Tools of the trade

enourmouse # of technologies

cant participate in all communities – have to pick and choose
can try out all the clones for free or low cost
Not an endorsement of any tech – best tool for him or her – might not work – hosted versus local

tools out there – to get at tofay

the ecosystem

a lot of tools fall into one to one category

all web2.0 tech powerful enuff to abuse or misues

toolkit

1. Your Site
Blogs, RSS, forums, email

2. Out at the Edges
blogosphere, social networks, photo and vid sharing –

3. Offline – (3d worlds)
events, meetups, conferences

make your own presence as a company known

very interative tools

start small and private and expand over time

change from buying a superbowl as

easy to get intimidated – how to do all this stuff

how to manage all the attention and info – pick and choose little pieces, start small and expand over time
Part of the community itself

Categories of tools
Blogs
Podcasts
WIki
Rss
SOcial Networks
Chat
wiki
video
chat
email lists
forums/groups

list of 10 other things – all req interactivity and maintenance and managment

not all tech right for every org

“rules are” – they are full of it – misleading lie – everyone doesnt need the same difunct lifestyle

2 or 3 – maybe not everything

Definitions
regularly updated, frequently updated – what its all about

blogs – owner starts conv and everyone responds
wiki – share document between a number of people

social networking underpinning of these tech
enable who you have relationship in a specific way
relationship confers some status

groups and forums connect community to each other

“a series of tubes becomes a series of crossroads”

complement between the diff tools

highlights of key ones

Blogs
great starting point
immediate and ongoing connection
provides human face to the evangelist
enables you to join the community
be proactive and quick to act
low barrier to entry (just get started)

keep the relationship going in a consistent way

start with what works for you – ok to start without comments – didnt allow comments when they started

feeds , permalinks, established blogging elements

lot of the tools self correct over time – listen to the community – they will have impact and you will have a better result

not being dogmatic or bullheaded

not about the tools – blogs are forgiving and about a relationship – plenty of places to find online
great great complments to the other tools

Podcasting and videoblogging
VIdeo services – metacafe, blip, photobucket

photo tools – flickr, photobucket

desktop tools – iMovie, Quicktime, Audactity, Picasa

tools becoming commodified

WIKI
editable web pages
great for collaboration on evolving projects
need tending
hosted vs server side
hosted – social text, jotspot, PBWiki
server – mediawiki, instiki

can rapidly go out of date
inaccuracies and errors if not tended

everything has mistakes – key= people who are interested in managing and maintaingn and organize – let them organize

willing to play a littl, it doesnt have to be perfect

follow model as blogs – free or cheap and getup&go – or installed software (call IT dept) – more complex but more power

easy to move data between diff types of software

all prod are low enough to expense 🙂

not uncommon

wiki good tool for internalizing evangelism

wiki less scary inside org

tie to email address for business and internal use – people grow up – wouldnt do that with name attached to it

FEED READING
any site with a feed can be tracked passively and centralized
cuts down on the number of email newsletters
feeds for concepts, searches, topics – search the future

subscribe to feed on a topic – verticalizes what you are searching

more broad than just the exact name – not having to track all the blogs – have the software do the work

discover sites and blogs discussing the topic

hosted vs server for feed reading – power users want offline

sharepoint and portal apps allow feed reading as well

SOCIAL NETWORKING / MEDIA TOOLS
get out there in the community
anything on your blog can link out – post screenshots to flickr, upload video to youtube
ensure you are easy to find
use tags, social bookmarks
use the same screenname across the ecosystem
create a presence – product community page, events calendar

be respectful of the context you are in
myspace and plumbers 😉

devil is in the details – use the same tags – persistent vocabulary – use the same screenname across ecosystem

GM mention
find us on – and then all the networks you participate in

care about participating in those communities

authenticity – dont join a network just to be on it – if you cant add something useful and acting like a native and being honest for that group of users – dont do it – thats OK

no reason to have empty – noting lonelier than flickr without photos

SOme guiding priciples

Be Authentic
participate
you are not in control
get transparent

a Day In The Life

How do you keep up with this stuff
skillset and type of person

a day in the life of mr dash
works in blogging company
every customer has a blog
wonderful customers not afraid to kick in the ass

x tens of millions with tools
track 4-5 brands
2-3 senior executives represent the company
any mention of the brands or people is considered an obligation for 6A to respond
SF, PAris, Tokyo
25 million people, 25 lang, 20 key terms
volume in blog posts mentioning in a lang they can respond in tends to be 6-700 posts
on days when launching something new to somethign active – 10k posts
goal to acknowledge every one
over time – reduced the amount of resources it takes to do it
1. uses all of the feed search systems
a. icerocket, technorati, sphere.com, yahoo blgo search, google blog search
each tool does a search for a product term – searches for all – opens each search in own tab in FFox bookmarkes the tabs
does for each products
feed of every search for the tools
how the day begins
some agg have the tools built in
dashboard – lots of spam and people misusing the terms
take away x %
some people are tag spammers – broad brush
heart of customer comm
diff cats – hey trying out this product or service – mention it in passing
people who just formed a relationship with the org
key opps to say HI I am with X – thanks for talking, considering doing a meeting – huge touchpoint
surprised where thay benefit comes back
POC that early changes impressions
most is fairly structured – not in favor of copy and pasting – follow structure – make bullet list of main points and make them releavant
saying something that is unique to a certain community
“hello, welcome, thanks”
and add on epiece of info that isnt sales-y
“if you need information – here is how to get in touch”

will expose if there is a problem with help at your company

Asymmetrical – will find the gaps and the outliers – where to take the notes and maintain a record

second major group is moderately disgruntled
annoyed, peeved, little problems
fairly straightforward
9 out of 10 – prob aware of it if engaged in community – shouldnt be a surprise
once you set policy you can talk about what you are doing about it
justify what you get in exchange for the fees

underprmise and overdeliver
aware and working on it
fix it or explain – but be sincere
they will understand by being upfront

2 easy cases – welcome to the community or you have a problem

3rd – people who are really upset

most upset for something that has nothing to do with your company, product, service
your product failed at the wrong time – impetus is never about the failure of the prod – you can never say “here is what you are upset about” – cant do that – more exasperating

going a little beyond makes a big difference

more when the battery comes back

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