What is your social marketing strategy?

I had the pleasure of speaking last night at a Long Island Software & Technology Network (LISTnet) event about Social Marketing + Brandtelling. Essentially, I discussed the fact that it's great to "join the conversation" but it's better if you have something to say. And that's where Brandtelling comes in.

Karl Ufert, principal of Mitra Creative (and a really smart guy), discussed the myriad social media tools available to marketers prior to my presentation. And John McCormick, Chief Content Officer for CIOZone discussed the practical application of these tools in building and sustaining a community. He has become enormously successful in a relatively short amount of time by focusing on delivering specific content and community to an under served niche market (a very desirable one at that).

The discussion following our presentations, as well as media coverage, focused on the truth that social marketing takes time and focus. It's too easy for Web 2.0 companies to declare that everyone should be blogging or using twitter and participating in conversations via Facebook. But the reality is, without a specific social marketing strategy, these are all tactics in search of an objective.

Here are my slides. Let me know your thoughts.

Social Marketing + Brandtelling

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: brandtelling ahg3)

Did you hear him?

Just a quick note on this historic morning. President-elect Barack Obama is a wonderful, powerful and dynamic speaker. And his use of a story to move the narrative of his acceptance speech on Tuesday night is a great example.

Just look at how he tells the history of America through the eyes of a 106 year old woman. The language and Obama's use of a familiar, repeated narrative device ("Yes we can") moves us powerfully through to the present moment with him at podium:

“This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that ‘We Shall Overcome’. Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can."

Full transcript here.

Buddy, can you help a blogger out?

Chuck Westbrook has come up with an interesting idea to help with the dual problem of great blogs in need of great readers, and vice versa.

He has asked bloggers to volunteer to read one anothers blogs. Here's what he suggests:

1. Gather some nice bloggers who believe in helping good content rise. The more the merrier. This becomes our group for the project.
2. A good, lesser-known blog is chosen. Everyone in the group will read that blog for two weeks.
3. At the end of the two weeks, the group moves to another blog to read.

It's simple enough -- and exposes the communty to new ideas, new stories.

I'm in. How about you?

Can you tell your story like Gary Vaynerchuk?

I stayed home this week instead of attending the Digital Marketing Mixer. I don't regret it, because I did get to see Seth in NYC. But I absolutely regret not seeing Gary Vaynerchuk deliver this presentation in person. Gary is a marketing phenomenon -- who you may not know today, but just Google him and you'll see what I mean.

Please take the time to watch how passionately he delivers his brand story -- which among other things is about building brand equity in a social media world. Make sure to watch through the Q&A session at the end -- I promise it's worthwhile. (If you receive this via email, jump now to the web site and watch the video).

Video credit: HubSpot

Are you a member of a Tribe?

Seth Godin has a new book out called Tribes. That’s a simple, true statement. But the topic is much broader and the book is more than just a book.

Let me start with the book: a tribes can be any group – large or small – whose members are connected to each other in some way or share something in common and follow a common leader. But Seth is a marketer and his definition, and the book, discusses how Tribes behave and the impact they can have on companies, organizations and the people they serve.

You can obtain a FREE audio copy of Seth’s book at Audible. And you can see the presentation slides he is using to accompany the book. You can even view my twitter stream from the live presentation Seth made at The New York Times Center Theatre, which I was honored to attend this morning.

I mentioned earlier that the book was more than “just a book.” Let me explain. A few months ago, Seth mentioned on his blog – once – that he was working on a new book and that if you pre-ordered it, you could join an invite-only social networking group called Triiibes. A few hundred marketers and others interested in building and leading tribes have been meeting, collaborating and sharing stories on Triiibes. This group comprising members from around the world has, in fact, become its own tribe. The triiibe (the three “I” s appear to be three people) has even created a free eBook detailing various case studies about tribes. And they’re working on more.

So, who is your tribe? Who do you lead? And what are you producing?

Can you tell strategy from tactics?

In marketing circles we often talk about strategy and tactics. And many of us, even presidential candidates, can get the two confused. Let’s take a look at how to tell a strategy from its tactics.

A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal or set of objectives.

Tactics are the methods and resources deployed and directed to accomplish a strategy.

So you can see how one supports the other. I like to keep it simple, though. Here’s how I recommend keeping strategy and tactics straight:

Strategy = What & Why

Tactics = Who, Where, When and How

So, when you’re discussing a campaign – what you want to achieve and why you are trying to achieve it (e.g. “Building brand awareness to support increased recognition and purchase of our service”) is your Strategy. Everything else (e.g the tradeshow booth, the news releases, the tee shirts with a clever saying) are tactics.

Now, how simply can you state your company’s strategy?

What's your "water"?

Two young fish are swimming along and as an older fish swims past them he smiles, nods and says, "Nice water today!" The two young fish smile and nod back. A few minutes later, when they are alone, one of the young fish says to the other,

"What's water?"

I can't remember where I heard this parable of the modern age, but a bunch of folks who follow MediaBistro on twitter have been discussing outdated tech terms that once held meaning, but were now lost to antiquity or so common as to no longer be noticed as new.

What's your "water"?