Last week, I had a conference call to discuss a potential series of social media workshops we might have done with Leslie Poston, of NH’s Uptown Uncorked and the co-author of Twitter for Dummies.
However, Leslie found out earlier that morning that Lani and I are members of the International Social Media Association (ISMA). As a result, she said she couldn’t do any workshops with us or be seen as being associated with our business because of our relationship with ISMA.
That, shall we say, took me a bit off-guard.
Now, I knew that there had been a brouhaha in the blogosphere about ISMA back in December, but I hadn’t bothered to read anything about it. As I’ve told a number of people then and recently, I’m content to let ISMA handle ISMA issues, and focus on my own business. In retrospect, though, I probably should have paid a little closer attention.
Turns out Leslie also has her own specific concerns about ISMA, and she and I had a great conversation (really!) after the initial surprise wore off.
She asked me - and I’m paraphrasing - what I could tell her about ISMA to change her mind, because other people had already tried unsuccessfully to do so.
The rest of this post mirrors what I shared with her in response, which has little to do with ISMA and much more to do with our own business and the reasons for the decisions we made, which are four-fold:
1. Previous corporate experience.
2. Ramp up our learning curve for to serve our audience in general, and our clients in specific, much better.
3. Long-term trust in Mari Smith.
4. Global masterminding opportunity.
And up front, I’ll ask you the same questions (also paraphrased) I asked Leslie before I told her the story:
Based on what I’m about to share, can you see how we logically came to be involved with ISMA from a business perspective? Can you see why it makes sense that we as business owners made the decision to go through Mari’s program?
I’ll keep this short and to the point. Promise.
1. Previous stuff. Way back before the dawn of time (1998-2001), I worked in corporate America as a bank auditor. Me? A bank auditor?! Yes, you read it right: A bank auditor. And one of the expectations of the job was to work toward the “Certified Internal Auditor” (CIA) designation offered by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), a professional association for the industry.
Not only did I earn that one, I was about six months away from earning my “Certified Information Systems Auditor” (CISA) desgnation from yet another association, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), before I switched careers.
This wasn’t a matter of ego, stacking all the acronyms behind my name. This was a professional expectation, laid down by the AVPs, VPs, and SVPs who managed the auditing departments of two banks for which I’d worked as an auditor.
So when someone talks to me about the professional benefits of certification - regardless of how many organizations in the industry are doing the certifying - it’s an idea I can get behind.
2. Ramp up. In 2007 and 2008, we were getting more and more questions about social media from clients. Hey, when you handle blogging and online content strategy, it’s a natural leap.
We’ve been blogging since 2006, on Facebook since 2007, and Twitter since 2008 - imperfectly, in the trenches, learning as we go and figuring things out the way most small business owners do. But as the questions started coming faster, and became more pointed (i.e., “Can you help us?”), Lani and I knew we needed to get into a focused training program. We highly value education and professional development, and we looked to a source we already knew and trusted to get it.
3. Mari Smith. We’d been following Mari for about a year when we had the chance to meet her at an event in November 2008. You know how sometimes you meet someone in person and they’re not the same person you’d been reading, listening to, and watching on YouTube? Not so with Mari. She was exactly as genuine, generous, and transparent in person as she was online. What a relief!
Mari announced in March 2009 that she was going to be rolling out a six-month intensive training program - not just on Facebook and Twitter, and not just her! She brought in Lou Bortone (another NH guy) to teach about online video, Jesse Stay (the creator of Static FBML), Nathan Kievman on LinkedIn, and a few others, too. It was a virtual program - with live content delivered via webinars - and that fit in perfectly with our married-with-business-and-two-young-children lives.
Plus, she had even bigger plans. She intended the program to be a certification-level thing. She intended to launch a global association at the end of this inaugural program. And when she talks about “Radical Strategic Visibility,” she walks the walk.
We believe Mari, we believe IN her and the purity of her intentions, and it was the right program at the right time for us. Not to mention…
4. Masterminding. This is one thing I didn’t share with Leslie when she and I talked, but it’s very relevant (and particularly so for Lani). You know the benefits of collaborating with like-minded entrepreneurs. It’s why you go to networking gigs, attend regular events in your industry, and other business-focused get-togethers in your corner of the world.
But how often do you get the chance to participate in a six-month social media intensive, sharing resources, brainstorming new opportunities, and making valuable connections, with 50 business owners in six countries (US, Canada, UK, Italy, South Africa, Australia)?
Answer: Once in a blue moon. We’d have been silly to pass it up. So in April of 2009, we said “Yes” to Mari. And there you have it.
Now, here we are, 11 months later. Are there other social media certification programs out there? Yes. Are any of them perfect? No. Mari herself regularly notes through her own channels and with comments on other folks’ blogs that there’s room to improve ISMA, and she’s consistently working in that direction.
And there are the “other” questions. Can social media practitioners authentically be certified in the first place? How can a new professional body, with the same intentions as other well-recognized associations - like, say, the American Marketing Association (AMA), the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) or the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) legitimize itself? What’s an appropriate investment for in-depth social media training? Are direct marketing tactics relevant for the social media space?
Those “other” questions go well beyond ISMA, and to my mind, focusing on ISMA in answering them is the equivalent of ignoring the forest for the trees. So in future posts later this month and year, I’m going to start throwing my hat into the larger, more relevant fray and answer these larger questions.
In the meantime…
For Epiphanies Inc. in specific, in my conversation with Leslie and reputationally in our corner of the world, the real issue boils down simply and only to those two questions I asked her (and you) earlier:
Can you see how we logically came to be involved with ISMA, from a business perspective? Can you see why it makes sense that we as business owners made the decision to go through Mari’s program?
Debbie Bolduc of Franklin Savings Bank first brought this story to my attention back in October 2009, and it quickly made its way into our presentations as a powerful example of how building a dedicated tribe through social media has tremendous, far-reaching, and even unexpected benefits.
Short summary: In September of 2009, Vermont’s Rock Art Brewery got a cease-and-desist letter from Monster Energy Drinks (subsidiary of the multi-billion-dollar Hansen’s Natural Beverages). They wanted Rock Art to stop using “The Vermonster” as the name of one of its microbrewed beers. Rock Art found out they could fight it in court and have a good chance to win, but it would likely bankrupt the comparatively small-pocketed company in the process.
A month and a half after receiving the C&D letter, thanks to thousands of people joining a Monster boycott movement on Facebook and nearly 2 million tweets on Twitter about it (which also got the attention of one of their US Senators), Monster dropped the case. Or, as CNN succinctly puts it, “Matt [Nadeau, Rock Art's owner] used social media to publicize his plight and settled the dispute amicably.”
Yes, that’s right - this social media groundswell also led to television coverage on major news outlets, including this piece last week on CNN. And the best news - as you’ll hear at the end of the report - is that Nadeau leveraged the power of his tribe to create real change in how small businesses like his, yours, and ours can protect their trademarks.
Ever get a Twitter DM or see a tweet that promised X tweets a day and X followers per month for a monthly fee? Here’s what may be going on behind the scenes…and note to self, don’t record video while facing direct sunlight.
We’ve done a webinar or two before, but this will be the first time one of us has been webcast live in streaming video glory, and we’re pretty psyched. This session is primarily being promoted for New Hampshire audiences, but the information applies to businesses wherever they may be. Hope to “see” you there!
Gilford, NH (2/12/10) - With more than 330,000 NH residents on Facebook and 350 million overall, a billion YouTube streams being played every single day, and the US government asking Twitter to delay scheduled downtime because of its vital role in crisis communication across the world, it’s very clear – social media platforms are here to stay. In fact, social media channels are rapidly becoming some of the most preferred methods of communicating important information.
But do you know how to maximize social media’s use for business purposes? Learn how during “New Mediums/New Messages – How Social Media is Transforming Communication,” the free NH BizCast webinar slated for Wednesday, February 17th from noon-1 p.m EST. It will be broadcast live online at www.NHEconomy.com.
“It’s not enough these days to rely on traditional communications and advertising vehicles,” said New Hampshire Division of Economic Development Interim Director Roy Duddy. “To keep pace, you really need to learn how to reach new audiences via social networking.”
“New Mediums/New Messages – How Social Media is Transforming Communication” is a Social Media Crash Course, covering trends, fears, and success stories, and exploring how they relate to the potential and power businesses and organizations have today. Offered by the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development, the February 17th BizCast will feature Allen Voivod, co-owner of Epiphanies, Inc.
Allen and his wife/business partner Lani have been featured widely in the media, including the NH Union Leader, Forbes.com, NH Business Review, Blog Talk Radio, NHPR, and New Hampshire Today. As founding members of the International Social Media Association, they have delivered presentations for the NH High Technology Council, Women Inspiring Women, and the American Society for Training and Development, among many other groups.
As is the case with all NH BizCasts, the webcast will be hosted live at the Comfort Inn (71 Hall Street) in Concord and will feature a live audience.
For more information and to attend the BizCast, visit www.NHEconomy.com. Those planning on participating in the live audience at the Comfort Inn are asked to pre-register by contacting Leslie Sherman at (603) 271-2591 or leslie.sherman@dred.state.nh.us.
About Epiphanies, Inc. As Certified Social Media Strategists and Certified Inbound Marketing Professionals, Lani and Allen Voivod share powerful social marketing & success strategies through speaking, workshops, customized training programs, and consulting. Their company, Epiphanies, Inc., trains teams, crafts strategies, and serves as long-term success partners for a handful of global brands, industries, and mission-driven organizations. To find out how they can help your business boost visibility, community, competitive edge, memberships, and profits, become a Fan of Epiphanies, Inc. at http://facebook.com/AhaYourself and drop them a line on their Wall, or email facebook [at] EpiphaniesInc [dot] com.
About the NH Division of Economic Development The New Hampshire Division of Economic Development, comprised of the New Hampshire Business Resource Center and the International Trade Resource Center, offer resources to enhance the economic activities of the state through business attraction outreach, in-state business expansion efforts, and facilitation of government and international sales. To network, access resources, and support the efforts that make NH one of the “Most Livable States” in the nation, become a Fan at http://facebook.com/NoBullBusiness.
Heard the news about Twitter? It’s yet another password hack, but it’s not really their fault. (Really!)
Since some of the things I’ve read required me to read them two and three time to understand what was up, and since I had a client ask me whether they should be worried about their account, I thought I’d share with you a very simple explanation for this latest Twitter security breach, and plan of action for you, in 6 easy points:
1. Some file-sharing websites/forums (also called “torrent” sites) have turned out to be hacker scams, thought out over the long-term. Hackers built online forums and sold them to unsuspecting folks, secretly keeping the ability to access complete lists of usernames and passwords for themselves.
2. As a sweeping generalization, people like to use the same username and password across all their different logins anywhere on the Internet whenever possible (from your newsletters to online banking to web-based email to Twitter).
3. When these hacker-compromised forums get popular and get enough users, there’s enough reason for hackers to go back in, pull the lists of usernames and passwords, and use them for nefarious purposes.
4. One of those nefarious purposes was to break into Twitter accounts - likely to send spam, scam people for more confidential information, et cetera.
5. So if you use file-sharing forums, or software like BitTorrent, and you want to keep using it, then you’ll need to change your password for Twitter (and would be advised to do it in every other online venue you use that requires a password).
6. And if not, then you don’t have to worry about it for the short term…but do consider the idea of changing passwords more frequently and (to be REALLY safe) use different passwords for different sites where possible, so they’re not repeated across websites/forums.
Have you heard of Michael Stelzner? Or did you, like me, only know him as “that white paper guy”? (Which is actually intended as a compliment, since there’s no one else I think of when I think of white papers.)
(Side note: Michael’s on the Board of Advisors for the International Social Media Association, and delivered this webinar on their behalf - it was a freebie for Founding, Platinum, and Premium ISMA members, and available to Basic and non-members for a nominal fee.)
It was the inside story of the success of his 2009 Social Media Marketing Industry Survey, which led to more than 40,000 downloads of the related report, more than 3,500 new email subscribers, 500+ news and blog stories, and helped change his brand positioning from just being a white paper expert to being a social media expert as well.
You’ll have to check out the further details at the ISMA site, but I wanted to share three quick stories for small biz owners, marketing professionals, and anyone tasked with creating social media campaigns.
1. Even the best don’t always hit their goals. In the Survey itself and in tweets about it, Michael wrote that he needed 1,000 people to take the Survey. He also made it very easy for people to share links to the Survey form. In 10 days, he got about 880 to take the Survey.
Do you think he was beating himself up over not hitting the goal? Heck no! He got more than enough responses to create a decent report, and he ran with it, without hemming and hawing about it.
2. Be open to surprise benefits. In the final report, Michael included links to a couple articles as additional resources. One of them was The Dark Side of Twitter: What Businesses Need to Know, a “MarketingProfs Today” newsletter article. On the strength of the report’s reception, that article became the most popular article of 2009 on the MarketingProfs site.
As he shared in the webinar, that was an unintended side benefit of the campaign. And with more than 360,000 members, you can bet that created fantastic exposure for him.
3. “Anticipation is a marketing super-weapon.” To propel the report to stardom, Michael used an age-old tactic. He emailed the 880 Survey respondents days before the report was ready to tell them it was coming, and to be on the lookout for it, promising some very surprising results. He reached out to industry leaders and media centers of influence in advance, and offered to make the report available to them a day early to get a jump on the story.
For an automotive analogy, imagine stepping down on the gas and the brake at the same time, then suddenly releasing the brake - and pressing a “turbo” button at the same time. Result? Explosive launch!
There’s a 2010 Survey report being created as I write this, and if you want to get your hands on it, keep an eye on Michael’s excellent Social Media Examiner for details.
Certain cultural trends are supposed to say something about us as a nation - the proliferation of horror movies in the 2000s as a response to 9/11 and the War on Terror, as some suggest, or the explosion of reality TV shows as a reflection of the splintering of TV audiences, a rise in celebrity voyeurism, the failure of old broadcast business models, and the adoption of web and mobile video platforms.
Phew!
So you’d think that looking at the most popular Facebook Fan Pages would tell us something about ourselves as a nation - or about Facebook Nation, at least.
So, make of this what you will:
1. Michael Jackson
2. Vin Diesel
3. Barack Obama
4. Facebook (Official Fan Page)
5. Mafia Wars
6. Texas Hold ‘Em Poker
7. Starbucks
8. Megan Fox
9. Lady Gaga
10. I [Heart] Sleep
11. R.I.P Michael Jackson (We’ll Miss You)
12. Twilight
13. Pizza
14. Will Smith
15. Dr. House
16. I need a vacation!!!
17. Coca-Cola
18. I really hate slow computers
19. YouTube
20. I hate waking up during a good dream and it won’t come back
21. I don’t sleep enough because I stay up late for no reason
22. Adam Sandler
23. Skittles
24. Linkin Park
25. Nutella
From a numbers perspective, at #1, the MJ Page has more than 10 million Fans, and #25 Nutella has more than three million. (Nutella? Really?!)
Here are three conclusions I think are fair to draw:
If you want case studies of what savvy brand builders are doing to explode their audiences in Facebook Nation, look no further than this last. Break it down for yourself - how often are they posting? What are they posting? How are they interacting with Fans? What applications are they installing? Are they tagging Fans, favorite-ing Pages, sending updates, linking from other platforms? Use this info to help formulate your own Fan Page strategy.
The concept of celebrity on Facebook looks a little different from celebrity in other media. Think of the media titans who aren’t on this list. Oprah Winfrey and American Idol are no-shows. There’s not a single player from ANY professional sport, either.
Facebook gives us a meta-level conversation opportunity that we never knew we wanted, until Facebook gave us the platform to do it easily and virally. How else to explain the popularity of conceptual pages like ones about sleeping, dreaming, vacations, computers and (just outside the top 25) multiple pages about laughter?
What about you? What do you think Facebook Fan Page popularity tells us about ourselves?
Wanna up your Facebook Fan Page game? Check out how other people you respect and trust are customizing their Fan Pages, and put what you learn into action on your own Page. Here are three examples of how we’re doing that in our own business…
If for some reason the video embed doesn’t come through in your reader or on Facebook, just click this Facebook video link, and we’ll send you along to our YouTube channel!
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on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 12:26 pm and is filed under "A-Ha!" TV, Social Marketing.
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I just went looking for the origin of the phrase “lightning in a bottle,” which is sadly lost in the mists of time. This post has a stamp of authority on it so particular to the British that I’ll consider the matter closed.
Which is a tangential side note to the major point of this blog post.
The whole notion of “viral” marketing - putting something out to the world that catches fire, gets shared millions of times over and elevates a product, brand, or idea to rock star status, has been likened to that “catching lightning in a bottle” idea.
It’s miraculous, unexpected, and utterly captivating, and the story of how it happened is often as compelling as the happening itself.
Our friend and uber-talented producer/sound supervisor Rick Sanchez of Post Haste Media just sent me this little note:
A story from the social media trenches. An ex-coworker writes a song, makes a video, posts it on YouTube on Jan. 1. It’s seen by Ashton Kutcher who then tweets about it to his million+ followers and in 4 days has over 20,000 views.
It’s early days yet in this story, but we’re going to be keeping an eye on how it progresses.
In the meantime, here’s the lesson for all of us, no matter what our business, passion, message, mission, or vision. It’s possible to catch lightning in a bottle, no matter how rare or random it might seem. Even if you’re not Ben Franklin. Or Ashton Kutcher.
From the mindset standpoint, here’s “all” you have to do:
1. Keep going out into the storm.
2. Stay consistent with your efforts.
3. Be open to trying new ways of making that magic happen.
It’s Tuesday, so here’s a video note about Twitter, which has completely embraced the myriad unexpected ways users have taken over the platform, and it’s reflected in one simple and meaningful change to their logged in homepage.
This little change may have gone unnoticed by many, because about 80% of Twitter users don’t go to Twitter.com to tweet!
(Tuesday…Twitter…apparently we’re about to get all alliterative up in this blog. Three guesses what’s happening on Friday - and the first two don’t count.)
If for some reason the video embed doesn’t come through in your reader or on Facebook (they’re touchy), just click this Twitter video link, and we’ll send you along to our YouTube channel!
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That, shall we say, took me a bit off-guard. 
1. Previous stuff. Way back before the dawn of time (1998-2001), I worked in corporate America as a bank auditor. Me? A bank auditor?! Yes, you read it right: A bank auditor. And one of the expectations of the job was to work toward the “Certified Internal Auditor” (CIA) designation offered by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), a professional association for the industry.
This wasn’t a matter of ego, stacking all the acronyms behind my name. This was a professional expectation, laid down by the AVPs, VPs, and SVPs who managed the auditing departments of two banks for which I’d worked as an auditor.
3. Mari Smith. We’d been following Mari for about a year when we had the chance to meet her at an event in November 2008. You know how sometimes you meet someone in person and they’re not the same person you’d been reading, listening to, and watching on YouTube? Not so with Mari. She was exactly as genuine, generous, and transparent in person as she was online. What a relief!
Those “other” questions go well beyond ISMA, and to my mind, focusing on ISMA in answering them is the equivalent of ignoring the forest for the trees. So in future posts later this month and year, I’m going to start throwing my hat into the larger, more relevant fray and answer these larger questions.
But do you know how to maximize social media’s use for business purposes? Learn how during “New Mediums/New Messages – How Social Media is Transforming Communication,” the free NH BizCast webinar slated for Wednesday, February 17th from noon-1 p.m EST. It will be broadcast live online at 
for themselves.
Well, things have changed for Mr. Stelzner in the last year, and he revealed the back story of his transformation a few days ago during a fantastic webinar: “
