20:00 Gaining permission to work in the certification program. A large association charges for the same basic information HR.com gives away for free.

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About the Guest Host

This episode was guest hosted by Paul Gillin (@pgillin) of Paul Gillin Communications. Paul was founding editor-in-chief of TechTarget, one of the most successful technology media entities to emerge on the Internet. Before that, he was editor-in-chief and executive editor of the technology weekly Computerworld for 15 years.

He wrote The New Influencers, Secrets of Social Media Marketing and the Joy of Geocaching and is currently co-writing a book with Eric Schwartzman about business-to-business applications of social media.

Paul writes a regular column for BtoB magazine and contributes to various blogs and online publications. He’s also a Research Fellow and a member of the advisory board of the Society for New Communications Research.

Social networks have been mainstream for less than five years, but HR.com has been delivering much of the same value to its members for more than a decade.

Founded in 1999, the site today serves nearly 190,000 members, most of them human resources professionals. Its jewel in the crown is an active calendar of webcasts which attendees can attend to earn professional certifications.

The site also has many contributions in the form of blogs and expert articles.   Like any site that's been around that long, HR.com has had its share of twists and turns. Originally founded as an online magazine, its site was recast as a community when social networking became popular.  

Today, the Ontario, Canada-based company employs 32 people, is profitable and has a successful model in which all of the content is contributed by members.  A diversified revenue stream includes advertising, events and webcasts; speakers pay $3,000 for a chance to get in front of the site's coveted audience.  

Debbie McGrath calls herself the Chief Instigator of HR.com. A serial entrepreneur with a background in computer science, she founded HR.com in 1999 after selling her previous venture, The CEO Group, to the Washington Post Co..  

This interview is guest hosted by Paul Gillin of Paul Gillin Communications and was conducted in association with research for an upcoming book on B2B applications of social media, to be published later thia year or early next year.

Digital Content and Community Management Topics Discussed: 

0:35 How HR.com was started 1:05 The evolution from magazine to community

2:00 The most popular features with the audience are in learning and education. About 30 sessions are webcast each month with average attendance of about 400 people. Contributors can get certification credit for what they learn in the webcast.

3:00 Why experts pay to give webcasts: “They get to showcase their expertise, be a thought leader in the space and for lead generation in some cases.”

4:15 HR.com’s primary revenue sources include events, advertising and suscriptions

5:25 Requirements for registration.  Anyone can register as long as they agree to receive one ad per week.

6:15 How forms are administered 6:50 Debbie had no prior experience in VB communities.  She discusses how the characteristics of different professional communities makes the learning process a constant challenge.

7:20 Surprises of managing communities. “There seems to be no relationship between quality of content and attendance.” People who charge $60,000 for a one- hour keynote seem to draw no better than unknown speakers.

9:45 The role of HR.com's surveys and the goal of creating product and service guides. “We believe the Forrester/Gartner model is flawed.”

11:10 The upside surprises of running a community. "I'm shocked at how many people come to us from all over the world."

12:25 Guidance to would-be b-to-b community organizers: unique domain experts and it's really hard to get started in today's crowded market.

13:15 How HR.com runs virtual events

14:25 HR.com’s revenue mix: events, e-mail, PPC advertising, events

15:00 Memorable moments in HR.com’s industry. It was the first site in its industry to do webcasts. Internal resistance to the transition to a social network model.

17:30 Plans for the future: making events more self-service and profitable

19:30 Strictly regulating webcast content.

Richard Edelman discusses what the results of the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer mean for B2B focused organizations. 

This interview was conducted as part of the research for an upcoming book about the B2B applications of social media that I am writing with Paul Gillin, which will be published by Wiley later this year.

02:14 - Richard Edelman on how broadly B2B marketers should be looking to engage stakeholders, who the most credible spokespeople and the new keys to corporate reputation.

03:02 - Disappearance of the boundary between brands and corporate reputations.

03:39 - Richard mentions how Edelman client ITT Corporation's Watermark marketing program is focused on a mosaic of stakeholders including state and local agencies, politicians, NGOs and end customers.

04:12 - Why B2B communications is no longer a "solitary soldier."

05:11 - Richard Edelman on how B2B focused organizations should go about selecting social media channels to engage through by focusing on issues that have a social impact, remaining conscious of government's increasing role in regulation and finding ways for your expert employees to be heard.

06:31 - Richard explains why trust in financial analysts remains high, despite the fact that they failed to accurately predict one of the most precarious financial situations in US history.

07:26 - Richard Edelman and Eric discuss Ken Auletta's new book "Googled," the importance of trust and the lesson for B2B marketers from the 2010 Trust Barometer.

08:32 - The importance of tracking more than just a company's financial data in the age of transparency.

09:10 - Employees as the new credible source versus the CEO.

09:47 - How realistic is it that businesses really will start putting purpose before profits?

Richard uses Edelman client GE Ecoimagination as an example on an organization that is putting sustainability at the center of its product offering. 

Here are the results of the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer.