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BlogPotomac: My Top 5 TakeAways

Monday, June 15th, 2009

On Friday, June 12, I attended BlogPotomac, in Falls Church, Virginia. BlogPotomac is a social media marketing event held for the greater Washington, D.C. community. Attendees enjoy a one-day event with nationally renowned speakers and advanced discussion of best social media marketing practices.

Thought I’d share my top five takeaways from the day.

1. It’s Not About The Technology.

Scott Monty, head of social media at Ford (and on twitter @scottmonty), spoke in the morning and this particular statement of his turned out to be highly “tweetable.” He talked about how social media is not about any given technology, but about a culture shift. It’s a shift we watched take place when the telephone entered the business world and then again when email entered our every day experiences. To paraphrase, technology, he said, will continue to evolve and change; it’s merely a tool to facilitate conversation and an opportunity to leverage more communication channels.

2. If The Leadership Doesn’t “Get It,” Don’t “Get In It.”

This one’s a Scott Monty paraphrase, as well. Bottom line? His success in social media at Ford is owing to the commitment of the company’s leadership to “listen” and “become a better company.” He’s not online “to sell cars” but to build a reputation. He was very clear that he could not have accomplished all that he has without the absolute support and backing of Ford’s leadership. (To read more on this, visit: Buzzcast #71: Scott Monty / Ford Motor Company (Video) and Scott Monty, Ford’s Agent of Change or simply google scott monty and settle in for some good biz-reading.)

3. Don’t Fear Negative Comments; Trust Your Community.

Can I help it if Scott Monty said so much good stuff? His point here? Know when it’s appropriate to respond to negative comments and when it’s not. Once you’ve built a community, you will see that when someone says something negative or untrue about you (or your brand), your community will oftentimes step up and respond for you to set the record straight (because you’ve taken the time and effort to build those positive relationships). I would append to this a comment from the next speaker at BlogPotomac, Liz Strauss. Liz is on twitter @lizstrauss and she blogs at LizStrauss.com. I tweeted at the event that Liz was worth the price of admission. To this end, she made the point that it’s easier “to trust” when you know who you are as an individual and a business. As a small business owner, I get this. And I’ve watched companies (and individuals) with a strong “sense of self” make a smooth transition into the social webs, so the point was well taken. Liz drove it home by adding that “social” should be INTERNAL, first. That is, “you can’t be truly social with customers if you’re not an open-conversation company on the inside.” Think on this one for a sec: Is your company social internally? Is there a strong communication and relationship-building effort between employer and employee? It’s a GREAT question and has never been more timely. (And it speaks to a company’s cultural preparedness to engage in the broader culture shift that social media is ushering in.)

4. Do You Need To Get On An Airplane, Or Get On Twitter?

Well, it doesn’t have to be twitter…it could be a video phone, skype, email, or any other tool. (It’s not about the technology!) At BlogPotomac, Liz Strauss reminded us all that “you don’t lead with the tools, you lead with the relationship.” With social media, you can build those relationships in a handful of different ways these days. (Whereas 10 years ago, you might have had to get on a plane, repeatedly, to build a quality relationship, you can often do more online these days to reduce the time you spend flying the friendly skies.) No one is saying the vis-à-vis isn’t of value, but the virtual can do a heck of a lot for you in between those meetings, if you use it appropriately. If this statement doesn’t resonate with you, then you might ask yourself how you use the telephone or email to build, maintain and support relationships (they’re “virtual,” too) and consider that social media offers similar opportunities to “connect.” If it feels unfamiliar, it’s only a matter of spending the time to learn how to use them well to pull – and push – value.

5. You Don’t Own Your Reputation.

Okay. I like this one. So the same thing we say about a company’s brand can be said about your own reputation. What do we say? Well, we say that “you don’t own a brand, you earn a brand.” So, too, with your reputation. YOU don’t define your reputation – your COMMUNITY/NETWORK does. You know who you are and you live it. They affirm and share it. This was the topic of discussion when Amber Naslund (who works for Radian6, blogs at Altitude Branding and is building her reputation @AmberCadabra) and Aaron Brazell (a.k.a. @technosailor, blogging at technosailor.com) took the stage. Fascinating stuff to consider. Brands are managed by businesses, but “controlled” by customers. To this end, you can’t control what gets put out there about you. You can only do what you do and do it well. The reputation follows. I focused on this portion of the dialogue, though much time was also spent on the notion of “personal branding,” as well as the balance between the personal and the professional brand. To me, it all goes back to reputation – whether you’re a business or an individual working on building relationships – all you can do is be your best you, every day. (Oh, and if you don’t want something showing up online, don’t put it there!)

Blog on!

Thanks to Geoff Livingston for a putting on a really great BlogPotomac. If you missed it, there will be another held in October. I think I heard October 23rd, but you should check the official website for official deets.

One final thought for business leaders and marketing veeps…

When you consider that you “allow” employees to communicate with clients on the phone and via email every single day, “allowing” them to communicate on the social webs (with best practices guidelines in place, of course) is simply a matter of evolving and extending your trust in your employees. An inappropriate email could easily be made public and a phone conversation could be easily converted to an mp3 and posted online for all the world to hear. Employees don’t do those things (typically) because most don’t set out to betray the trust of the company that employs them – or jeopardize their own reputations.

If “fear” feels like a barrier to social media, remember that businesses once feared email and, before that, the telephone. It’s simply not about the technology, it’s about trust and reputation. Social media is giving us all an opportunity to examine and extend the reach of both.