The Social Customer Manifesto

2007 Social Media & CRM 2.0 Professional Certification Seminar

Drumroll, please...announcing:

What: 2007 Social Media & CRM 2.0 Professional Certification Seminar
Where: San Francisco, CA
When: March 27-28, 2007
Learn more: http://www.bptpartners.com/socialmedia_agenda.aspx

On March 27th and March 28th, I'll be co-hosting a two-day professional seminar, "Social Media & CRM 2.0" along with Paul Greenberg (Author, "CRM at the Speed of Light" and principal at BPT Partners). This event will be held at the offices of our friends Fleishman-Hillard here in San Francisco. (Thanks, Fleishman!)

The 2007 Social Media & CRM 2.0 Professional Certification Seminar is endorsed by Rutgers University Center for CRM Research, CRMGuru.com, the National CRM Association, Greater China CRM and CRMA Japan.

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Topics include:

Why the new social media: Communications and the era of the social customer -- Traditional means of doing this through messaging marketing campaigns are no longer adequate. The new social media, blogging, user communities, podcasting and social networking are increasingly become tools of choice for businesses. Learn the why's, where's, and what's in the segment on the strategic framework.

The Business Blog Field Guide -- Every publication from Business Week, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal to online white papers warn businesses the blogging is not an optional endeavour. Those that don't will not survive, so we are going to give you what you need to not just survive the on rush but prosper. This module will explain how to produce a blog, what the benefits are, and what conditions you need to make it a success.

Components of Blogging -- You have the framework with the first 2 modules, now we're going to get down. You've created the environment, time for you to get what you need to know to actually write the business blog in a consistent and timely way.

Customer Communities and Social Network Analysis -- In this session, you will learn about the value of social networks, customer communities and the tools and practices to facilitate their creation and maintenance. If you do it right, your customers will be the advocates you desire and the business lifeblood you need for sustaining the kind of growth you've dreamed about - in collaboration with those customers you know to be important to your present and future.

The Theory and Practice of Podcasting -- This module will not only explain what a podcast is, why it's important to you as a business person, but how to actually produce a podcast. It will also bust some of the myths of podcasting that have already grown up around its young, explosive life. There is no form of social media that promises to meet the needs of the new generations of customers as well as this one - especially for those on the move. Imagine, having a good time creating something that can benefit your business - anytime, anywhere, any way you like? This module will give you the tools to do that.

Defining Your High Value Opportunities Using Social Media -- Now, we get down and well, sorta dirty. How does this directly apply to your business? What industry you're in, who your target markets are, will make a genuine difference in the approaches and applications of the social media tools. If you're a B2B business v. a B2C business, there will be differences in approach. If you want to use the tools for co-creation of value with your customers or for feedback retrieval and customer conversations it will make a difference. The final module will examine what those specific applications can be for specific business situations and models.

Learn more: http://www.bptpartners.com/socialmedia_agenda.aspx

Tying One On

Post Number 8
Originally uploaded by Auntie P.

A couple of decades ago, my old friend Joe DeCarlo used to talk about "posts" in communities and social groups. A "post" has nothing to do with a blog post in these conversations, incidentally. In these conversations, a "post" was a person or concept that was solid. Tall-standing. Deep-rooted.

A post was the anchor to which other things could be lashed.

On February 7, in his SuitWatch piece, Doc Searls tells the story of his interactions with Sayo Ajiboye. Doc:

"A few years ago I had a Socratic exchange with a Nigerian pastor named Sayo, whom I was lucky to find sitting next to me on a long airplane trip.

He went on to point out that, in his country, and in much of what we call the developing world, relationship is of paramount importance in public markets. In the industrialized world, prices are set by those who control the manufacturing, distribution and retail systems. Customers do have an influence on prices, but only in the form of aggregate demand. The rates at which they buy or don't buy something determines what price the "market" (meaning: the demand side) will bear. But the whole economic system is viewed mostly through the prism of price, which is seen as the outcome of tug between supply and demand. Price still matters in the developing world, Sayo said; but there is a higher context that tends to be invisible if you view markets exclusively through the prism of price. That context is relationship.

He said relationship is not reducible to price, even though it may influence price. It operates at a higher level. Families and friends don't put prices on their relationships. (At least not consciously, and only at the risk of cheapening or losing a relationship.) Love, the most giving force in any relationship, is not about exchanging. It is not fungible. You don't expect a payback or a rate of return on the love you give your child, your wife or husband, your friends.

Yet relationship has an enormous bearing on the way markets work, Sayo said. And it is poorly understood in the developed world, where so much comes down to 'the bottom line.'"

If you haven't read the SuitWatch piece, it's worth the time. Here's the link again. And I have a feeling the Sayo story is a post that will anchor many other things over the next few years. Actually, some things are lashed to it already.

One of the things the Sayo story is currently anchoring is a discussion of how VRM might apply to changing public radio. In other words, can we use the concepts of VRM to create direct relationships with artists and producers?

Also, as I write this, I'm taking a sidelong glance at Dave, who has chimed in on this issue. Dave's been very vocal and a key lynchpin to the development of what we currently call "podcasting." I wonder if, down the road, we'll see "public radio" and "podcasting" as synonymous terms. Actually, it's much bigger than that. Much, much bigger.

If this plays out, what we currently call "podcasting" becomes public broadcasting. Think about it.

Oh, look what's in the bottom of my mug...some tea leaves!

Clue Implementation Unit Podcast #1

(click here to listen) (click here to subscribe to this feed)

In this, our inaugural podcast, we introduce the Clue Unit podcast format which includes these recurring sections.

1. Introduction
2. Announcements -- conferences, news, etc.
3. Focused Topical Discussion
4. Conference Chatter -- Anything goes
   
       

Today's Topics:

• The role and basis of reputation systems in online communities
• Introduction of Joost (formerly The Venice Project), and what the beta shows about the direction of the technology and social elements of the system.
• Issues concerning how much an organization should be able manipulate/remix submissions for projects that depend on user-generated content.
  

A Conversation With Eric Mattson At MarketingMonger

Eric Mattson of MarketingMonger is on a mission to have 1,000 conversations with marketers, and to present them all as podcasts. Eric writes:

"For the 20th podcast in my project, I connected with Chris Carfi of Cerado.

I first ran across Chris's blog when he published his original Social Customer Manifesto.

Then I heard interesting things about Cerado's Haystack social networking software for businesses.

So I was excited to get a chance to talk with Chris about his social customer philosophy, his entrepreneurial efforts with Cerado, Haystack's success to date and more."

A link to his summary of the call here, and have a listen to the mp3 file here.

Thanks for the invitation, Eric!

The Social Customer Manifesto Podcast 27JAN2006

click here to subscribe

Summary: Leif Chastaine and Christopher Carfi discuss the American Marketing Association's "Ahead of the Curve" session in Chicago, the marketing challenge for RSS, Salesforce.com taunts and tempts Siebel employees, launch of the "Healing Space" health and environment blog, and this week's RIM/BlackBerry Supreme Court decision. (33:32)

Show notes for January 27, 2006

The audio file is available here (MP3, 32MB), or subscribe to our RSS feed to automatically have future shows downloaded to your MP3 player.

00:00 : Intro

01:10 : Recap of the AMA's Ahead of the Curve session: High Tech Trends in Marketing

02:40 : What is RSS?

Metaphors:
Google search for RSS metaphors (n.b. and yes, actually these are "similes" and not "metaphors," we know, we know...)

"RSS is like an API for content"
"RSS is like selling dogfood over the internet"
"RSS is like Tivo for the web"
"Explaining RSS is like explaining sex. You just don't get it until you do it." (also here)
Dave Winer

11:45 : Salesforce.com to Siebel employees: "No Future"

19:30 : Healing Space health, wellness and environment blog launched

25:15 : Supremes won't intervene in RIM BlackBerry / NTP dispute

33:50 : Wrapup

Links:

Bill Flitter, Stowe Boyd, Randy Moss, Michael Sevilla, TheCradle, Salesforce.com, Siebel, Paul Greenberg, Todd Pesek, EarthHealers, Naturaleza Foundation, eco-tourism, Craig Williams, Howard Bashman, Research in Motion, BlackBerry, Ross Mayfield, Davos, BlackBerries a matter of national security

Live From The Gleacher Center

In the session at Ahead of the Curve.

Stowe just finished up a great overview on blogs, blogging and podcasting, and now Bill Flitter is just finishing his presentation. The big take-away for me ... RSS is still too complex. It's too complex to explain ... too complex to subscribe ... too complex to "show" what an RSS feed is ... too complex to communicate how and why it matters.

Once we get beyond the early-adopter crowd, what are the capabilities and metaphors that are needed to enable RSS to become so ubiquitous that we don't need to go through the nitty-gritty details? (In other words...I don't want to know how the internal combustion engine operates, I just want to reliably get to my destination.) Back in August, 2005, Chris Selland wrote:

"RSS is still very much the realm of early adopters (which is why only early-adopter-focused companies like Audible, Woot and HDNet are using it). But as RSS readers become more powerful and more ubiquitous - and particularly as they become more closely entwined with e-mail applications - expect the use of RSS to dramatically accelerate - much of it at the expense of e-mail."

This is still on-target.

Randy Moss is now up presenting the first part of the social networking discussion, and talking about directed apophenia, and leading into a group exercise. Everyone in the room is up at the front of the room, showing their connections to the others in the room, via past experiences, hobbies, hometowns, schools, products/brands they are passionate about, and the like. (By the way, Randy's book recommendation of the day: The Hidden Power of Social Networks by Rob Cross.)

Randy: "It's critical for organizations to host communities. If a company does this, they're the good guy, they are the one who is providing the network for individuals to connect." (bravo!)

Michael Sevilla from Umbria is now presenting a state of the blogosphere preso. Now moving into a discussion of promoters and detractors, and is highlighting the Qwest's Terms of Service flap. (Michael was affected by it.)

VERY interesting. Now going through things that one can do with OpinMind. For example, blog sentiment of Microsoft and Apple. (N.B. Kind of a neat tool, but it does not seem to have a deep listing of sources. Hopefully it'll grow more over time.)

fin

(top photo: UChicago)

The Social Customer Manifesto Podcast 13JAN2006

click here to subscribe

Summary: Leif Chastaine and Christopher Carfi discuss customer challenges in switching mobile phone plans, a blogging "contest" that may be backfiring on its sponsors, Sony's rootkit fiasco, how Thomas Hawk dealt with an unscrupulous e-commerce vendor, and a recap of the current legal challenges facing Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the ubiquitous BlackBerry device. (37:45)

Show notes for January 13, 2006

The audio file is available here (MP3, 34MB), or subscribe to our RSS feed to automatically have future shows downloaded to your MP3 player.

00:00 : Intro
01:30 : Cell phone follies
05:45 : Everyday Hogwash
11:45 : "I just want to listen to this CD!" ... Real-world experiences with Sony's rootkit
19:40 : Thomas Hawk's PriceRitePhoto vindication
28:45 : Troubled waters for Research in Motion and their BlackBerry device
36:30 : Wrapup

Links:
Cingular and AT&T Wireless, Everyday Hogwash, Steve Rubel, Andy Beal, Sony rootkit, Thomas Hawk, NYTimes, BlackBerry troubles

Video iPod Released

Video iPod just announced.

Specs:

• 30 frames per second
  
• TV out
  
• 30GB and 60GB models
  
• 30G up to 75 hours of video, $299
  
• 60G up to 150 hours video, $399
  
• Shipping in one week

(source: Engadget)

iTunes will sell music videos, $1.99 per.

The very interesting part...iTunes also will be selling TV shows, commercial free, for $1.99 per. The shows will be available on iTunes the day after they are broadcast over-the-air. Not a rental, the show will be owned by the purchaser.

Who should gulp? NetFlix.

Now, let's take this to the logical conclusion...[warning-speculation!] within three months, Apple enables podcast feeds for the shows, by subscription, for a fixed-price per month (let's say, I dunno, $14.99 or $19.99 a month) for all-the-shows you can drink. You subscribe to the shows' podcasts via iTunes. They get automagically downloaded to your iPod the day after they air.

Wait a minute. Let's look at the specs. The iPod has a TV out connection.

Who should gulp? Not just TiVo, but also the cable companies. They may both have just been disintermediated.

tags: ipod, Apple, iTunes, Podcast

Listen To The History Of Your Neighborhood

From the Chron:

"Hewlett-Packard and KQED teamed up over the weekend to test new technology that allows anyone with an HP iPaq Pocket PC to listen to the history of a neighborhood while taking a walk around that community.

Dubbed "Scape the Hood," the project was part of the Digital Storytelling Festival at KQED in San Francisco, which ended Monday.

The HP technology, which is being developed by the company's research lab in Bristol, England, combines mobile technology and Global Positioning System to enable iPaq users to get access to information based on where they are."

Soundseeing tours, indeed.

Marketing, From The Customer's Point Of View

Want to come out and connect with others who are thinking about how social media are changing marketing and customer relationships? You may be interested in attending one of the upcoming sessions of How Consumer Controlled Media Is Re-Shaping Your Online Go-To-Market Strategy.

The program is being hosted by the American Marketing Association, and we'll start out our 3 city tour in Chicago, IL on October 28th.

Who else will be speaking? Check it out...

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Podcasting/Video Blogs
Stowe Boyd, President, Corante, Get Real

RSS
Bill Flitter, Chief Marketing Officer, Pheedo, Pheedo Blog

Word of Mouth Marketing
Pete Blackshaw, Chief Marketing and Customer Satisfaction Officer, Intelliseek (New York session)
Andy Sernovitz, CEO, Word of Mouth Marketing Association, WOMMA (Chicago session)

Interactive Social Networking
Randal Moss, Project Specialist, American Cancer Society's Futuring and Innovation Center

Social Networking
Christopher Carfi, Principal, Cerado, and author of The Social Customer Manifesto. (Chicago and Scottsdale sessions)
David Teten, CEO of Nitron Advisors (New York session)

Power Law Structure
Judith T. Meskill, Principal, Meskill.net, Judith Meskill's Knowledge Notes

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Session dates:

• October 28 - Chicago
  
• November 11 - Scottsdale
  
• December 2 - New York

More info here, including how to register.

Hope to see you in Chicago, Scottsdale, or New York!