Timing is everything.
In the last few weeks, I added TweetDeck to have a better view of the steady stream of tweets I follow throughout the day. Among the 100 feeds I follow, one is from the ROM. As I am one of the 3,500 people following the ROM, I received their notices as well as those from BlogTO, about the ROM's first Tweet Meet on Thursday, October 20. It went out a few days beforehand, so what the heck, I tweeted that I wanted to come. On October 18, I was confirmed for the event designed around David Hockney's Fresh Flowers exhibit.
The first question is why did this attract me and 20 other ROM followers to tweet that we wanted to come? Obviously, there was the chance to be in the same room with David Hockney, celebrity artist. That is already huge, but I think the promise of meeting him in a small group and receiving VIP treatment added to the the draw.
Next question was whether there was delivery on the promise? Here the answer is an emphatic yes. The ROM team received us marvelously in the c5 restaurant with a glass of wine and hors d'oeuvres. We had a chance to meet some of the other lucky folks and the ROM team. Lots of friendly folks but obviously a lot of noses glued to screens. After a while David Hockney came. He did not stay long, but was gracious. He's in his seventies, so he sat down and chatted with the people around him and those who approached for about 15 minutes.
Once he left, we drifted down a floor to his exhibit for our own private viewing. I have to admit I was not the most social of the social mediates there, I preferred taking in the whole exhibit without any crowd. There were certainly some animated conversations going on but I was pretty much in my own world. Overall, the exclusive experience delivered on the teaser invite.
Next is the key question of what this 20 person event achieved? From the ROM's perspective, was it worthwhile given all the other activities surrounding David Hockney's visit such as lectures and media interviews. I imagine this was one of the smaller activities and such small gatherings will usually be with top patrons, which was not our group. I spent some time chatting with Lauren of the ROM specifically about what they hoped to achieve. Bottom line is the social media team is trying new things and like everyone else, learning on the run. Their mandate is to change the ROM's perception as monolithic, academic, institutional perception and appeal to a wider audience. As I told her, she is lucky in that the ROM leadership knows they are supposed to be in dialogue with their audiences and community. The question I imagine the social media team has to face is skepticism as to whether social media actually delivers value. Specifically, was it worth it to invite a small group with minimal connection to the ROM, including and include this activity into the tight schedule of their world-renown artist visitor? In my opinion, I would say so. As Lauren and I discussed, lots of folks are trying different things with social media and in five years it will all be clearer. In Internet terms, while 3,500 followers is not huge, it is still a lot of people who want to hear from you. Turning those followers into something more substantial is a challenge, and that was the goal of the evening.
So how can the ROM team measure success? At the most basic level, there was a lot of activity at the #FreshFlowers hashtag during the event - dozens of tweets, perhaps more than 100. More importantly, the ROM now has 20 ambassadors in the social media world. I am a ROM member and visit with some regularity. I even go to some of the events around the launching of exhibits. But last night made it much more personal and high value for me.
What did they get from me? Well, I tweeted about the event (admittedly after I got home as I am sorry to admit I am not a mobile tweeter). Now I am writing a blog posting. I will talk about, and yes brag about seeing David Hockney to my friends interested in the arts. I will be looking for other social media events organized by the ROM and submitting as quickly as I can. Both on the social media front and by word-of-mouth, the ROM will obtain a halo effect and change some opinions through my personal network about being a more innovative and cool organization.
Am I a big opinion leader in social media? Well, admittedly no. But like the others there in attendance, I am either interested in the ROM or David Hockney. I am involved in social media enough to be following the ROM feed with some regularity. So they have invested in me and 20 others. It's grassroots social media and as Lauren suggested, in five years the return on investment will be clear.
I have questioned the value of social media frequently in this blog, hopefully in a positive rather than dismissive manner. My first Tweet Meet was a positive experience that changed me from an observer to a brand ambassador for the ROM. Any communications channel that can achieve that is effective. It's value is right there to see.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Charity Fundraising Communications
For the past months, a group of wonderful volunteers and staff from the Toronto School of Art, www.tsa-art.ca, have been planning and preparing Hidden Gems, the school's signature fundraising event, held every two years. This year it will be at Steam Whistle Brewing on October 26 from 7:00-11:00 p.m.
From the communications perspective, the difference between the first two editions in 2007 and 2009 is that now we have a Facebook page with 650 followers and an email list of 3,000 people. We have a much better reach through social media. I'm sure the Twitter and YouTube presence will develop over time, but for now, they are still in their infancy.
While we have greater reach, the struggle is for attention. I have met a number of my classmates in recent weeks at art shows and the school and it's clear that despite the ability to reach them, our audience is not paying full attention. At best, they usually only have a vague awareness of the event.
The reasons for this are many. We started promoting over the summer, everyone's attention is elsewhere. The reality of fundraising events is that Toronto has hundreds of them. I think the reason people attend them is because someone asks you personally, even if you are highly engaged with the charity. I don't know if my experience is the usual one, but the idea of going out and spending several hundred dollars to be with people I likely don't know does not appeal to me. I have to admit that I did not attend my school's earlier fundraisers because I did not think I would know anyone there, and looking at the photos after the event, I think I was right.
So the big question is how to break through to our key audiences and get them interested in attending. I believe the answer is a well balanced effort of personal invitations that leverage the power of social media. Given my greater commitment to Hidden Gems this year, I talk it up with my fellow students. While they usually have only a vague awareness of the event when I start the conversation, once I invite them personally, something changes. They now have a connection and are much more open to it.
I believe we are building a very successful event despite all the challenges on the way. The test will be how many tickets we sell, how many people attend and how much money we raise for the school. We need to use all our touchpoints to invite our students and friends, and ensure they will meet friends there, ideally because they are bringing them! It needs to start with personal invitations - either through another student who is a friend, presentations in classes, invitation post cards, as well as creating a buzz on our Facebook page and event information page. I am confident that if we focus enough attention on all our in-person and social media channels, we will create a wonderful event that will help the school and its students while building greater awareness in Toronto about its best art school!
Thanks for reading! I hope to see you there, if you mention that you read my blog, I'll buy you a drink. Full info about Hidden Gems, including ticket purchase, is available at www.tsa-art.org
From the communications perspective, the difference between the first two editions in 2007 and 2009 is that now we have a Facebook page with 650 followers and an email list of 3,000 people. We have a much better reach through social media. I'm sure the Twitter and YouTube presence will develop over time, but for now, they are still in their infancy.
While we have greater reach, the struggle is for attention. I have met a number of my classmates in recent weeks at art shows and the school and it's clear that despite the ability to reach them, our audience is not paying full attention. At best, they usually only have a vague awareness of the event.
The reasons for this are many. We started promoting over the summer, everyone's attention is elsewhere. The reality of fundraising events is that Toronto has hundreds of them. I think the reason people attend them is because someone asks you personally, even if you are highly engaged with the charity. I don't know if my experience is the usual one, but the idea of going out and spending several hundred dollars to be with people I likely don't know does not appeal to me. I have to admit that I did not attend my school's earlier fundraisers because I did not think I would know anyone there, and looking at the photos after the event, I think I was right.
So the big question is how to break through to our key audiences and get them interested in attending. I believe the answer is a well balanced effort of personal invitations that leverage the power of social media. Given my greater commitment to Hidden Gems this year, I talk it up with my fellow students. While they usually have only a vague awareness of the event when I start the conversation, once I invite them personally, something changes. They now have a connection and are much more open to it.
I believe we are building a very successful event despite all the challenges on the way. The test will be how many tickets we sell, how many people attend and how much money we raise for the school. We need to use all our touchpoints to invite our students and friends, and ensure they will meet friends there, ideally because they are bringing them! It needs to start with personal invitations - either through another student who is a friend, presentations in classes, invitation post cards, as well as creating a buzz on our Facebook page and event information page. I am confident that if we focus enough attention on all our in-person and social media channels, we will create a wonderful event that will help the school and its students while building greater awareness in Toronto about its best art school!
Thanks for reading! I hope to see you there, if you mention that you read my blog, I'll buy you a drink. Full info about Hidden Gems, including ticket purchase, is available at www.tsa-art.org
Friday, August 5, 2011
The most precious commodity - trust
Trust - so hard to gain and so easy to lose.
After all my years in the world of communications, I have precious few ideas about how to gain and strengthen trust when it is lacking while still being acutely aware of its fragility and how easily it breaks.
Central to my relationship with managers and executives is the need for mutual trust. While respect is also part of the picture, the foundation is trust. In my view, my brand is what my manager trusts me to do, do well and do consistently. I have experienced positions where that is enormous and others where it feels microscopic.
I cannot force another person to trust me and usually it takes quite a while to figure out why they no longer trust me. What is just as frustrating is trying to clarify the reasons why they do not trust my expertise. Some people simply choose not to trust, and there is precious little I can do about it, as much as that bothers me and I agonize over it. Others react to situations of stress by becoming more controlling and less trusting. If I can figure this out at all, it usually takes quite a while.
Articles in my professional association's publications frequently focus on how to become a trusted adviser to senior management and executives. This is an essential aspect of a field like communications, which is so hard to measure and so much of an art. The rub is when my skills and experience are not trusted - even if I'm right. Then what do I do? I have yet to see a good article to address that tight spot!
I think there is only so much you can do to try to make a person trust you. At the end of the day, I do want to go home and not obsess about my work because my boss or client not liking my advice or work I do for them.
My solution is to try to be more trusting of those around me. Nice in theory, but challenging in practice. Like some of my bosses, there are people I inherently don't trust, even in spite of good work they do. I believe that seeking to build teams and foster an environment of creativity and brainstorming is the positive place to start building trust. Next comes identifying the people I don't naturally trust and the reasons why, and then trying to work through them with the individuals in question. I am far from perfect in this approach and have often failed, but you need to start somewhere, and this is the right place.
Thanks for reading!
After all my years in the world of communications, I have precious few ideas about how to gain and strengthen trust when it is lacking while still being acutely aware of its fragility and how easily it breaks.
Central to my relationship with managers and executives is the need for mutual trust. While respect is also part of the picture, the foundation is trust. In my view, my brand is what my manager trusts me to do, do well and do consistently. I have experienced positions where that is enormous and others where it feels microscopic.
I cannot force another person to trust me and usually it takes quite a while to figure out why they no longer trust me. What is just as frustrating is trying to clarify the reasons why they do not trust my expertise. Some people simply choose not to trust, and there is precious little I can do about it, as much as that bothers me and I agonize over it. Others react to situations of stress by becoming more controlling and less trusting. If I can figure this out at all, it usually takes quite a while.
Articles in my professional association's publications frequently focus on how to become a trusted adviser to senior management and executives. This is an essential aspect of a field like communications, which is so hard to measure and so much of an art. The rub is when my skills and experience are not trusted - even if I'm right. Then what do I do? I have yet to see a good article to address that tight spot!
I think there is only so much you can do to try to make a person trust you. At the end of the day, I do want to go home and not obsess about my work because my boss or client not liking my advice or work I do for them.
My solution is to try to be more trusting of those around me. Nice in theory, but challenging in practice. Like some of my bosses, there are people I inherently don't trust, even in spite of good work they do. I believe that seeking to build teams and foster an environment of creativity and brainstorming is the positive place to start building trust. Next comes identifying the people I don't naturally trust and the reasons why, and then trying to work through them with the individuals in question. I am far from perfect in this approach and have often failed, but you need to start somewhere, and this is the right place.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Why are we doing this?
The most cringe-inducing question in any organization is 'Why are we doing this?'
While this applies for any business activity that an organization undertakes, it is equally, if not more challenging in the area of communications. The reality is that this question leads to other unsettling questions about goals and measures - and sets you up for the risk of failure. Precision is not always welcome. While for-profit businesses have a bottom line that stares you in the face and is the ultimate judge of your success, most public sector organizations (my background) do not have that dose of reality. Outcome success measures, such as changing public opinion, are more vague and are usually very expensive to evaluate at a quantitative level. So little measurement is done and we avoid the question of why we do things.
Back to the central question, my sense is that the reason why many organizations undertake communications activities is a combination of:
Lately, this question comes up for me more with social media. It is time-consuming to do it right. It is the flavour of the moment. So why, why, why? I have grown less skeptical over time because I realize that as something new, there is a need to experiment to sharpen the value proposition. And the reality is that old media value propositions are not carried out with a lot of measurement precision either.
But I do think social media is plagued by the same loose thinking as old media but with the advantage of being new and cool. In discussions, you will hear the most common goals of new media to be engagement and community-building. Sounds vague to me...
Given social media is web-based, there is the opportunity to measure more precisely than old media, which will be extremely helpful in the long run. In the short run, it makes sense to have some patience to see what can work and what builds traffic and viewership. In the medium term, there is a need for some measures that can help set up realistic answers to the big question - 'Why are we doing this?' Let's hope communicators and marketers learn to wrestle with this question more often.
While this applies for any business activity that an organization undertakes, it is equally, if not more challenging in the area of communications. The reality is that this question leads to other unsettling questions about goals and measures - and sets you up for the risk of failure. Precision is not always welcome. While for-profit businesses have a bottom line that stares you in the face and is the ultimate judge of your success, most public sector organizations (my background) do not have that dose of reality. Outcome success measures, such as changing public opinion, are more vague and are usually very expensive to evaluate at a quantitative level. So little measurement is done and we avoid the question of why we do things.
Back to the central question, my sense is that the reason why many organizations undertake communications activities is a combination of:
- We have always done this (media releases)
- We need to show we are doing something (brochure)
- Somebody has asked us for a specific product (promo item, ad)
- Everybody else is doing this (social media)
Lately, this question comes up for me more with social media. It is time-consuming to do it right. It is the flavour of the moment. So why, why, why? I have grown less skeptical over time because I realize that as something new, there is a need to experiment to sharpen the value proposition. And the reality is that old media value propositions are not carried out with a lot of measurement precision either.
But I do think social media is plagued by the same loose thinking as old media but with the advantage of being new and cool. In discussions, you will hear the most common goals of new media to be engagement and community-building. Sounds vague to me...
Given social media is web-based, there is the opportunity to measure more precisely than old media, which will be extremely helpful in the long run. In the short run, it makes sense to have some patience to see what can work and what builds traffic and viewership. In the medium term, there is a need for some measures that can help set up realistic answers to the big question - 'Why are we doing this?' Let's hope communicators and marketers learn to wrestle with this question more often.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Old big things
When is social media interesting? When it will be old and dead! Read Seth Godin's blog about Dead Stuff to see the genesis of this idea, which is basically once something is no longer a big technological innovation, it becomes much more interesting. In other words, the dust has settled, we understand its limits and what it can offer and then the real work begins to obtain value.
Although I am almost afraid to admit it, I am a huge fan of permission based email - mainly e-newsletters and other updates. It just seems so retro at this point. I know the stats very well on industry percentages for open rates and read throughs - both well under 50%. But my gut tells me this is a powerful way to reach people who want to hear from you as an organization. The reality is that for every online conversation, many more people are on the sidelines listening and observing. They do not necessarily want to engage or have a conversation at this precise nanosecond, but they want to hear from you and may jump in at some point. Maintaining contact with them keeps you in their consciousness.
Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is a shining example of engaging its donors and achieving monumental results, especially in fund raising - one of the hardest areas of sales. They have a gi-normous email base and they send out a classy e-newsletter on a regular basis with results of their scientific research, patients, fundraising events and much more. It's actually a good read at times - even if I am not a donor. I am also on their Twitter feed (1,200 followers) and Facebook (600 followers). But the reality is that they use social network to push people to information on their website, as they do with their newsletter and I imagine with their paper newsletter as well (which I don't receive). So it's all about reaching people in as many ways as possible to get them information of interest. And they succeed very well even if the success percentage of each one is limited. I never read about them in industry articles but I know they are doing great work with 'dead stuff' - the non-cutting edge of communications technology at the service of effective communications.
Thanks for reading!
Although I am almost afraid to admit it, I am a huge fan of permission based email - mainly e-newsletters and other updates. It just seems so retro at this point. I know the stats very well on industry percentages for open rates and read throughs - both well under 50%. But my gut tells me this is a powerful way to reach people who want to hear from you as an organization. The reality is that for every online conversation, many more people are on the sidelines listening and observing. They do not necessarily want to engage or have a conversation at this precise nanosecond, but they want to hear from you and may jump in at some point. Maintaining contact with them keeps you in their consciousness.
Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is a shining example of engaging its donors and achieving monumental results, especially in fund raising - one of the hardest areas of sales. They have a gi-normous email base and they send out a classy e-newsletter on a regular basis with results of their scientific research, patients, fundraising events and much more. It's actually a good read at times - even if I am not a donor. I am also on their Twitter feed (1,200 followers) and Facebook (600 followers). But the reality is that they use social network to push people to information on their website, as they do with their newsletter and I imagine with their paper newsletter as well (which I don't receive). So it's all about reaching people in as many ways as possible to get them information of interest. And they succeed very well even if the success percentage of each one is limited. I never read about them in industry articles but I know they are doing great work with 'dead stuff' - the non-cutting edge of communications technology at the service of effective communications.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Well, maybe social media...
Well, I am not on the bandwagon by any means, but I have gone from having my toe in social media to now being up to my ankle. I participated in my first Tweet Meet this week. And let me tell you, it was underwhelming. If social media is all about conversations and community building, this experience did not meet those goals. It was very clunky, slow and not all the tweets were even picked up properly. Most of the attendees were bystanders - and the group's theme is social media! It was a rather painful hour.
I continue to ask - where is the value? The answer continues to be unclear to me most of the time.
But here is where I believe the sweet spot is, putting people in touch with others they find credible and trustworthy. My social media activity consists of following a few blogs (booooooom.com, sethgodin.typepad.com and ehealthmusings.wordpress.com). Why? Because they all have information that interests me from people I respect. I am part of their communities and conversations because of the steady flow of information that interests me from people I trust.
Like any form of media, that's the foundation. Social media is different, but not so different after all. Get the content/credibility basics in place and the conversation/community will follow naturally.
Thanks for reading! Next up, still old school - email does work.
I continue to ask - where is the value? The answer continues to be unclear to me most of the time.
But here is where I believe the sweet spot is, putting people in touch with others they find credible and trustworthy. My social media activity consists of following a few blogs (booooooom.com, sethgodin.typepad.com and ehealthmusings.wordpress.com). Why? Because they all have information that interests me from people I respect. I am part of their communities and conversations because of the steady flow of information that interests me from people I trust.
Like any form of media, that's the foundation. Social media is different, but not so different after all. Get the content/credibility basics in place and the conversation/community will follow naturally.
Thanks for reading! Next up, still old school - email does work.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Social Media - Bah! Humbug!
As we have survived the Christmas season and now turn back to our 'normal' lives - albeit likely a few pounds heavier - I have to continue my thoughts on social media, as they remain confused and conflicted.
Over the past months, I have read the blog of my friend Michael Martineau, www.ehealthmusings.com. Mike is the most passionate person I know about the use of social media in health care, coming back to it frequently especially the idea of blogging. In all honesty (sorry Mike), I'm not convinced.
Before I go into why I think the value of social media and particularly blogging is limited, let me talk about my use of it. My favourite blog is www.booooooom.com - an absolutely amazing visual arts blog that I love and that in my mind is an example of a successful blog. Almost no text, just images from three or four different artists every day. I visit the site everyday as well as following on Twitter and Facebook. How successful is the site? Well, let's get it from Jeff Hamada who runs the site:
Our monthly traffic now tops 3.2 million pageviews with visitors coming from more than 200 different countries. More than 27,000 of you follow Booooooom on Twitter, and our Facebookfamily has grown to nearly 42,000!
Those are some pretty amazing numbers. And yet...
If you look at any of the signs of engagement or conversation, they are very limited for such huge numbers of visitors. Most postings of new work have a handful of responses. Jeff also makes it a point of engaging his audience through contests and requests for comments, e.g. choosing a name for his cactus. He often gets dozens of responses, but again the percentage is limited.
So my point is this. Social media and blogging work well when a community of interest already exists, but their success in creating new ones is limited. Mike's eHealth blog is followed by hundreds of people - but they were already interested in eHealth before and again, the amount of feedback on his fine musings is minimal. People come to read but not participate. Booooooom is very successful in its own way, but within limits. So if there is not an already existing community of interest, social media and blogs in particular are not going to create or sustain a community of interest or conversation. They can help establish a meeting place, but their sustainability and passion come from somewhere else.
Well, thanks for reading. My thoughts on this matter are still a work in progress and I am sure will develop and change over the coming months.
Over the past months, I have read the blog of my friend Michael Martineau, www.ehealthmusings.com. Mike is the most passionate person I know about the use of social media in health care, coming back to it frequently especially the idea of blogging. In all honesty (sorry Mike), I'm not convinced.
Before I go into why I think the value of social media and particularly blogging is limited, let me talk about my use of it. My favourite blog is www.booooooom.com - an absolutely amazing visual arts blog that I love and that in my mind is an example of a successful blog. Almost no text, just images from three or four different artists every day. I visit the site everyday as well as following on Twitter and Facebook. How successful is the site? Well, let's get it from Jeff Hamada who runs the site:
Our monthly traffic now tops 3.2 million pageviews with visitors coming from more than 200 different countries. More than 27,000 of you follow Booooooom on Twitter, and our Facebookfamily has grown to nearly 42,000!
Those are some pretty amazing numbers. And yet...
If you look at any of the signs of engagement or conversation, they are very limited for such huge numbers of visitors. Most postings of new work have a handful of responses. Jeff also makes it a point of engaging his audience through contests and requests for comments, e.g. choosing a name for his cactus. He often gets dozens of responses, but again the percentage is limited.
So my point is this. Social media and blogging work well when a community of interest already exists, but their success in creating new ones is limited. Mike's eHealth blog is followed by hundreds of people - but they were already interested in eHealth before and again, the amount of feedback on his fine musings is minimal. People come to read but not participate. Booooooom is very successful in its own way, but within limits. So if there is not an already existing community of interest, social media and blogs in particular are not going to create or sustain a community of interest or conversation. They can help establish a meeting place, but their sustainability and passion come from somewhere else.
Well, thanks for reading. My thoughts on this matter are still a work in progress and I am sure will develop and change over the coming months.
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