The last few posts have outlined some thoughts on the subject of Transparency. This generated some input from a few friends on the issue of "Authenticity."

One buddy stressed how important it is to demonstrate authenticity within emerging channels - specifically within social media. I thought about this a little, and I have a slightly different take on the matter.

I think we're already seeing a ton of authenticity in emerging media. For the observant, social media makes it relatively easy to piece together a somewhat realistic view of what goes on - or the thinking of various people and brands.

The problem is, not all of it is authentically good. There are a ton of people and companies being real out there. I'm not sure people always want to see real... because sometimes, reality bites!

• Hey, Cool Thought Leader: I don't want to find out you work in your momma's attic in your boxers and eating Cheetos as you crank out amazing insight. I'd rather have the illusion of a casual professional in an internet cafe or something.
  
• Hey, "Expert": I don't want to hear you yapping constantly about how great you are - or telling me to find out for myself by buying your sensational eBook for just $29.95. If you're that great, lemme hear it from others.
  
• Hey, Big Company: It's nice that you're fighting hunger in Africa with your $20 million dollar donation ... but you just laid off 5,000 American workers. :-(
  
• Hey, Huge Brand: I don't want to know that your social media outreach is being run by interns who love Gossip Girl, reality television and clubbing.

Seriously, some of what we're seeing is authentically bad stuff ... authentically ego-centric...authentically self-serving garbage. Further, too much reality can be a bad thing. We don't need more of this.

Without a doubt, we all love authentic good: Especially when it's not misleading or a smoke screen for the bad; Especially if it involves daisies, puppies and children. Authentically good stuff makes people feel better about interacting with you or your brand. It brings them back for more, and encourages them to tell others about your greatness.

At the same time, there are probably some authentically bad aspects of each one of us that might be better left unseen... or dare I say it -- repented of and remedied! ;-)

In the end, I'm sticking to my assertion that in emerging channels, people only want a level of insight into you that makes them feel more secure and confident investing themselves as your friend. (Note: Investment = giving you their time, attention, follows, engagement, recommendations, ranking, referrals, sharing your content, purchasing, etc.)

Strike this balance and you're off to a great start.

In my last post, I tried to define this notion of "transparency" as context for a few other posts. Smart companies understand that emerging channels demand a greater level of openness and transparency than we have historically provided to customers. They embrace the pressure to perform well in highly visible channels - using it as impetus to identify broken aspects of customer experience and fix things -- rather than continue the way they always have. They recognize the opportunity these channels present to serve customer needs, build stronger relationships and strengthen brand affinity.

A number of brands do this well today. On Twitter alone, it's easy and fun to engage with brands like @zappos @comcastcares , @southwestair @virginamerica @dell and others. Check out Best Buy CMO Barry Judge's blog and the activities at both My Starbuck's Idea and Best Buy's Idea Exchange for crowd-sourcing and customer co-creation. None of these brands claim they get it right all the time. But when they do mess up, it's refreshing to them say, say "Hey - sorry we messed up!" "We're learning." "Here's what we're doing about this problem." and "Here's how we'll make it right.". It's awesome to talk to companies who embrace responsibility as they work to help create satisfied customers. For these companies, transparency is a friend.

Unfortunately, conpanies like these are still the exception, rather than the rule in most emerging media channels. The truth is, many companies who have become active in social media (blogging, twitter, facebook, etc.) will privately admit to being terrified of having an increased level of transparency with customers.

While it's natural to have a healthy fear of increased exposure, some companies become so preoccupied with looking transparent and authentic, they lose focus completely. In an effort to use these channels to generate PR and spin, they may fail to engage as the medium demands: becoming more open and accessible; harnessing the power of the tools to bolster service and support; building relationships and driving brand advocacy. For these companies, transparency becomes the enemy.

We don't need to mention names ... Do a quick audit yourself of the posts, tweets and status updates of a few major brands. It doesn't take more than a page or two to figure out who's really tapped in to their network and who is not. Check for dialog. Check for responses, and look at how the posts are worded. Is there conversation? Resolution? Are they broadcasting 140 character versions of press releases? Do you feel like you're being force fed a marketing campaign in tiny little chunks? Are they attempting to buy followers? Are they focused on quality interactions? Do you recognize people? Does the chatter seam meaningful? It's pretty easy to tell where the brand is at. Next, ask yourself: "Would I follow this brand?" If you wouldn't -- take note of why and remember it.

This isn't just about corporations, but the agencies that serve them, as well. Ad Age did a fantastic piece this week highlighting the hypocrisy of agencies promoting Twitter. And that's just scratching the surface of a pandemic of agency hypocrisy in emerging media. In many cases, the lights are on, but nobody's home.

What surprises me is how easily companies and agencies forget that people don't necessarily want to have love affairs with brands. In truth, people care really care most about themselves and having their needs met. They care about being heard, and responded to. They want to feel valued and recognized. They want to know others care. They often seek relationships with other people who make them feel good about themselves. They love brands because they meet and exceed their expectations. These tools pose tremendous opportunity to meet those needs. However, it seems some companies think just being present is "good enough".

To be clear, being present in social media is not the same as establishing an effective presence. Broadcasting messages en mass within intimate digital channels isn't going to win coveted relationships. Shucking off customer issues, suggestions and recommendations isn't going to win friends. Ignoring people or their comments, is in fact is going to alienate customers and prospects. Yet it's happening all over within emerging media channels... as the world watches. For companies who do this -- transparency is your enemy.

Customers can see exactly where the heart of the brand lies by the focus, content and intention of their emerging media content. It's okay to approach these channels with caution... but the world is watching. Don't just stand there and spin... engage, provide service, add value, meet needs, co-create and give back. Turn that ship around and give people something positive and remarkable to discuss!

There's a lot of talk in marketing and social media circles today about the concept of "transparency." I use the term myself -- usually when trying to explain the impact of digital and social media to my clients. These technologies tend to expose the soft underbellies of our companies, by providing customers with greater visibility and more intimate knowledge of our brands, employees, products, services and operations. As a result, we are forced to work in a more transparent manner to address customer needs across a spectrum of online and offline channels.
That makes a bit of sense, I hope.

The problem is, the way most people are using the word "transparent" in this medium today feels terribly inauthentic to me -- as if we will all become as clear as glass, someday. The truth is, while these new channels force us to be more transparent, we will always seek a degree of opacity. Call it a fig leaf to cover our nakedness; a closet for our skeletons; or an illusion of transparency.

Will we ever become truly transparent? I think not. We've all got some damage; some ugly we're trying to hide. We've all got things that need to be fixed. Stuff that perhaps it's better others do not see. Do we want everyone to know our business? Nope.

So when we use the term transparent, what we're really striving for is balance -- creating an acceptable level of honest visibility for customers, which makes us more real and more accessible to them. This helps customers understand our plight as we attempt to service their needs, while providing enough opacity to shield us from over exposure.

Sounds a bit like dating, to me.

What do you think?

I'm going to write a bit more about companies that fight transparency in my next post. Stay tuned.

As a follow up to the DiGiorno Pizza Critique, I spent a little time thinking about other types of marketers and created a revised post called "10 Tips for Twitter UnMarketing." You can find it here and add your .02 cents.

If you are curious about the title, I'm just not a real fan of the term "Social Media Marketing." I realize it's the hot buzz word - but it makes me uncomfortable. Maybe it's just semantics. I don't know.

We are migrating from the post industrial product-centric organizational model that is heavily task-focused -- to post millenial people-centric models that are customer focused (all tasks wrapped around the customer). It's a revolution that is happening at the pace of an evolution -- and can be awkward and painful as companies walk through the change. Perhaps that's why so many companies find delivering great experiences an elusive goal.

In the wake of this change, marketing is undergoing important shifts. Entirely new skill sets are required. Channel proliferation is happening at light speed. The way we go to market is different -- sometimes less expensive but often much more challenging to manage. Our dialog has changed. Marketing today is MUCH less about pushing an agenda and message through aggressive outbound communications, programs and campaigns. Today, it is MUCH MORE about delivering the experience fundamentals, being excellent and remarkable -- and helping people discover us by building authentic relationships, by allowing others to "taste and see" -- by experiencing.

So that's why I used the term "Un Marketing." This isn't about marketing. It's about customer experience.

While I write about a lot of "stuff," my focus has been on creating great dialog with customers, and designing creating great experiences that are people focused. Social media fits in because it's a rapidly growing, dynamic experience tool. It's important to pay attention to what's going on and learn from specialists , (I don't like the term "expert either) who are actively engaged in various aspects of social media.

I can't thank you enough for your comments, tweets, DMs, IMs and emails. Please keep them coming!

Ad age reported today that Kraft/Digiorno Pizza and Weber Shandwick PR have teamed on the launch of Digiorno's new Flatbread Pizzas. Digiorno will deliver free pizzas to tweetups in LA, New York and Chicago. The Twitter component is part of a national launch involving print and television. The announcement highlights the brand's plans to reach out to "influential" tweeters.

Okay - I think this is a GREAT idea. Tweeters are vocal, fiercely loyal and when you get us together, it's even better. Get a great idea out - make us love your product and we'll push the good news up the flagpole. We love brands that love us, and nothing says love like schwag, food and conversation! Yay!

The thing is, there seem to be quite a few challenges with execution here that are worth highlighting. To ensure success, here's some Live Path advice for any brand planning a campaign with a Twitter-driven social media component like DiGiorno:

1. Define "influence" in advance. The Digiorno There's no definition of what "influence" is. I find it hard to believe they'll be launching this without that definition in place. The article eludes to number of followers - but any veteran on twitter will attest to the sheisters out there who have numbers but LITTLE dialog or influence. Brands should look at followers against the backdrop of other elements, like overall voice (on Twitter and other social networks), reach (comments, re-tweets, links in), affiliations (e.g. social media club, DMA, others) and activity (travel, conferences, speaking where word may be spread).
   
2. Establish Your Angle(s). Beyond influence and geography, it's important to think about specialization/demographic. Social Media makes it easy to target individuals with specific areas of influence. Walmart and 800-FLOWERS are just two brands that have actively targeted Mommy Bloggers. I'm friends with a few of the Walmart 11 moms - and a few have frugal living columns. SXSW featured a panel with Chris Brogan and others called "Dad is the New Mom." I have a fun cadre of foodies in my Tweetdeck group. It's important to define the angle you're going to "shoot from" for "focused tweets." For example, for Digiorno, I would ask the following: Is your angle economics, making mom or dad's life easier, or great tasting pizza... or all of the above. Choose a mix that matters most to generate the best word-of-mouth!
   
3. Challenge Geographical Constraints. Don't assume you'll find the best and most influential tweeters for your brand will be found in LA, New York and Chicago - there are plenty of active, chatty hubs in other areas of the country, as well. If your product is aces for middle-american housewives - go get 'em! Targeting is not dead -- in fact it's even easier with social media.
4. Make it Easy to Get Involved. The article on Ad Age provides no way for people to engage with Digiorno. There's no page on the website - no available URL that details the new program. What happens if an influential tweeter reads this and says "I have an influential tweetup this week! I want Pizza!!" How do they make their case to Kraft? At a minimum, brands should offer a web page with details and criteria. Better yet -they're wise to add some comment functionality to the announcement page, allowing people to nominate themselves or their events in a visible way to others.
   
5. Tweet Unto Others. There's not one Twitter profile listed in the Kraft/Weber article on Ad Age. Furthermore, after some searching on Twitter, it seems Kraft is relatively unprepared to meet people from a brand perspective on Twitter. (Administering slap to PR agency hand!) This should have been handled before the release is sent out. When I looked on Twitter @kraft pulled up a person's profile with a link to an article about dead man's sperm. Nice! When I looked up @digiorno two accounts were listed -- without any followers, branded icons OR tweets. That's a shame because it's not hard to lay this groundwork. Put up a clever, branded icon. Seed your accounts with some tweets and information- engage some people in dialog on Twitter to create a tweet history in advance of any press releases. Oh - and while I'm on the subject - follow Twitter best practices. Do not use Twitter to BROADCAST your brand message. Simply tell people about the promotion, ask them what they think and create an open line of communication with the twitterverse. Finally, remember that once you are finished with your campaign - you're not finished on Twitter. Develop a plan for how your brand will continue on Twitter after your campaign is over.
   
6. Consolidate #Results. Do you want to demonstrate participation and make it easier to track word of mouth and discussion regarding your campaign? Why not create a hashtag to track buzz and centralize dialog about your promotion? It would be relatively easy to give something away for free with a simple request like this: "Participants will merely be asked to include "#digiorno in their tweet updates during the event".
7. Focus Beyond Tweets. Just because the campaign component is Twitter focused, your scope should not be limited to Twitter alone. You'll want to look at follow-up posts (like this one) and articles on popular sites and blogs - and you should be sure to comment on posts, and respond to tweets, as well. Recognize that everything starts the minute the press release goes out ... and promotion continues as campaigns ensue. "Shout out" the quick wins and results on the fly (e.g. Announced yesterday and 1000 people signed up!) to encourage follow up posts and mentions. Reward the people who volunteer but don't get selected with consolation prizes, like coupons or schwag. Take a page from Dell or Zappos and celebrate success publicly. Publish a post or rich media case study to highlight lessons learned and celebrate success. You don't have to tell all -- just tell enough to communicate success or how you have learned.
8. Immerse Yourself. Brands that want to foster dialog through campaigns like this should be careful not to miss the boat by acting like an old school marketer in a new media culture. The old models are dead on new media. Social Media Marketing is about , authenticity, relationship and dialog. It's not enough to just send free food or schwag! You must be present. While you can't be everywhere, you can target a few larger events and send a "brand agent"to listen and engage with your influentials. Make sure they fit in with the culture/bias of the group that is meeting. Make sure the agent asks attendees about themselves and what they think. Listen and respond positively. Be authentic, reflect the social media culture (and be sure to tweet remarks from the event yourself!)

I"m sure there's more to say on this topic, but I'm attempting to be brief here. Feel free to add your comments about how to create success with programs like these. Thanks for listening!

Yesterday, I posted a response to Beth Harte's great post about social media expertise. I highlighted the thought that, rather than accepting an individual's self-proclaimed title of "expert", perhaps it's best to look at people and companies in terms of level of social media engagement and results. I articulated social media engagement along a type of continuum. Taking those thoughts to the next level, here's a more refined, work-in process view:

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(Note - Posted Friday 4/3 - modified Monday 4/6)
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Clueless individuals are in the dark about social media. They may have heard the term, but social media has no impact on their personal life or work. They are not only clueless about social media, they are not actively interested in finding more out about it.

Questioning individuals want to know about social media, starting with gaining a clear definition of what it is. They need a clear picture of the landscape and categories of social media, and an understanding of best-of-breed tools. Questioning individuals are starting to read about social media and may have recently joined some of the more popular social media networks to find out what the fuss is all about.

From a Groundswell perspective, "Inactives " fall above this line:

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"Joiners" fall below:

Scouting (Updated 4/6 formerly called "Experimenting") individuals are testing the waters of several social media networks or tools to determine the benefits or application they may have for life and/or work. With esoteric goals in mind, they have joined a number of networks and are contributing sporadically to dialog and discussion. They are reading case studies and researching social media in addition to expanding their use of social media tools and applications. They do not have a significant network online.

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From a Groundswell perspective, Collectors, Critics and Creators start here.

Active individuals are vigorously using (and contributing to) at least five social media applications, networks or tools on a daily basis for work or pleasure. They aren't newbies by any stretch of the term. They have been entrenched in a base level of networks as active users for at least six months. Critical tools must include contributing to one or more blogs, having a presence on at least one major social network the use of social bookmarking or life streaming applications as well as the use/uploading to media sharing sites or rich media destinations.

Active individuals are gaining practical knowledge of social media, and a very clear understanding of how social media changes the way we live and work. They are quick to sign up and test new social technologies, in an attempt to perfect the suite of tools they use for work and life. They are exploring new social media tools and reading actively about social media, measurement, influence, case studies. They are building a social media network and fostering new relationships and dialog every day.

Immersed individuals exhibit the traits of an active user -- only across a much larger array of social media networks, sites and tools. Immersed users have a strong reason to be highly active in social media, usually for professional reasons. They may be actively promoting their brand or business in social media, serve as a community or service manager, manage social media within their organization, or serve as an active consultant, teacher or thought leader in the arena. Whatever role they assume, the use of social media networks, sites and tools is a critical core function of their work day. They understand the categories of social media and how tools can be applied inside and outside the firewall for both B2B and B2C and various types of businesses. They can readily share stories and case study information related to the work they've done that is useful and relevant.

Immersed users are also active contributors in the networks within which they participate. They are actively engaged in ongoing discussion and dialog. They contribute unique content and insight in their areas of expertise in the form of blog posts, articles, white papers, and other media, which is validated and supported by peers and contemporaries. Immersed users have very strong digital footprint, with substantial social networks and following. They also pull up easily within Google - and may be recognized within the field by other notable users.

Influential individuals exhibit all of the characteristics of Active and Immersive users and posses extensive, demonstrable experience working with an array of social media applications and tools. They may have experience developing social media applications, tools and sites. Influentials are active in developing and applying social media in professional environments with the specific goal of shaping the way we work, live and interact with brands. They may work within social media companies, or represent social media tools in a consulting or agency capacity to an array of recognizable clients.

Influentials have a significant amount of experience applying social media tools to drive specific results. They understand the myriad of technologies that can be used to solve client/customer challenges, the integration and operational complexities of using social media and when it may be appropriate to develop something custom vs. out-of-the box. They can readily produce tangible examples of the work they have done in social media through company or client examples, case studies or demonstrations.

It's significant to note that some influentials may have very deep, specialized knowledge of specific "categories" of social media or specific tools or networks themselves. At the same time, a true influential has his/her finger on the pulse of the arena and can speak authoritatively about the application of various tools in a number of enterprise environments, holding their own with inquiring analysts and venture capitalists.

Influentials do not wield influence for the reasons described by "follow bots" and social media grader/recommendation engines. While they do leave a hefty digital footprint and sport an impressive number of followers -- this speaks to the fact that they are authoritative in their area of expertise and have something remarkable to say. Influentials are highly engaged each day with a network of other immersed and influential people who are busy working within social media in a variety of capacities. This network strengthens their ability to do great work and serves as a lifeline of information on developments in social media.

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SO! Just thinking out loud!

Curious minds want to know.... Do you feel these categories are accurate and representative of the types of folks you encounter in social media? Where do you fall in the social media continuum? Where does your company fall? Tell me your thoughts. I'm sure I'll be updating this soon enough!

This Friday at 12:30 pm, I'll be interviewed by John Munsell and Paul Chaney on the User Friendly Thinking Show on Blog Talk Radio. The topic of our discussion will be customer experience management - demystifying the term, talking about the move to customer centricity is driving business change and how CEM will impact business and your job in the future. I really hope you'll join us, and look forward to talking to folks in Q&A. Click here for the link to the Blogtalk radio program!

This discussion will serve as a teaser into my upcoming Marketing Profs Premium Webinar on Customer Experience Management, which will be held on April 30th. The webinar is free for individuals with Premium Mprofs membership (It's low-cost, high value. I'm a Member!), and you can also pay for the webinar itself. We'll take a deeper dive and have visuals for this discussion. Click here for the link to April 30th Marketing Profs Webinar on CX with yours truly!

In between paying client gigs and crazy projects, I'm working on a redesign of the Live Path site and Experience Architect Weblog. Stay tuned for more... I'm aware of my usability hypocrisy on the blog now, and glad that most of you feel the content is worth the read, regardless of the crowded UI! Thanks for engaging with me.