Separating Personal and Professional Social Presence

For the past five years plus, I have established and maintained a professional brand as Social Steve. The focus of my Social Steve brand has been to share experiences, best practices, and my perceptions in social marketing having worked with a number of clients and brands. Being completely transparent (as I always try to be) my objectives are two fold … 1) promote social marketing as a key driver of business success through sharing experiences, and 2) be viewed as and respected as a social marketing thought leader.

As I look to establish and maintain my own professional brand, I have made a handful of conscious decisions to separate my professional and personal social presence. Some of my own rules of thumb have been as follows:

• Facebook – I use Facebook for true friends and not professional friends and acquaintances. My litmus test has been – “If I want you to see pictures of me and my family in our bathing suits at the beach, I’ll accept your friend request.” This really makes people I work with separate from personal friends. While I really have nothing in my closet to hide anymore, I do reserve Facebook for my own personal world. Early in my social media consulting career, I made the mistake of accepting clients in Facebook.
• Tweeting – 85% of my tweets are about social media and marketing. 10% is about music (my drug of choice). 5% is about family excursions. The reason I add 15% of tweets of the personal nature is simply to give my audience a feel that there is a real person behind the professional tweets.
• 96% of my articles on the SocialSteve Blog are about social media and brand marketing. This is what people come to my blog for. There have been a few exceptions. I have blogged about Martin Luther King Jr and my sister – two people that have served as outstanding examples and models for me in my life.

Now I am not saying this is the way it should be for everyone, but rather that each person should consciously determine what is right for them and set up their own ground rules. And while I have determined some conditions to practice in my own social presences I continue to learn along the way. Continuous social learning is imperative for people and brands. Each entity needs to produce, execute, and assess how their audience reacts. Demographics, psycho-demographics, and natural behavior cause variations of different target audience’s reactions.

Now just a bit of data and then my analysis based on my own blogging.

• Most of my marketing and business blog posts get very little, if any, references on Facebook. I experience a much higher rate of mentions on Twitter and Google+ for business related postings.
• Personal stories (such as the Tribute to My Sister last week) have had very little postings on Twitter and Google+ and have had a relatively high rate of references on Facebook.

For brands, I think this has some key implications. Most users are on Facebook for friendly socialization as opposed to connecting with brands. Yes, brands can have strong Facebook programs that build relationships and brand preference, but their Facebook implementations must have a strong brand personality and not corporate-like or advertorial. While Google+ lacks the adoption of Facebook, the circles functionality allows the separation of socialization for different purposes. It remains to be seen if Google+ connection segmentation will be valued by people and if their user base sees growth.

For me, I know how I use my various social channels for different purposes. By no means am I saying this is correct and one size fits all. In fact, I’d rather this post be the basis for a discussion rather than my typical guidance. What do you think? Do you see a need to separate personal and professional social presence and if so, what are your self-imposed guidelines? I would love to learn from you. Chime in and join the conversation.

Make It Happen,
Social Steve

A Tribute to a Great Person – My Sister

Apologies for using this blog, which usually provides social marketing recommendations, to post something so personal. The truth is, I need a forum to express my deepest love and care for someone so special in my life. So please allow me to go “off SocialSteve brand” and share a little bit about my sister with you.

Barb Shipon passed peacefully on January 26, 2013 from a strong fight against cancer. Her funeral was on January 28, 2013 and the eulogy I wrote and read follows. Most of the eulogy was written before she passed … I wanted to remember Barb in life, not death. (Just a little context – Eric is Barb’s husband; Lexi and Billie are Barb’s daughters; and Dr. Mehta is an amazing and compassionate oncologist.)

Thanks for letting me share this with you …

January 23rd 2013 – for the past year I wake up every morning with thoughts of Barb on my mind. As I do my morning rituals – shower, shave, etc I think of Barb and what I would say on this day. Not that I gave up hope in the past year – Barb’s strength and drive to stay alive for her family would never let me do that, but I wanted to remember Barb in life – not the crushing day we have today.

On January 19, 2012 – we all learned Barb had a second bought of cancer. Initial prognosis was she had 2-3 weeks. Barb’s supreme love and care for her family and the great work of Dr. Mehta would have none of that. On January 22, 2012, I texted Barb after having seen her the day before on the hospital … I was so taken by Barb’s fighting and driven disposition. I said “Barb – you are truly, truly amazing. If anyone can, you can accomplish amazing things with your fight. What can I do to help? Love you tons. Barb replied “trying my hardest to here for my family. Will do anything I have to … Send me positive thoughts. love you.”

If you really want to know Barb, and I am sure many of you do, this simple text exchange completely defines Barb. Barb was 200 percent committed to her family and would do anything, … anything for them. Even to the point of detriment to her own well being. The pride she had in her two beautiful girls. So proud of Lexi’s growing at Penn State and the joy and appreciation of Billie looking after her. Just having the precious time to play mancala with Billie. This was Barb. It was never about her. It was always …. always about her family. One of the most giving unselfish people in the world.

Barb always beat to her own drum. Even when we were kids I cannot remember her being a follower.

In my earliest memories of Barb she showed signs of complete order. I remember her meticulously emptying her piggy bank and neatly aligning her coins and counting them. Everything had to be lined up in perfection. She brought this forward in her adult life. Taking care of every aspect of the Shipon family, maybe not with perfection but damn close. Another fond memory was around 1974 when The Flyers won their 2nd Stanley Cup and there was a passion for hockey in Philly. We played lots of street hockey and I thought Barb was pretty cool for being one of the only girls who played. How times have changed for the good … just look at Lexi and Bill and how they rule the sports world. OK, maybe that’s not Barb’s doing … maybe just a “little” help from Eric.

Without any doubt, Barb’s greatest joys were seeing the accomplishments of Billie and Lexi. So Billie and Lexi – continue to make mom proud. She will know. Her love for you is stronger than anything. That tie will always be there and she will continue to see your accomplishments and happiness from above. And her partner in life, Eric, you always would tell me that Barb was the most amazing perfect person in the world. She certainly was for you and the girls. No doubt. Carry her spirit; learn from what she has taught us. Keep her grace alive in the Shipon family.

Barb touched so many more than just her family. Whether it was being there for another stranger fighting cancer to give them care and confidence, touching all of you, and my family as well. Barb’s inspirational fight certainly touched my family. Barb, you certainly were an awesome role model for my Maya … you touched her and were the inspiration behind much of her Bat Mitzvah planning. We are so blessed that you were there with us for that!

During Barb’s sickness, Barb would live by the slogan that you need to find a little good in even the bad days. She would often say to me “I am finding something good about each day.” And honoring my dear sister, I am going to find some good in this most painful day. The good I find is the gift of the last year. No it was not enough, not nearly enough, but we got some extra time. Extra time to say I love you to each other a lot more than we ever had. Don’t wait to tell someone you love them. Don’t wait to show and express that love.

Barb was actively seeking inspiration this past year. The little notes, emails, caring bridge comments meant so much to her. She was thrilled to hear about what was going on in everyone’s life. Once again, unselfish Barb. Not calling attention to her battle. Just very happy to hear the good things happening in other’s lives.

I’d like to share one particular note she received that was very inspirational for her

FAITH: For every new storm, there is a rainbow, and so it is with life. If you have faith, there will be a rainbow; you will have the strength to weather the storm.

JOY: Sometimes it’s the smallest things in life that bring us the most joy. It can be as simple as a shared laugh or a warm smile.

GRACE: How you climb up the mountain is just as imperative as how you get down the mountain in the end. It all comes down to one word…GRACE

ACCEPTANCE: To surrender your worries and accept what is beyond your control is to know peace.

LOVE: Love is the greatest gift we can give to others and ourselves. Love is all that truly matters.

GRATITUDE: Life is full of beautiful moments to be grateful for. When we walk in gratitude for every moment, we empower ourselves by empowering our spirits.

Honor Barb. Keep her in your memories and in your heart. Consider these ideas that moved her so and follow this in your life. Think of her when you do and let Barb continue to touch our lives forever.

Barb showed us that our time in this world is not for self indulgence and looking for gratitude. It is about being there for one another and by doing so making this world a better place. Yes I mentioned how Barb did everything for her family, but she also rallied the family to volunteer and support other needy people she never knew.

Today is painful because we lost an awesome wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend. But if we are to make some sense of what is really incomprehensible at this time we should all keep Barb alive in our lives. We should take who she was, what she stood for and learn from it.

Barb thanks for adding so much to the lives of some many. Love forever.

And in closing, I leave you with some words from Barb. I asked her if there was anything she wanted to post to people. I passed this on to Eric to post on Caring Bridge and Eric asked me if I took any poetic justice. Barb could barely speak and think straight when I captured her dictation. But in true Barb fashion, these were her exact words … I quote …

For all of those that have touched my life and shown me love and support I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have been there for me more than I have been there for you. I cannot thank you enough. You will never be forgotten. Love to all, Barb

Barb Shipon – Loved Forever

No social media / marketing learnings and advice this week. Simply a tribute to my loving sister, Barb. Barb was the most giving person I know. I learned some of the most important lessons on life from her. She left us on Jan. 26, 2013 – but has captured our love and hearts forever.

Dissecting Social – Social Media, Social Marketing, Social Business

You’ve heard this before … there is so much talk and hype and just a bit of reality with regards to social. Oh, and yes, there is no shortage of people claiming to be experts in this social thing. But what is social with respect to business and marketing? Actually, it is a number of different classifications, each with distinct purpose, use, and opportunities.

Social can be broken into three categories: social media, social marketing and social business.

First, social media … social media is technological innovations that have allowed substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities and individuals. Social media is virtual communities and networks that provide the vehicle for users to create, share, and exchange content, comments, and recommendations. They employ both mobile and web-based technologies to create high interactive communications amongst users. Social media digital technologies allow:

• existing friends to communicate,
• people with common wants, needs, and interests to connect and communicate, and
• “brands” to engage with prospects and customers

From a business perspective it is important to recognize that social media is an enabler … you still need a strategy, plan, and appropriate execution in order for it to turn dividends. Social media can be used by businesses for both short-term and long-term endeavors. Short-term uses include promotion (coupons, sweepstakes, announcements), digital ads (on social platforms), and commerce (eCommerce, social commerce). You should view these activities in the same vein as digital marketing that seeks to promote consumer action. Social media is mediocre for short-term results.

Social media is much better for long-term relationship building and brand preference. Think of long-term use of social media as brand marketing or social marketing. There is definite motivation for having a long-term commitment to social market. As I state in most of my presentations, “engaged customers spend 30% more” (Bain and Company) and there is “71% likelihood of purchase when referred by social media” (Hubspot).

Social marketing is the strategy, plans, execution, and measurement to yield two-way brand communication and engagement and word-of-mouth referrals via social media channels.

Social marketing aims to build brand awareness, increase consideration of purchase, strengthen customer loyalty, and produce brand advocacy. Ultimately social marketing builds strong relationships and creates brand preference. Social marketing motivates not only communication and engagement between brand and user but also between people talking about the brand.

Companies need to move beyond social media and have a social marketing strategy because people use social platforms as a natural way of life now. Nearly 1/2 of the US population is social network users.

Source: eMarketer, Feb 2012; confirmed and republished, Aug 2012

So why would people follow brands? The most likely reasons are presented below:

Source: Burst Media, “Let’s Get Social: Web User Preferences, Habits and Actions in Spring 2012, June 28, 2012

Successful brand social marketing means people love your content and many come to view it. They actively share it with their network, and many people talk about the brand and brand content and reference it. Brands not only need to engage with their audience, but they also must provoke social sharing. Social sharing is the act of putting content on the internet for people to consume. Social sharing should not be confused with the platforms and apps that enable social sharing (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest).

Social marketing must yield measurable results; specifically awareness, consideration, loyalty, and advocacy.

Social marketing requires commitment and continuous effort. Brands should think about being a resource for finding, educating, connecting and engaging with purchasers at every stage from consumer to shopper to advocate. It starts with customer insights and empathy for the audience. Once this is in place, brands should have continuous and meaningful engagement. The ultimate goal is to drive continuous social interaction around the brand (earned/social media).

Some companies are evolving beyond social media and social marketing and are truly a social business. Social business is about moving past social media tools to embrace new models of working that tap into the collective intelligence of an organization and its networks. Social business is the combination of spontaneous collaboration, powerful analytics, and deep CRM insights. Companies that are adopting social business recognize the opportunities to devise new models for profitability and growth.

Social business will become more and more imperative. 88% of Global CEOS say that getting closer to the customer is their number one strategic goal. (IBM Global CEO Study) Also noteworthy, outperforming companies are 30% more likely to identify greater use of social media as a key enabler of collaboration and innovation as a key influence on their organization. (IBM CHRO Study)

The steps to building a social business are as follows:
1) Online listening and reactive responses.
2) Social marketing to accomplish mass engagement using new one-to-many channels.
3) Use of social CRM to execute data driven engagement and build 1:1 relationships.
4) Use first three steps to build a social business integrating strategy and business model built on networks and relationships.

So know the differences between social media, social marketing, and social business. Start by having a social marketing strategy and then move to becoming a social business. This will take time. Recognize that social media is only the enabler. Have a commitment and plan in place to evolve socially.

Make It Happen!
Social Steve

Making the Most of Digital Connections

In today’s digitally connected world, you can communicate with just about anyone. You can find them on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and a number of other social platforms. This is a luxury. Do not take it for granted.

Now, two questions for you. Are you going to actively seek out those people that may be important to your career or your company? And if you do connect with them, how are you going to take advantage of having digital access?

I have seen most people leverage digital connection to advance their career. Many use LinkedIn to hunt for jobs and stay connected with past and present colleagues. On the other hand, most brands are not seeking out the appropriate connections. Only 35 percent of companies use social media to research and engage with customers. At the same time, consumers post comments directed at brands and expect a timely response – 32% expect a response within 30 minutes; 42% expect a response within 60 minutes; and 57% expect the same response time at night and on weekends as during normal business hours.

So let’s assume individuals do use the digital world to connect and communicate with other people. Are they doing it right? In most cases, I would say no. Far too many aim at pushing their own agenda and selling something. How do you gain peoples’ trust and confidence? Not by saying, “Hi, I want to sell you something.” I cannot tell you how many people connect with others they have never met before and take this approach. I myself have no shortage of vendors contacting me on a weekly basis trying to sell me something before we have even started a conversation. Just this week someone found me on LinkedIn and sent me a message stating, “I’d really like to introduce our services to Hyper Marketing.” Never met the guy and this is the first sentence. What an immediate turn-off.

Are you approaching digital connections the same way? Digital connections should be valued as a wide breadth of technologies that allow relationship building. Brand marketing (whether it is for an individual, product, or service) is not a short term program. The goal is to build trust and preference and that does not happen with one or two communications.

I am most interested in learning about products and services that can help me. But how about starting the conversation by getting to know what I do, my needs, and then aligning that information with your offerings. Doesn’t everyone feel that way?

I think most consumers are interested in learning about things that they value. It is just a matter of where you start the relationship. The general rule to follow is that you should be a valued relationship (first) and when your audience is ready to make a purchase decision, you are their brand of choice. Use your digital connections to build relationships and leverage their connection this way.

So take the right steps and seek people out that matter to you and your company. Do this on a continuous basis, not just at the time of need. Don’t let the initial correspondence go right to selling. Strengthen your connections and deepen relationships over time.

Make It Happen!
Social Steve

2013 – The Year Social Media Will Be Measured Correctly

In 2012, just about every marketer got on board recognizing the need for social marketing. More and more brands included social implementations to their marketing programs. And now, there is no shortage of “experts” making their predictions of social trends for 2013. (Okay, I added some context here as well. )

But this post is not a prediction. Social media metrics is a MUST for 2013. And I am putting my skin in the game. In the words of the great Peter Drucker, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Before I share my efforts defining meaningful social metrics, let’s first review “What Successful Social Media Looks Like.” As I mentioned in that article, social marketing is not a strong channel to promote sales. But social is very strong at increasing Awareness, Consideration, Loyalty, and Advocacy. All of these attributes “tee up” sales. Thus we should measure social as a function of awareness, consideration, loyalty, and advocacy … at least as a start.

At Ryan Partnership, a full service marketing agency where I head up the social practice, I have defined the Social BrandAction Index. The Social BrandAction Index is a proprietary algorithm that weights different input parameters in each category of awareness, consideration, loyalty, and advocacy.

When I calculate the Social BrandAction Index for clients I come up with a number, say 237. The first question is “what does 237 represent? Is that good?” The number starts with a baseline and is meaningless at first look. The index needs to be looked at as a trend. You need at least four months of data to see how this number is trending. Trending is what is important. It tells how social programs are increasing (or decreasing) awareness, consideration, loyalty, and advocacy.

Certainly, the Social BrandAction Index provides meaningful information. But it must evolve, as social continues to evolve. For example, pins from Pinterest need to be added. At this time, Pinterest does not provide analytics that can be captured other than counting manually. Another case in point is sentiment analysis … it needs to improve significantly and it is part of the social metrics.

So yes. We have a start of meaningful metrics. But I will be the first to admit that they need to mature. So in 2013, I will continue to work on social media metrics modeling that provides the most accurate and telling conclusions of brand social marketing implementations. As I quoted Drucker in the beginning, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” If you have some thoughts with regards to how we take social metrics forward, let me know. Maybe we can collaborate to improve what I have defined thus far.

Make It Happen!
Social Steve

Love and Kindness – 2013

As 2012 closed, I think many people were down. We all seem to take to heart the tragedies of Sandy (both Sandy Hook Elementary and Sandy the Hurricane). The “Fiscal Cliff” was looming as well.

With this in mind, my perspective was, “yes, these are horrible occurrences and unfortunately, we always have bad scenarios happening.” But we as people with different challenges can look to embrace the beautiful things in life. I felt there needed to be a movement of “Love and Kindness in 2013.”

So being the social geek that I am, the first thing I did was to create a hashtag #LoveAndKindness2013 looking for people to catch on and simply post love and kindness shown by others. I am thrilled to bring to you just an awesome act of #LoveAndKindness2013 that has hit me directly …

My sister Barb is battling cancer. I am deeply touched by the following that was posted on Facebook. Please consider participating and forwarding to others.

Okay. I need everyone’s help on this and starting by asking 18 people who I know will do it — (names removed to protect privacy) A dear friend of mine’s wife, Barb, has been fighting what others (who don’t know her) would think of as a futile fight against cancer. Last January, she was given 2-3 weeks to live. Now, nearly a year later, she continues to fight every day for the right to live another day, week, month, year.

Barb’s birthday is January 17, a birthday everyone but her, her husband and two amazing daughters thought she’d never see. I want her birthday to be big Big BIG. So here’s the deal. I want people from all over the world to send her birthday cards. I’m going to tag 18 friends and ask them to do it and hope everyone who sees these tags 18 friends and asks them to do it to. In Hebrew, 18 is Chai — life. So let’s celebrate her life because trust me, life is better with her in it. You can do it on line for about $2 or less at @cardstore (cardstore.com). Or stop in any store. I’ve set up a PO Box for the cards.

Please send cards to
Happy Birthday Barb,
PO Box 835,
Wayne, PA 19087 USA.

Sincere thanks to “Fran.”

Make It Happen!
Social Steve