Tim Bursch

I joined a Google Hangout last week with Chris Carfi to talk about possible scenarios for Google+. Awesome experience. Watch his blog for more details and thoughts soon.

In addition to a lot of other great takeaways from that conversation, I am convinced that Hangouts are here to stay. Hangouts allow you to stay in the network. They have a positive peer pressure effect. When you see a Hangout in your stream with interesting people, you’re drawn in. And video creates deeper connections.

Here are some possible uses for Hangouts:

1. After writing a blog post, start a Hangout to answer questions or discuss.
2. Need help thinking through a business (or fill in the blank) problem? Create a Hangout to mastermind your issue.
3. Schedule a regular time weekly. Topical discussion, guest speaker, networking, the options are endless.
4. Research.
5. Education. Imagine teachers with a whiteboard in the background interacting with people from all over the globe.
6. Real-time customer service.
7. Internal meetings.
8. A non-profit could create an ad-hoc Hangout to crowd-source ideas for response to a local crisis.
9. A recruiter could schedule a Q&A for potential candidates.
10. Musician trying out a new song for feedback, live.
11. A VC could invite people to pitch their ideas.
12. Virtual conference with multiple Hangouts.

What would you add?

Check out the full conversation on Google+ Scenario Planning.

[Shameless plug for Gage] Also, check out the summary on Google+ for Marketing Executives here.

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I’m taking a break today from marketing and social media goodness and attempting to shine some light on the issue of homelessness.

My friend Kevin D. Hendricks just published a new book that tells the inside story about homelessness. In other words, it’s about real people, real challenges, and real solutions. From my brief look at the book, I’m a little “wrecked,” as Mark Horvath likes to say.

So, take a look at this book and then take a look around you. See the homeless person.

All profits from this book are invested in Invisiblepeople.tv.

Go get a copy today!

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Just sharing a few resources I’ve been collecting lately on compliance and legal issues in social media:

• Huge database of social media polices (goldmine)
• One of the social media pioneers in a regulated industry: Mayo
• A few recent articles on compliance and engagement
• Follow WinstonAdLaw for great tips
• Read Shannon Paul for real world experience in regulated business
• Some thoughts from Radian6
• Examples of how NOT to mix legal and social media here and here
• More Mayo

What else would you add? Where do you turn when you have legal questions in social marketing?

Image credit: Sam Howzit

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Part of my work is helping companies manage online communities. The cool thing about marketing in these environments is that it’s not really direct marketing. It’s joining customer conversations.

Because most companies are not perfect, customers will voice complaints and disappointment online. For everyone to see.

An interesting thing can happen:

[warning: Tim’s not an artist]

1. Customer has a problem and voices complaint in public.
2. Brand is listening online (you’re doing that right?)
3. Brand acknowledges, responds, hears the problem and the loop is closed.
4. Transformation happens. Customer tells others about the experience and a negative is transformed into a positive.

How are you tracking these transformations? Is this marketing? Share your thoughts.

Hat tip to Aliza Sherman for getting me thinking about transformations.

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Have you seen the recent Old Spice marketing campaign? Who hasn’t is more like it. If not, take a look. Yes the numbers were huge. Really big.

[Adweek Source]

Was any of that possible though without the brand using traditional interruptive media?

 
I would say no. Further, I would argue that this campaign was not fundamentally social. Old Spice absolutely used social media channels. They also activated the whole "I’m on a horse" idea into mass media long before the real-time YouTube component. Right? Social media was one part of a bigger campaign that was reliant on traditional advertising.

I think the core elements of social media are sharing and conversation. It is a two-way channel. Old Spice for the most part broadcasted and then interacted in a very planned fashion. They extended their reach in a huge way through social media. But remember, this started with a lot of mass media first. Yes sharing happened. Yes some conversation happened, but it was directed from their brilliant agency.

Will they sell more body wash and deodorant? Heck yeah. Is there only one way to use social media? Heck no. I just don’t think Old Spice was aiming for more two-way conversation. They wanted a big splash and they did that by spending a lot of money and using all channels.

What will happen next for them as a brand? How will others try to copy this model of mass media + social media? [Some are calling this trans-media] Was this innovation?

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Want to change the world? Kevin Hendricks does and his new book might give you some ideas. I had the opportunity to connect with Kevin about his book Addition by Adoption. He uses social media and everyday life to tell a hilarious and moving story. Read on:

Kevin, tell me about yourself:

I live in St. Paul, Minn., with my wife, two kids and two dogs. Of course that equation is changing—we’re starting the process to adopt again. I’m a writer, editor and web geek. By day I hang out with my kids (Lexi is 4, Milo is 1.5) and by night (and naptime) I do work through my freelance company Monkey Outta Nowhere. I do writing for all kinds of clients, the most well known of which is probably the church communications blog, Church Marketing Sucks.

So, what is Addition by Adoption about?

It’s a collection of Twitter posts about my kids, the causes we care about and our adoption journey. It runs the gamut from silly things a three-year-old says to challenging observations about the needs in the world. It sounds odd to think of a story being told in 140-character chunks, but it actually comes together in a fairly natural way. You get a pretty good glimpse of what it’s like to raise little kids and go through the adoption process.

What made you decide to write this book?

It didn’t start as a book. It started as a bunch of Twitter posts. As a work-at-home dad trying to find the balance between productivity and parental neglect, I found posting comments and observations on Twitter to be cathartic. It gave me a way to connect with the outside world. Then lots of people started commenting on those nuggets of silliness and telling me I needed to collect them into a book. The idea grew on me and I thought it’d be the kind of thing my family would enjoy. But as I pulled together tweets on potty training triumphs, I kept coming across tweets about our adoption story. I realized this wasn’t about funny things kids say and parenting and all that, it was a much wider story. Even beyond adoption, it was a story of how Milo widened our worldview and helped us to see and embrace other causes. Even though it’s about the day to day and our specific family, it became bigger than ourselves.

Can you talk about the writing and publishing process?

The writing process was already done because the tweets had already been written. The bigger task was editing and curating the thousands of tweets I’ve posted since 2007 into a cohesive book. In the end something like 500 tweets made it into the book. That’s probably what sets it part most from anything else out there—this isn’t just an archive of my Twitter feed. I cut out all the fluff and irrelevant stuff and got right to the heart of the story. The self-publishing experience has been pretty easy. Print-on-demand publishing makes the act of getting a printed book in your hands relatively simple. Anyone can do it. Of course you also need a manuscript, editing, proofing, layout and cover design. Thankfully I do a few of those things for a living (though my wife told me she did spot a few typos—I told her not to tell me things like that). I also had incredible help from Ronald Cox on the layout and Brian White of TriLion Studios on the cover. They really made the book look good, which is something I couldn’t do myself. Of course then you need to spread the word—books don’t sell themselves. So except for all that hard work, it’s easy.

What do you want readers to walk away with?

I want readers to walk away from this book knowing that we can change the world. That sounds so hokey and idealistic, and admittedly I’m a pretty idealistic person. But I think it’s true. Just like we face day-to-day challenges, we also have day-to-day opportunities to make a difference. You don’t change the world overnight, but you also don’t have to change the world with some grand gesture. You change the world in everyday actions. Maybe it’s bringing awareness to clean water issues or helping a homeless person or showing some love to your next-door neighbor. Shaving my head for my 30th birthday didn’t change the world, but I bet it changed the worlds of the 130 people who now have clean water. The story of this book is told 140 characters at a time. That’s one tiny story—and all those little pieces add up to a complete story of the book. That’s how we change the world—one tiny step at a time.

How can we help?

You can change the world by buying my book. Wow, that sounds awful. I hate saying it like that, but in a tiny way it’s true. A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to charity: water to build a well in Ethiopia. Clean water can be the difference between life and death, so in a very real sense you’re changing the world for people. You can also tell your friends about my book and spread the word. This thing is self-published, so I don’t have any marketing machine or publishing empire behind it. It’s just me. I need your help. But let’s move beyond my little book. There are causes championed in the book that are so important—adoption, water, homelessness. Adoption is a big one. Do what you can to support adoption. Consider it yourself. Support those involved in it—whether it’s kids, birth parents, adoptive parents, etc. Above all you need to find your own cause and fight for it. If we cared as much about a single cause as we do about our favorite sports team or our current hobby the world would be a different place. I don’t mean that to shame anyone, just to give a comparison. How cool would it be if people rallied around their favorite cause, whether it’s adoption or water or domestic violence or whatever? You don’t need to do full on body paint, but a tailgate party for good? Sign me up.

Make sure to check out the book here.

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Building your own engaged community is important. Maybe essential for business today.

I would add: So is building up your surrounding community. Giving back and being socially responsible is becoming less of an afterthought. It is not only about being sustainable, but it’s the right thing to do.

How can you invest in the bigger community?

• Invest time or money in a local social venture
• Look for a way to mentor someone. See through obstacles together.
• Share your knowledge. Help someone get online and build connections. 
• Be aware. Pay attention to your surroundings. What can you learn? Or make better?

What would you add?

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When you are in transition, out of a job, debt-challenged or just struggling, how do you practice generosity? It is challenging.

If you ask and take repeatedly in business, you look desperate or greedy. Giving signals that you have something to share instead.

So, you really don’t have money to buy everyone a coffee or a book. That’s okay. We all have valuable assets to share. Try these:

• Share your knowledge. If you need more, start reading.
• Give away your connections.
• Help others get ahead.
• Listen. Your attention is a gift, especially with all this noise.

We reap what we sow. Applies to being generous in business too. And it will fill you up.

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I read this post by Jen Kane and have been thinking about it ever since. She brings up some great points and as usual challenges us to action.

So, here’s my idea: start small mastermind groups of people that are interested in going deeper.

Let’s talk about metrics and ROI. Let’s figure out action steps too. And let’s support each other and share ideas.

A few challenges with starting mastermind groups:

- Trust is needed in order to let a small group of people give you feedback and learn together.

- Time is needed. Who has time for another meeting? There’s work to do, but this would be a commitment to going pro.

- Logistics need to be figured out. Where, when, and what if people don’t show? All good questions.

There’s not an institution to go learn social media from, yet. If we want 201 learning, we will have to make it happen.

So, who’s interested in a mastermind group?

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Do you ever wonder about making tough decisions and changing this world?

Read this.

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