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Thanks so much for attending my presentation at the Council annual meeting. This page provides links to all of the resources I mentioned during my talk. Additionally, if you would like ongoing insights and tips about social media and Web marketing, I encourage you to subscribe to my newsletter. And please feel free to contact me if you have questions or if I can be of service to your organization.

Slides from the meeting presentation may be downloaded at:

• Strategically Social

Background Materials

One of the key background resources I mentioned in the presentation was The Cluetrain Manifesto. This is the source of the “markets are conversations” concept (though, as pointed out during the presentation, markets always were conversation before the industrial age and the rise of mass advertising.) You can get the full text for free at:

• The Cluetrain Manifesto

Also, for straightforward, easy to understand explanations of key social Web technologies, it is hard to beat the videos at Commoncraft.com:

• RSS In Plain English
• Blogs In Plain English
• Wikis In Plain English
• Social Networking In Plain English
• Twitter In Plain English
• Twitter Search in Plain English
• Online Photo Sharing In Plain English
• Podcasting In Plain English
• Social Bookmarking In Plain English
• Social Media In Plain English
• Websearch Strategies In Plain English

Listen

Before you dive in and start talking about yourself or your organization, learn to “listen” to what is going on out on the Web first. Some key listening tools are:

• Google Alerts: Set up searches on your organization name, key staff, and topics that relate to your mission. Google will deliver the results to your inbox or an RSS reader like the free Google Reader. (I recommend using and RSS reader and treating it like a “dashboard.” Be sure to use quotes around phrases you enter in Google Alerts to ensure that results come back only on the exact phrase.)

• Also consider using the search capabilities on Twitter to see if people are talking about you, your organization, or topics that are important to you. You can subscribe to Twitter search so that you can view them in your RSS Reader along with your Google alerts.

• Addict-o-matic can also be a useful tool for seeing what’s being said across a variety of social networks. You can bookmark searches so that you can return to them later.

For more tools for listening, you might want to see 10 Tools for Monitoring Your Brand

Ask

There are a wide range of free and low-cost approaches to asking question on the Web that can help you better serve members and cunsumers.

• For polls and surveys, consider Survey Monkey, the forms capability in Google Spreadsheets, and PollDaddy.
• iPerceptions also offers a very cool tool (and free) for randomly polling your Web site visitors on their satisfaction with your site.
• One of the advantages of having a significant of followers on Twitter, or making use of Twitter hashtags, is that you can quickly ask questions of a group of people with common interests – and often receive helpful answers in a matter of minutes. If you are saying to yourself, “What’s Twitter?,” or “What’s a hashtag?” I recommend Jane Hart’s brief but thorough Twitter workshop presentation. If you are trying to find people to follow on Twitter (who may also follow you back) I recommend visiting wefollow.com and twellow.com.
• Social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook also provide the opportunity to join groups and ask questions in the group discussion forums. And LinkedIn has an Answers functionality that enables you to ask (and answer) questions across your extended network.

Talk

Listening and asking should come first, but eventually you are going to want to say what you have to say. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination, but here are some starting places.

• Take advantage of the status/update functionalities on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to update your network about anything you are doing that ties to your mission and strategy.
• Consider using tools like GCast (where it’s even possible to phone in a podcast) or the recording capabilities on services like FreeConference to create audio content easily. I also recommend keeping a digital audio recorder handy. I use the Sony ICDUX70 Digital Voice Recorder and have found it to be excellent. You can upload audio files to Box.net for hosting and streaming. With both audio and video, I recommend a “one-take, no edits” approach whenever possible, but if you need an editing tool, give Audacity a try.
• For video content, consider getting a Flip Video Camcorder. The quality is very good, and it is designed to make it easy to capture video and upload it to YouTube. You can find the WillItBlend video I showed at WillItBlend.com.
• Remember that video may mean more than what you do with a video camera. Tools like Camtasia Studio and Articulate support the easy production of Flash “movies” based on capturing activity on your computer screen or transforming PowerPoint presentations.
• I also highlighted the Articulate Rapid E-learning blog as a great example of using a blog to educate stakeholders. Education, in general, is a good “social object” for any social media initiative.
• Consider using the events functionality on social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook to announce and promote any events your organization holds.
• Use Web-based PR services like PRWeb to announce and talk about your events. These services distribute your news over RSS and can help drive Web traffic. PRWeb requires fees for most of its services, but there are also a number of free services out there. Here are just a few:
  • http://www.1888pressrelease.com/
  • http://www.free-news-release.com/
  • http://www.pr.com/
  • http://www.pressrelease.com.np/submit-release/
  • http://theopenpress.com/index.php?a=index
  • http://www.1888pressrelease.com/
• Before sending out your release, consider running it through HubSpot’s free Press Release Grader.

Engage

The best outcome of social media is when you are not simply talking, or even engaging in conversations, but people are actually talking about you in a positive productive way.

• I used Seth Godin’s Triibes.com site as an engagement example. Right now the site is closed to new members, but that could (and, I suspect, probably will) change some day. In the meantime, I highly recommend Seth’s blog.
• Make sure you tap the network you have been building through listening, asking, and talking. Asking people to put badges for your cause, event, etc. on their blogs and Web sites is one potential way to do this. Web2.0Badges.com and MyCoolButton.com are among a number of services that make it easy, and usually free, to generate buttons and badges on the Web.
• Take advantage of the ability to create Twitter hashtags (see above) and create one for your events or key causes or issues related to your organization. See, for example, how ASAE has done this by going to http://search.twitter.com and searching on #asae2009.
• Have a look at the eLearning Guild’s Work Literacy site as a great example of using a social networking platform (Ning.com, in this case) as a great pre-conference engagement tool.

Analyze

Naturally, you want to make sure the effort you put into leveraging the Web has an impact.

• Run your main Web site or event Web sites through Website Grader for suggestions on how you might improve it from a search engine optimization and social media standpoint.
• Utilize a service like UserTesting.com to understand exactly how “usable” your Web site is.
• Make sure you have Google Analytics or a similar software installed for tracking activity on your Web site(s) and make reviewing the data a weekly habit.
• And keep “listening” (see above) to see if your social media efforts are having an impact.

Best of luck! I’d be truly grateful if you would contact me and let me know about your experiences trying out any of the suggestions above.

Jeff