I know it’s trendy to talk about social media trends at the end of the year. It’s the Big Social Crystal Ball season. And everybody’s an instant expert - just add water :) Almost every article you read the last few weeks has been about predicting 2013 social trends. What will work, what won’t, trends on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. You name it. I find all this social trend talk tedious at best. Every time I see a trend header, I think to myself “what about sticking to basics?” Anyone remember basics? How about we get the basics right first, before worrying about the next Gangnam Style social hit? Fundamentals you say? Things like engagement - actually responding to customers and conversing with your audience instead of just talking at them. Things like velocity. Striving to operate social channels in real time, as per customer expectations.  Or content. No trend needed there. Just start producing compelling, value-added content for customers. The kind that reaches their hearts, minds, and pocketbooks. Dump the marketing gibberish. How about an iron-clad crisis management plan? Or training and hiring only top gun social people. Or metrics that make sense? And socially-engaged CEOs?  These are some of the fundamental social media things that make sense. Year in and year out. So let’s focus on those for 2013. Because trends, you know, they come and go :)
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I know it’s trendy to talk about social media trends at the end of the year. It’s the Big Social Crystal Ball season. And everybody’s an instant expert - just add water :)

Almost every article you read the last few weeks has been about predicting 2013 social trends. What will work, what won’t, trends on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. You name it.

I find all this social trend talk tedious at best. Every time I see a trend header, I think to myself “what about sticking to basics?” Anyone remember basics? How about we get the basics right first, before worrying about the next Gangnam Style social hit? Fundamentals you say?

Things like engagement - actually responding to customers and conversing with your audience instead of just talking at them. Things like velocity. Striving to operate social channels in real time, as per customer expectations. 

Or content. No trend needed there. Just start producing compelling, value-added content for customers. The kind that reaches their hearts, minds, and pocketbooks. Dump the marketing gibberish.

How about an iron-clad crisis management plan? Or training and hiring only top gun social people. Or metrics that make sense? And socially-engaged CEOs? 

These are some of the fundamental social media things that make sense. Year in and year out. So let’s focus on those for 2013. Because trends, you know, they come and go :)

Really compelling blog post from ex Samsung Social Media Marketing Manager (now a welcomed addition to the Sprinklr team) Esteban Contreras interviewing one of my evangelist heroes Guy Kawasaki.  I love the last question in particular - a classic Guy “make meaning” formula - that in order to “change the world”, you really need to: “Build something that you want to use. Prototype your product or service as quickly as you can. Don’t write a business plan, create a pitch, or craft a financial forecast. Get it out there. See if people will really use it. For God’ sake, don’t do market research.” I really love this advice. Especially coming from a venture capitalist :) At Autodesk, our own mantra is “Helping people imagine, design, and create a better world”. And my organization, Customer Service and Support, is the “help” piece of that equation. Inherently, our mission is to ensure people move along their imagine, design, and create workflow with minimal friction and interruption. It’s that simple. And this is part of our “social service at scale” vision. And as our software is used to prototype and release all sorts of products in every imaginable industry as quickly and efficiently as possible, I like to think we contribute to “changing the world” in the Kawasaki sense of things.  Which makes me feel kinda good :)
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Really compelling blog post from ex Samsung Social Media Marketing Manager (now a welcomed addition to the Sprinklr team) Esteban Contreras interviewing one of my evangelist heroes Guy Kawasaki. 

I love the last question in particular - a classic Guy “make meaning” formula - that in order to “change the world”, you really need to:

“Build something that you want to use. Prototype your product or service as quickly as you can. Don’t write a business plan, create a pitch, or craft a financial forecast. Get it out there. See if people will really use it. For God’ sake, don’t do market research.”

I really love this advice. Especially coming from a venture capitalist :)

At Autodesk, our own mantra is “Helping people imagine, design, and create a better world”. And my organization, Customer Service and Support, is the “help” piece of that equation.

Inherently, our mission is to ensure people move along their imagine, design, and create workflow with minimal friction and interruption. It’s that simple. And this is part of our “social service at scale” vision.

And as our software is used to prototype and release all sorts of products in every imaginable industry as quickly and efficiently as possible, I like to think we contribute to “changing the world” in the Kawasaki sense of things. 

Which makes me feel kinda good :)

I keep saying one of the next big social frontiers is about “private” social networks - stuff like this, that, or the other (Hyperweek is a really cool customizable social network created by my buddy Raphael Briner) for example.  I’m talking about “Facebookized” social networks within a specific context. Say like Marketing, Sales, PR, HR, Support - and maybe even all combined into one big “mothership” network. In other words, if Facebook is the social graph, Twitter is the interest graph, Pinterest is the shopping graph (ouch). Well, what’s your graph baby?  Here’s the kicker: these bespoke networks can’t be walled off. You need to figure out how to safely gate and regulate public entry (think customers). Then, if you make a physical product, figure out how to connect it as well. Now the whole enterprise, its customers, and its products are connected internally and externally. Nifty! - Can you spell s-c-a-l-e? Whoever figures this out first wins. Yes, I know about Yammer and Chatter. Blah.
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I keep saying one of the next big social frontiers is about “private” social networks - stuff like this, that, or the other (Hyperweek is a really cool customizable social network created by my buddy Raphael Briner) for example. 

I’m talking about “Facebookized” social networks within a specific context. Say like Marketing, Sales, PR, HR, Support - and maybe even all combined into one big “mothership” network.

In other words, if Facebook is the social graph, Twitter is the interest graph, Pinterest is the shopping graph (ouch). Well, what’s your graph baby? 

Here’s the kicker: these bespoke networks can’t be walled off. You need to figure out how to safely gate and regulate public entry (think customers). Then, if you make a physical product, figure out how to connect it as well. Now the whole enterprise, its customers, and its products are connected internally and externally. Nifty! - Can you spell s-c-a-l-e?

Whoever figures this out first wins. Yes, I know about Yammer and Chatter. Blah.

I just read an interview with the guy pictured above - who happens to run Marketing at SAP. Quoting a CMO to support social media philosophy might be a little convoluted, but this piece was too good to pass up. Some key takeaways from a social media perspective: “we have to move away from the notion that we can control the message to a mindset where we orchestrate the conversations” That’s a solid, and I think most people get this now. But sometimes you find those who just pretend to get it. People who use social channels as yet another way to carpet-bomb messages are of the latter persuasion. “Being in B2B or B2C is an arbitrary distinction. Buildings don’t buy from buildings, people buy products from people”  This is a relatively new concept, and I would have argued against it only a few months ago. But I’ve seen the light now. Consumer, corporate buyer. Same expectations, same funnel. All merged now. 80% of customers do not visit corporate web sites prior to making buying decisions Although I’ve read many articles quoting research to that effect, I find it hard to believe it’s that high. Nonetheless, WOM and coupons <sigh> drive purchase decisions nowadays. If you have a functioning website but, say, no mobile presence to speak of, or no social integration, place your bets on the mobile/integration table and forget the stupid website. No one cares (apparently). SAP [has] a goal of having 50% of their own website content authored by third parties in the future. I’m very wary of crowdsourcing in general, but in certain cases Community (and not internal “experts”) knows best. Put customers in charge. Better bang for the buck. This is particularly true for support content provided strong curation is practiced.  SAP has started taking consumer cultures into consideration for their product positioning as well I’ll just note this should also apply to social media. In the current effort to paint everything with a global brush, it’s easy to forget people don’t drive on the same side of the road in every country. And social tactics should adapt to ground conditions accordingly. Especially with social support. Passion needs to be organized, it needs to be channeled Clearly, however passion needs to (1) exist at and (2) flow from the top. It doesn’t miraculously appear. Only once you have vision at the top, then you can have passion. And then seepage. Worry later about channeling it. It’s a good worry to have anyway. Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.  True that. The trick lies in separating the two :) And presenting things differently depending on which altar you pray at - Marketing, PR, Service - All of the above?
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I just read an interview with the guy pictured above - who happens to run Marketing at SAP. Quoting a CMO to support social media philosophy might be a little convoluted, but this piece was too good to pass up. Some key takeaways from a social media perspective:

“we have to move away from the notion that we can control the message to a mindset where we orchestrate the conversations”

That’s a solid, and I think most people get this now. But sometimes you find those who just pretend to get it. People who use social channels as yet another way to carpet-bomb messages are of the latter persuasion.

“Being in B2B or B2C is an arbitrary distinction. Buildings don’t buy from buildings, people buy products from people” 

This is a relatively new concept, and I would have argued against it only a few months ago. But I’ve seen the light now. Consumer, corporate buyer. Same expectations, same funnel. All merged now.

80% of customers do not visit corporate web sites prior to making buying decisions

Although I’ve read many articles quoting research to that effect, I find it hard to believe it’s that high. Nonetheless, WOM and coupons <sigh> drive purchase decisions nowadays. If you have a functioning website but, say, no mobile presence to speak of, or no social integration, place your bets on the mobile/integration table and forget the stupid website. No one cares (apparently).

SAP [has] a goal of having 50% of their own website content authored by third parties in the future.

I’m very wary of crowdsourcing in general, but in certain cases Community (and not internal “experts”) knows best. Put customers in charge. Better bang for the buck. This is particularly true for support content provided strong curation is practiced. 

SAP has started taking consumer cultures into consideration for their product positioning as well

I’ll just note this should also apply to social media. In the current effort to paint everything with a global brush, it’s easy to forget people don’t drive on the same side of the road in every country. And social tactics should adapt to ground conditions accordingly. Especially with social support.

Passion needs to be organized, it needs to be channeled

Clearly, however passion needs to (1) exist at and (2) flow from the top. It doesn’t miraculously appear. Only once you have vision at the top, then you can have passion. And then seepage. Worry later about channeling it. It’s a good worry to have anyway.

Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted. 

True that. The trick lies in separating the two :) And presenting things differently depending on which altar you pray at - Marketing, PR, Service - All of the above?