Margie Clayman

So on Thursday, as I am wont to do, I sat down for #B2Bchat. The topic was speaking at conferences. As the conversation wore on, I found myself having my brain expanded. You see, I had always thought that interweaving a pitch (in an acceptable way ) into a speech was not only appropriate, it was to be expected. How else is the audience going to know that you are selling something? I mean, you don’t want to go up there with Vanna White turning your Power Point slides for you, but still…

Well, it seems that I am in the minority when it comes to this belief.

This is kind of funny, because when it comes to blogs and other forms of Social Media, I don’t expect to be pitched. This also puts me in the minority.

What’s the Difference?

To me, speaking is like a 3D, fully interactive Social Media user going out and into the world. Social Media best practices indicate that it is okay to do a very light touch on selling. You need to develop trust first, etc. When doing a speech, it would seem to me like the same would apply. After all, in both scenarios, you are:

In a position to educate your audience

In a context where it would make sense to lightly sell

In the seat of the expert (if you do things right)

In fact, when you are asked to speak at a conference, you are being given “social proof” that it can take months, if not years, to earn in Social Media. Someone is asking you to be the expert at their event. They are putting the fate of their audience into your capable hands. How much more trustworthy can you get?

Those Webinar/Seminar Things

Now where I get really confused is where webinars fall into this pitching schematic. How many times have you sat in on a webinar and heard the introduction of the speaker include information like, “So and so is working on volume 5 of “How I became the best at everything,” which will be covered in part here and which will be available on 11/11/11.” In fact, often times, you find that a person has built a webinar around a book so that the content can be re-purposed. Of course, the mention of that book is a soft sell.

So are webinars not really speeches? Are they Social Media exclusively? Why is it okay to pitch during a webinar but not during a speech?

Lines of Division

A few things were tossed out that indicate that pitching during a speech is bad.

1. If you’re getting paid, that really should be enough of a reward for you. You want to give back by sharing your expertise.

2. You don’t want to do a pitch because the sparks your speech creates will be very shortlived. As my friend Tom Moradpour said, nobody tweets out pitches.

3. When giving a speech, your audience is “captive.”

4. When giving a speech, usually your audience has already paid money, and the expectation is that they will get to learn.

OK, so…

I’ve heard that the Elevator Pitch is dead. Besides, we all should really take the stairs. It’s not really best practice to pitch via Twitter or Facebook, and pitching within a blog takes some finesse. Apparently, pitching during a live speech is frowned upon.

So when exactly is it okay to pitch your business?

I mean, we can all say that we’re totally not pitching anything, but really most people are, aren’t they? In this blog, I am simultaneously striving to educate, striving to learn, and gently reminding you that I work for an agency that can help you do an awful lot of stuff. If a speaker goes to a conference right around the time their book is due to be published, don’t you expect to hear about the book somewhere in the conference, if not necessarily during the speech?

In the end, there has to come a time when you make the ask. When you announce your call to action. When you make your pitch.

Right?

Image by Kriss Szkurlatowski. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/hisks

I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately about how I decide who I’m going to follow back on Twitter. As I mention in this weekend’s presentation, it all comes down to PFFT.

Yesterday afternoon, during my lunch hour, I was cruising my Twitter stream when I came upon a tweet that stuck out like a sore thumb. It seemed mean. It seemed bigoted. It seemed rife with prejudice.

In light of everything going on in the world…in light of my recent work on Social Media Safety and working on decreasing cyber-bullying, I felt it was right to nip this in the bud. Even though the statement was not geared at anyone in particular, it was the kind of thing that just seemed like it could only feed hate.

I responded to the person. I told them I thought that their tweet was really inappropriate and that I was blocking them as a result.

When I got back from finishing lunch, I looked at the person’s profile (we all have our doubts). Turns out, they were of the group that I thought they were prejudiced against.

As it turns out, my behavior in this scenario was the result of my own perspective, and the result of my not knowing this person well enough to know the context. As it turns out, this person’s single tweet defined them for me, and it defined them incorrectly.

I do not feel good about the situation even though I know that I thought I was doing something good. Out of this experience, I hope I can remind everyone that you can’t bank on context when it comes to Twitter. An inside joke, an aside, a sarcastic comment – they are all read individually and at different times throughout the day.

Be careful.

Image by frédéric dupont. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/patator

Another varied rainbow of topics this week. I am very happy that one of the recommendations I received was from a new Twitter user recommending a first-time post. That is what the giving spirit of Social Media is all about. All of these posts are insightful, thought-provoking, and rich like the best chocolate fudge. I hope you enjoy!

1. If you don’t get riled up and excited by this post, you need to check your pulse! Recommended by Amber Cleveland, Lou Imbriano’s post, “Believe in you and success will come.” What a great read!

2. Jessica Faye Carter wrote a really interesting article for Mashable called Why Twitter Influences Cross-Cultural Engagement. I saw this in a tweet from Kay Whitaker. The article points out that Twitter not only gathers people together culturally, but it also reveals in the open information about those cultures. Very interesting!

3. This post by @ajleon called Rise of the Cubicle Farmer is awe-inspiring in so many different ways that I can’t list them all here. Take my word for it. Read this post.

4. My friend @galactic tweeted out this article from Ad Age noting what agencies can learn about branding from Mad Men. There is some icy cold truth in those there parts!

5. @markwschaefer did a post that got me and a lot of other people thinking: What is Social Media’s Next Big Thing. Do you agree? Even if you don’t, what a great approach and post!

6. Dan Rockwell (@Leadershipfreak) wrote an important reminder called You Not Them. It’s probably not what you think. Give it a read!

7. Brian Solis offers another great read, this one regarding Twitter and its new (and building) ad network. Take a look at Twitter promoted to ad network. My friend @galactic tweeted out this post.

8. Jason Mikula (@Mikulaja) wrote a great post about what could have been a bad experience. In Customer Service in the Social Media Era,” Jason exposes the ultimate truth – if you know how to do customer service right, it doesn’t matter what tool you use.

9. Beth Harte tweeted out this post by William C Taylor, which was posted for Harvard Business Review. Why is it so hard to be kind? This post will make you think hard about business today.

10. Dan Zarrella recently told AMP Summit that content may not be the whole story. Jesse Stanchak reported for Smartblogs.com (@SBoSM)

11. My friend @wilsonellis pointed me in the direction of the Twitter Blog, of all places. Seems the designers of Twitter are going out amongst the people, @Ontheroad

12. One of the many reasons I want to be Beth Harte when I grow up is that she always manages to turn a point in such a way that you think, “Man, of COURSE!” Having read a post about how to send information out, Beth wrote a post of her own called Is Your Message Understood.” This is how you go from the “me” perspective to the “you.”

13. CateTV suggested I read this post by Kim Randall. Turns out, it’s a topic that has become near and dear to my heart. In the world is cruel, but we don’t have to be, Kim makes a poignant point for ending cyber-bullying, and bullying in general.

14. Reading The Referral Engine, by John Jantsch, was a great experience. I was so happy to find this great post, How Ducttape Marketing Legend John Jantsch Uses Social Media,  by Trey Pennington. The interview and post are about how John integrates Social Media into his approach. I like especially how Trey does a video interview but then adds his own content. Too often people let a video do all of the talking for them.

15. The people of Sterling Hope write 5 reasons they do not follow/follow back (otherwise known as automatically following back) on Twitter.

16. Few things are more fun than seeing 2 friends connect with each other on Twitter. Such is the case in this post by my friend Jeff the Sensei, wherein he is sparked to write a post by another friend, Tommy Walker. Check out A Sensei Perspective on Facebook. It’s a humdinger of a homerun!

17. Speaking of which, if you want a really fresh, new and brilliant take on Facebook, check out Tommy’s post about his new e-book, Hack the Social Network. I’ve read it. It’s fantastic. Read more!

18. I really enjoyed the mixture of humor and information in this post by @oneJillian: “5 words you should definitely always never say.” She always makes great points

19. My good friend @SMSJoe wrote a great post regarding What A Chilean Mine Disaster Can Teach Us About Leadership. Extending beyond the event, Joe pulls out some lessons for us to learn.

20. Matt Shaw talks about habits, and how creating habits can line the path to success, no matter what you want that end destination to be!

21. My friend Peter Osborne finds that sometimes, as a consultant, he runs into “problem clients.” Here’s some great advice on how to deal with those tricky situations!

22. @gagasgarden recommended this debut post from Sebastian St. George (@YogaArmy) regarding the Gap branding fiasco. Show some support to a brand new blogger!

23. Ever heard of the Oui Theory? I hadn’t either, but Gaga has us covered in this very interesting post!

24. @pushingsocial’s jewel of the week is on how to get your Tweets noticed. A must read. As usual!

25. Suzanne Vara once again does an outstanding job of not just updating her readers about what’s new on LinkedIn but also walking through how to make the most of new customization options in the profile. A great read, complete with screen captures!

26. This post by Amber Naslund (ambercadabra) got a lot of buzz on Twitter, and rightfully so! Social Media is more than a campaign. An important reminder!

27. My friend Heidi Cohen wrote a great post covering 5 tactics for improved trade show marketing. A great and thorough post!

28. Wondering what BlipTV is all about? My friends at eMentorMarketing have you covered!

29. Megan Knight, an intern for my friend Dawn Westerberg, wrote a truly amazing post about how Social Media can help nonprofits. Very well done!

30. Finally, a great post by @MayaREguru. Tool or Technique? Or said another way, does it matter which tool is better, or does it matter what you can do with the tools you have?

Awhile back, I wrote a post about the conferences that seem to flow in never-ending succession through my Twitter stream and why I can’t really rationalize going to them. Since doing that post, BlogWorld Expo 2010, along with many other great meetings and conferences, have come and gone. I have been sitting back watching some of the live streaming coverage, watching the excited people tweeting, watching the Retweets and then the retweets of the retweets. I’ve come to notice something else about these conferences.

I think they are a little unfair.

In my previously referenced post, I talked about the fact that as an agency woman, I am here to dedicate my time and expertise to our clients. My time is better used serving our clients here than going to a conference for 2-3 days out of every month. I still wouldn’t back away from that prioritization. I think a lot of people are with me in that boat. While we are all in the world of Social Media for various reasons, we are doing it in addition to our regular jobs. We are trying to carve our niches out between getting out of bed and going to work and then between coming home from work and going to bed. All of this is extra sauce or extra icing, depending on your preference.

Now, let’s look at what that means. That means that for a person like me, who does not work for a strictly Social Media company, it’s hard to go to your boss and say, “Oh, hi…I want to not only be out of the office for 3 days, but I’d also like you to cover my expenses.” It just won’t work, and I don’t think it’s just about company size. If you work for a candy bar manufacturer and you want to go to a peanut show, you could try to argue that it’s related and that it would hone your professional skills, but I think it would be an uphill battle. So then you look at the pricing structure of most conferences in this area of the industry. Without being too specific, I can tell you that in the case of most conferences, it would be a choice between my monthly expenses and attending the show.

So, fine, I can’t go to conferences. No big whoop, right?

Where People Become 3D

There’s one little problem that I’m noticing with the structure of this industry, however. If you can go to conferences and expos and events, you have a chance to meet really real people in person. You get to meet the leaders of the industry. You get to make connections. From those real-life connections, you have an opportunity to build your network and build your community in ways that are not accessible to folks like me. What it seems to boil down to is that these conferences are really targeting people who must be kind of doing okay already. They either work for a company that is in the meeting’s niche and that is big enough to cover expenses, or you are doing okay enough for yourself that you can afford to go out of your own pocketbook.

Is this a case of “the rich get richer?”

I’m not bopping conferences

Understand, I totally get the pricing structure of a lot of these conferences. I’m not saying that I expect huge conferences to be free (and in fact, with streaming video they really are in a lot of ways). I understand that expertise has a value that isn’t really appreciated enough in our industry.

But to make it fair, I’m wondering if maybe we could have events where there’s only 1 really major industry leader. Maybe the locale is not a place like Las Vegas or LA or Boston.  I’m wondering if we could have shorter events where keynotes would happen at night so that people who have regular 8-5 jobs could still watch the streaming video, even if they still couldn’t attend.

I’m asking if there is a way these conferences and the opportunities they offer could be made accessible to folks like, well, me.

What do you think?

A lot of times, people in this business, when asked to recount how they got to their current successful place, will tell a story about how they dabbled with this, dabbled with that, tried this, and then…BOOM! Everything made sense.

It could be that people tell stories like that as an homage to humility. Maybe it really did happen that way for all I know. But I think these stories can make people for whom that doesn’t happen feel kind of…not good. For example, when I was still trying to find my way in this world a few months ago, it seemed like every day there was a new post titled, perhaps, “How my first ever blog post got enough hits to knock out my server.” Meanwhile, I was posting 3-4 times a week and couldn’t get a single comment. I felt like a real slow poke.

Factually, I don’t know anyone who has joined Twitter within the last, let’s say…year or so, who has had that kind of “oh look what happened!” experience. Rather, their experiences seem more in line with what I experienced when I was getting started. Periods of frustration, of anger, of disappointment, of unmatched glory followed by feelings of agonizing defeat, and more.

So for those of you who are not finding the Social Media magic potion just yet, let me tell you a little bit about what my experience has been like. Needless to say, my title for this post is rather tongue in cheek!

Who am I? I have undergone three name changes on Twitter. I started as RealLifeMadMan. I decided that people weren’t Retweeting me because my username was too long, so I shortened it to RLMadMan. Nobody really knew what that stood for, but they were pretty nice about it. As some of you know, I recently lengthened my name again – to my actual name.

67…68…60? Around the end of June, I was trying with all of my might to get to 75 followers. I took a trip to Boston and seemed to get more followers without any tweeting than I did when I made a concerted effort. I would check and sometimes be all the way up to 68 followers, then I would plummet back down to 60 or 61. It was really a new kind of torture that I felt had been created just for me. Meanwhile, I was writing posts about how I knew that numbers really didn’t matter – I knew they didn’t matter. I also knew, though, that I had to have more than 5 people to talk to regularly to accomplish what I wanted, and still want, to accomplish.

I’ve made it! Wait, no. When I had hit about 200 followers, I was feeling on top of the world. I was getting a lot of great comments. So I decided I was ready to start a chat. The lovely Linda Machado and Lisa Alexander had my back the whole way. They were the only ones who came, however. I was flabbergasted and more than a little disappointed. I also gave up after just 2 tries.

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? From the time I began to engage in Social Media, I was blogging at least 3-4 times a week. I tried to blog every day. I tried to blog on topics that seemed hot at the time. I tried to build comments I had made on other blogs into blog posts. I tried to be funny. I tried to be controversial. I literally could not get a single comment on my blog posts. You don’t hear a lot of people talking about a lack of comments. It’s painful and disconcerting! But I was there, my friends, for months and months.

Is it me? Even when the number of followers started going up, I was flat out unable to engage in conversations. In fact, I kind of felt like the conversation murderer. I would see an interesting conversation (often amongst big important people, because when you first start that’s who dominates your stream), I’d make a comment, and boom. The conversation would end. I checked my Twitter deodorant. I checked my Twitter toothpaste. I didn’t see what could be so offensive about what I was saying. Again, I was truly confuzzled.

I will say nice things until my fingers bleed. Since I was haphazardly killing conversations left and right, I decided to try to nice folks to distraction. This also often garnered zero responses. In fact, after my third week of “Friday Following” a few key people, I saw one of them post, “Man, it’s another Friday. We all hate #ff.” Surely they were talking directly to me, right?

Just in case you think I am now entirely full of myself, I want to state clearly, for all to see and hear, that I will always consider myself a newbie. I will always consider myself far behind the 8-ball. The reason for this is that I am, in comparison with others. The journey is never done.

Now, things have gotten a lot better for me. I have met a lot of wonderful people with whom I can chat on Twitter. I’ve started getting some lovely comments on my blog. But this is not a Rocky sort of success story. I can’t tell you that I now am a millionaire and am living in Florida, quietly sipping on amaretto sours. I can’t tell you that I have all of the big names on speed dial on my cell phone. I can’t tell you that I have as of yet mastered doing business transactions via Social Media. I can’t even tell you that I always get responses on Twitter. I still get ignored by the big names the majority of the time. And that’s cool. I’m 1 out of 150,000 or more. I have plenty of people to talk to now, so it doesn’t bother me.

What is the point of all of this? The point is that if some folks out there are making you feel like 48 hours should be enough time to get this all figured out, don’t buy it. To do this Social Media thing right, you need to pay the ticket man and hop into the roller coaster. It’s a crazy ride, and it’s a little different for everybody. It never ends. Each hill has interesting things for you to learn about yourself and the community you’re in and/or building. It does get better, eventually, if you hang in there.

I’ll let y’all know when I get that first cool million!

1st Image by Thais Rocha Gualberto. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/tata

2nd Image by Jenny Erickson. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/windchime