How to Get Kicked Out of a Community

imagesYep, I broke my own rule & pimped TSheets too much in the Intuit Online Community and almost got the boot.  I was called to the carpet by Amy on Tuesday & I about cried.  That is just not what I am about & not what I stand for.  I am constantly telling people not to sell on Twitter, FaceBook etc…yet somehow I got caught up in stretching how I should “advise” people on time tracking.  So sorry Amy.

I appologized to Amy up and down & she invited me to still contribute, but where it is more appropriate.  Yes, anything…let me preach not only the fabulous time tracking system that is TSheets, but let me teach others about how to use social media.  I contributed to a great post today that someone asked “how do I set up online networks”.  Golden.  I didn’t just give .02, but more like $3.50.  I have been wanting to write how I use the big 3: LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter & I did so on this community.  

I really, really hope it helps people out.   I love this stuff & I want others to reap the benefits of it too.  My frustration lies in there are a ba-zillion people saying “get on”, “get communicating”, “be here”, “be there”…but for the common business owner, they don’t get the nitty gritty of what to say & how to say it.  It’s about the value-add that you are giving to people.  We know you have a product to sell, we get that…but how else can you contribute that will make my life easier & better?

So this tip of the day?  Don’t sell.  Contribute.

Diigo 12/04/2008

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Be True to Your Twitter – the Auto DM Question

What is an Auto response on Twitter?
There are quite a few Twitter tools out there that make your first response to a new follower (usually through a direct message, or @ message) hands off (see: canned) and make the first conversation be from a bot & not “you”.  Can you tell that I am not a fan?…hence why I am not giving you any links to them….bad news sister…read on.

Who uses the auto DM (direct message) and should we expect it?
My husband recently received an auto DM from a former collegue of mine that has his own conuslting gig now.   As soon as he got it, he said “yea, as funny as “X” is, that is just wrong”…and he immediatly stopped following “X”.  Is the auto DM’r a busy guy?  Sure, but so are the likes of @jowyang & @guykawasaki and a LOT of other people out there who I feel respect their audience and would much rather connect with them on a 1:1 basis.  If you get what reads like a canned message, know that you just got put on a mailing list, and no 1:1 conversation will take place.  You are just another notch on the Twitter-belt of love.

How do I respond to new followers that follow me back?
Check them out or course!  
See what they have been saying the last 10 or so Tweets (if those are in the past 10 minutes, I usually pass: no TwitterWhore following here!). 
I read their blog, see if we have some common interest (business, sports, coffee, mothering, more coffee)
What is their Following to Follwer ratio?  Are they going to care if I say something that could be relevant to them?  Or am I following them to get their info that is relevant to me? 
Great thing about Twitter?  It is what you make of it.  

Why NOT have an Auto DM?
Breanne Potter  listed it as #2 in her Ten Commandments of Twitter that it shalt not be done (and the other 9 are really funny too).
It is the general consencious (71%) that an auto DM or @ message is just plain spam.  You are not contributing to the conversation right from the start & because you had an auto DM set up, you really don’t care what my contributions are either.  Again, this is my take on those that auto DM…you as an auto DM’r might possibly disagree with me due to your busy and time consuming schedule (which we all hear about….on Twitter….hmmmm).

But I am a Marketer.  I don’t have time to respond to every follower.
Ok then…don’t.  But know who your audience is.  Take 15 minutes every morning & find out who wants to hear you speak.  Find a few every day & thank them – personally!  Find something interesting in them that might actually spark a dialog between two people (or more, if others are listening) and take value in the quality, not the quantity.  Have a personality out there, not a campain slogan.

Now in the case of my former collegue and his auto DM, pretty funny guy & he does contribute to the local Twitter flair that happens here in Boise…but I bet he would have a lot more responses and conversations if his new followers heard from him right from the get-go, not a bot. 

Have I changed your mind?  Are you going to use an auto DM now, or are you going to disable yours right away?
If you are still looking for some do’s and do nots of Twitter read: www.LameTwitterMarketing.com 

Where Did All The Sponsorships Go?

 

Photo: Conservative22 via Flickr.com

It was announced this week that GM &Tiger Woods have parted ways.  I am sureTiger will do just fine on the financial and end of things, but GM isn’t looking so hotat this moment in time.

With the snowball effect, I will just call “the economy”, I foresee that Tiger will not be the only one to part ways with their sponsors in the upcoming months. 

I have always wondered what the ROI of sponsoring an athlete is these days compared to the days of “Just Do It”, “Bo Knows”, and of course “I am not a role model”.  Those days of branding, marketing, sponsorship, promotion and advertising are what shaped my decisions to pursue a Masters in Athletic Management, yet what I learned then is such a 180 of how to communicate with and influence your audience today.  

Sponsorship has been and always will be: “we support” and “we are attached” to this athete, event or cause, but it is obviously about the bottom line.  When an athlete signs on with company X to push their product there is the expectation that because they have securred the athlete, that it will have the Jordan effect and instantly boost sales due to being, well….attached.  Not true anymore.  

Even though the GM products that Tiger pushed influenced our rental decision (I call it “the car that Tiger drives” – I can’t remember the exact name), I see the demise of the athlete sponsorship in general.  Companies can not rely on athletes to be THE face of their company anymore, the ROI is just not there due to the flatness of the world as it exists now and will be from here on out.

What do you think?  Who will be the next big athlete to be dropped due to the economy?

Twitter Correspondent & the How to Twitter YouTube Video

Twitter Correspondent Jen was at the scene!
On Election day 2008 I was thrilled to be part of our local Fox station as their Twitter Correspondent.  Instead of having that stodgedy old political professor (that we have seen way too much of), viewers were able to see me track the Twitter political conversations that were taking place online.

How it played out
We started out the night by having Shannon introduce me to the viewers & directing them to the Fox 12 web site so they could easily learn, step-by-step, how to sign up for Twitter.  Once the viewer signed up, their first follower was automatically @Fox12.  Even my mom down in Needles, California signed up!  Yet, I still don’t think she is following me.  Call me Mom, I will walk you through how to find & add me. 🙂

We interacted with current and new @Fox12 followers throughout the night.  The political questions Shannon asked on air were answered by our Twitter followers in the following segment.  Fox12 gained about 80 new followers that night in the two hour period that we were live and it looks as though they have kept that number steady since the election.  

Future of Fox12 & their Twitter?
They are currently engaging in the Twittasphere by sending out headlines (like most media is currently doing) but they really do “get it” and want to engage more in the future with their audience.  FINALLY!  🙂  

I really look forward to seeing them interact with their audience.  My suggestions to them?

  1. Host a Tweetup
  2. Engage in a bit more dialog and don’t just send out tweets (I know, I know: time)
  3. Bring in their advertisers & do a “how to” seminar that can make their message more 2.0 friendly (see “valuable”, “transparent”, “engaging”) to the young audience that they have.  (Not just Twitter, but how to use other social media tools too).  My prediction is this will not take away from their ad dollars, just add huge value and range to their advertisers marketing dollars.  
  4. Have Shannon, Dan, Shayne & etc all have their own Twitter accounts to converse with their viewers.
  5. etc, etc, etc….

What do you think?  
Do you think the melding of old traditional and new media will ever come together enough to engage the end users in a full circle media experience?  What is your ideal expereince with TV & social media coming together?  

Double Dog Dare?
And on a funny note – I was double dog dared by a few of my personal followers to say “pajamas”…yea, I totally delivered-thank you very much!

Not Going To Be one of those Social Marketers

2090212177_98f01c348b_mSo, I am still explaining what social media is, how to use it & how it really is a business tool, but I am SO obviously not the only one.  There are a plethora of experts out there preaching, repeating, talking, linking and guiding others to the latest how to, what to, what not to, who to listen to etc etc etc.  

I don’t want to regurgitate.  But what I do want to do is teach & guide the “hands on” & the organic philosophy – in my own regurgitated words or own raw thoughts.  

For those that know me, I am blunt…w/sugar sprinkled on top.  I just want to help.  A few months ago I put together a non-solicited plan for my local drive-through coffee shop.  Ideas swim in my head all the time & I have to get them out or else I don’t sleep at night.  Thank goodness I have TSheets where I can bounce ideas off the decision makers that believe in social media and the power of relationships that it solicits.  

So, you can expect my thoughts on local & national marketing issues, campaigns, observations bla bla bla…but with a Jen twist.  Cheers!

The JenHarris09 Update

So, I went dormant there for a while.  Honestly, as soon as Matt Rissell said he wanted to hire me as the head of Social Media Sales and Marketing at TSheets…I took a big sigh of releif & watched a mini-marathon of Paris Hilton trying to find a new BFF on MTV.  Don’t remember a thing about it…just noise.

Here is one thing that I needed to get out there – I used SureveyMonkey to ask my friends & collegues some questions about how they would pay an independent social media consultant.  Here is some of the Q&A. 

SHOULD I CONSULT?

1. Have you considered integrating a Social Media/New Media/2.0 marketing plan into your existing marketing plan?
Yes:  73.9%
No:   26.1%

2. Would you rather hire someone…
Internally – full or part time: 30.4%
On a Consultative basis:  69.6%

3. Would you rather pay a consultant based on…
An hourly rate?: 57.1%
A paid up front block of time?: 42.9%

I also asked an open ended question of how much it was worth per hour & that was just all over the board from “show me the ROI first” (really? Let’s blog about that later) to $300 an hour (thanks mom). 🙂

My goal starting December 1, 2008 is to blog here three times a week and for TSheets twice a week…along with my other communications out there, I really think that we can show a consistant ROI for Social Media.

 

My First Day of Work at TSheets

So, I love my new job.  I love being employed.  I love being busy & knowing that what I know can & will make a difference in a company.  And that was my first day…today is day 2.

All 6 of us were in a impromptu meeting in the afternoon & I gave my opinion (I know, shocker!) on some marketing/sales thoughts.  I gave my SM speal and was told w/smiles: that is what we hired you for!  Big sigh! It is SO thrilling to know that a company believes in what I know & what I can accomplish.  

I look forward to help building awareness (which of course leads to sales) of TSheets and what it can do for the business owner when it comes to ease of use, reporting & flat out a time saver.  I look forward to coming up with results that will lead to ROI which will lead to so many nay sayers starting to blog & Twitter.

Heading to my first…

Heading to my first day of work at T-Sheets. Looking forward to it. It’s exactly 11 months to the day that I started at NPC, but this is going to be a new day and a new adventure and I’m looking forward to it.
listen

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@Fox12 “Gets” Twitter on Election Night

Tonight starting at 9pm, I will be the voice of the @Fox12 Twitter.  So exicted!

We will be asking questions to our viewers (who can go right to the Fox 12 website to access Twitter & sign up on the spot) & reporting what is being said in the Idaho Twitterverse!

We will also have a “how to sign up for Twitter” on the home page (headed out to go shoot that right now).

I LOVE how excited & open @Fox12 is to Social Media…just the first step!  Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to teach, educate & spread the good word of Social Media!