Dennis Crowley, Mike Schneider and Alexa Andrzejeweski (photo by Derek Wilmot)

By now you may have heard about an event held in Cambridge earlier this week combining the best minds in Social Media and Restaurants/Foodies/bloggers and more. I won’t recap the event for you because many others did (see below). Thanks everyone!

http://blogs.a-g.com/wp/?p=6152
http://sarahwallace.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/my-take-away-from-eat-drink-be-social/
http://thebostonfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/05/foodies-and-social-media.html
http://sierratierra.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/business-advice-tapas-from-food-and-social-media-conference/
http://bostinnovation.com/2010/05/24/eat-drink-and-be-social-bringing-together-local-and-national-tech-foodies/
http://www.grangehallmedia.com/2010/05/eat-drink-be-social-wrap-up/#more-75

But what I WILL do is thank the people that made it possible.

Eric Schwarz over at Grange Hall Media- he created the logo and the catchy name. The next version of this event won’t be called “Eat, Drink and Be Social” because well, Eric has other plans for the name. So stay tuned for a new name for a similar event announced in the next week or so. If you’d like the chance to pick the new name (and get 5 comp tickets to the next event- head on over here.)

Derek Wilmot. Pictures tell a thousand words, and well- take a look at these pictures that he took. If you are ever interested in hiring a top notch photographer for your event- he gets it.

Lindsay Pollard from Arrangements. Did you notice the flowers? Hope you did, and hope you hire her for your next event.

Ellie O’Keefe from Nestle Waters. During the event we didn’t drink from your standard plastic bottle of Poland Spring. We enjoyed Pelligrino and Aqua Panna in bottles. After all, we’re foodies.

Dante De Magistris. On Sunday night, the panelists were treated to a custom-designed dinner for us, a 6-course feast that took us about 2 hours to eat. A BIG Thank you goes to Jessica and Dante over in Cambridge for opening up their hearts, their kitchen, and their restaurant to us.

Joselin Mane and Boston Tweetup. Great promotional video, great publicity for the event, and stay tuned because Joselin is going to share some video excerpts from the panel with Mike Schneider, Alexa and Dennis.

Christine Major and Awareness. Remember that food you had on Sunday night at Dante? That was Awareness. Thank you Christine!

John Pepper and Boloco: For the inspired burritos on Monday afternoon. We were dying to have John attend, but he was out of town. Next time John, next time.

B. Good. This was my first time meeting Jon Olinto face to face AND tasting one of his burgers. Jon tells a great story, has a fantastic restaurant business, and I’m happy to be part of his family. (I just don’t want to run a marathon in a burger suit)…

Below are some sample pictures from the event- more of them can be found here.

Mike Schneider and Alexa Andrzejewski (photo by Derek Wilmot)

The program (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Alexa Andrzejeweski and Dennis Crowley (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Leighann Farrelly: Yelp, Aaron Cohen, @eatboston (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Jody Adams: Rialto, Barbara Lynch, BLGruppo (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Mary Catherine Deibel , Naomi Kooker, Amy Traverso, Leighann Farrelly (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Justin Levy (photo by Derek Wilmot)

(photo by Derek Wilmot)

Derek Wilmot and Dennis Crowley

Flowers by Arrangements (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Jon Olinto: B Good, Naomi Kooker (photo by Derek Wilmot)

The Menu from Sunday night at Restaurant Dante

Don’t be one of the 64.5% of marketers who say, according to a survey from R2integrated, that their companies have not increased revenue or profited from using social media. They’re doing it wrong.

MarketingProfs said 60.1% “marketing and business professionals cite lead generation as their primary source for using social media”, followed distantly by conversation monitoring at 26.9% and keeping up with the Jones at 5.1%

Generating and monitoring conversations about your business/products/brand are both good ways to be using social media, but that’s small potatoes compared to the potential. R2integrated’s survey sample was a mere 262 professionals, but I’d be willing to guess most businesses out there aren’t thinking big picture when it comes to social media. So it’s a good thing you’re here; you’re already ahead of the game.

Today, Matt from the team at 37signals posted a quote from Merlin Mann on the company blog that I think illustrates what’s going on here:

“I really feel like that combination of little, easy motor skills and clicking combined with feeling a little less bored for a minute is completely addictive to people…if you’re not mindful about the amount of your attention that goes to thinking about and consuming those things, you’re not going to be making good stuff, either for that medium or elsewhere. That’s what I got kind of hung up on, when I finally realized that all I was doing was eating and producing potato chips all day long.”

Are you producing (and consuming?!) potato chips?

Do you spend hours of your day refreshing your Google Analytics results? Are you feeling crispy from the unfocused effort you’ve been putting into your business’s social media marketing plan without many tangible results? Instead of trolling networking sites, spamming members, and scraping the bottom of the barrel for ways to make social media pay -

• develop meaningful content and
• cultivate a community that will promote it for you;
• think about ways to use social media within your business to increase efficiency, buy-in, or morale;

And if you need it, we can help…..

In the many, many years before social media, the Internet, and the written word, humans were communicating face to face. You know, speaking with their mouths. The pace of business now requires those words be to be transmitted second hand, either by sealed letter or tweet, but all along, we remind ourselves of the importance of meeting in person to grow a business (or personal) relationship

And, some recent posts from some of my favorite people underscore the importance of “being there” to grow relationships. Peter Kim talks about the imprtance of Being There, and Christine Perkett hosted a lively discussion of the pro’s and con’s of offline vs. online networking.  Recently, the Curbside Marketer posted about the paradox of strengthening online relationships: you need to have a face-to-face relationship to maintain a strong online relationship. The author, Jackie Adkins, cited a story from the NYT that said a “physical touch, whether it be a high five, a pat on the back, or a nice big hug, can communicate a wider range of emotions than words ever can and communicate these emotions more accurately.”  ”

Sure, handshakes, hugs, and pats on the back are great at solidifying our relationships, but these physical gestures are proving to be less and less necessary. Humans are biologically programmed to crave physical contact, but I argue that the feeling of “belonging” isn’t weakened by a community of individuals scattered around the world. It’s not that you NEED to shake someone’s hand and sit at the same table in order to have a truly meaningful relationship with that person, it’s just a plus.

I’d like to suggest that as time passes, an electronic touch will be enough for your customers. It’s nice to talk about fostering in-person, close relationships with your clients, but that’s only
 feasible to a certain degree. Your goal as a business is to provide high quality products and services, to be accessible to your customers, and  to provide the best possible consumer experience for them.

Don’t get too caught up worrying if your clients see enough of you -just make sure you’re giving them something to talk about.

Bill and I finally met face to face at this year’s SXSW AllHat Party (thanks to Armano and the good people at Dell). Bill is one of those lucky social media/community evangelists that get to call Sonoma, California home. Imagine that. While he’s not managing communities, building social media strategies for clients, and running great conferences, he’s basking in wine country.

So, on to interview #28 in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers Series.

About Bill
He’s JUST about to join the Dell Social Media/Community team down in Austin, TX. (I’ll let him fill you in with more details)

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?

Confronting and working through fear. I found that the scariest option is often the right one. As an example, I remember almost blowing off my interview TechRepublic back in 1999. I was really intimidated by the prospect of working for a startup, and I had no idea what I would be getting myself into. About 10 minutes before the interview, I sat in the parking lot with my car in drive and debating just driving off. If I had blown that interview I would very likely have never “broken in” to tech and certainly wouldn’t have the online community building experience I have today.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?

Coffee first (of course) then I skim email from the last 12 hours to see if there are any fires… then check twitter replies and skim my “a list” sources.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?

Having a weekly to do list.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?

A tie between “Good to Great” by Collins and “The Effective Executive” by Drucker. I am a recovering art student, so I have had to supplement my business and management training :)

A few other books that will always have a place on my office bookshelf include:

Bit Literacy - Mark Hurst / A fantastic productivity guide I describe as GTD “lite”.

Universal Traveler – Koberg and Bagnall / A guide for design and creativity that includes process, tips and techniques.

Community Building on the Web – Amy Jo Kim / The online community bible. Examples are somewhat dated, but concepts are still relevant.

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web – Wodtke / The IA bible. I keep bugging Christine to write a new edition that includes design for the social web.

5. 3 things on your desk right now

Iphone

Coffee

Graph paper pad & post its – I’m a paper freak, which I attribute to the recovering art student thing.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2009

Trying to manage projects and tasks in multiple formats. I’ve used paper, a template I developed in Word, OmniFocus, Things and have attempted to adopt GTD methodologies. What *really* works for me? Taking time at the end of the day on Friday, or 30 minutes over the weekend to develop a simple task list that breaks down tasks by project, and has a simple priority assigned to each task.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
Becoming a better (and smarter) information consumer, curator and producer. Specifically, this means being more discerning about the content streams I pay attention to, being more systematic about how I save and share “the good stuff” and become more disciplined about producing content (specifically: blogging).

BONUS pictures of Bill’s office!

Well, maybe.  But I hope this title caught your attention…Yesterday,  just hours after the passage of the new healthcare bill, my Facebook update said “wish there was a dislike button”.  Minutes later, the first comment was added, the healthcare topic was brought up, and the fireworks began….

For the record, I’m not for the healthcare bill, but most of my friends were. Over the course of the day, each of them made their argument- and good ones- in favor of the this monumental piece of legislation. And you know what? It was a terrific discussion. Since, I don’t know enough about the healthcare bill, each of them explained it to me in their own, well thought out language. I got more out of this discussion with my friends, than I ever would reading the NYT, WSJ or any other news source.

So what does this tell us?

• Facebook is still a terrific platform for a lively discussion with friends. There’s no way we would have had this same discussion on a blog. Facebook brought us together, and will keep us together. Bottom line, we’re more comfortable on Facebook because it’s our own network of vetted friends and acquaintances.
• More and more of us are getting our news, and forming our own opinions, through social networks. According to a well publicized statistic, 80% of original news content is consumed away from its original source. If it’s shared on Facebook (and we’re really comfortable on Facebook) we’re more likely to chime in and voice our opinion.
• The “Obama-Effect” is still in play here. We all know how Obama used Social Media to win the hearts and minds of America. It’s spilling over into every nook and cranny of social media. People feel more empowered to voice their opinion, speak their mind, and (hopefully) engage in a useful dialogue.

Engagement is on Fire..
Around the internet, user-engagement is increasing at a break-neck pace. We’re not just consuming content. We’re talking about it- a lot.  We’ve all become experts/critics and more.A recent blog post from Brian Solis reflects some startling new changes in human behavior online, based on some fresh new research from Josh Bernoff and Forrester.

Simply compare the top chart (2007) with the bottom chart (2010).  We’re creating more content, commenting on more content, and being conversationists (updating our status) on a regular basis.

Does this mean that we’re going to change the face of Healthcare? Well, at the very least, we’ll be talking about it online every single day. And with open discussion comes a more educated and enlightened audience. An audience that will help move and shape healthcare,  in whatever direction we go in…

It’s people like Diane Hessan who make me look forward to opening up my computer, firing up Twitter, and listening to her stream of of consciousness. She’s the best of the best when you think of CEO’s on Twitter. I’m honored to call her a friend, a mentor and one of my favorites in the  ongoing “7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers” Series. Thanks Diane!

About Diane
I am CEO of Communispace. We help many of the world’s most admired companies listen to, and get insights from, their customers — by building and managing online communities. We have about 100 clients and over 250 employees.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I love to laugh.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
I hang out at the coffee machine with employees and find out what they are working on that excites them – because it inspires me.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I have the best executive assistant in Boston. He is patient and super smart, and he anticipates every possible thing that could go wrong with my day.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
First, my 12th grade physics book Concepts like momentum, critical mass, vectors, energy, and force are key to building a growing and profitable company.

Secondly, Customer-Centered Growth, which I co-authored in 1995, because it was an enormous intellectual challenge for an extrovert like me.

Thirdly, In Search of Excellence, written by one of my mentors, Tom Peters, which first raised the notion that some companies are intentionally more amazing than the rest of the pack.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
My blackberry
my laptop,
and my Red Sox Trivia Calendar (The record for the most strikeouts in a single season is Pedro Martinez in 1999).

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
When I start our 8:30 a.m. bimonthly all-staff meetings, I say “Good Morning Everyone!”, which really bothers our employees in Europe and Australia.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010.
I want to pick up the phone at least 3 times a week, call a client, and tell them how much we value their confidence in us. I also need to take more vitamins.

Back to the continuing “7 Habits” series with Connie Bensen. I first “met” Connie Christmas Day (or thereabouts) about two years ago when testing out Skype. Social Media waits for no-one, right? We struck up a conversation online, and have since stayed connected, (or have tried to!) through Twitter. Without further ado, Ms. Connie Bensen.

About Connie
I’m the Director of Social Media & Community Strategy at Alterian. I work under corporate marketing and have two focus areas: the social media strategy at Alterian & also providing marketing support for SM2 our social media monitoring tool.

1. What one trait or *habit* got you to where you are today?
Investing many hours in learning and giving back to others.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
My first item is to read email because I need to get centered for the day. Now that our parent office is in the UK their day is half over when I start mine, so I frequently start my week on Sunday evening.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I couldn’t live without Evernote. It’s amazing (and free!). It synchs across the cloud & my lists and information is always available no matter what computer I’m working on.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz rates very high.

5. 3 things on your desk right now /3 things you can’t live without
a mouse (I can’t use a laptop without one)
pen & paper
on my desktop I NEED evernote, skype, Thunderbird, Firefox, Digsby

6. Habit you want to kick in 2009
One habit I need to change is working too much. And I’m starting to figure out how to not work on weekends, but it’s really hard (seriously!). I have an upcoming move & look forward to socializing more with friends.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
I plan to get more exercise on a regular basis. Although January is over & I’ve managed to avoid it so far! :)

I’ve already forgotten what interview number this is, so let’s just move on and introduce Paula! There’s a reason you’ve all heard of Southwest Airlines, and it’s probably because of the outstanding efforts of Paula Berg, who used to run Southwest’s new media. Paula’s a terrific, energetic speaker, and will get you hooked on Southwest Airlines (or social media) before you know it. She has finally returned home to place she loves in Colorado, and answers the 7 Habits questions as she stares at the Rocky Mountains out her window…

About Paula
I’m the Digital Media Lead at Linhart PR, a national public relations and corporate communications counseling firm based in Denver, CO.  (NOTE- interesting name of their corporate blog….) I earned my social media stripes at Southwest Airlines, where I served as the company’s first Manager of Emerging Media, responsible for the development of the airlines’ social media strategy and the leadership of the airline’s emerging media team.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
Great question. I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot lately and looking back on all of the things that have influenced me over the years – everything from the people I’ve known to the jobs I didn’t get. I could list a hundred things, but if I had to boil it down to one, I’d say it has been being an independent thinker, a trait I attribute to my father. I can be a bit scrappy at times, a trait I attribute to my mother. I never accept ideas just because “it’s the way it has always been.” I prefer figuring things out for myself. I love a challenge and a hearty debate. And, of course, I love being right (wink). But if I’m going to be wrong, I want it to be because someone else was right and not because I was too lazy to find a better solution.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
I roll over, pick up my phone and check my online channels – email, text, Twitter, Facebook and news. Then I try to go back to sleep for 10 -30 minutes, but that never works. Scanning everything as soon as I wake up allows me to visualize my day and start thinking about what I need to accomplish so I can hit the ground running when I get to the office.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I’m not sure if I am efficient with my day…honestly, I’m all over the place. I’m extremely organized, but I often say that my work style is a bit like George Washington’s teeth – you don’t want to see it. Any tool that allows me to be online and connected 24 hours a day so I can obtain information, reach colleagues, document ideas when they come together, or figure out where I need to be helps.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
I’m going to give a shout out to my former employer and say Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Success. The airline’s unorthodox approach to business and customer relations fits my style and illustrates how a little bit of independent thinking can overcome challenges, revolutionize an industry, and even change the world.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
Water bottle, iphone, and a small pad of paper that goes with me everywhere (for those times I can’t be online). And, chapstick. I’m never without chapstick.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
I recently kicked several bad habits and then decided that life is a lot more fun when you’re naughty. So, I’ve taken them up again. But I still feel guilty about them sometimes, so I guess I’m trying to kick the desire to kick bad habits and just roll with it.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
I spend so much time online these days, I was thinking I’d like to try writing some letters – old school style with pen, paper and stamps.

Two weeks ago I listened to webinar hosted by Mike Lewis of Awareness on Social Media ROI. The speaker? Katie Paine of KD Paine and Partners. For those of you new to Social Media measurement- look no further. Katie knows social media, and the answer to the most important question asked from the CMO “What’s my ROI”?! and “How do I Measure Social Media?”

Here is a quick taste of some of the nuggets of information she shared with the audience.

First, her definition of ROI isn’t what you think it is. It’s not “Return on Investment” but it is the following:
“ROI is an economic term, not necessarily and actionable measure of success”

“There is no audience you target, there are multiple constituencies”

For the metric-driven marketer, consider asking yourself a subjective question when embarking on a social media campaign. For example, “If you are celebrating complete, 100% success a year from now, what is different?”

Should you blog or tweet? “Don’t ask yourself, ask your customers!”

And finally, one of my favorites. The definition of time, success and reach has changed. “The answer isn’t how many you have reached, but how those people you have reached have responded.“

And those are just the soundbites- I strongly recommend you take a few minutes (ok, 50 minutes) to listen to the webinar.

Two weeks ago, I attended the Massachusett’s Hospital Association’s event-the New Wild, Wild West- Social networking for Hospitals. Some brief comments and reflections on the day….

The room was packed- terrific job of the MHA marketing the event and spreading awareness about this through the Boston area.

A good overall presentation by two people from TMP Worldwide-Alissa Story and Lori Charest, about social media. A quick word of friendly (and constructive, I hope) advice for Alissa and Lori. If you are going to talk about Twitter, please make sure that you, a) have a twitter account and b) don’t protect your updates.

My favorite part of the presentation was listening to two lawyers talk about the legal ramifications of the use of social media. The best nugget of information was not hospital related, but profound nonetheless..

Did you know that the Supreme Court in 1984 barely ruled in favor of Sony’s Betamax VCR in a case against Universal City Studios?  Big deal. What did this mean?

Well for one, it allowed people to record videos at home and watch them at home. It took the power of media creation and distribution out of the big studios’ hands and began to start handing it over to other businesses, like, say, Blockbuster, your local video store, and now in today’s world, companies like Netflix, Hulu.com and more.

Fascinating to think that this almost didn’t happen. Would we still be going to the movies in droves? Probably not, but it stirred up the video world back in 1984 and perhaps it’s probably why we consume so much video online now. (In one week in January 2009, 97 million Americans viewed a clip online, as many as tuned into any major network….)

The day finished up with some terrific presentations of hospitals in the field who are walking the talk in Social Media. One of them was Lowell General Hospital (disclosure- they are a client) and Beth Israel Deaconess here in Boston. Rhonda Mann, their Dir. of Marketing and Communications gave some fine examples of what they’re doing in her brilliant deadpan voice and presentation- (you should hear her speak). I won’t go into detail here, but let their “Healthy  is” campaign speak for itself here.