Deborah Schultz

Community Evangelism Workshop

As promised - here are the slides from the workshop Anil and I ran at Web2Expo. Some of the meaning will be lost on those who were not in the room, but we hope it provides some guidance and food for thought

I have also started a new del.icio.us account - username Relationship_Economy - specifically as an umbrella for all things community, social media and new marketing related.  This way folks who are always asking for tools, blogs to read etc can just subscribe to the feed to keep up.  I have to thank Niall Kennedy for this smart idea that he shared with me as he does the same thing for feed related stuff.

At the moment the account is a good start and contains a bunch of bookmarks to blogs, books and tools.  It is by no means meant to be all inclusive,  So, please I invite you to add your own, just tag em with "relationship_economy" and share the wealth.

Note: Jerry MIchalski [ aka mr. relationship economy] is back online!

Measurement and vulnerability

Two words I never thought I would string together and yet that is exactly what seems to keep cropping up lately.

Chis Carfi has some great liveblogging posts from the Economics of Social Media conference today, [wish i could be there but alas I am networked out].

The topics and posts highlight  that although marketers are trying to 'get' the new landscape they are struggling.  Once again Rishad calls it like it is.

Three important points that I never get tired of reiterating:

• Control is an illusion
• Being vulnerable is essential
• New metrics & measurement are still elusive
  

Focus is the new ADD

laser-focus, originally uploaded by andreinafrica.

Last week's Web2Expo conference was a definite success - smart people, good networking and not too much hype [buzz is fine, hype is not].  David Hornik and Richard McManus have some good wrap-ups  and observations for those who were not able to attend and did not catch any of the live streams. Sean Bohan and Mario Sundar are two of the worlds fastest live bloggers.  Check em out for the line-by-line stuff.

Sean actually referred to the week as "hanging out with my aggregator". I really like that.  Nothing really does replace face to face for cementing previous relationships or bonding with new.

My take away percolating in the zeitgeist is that it is time to FOCUS on getting it done.  Whatever it is for you - go out and make it happen and try not to get too distracted by the noise. 

 

It's a small small community

For some perspective on life as well as a fresh reminder on how bite sized chunks convey emotion and clarity.

Thanks Don

A status post - backlogged

Of late, I live in a constant state of "behind on posts"  - it's a dull thud in the back of my head.  I am also old skool enough that I want all my thoughts on this blog to be well crafted and well rounded and to 'add to the conversation'.  This has resulted in a some backlog as I need to carve out some thinking time. I also try to not use this space for life-status posts (that's what  Flicker Flickrand Twitter and Vox are for).

That said, I want to quickly acknowledge the following:

• Back from Israel on Friday - fascinating month, lots of great people, companies, events (+] and refueling.  Stay tuned for more on this.

• Web2Expo kick-off: Thanks to all the attendees at this morning's Workshop. To think you all arrived at 9AM on a Sunday to listen to Anil and me is truly humbling.  I only wish that we could have actually had more dialogue and QA (kinda tough in a room with 300 people).

• As promised, we will post the presentation and associated bibliography on our blogs in the next few days.

Creativity and Authenticity Trumps Technology

In my current role as a evangelist and rabble rouser in the new Relationship Economy [thanks to the brilliant Jerry & Doc this is my new chosen term to describe the impact all this social media stuff is having on our world], I am often frustrated when the conversation turns to technology solutions.  As Jerry describes the Relationship Economy:

 
Transactions are the by-products of healthy relationships.

The global economy is shifting from a mass media, consumer mass-marketing model to one that is far more emergent and decentralized. The involuntary loyalty of "sticky" services is falling victim to the far preferable voluntary loyalty won through responsiveness, quality, excellent service, reliability and trustworthiness.

Sometimes, transactions don't matter.  

 
Questions like  "Should I start a blog?" Do I need a wiki? can you make this viral? What kind of video should I put on Youtube and how should I tag it - are the WRONG questions.  This is basic "can't see the forest for the trees" stuff.    Don't worry about the technology, worry about how to engage your customers (hint: try introducing the word "I"], andm ake products people really care about.  Anil has a recent post on sustainability  that is good reading, here is a relevant snip:

This refrain never goes away, but it bears repeating. Those of us who love technology and believe in its potential owe it to our communities, our audiences, and our customers to make our efforts sustainable and accountable. I'm not an unabashed, uncritical capitalist, but I do recognize that one of the most positive effects that a classic charge-a-fair-market-value-for-your-goods business model offers is the opportunity to create an accountable and sustainable relationship with a customer.

  This is not a technology solution, this is a corporate strategy shift. A relationship is not about a blog, a wiki or a video - it is an attitude and a commitment. First determine what kind of relationship you want with your customers then worry about the technology to get you there.

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Bonus Link: This is the URL that got me started on this post and reminded me that creativity does indeed trump technology.  And look - it's now viral.

Attribution:  thanks to Josef Steufer for his gorgeous photo