We’ve all been there. That Trade Show, team meeting or company meeting where someone drones on giving another boring powerpoint presentation.

Well, thankfully at last week’s Social Media Breakfast #18 (hosted by Bob Collins and Communispace- thank you!) we were treated to three clever presentations by Robert Davis of PJA, Pawan Deshpande of HiveFire, Inc. and Andrew Davis of Tippingpoint Labs.

My favorite presentation was by Andrew Davis.  He took a subject as simple, likeable, and “relate-able” like meatloaf (?!) and gave us a crash course in “Content Creation in the New Age of Search and Engagement”.

Don’t take my word for it- take a look at his presentation below (click on arrow) and tell us what you think. If you want to bring it to life, click on the a quick one-minute video (he gets the crowd roaring at around 20 seconds) to get a feel for it…

Food for Thought
So, while we’re talking about meatloaf or “Meat Loaf”, here’s what I’m taking away from his presentation…

- Don’t just use Powerpoint. His presentation was put together by Prezi, a new platform I’ll probably use for my  next talk at the Apple Store. It’s interactive, fun, and is designed in a way to give the audience context and a framework for whatever subject you’re talking about. Think about it, without even being in the room, you get a pretty good feel about what he said and how he said it.

- Poke fun at yourself. If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? You’ll notice the Jim Henson/Muppets reference early in the presentation. He does a terrific Grover impression which loosened up the audience. (NOTE: if you’re not good at impressions, don’t even thinking about trying to pull off what he did)

- Tell a story. This is the cardinal rule of giving presentations, but many people STILL forget to do this. Choose a topic or concept (who can’t relate to meatloaf?!) that your audience understands

Any other thoughts? how do YOU Jazz up your Presentation?

Today’s post is guest blog post from Jamie Wallace, a friend here in the social media space (and, as it turns out, a neighbor here on the North Shore of Massachusetts!) She’s a great writer, a well-connected marketer, and someone to keep on your radar screen…) She puts into words what so many people are trying to say, only she does it better, so read on….

Is your brand’s social avatar the company logo, or a photo of a real person? Are your social updates mostly news items, or conversations? Just how social is your brand’s social presence?

More and more companies are venturing onto the social scene, but not all of them are taking full advantage of the opportunities. The key word in social network is “social.” It’s not “broadcast” or “update” or “official” or “corporate.” When some brands start out in social media, they make the mistake of handling communications in a business-as-usual style that falls flat on venues like Facebook and Twitter.

Whether you’re just getting your feet wet or optimizing an existing approach, here are 11 tips to help you get your brand ready for a social close-up:

Complete your profile: There are few things more off-putting than an incomplete profile. It only takes a few minutes to fill out your company name, URL, and description. Do it.

Be creative: When writing up your company description, don’t just grab the existing corporate line and call it a day. Think about the audience. Tailor your company description to include how what you do benefits them. Don’t be afraid to include something a little personal or cheeky or both. Humor – when used judiciously – goes a long way.

Use faces instead of logos: There is some argument that logos are more easily recognized in news feed streams. However, I’d argue that a picture of a real person creates a faster, stronger connection. Putting a face on a social presence brings the experience one step closer to a real relationship. It also makes it easier for people to recognize you in real life – at conferences, for instance.

Be a person, not a company: Along the same lines, I recommend that your brand be represented by a person (or people) rather than an anonymous corporate entity. People are more apt to engage with an individual than with an organization, and they will engage on a different level if they feel they are dealing with a real person.

Communicate consistently: It takes some planning and diligence, but – as in life – half the battle is just showing up. The people who see the greatest benefit from their social efforts are the ones who put in the time.

Inject personality: As the name implies, the social Web is meant to be social. That means that it’s about more than just publishing information and generating status updates; it’s about sharing personal opinions. Sometimes, those opinions are about a business-related topic, sometimes they are about True Blood or the World Cup. People want to engage with real people, not publishing robots.

Add value: It’s been said nine ways to Sunday, but I’ll say it again anyway: bring something to the party. If you retweet something, add a little note of your own to explain why you think the content is worth sharing. If you leave a comment on a blog or a Facebook status, make it something more than just “great post.” Post alternate theories, conflicting opinions, relevant resources, additional examples – add a little something-something.

Focus your efforts: Using the tired analogy of social Web as cocktail party, it is often said that you can’t hope to have meaningful conversations with each person there. Instead, pay attention to which people and conversations repeatedly attract your attention and focus on developing more intimate relationships with that subset of your network. Using lists in Twitter and Facebook and pulling favorite blogs into a Reader subfolder are easy ways to isolate your core circle of friends for concentrated conversation. On the flip side, be mindful of where your intended audience is hanging out and who they’re talking with and find a gracious way to insert yourself into those conversations.

Make other people shine: One of the easiest ways to make new friends on the social Web is to compliment someone’s work by sharing it. For the highest impact, you should do this manually (vs., for instance, automatically retweeting every post from a particular account) and include your own commentary. For every self-promotional tweet/status update you publish, you should put up at least one update promoting someone else’s work. (ED. NOTE- I WOULD RECOMMEND THE 80/20 RULE HERE. 20% ABOUT YOU. 80% EVERYTHING ELSE…)

Have conversations: This is why we’re here. Don’t be afraid to get in there and actually connect! People on social networks are inherently social – they want to talk to people. Make their day – respond to a question, pose a question, reply to an update, LOL at a joke. It takes only a few seconds to make these small connections, but they can make a world of difference when it comes to building a real relationship.

Start now: Speaking of relationships, start building networks and relationships before you need them. If you are launching a project or planning an event, don’t assume that you can jump on the social scene at the eleventh hour and rally support. Social marketing is not a quick fix, it must be cultivated and nurtured. The ramp up can take some time, but the long-term benefits of a solid, responsive network are priceless.

Jamie Wallace is an independent copywriter and marketing strategist who focuses on content and social marketing for small businesses and start-ups. You can read more of her writing at the Savvy B2B Marketing blog where she has way too much fun with her 5 Savvy Sisters.

Great content, right? For those of you interested in writing a guest post here on Dialogue- please send me a quick email/tweet/message.- thanks.

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

I was talking to a friend the other night and, very impressively in my opinion, he quoted Sun Tzu:  ”strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory” but “tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”

The concept is that having a strategy will ultimately bring you victory, but tactics alone won’t get you anything. You don’t have to be fighting a war to use this concept; it comes into play for every goal you have. As I drove home, I naturally started thinking about how the concept applies to social media and a quick search proved I wasn’t alone.

Strategy always comes first?
That was the consensus among the social media heavy-hitters (including our own Aaron Strout!) in a terrific blog post conducted by Lee Odden about a month ago. Here’s a quick review…

Shel Israel offered and enlightening quote from Louis Carol’s Cheshire cat: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” He said you need to know WHY you want to use social media and establish specific objectives first, then use those to shape the tactics you choose.

Shannon Paul added that the real trick is defining strategy: “a strategy is not a timeline or a goal, even though these elements are often included in what people refer to as a strategy document. The actual strategy piece is the spirit with which you approach others and engage with them.” She always warned that social media evangelists in an organization need to empathize with people who don’t “get” the WHY of social media strategy intutively, and work hard to articulte strategies clearly and seperately from whatever tactic is hot at the moment.

But one of my favorite comments was from Des Walsh, who said “Tactics are fun, strategy is boring” and added the second half to Sun Tzu’s advice: “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” His argument was that strategies allow organizations to manage a process intelligently, measure progress, and adjust as circumstances change.

What about flexibility?
And circumstances are changing in social media. Constantly. That was Guy Kawasaki‘s argument for starting with any form of social media marketing, because it’s easy to change directions. And you have to be able to change directions, because the no one even really knows what role social media will have for the long term.

The goal is to do more business. Social-media is a means to that end…Don’t focus on some kind of high-level strategy because no one really knows how to use social media yet. Focus on tactics: Get more followers, make them happy, promote your stuff to them every once in a while,” he said, and Joseph Jaffe agreed, saying the industry is still in the “bright and shiny object syndrome” phase.

But Toby Bloomberg said the overflow of new tools and tactics every quarter actually makes stragey more important: establishing that first, she said, allows a business to focus only on those tools/tactics that fit with its broader goals. She added, “You do have goals? Oh, that’s another conversation.”

What’s your philosophy?
Unfortunately, in my opinion, most of the responders didn’t focus on the points that Debbie Weil and David Alston made: if you’re not the CEO, it’s a long road to establishing any social media strategy in the first place. Alston advocated against integrating specific goals into a strategy for companies just starting down that road, saying that the C-suite doesn’t want to hear about how popular/effective/ubiquitous any social platform is today, they want to hear a strategy. He said “…borrow one if you need to. How could you go wrong with a strategy like: make listening to the voice of our community/customers central to how we make decisions as an organization.”

Weil added: “What’s tough in the 1st step in a social strategy: adopting the social media mindset”.

So what’s the bottom line?
Social media marketing is a loop that starts with internal buy-in. That creates the opportunity for developing a specific strategy, which in turn generates a method for adopting relevant tactics. You can then measure the effectiveness of those tactics, and use data to appropriately adjust your strategy as necessary. The result is a truly effective campaign that, ultimately, increases your bottom line. And that’s something we can all agree on…

Think your company is too big, bureaucratic, and important to dabble in social media? That increased accessibility from customers poses too much of a risk to justify the potential rewards?

Think again.

The US government is using social media to improve operations and provide greater transparency. In fact, according to BizReport, 66% of US Government agencies are using social networking tools.

Last year, Mark Drapeau (Director of Innovative Social Engagement at Microsoft U.S. Public Sector) started an ongoing column at Mashable talking about the federal government and social media. In outlining a theory of social media use for the federal government,  he explained the ultimate goal should be to make it easier for agencies within the government to communicate.

This internal use of social media is exactly what your big, bureaucratic, and reactive business should consider as well.

We spend a lot of time talking about social media as a marketing, branding, and advertising tool but often don’t acknowledge the benefits of using social media platforms to improve internal operations. That’s because today, social media is hard enough sell when you’re talking about visible increases to the bottom line in the form of sales; its harder to specifically quantify the benefits to an organization thanks to internal social media tools.

Amy Mengel at Mengel Musings wrote about a recent event in Albany where the New York State Senate’s CIO office explained how it is using social media to “pull the state government out of the DOS-ages”. (Love that description!) They focused on external uses of social media, which are also very important in the public sector: transparency, participation, and collaboration. New York State, like the White House itself, is even using open-source software so, as Mengal said, citizens can access information about their government whatever way works best for them.

But consider the example highlighted in a Harvard Business Review article last week of using social media internally. In one example, a company used it to revise a classroom training program more efficiently and effectively. The article mentioned micoblogging specifically, but the tips it contained, and those generated by the comments, are useful in the adoption of any social media tool:

• Have specific goals,
• Lead by example (ie, get the top executives involved),
• Provide training.

Bottom line here:  If the Department of Defense can handle social media, so can your business.  So, get educated on what tools are available, develop a plan, and start small.

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…..

No, it’s not a cousin of the ipad, and it’s pronounced  ”eye- paaaydio”, not “i -patio”.

It’s a terrific new technology that I love, and talked about a few weeks ago here. But I thought I’d dive a bit deeper and learn more. Earlier this morning, I interviewed the CEO of ipadio, Mark Smith. (good friend Aaron Strout also did a nice review of ipadio here as well)

Have a listen below. (if anything, us Yankees will love his English accent)

We talk about:

• The resurgence of audio use with mobile phones. How businesses and individuals can gather  and share real-time content using ipadio. (think news and sports reporting- you instantly produce and share interviews and updates. ESPN, CNN, NYTimes, take notice
• Quite simply, audiocasting, or as they call it, “phlogging”, is a easier, and much more efficient and and inexpensive alternative to video.
• Geo-location and ipadio.  The topic du jour. You’ll notice that this podcast originated in the UK.
• Everyone has a smartphone, why not use the smartphone for what it is optimized for?
• And take a peek at Mark’s favorite pastime- how does he fit into this car?!!!

I can’t believe it is taken so long to include Ann Handley in the 7 Habits Series! When Ann’s not speaking at national events or hosting one of her own, she keeps her reader’s hanging on her every word over at annhandley.com.

Aspiring bloggers or writers, PLEASE read just one of her blog posts-I’ll think you’ll be hooked.   Conventional wisdom says you should keep your content somewhat focused, but she writes about everything, and does it really well. When you’ve come back from reading one of her posts, read below….

About Ann
Lead typist in the steno pool. Also, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs. Meaning, I like words and what they can do, when combined with intention.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
Willingness to work hard. (There are no shortcuts.)

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do?
Mainline caffeine, open email. (Pretty much in one fluid motion.)

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
Getting enough sleep. I am useless without 7 hours, at least, and better with 8. Downside: I’m the first to leave a party.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
“The Elements of Style” by EB White. Not a business book, per se, but there’s no better text for understanding the value of clear communication/writing and honing your skills, which directly relates both to your career and to business generally. Plus, it’s a small, thin volume (so it’s easy to digest) and surprisingly funny. I’ve noticed that if you write well, others will forgive many perceived shortcomings and mistakes.

5. 3 things on your desk right now
My iPhone, Twitter, MacBook Pro. Also, a photograph of my kids. Which reminds me not to take the iPhone, Twitter, MacBook Pro quite so seriously.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
My tendency to not walk away. A little breathing room adds a lot of necessary perspective, in any situation.

7. Habit you’d like to form  for 2010
Greater focus on What Matters. For me personally, as well as the company.

As we all take our collective breaths from  an eventful SXSW, let’s get back into the “ 7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers” Series.

Next up is CC Chapman.

I honestly can’t think of a friendlier, more approachable guy in the business of social media. When he’s not creating terrific content online, he’s probably snapping a photo of you and popping it up on Flickr…. (NOTE- a few of my favorite collections are here and here)

About CC
C.C. Chapman is a Boston based family first entrepreneur, freelance photographer and digital storyteller. He is a Creative Director at Campfire and the Founder of Digital Dads.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I was raised with a strong work ethic and while it frustrated me more then once growing up, I’m very thankful that my parents instilled it in me. Growing up in a blue collar family I think grounded me in the reality of the world and constantly pushes me to do the work rather then just talking about it.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
Pour a cup of coffee and sit down on the couch with the laptop. It is the first thing I do every morning before the kids go to school to do my morning surf of Twitter, E-mail and Google Wave.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I’ve never found a single productivity methodology that worked for me. What I know I couldn’t live without and keeps me on task is Spaces on the Mac. It allows me to have multiple desktops with different programs opened in each. I recently moved from 9 to 12 and it has made all the difference. I don’t know how I got so much done before this.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
Just one? Wow, that is a tough one. There are three that have made huge impacts on my career directly and those would be:

First, Break All the Rules
Made to Stick
The Dip

Each of them has caused a seismic shift in the way I thought and approached business.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
Those are two VERY different questions, so I’ll answer both.

On my desk:
My Canon S90 camera
A signed copy of Freedom by Daniel Suarez
Navy blue Nalgene water bottle (that I should refill)

Can’t live without:
Notebooks to jot down ideas (I go back and forth between Field Notes & Moleskines)
a camera (can be any of the many I own)
a device to connect to the internet.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
Being highly distractible. With so much going on it is very easy for me to jump from one screen to the next and suddenly find myself deep in a rabbit hole and not being productive. I hate this, so I deemed 2010 the year of FOCUS for me and so far it is working pretty good but it is a constant struggle. Sometimes I feel like Doug the Dog in the movie Up! Squirrel!

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
Becoming a disciplined writer. I’ve got a goal to write at least a real book proposal, if not the full book this year and in order to do that I’ve got to learn to set aside time and make it a priority.

BONUS: Picture of CC’s Office!

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.