It’s a kind of abstract question that comes up in corporate discussions. But here’s a really practical demonstration of the value of social media, on a simple level.

Our mate Aidan had a flat car battery. He doesn’t have an AA membership, but he does have Twitter. Our other mate Rachel had jumper leads and a car. Problem, meet solution!

Sounds simple, but it sums up everything that’s possible with the loose kind of community that social media allows.

Sometimes people worry that online social networking is making us less social, less connected to the real world around us. The evidence points to the opposite.

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(If you are interested in the harder business measures around social media, check out my presentation on social media measurement at Social Media Club Auckland)

Does more information = more work? Yes. Can that be productive work? Yes!

You may see social media enthusiasts like ourselves creating, consuming and curating a lot of content, and feel like you have to do the same. This is my official permission to you to let you off the hook. You don’t have to live and breathe this stuff for it to be useful to you. But there is a lot of useful stuff out there.

Just as I’ve given you permission to not be online 24/7, maybe you need to give yourself permission to go online and just explore for half an hour, make connections and find something useful for you.

(Freakin’ awesome picture from graffiti.freiburg)

In an unpredictable world, how can success be predictable? Les McKeown, author of Predictable Success, joins us for a candid chat about visionary leadership, and how Les uses social media to market his book. Interesting perspective from someone who’s by his own admission “very old”

And then you have companies like Coke, who recruit customers to be their ambassadors.

Expedition 206 is a year-long tour of three “happiness ambassadors” who are discovering what makes people happy in Coke’s 206 markets around the world.

I asked Coke’s digital marketing senior manager Anne Carelli how they came up with the idea, and how it’s working for them. You’ll be able to read more analysis on this in my online marketing column in the next NZ Marketing Magazine.

SY.        What are your marketing and comms objectives for Expedition 206?
Coke:   Our goal for this program is to unite people around the theme of happiness and bring our global “Open Happiness” campaign to life. Coca-Cola has been inviting people around the globe to enjoy the simple things in life for more than 120 years, and that spirit of positivity and optimism is at the heart of Expedition 206.  Our objectives include creating the opportunity for engagement both off-line and online in social media in all the countries where we operate as well as increasing the positive chatter in the digital space related to our Company and brands.

SY.        Where did the idea come from?
Coke:   The idea originated from our desire to create a program which would increase positive mentions / discussions of our Company and brands in social media, create new presences on Social Network sites and in social communities as well as create a group of brand ambassadors around the world. We also wanted to research happiness and determine what are the similarities and differences in what makes people happy around the world.

SY.        What challenges did you face getting it up and running?
Coke:   Looking back on the planning of the program, we didn’t have any major obstacles.  One particular challenge was selecting the finalists for the experience.  We had so many incredible candidates that we had to work very hard to narrow the selection down to the three final teams.  Candidates from all over the world submitted applications and audition videos, and we brought 18 people to Atlanta for a rigorous interview and audition process. We were looking for specific candidates with the right mix of personality, technical skill, health and mindset to complete this unprecedented journey. The final teams were presented to the online community for voting and it was a very close race!

SY.        What has been the best thing about it so far?
Coke:  One of the best elements of this program has been learning about the truly amazing people the Happiness Ambassadors have connected with in over 100 countries so far on their journey.  By utilizing social media platforms we are able to share these stories with the world and create spaces where consumers are able to engage with the Ambassadors and their stories.

SY.        What have you been able to do through social media that you couldn’t do with anything else?
Coke:  Through sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and blog updates, Ambassadors have been able to maintain constant communication with the social media sphere and share their amazing stories.  And vice-versa; fans can track and participate in the journey online and on the platform they chose.  Additionally  through crowdsourcing opportunities, fans participate in the journey by sending the Ambassadors messages, sharing their personal stories of happiness and giving the Ambassadors recommendations on how to find happiness when visiting their country.

SY.        For a huge brand like Coke, having your customers represent the brand seems like a really smart idea. Any plans to continue this into the future with other, similar expeditions/campaigns?
Coke:  This is a big part of how we do things at Coke. It’s not a gimmick; it’s a different way of operating. As for future programs building off of this expedition, you’ll just have to stay tuned!

We're just like this guy ... every day

This blog has been a wee bit quiet lately, because there’s a lot going on with us.

I thought it might be helpful to get the word out about some of the upcoming excitement.

BarCamp Auckland: 17 July 2010

(That’s this Saturday!) BarCamp is an unconference, which means anyone can speak, which includes me. I’ll be debuting my Ragtag Leadership concept and look forward to some great discussions.

Online Marketing & New Media Masterclass: 19-20 July, 2010, Wellington

Our 2-day masterclass will be in Wellington on Monday and Tuesday next week. It’s very soon, but I don’t think BrightStar would mind a few late registrations! These are comprehensive and very interactive, we always come away with some good questions. Register here.

NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants, Auckland, July 27th

Social media affects everyone, including accountants. This presentation will look at how social media is affecting internal communication, and also introduce some Ragtag Leadership ideas. Register here.

Wordcamp, 7-8 August

I won’t be speaking but will be attending this gathering all about the popular blogging platform (and for many sites, including this one, a full content management system) WordPress. Details here.

Marie Workshops, Auckland, 18 August

Our very successful one-day workshop continues in Auckland at the University of Otago centre on Wednesday August 18th. We’ve had great feedback from these workshops, particularly about the personal touch we bring to the workshops. We’d love you to join us if you’re new to social media (or even in need of a refresher course).

Google BarCamp Auckland

Another BarCamp, but this time all about Google. Not speaking, just attending (as long as I’m in Auckland) and listening and learning! Info here.

3rd Annual Marketing Education Services Summit, Wellington, 25-27 August

I’ll be holding a special one-day workshop for educational marketers wanting to harness social media to reach potential students. I’ll also be giving a presentation in the main summit, alongside some pretty high-calibre presenters including our friend Charlotte Mayne from Lincoln University, who’ll talk about how Lincoln revitalised its brand without losing its essence. Register for the summit here.

We’ve also got some exciting in-house engagements with clients coming up, including a talk to some research scientists, educators and PR people. It’s really exciting to see awareness of social media’s influence beyond marketing and PR. These are truly exciting times to be alive.

If you’re interested in getting us in for a workshop, or to speak at an event, please contact us.

Why websites don’t work

Okay, so maybe I exaggerated. Websites do work, and our website plays an important part in letting people know who we are and what we do.

But most of our enquiries don’t come through our website. Our latest two speaking engagements came through Twitter and Facebook respectively.

A simple benefit of social media is being available on multiple channels, so you can serve your clients/customers more effectively.

Also interesting; these enquiries came through a personal channel, rather than the official Twitter account or Facebook page. Again, it points back to the increasing importance of personal brand.

More on this soon!

(Clever calendar pic borrowed from this ingenious page)

Click here to view the embedded video.

I felt like I already knew Julien, because I listen to Media Hacks, the podcast where Julien joins Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel, Hugh McGuire, C.C. Chapman, and Christopher S Penn get together and have highly intelligent, advanced and entertaining conversations about social media – and stuff.

I met (and interviewed) Julien’s Trust Agents coauthor Chris Brogan at Marketing Now last year.

Auckland Theatre Company‘s Anna Connell takes us behind the curtain of social media marketing for an arts organisation. A must for every service business, because we’re all in the entertainment industry now.

We’ve covered a very similar subject before with Josie Campbell from The Edge. Josie’s done some pretty awesome things recently using social media.

On a more sombre note, this episode is dedicated to one of New Zealand’s great advocates for social media in the arts and culture sector, Paul Reynolds, who we lost tragically over the weekend. Read one of the many online tributes to Paul.

Simon's iPhone alarm goes off on stage, while Alistair Helms laughs

Didn’t make it to Social Media Junction? Missing a conference is never the same in the age of Twitter.

There’s photos, videos, and tweets. There’s a pretty darn thorough writeup in StopPress.

I got asked what I got out of it (see my comments and others’), especially considering I probably know a lot of the stuff already. Admittedly, I didn’t get a whole lot of new knowledge. But that’s not why people go to conferences.

Conferences are about making personal connections, meeting the “imaginary friends” you already know online (and making sure they’re real!).

Conferences are often about getting inspired to do what you already know you should do. Never underestimate inspiration.

I had a huge dose of inspiration from Julien Smith, one of the keynote speakers, who was also an “imaginary friend” I listen to on the Media Hacks podcast. Julien’s also co-author with Chris Brogan of the book Trust Agents.

Julien’s presentation, which kicked off the day, went to the heart of adopting social media – the need to be courageous and choose innovation. Here’s a taste of what he said.

It was great to speak to Julien before and after the conference (video coming soon), and to be challenged by this NYT bestselling author to do what I do (reasonably) well – write.

So watch this space. And it won’t be a book about social media, it’ll be about leadership, because that’s what social media will require of you. I’d better hurry up, the topic is on the radar already.

Other highlights:

• The irrepressible Aisha Hilary’s case study of how SBS is using social media to connect with its TV audiences (yes, audiences, they have 4 main segments who are very diverse)
• The practical (and full-of-local-examples) practitioner’s panel, chaired by Vincent Heeringa.
• Mike Hickinbotham’s in-depth case study of culture change and social media adoption at Telstra.
• The very entertaining Andy Beal’s very detailed and practical session on social media monitoring. Full marks for some great local examples – and pronouncing nz as en zed!
• Justin Flitter gets what social media is all about – the opportunity to create a customer-centric organisation.
• Our former neighbour Paul Reynolds (the incumbent, not the Telecom CEO) had some inspiring case studies of social media in the cultural sector.

Heard from the floor

I caught up with marketing veteran Steve Bridges, who at 69 years old has just bought an iPhone. He was loving the conference, enjoying the new information while also reassured that good marketing is what it always has been – creating a customer-centric organisation.

While Social Media Junction had good representation from telcos – with Telstra from Australia and Vodafone, Orcon and 2degrees from New Zealand – it was a bit of a mystery why Telecom weren’t part of the practitioners panel. It was a mystery to Rebecca from Telecom, too, who nevertheless was an enthusiastic live tweeter during the conference.

Fortunately, Rebecca gave a great presentation at last week’s Social Media Club Auckland. Video coming soon…

My top tips

I had the privilege of chairing a bloggers’ panel made up of some veteran bloggers (and one newcomer): Bernard Hickey, Mauricio Freitas, Russell Brown, Alistair Helm and Greer McDonald.

Themes from the panel, in no particular order:

• Have an opinion. Bernard Hickey put it this way: the best bars have the best bar fights. Be controversial.
• Promote your competition. Another one from Bernard, strongly echoed by Alistair. The main aim is to provide interesting stuff for your audience, whether or not it comes from you.
• Adapt to your audience. Greer expected her audience to be people like her – penniless generation Y women. Instead, it’s “old fat rich white men” … although perhaps that’s not too surprising!
• It’s an ongoing campaign. Mauricio runs the metrics on his blog like a perpetual campaign. He sets regular goals and keeps track of them.
• Do it yourself. Alistair’s first post was by a PR company and he didn’t like it at all. The best content comes from inside the company.
• Use the whole ecosystem. As other social media platforms have arisen, they’ve been very powerful as blog distribution mechanisms. I mentioned a Korean study that showed how Twitter is a broadcast medium, with the ability for dialogue when needed.

And finally, here are my top 5 tips for compelling content:

What would business look like if we all had greater empathy? Tara Hunt, a speaker at the recent Connect Now conference, shares her vision of a world where companies and communities actually work together.

Because you’ve been so attentive, you also get to see Tara’s presentation slides. Well done!