My original post - "Actually there is a right way to blog" generated a couple comments and this post is in response to Jerry Aulenbach in particular.  Jerry's comment is below.

The only reason I read the whole darn thing is because I know you are for real and know your stuff. After reading it, I'm certainly doing some serious self-examination to find where I'm guilty and how I need to change my approach. I'd like to think that I'm not guilty of these offenses, and that my online participation is more than a take-all approach. It's difficult to know where to draw the line. How do I maintain an online presence while not selling myself? Or is that not what you're suggesting? Is sending out frequent mail to past clients and potential future clients a sin? Am I to blog my heart away and hope that, through osmosis, the people of Edmonton flock to my site and call me day and night? Must I curb my enthusiasm for what I do in public so as to not offend others who aren't interested in what I do? Is it possible to convert the Walter Schwabes of the world who have (seemingly) written off Realtors back to wanting, needing, and trusting Realtors (or at least one or two)? This raises more questions for me than it answers, but they are very important questions, because the answers will likely guide what I do on a daily basis.

-Jerry Aulenbach

RESPONSE: Push marketer vs. magnetic attraction.

• Taking a moment to stop and look at your business, your processes and your philosophy is very good to do from time to time.  
• So many operate with the "push" method of communicating and marketing.  Some even go further and get ridiculously aggressive and flood the market with their face, working with the volume approach.  Despite losing credibility these business owners are about total advertising domination.  This shotgun approach is expensive, unimaginative and impersonal in almost all cases.  Further, it propagates the whole "customer is just a listing attitude."  Consider with each post, tweet, comment, email, picture and video whether you're simply playing the numbers game.  Do you really think the average person really "loves" advertising?  I would argue that if the advertising is very creative, inspiring, emotive and maybe even has educational value then it will hold attention for a fleeting moment, but to say that someone "loves" advertising or push marketing on a mass scale and enduring thousands of marketing messages per week??? I don't think so.
• Certainly you have to somehow compete with your colleagues and others for attention.  How can you be "remarkable?"  There's a difference between communicating something of value and "selling yourself."  Can you describe the customer experience that clients go through with you?  
• Frequent emails or automated systems out of the blue really turn me off.  I show people respect and take interest in them as human beings, these types of impersonal blasting activities do not support my philosophy.  So when someone does that simply to push content they've lost my interest in most cases.
• Time is valuable, so if blogging supports your desired outcomes then do it, if not then don't.  Certainly, it takes a long-term commitment and patience and actually "osmosis" is pretty accurate.  There is a wrong and right way to blog and promote your blog.
• Certainly you need to be aware of your activities.  Politics and religion are two subjects that polarize.  If you engage in discussions or promotion of either of those two subjects in particular then realize that you are associating your business/brand with those issues, views and beliefs.  That has consequences potentially.  Whether that matters to you is a personal decision and then the client is now forced to consider whether they align with you based on those views in some way and it's less about your levels of service.  Think of a pebble in your shoe detracting from an otherwise comfortable fit.  This is not right or wrong, just a choice.
• I suspect that conversions will depend on personal understanding and rapport building abilities and how that translates to the overall experience of working with you.   

This morning I recv'd this email and I took the following actions.

Message details: From: Rubel Ousmane Email: rubel_ousmane1@yahoo.fr Subject: Business relationship (Sent via Activerain)

Dearest one,

Please I would like to enquire your advise if you can be of my help. I want you to help me in the investment which I want to do in your country, though I have not meet you before, but I am fully convinced that you are the right person to help me. Some times in life one need to confide in another to succeed in life. My name is Rubel Ousmane, I am from Sierra Leone and I am 19 years and I was in the higher school when my father died and I could not continue with my education. I am single and living all alone here in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire as both my father and mother are dead and there is no body to take care of me and my education. I have USD$9.2m which was deposited in the bank here by my late father Dr. Leoard A. Ousmane and all the deposit documents are all with me as my late father gave them to me before he died. The name of the bank is; Bank of Africa (BOA), Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. As you know the transaction involves a lot of money and I will like you to confirm to me your sincere willingness and your capability to handle the investment of the money in your country because I have no experience of business investment. I will want us to invest the money in real estate and five star hotels or any other investment you will introduce in your country. Secondly, I will need to introduce your name to the bank as my late father foreign business partner who is to receive and invest the money in his country so that the bank will contact you and transfer the money to you. As soon as the bank transfers the money to your country you will help me to come over to your country to continue my education why you invest my own share of the money on my behalf. At this point I will like you to tell me as soon as you received this message the percentage which you will take for helping me in this transaction. In case you want to see and read the deposit documents of the money in the bank; you let me know in your reply mail so that I will scan them and send to you through email attachment. I will stop here so far until I hear back from you as soon as possible you receive this mail. Please contact me with this email address: (rubel_ousmane1@yahoo.fr) Thanks and my greetings to you and your family. Yours sincerely, Rubel Ousmane

AND MY RESPONSE TO the young scam artist Rubel Ousmane:

They're coming for you Rubel. You're being traced as you read this email. Enjoy jail!

http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org

http://www.fbi.gov/contact/legat/legat.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0e-pPfITts

This is a variation of a well-known Nigerian email scam.  Don't fall for it.  I'm saying this because people do, that's why they still try this.  Kind of like why "Viagra" spam emails haven't stopped.  8% of the people who get spam email BUY the offer, like fools...you want viagra go see your doctor.

• "Some folks think too much. My advice to folks?  Just do it."
• "I use my blog for lead generation."
  
• "Keeps you connected - most of all to the consumer." 

Above are quotes from comments made in support of Amy Gooden's recent blog post "There is no wrong way to blog." here on Active Rain today.  Amy's efforts and the comments that followed have inspired me to respond with a blog post of my own.

There is definitely a 'right way to blog", a right way to use social media in general.  The above quotes are a snap-shot indication of attitudes, philosophy and action types that are rampant within several industries, and in this case, real estate.  Each repeated snap-shot is a data point within an evident trend.  Actually, I think statements such as these from an real estate outsider point of view supports and encourages a form of the "Implied Accusation." 

That is first what prompted me to write today, second was that this obviously extends into blogging and other social media activities.  Watch the language.  How many of your colleagues refer to "clients" using this type of terminology - it's common practice.  If you don't see anything wrong with the statements in quotations above, you are quite possibly losing an large majority of your true business outcome potential.  This is the "Implied Accusation" in reverse.   

My motivation and point isn't about cynicism, it's about being prepared or a lack thereof.  ActiveRain blog posts are visible to everyone on this network and in many cases the entire Internet depending on settings and as such we understand will live forever out in the ether.  These social media activities in this case could be hurting your business and you should ask whether you're actually ready for social media and the realities associated with it.  We've all lost count of how many times here on ActiveRain, there have been blog posts about "this whole social media thing being a waste of time."  An unfortunate result of all the encouragement to "just do it," and our research backs up that statement.  Apparently, many feel brand erosion is fine as long as you're in with the "cool kids and using the cool toys."

Beyond the comments it generated, my impression of Amy Gooden's post is as follows.  Although the spirit of the post implies heartfelt encouragement directed towards colleagues, about being brave and taking a first step, a leap of faith leading to action, and possibly even a personal plea for encouragement and support from colleagues.  All of which I understand and believe to be really wonderful and inspiring, there are some deeper issues at work here.  There are many key advantages to "really" understanding the social media community. culture and in this particular case blogging.  Certainly, more than the "join the conversation" and "just do it" method prepares you for. 

In my industry of social media, this "just do it" method leads to someone writing a blog post or two and suddenly exclaiming that they're a "Web 2.0 expert" and are ready to take your money.  Is that advice you'd put hard earned money on the table for?  The fact that the technology is relatively easy to engage is actually "the trap."  This encourages the belief of a quick business score.  Learning as you go, trial be fire, can work, if you don't mind your brand being put at a higher level of risk, potentially getting scorched and shot at along the way.

Analogy: One could jump into a race car and "just drive it."  The likely-hood of crashing because of a lack of skill and understanding is high.  Technically, they may be a "race car driver."  I would call them a danger to themselves and others on the track.  Is that a car and driver you'd like to have your brand directly associated with?  Maybe someone should go to racing school first, listen to instructors who know, observe and research the fundamentals, practice on a closed circuit and the chances of a crash afterward lessens dramatically, while simultaneously increasing your chances of success. 

Our research and experience since 2000 but in particular over the past five years suggests there is definitely a "right way," to blog.  Individual results are certainly dependent on pre-determined desired outcomes, assuming that they have been clearly mapped out and that each action taken supports them. 

However, the everyone is a "lead" or "consumer" default attitude that "some" real estate professionals have and communicate, detracts from social media success in many ways for the rest of the industry - Implied Accusation.  Many of us not in the real estate business and a part of the social web see that coming a mile away.  I am neither someones "lead" nor a "consumer."  That approach also ensures I will not become your "listing."  I am a human being who deserves respect and chooses only to do business with someone who knows AND demonstrates on and offline that fact.  One tweet, one comment, one blog post is enough to seal your business fate with me as a demonstration of what you stand for and how you view the value of an interaction with me.  Just as this blog post may offend some for numerous reasons.  When you blog or communicate in other ways within the social web, always remember that existing and future clients, your mom, family, friends, boss, colleagues are all reading every word.  Make sure it's something that shines positively on them.  I stand by this post, our research and experience that drives this philosophy.

Ignoring this type of philosophical and fundamental difference in approach ultimately leads to "For Sale By Owner," at least it does for me and we all know I'm not alone.  Social media amplifies this fact every time a blog post or comment refers to people like the highlighted examples in this post.

The basis for my comments extends from the fact that my team and I collectively spend time, copious amounts of time researching, studying, learning and engaging online in the social web, it's what we do. So much time in fact that it amounts to us essentially being on the Internet nearly 24/7, especially when you include our project teams in other countries and time zones around the world.  As we build social media strategies for businesses large and small in many industries, we've developed a different perspective than most others have, sifting through thousands of blog posts, tweets, comments, articles, newsletters, videos, graphs and conversations daily will do that.  The first question we ask is "are you actually ready?"  Truth is, many corporations are not.

One final thing I'd like to say here is thank-you for reading my (lengthy) post, you're a busy person and time is precious, never to be returned.  I appreciate it and hope that you found value in return for your time investment.  Further, you can agree or disagree, feel free to let me know either way. 

Please note, that I nor my business are perfect, we've made public social media mistakes of different kinds, in fact, that's where some of my/our experience comes from for your benefit.  That may sound like a contradiction, but in this case social media is our job and clear passion, just as real estate is yours and sometimes as the industry changes one has to push limits into the unknown, so that those who entrust us with their hard won budgets and lively-hoods can proceed with confidence.  My hope is that blog posts like this one may help those not directly in the social media industry avoid a mistake that costs them business.  One mistake avoided could translate into sustainable revenue generated long-term and to me that's cool.

For more information on success or failures at blogging see a very strong source on the subject and (disclosure - I guy I've interviewed before) from Forrester Research.  Jeremiah Owyang this is a blog post written in 2007.

For the sake of your business and its long-term vitality, do not spend another dime on social media marketing, advertising, blogging until you understand the next few paragraphs.

BEWARE OF JOHNNY COME LATELY'S! Social Media is for most, an emerging industry, many business owners are just now trying to wrap their heads around it.  The exception is for a relatively small few who have been in it in some capacity for years.  Typically, early-adopters have been studying and/or participating in social media before the term existed for years.  Watchout for those who are trying to cash in on the gold-rush.  One sure sign of this is are statements like - "Man, social media is hot!  It's awesome, it'll grow your business like crazy." 

Social media is very powerful when used properly.  Having said that, you can make serious mistakes - look for evidence of the self-proclaimed marketing "guru" thinking "TACTICALLY."  Yesterday these folks were marketing experts and today their calling themselves "Social Media Strategists."  Some are excellent, most are out for the quick buck talking about how you should "jump right in" and use facebook ads.  If you think the only purpose for social media is marketing, advertising and business you're already potentially in real trouble.  Social media is mostly about communication, conversation, rapport-building, transparency, honesty and openness.  I call it the "Art of Marketing without Marketing."

Here's how you tell the difference when making your decision on who to trust.  I want to build my business just like you AND you need to start by asking yourself one question.  "Are you social media ready?"  Are you ready to be brutally open and honest with your audience?  Are you ready to be "patient" and build relationships?  Can you for a minute have a conversation with someone and not pitch them?  Are you ready for the commitment that social media takes?  If you said, no to any of these questions then (in my opinion) you're not social media ready and I wouldn't agree to work with you, for your own good.  There is case study after case study that suggests that these philosophical realities directly impact your marketing, business growth results.  People who advocate tactics like starting a blog, facebook group, join this or that community, without having thought about the "Why?" question, the objectives behind such moves are directing you towards potential trouble.  

Saying you're a strategist and having developed and delivered strategies for years for all levels and size of business are two entirely different things.

Background:

We've been studying, gathering intelligence and case studies on social media successes and failures prior to the term Web 2.0 being first used by Dale Dougherty and Tim O'Reilly in 2004.  We continue to expand our database of knowledge daily.  We've been delivering business growth strategies to tech companies and others since 2000.  I've been working in the Internet space in a business capacity since 1998 and first began speaking about "Global Microbranding," a social media branding and marketing strategy framework since late 2006 early 2007 and we haven't looked back since.  Our mantra is "social media education."  Understanding online culture and strategic thinking well before the social media technologies themselves is where you need to start...build a plan that involves you learning, listening and identifying trends and opportunities.  Then you can safely make "tactical" decisions more easily.  Which means your budget will be better spent and the outcomes more closely determined...any other approach is putting your hard earned money at high-risk. 

Social media is not the end-all-be-all silver bullet to your business marketing and growth needs and anyone who tells you different, run away from screaming at the top of your lungs...

I know that may sound odd.  In fact, you may completely disagree with that statement.  I don't care if you're Canadian or American, the statement goes for voters in both countries.  DON'T VOTE!   Sure voter apathy is a problem for some and for an explanation of why I'm making this statement go to this link and watch this video...

Click here

Recently I've been fortunate enough to be asked to write several articles for different publications.  Examples are presented here on the main site. 

Writing for traditional media sources obviouisly allows me to reach a larger audience and get my social media message out.  If writing doesn't come naturally to you, another way of getting the word out is to consider online radio.  I started using Blogtalkradio back in 2007 and didn't keep up with it, that's changing today as I schedule more guests and do more segments.  You can also view the cool widget they offer here - today's interview with Tannette Johnson-Elie, journalist from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  The system is very easy to use, imagine you could be interviewing clients, real estate investors, other agents, mortgage specialists in your region...a nice way to educate folks and build rapport all at the same time.

Coordinating a series of publishing activities can increase your credibility, expose you to new audiences and generate conversations about what's important to you and your customers...My recommendation for when you do get the opportunity to write, think "education" and "rapport" rather than "sales pitch."

Hope you're having an awesome day filled with fun and profits...

I asked a sort of "question of the day" on Linkedin which I'll repeat here.  What is your favorite blog? 

Please leave a comment and the link to your favorite blog on my main blog here where the list is growing, this is so we can consolidate rather than create two separate lists.

Sometimes in business you miss the mark, thankfully I can say that we rarely miss once at the proposal stage.  However, that was not the case here.  We recently had a substantial proposal rejected. 

A large firm found fusedlogic.com on the Internet via our social media efforts.  A top-exec touched base with me, which led to meetings over coffee and even dinner with other top-execs from the company. 

This particular company has approximately 5000 employees and is about to launch Sharepoint and they thought (and rightfully so) that they should have a social media strategy in place so that their employees would all be on the same page and so that they could maximize the intelligence of this new development.  Typically in a corporation of this size, it's the communications department which handles this type of issue and so there was a request for a proposal from us.  We had their project lead fill out a detailed workbook which helped identify needs and expectations.  We had a meeting to go through the workbook and another to walk through the proposal, this was in person and with the decision-makers.  When asked what size of budget range we needed to be in we where told "give us the Cadillac version and we'll go from there."  This suggested that there may be a round of negotiations if we were off the mark.

Well not only were we off the mark but clearly my idea of a Cadillac was quite different from theirs.  They were expecting more of a Lada.  This was not only a perception of value but not understanding the required work and risks should they not proceed.  What's more it turns out they didn't have the budget, the President (not part of the discussion to that point) took a minute and said, "umm, I think we can handle this ourselves."  This is actually evidence of a lack of motivation to re-direct available resources to this project.  If the priority was high enough, the budget would have been there. 

fusedlogic is constantly educating our clients about what's truly involved in a successful social media strategy. We obviously failed to do that here.  Typically we find that many, including this client, think that social media is about the technology and that their IT department or inexperienced communications department can handle it...Then a company goes and creates a social network of their own in an attempt to build community and "control" the message... Below is what that looks like...

Here's what happens when they don't get it.

By time they realize it's actually about people helping people, culture, the experience itself, conversation and anthropology they've lost a ton of time, money, resources and even people...I really hope that doesn't happen here but that's where they're headed at last glance.

Anyway, the moral of this story for me is, to first and foremost stick to the process that works for us.  Always be upfront and communicate openly and clearly about budget and expectations.  This is a reminder of what not to do and to trust one's gut.  In this case, I was willing to go off track and allow them to take me off my game.  We just couldn't get as much access to the decision-makers as we normally would of liked and that bothered me throughout the process.  My mistake is not stopping to fix the problem.  That fact cost us in the end.  Thankfully, we're very busy and can absorb that loss in invested resources regarding the time and effort on the proposal and sales cycle.

Not all is lost however, there is some good news.  We've been asked by another department within this organization to help with their "external" strategy and the communication is much more open this time as it's with the executive who found us in the first place.   

Sending us some positive vibes still wouldn't hurt though and would certainly be appreciated, we're all connected energy afterall... 

Cheers everyone have a very profitable day and I'll keep you posted...

Walter

Prime Minister Harper is following me on Twitter.  You can follow me on Twitter too if you like just for fun...What I hope will happen is that rather than just being cool, he'll learn why he and his party are on Twitter and the power behind it.

I should let everyone know in the Edmonton area know that I'm holding a seminar on Wednesday this week on social media and generating results.  This will be a video conference as well so if you're near a site in Alberta, Sask, the territories tune in... 

Specifics:  Wednesday Sept 10th at the Business Link in Edmonton, Alberta. 1pm to 4pm and it's $35.00.  We'll be do some interesting things live on the Internet as well so if you have some time come by and join us...

If you like to know more just contact me:  seminar@fusedlogic.com

When sitting in some of the boardrooms that I have, listening to executive teams talk about social media I find that my mind wanders, for me it's starting to sound like the same bad "b" movie is being remade with different actors.  I can zone out and come back in to the conversation and know precisely where we're at.  (Of course, this may just be me taking advantage of ADHD like symptoms.)

At some point these exec's ask for my opinion or recommendation on where the company should start regarding their social media strategy.  I almost invariably say the same thing.  "Unless you're completely ready to change how you view the world, you shouldn't start at all."  The blank stares I get in return suggest that their internal dialogue sounds similar to - "YOU MY FRIEND, ARE A COMPLETE FREAK!"  "What the hell are you thinking?"

In North America especially, corporations must drive profitable quarters consistently, this clouds their judgement enormously.  And when they're not in "push" mode, they're being smothered by the legal department.  So, "what I'm thinking..." is simple.  I'm attempting to save these guys from themselves.  The social web today is chalk full of organizations making massive mistakes as opposed to those doing things right.  A large part of it is related to my previous blog post and the mentality that has been engrained in industry for so long.

"ABC - ALWAYS BE CLOSING," has to be my favorite 1980's tired and ridiculous sales sentiment.  Enter the social web with that mentality and it's scorched earth in terms of the backlash.  Give it a rest people, time to put your thinking caps on and be patient.  Patience is something North Americans are NOT, that's why this is such a difficult issue for many. Time to better understand humans, not so we can throw another "marketing tactic" at them that you believe they won't see coming.  Only loser corporations think they can still get away with something so last century.

You can always tell the real people from the fakes.  Understanding human to human communication, understanding raw transparent emotions and real honesty is something that companies and people who have little to offer but lousy products at a discounted price like to stay away from - it reveals them as having nothing of real value to offer, something they already know. 

Social media is fantastic for holding meaningful conversations with complete strangers next door and from around the world.  Adjusting your mind, philosophy and business model to adapt to this wonderful power is something you must do to win. 

If you figure this overarching concept out for yourself, you can look forward to the fact that others who haven't will start to look at you as an "absolute freak" too. Blank stares, puzzled faces, smoke coming out of ears, that sort of thing.  Be at peace my friend, not to worry, it's not you, it's them...you are experiencing their moment of truth as they realize their life has been filled with repetitive empty acts of see-through "push" marketing that reduced the overall meaning of their lives.