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!

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.