LikeMinds – organised as a social media event- but was it?
1. Linkminds meeting on Friday 26th February 2010 in Exeter.
2. “LikeMinds is an organisation dedicated to Making Action Accessible. Founded in 2009 amidst the boom of Social Media, where communication was drastically changing, and knowledge was overflowing – creating both the opportunity and the necessity for us to act and turn our ideas into reality.” (http://www.wearelikeminds.com/likeminds2010/)
3. From the description, it feels like an organisation that has embraced social media. I wanted to see whether this meeting was a Social media event or an event using the words social media as a marketing angle.
The event was a mix of meeting people and presentations – this is good especially in this day and age. The programme looked really ambitious – 6 keynote speakers, 6 discussion panels consisting of 18 panelists with 6 moderators.
My point of view: I am a Social Media newbie and have come to see this in action. My understanding is Social Media is conversations between people rather than communications – corporate speak for broadcast.
Comments:
I will only comment on the afternoon session as it took me quite a time to get my head round the event.
1. The 2 speakers – Joanne Jacobs and Chris Brogan were the highlights; Joanne was a performance that set the standard. Chris – an outstanding blogger and the reason why I came. He did not have the time to finish; what a shame!
Chris Brogan in action
2. Then there were 2 speakers with corporate backgrounds – explaining why corporates are not comfortable with social media. Corporates in general broadcast and do not have conversations – it is their structure that makes it difficult. There was a constant referral to Dell getting USD 6.5 million extra sales from twitter. That is broadcast of special deals and not business resulting from a conversation.
It would be better to have people who are successful in using social media and doing good business resulting from it. I can name 4 people immediately and would therefore, recommend them as keynote speakers.
3. Panels: I did not think there was sufficient time to develop the “conversation” with the panels short of the introduction. It is also very brave to “label” a person as a social media expert. How old is this subject and the knowledge has not settled down. The time allocated for the panels was just too short.
4. No twitterfall in the background – that was a real disappointment. This is a validation of the event by social media – everybody in the audience can see what is happening.
Is it a distraction to the speaker?
Everyone in Social Media knows that there is a fight for attention so that there will be engagement. Therefore, every successful person in Social Media is outstanding or exceptional. They are well above the noise because of the quality of their content or their presentation. If your presentation is only mediocre, you will sink to the level of the noise and the twitterfall screen will be more interesting.
In this day and age, multi-tasking is the norm – listening to the presentation and twittering; watching TV and “doing” e-mails simultaneously.
I spoke to a number of people who were not in Exeter and were disappointed that their tweets where not shown – no twitterfall at the meeting.
Suggestions
Conclusion:
I had a beneficial time in Exeter and got the message of the important 4 words mentioned in Vanessa’s blog “Business : Four little words that may lead to success on the social web … #likeminds”
(http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=145723).
However, this Likeminds series will survive should it show its authenticity and leadership in the social media age where transparency is paramount.
Was it a true Social Media? It has the potential to get there if……
Dr Michael Oon
“It’s got nothing to do with the music, you silly cow!” shouted Steve Jones of the Sex pistols in a radio interview in San Francisco. At this present time, 2010, products and services are now treated like commodities. The consumer is bewildered by choice. How then do they handle this situation? They simply filter the [...]
“It’s got nothing to do with the music, you silly cow!” shouted Steve Jones of the Sex pistols in a radio interview in San Francisco.
At this present time, 2010, products and services are now treated like commodities. The consumer is bewildered by choice.
How then do they handle this situation?
They simply filter the vast mess of information –
On-line – use of a search engine like Google.
Off-line – get referrals or recommendations from your network like family, friends or others.
(Google: search engine criteria – age of web site, quantity of content, relevance, frequency of update, quality of inbound links)
Now, let us look at the other side of the coin, you are a service provider, how are you going to market your services?
In the traditional marketing context (print media advertising & PR, leaflets), are they cost effective?
There is so much competition on the web for that particular topic – insurance, advertising etc
So, where do you position yourself?
There is now a surfeit of product and services, what is now scarce is the attention of people. There is so much distraction or activity.
You have to target your market with engagement.
Grant has a model of the inverted funnel. You pull the potential client to the top of the inverted funnel and then you engage them within the inverted funnel.
This is the opposite to the conventional funnel where you get masses and then qualify people out of the process.
Therefore, his suggestion is:
1. On-line – people do not search for the topic; they search for solutions for their problem. Therefore, go to where the people with the problems are.
2. Rather than benefits, you describe the experience of solving the problem. Engage with them once you have established a relationship (return on engagement)
He concluded by providing 2 case studies with lateral solutions. Leveraging the marketing by collaborating with potential clients or forming alliances.
He enthralled the audience for a good hour by ending with the quote
“It’s got nothing to do with the music, you silly cow!”
What Grant’s message is: How can you differentiate yourself from the competition just based on the benefits; they are all the same (or a commodity)
Describe the experience; it is different!
Charles Revson (founder of Revlon cosmetics) is quoted to have said “In the factory we make cosmetics; in the drugstore we sell hope.”
Grant Leboff is a principal of The intelligent sales club – http://intelligentsalesclub.com
The Ecademy Weybridge events is organised by David Nunn. http://www.ecademy.com/module.php?mod=meeting&mid=31583
In January, I spoke on the business opportunities that are coming up in the next decade. In the following month, Grant Leboff gave a talk on how to handle the same opportunities.
Great planning David.
Dr Michael Oon
John and Edward Grimes, otherwise known as Jedward, were the final 12 contestants of the X factor 2009 series. Their standard of their singing was way below the other contestants and they could not even co-ordinate their movements to the beat of the music. But, they were finally booted out on the 7th week of [...]
John and Edward Grimes, otherwise known as Jedward, were the final 12 contestants of the X factor 2009 series. Their standard of their singing was way below the other contestants and they could not even co-ordinate their movements to the beat of the music.
But, they were finally booted out on the 7th week of this singing competition, much to the relief of many. This made them the top 6 in a singing competition when they cannot actually sing or dance properly. They must have some special quality for the public to endure to them for that long.
What is more, they have a recording contract with Sony BMG, an ITV documentary, countless appearances on TV chat shows, front the Irish Tourism advertisements, countless column inches in the print media, chatter in Social Media and much more.
What did the other finalists get? Not a lot. Other than the winner, Joe McElderry, John and Edward are the only ones to get a recording contract and sing more songs on the X Factor show.
What is it for them – fame and a start of a career.
What is it that gets them that far? – it must be their hairstyles (smile) and the willingness to try anything new.
Nick Tadd, could also be another geek with an unusual hairstyle which is not in keeping with the times. He is mad about Audi cars, has some fancy Apple technology both in his office and on his person, loves design, tells bad jokes but loves talking.
In his description, he labels himself has a web brand auditor, strategist, thought provoker, communicator and connector.
He has some 11,500 followers on Twitter and 13,000 connections of Ecademy. He must spend a lot of time on the computer and knows what he is talking about.
He led a workshop on Saturday (6th February 2010) –
How to implement a Social Media Strategy training day.
The training day could be summarized by knowing who you are, identifying your target market and listening to the chatter. Only then join in the conversation, just like in a pub or network meeting.
Being a regular visitor, they get to know you as you build up trust and credibility.
Nick is sharing this method because that is how he has established himself in Social Media. Not from the theoratical level but from the basis of results.
So, what is the significance of the hair in both Jedward and Nick and their hairstyles?
They have achieved their results by having large comfort zone and do not know the words – “I cannot” or “beyond my limits”. Their comfort zones allow them to have unusual hairstyles no matter the current fashion is.
They just do it and achieve it.
PS Nick will be sharing his knowledge
How to create great web video content on 5th March 2010 .
and will be repeating
How to implement a Social Media Strategy training day on
10am-5.00pm Friday 12th March 2010.
Dr Michael Oon
