SpearfishLabs - Latest Comments

Re: You don’t always need to ‘own’ the community

Elise Lopez — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:59:37 -0000

Glad to hear it! Hope to see you soon.

Re: You don’t always need to ‘own’ the community

EdHartigan — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:26:22 -0000

Elise - I'm aware of eCairn...you do good stuff, so I hear! I will certainly check out one of the webinars.

Re: You don’t always need to ‘own’ the community

Elise Lopez — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:18:14 -0000

Full disclosure- I work for a company called eCairn has a tool for ranking influencers. You're right, influence can be subjective. In our opinion, influence is context dependent. Meaning, if you're a product marketer for a new technology, a review from TechCrunch means more than a review from a fashion blogger. Therefore, we first map the virtual community, and then we rank influence within the context of the community. I encourage you to come to our weekly webinar every Tuseday 9:30am PDT if you want a deeper look at our solution.

Re: You don’t always need to ‘own’ the community

EdHartigan — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 09:13:19 -0000

Cheers, Sheldon. Glad we're on the same page! Even though its a bit of communications culture shift for a lot of companies (some still see unofficial forums and networks as places to avoid because they have no control), those that have reached out to communities and individuals have seen good results.

Re: You don’t always need to ‘own’ the community

40deuce — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:12:47 -0000

Ed, I totally agree with what you're saying here. Community is a group of people that come together over some sort of commonality. There's no reason why a company needs to "own" a community, but rather it should be part of that community.
If communities already exist around a brand there's no need to force them to change how/where they interact to suit your web traffic goals. The best idea is to find out where your community is gathering and join them there. That shows that you're trying to be part of the community rather than trying to control it.
As a consumer and community manager, I can say that feeling like a brand is part of your community is much better feeling than someone trying to control that community and how/where they participate in that community.

Cheers,

Sheldon, community manager for Sysomos

Re: You don’t always need to ‘own’ the community

EdHartigan — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 03:36:42 -0000

Hi Elise, thanks for the comment. I agree with the need to have a clear strategy for any outreach program and do the research on which communities will be most effective for your business. I think finding the influencers is the toughest part as it is very subjective. The most vocal or seemingly influential member of a community may not be the best brand advocate for a company, for example. However, if you can find the right ones, as you say, the output can be very effective.

Re: You don’t always need to ‘own’ the community

Elise Lopez — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:20:52 -0000

Ed, you bring up an excellent point that there are already thousands of niche communities in existence. Tapping into them is an excellent way to spread brand awareness, get market research and build your own community. These communities are specialized, they are still huge (think of mommy bloggers for instance), so you should have a strategy to start off. I recommend that people focus on influencers first, especially ones that are highly connected within your target community. You get a bigger bang for your buck this way, because many more people listen to them.

Re: Thoughts on Social CRM

EdHartigan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:14:09 -0000

Hi Lauren,

Thanks for stopping by and the insightful comment! I agree, many businesses are already practicing sCRM through their existing channels and technology. Not many are using centralised software like yours to give them an end to end solution and I get the feeling its all pretty fragmented for the majority of businesses. I am also with you on the need to do the listening and research piece and make that part of the fabric of the comms strategy before launching any engagement program otherwise you are kind of 'flying blind'. It will be interesting to see how it all develops over the next 12 months...I have a hunch you guys will be busy!

Re: Thoughts on Social CRM

Lauren — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:01:19 -0000

Ed, I like the way you think! Software is not the magic be-all solution. If we think or talk of sCRM in those terms, the social layer will falter just as past CRM efforts. In my opinion, if a company is already listening, responding and acting on feedback through phone, email or chat, they are already practicing sCRM. With that being said, we cannot forget the other online channels where community is conversing. Before making any engagement, organizations need to monitor, observe and then actively listen. Tools like ours do have real-time engagement options built into the same tool used for monitoring. But, as I said on Jacob's blog earlier this week..."A listening platform operates as the social communications fabric of the company and smartly integrates with existing systems where appropriate. There is no doubt the social web is changing the dynamic of CRM, but also, impacting the business functions across the entire enterprise. Listening platform capabilities are becoming required within the business infrastructure. While listening platforms should be integrated closely with CRM, it should be deployed across the enterprise and tie into all the right systems where it makes sense because multiple professionals (not limited to CRM functionality) will be need to listen, collaborate and engage."

Lauren Vargas
Sr. Community Manager at Radian6
@VargasL

Re: How You Can Scale Your Social Media Program

EdHartigan — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:41:19 -0000

Hi Jim,

You nailed it! What social has opened up is the ability to find the 'connectors' quicker and easier than ever before as they have already begun mobilising like minded individuials on niche websites, forums and the social networks. Brands shouldn't be scared of these people (as many often are!) and instead empower them to continue spreading the message about the product or industry and build lasting relationships.

Thanks for stopping by. Much appreciated.

Re: How You Can Scale Your Social Media Program

Jim Larrison — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:30:08 -0000

100% on target. Though there are plenty of uses for direct consumer interaction, as in the case of customer service applications and focusing on the bottom of the funnel, when you are building and developing your brand online, there is no better way than to leverage those that are most influential in your brand categories. I believe the best place to find the future brand ambassadors is by starting with folks that have self selected as being hyper engaged around your brand category (i.e. golf). Then finding those folks that would be considered 'The Connectors' in these categories and develop direct relationships with them. As you point out, these are folks that are on social media and are hyper active. They also usually publish content and/or opinions via websites and blogs. What is a better place to find someone that has a voice and is interested in your category than to find someone that is running a website that reaches engaged consumers that are talking about your brand and your competitors brands.

Re: Ambush Marketing or Good Integrated Marketing?

EdHartigan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:10:33 -0000

Thanks for stopping by. I'll take a look at your survey...

Re: Ambush Marketing or Good Integrated Marketing?

Fvandermerwe — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:34:50 -0000

Very interesting Ed!
Chief Marketing Officer Council is performing a study on Sports Brand Protection and was hoping to get your opinion on it.
Can you please take a minute and fill out our survey.
http:www.sportsbrandprotect.or...
Hope to get your vital opinion in our program
Thanks

Re: 5 Barriers to Successful Social Media Adoption

adam_hartung — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:11:38 -0000

The most alarming piece of information given by one of the panel members was, "fully 40% of companies surveyed do not have and do not yet plan to publish any internal policies or guidelines" on social media usage within their company. It almost seemed that many leaders (including CIO's) didn't want to be "bothered" by this latest trend --- Social Media --- and maybe, just maybe, think this is a fad that will go away. See more at http://bit.ly/9DleqG

Re: Social Media Round Up ( ½ sport, ½ social )

jaybaer — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:26:48 -0000

Thanks guys. Delighted to share a post with Jeremiah and Tamar. My goal is to make your Sports section next time. Cheers!

Re: Social Media Round Up

jaybaer — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:33:28 -0000

Thanks so much for kindly included me in your wrap-up. I'm honored.

Re: Andrey Arshavin – Right Approach to Social Media, Wrong Tools

Name — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:59:06 -0000

Yeahh, his answers is a piece of gold and he has this Russian attitude and the nerve to tell what he thinks, just great!

Re: Friday Social Media Round Up

video seo — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:52:31 -0000

Five Social Media Sites to Kick Off Your Weekend. One thing I am loving right now is having the time to try out ...

Re: Friday Social Media Round Up

EdHartigan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:04:12 -0000

You're welcome Murray. Thanks for stopping by.

Re: Friday Social Media Round Up

Murray — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:16:37 -0000

Thank you for including me in your roundup

Re: What is the iPad for?

EdHartigan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:17:09 -0000

Hi Erik, thanks for stopping by. Socialnomics is on my reading list and I will be sure to drop you a line. Thanks for your kind words.

Re: What is the iPad for?

equalman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:30:09 -0000

Glad you found my article insightful! If you read my book Socialnomics I'd love to know your thoughts.

Sorry to hear about your Economics class! This is a great article and blog, keep up the great work!

Best, Erik Qualman

Re: Friday (Saturday) Round Up

EdHartigan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:54:28 -0000

You're welcome, sir! I enjoyed it. Thanks for the comment

Re: Friday (Saturday) Round Up

Amani — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:55:03 -0000

Thanks for referencing my post!

Re: Friday Round Up

EdHartigan — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:49:51 -0000

Hey Danny - You're welcome and thanks for stopping by.