Posts Tagged ‘Chris Brogan’

Chris Brogan had a recent post about whether or not every conversation needs to be touched. Of course touching or engaging in every conversation that occurs across the Internet would be virtually impossible and a full-time job.

But how about when the conversation is no longer touched by the person/company that created it?  It could be because they just don’t have the time to engage in the conversation or that they just chose not to.

When the two-way conversation ends, is that an indication that social media doesn’t scale? When I asked this question on Twitter, I received some interesting insights. Some folks thought it’s okay not to respond to every comment (and I’ll expand this to it’s okay to not engage every conversation) and some thought that companies are already showing evidence of scaling. But the most interesting perspective, and one I hadn’t thought of, came from Russ Somers. His thought was that social media scales like a party. As in you can’t dance with everyone at the party, but you can throw such a great party that everyone dances with each other.

Sticking with this analogy, I’ll ask how long does just being able to throw a great party last? When do the guests get tired of dancing with each other because their host can’t or won’t dance with them? What happens when a guest feels slighted, do they move on to the next party where the host does dance with everyone?

Analogies aside, what does this mean for businesses? If they are enticed to join the on-line conversation (social) via Web 2.0 tools (media), what happens when they can no longer provide that two-way conversation…the reason behind why they got involved in the first place?

Chris has another recent post that equates social media to café-shaped conversations as in conversations aren’t suppose to scale because they are meant bite-sized.

After mulling this over for the last four days, here’s the conclusion that I came to. Let me know if you agree or disagree.

Two-way conversations are not scalable. Once they reach the tipping point, two-way conversations revert back to one-way conversations (or the community conversing amongst themselves). At this point, Web 2.0 tools join the arsenal of traditional marketing tools (such as direct marketing, e-mail marketing, PR, advertising, etc.) to continue mass, one-way communication efforts.

If you agree, how can companies manage small-scale two-way conversations in such a way that they do  not alienate the people that are trying to have a conversation with them?

If you disagree, how is social media scalable? Is it only a matter of building out a social media department that handles responding to blog posts or community managers to handle on-line requests?

[Image: Archives of Ontario]

Being fairly new to the social media scene from a business perspective (i.e. implementing social media for business), I hesitated about writing this post. Then I decided that I needed to… if only to, perhaps, offer a different perspective to a recent social media campaign.

This week the team at Edelman selected 25 bloggers to debut Pepsi’s new can design. Very exciting, right? Since I read Mack Collier’s, Chris Brogan’s, Shannon Paul’s and Valeria Maltoni’s blogs daily, I saw each one post their experience and perceptions day-by-day (in that order, which was interesting to me in and of itself). I am not sure who the other 21 bloggers are, but if I find out I’ll be sure to add on to this post with their experiences. (Apologies in advance to the other 21, but I haven’t had the time to sort through everything on Twitter.)

Mack didn’t reveal who the company was; he just mentioned that it was one we all knew. Chris missed a few key components of the ‘analog’ campaign, Shannon did a video unveiling with her friends Ken Burbary and Craig Daitch, which was totally cool because we as viewers could experience it firsthand. Valeria took pictures of the packages she was sent and added some brand thought leadership.

Here’s the thing. While it’s cool to share this kind of excitement with fellow bloggers (and I give credit to Edelman and Pepsi for that, who wouldn’t want kudos and word of mouth buzz from colleagues in this space?), wouldn’t have been better to engage Pepsi evangelists?

In just one Google search I found:

• The Pepsi Fan Club
• Pepsi Collector’s Club (They have local chapters in Chicago and Southern California!)
• Mike and Joanne at the Pepsi Collector (they have had over 67,000 views!)

Evangelists LOVE your company and your products…hence the name, right?! As Mack Collier put it so eloquently: “Evangelists for this company would have gone absolutely apeshit over the packages!” Just think of how explosive this could have been if Edelman/Pepsi reached out to any of the above social networking sites that they built themselves based on the love of Pepsi. WOW!

If I was doing social media for Pepsi (a dream, I know), here are 10 steps that I might have thrown on the table:

1. Join the above forums/groups and listen to what the Pepsi evangelists are saying.
2. After a bit, join the conversation. Let them know that they are loved in return.
3. Share some exclusive Pepsi goodies with them.
4. Ask the groups how they feel about the current packaging.
5. Share some ideas about some new branding concepts.
6. Get their feedback.
7. If, and only if, feedback is positive about a new brand, select 25 members and ask their permission to mail them a surprise package.
8. Get their reaction to the packaging.
9. Utilize their excitement (with their permission, of course) for exposure outside their community (i.e. traditional marketing)
10. Continue the conversation…daily, on-going, as long as the community exists. (i.e. DO NOT use the community for your branding efforts!)

These are just my ideas. What are your thoughts? Do you like the campaign? How would you have handled it? Does social media work within the chamber? Am I missing something?

If you are Edelman or Pepsi and see this post, please stop by! Inquiring minds would love to know how the campaign came about and your objectives for blogger outreach! Thank you in advance.

[Image: istock]

Added 10/30/08: Darryl Parker has been tracking the Pepsi 25 and his conversation with Edelman’s Pepsi’s B. Bonin Bough over on his blog, Employ the Web!. Check it out for more insights on this campaign.

Added 10/31/08: David Armano’s post on his experience: Classically Un-Classic.