Browsing Tag

Social Media

Really? Kinda has a social media revival feel to it

This has been a fairly hectic month – new job, looking for a new house, scurrying around for mountain social and but I was lucky enough to be on the CRMA panel which turned out to be a great event.   The panel included super talented folks like Brent Leary and Cassandra Jeyaram which made the discussion very engaging.   The event had like 50 folks and it does seem that this social media thing is just at the edge of significant economic impact.   Intercontinental has launched a friends and family program which effectively turns everyone in the company into lead gen ambassadors.  Interesting stuff is afoot in the marketplace.  Brands are engaging in social markets, but by the questions and general interest in the room it appears that many are just starting.   I’m definitely thankful for the opportunity to have been there.

Net-Net: The event surprised me by the number of new folk I had seen at this event and was able to meet.  It’s interesting it seems like there is a new wave of folks getting engaged in the conversation.   There was one odd thing, just kinda a vibe in the room that a bunch of folks seemed intimidated by the opportunity to hang out thier customers.  Perhaps the level of maturity of social media is a little nascent than I would have thought.  Not to go all Breaking Dawn on ya, but it seems social markets are transitioning brands into modern day economic vampires – you sorta need to be invited in.

Back to the preso, which is how the post started.  Despite the claim that it’s not just another social media presentation by a social media expert, it kinda is.  It does at time get a little evangelical, but it is definitely a fair piece walk through as a primer.

NOT ANOTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PRES – THE INTERNET & BRANDING

other posts:

June 20, 2009 by
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Strategy: It’s Just Storytelling and Pretty Pictures

#pcampatl

photo.jpg

Oh yeah and a little math is more or less what the discussion was about.  I was lucky enough to coax a couple of people into the discussion.   I was able to catch some good sessions, one which Dan Greenfield lead a panel on social media and Steve did an Agile pitch.

Very thankful for Jason Brett putting together Atlanta’s first productcamp.  I’m appreciative to have gotten some dots and to talk with folks on roadmaps, ProductCamp Atlanta was basically another technology event which was a huge success.  Solid sponsorship and attendance.

Implementing Strategy: Roadmaps to Releases

June 6, 2009 by
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Find your persona! Be your blog’s product manager

amandasnark2y

So I’m sitting at SOBCon and I’m amazed at the interesting content and discussions online and in the room.   The side discussions at the table and on Twitter are just as engaging, if not more so than the formal presentations – definitely lively as you can see from the above Tweet from @amandachapel.  For most of us there are a huge number opportunities to change the path forward based on the things learned during the sessions.

The biggest thing so far at the conference is understanding what a persona is in context of blogging.   Not a buyer persona, but the persona you put forth on a blog and I realized that Brian Clark hit a chord with the concept that you need to a develop a persona, one that’s authentic and one that you as a person are willing to invest in.

Clark’s recommendation of finding your persona is definitely something that I’ve been working on over the last year.  If you look back to when I first started here it was all over the place from a content perspective and at points of laziness the content may still be a little meandering .   That being said, I’ve continued to refine the topics and narrow the focus over the last year and the readership has grown multiples.  Subscribers and comments have grown mainly because the content consistently addresses a market need for product management and marketing/brand folks.

This narrow focus has helped me become a better marketer and product manager in general.  Most recently I’ve apparently become an archetype for a product management buyer persona for Pragmatic Marketing, which you can see in the screenshot below.  This essentially represents the coolest thing I’ve had happen with this whole blog thing to date.   To that end, my personal experience is very consistent with the Sobcon discussions throughout the last couple of days around focusing your content and developing/evolving your persona.

personagatrell

Be a Persona!

Lorelle’s presentation from last year was the key nugget I took away – have a purpose or mission on your blog which can be explained in under 10 words.

Persona’s Have Problems

Persona’s are pervasive!  Bloggers, social media types and marketers in general ya need to know your personas.    The other thing which occurred to me is that — where personas and their problems intersect are more or less how markets are defined/emerge.    Blogging is more than just creating content (features) and setting it free in the ether – it’s essentially a market plan.

So I’ve not only come to this by way of Brian’s content, but if I look at the lesson’s learned by some good folks who have shared their marketing ideas with me here previously, they can easily be abstracted to blogging:

  • Steve Johnson – Know your Market/Problem
  • Chris Brogan – Change the way you approach the market to be successful/find your crossroads
  • Mukund Mohan – Research your competition and market to build good products
  • David Daniels – Know your buyers
  • Ben Cody – Create products that matter and innovate
  • John Mecke – Differentiate your positioning

Find a way to be your blog’s product manager – know the problem and the persona’s – not just buyers persona’s, but your own.

Persona’s as it relates to social media and products is not an easy thing in social markets, which is why it is one of the 4P’s of Social Media being examined at the 2009 Mountain Social Media Summit.

May 2, 2009 by
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