Citizen Marketer 2.1

Aaron Strout

Quick-n-dirty Podcast Recap 30: Home Depot FTW

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When I received the call from my podcast partner, Jennifer Leggio, late in the day last Thursday, I knew something was up. Jennifer is a pro at picking her communication channels and she and I normally communicate via direct message on Twitter. Occasionally we escalate to e-mail but we rarely ever talk on the phone save for our post-Quick-n-Dirty podcast calls where we do a post-mortem of the show.

My instincts were right and Jennifer’s call was to let me know that she might not be able to do the show Thursday due to a tidal wave of work that landed on her desk. Fortunately, Jennifer and I plan for these things and I knew immediately to go into backup plan mode. Within 20 minutes of her call, I had my good friend and former colleague, Rachel Happe, on the hook (HT to Jim Storer for the assist). And while I missed the usual chemistry I’ve developed with Jennifer over the course of 30 shows, Rachel was a pro and helped keep the show running smoothly (even spending a healthy dose of time in the chat room engaging our regulars).

As always, you can hear an audio archive of last week’s show (along with all our other archives) here.

Our social network/app of the week was CauseWorld. I think Rachel summed it up best when she said that it was like FourSquare but for social good. That about says it all. I’ve downloaded the app on my iPhone and intend to play around with it a bit (what’s better than checking in to venues while earning “karma” points that can be translated into real dollars that help causes like victims of the Haiti earthquake). There’s a good write up of the service over on TechCrunch.

Next up was our featured guest, Sarah Molinari of Home Depot. Sarah is actually the person that Tweets out of the Home Depot Twitter account so if you’ve ever asked Home Depot a question, chances are you’ve talked to Sarah. During our conversation, the ever so graceful Ms. Molinari talked about Home Depot’s approach to engaging customers. She was also willing to talk about how they “listened” and admitted that they didn’t pay as much attention to competitors’ or industry keywords as maybe they could but only because they were so heads down focusing on all the existing customer conversations about Home Depot. We even got to talk about Home Depot’s Nascar race team [link updated on 2/2 – thanks Sarah!] on Twitter — a topic that Sarah was very well versed in. All in all, she was an absolute joy to have on the show.

Our “Tweet” of the week was none other than Mr. CC Chapman. If you don’t know CC, there are a few things you’ll quickly find out about him 1) he’s a great blogger and podcaster (focused on social media AND daddy blogging) and 2) he’s a teddy bear of a guy. So helpful and humble. In Rachel’s and my opinion, he is a MUST follow.

Last but not least came our point / counterpoint about tactical vs. strategic community management. Rachel and I did less debating since we haven’t spent a lot of time taking sides on issues but spent more time outlining the benefits of the different approaches one could take when it came to community management. Rachel in particular made some excellent points on the strategic side so it’s worth a listen (check out last 5-6 minutes of the show).

I’m looking forward to getting back to business with Jennifer next week. Details about the show will be on the Quick-n-Dirty site.

Don’t Put Me in a Bucket, Yo! Live from #IMS09

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I’m here at the Inbound Marketing Summit in lovely Foxborough, MA (yup, the home of the New England Patriots). This is the fifth occurrence of the event and second time in the Boston area. I am proud to say that I’ve attended four out of the five and this is by far the best attended out of the five. The focus of the event is on harnessing the power of things like social marketing, media and search engine optimization.

My original intention was to blog several of the panels but as you can see, it’s nearly 3:00 PM ET and this is my first one. Oh well, that’s what happens when you run into a group of about 100 people that you haven’t seen in a while and you need to do some catching up. Fortunately, I saved the cream of the crop for you and I’m kicking this off with a friend and super smart guy, CC Chapman.

CC’s talk is on “buckets” or more importantly, the importance of not putting people into buckets (he used an example of him being announced as a “daddy blogger” — arguably, it’s something he does but it’s not what he wants to be categorized as. Too many times today, he sees people getting put in buckets, especially as they become well known for a particular facet of their social prowess (podcasting, daddy/mommy blogging, photography skills, etc.) This is interesting because another good friend, Melanie Notkin, founder and principal of SavvyAuntie.com, has shared similar frustrations when she’s been billed as “a blogger.”

In both cases, neither CC nor Melanie were trying to distance themselves from the world of blogging, but rather for being pigeonholed into one particular category. This is particular important when you think about pitching a blogger, reporter or podcaster.

p.s. the reason I chose this photo is that I had a burger with CC at 5 Brothers today lunch. I couldn’t resist.

Facebook as a Business Tool (Podcast)

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Two weeks ago my friend, Mike Sachleben of Blitztime.com invited me to do a quick talk about Facebook and how it could be used for business. I didn’t have a ton of time to prep for the call as I was actually subbing in for one of my other friends, Eric Glazer. Knowing a thing or two about the socialsphere, I’m never one to shy away from giving my $.02 on a particular topic and in this particular case, I think I held my own.

Listen in as I talk about:

  • Etiquette for doing business on Facebook
  • The differences between the audience on Facebook and LinkedIn
  • Why Facebook Connect is going to be the next “killer app”
  • Recommendations for good marketing/PR blogs for people to read who are just getting into the world of social
http://www.utterli.com/fp/embed_aud.swf?1228230666

As always, I’d love to get your reactions. I know there’s a ton more content to be offered up like that in CC Chapman’s recent Facebook Fanpage whitepaper. Recent “Experts in the Industry” interviewee, Mari Smith, also knows a thing or two about Facebook for business so you might want to check her out as well.

Image courtesy Widget a Day

Experts in the Industry: CC Chapman (42 of 45)

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CC Chapman, co-founder & managing partner, The Advanced Guard, is a cool guy. I first met CC last year at this time at SXSW even though I had followed his blog and Twitter stream. Since then, I’ve had a chance to sit on a panel with CC last fall at a New Marketing Labs bootcamp and have also had a chance to get to know him a little better than in 800 word or 140 character bursts.

Here’s your chance to get to know CC Chapman a little better if you haven’t had a chance to keep up with the volumes of great social media knowledge he provides (like the free Facebook Fan Page white paper he put out yesterday). Let’s see how CC answered the five questions from the Experts in the Industry series:
In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.
I’ve always been the person that people come to with their problems because I listen well and always have advice on how to fix the problem and this makes me very good at helping individuals and brands of all sizes to take their problems or goals and determine ways to leverage technology and initiatives to become successful. 
 
How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?
In 1996 I co-founded a micro-budget independent production company called Random Foo Pictures. The web was just starting and we were figuring out every way we could leverage it to connect with people who wanted to see our work. I quickly learned that it was about the connections more then anything else. Getting to know people and becoming friends with them would help you find whatever you needed.
My degree from Bentley is in computers but I always wanted to use the creative side of my brain more then the other. Whenever someone tells me “you can’t do that” it makes me want to do it even more and looking back I’ve shaped my career around that. Always pushing forward and figuring out what was next and how I could be part of it.
When I launched The Advance Guard in 2007 (with partner and friend Steve Coulson) it was because I realized the only way I was going to be happy was to be my own boss. I saw how other people were doing business in the space and I wanted to do something different because I didn’t agree with a lot of what I saw. I can tell you that I’ve honestly never been happier. 
 
If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?
My first thought was Ning because I think they are an amazing company, but then I realized they’ve got enough money at the moment most likely so I would have to say I’d invest it in Akoha. This startup in Montreal is trying to do things very differently. They want to have fun, be a successful business and also bring social good to the world. 
I had the pleasure of sitting and talking with founder Austin Hill and some of his team for several hours and I left with my mind hurting from the level of business and creativity that they all possessed. They are written off by some as just a feel good card game, but I can see that on top of wanting to help the world they’ve got an interesting business model that breaks out of the current common thinking towards something very different. I like that about them and if I had the money to invest that is where I’d put it. Anyone can make money, but making money AND doing good is something I wish more people would do. 
 
Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?
There use to be this great television show called Dinner For Five where the host John Favreau got five different people around a table for dinner and conversation. I’m always thinking about who I’d want at my table. Prince would be there because I’m a life long fan of his music and he is one of the most creative people on the planet when it comes to music and marketing. Quentin Tarantino would bring the color to the table because you don’t know what he is ever going to say and he is the reason I got into movies. I’ve always wanted to meet Bill Gates because he is such a successful business man, but now he is doing so much in the philanthropy world as well. Jane McGonigal is one of the smartest women I’ve ever seen speak and I’d love to sit down and talk with her. Finally, I’d have President Obama there was well because of his dynamic personality and the fact that he is the first President I’ve felt close enough to know even a little bit about. Can you just imagine what this group might talk about? Sure, I’d love to talk to any one of them one-on-one but as a group I can’t even begin to think about the variety of topics we would cover. 
 
My gut reaction was no because toothpaste is not something I’m passionate about so I don’t need that community in my life. But, then as I thought about it more I don’t know. I grew up in a family that always used Crest and still to this day I use Crest. Would joining a community get me discounts or other special offers? If so then maybe I would join, but I can safely say I would not be an active member of the community. I’ve got to be passionate about something to invest time in it.
 
Freeform – here’s where you can riff on anyone or anything – good or bad. Or just share a pearl of wisdom.
One of my favorite phrases is to “take the road less traveled” and it is something that has guided my personal and professional life. I like to embrace change and work with companies who are not afraid of it. I think that is why all the social media tools, networks and connections scare a lot of people because they see them as major change and most people are not comfortable with that.
If you work or play in this space and want to take things to the next level you need to realize this. You can’t t
ell companies that they need to be in this space because that is not a good reason for anyone. None of this is a silver bullet that fixes every companies problems. I remember the first time I saw a graphic web browser and saw the potential that it held. But, it would be years before most companies were doing anything worthwhile with it and even today some people are just starting out. 
I think too many people forget that we are ahead of the curve. It might not be bleeding edge any more, but it is certainly cutting edge for most of it. I hope people start sharing results, helping each other and working with companies to do it properly. Every time I see a marketing campaign that feels like a traditional marketing angle with some social media pasties stuck on it I cringe.

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