Social media needs some help with social skills.

Is Social Media just an excuse to share the tiniest scraps of ones everyday existence?

Do I really care that "Frank" is wondering what to make for dinner? Or that "Sue" just entered the grocery store looking for lemons? I find it curious that people can't just "be" without having the need to tell the world what they’re doing every moment. And then I wonder why I’m reading their musings! Surely we all have better things to do.

Remember the old days when the end of the day meant meeting for a drink to share how the day progressed? Or making a phone call to a friend to catch up? Are these behaviors passé already?

I was in a restaurant recently and observed a group of twenty-somethings who were obviously celebrating someone’s birthday. They all had a mobile device glued to a palm and each were checking theirs regularly. I suppose it’s not as rude as taking or making an actual phone call, but still, are we turning into a society of people who don’t know how to interact in person?

When we hired a summer student last year, we discovered she didn’t have a lot of email skills and we were stunned. Instead, she communicates via texting… or posts to Facebook for her 1:Many communications. My teenage son recently acted shocked that I had a Facebook page – he thought it was the domain of teenagers.

So I started thinking about how and why I use Facebook. I’ve certainly discovered long lost friends from school, college and jobs around the globe. But I’ve also fallen into the trap of reading posts by friends that are simple notations about what they’re doing (“Watching my kids play at the park”). And I’m thinking why are you posting instead of playing with your children?

I’m trying to be smart about Social Media… just like I try not to call people during the dinner hour (does that show my age?). I try not to tweet about the mundane (would people stop following me if I did?). And I try to blog about topics that might interest others… am I off base here? Does anybody really care that I’m sipping a diet coke and wondering if I’ll have time to stop at the dry cleaners on the way home?

...and the winner is...

As a child, I always loved watching the Academy Awards. All those celebrities, dressed to the nines, sitting in their seats in anticipation of that magical moment when their name would be announced as the winner.

I liked to believe that they didn't know they had even been nominated until their name was called with the other nominees. And as the winner was announced and the camera focused on their face, they looked so excited and thrilled that they couldn't believe their good fortune.

While I've since learned the truth about the nomination process, the award ceremony itself is still exciting. It takes hard work to enter most awards shows. Writing strategic documents that set up the problem, define the strategy, and then accurately portray all the rationale for the solution require thought, time, and energy. And the work that gets entered is of such a high calibre that you're often left thinking "I wish I'd done that!"

I felt that same excitement at the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA) Benjamin Franklin Awards Dinner last Thursday evening. While I knew we had been nominated in two different categories for our work on two different clients, I didn't know whether or not we had won. As I sat at my table with colleagues, clients and other business associates, I listened intently to the judging process and was surprised to learn that the PDMA sends all of their entries to the Direct Marketing Association of Washington where their members act as independent judges of the work.

So I was both thrilled and delighted when they announced we had won in both of the categories in which we had entered! One was for our B2B direct marketing work for TANDBERG, an industry-leader in the video conferencing space, and the other for our work for independent jazz radio station KCSM-FM. Walking to the podium each time, I was struck by how exciting it was to have all eyes in the room on us. Talk about our 30 seconds of fame!

But the most delightful part of the process was sharing our win with our clients. After all, they're the ones who had the good judgement to hire us in the first place... and they're the ones who worked so hard with us on the strategic planning process, and they're the ones that allowed us to execute the type of work we're proud to showcase. And finally they're the ones who believed in our expertise. And I'm most proud that the work we conceived, designed, and executed achieved the desired objective: to help move their respective businesses forward.

I believe that participation in industry Award Shows are an honor for all of us. And, in the end, we all want to be associated with great work that truly works.

Thank-you to the Academy...

If you build it, will they come?

In B2B marketing, decisionmakers (and influencers) are always gathering information about products before they take the next step in the sales cycle. So how do you make sure they have access to, and get, what they need and want?

Many corporate websites are chock full of product information -- but often located in disparate locations. For a cold prospect, landing on the website home page makes information gathering a daunting, time consuming task.

Instead, build a Resource Center, and organize it such that your target can find and consume it quickly and easily. If you're targeting key verticals, then organize your site by vertical industry. Then, within each vertical, organize your whitepapers, case studies, product spec sheets etc.
Use your outbound marketing efforts to drive targets to that microsite. To determine who is visiting and downloading information, "lock" your pages and require visitors to register before they can access the information. Yes, you will get a few "Mickey Mouse" registrants, but those who are most serious are happy to share who they are -- if you don't ask that pesky "how soon are you looking to purchase?" question. Of course we've all figured out that you'll be calling us first if we answer "within 1 month!".

Be sure to have a plan in place to get a list of who has been visiting your Resource Center every day -- and a plan as to how to follow up with these leads. There is NOTHING more annoying than getting a phone call that says "You downloaded a white paper last month and I'm calling to see if you want more information." My response is "I download lots of whitepapers -- I can't even remember which whitepaper you're talking about, so no, I'm not interested."

A better follow up plan is to have a real reason to follow up -- an invitation to a webinar where a professional user of the product is talking about his/her experience with the product. Or an invitation to a breakfast briefing where some C-level is going to talk about how his/her business was transformed (and the product was part of the solution).

Business leaders are always seeking ideas and ways to make their business more productive. But if you make them do all the work to find out how, or where, they may show up the first time, but they will not come back. Ever.