Working for the Weekend
Building Community
I am lucky because I have a really great job. Among my many tasks, I serve as a community manager for Crocs fans. Using Twitter, blogging, and the other social networking realms – I seek to organize and empassion our core consumer. There are many marketing seminars, books, webinars, and blogs dedicated to just this purpose. While I read them and seek them out, I’m lucky because my job has come down to one specific philosophy: Have Fun
. Here’s a personal case study. The other day on Twitter, Allison Worthington of Mrs. Fussypants and Blissfullydomestic sent out a tweet saying “It is official. Twitter has killed my ability to blog on my site, Ican’tquityou,Twitter!”
Being the pop culture connoseuir that I am, I immediately recalled the famous scene from Brokeback Mountain – “I just can’t quit you” (Is that how the real quote goes?) I quickly responded with a tweet requesting that SOMEONE make a photoshopped poster as soon as possible spoofing that Tweet.
Within minutes, Monica aka @Mommybrain responds and volunteers for the task. About an hour later, Monica’s masterpiece was unveiled: Tweetdeck Mountain!
So, what does this have to do with my work at Crocs? Well – nothing really and everything. I would have tweeted the same thing if I wasn’t working at Crocs. I would follow both Alli and Monica even if my job had nothing to do with “mommy bloggers” or bloggers in general. I did it because it was funny, it felt good, and it’s how my personality works. Yet, when Alli told the story on her blog – the picture of my tweet included the Crocs logo. It was branding. More importantly, it was a relationship – a real relationship based on having fun and communicating that doesn’t have anything to do with pushing personal agendas. The beauty of the social web is that relationships breed success. And the fact that I can spend my Thursday morning, in between my other job tasks, just having a laugh and being able to call that work – is priceless.
Out and About
I’m going to be speaking at the Business Innovation Workshop in Fort Collins on June 12th. I’m on a panel with some great people:
- Gwen Bell, Social Media Consultant, partner with Kirtsy.com
- Kate Gannon, New Media Development/Content & Multi-Media Manager, The Coloradoan
- George Smith, Jr., Social Media Specialist, Crocs, Inc.
- Ari Newman, Founder & President, FiltrBox, Inc.
- Dawn Putney, Owner, Toolbox Creative
- Yann Ropars, Partner, Extanz.com Social Media Marketing and PR 2.0
It should be a fun discussion and I look forward to the discussions that will take place. Plus, on a personal note, I actually get to travel north of Longmont for the first time ever! Yes, I know – I never leave the bubble. That’s a longer post for another day….
Corporate All Star?
Steve Rubel wrote in a piece entitled, “Marketing Authentically with Personal Brands as Corporate All-Stars.” I’ve been wanting to write a piece on this for some time, but I’ve somewhat struggled with the tone. First of all, I don’t believe I have a very strong “personal brand” yet my position at Crocs pushes me into the spotlight and many of our key consumers – especially influential online ones – see me as a “Corporate All Star.”
Rubel’s piece breaks down how to handle “Corporate All Stars” and I have to agree. I see my work having a great impact in the conversations – even if I have no specific metrics to back them up. Humanizing a company, as I am doing through Twitter, blog outreach, and other channels has created an interesting dynamic that is creating new opportunities for the marketing of our product. Our consumers reach out to me to celebrate our products – through tweets, emails, and even blog posts. It conjures up the observer effect – normal fans of our products ultimately get a boost in their enthusiasm by merely knowing that a person is watching them. By building personal relationships – albeit virtual ones – die hard enthusiasts are being synthesized right before my eyes. It’s truly a wonder to watch.
Yesterday’s Twitter contest was a lot of fun and looking through all the tweets (I used the PC based program “The Archivist” to pull Twitter search results) – there’s so much potential for these kind of interactions. There was the buzz generated – we were a trending topic on Twitter for like two seconds – the potential market research, the brand building – so much. I wonder how much traction I gained by being “GeorgeGSmithJr” instead of “Crocs.” Was it anything? This is a debate that I have with many people. I’m not sure anyone has the real answer, but until then – I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. It seems to work.
Millennial Love and George Smith’s Future Wife
Eric and Alana, starting with their fourth podcast, brought up the idea of Millennial love – the way romance and love have changed with the addition of all this technology. As a single 28 year old, the only thing I know about love is what it’s not – still, the thought intrigued me.
As people start using more and more technology – it is as if everyone is on social networking sites: from Twitter to Brightkite to Foursquare. All three provide an interesting conundrum – knowing what someone is doing when you’re not with them. The latter two even directly provide the location. Modern romance, at it’s heart, is a series of Olympic level challenges balancing the insecurities of the two individuals involved. Does she like me? Will she like me if I come on too strong? Should I call? All these questions are all relatively common to the picture of dating as a whole. Technology added more hurdles – what is the meaning behind a text message? A Facebook “poke” (remember those)? A Twitter DM. I know where she’s hanging out, if I go there will it appear I’m coming on too strong? Should I stay or should I go? Question upon question upon question…
Where do these new technologies fall in the rules of courtship? Should the rules be evaluated? Were there ever really rules – or just a series of phrases given to the misguided to try to establish a feeling of control in a world where chance and timing have as much to do with success as the other variables we hold in a much higher regard.
Obviously I don’t really know the answers, but I do know it will be fun to find out. After all, all this technology will ultimately provide me a record of how I meet the woman I spend the rest of my life with. The narrative is never truly in our control and only hindsight will really provide any answers. Still, sometimes I wish it was just as easy as typing into Google “George Smith’s Future Wife” and finding the answer.
Then again – maybe it will be:
Be sure to check out Alana on Techyness.com and also the Millennio.us podcast!
“Ya know” – my week of Podcasts
Last week – I participated in two podcasts. The first one was the podcast Millennio.us – a joint venture of my friends Alana Edmunds and Eric Hansen. It was the third episode but I already enjoy their podcast because it’s focus on tech in our lives – not just tech in general. As a millenial – even on the outskirts of the defined age range – it was a nice conversation about my work, my thoughts on social media and millenials in the work place. You can check it out here – millennio.us or subscribe to it via iTunes.
The second podcast was more work-centric. It was with Amber Naslund and David Alston of Radian6 for “The Engaged Brand” podcast featured on the Radian6 blog. Again – I enjoyed talking shop with two people I highly respect and it was quite the energizer for me for the rest of the week. I love taking the time out of my day to discuss what I am doing. It’s somewhat philosophical – allows me to take a step back and continually ask if what behaviors I am engaging in with Crocs are not only beneficial to the brand but to my personal philosophies on Social Media.
What I don’t like is the personal inflections I add to my speech. The “Um’s” or, my personal pet peeve “Ya know.’ I hope that these aren’t too distracting but they bother me and improving on my public speaking is already one of my top priorities. Practice makes perfect though, so I see this as a challenge to simply start doing more public speaking – whether it’s for professional use like the Radian6 interview or simply personal fun – like on this blog.
If anyone out there has tips on how to control those silly things we all add to our public speaking, let me know. I think learning to talk slower, to let my brain and mouth sync more – would be the best. Not sure if that fits with my personality though and that’s brought me a long way. We’ll see. Each day brings me something more I can learn.
Izeafest
I’m speaking at IZEAFest in October! I’m pretty excited for this – not because I’m sharing a panel with great people I respect and admire like Zena Weist, Scott Monty, Joseph Jaffe, and Brett Bumeter. Not because I get to hang out with Ted Murphy – who always makes me laugh. Not because I get to meet some great bloggers and connect IRL with some people I’ve been working with online. Nope – I’m excited to go to IZEAFest because I get to go to Sea World.
Seriously – this is probably going to be the most exciting thing I do all year. Since I haven’t taken a real vacation since I went to Europe over 7 years ago, I’m looking forward to checking out Sea World even if it’s under the auspices of work.
I’ll probably write more in detail about the event as it gets closer. When I’m there, you’ll probably end up seeing lots of posts with pictures of Shamu – or whatever whale they have there now!
Millennio.us
One of my good friends Alana Marie Edmunds, of Techyness fame, has launched a podcast with her friend Eric Hanson. It’s called Mellennio.us and it offers the point of view of a millennial generation on the tech world. It’s new but the first two episodes make me feel like it’s worth watching to see where they take this thing.
I’ve been asked to come on the show to talk so I’ll be posting that link once we record it. Maybe I’ll UStream it so we can get some audience participation….
Addressing the Queen: Thoughts on Blogging and Marketing
I read a lot of blogs. A lot of them. I’d offer up a screen shot of my Google Reader but the +1000 unread posts is giving me anxiety that I just don’t have time to deal with. Blogging to me is an art, a science, and something that I hold so very close to my heart as a person. One of the blogs that I’ve been reading the longest is Erin Kotecki Vest’s (aka Queen of Spain.)
I’ve been reading her blog since sometime in ’06 when she wrote for the Huffington Post about the barrage of phone calls that she was receiving during the election cycle. I loved it. It made me laugh and yet engaged in an intelligent way. That’s the Queen – and that’s how she rolls. She writes amazing content even when she’s not writing about anything that specifically appeals to me. Often times, the posts really get me thinking. This happened the other day. She wrote an article that offered brilliant commentary on blogging that hit very close to home considering my job and my love affair with blogs.
Read “I’m Calling Out the Carpet Bagging Mommy Bloggers.” It’s a great editorial piece and the current state of affairs in this section of the blogosphere in regards to the role of marketing in the blogging world. There are bloggers like Erin who, through talent, will, perseverance and probably a little luck – created their corner of the web. Then there are the others do it differently. Or as she puts it: “You’re hosting a giveaway, selling all our souls for a new mop, and lowering the bar for the next to come along.”
It’s an interesting thing for me to read because my opinion lays somewhat in the middle. While I never have had the success that Queen of Spain Blog has, I have always been far more interested in creating content. Sure – it’s my content: drifting from those lost days of young adulthood to the sometimes even more lost days of real adulthood – blogging has always been about the words that appear in front of you. Yet, as someone who works in marketing – I’ve used the non-content producing blogs. Blogs of people interested only in my product. Bloggers who care very little for building the community I want, for building the brand that I love, and for all the steps in between.
Why do I do it then? I believe in community and the power of social media to bring people together far more than I believe in marketing, metrics, and all those other numbers that allow me to do this for a living. I do it because of those numbers and because there is something to gain doing this from a business perspective. There is that ROI. There are those metrics and numbers. It works.
“You know there is a beautiful old dinosaur of an idea that traditional media has taught us. You clearly separate ads from editorial. Ads and editorial are not the same and you don’t blur the lines.”
The quote above stuck in my head as I read and re-read Erin’s post to create my response (after a little back and forth with her and another blogging favorite Mr. Lady) and it struck me: for me, those review posts ARE advertisements. They are straight-forward, unauthentic advertisements that work like print and television ads do. They create a little buzz, they create brand impressions, and they die shortly thereafter. The sophisticated avoid them. The masses will shortly follow and the bubble will ultimately burst and, George the marketer, will find another avenue for the quick hit buzz.
I think the internet as a whole understands the difference between the content producing blogs and those that function solely as giant advertisements: much like people understand the content differences between US Weekly and the New Yorker. As the internet, blogging and other user-generated content continues to grow – these differences will continue to arise. I will be interested in how they are responded to culturally, from a marketing perspective, and all points in between. For blogging to succeed, we need Ombudsman like Queen of Spain to continue to question how things are, why they are, and exert an opinion that may be wildly unpopular or, with the masses in line, change the standing order of business.
As for me, George the community guy still exists – as it was pointed out on Twitter (thanks!). George the community guy will always exist because the greater return is there. When false rumors of my company’s demise circulated the internet, I tried to cut it off when it got a bit out of hand. When I was responding to posts, what did I see? I saw Erin there. Erin was there defending the company. It was an authentic voice. Something I needed as I waded through the sea of negative rumors – both for the help in stopping the rumor and for the inspiration that people out there do care. If I had to quantify the return on that, I probably couldn’t. No excel spreadsheet, no formula, nothing would show how much that meant to me and how much that type of activity means to Crocs. I thanked Erin and she said she likes to help out “cool” people. My “coolness” aside, I knew she did it for one reason: she meant it.
As this field matures, I would rather be unemployed than to have someone not understand the return on that authentic kind of communication, but that’s also the blogger in me. At the end of the day, there are still spreadsheets to fill out, numbers to calculate, and return to prove. I’m enjoying being somewhat of a trailblazer in this in-between existence – but that means being somewhat centrist and doing some things for numbers and other things for community. As long as corporations have to tow the line, there will always be the “non-content” blogs. It’s the nature of the beast and I just hope that I do things in a way that honors these medium that I love. I think I will – especially when I have blogs, tweets, and interactions with people like Erin that will never let me forget my roots.
I Win!!
If you haven’t played Foursquare – you need to. It’s probably the reason I haven’t had time to update this blog, why I’m still nursing a cough tom being sick, and why I am nervous to look at my bank account.
That being said, this past week I was #1 for the entire Denver area. I will probably never win again – especially since I am going to go out less for the next few weeks. Still – I’m very competitive and love winning!
Just Being Myself
I started to think about my job today because of Dave Taylor – and the fact that he wrote a blog post about…well, me. His post painted me in a very positive light and it spread, without my help, to the various powers that be at my work. As I received acknowledgment from the higher ups, I couldn’t help but think it was strange that I was receiving kudos for this. I didn’t think I did anything. I kind was just being myself….
Recently, Mashable had an article about the “Five Essential Traits for Community Managers” – a list that I found great interest in since one of the many hats I wear at work is that of a Community Manager. Here’s a summary of the traits on the list:
- Loving your job
- Ability to promote others as well as yourself
- Ability to empower and support your community
- Transparent, Fun and Engaging Personality
- Extensive Knowledge of the Company
After reading that list, I can see why Community Management is one of the hats I wear at work. By “just being myself,” I act out those five traits. While I won’t critique my own personality (Editor’s Note: I think I’m awesome!), those other traits are the values that I believe motivate people around any idea or brand. The social web is both communal and selfish – with the best people navigating that line with a dash of humility and enough ego to have their voice heard. If you examine what I did with my interactions with Dave – there is that humility and ego. I am humble enough to know that I could never ask someone like Dave Taylor – someone who has crafted an authentic and powerful voice on the internet – to be a spokesperson for my product just because he received a few pairs of shoes. Yet, I had enough ego – and faith in my company and our products – to believe that he would be creative enough to craft an authentic and compelling reaction on his own based on his experiences with the product (or in this case – me). Will it always play out positively? Probably not. But when it does work out, it builds for stronger relationships and the potential for stronger returns based on the creation of trust and understanding.
As corporations continue to communicate in the social web, it will be interesting to see how this develops. It will also be interesting to see how my personal opinions develop, as I can see both sides as a blogger and as the corporate entity. I think that’s what makes me have trait #1 from above. How can I not love a job that is so exciting!
