Web 2.What?

I recently finished reading Groundswell by Forrester’s Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li.  I was particularly excited about it because about a year ago I was interviewed by Josh Bernoff for it as an active participant of Constant Contact’s user community. (The company I worked for was major business partner of CC) At the time I was just starting to get excited about social media as a business function and I was dying to know what these top notch analysts had to say about it. Especially since a big challenge of social media so far is (in my opinion) some excuse a lot of it for noise or time-wasting, and have a hard time seeing business value.

Well what else can I say but “Wow!” Josh and Charlene not only clearly explained theories, strategies and tactics, but also assembled a fantastic mix of real life case studies. I was even happy to see a few Canadian examples in there–Bell Canada and Loblaws.

I also love how they’ve put some easy to remember names for developing strategies, like the POST method. (Stands for People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology and dictates the method & particular order for developing successful social media strategies). Also the book flows in the different stages of interacting with the Groundswell — First you listen, then you engage, then energize. (I think I’m missing some steps, but you’ll have to read the book to fully understand anyway)

One thing that really irked me, however, is that throughout the book they really pump up the social technologies profiling tool, developed by Forrester, and available free on the site. Sounds fantastic? Well it looks like it is, until you realize while it includes data from South Korea, Italy, Australia… There’s no Canada! Almost insulting as we are one of the more connected countries (ahead of the US!) and that I would suspect we have a proportionally higher ‘creator’ population (just my hunch though). Plus, of course, being attached to the US we do have a bit of a complex.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Jay Moonah of Toronto actually spoke up in the Groundswell discussion board. Josh replied and said that because of bad timing they were unable to include Canadian data, but it’s coming… Keep your eyes peeled!

Overall, however, a fantastic book I recommend picking up. Have you read it? What do you think? Let me know!

When I embarked on the exploration of social media monitoring tools, I surveyed my Twitter friends, I posted about it on this blog, I even wrote about it in my LinkedIn and Facebook statuses. Throughout all that, one name that came up again and again was Radian6.

So I was delighted when they offered to give me a demo. One distinct difference between the first tool I looked at, social radar, is that Radian6 is targeted specifically to PR firms (or large multi-unit company). Which is good, because now I don’t feel I have to compare the two.

So if you happen to be a good size PR firm or a large company searching for a social media monitoring tools, than I urge you to check out Radian6. Somehow it’s complex and detailed, yet manages to stay very user friendly. One of its strength lies in the ease and simplicity of managing multiple profiles–something that can be tricky to pull off, but a necessity when you have multiple clients or business units.

Also I love how it’s layout is based on widget style functionality. So essentially you “build” the tool how you’d like to use it. Very Web 2.0 friendly!

I can go on, but a picture says a lot more, so let’s take a look (click for larger):

The middle boxes top and bottom (behind) are examples of a “river of news” which is essentially the search results for whichever terms you’ve chosen, the river also includes media like microblogging (Twitter, etc), video and podcasts. Very cool!

As well, you can build a tag cloud around your search terms, as viewable in the bottom left corner. Aside from the fact that everyone loves a tag cloud, it visually gives you an idea of what else people are talking about along with your search terms. Very handy!

But wait– how do you know how influencial these people talking about you are? Well they’ve got a widget for that too, which is best explained in this shot:

The middle box shows a list of blogs/web sites that mentioned your search terms, and when you click on one, the dashboard below pops up and tells you all about its links.

So essentially, the dashboard is completely customizable via the widget icons (pictured on the left) you can set it all up the way you like it and leave it as is, or you can switch it up at will. It’s clear these guys understand social media and the specific needs of their target audience. Being a PR gal myself I can easily see how well this could work in an agency as well as how it can also help educate users who may not be totally up to speed with all this social media stuff. (hey it is still pretty new!)

And the final kicker why I really love Radian6–they’re Canadian! Yup, based out of New Brunswick, these guys are taking the social media monitoring world by storm. Keep up the great work!

Every used Radian6 before? Or another social media monitoring tools. Please leave a comment!

**UPDATE**

One really cool thing about Radian6 I forgot to mention is its “Twebinars” which obviously is a webinar that’s discussed in tandem on Twitter! Each one features leading experts in social media. Unfortunately I had to miss the first (silly work getting in the way!) but fortunately more are on the way. As far as I know this they are the first to initiate something like this, so major points for that.

I’m posing this question not only because it’ll be helpful for my fellow Canadian readers, but also for myself! I’m currently working on a contract that’s coming to an end soon so I’m thinking about landing a job doing what I *really* love, which (surprise, surprise) is all about online PR, digital marketing and social media.

What I’m really looking for is to identify companies that are looking for, and can truly benefit from, avid and enthusiastic social media users from PR and marketing walks-of-life. Whether it’s a social media strategist role, a community manager, or a more traditional PR/marketing role with a heavy focus on the social media stuff, these roles seem to be few and far between up here in the great white north…

What I’m really looking for as well is Canadian companies who absolutely revolve around the “Web 2.0″ (for lack of a better word here, it’s been a long day!) way of business (think Google & its unique corporate culture). Specifically those that treat each employee as an valuable asset, one that takes an open minded approach to trying new things, and one that’s on the cutting edge of technology and marketing techniques –all the good stuff.

By now these types of companies are a dime a dozen in the US. However, though I’ll admit I haven’t looked *too* hard, I haven’t heard much about Canadian companies like this. Sure some are trying to pass off as this new breed of company, but few actually “walk the walk.”

So without future ado, throw out a suggestion or idea about either sites to find these types of jobs, or some hot companies to keep an eye on. I’ll get it started….

Job Posting Sites

• Ok I could taket he time to post a bunch of good ones, but fortunately My Name is Kate has *already* done that for us! However, I will point out again One Degree (which Kate also owns) as definitely one of the best ones, though not a lot of job postings they are often high quality.
• Yansarazin, a fellow Ottawan & Twitter buddy recommends sites like TechCrunch & Mashable, which seem to have some awesome job posts–but not many Canadian. (When I first asked on Twitter, I didn’t specify Canadian)
• StandOutJobs.com is a Canadian site which caters to the market, probably a good one to keep an eye on.
• Jeremiah Owyang has lots of great advice on his site, as well as tips where to find a job, but again it’s very much US-based as well as focused on large enterprises.

Companies to keep an eye on

This is the biggie - and where I’m looking for your help. Drop a comment and tell me about some innovative Canadian companies that fit the bill. (International companies with a strong presence in Canada will do too) I will update this section as I find/hear about them.

• Radian6, who’s social media monitoring software I will be reviewing here very soon seems to be a company to keep an eye on & I was pleasantly surprised to learn they’re based in New Brunswick.
• Canada.zappos.com Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is definitely a social media mover and shaker, and though the company is based in Las Vegas, I wonder if it’s Canadian branch has some social media leadership potential? Or maybe they need someone like me around? haha

I can probably think of a few more, but it’s bed time, so over to you! Tell me about some great Canadian companies or how you landed your awesome social media job or whatever’s on your mind…

*UPDATE*

Colin suggests starting your own business to do what you really love. I *love* the idea, but scared about losing the consistent monthly income (esp. after working in the public sector) That’s definitely where I’m headed but a while out. PS-If you need any sort of web marketing–Colin is your guy!

Yan chimed in again, this time with Canadian sites like StartUpOttawa.com, Startupnorth.ca, MontrealTechWatch.com, MarkEvansTech.com.

Ok this video has already been making the rounds, but I just *had* to post it here as well… Common Craft has been making these adorable paper-cut out videos to explain all the crazy new internet stuff in plain English. Love it!

I’m almost embarassed to admit–but I’m just reading the Cluetrain Manifesto now. I’ve long known about the book, and specifically that it is about how the Internet has changed the way business works. Nevertheless, it’s an inspiring book and reaffirms a lot of the theories I’ve always believed, and I’ve also learned some new stuff too. There are two big takeaways I want to emphasize right here and now:

1. It’s not about the tools.

Despite the fact that this blog IS (mostly) about the tools, the whole concept and ideals behind social media are not. It’s about better communication because people are now able to connect, grow, learn on their own, at a faster pace than ever before. And businesses need to adapt. Those who’ve grown accustomed to ‘old’ marketing often dismiss terms like social media, user-generated content etc as a passing fad, or just another tool for the marketing toolkit, but it’s really so much more. Personally I’ve never been a fan of “interruption marketing” or broadcast media, simply because as a consumer, I hate tv commercialsand the fact that over 50% of my magazine is ads and especially those ugly flashing banners on site, they’re all in my way and wasting my valuable time. However, I love when a brand engages me with a fun flash game, or sends me emails with exclusive offers I can pass along, or even follows me on twitter and participates in my (sometimes) silly conversations. I really love it. And while some believe the old marketing is a necessary evil, I don’t. I’m done with it, before I ever really got started…

I started my career as a PR girl working in the email marketing biz. Like marketing, PR often gets a bad wrap, but for different reasons. I was always taught the key to PR was respecting your audiences and giving them exactly what they want in order to acheive your goals and objectives and that honesty, ethical behavior and transparency are absolutely essential. It makes perfect sense to me, and I saw it as very relatable to email marketing, which is probably why it was so easy for me to understand, embrace and tell others about. (BTW I still blog about email marketing, over at Tamara Gielen’s Be Relevant! Blog)

2. Sadly, though the book was written nearly 10 years ago (eons in Internet years…) So many companies still don’t get it.

By “it” I mean the fact that “mass marketing” is no longer effective, that employees are a company’s greatest asset and that open, honest and personal dialogue between a company and its customers is the new key to success (these are the points Cluetrain Manifesto is really driving home). I’m only now realizing the reason I get all this social media/online stuff is that as a teenager I was secretly a big geek–on newsgroups, IRC, early bulletin boards, etc. I loved that I was able to learn and get to know people potentially on the other side of the world. I’m super curious by nature and the Internet has always been my portal to ‘the rest of the world’ outside the suburb I grew up in. Now though the tools have evolved and changed greatly, although Facebook and MySpace and the likes have brought these things into the mainstream, really it’s all the same. In fact, in 1999 I joined a local nightlife website which became my obsession for years, it was membership driven, had bulletin boards, the ability to ‘friend’ other users, share photos and toggle event attendance… It *was* a social network, and it was a huge part of me, before I even knew what the term social network was!

Ok, wait, back to my main point here. The point about companies getting “it” has been proven 100 times over. Take Google for example - have you ever seen a Google TV ad? What about banner ads? How did YOU here about Google?(My mom actually told me about it!) What about its slogan ‘don’t be evil’ and have you taken a peek at the Googleplex lately? It’s pretty obvious Google has evolved into the type of company that embraces new ideals brought on by the communications shift, and I don’t have to tell you it’s working for them. Consequently, not only is Google bringing in bazillions of dollars ever quarter, it’s got hundreds (probably thousands, actually) of brand evangelists walking around–employees that is…Who doesn’t love working with those who absolutely love their jobs?

I haven’t posted in a while, so please excuse my wacky tangents. My time for blogging is tighter than ever, and the hardest part is finding inspiration for writing (I could write for hours on end, so long as I’m inspired)… If you have any great topics, ideas, or suggestions, drop me a line at kelly(at)web2dotwhat.com or, of course, comments are always open!

A couple posts ago, I brought up the topic of social media monitoring tools (SMMs). They are popping up everywhere, but which one do you choose?

In this on-going series (though I warn you it might be slow) I’m going to look at the various tools available and give my opinion on what I like about them and why I think they are useful.

First up is a company called Infegy, who has a tool called Social Radar. When I first mentioned I was interested in exploring SMMs, Infegy President Adam Coomes contacted me right away via Twitter, so these guys are definitely on the ball. Since this is the first tool I’ve looked at, I don’t really have any benchmark, but I was definitely able to see a lot of value in it (vs monitoring via Google Alerts and good old-fashioned legwork, which I have done in the past). For those of you in a hurry, here’s my quick review

Product: Social Radar by Infegy
What it does: Tracks mentions on blogs and any site with feed capabilities; allows you to analyze that data and better understand value of mentions.
Who’s it best for: Hmm, probably small to mid-size companies with a moderate to strong online presence (Though it could definitely be scalable for larger companies).
Who should use it: Someone who knows a little about social media, loves to look at and manipulate numbers and data.
Why you’ll love it: Super fast, intuitive, easy to use.
But what is the product really like? I’ve used quite a few online tools for varying purposes, but never have I seen anything run as smoothly or quickly as Social Radar, even when doing complex searches in its very well developed database. Right off the bat I was impressed.

Also, one of my favorite features is the home page. Think iGoogle, but for the purpose of media monitoring; you are able to pick and choose which widgets you’d like to display, so you build your own dynamic dashboard:

Also if you’re an analytics junkie, you’ll love this tool. You are able to slice and dice data in any way you like and run beautiful charts to satisfy upper management.

Finally in my informal list of what made me go “oooh” and “aaaah”: the tool lets you build ‘eco-systems’ like this picture below. Basically each orb represents a blog or site talking about your product/brand/search term, and the lines around it represent inbound and outbound links, giving a great visual representation of influence. While I definitely think if you’re really on the ball, you should be reading all the influential blogs in your space, (so it would be no surprise). However this tool would allow you to easily explain influence and the importance to others, say managers, who pay your salary. Obviously this is important!

Infegy’s Social Radar is based on an enormous database of feeds which is constantly growing and updating. From the demo I had it was definitely apparent it covers enough sites out there to get good bang for your buck. The only downside I noticed was that it’s unable to track mentions in audio or video files (i.e. podcasts) Though I’m not sure that’s possible for anyone, so I wouldn’t hold it against them. Also, presumably most podcasts would have a feed, and probably a text description so you’d still be covered.

Anyone out there ever use Social Radar? Any thoughts?

**UPDATE!**

So I actually did this demo about three weeks ago and just received a tip from CEO Justin Graves about a brand new feature. I was going to wait a few days to update, but it’s just sooo cool I had to get it up here. Now Social Radar can read the sentiment and give you an indication about whether your coverage is positive, negative or neutral. I’ve never heard of this being possible before, so it sounds fantastic! Now I haven’t seen it in action, but I wouldn’t expect it to be a *perfect* science, but invaluable none-the-less. Here’s a few shots of it in action. Justin also tells me you are able to build these charts based on a specific time frame and are able to compare month-by-month or year-by-year… Whatever makes most sense.

Ok, obviously we need to track our brand’s activity in social media, but do we need a brand new tool to do so efficiently?

I’m not sure. The majority of my experience has been with small companies who wouldn’t pay (or even have the need for) media monitoring services. Instead I would set up Google Alerts, read industry publications and blogs, and just really do all the monitoring myself. And then if I had time I would do my own analysis.

However, in a larger organization, obviously this is more than one person can manage. Media monitoring services are thorough, experts in the field and can provide a third-party perspective on your media coverage. Tools available online often take a self-serve approach but look like they provide a lot of great easy-to-understand info.

I’ve decided I’m going to take a closer look at a few of the players in both the traditional media monitoring services which are adapting to social media needs, as well as new tools strictly for managing social media monitoring. In the meantime, however, I’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and ideas on the topic…

Wal-Mart has been in the news a few times with PR firm Edelman for its social media disasters. First it was Wal-marting across America, next it attempted to create its own MySpace-ish social network, which was embarrassingly shut down only 10 weeks later. Next, it smarted up and tried using Facebook to reach its younger audiences, though that failed too.

Now, I for one would like to see Wal-Mart do well. Yes, they’ve got a bad rap in the past for mistreating associates and participating in child/slave labor, but honestly I think they’ve learned their lesson for the most part, now as the world’s largest retailer they are doing good stuff for charities, promoting local and ethical products, etc. I also worked at Wal-Mart at 18, and as a job to have while in high school/college, it was great. I was promoted to customer service manager in a few months, and I was making more than most of my friends working min. wage jobs. A far cry from perfect, for the biggest retailer in the world, they are at least doing some things right.

That’s why I was happy to hear they’ve finally got the right idea with social media. Which in this case, it is starting small and building long-term strategy into its approach. User-generated reviews are a fantastic and natural fit for retailers, and Wal-Mart was even smart enough to cross promote online reviews on in-store receipts. It goes a step further and even encourages shoppers to go online and read reviews on shelf fact tags before making a purchase decision.

Essentially what Wal-Mart is doing–which is key to social media and which many retailers miss– is that it is giving up control to consumers and providing avenues to make informed purchasing decision. Yes, telling people to go online and read reviews BEFORE buying while in-store seems like a backwards strategy–that is, the customer will leave the store without buying–it’s actually genius, because that person will probably be more loyal, and buy even more, long term.

I hope Wal-Mart tracks its success well, and that the results are publicly available. For smaller retail outlets this move might seem like a risk, but Wal-Mart continues to be the leading retailer, despite its epic social media failures, so they can afford to try virtually anything. I’ll be staying tuned…

PS-Thanks to @giggey on Twitter for tipping me off to this story…

Whether you’re interested in social media for professional or personal reasons (or both!) it can get overwhelming. There’s so much information out there, and now even more tools to consume information. If you’re into what’s new and hot in the social media world, you likely know how daunting it can be to stay up to date with everything. At times I feel like if I don’t spend a couple hours each day browsing blogs in my reader, doing some Stumbling or checking out Twitter, I feel like I’m back at square one in the social media game.

However, I have figured out a few shortcuts which can help you stay up to date without giving up sleep time.

1. Bestofyoutube.com - As fun as it is to browse You Tube every day for the funniest or most interesting videos, it can take a lot of time. But how embarassing is it when everyone starts talking about that crazy popular video and you haven’t seen it yet? Well Bestofyoutube.com takes the most popular videos from youtube each day and aggregates it in a podcast. I love downloading these babies to my new Nano and watching ‘em at the gym. (I admit, I’ve burst out laughing once or twice!)
2. Twitter - Get the right people on your Twitter feed and you’ll be amazed how much great info you can digest in a small amount of time (and 140 characters at a time!). Honestly since I got hooked on Twitter, I’ve been opening Google Reader less and less.
3. Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang - Jeremiah is easily one of the most influential and knowledgeable web strategists out there. In fact, Twitter is taking off big time and I think a particular post by Jeremiah on what is now dubbed ‘Twitter Tuesday’ has a lot to do with it.
4. Google Alerts - These handy little suckers help you monitor issues you are interested in. I use it for several keywords that are important to what I do, as well as for monitoring mentions of the company I work for on the web. You could also set up an alert for your own name, to monitor your personal brand reputation. Whatever you use it for GA are super useful, quick and convenient.
5. Alltop - Are you still wondering what an RSS reader is? Or how you subscribe to blogs? Or maybe you get all that but just don’t have the time to seek out all the best resources. Well Alltop is probably the place for you.  It is a collection of blogs on a wide variety of topics. Each topic includes “All the top” blogs on that subject. Check out socialmedia.alltop.com for all the top stories on social media. (Though web2dotwhat.com is not there…yet!)

So there you go, consider it your ‘Coles notes’ to being a social media geek. There’s probably tons more, so drop a comment if you know of something good.