Bigs Ups to All My (S)Hero’s

18 Jan she-ra-princess-of-power-ladies-t-shirt

After watching the Sheryl Sandberg TED video, I started thinking about women I admire…and I’d like to start a series highlighting all these shero’s.

At the current moment, I’m in a semi-hallucinogenic state of jet-lag, so I can’t form coherent thoughts. Fortunately for me, the San Jose Mercury News put together a list of The 10 most powerful women in Silicon Valley, which takes care a lot of the initial heavy lifting.

These women are all inspirations, having made names for themselves in this heavily male dominated tech-topia.

Who do you admire? Anyone I should check out? Let me know in the comments below.

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Social Media is like Dating for Marriage

15 Jan

Bear with me on this one…I floated the analogy with a group of marketers at NVIDIA and they laughed, but also loved it. It helps show the difference between traditional and social media marketing. And, also helps create a litmus test for whether or not a specific action/campaign/activity would work well in a social media program.

Think about it, there are a lot of parallels between trying to build a community, and trying to find a mate or sustaining a healthy relationship. There is a small caveat, in the social media scenario companies are looking for many serious relationships, whereas the individual (for the most part) is just looking for one. A little plural marriage ain’t no big thang, right?

I digress. So here is a short list of commonalities…feel free to add any more you see in the comments, below:

  • You need to profile your match. Figure out what that person is into. Where that person hangs out.
  • Go to where your potential match hangs out. Become a regular there. Get to know the locals.
  • When you meet someone with potential, you have to listen and get to know them. Can’t spend the whole time just talking about yourself. That would be rude.
  • Open yourself up. While you’re getting to know the other person, you have to open the vest a little and let them get to know you too. Not just what you do and where you live, but the quirky fun things, too.
  • Ask about their day.
  • Address issues and fights promptly, don’t ignore them or let them fester. Admit when you’re wrong. Try to make it right.
  • Be consistent, but not suffocating. Stay in touch regularly, keep yourself top of mind. But, you don’t need to share every little thing. Just the stuff you think they’d like.

So that’s a start. Keeping this analogy in mind while you’re doing social media…I think it will help :)

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Top 3 Things I Want to Do in 2011

11 Jan

I won’t use the dreaded R-word (*cough*resolution*cough), because those are usually destined for failure. And they usually have to do with eating less – who wants to do that!?

Instead, this year, I’ll list the top 3 things I’d like to focus on professionally. I thought that maybe by publishing these goals here, it’ll keep me honest. And, maybe, just maybe, some of my dear readers will help me get closer to accomplishing them:

1) Speak more: I’d like to get on the speaker circuit. I think it’s time. I have a diverse background from PR to Social Media, from agency to in-house, startup to Fortune 500. I think it’s time to start sharing some learnings, or at least hopping on a panel and getting into some brain tussles with my fellow SM strategists.

2) Write more. Well, ain’t this a broken record. Yes, for the thirtieth time I’d like to blog more. Stay tuned for metrics on that…

3)Stretch more. Last year I focused on building the infrastructure that NVIDIA needed in order to enable a sustainable social media program. This year, I want to stretch beyond the basics, and plug in the big-bang initiatives that help spur engagement and growth.

So that’s it. My non-resolutions. Any guidance, suggestions is appreciated. And, feel free to share your own goals below.

PS. I was inspired by this TED Talk from Sheryl Sandberg COO of Facebook. “Why we have too few women leaders” – watch it, you won’t be disappointed.

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What’s the Value of a Facebook Fan?

10 Jan

I’ve been asked this so many times. Honestly, I don’t have a finite answer. You can artificially create an equation and force out a number, but I think a more important question is “What do you want your Facebook fans to do for you?” IE what is your goal in having this fan page. And then back out a means of measuring that metric.

Ultimately, any company using Facebook should have the goal of increasing engagement with their fans. In fact, if that’s not a goal for you…why are you even on Facebook?! So, you will have to measure the quantity of conversations, the quality of those conversations, and the results of the conversations (IE do you change a naysayer into a advocate? Do you fix a technical issue?). Beyond this high level goal, however, you should have business-objective specific sub-goals.

For example: Is your goal increasing sales? Well, then are you sharing buy now links with your fans? Use something like Channel Intelligence tracking links so you have data on whether purchases were made based on the links you shared. If you’re an ingredient company (like my employer) then this type of data might be harder to come by. So you can get creative, and you will likely need to make some assumptions. IE, you won’t have buy now links, but you can share links to your partners’ product sites. You can post pictures of products you power, and measure the sentiment of your fans towards that product. You can clarify questions they have about the product. You can educate them on the value your “ingredient” brings to the end product, versus competitors.

The thing to keep in mind is this is (and will likely never be) an exact science.  But, if you choose a methodology and stick to it, you’ll be able to make relative comparisons.  And, when you’re ready to progress to the next level of reporting, you can apply the same methodology to your competitors’ activities and see how they stack up against your efforts.

I’d love to hear what y’all have to say on the topic. Do you have a measurement methodology for the value of FB fans? Share your thoughts in the comment thread.

Additional reading on this topic:

* http://gigaom.com/2010/06/11/how-much-is-a-facebook-fan-really-worth/

* http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=144437

* http://www.searchenginejournal.com/what%E2%80%99s-a-facebook-fan-worth/20133/

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Post it comic: CES, the Aftermath

8 Jan

The follow up piece to “twas the night before CES”.

To CES or not to CES
That is the question
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind
To suffer 16 hour show workdays
And play nightly craps,
hoping for outrageous fortune
Or, to take a break
from the week of big product launches
And by not going
Miss them
To go
To sleep
No more

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