“There’s no market for messages”

One thing has become readily apparent to me: Most social media communicators, “personal brands” (snort) and social media experts have neglected to read the Cluetrain Manifesto. Whether you agree with the principles in this book or not, in my mind it should be mandatory reading for anyone who conducts business communications on the Internet.

Many a social media consultant or online communicator have confided in me that they have not read the Cluetrain Manifesto. To me that’s as unforgivable as practicing law without a J.D. or practicing medicine without going to medical school and internships.

Cluetrain captures the essence of the uncontrolled business environment and they need to provide authentic, real dialogue based around the market’s needs. Without understand the fundamental dynamics of the social media form and the inherently uncontrived conversations it inspires, communicators are lost in the darkness.

At bare minimum communicators should read the opening salvo of 95 theses that comprise the Cluetrain Manifesto, Christopher Locke’s chapter, “Internet Apocalypso, and Doc Searls and David Weinberger’s contribution, “Markets Are Conversations.”

It get backs to community concepts which are at the heart of Now Is Gone. In many ways, Now Is Gone is the direct product of the Internet and Cluetrain’s unrelenting view that controlled and contrived business brand messages — personal or corporate — have no place on the Internet. Consider the boiled down thesis of the book and its seven principles of community development.

For me Cluetrain represents a great hope: That business can be done differently. The Internet and social media can become the elixir to revolutionize our corporate cultures of exploitation, and refocus it on social good, causes, and service to actual markets.

One of the reasons the whole personal branding movement disturbs me is that most personal branders are in actuality exploiting these tools to foster a new conversational, self-centered hucksterism that makes me sick. It’s not genuine or real, and I don’t want any part of it. Add your genuine personality to the conversation, not a contrived self image.

Here are my favorite 10 of the 95 theses from Cluetrain:

3) Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

25) Companies need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships.

26) Public relations does not relate to the public. Companies are deeply afraid of their markets.

33) Learning to speak with a human voice is not a parlor trick. It can’t be “picked up” at some tony conference.

34) To speak in a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities.

35) But first they must belong to a community.

61) Sadly, the part of the company a networked market wants to talk to is usually hidden behind a smokescreen of hucksterism, of language that rings false — and often is.

62) marketers do not want to talk to flacks and hucksters. They want to participate in the conversations going on behind the corporate firewall.

83) We want you to take 50 million of us as seriously as you take one reporter from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

91) Our allegiance is to ourselves — our friends, our new allies and acquaintances, even our sparring partners. Companies that have no part in this world, also have no future.

It’s apparent that we’re in for a deep, long recession. As our leadership rallies to fight the economic tide, those of us with businesses (or individual careers) need to continue moving forward. With an eye towards the near future market of 2009, here’s my projections for the top six opportunities in social media next year (image by Adelswood).

1) Government: Obama is in and that means government 2.0 will start becoming a rapid adoption communications vehicle for federal, and then state and local will follow. It’s inevitable that Obama will want government to adopt the incredible grassroots tools that swept him into office. The key here isn’t building grassroots networks to get the word out; it’s to help communities and the government connect to facilitate faster more intelligent governance.

Tip for non DC types: Because of the political appointee and government contracting cycle, don’t expect to see any real dollars flow until bare minimum 3Q next year, more likely 4Q. October marks the beginning of the federal fiscal year and the first full year of spending under the big O. For those of you who need a fast brush up on federal procurement, check out my friend Jimmy Baker’s upcoming book on the topic.

2) Maintenance: Whether it’s auto or house repair, people will want to fix ‘er up rather than throw it out and buy a new one. Cost becomes a big issue, which can become a boon for the right companies that can market themselves intelligently. Social media tools can be used to provide value added conversations on how to maintain and repair.

Think Midas, Home Depot, Duron paints, etc. The business case is obvious, now it becomes a question of whether their executives have the vision and foresight to invest in marketing to maximize their opportunity.

3) Booze: Yup, one thing that’s historically true about troubled times is a boom market for producers of hard liquor, beer and wine. Get to know your local maker of spirits and engage with the community on stories about good times! Or how to brew your own. Or whatever. This one’s a no-brainer for anyone with the slightest bit of creativity.

4) Security: Bad times bring another traditional increase: Crime. That means security products — both commercial and personal — will be in higher demand. Related corporate social media can help people through these times by facilitating conversation on the topic… thus providing value add to the community.

5) Causes: With bad times come great causes. No communication tool set is better positioned to activate the public and engaged in grassroots education than social media. I expect to see (as well as participate in) some fantastic campaigns as cause communicators rely on these tools more and more frequently.

6) Technology companies: According to the Washington Post, six of the ten most capitalized companies still standing are tech companies. We’ve experienced some volatility with smaller tech cos this year, but some of our most stable accounts are also tech cos. There’s no question the tech sector will experience more volatility as the long awaited culling of un-needed or broken social technology cos happens, but good companies with strong solutions will continue thriving. Tech will do better than most sectors.

Would you add any other verticals to the 2009 “hot list?”

I have the great privilege of teaching a post graduate class next semester at Georgetown University, called “Social Media for Social Good.” Qui Diaz has agreed to teach with me, promising a high powered experience for social cause communicators seeking to engage their communities online.

Here’s a sneak preview of the syllabus for MPPR-785-01, “Social Media for Social Good,” including the text books…

Social media offers organizations an indispensable tool set for a wide variety of philanthropic activities including activism, education, donor and volunteer development, and direct fundraising. Because of its inherently personal and community-based nature, social media provides an ideal canvas to work within, allowing causes to not just communicate, but also to activate and invigorate significant grassroots activity.

To effectively use social media for social good, nonprofit communicators need to cross the great divide from one-way to two-way communications. This challenge should be easier for communicators to embrace since creating active publics is at the heart of good cause marketing, but it’s still a major challenge.

Communities and individuals associate their online activities with interests, character and personality. They inherently reject organizational insertion into their conversations. When it comes to social causes, the cause must inspire the individual on personal level, and then activate that person to engage in the larger community and corresponding conversations.

Conversational engagement and dissemination of cause-based ideas by the community, whether the organization participates or not, represents the heart of civic-minded social media. True “social” media – built with the right calls to action – can yield measurable results for impact: from cultivated relationships to widespread education, advocacy, volunteerism and donor giving.

Organizations need to transition from messaged communications at their audiences to understanding the community (and the people within it) in order to inspire and engage in larger conversations. This requires a significant shift in communications ethos, a return to the basis of solid, strategic marketing principles, and also a core understanding the media form.

In our class, we will examine social media in a general sense to understand the fundamental underpinnings of online communications. We will then examine social media and traditional marketing strategy, particularly as it applies to social causes. Here we will learn about communicating a value proposition for our communities. We will then survey the current social media tool set to see how various tactics work.

The reading list for the class includes the following books:

• Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto
• Seth Godin, Flipping the Funnel, nonprofit edition (eBook)
• Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Groundswell
• Geoff Livingston with Brian Solis, Now Is Gone
• Jack Trout and Al Ries, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
• Ben Rigby, Mobilizing Generation 2.0
• Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point
• Allison Fine, Momentum

Plus web-based case studies! It should be a great class, and if you are local and can participate, please join us. We look forward to working with the next generation of social cause communicators!

Confederate: United in a league, alliance, or conspiracy (image by Geoff Livingston).

Creating social media strategies for large organizations can be unwieldy. Disparate divisions, brands, product launches, autonomous departments, budgets and line items can give corporate communicators a tough time as they bridge their companies into the social era.

Some organizations can manage their organizations well enough to federate their social media efforts under one roof. Now some very basic best practices are arising. According to the Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki, 62 of the country’s largest companies are already engaged. But others cannot, and they must look to create a different model, one we have started calling the confederate model.

There are many organizations that simply cannot get all of their parts to agree on a unified strategy. For example, consider national non-profits that have local autonomous chapters. Other corporate structures where this problem can arise include partnerships like large law firms, franchise models that feature local owners and undefined marketing structures, and automobile dealerships (Star Alliance image by Nergiz).

For all intents and purposes, these loosely organized bodies can do what they like. This creates enormous challenges online, in large part because of the disparate efforts can confuse customers, as well as fracture brand conversations. Indeed, a communicator needs to acknowledge that there will always be a healthy majority of internal stakeholders who will never engage in the larger social media stratey.

Building a Confederated Model

Instead of trying to control the social media effort under one roof, confederated models try to empower individual stakeholders in the larger organization. A confederated model for a company or non-profit assumes and includes the following:

In addition to building the actual framework, a great deal of the effort involves internal alliance building and communications. Local stakeholders need to be made aware of and convinced about the effectiveness of the social media tool sets.

Of course, what would a proposed stategic model be without a case study? One needs to go no further than the Obama campaign’s social media efforts. This is an ongoing effort.

Partisan politics aside, Obama’s campaign communications involves intense grassroots activities using social media tools. Tens of thousands of Obama campaigners, advocates and even casual voters are enabled to spread the message.

At the heart of the effort is activism on more than a dozen social networks, as well as the Obama campaign’s web site. Bloggers using the Obama platform have even posted negatively against policies or Obama actions.

Not your average political campaign, but one that does fit into the confederated model. The Obama campaign is less concerned about individual flare outs and control, and much more oriented towards word of mouth and viral grass roots activism. The results have been self-evident.

Inspired by all the moving and shaking at Web 2.0 and BlogWorld conferences this past week? Take it home to roost. Positive energy is being funneled through local D.C. events, and we’re playing a part in both.

Tonight: NetSquared’s Net Tuesday Meet Up featuring Social Actions
Peter Deitz is in town from Canada to share more about Social Actions. The platform aggregates peer-to-peer social change campaigns so that individuals, organizations, and 3rd-party developers can find, support and mashup grassroots solutions to local and global problems.

Now they need your help. The service exists - what’s the best way to use it? What are some inspiring applications for it? How can organizations best use their newly released API? Livingston Communications is proudly sponsoring this event. We’ll be at Affinity Lab.

Tomorrow: Social Media Club-DC, Special Nonprofit and Association Meet Up

We’ll hear from Carie Lewis, Internet Marketing Manager, The Humane Society of the United States. and Peter Hutchins, Vice President of Knowledge Initiatives, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership. I’ll kick things off with Jeff DeCagna of Principled Innovation. Jeff will be presenting the results of the Association Social Technologies Executive Summary.

The session will take place at Fleishman-Hillard, 1615 L Street, N.W. beginning at 6 pm. RSVP on the Facebook event page or e-mail Larissa Fair, SMC-DC coordinator, at larissa@livingstonbuzz.com.

This week’s lipstick incident demonstrates The GOP has brought back the smear in earnest, a tactic reminiscent of the Bush campaigns from 2000 and 2004 (image by Mae Li). Personally, this kind of abusive use of communication powers — while effective — should be condemned.

This kind of manipulation should not be a surprise given these recent events:

Using our powers for good remains one of the consistent things we talk about at LComm. In reality, great communication prowess can be used for good or evil. Society has demonstrated that it is susceptible to misinformation. That’s why it was great to see the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) stand up against the manipulative communications tactics used recently.

In a letter to Robert Gibbs (Obama for America) and a letter to Jill Hazelbaker (John McCain 2008), PRSA Chair & CEO Jeffrey Julin, on behalf of the PRSA Board of Directors, asks the campaigns to sign a formal pledge obligating them to abide by the PRSA Code of Ethics in all communications, stating that:

The use of innuendo, incomplete information, surrogate messaging and character attacks, whether in political discourse or other forms of commercial free speech, raises serious concerns for our organization and its 32,000 members, each of whom signs a pledge to the PRSA Code of Ethics. In fact, ethical practice is the most important obligation of PRSA membership, and we maintain that our obligations extend not only to those we represent, but also to the publics they serve.

Many will question the effectiveness of PRSA’s message. Five generations of Livingstons ago, in 1913 my Great, Great, Great Uncle Sigmund Livingston took a similar step, starting the Anti-Defamation League. The League’s purpose is stop the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to end unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens. Says the ADL:

Founded on one man’s iron will to achieve social justice and to eradicate hatred, ADL has invested nearly a century in influencing, educating and effecting reform.

A generation later Nazi Germany arose, and from a communications perspective, smeer tactics and hatred were deployed by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels is often credited with creating Nazi Germany’s Kristallnacht program. The end result: A country drunk enough to allow the genocidal extermination of six million Jews. This country helped liberate those left standing, and in an outcry against anti-semitism, became a champion of Israel, in large part because people like Uncle Ziggy (as he is known amongst the older relatives) beat the drum.

I’m not saying McCain is Goebbels, but the GOP’s use of smeer inspires fear in my heart about what could be. We must stand-up against abusive use of communication powers.

If anything, the past eight years has demonstrated that this country will vote with religious zeal rather than informed decision. Education, and the resulting intelligent decisions that it often inspires, has fallen to the wayside. Our population has become susceptible to manipulation.

As a result, communicators — particularly those in political campaigns — have a moral obligation to use their powers for good. And we as communicators with a voice need to start standing up and saying, “No, this is not right!” I tip my hat to the PRSA for a good action.

Much of a marketer’s job depends on working out from a clearly defined measurable objective. Then massaging, fine tuning and scaling to get to Point B. Business objectives and strategy keep us well within spheres of influence but often prevent coloring outside the lines.

Where’s the guts in that? The glory of creativity and innovation behind all the pragmatic strategy. A driving force that’s worth fighting for on the marketing home front. A daring target that keeps your team - and you - poised for brilliant execution at a moment’s notice. The big hairy audacious goal. [Image credit: DP&d]

The BHAG is a term from Good to Great, but our clients own it. When they name the BHAG, marching orders crystallize. It’s messy and non-linear, but voracious. Just the ticket for a little magic.

We were given a bold BHAG last week. After confirming several measurable targets for community engagement and development, our marketing contact laid down the cards: “We want to be the leading social media case study for nonprofits.” It’s big, it’s hairy, and it’s audacious. Something we can sink our teeth into.

It took a chain of BHAG’s to arrive at this particular juncture with this particular project. From my perspective, it started with personal determination.

For years, my own mission has been to help nonprofits and social causes communicate more effectively - most currently through social media. Livingston Communications is taking this vision seriously on a more powerful scale. As a firm, we have decided to become more socially focused. Our aim is to become a social enterprise - one part traditional accounts, one part social causes.

The only expectations we’re worried about are our own. And we set the bar pretty high.

Big Hairy Audacious Goal Setting

• Set your own mission. A personal BHAG.
• Challenge your marketing department and leadership to set a big hairy audacious goal. Realistically, your BHAG must drive core objectives, so set the goal within reach. Nobody ever said the stars are off limits, just brush up on the Hedgehog Concept.
• Build your team with people who thrive on the same BHAG. Fire feeds fire.
• Say ‘yes’ to periodic gut checks. Appoint people who are smarter than you to help get your head out of - or back in - the clouds.
• Let the world know when you’ve met your BHAG. Aim even higher next time.

[Image credit for big hair: unknown]

Exciting 2008 Brands: Barack Obama and the 3G iPhone

On Saturday night my wife and I bought an Obama stand-up photo and walked around the mall with the Democratic Nominee. The effect was stunning. Entire stores turned around and applauded us, people stopped to get their photos taken, and the Apple store turned into something like the FAO Schwartz scene from “Big.” Barack Obama has superseded your average candidate to become an uber-hip brand, partly because of his intelligent communications strategy and partly a product of the time.

It’s hard to argue how powerful the Barack brand has become. A Democratic nominee who struggled to get non-urban, lower-middle class white party members to support him has stormed the nomination. He has struck a chord, igniting a wave of fervor surrounding the need to Change. The strong fervor caused the opposition to try and co-opt the candidate of change meme with moves like the Sarah Palin nomination.

At the heart of the Barack Effect is a deep seated dissatisfaction with the current administration and the state of the nation. Obama’s young, exciting style, minority voice, and message of change serves as a lightening rod for the left and those most down affected by current policies.

But great brands rarely fly without brilliant marketing and communications. And Obama’s campaign gets word of mouth. From the traditional community meetings to cutting-edge social media, Obama’s campaign utilizes viral principles to create change evangelists and a resulting pop appeal… The Barack Effect.

For those of us on Communications Edge, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this phenomena has been the first successful mass usage of 2.0 tools. As the Wall Street Journal notes, the Obama campaign has used social networking technology to ignite his supporters. The resulting wav of support and micro-donations has created a powerhouse campaign that triggers word of mouth with direct messages, RSS feeds, text messages and emails. Conversely, McCain has suffered through stops and starts.

A presidential campaign has many dynamics that cannot be oversimplified: Religious right versus the liberally educated, conservative radio versus free social networks, female veep candidate versus minority presidential candidate, mavericks versus agents of change, support versus ending the Iraqi war, etc., etc. It’s a wide open battle that will shape the United States’ future.

Yet one must wonder if intangibles like the Barack Effect will carry the day. In his monograph, “Good to Great for Social Sectors,” Jim Collins said:

…a key link in the social sectors is brand reputation — built upon tangible results and emotional share of heart — so that potential supporters believe not only in your mission, but in your capacity to deliver on that mission.

One candidate has long-term legislative experience, the other emotional mindshare. Neither has delivered a turn-around. Inspiring faith in the ability to deliver that change we so desperately desire may be the secret sauce to attain the White House.

P.S. As a company, Livingston Communications will not openly endorse either Obama or McCain. Individually, I felt compelled to endorse Obama on my personal blog. This is an important election, and we all need to openly discuss the issues that matter to us. Don’t turn a blind eye in 2008!

When Chris Brogran stops the press to summon good deeds, people sit up and take notice. Beth Kanter (with prerequisite trust in spades) raised $3,000 in one hour at Gnomedex to send her sponsored Cambodian student back to college for another semester. The game changing Social Actions widget (below) makes it possible for any plugged in individual to highlight campaigns on a blog or profile. We Buzz Binners are committed to a better place.

The ChangeBlogging meme has arrived. On a meta level - not just the three question blog-a-long at the end of this post. Eyes are shifting from the internal “me” meme to a season of “we” and “us.” The winds of change are welcome - and overdue.

A year ago there were about 15 notable nonprofit and philanthropy bloggers. Today dozens of voices regularly discuss community and global change, often in relation to the role of the social Web. (Check out the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Give & Take blog roll for a solid starter list.)

The unofficial and growing network of Changebloggers is another testament to the trend toward good. Changebloggers, as defined by Britt Bravo, are “people who are using their blog, podcast or vlog to raise awareness, build community, and/or facilitate readers/listeners/viewers’ taking action to make the world a better place.” These actions occur across nonprofits, government, corporations and the general civic sector.

Here’s the great news: Social media platforms give anyone with a little reach and commitment the ability to influence, if not outright persuade. You needn’t be solely focused on societal impact to afford changeblogger tendencies. It’s a question of what are you influencing and to what end?

DC: Setting the Stage for ChangeBlogging Results

One of the iDistrict’s most remarkable qualities is its focus on community change. As one example, marketing, PR, Web and social media gurus gather each month at NetSquared’s Pimp My Nonprofit event. We listen first, then offer digitally-derived insight and ideas, one nonprofit at a time. A meeting of the minds plus a way to contribute locally.

This fall, DC will be one of 35 cities visited by NetSquared’s Alex Steed. He’s touring the U.S., meeting with millennial activists about “the future of organizing.” We won’t be letting him out of here that easily, however. Alexandra Rampy (a.k.a. SocialButterfly) is rallying local changebloggers to meet with Steed. Our goal is to unite interested parties around something good (TBD). From there, we can do just about anything.

That’s setting the bar pretty high for Valley and NY folk.

If you were here with me, I’d make a toast. Instead - to help formally launch a new wave of social activism - a new meme. Three questions (with my answers):

• What is one change - big or small, local or global - you want to see in your lifetime? I’ll kick off with a big one. Poverty has to end. There is plenty of plenty to go around. The U.N. Millennium Development Goals are here to motivate.
• Who is already working this issue that you think others should support? Microfinance groups, like Kiva but beyond. Opportunity International, Grameen Foundation, Global Giving’s microcredit programs, and small micro-enterprise initiatives happening here in the U.S. and abroad - to name a few. Social capitalism at its best.
• How are you going to use your Web/tech/marcom skills to further this cause? (Or, what are you already doing that works?)
  I have badges on my personal blog for several of the above groups, and support a few of them too. That’s  not enough! I hope to get more involved with NEST, a local group that provides microcredit loans to women artisans in developing countries, and brings their wares to market in the U.S. They’ve already dipped their toes into PR and social media but could use some additional support.

Tagged in this meme (we’re all changebloggers in some way!): Minjae Ormes, Ike Pigott, Alex Rampy, Holly Ross, Jake Brewer, Josh Chambers, Colin Delaney, Maddie Grant, Andre Blackman, Mark Drapeau, Sarah Marchetti, Ryan Moede, Christian DE NEEF and Kenneth Yeung.

Peace.

“Our mission is to break the world’s oil addiction.”

Compliments of September’s Wired cover story, I learned of Shai Agassi’s phenomenal start-up Better Place. An admirable mission as Green is my number one current cause. And social causes have rapidly become critical professional matters for those of us writing on the Buzz Bin.

Shai (see his blog here) abandoned a promising career at software giant SAP to fulfill his quest to end oil dependence. His vision of all electric cars is so ambitious it makes your mouth drop. Forget GM’s broken Volt model. Instead, envision battery power readily accessible through a networked grid everywhere. And the cost? One third of the gas-guzzling fuel costs the average American spends.

Impossible you say? Yet he has Renault, Daimler, the Israeli and Danish governments, powerful investors, and talented individuals across the globe getting in line behind him. He is attracting the world’s most incredible minds, and breaking so called rules left and right. And he is likely to break current paradigms for hybrid and electric cars.

Why? Because he was tasked by fellow entrepreneurs to change the world, to make a difference for the environment. In his relentless passion to achieve what he sees as the world’s biggest environmental challenge — oil addiction - he has turned the heads of many, and may become one of our generation’s greatest heros. I hope so.

Many times on my personal blog (this piece is cross-posted there), I’ve stated a definitive intent to use my communication “powers” for good.

At Gnomedex this weekend, I will have the great pleasure of meeting Beth Kanter, one of the leading change bloggers out there. Beth’s work is so prolific we felt compelled to interview her yesterday. Voices like hers, like la Marguerite, like EcoGeek, speak to me every time I open my reader. It’s dedicated, 110% committed people like these change bloggers, like Agassi, that let you know the impossible can be achieved.

Inevitably my mind returns to our internal mission: Building a significant social cause practice, and using our social media skills for good. In the past week, we’ve made several steps that have put us in position to kick some real butt on behalf of organizations trying to relieve poverty, end genocide, educate America, and more.

We live once. No one will remember us for marketing body armor, wireless networks, cars, software, etc., etc. What will your legacy be?

Yes, we have to pay the bills. Not everyone can direct corporate strategy in this way. Or maybe you can just quit like Agassi — like me — and start your own company. But all of us, every single one of us can do more. As communicators we have the ability to help in ways most people cannot. We can use social media and traditional channels to heighten public awareness, help fundraise, and build better companies. And it’s hard to imagine that there isn’t some cause that every person holds dear to their heart.

2008 is 66% over. What are you doing to make Earth a better place this year?