How to Create An Effective Social Media Plan

I’ve had a lot of requests for the presentation I gave in February to the American Marketing Association in Birmingham, AL. I wanted to provide some practical advice on what steps you should take and what issues you should think about as you put together a strategy for your social media program. This barely scratches the surface of what is involved in creating a comprehensive, successful social media presence. Over time I will be creating more detailed guides so check back or follow me on Twitter: @ScottSchablow .  Please leave a comment, provide me with feedback or ask a question. Thanks!

WordPress Foundation Says “Hello World” With New Site

The official word on the official birth of The WordPress Foundation came in the wee hours of January 22, 2010 (there’s still a few minutes left of January 21 in my time zone). It reads simply: Hello, world. The moment we’ve all been waiting for: the WordPress Foundation is now public. As they say, slow cookin’ makes good eatin’.

So what’s this all about? WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg explains:

“The WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software.

The point of the foundation is to ensure free access, in perpetuity, to the projects we support. People and businesses may come and go, so it is important to ensure that the source code for these projects will survive beyond the current contributor base, that we may create a stable platform for web publishing for generations to come. ”

The move is an effort to further gather broad community support to make sure that the freely accessible software project remain that way.  When you look at the numbers you realize just how important WordPress has become:

• WordPress is available in 23 languages and has been downloaded about 18,000,000 times in 2009
• The more-than 1,100 free WordPress Themes have received over 11,000,000 downloads
• The 8,000 WordPress plugins  have received over 71,000,000 downloads

So, whether you are a WordPress user / fan or not, head on over to http://wordpressfoundation.org/ and have a look around on this momentous occasion.

(Hat tip to @acnatta for pointing this out on Twitter)

What’s Missing In Your Social Media Program?

I was having lunch with my friends Ike and Jacob Pigott recently and we were discussing the state of social media here and across the US. I got on a bit of a rant but I think I had a good point to make. As a strategic marketer it drives me absolutely nuts to see companies (and professional marketers) executing tactics without a solid STRATEGY. This practice seems to be even more prevalent in the emerging social media field. Everyone with a Twitter account is an expert. Every company with a Facebook fan page is “doing social media.”  Social networks are tools, tactics are tools, heck, a hammer is a tool. Would you hire anyone who can use a hammer to build a house for you? I hope not. You’d want someone who could help you develop a PLAN for the house. Not just a plan for putting up walls and a roof, but a plan that would create a house that does what you need it to do. A plan that ties the different systems together in an elegant and useful way.

Then I started thinking about what else is missing. It stands to reason if there is no strategy and your just swinging your social media tools at random people, you probably don’t have much CREATIVE thinking involved either. After all, CREATIVE is what conveys the message that came out of the, you guessed it: STRATEGY.  I happened upon a post by Edward Boches, Creativity in the age of social media. Bam! Edward hit the nail on the head. He says that in social media’s infancy, the the tendency is to “simply abide by the protocols of social media:” i.e. listen, learn, share, engage and be transparent. His next questions are exactly the ones I’ve been thinking about:

But what happens when every brand is on Facebook and Twitter, when there are so many communities and conversations that we encounter cacophony? Will it be possible for a brand to gain notice or attention without it? Perhaps. But my instincts tell me that we, as marketers, will have to get more inventive with our content and that we as consumers will demand it.

We have an unprecedented opportunity for unlimited creativity not just in the content itself but also in how it’s presented and how users interact with it. Have you noticed that the most creative ideas are part message, part meme, part distribution? My two favorite examples that  Boches provides are Nike’s use of the Chalkbot and the Boone Oakley website that they executed on YouTube. See the embeds below and then next time you’re thinking about social media, think about creating an effective STRATEGY and stretching your CREATIVE muscle before picking up the social media tools.

Two Dell Executives to Perform Keynote at Social South

Social South™ has announced that two exciting speakers will perform Friday’s keynote address at the social media conference: Richard Binhammer, Strategic Corporate Communications, Social Media and Corporate Reputation Management at Dell and Lionel Menchaca, a 15-year Dell veteran and chief blogger at Direct2Dell. Richard and Lionel will take the stage together for the first time ever. It promises to be a lively and enlightening discussion as they reveal the strategy behind Dell’s successful social media presence. See Social South for more.

Bye, Bye, City Stages Goodbye

Note: This was first published by The Terminal after I wrote it. I thought I’d post it here too for you.

I’m a music lover and a fan of City Stages. I was a volunteer for the first ten years of the music festival and attended City Stages for many years after that. I did not attend last year or this year due to what I describe as a lack of top tier and up-and-coming bands to stir my interest. I didn’t want to let City Stages slip away without saying goodbye. I decided what better way than a remake of an old classic American Pie.

A long, long time ago…
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.

But has-been acts made me shiver
With every song they’d deliver.
Bad news on the bank step;
They couldn’t take one more step.

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his fallen pride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.

So bye-bye, City Stages good bye.
Drove my Hummer to the drummer,
But he didn’t reply.
And them good old boys were nursing their black-eye
Singin, “this’ll be the day that I die.
“this’ll be the day that I die.”

Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock ‘n roll,
Can music save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you’re in love with him
`cause I saw you dancin’ at the park named Linn.
You both kicked off your shoes.
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.

I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died.

I started singin’,
“bye-bye, City Stages good bye.
Drove my Hummer to the drummer,
But he didn’t reply.
Them good old boys were nursing their black-eye
And singin’, “this’ll be the day that I die.
“this’ll be the day that I die.”

Now for 20 years we’ve been on a loan
And moss grows fat on a rollin’ stone,
But that’s not how it used to be.
When George sang out for the king of lien,
With a note he borrowed from the cash machine
And a tax that came from you and me,

Oh, and while king Larry was looking down,
Stages played his bankrupt town.
The courtroom was adjourned;
No audience has returned.
And while Council read a book of larks,
The quartet practiced in the park,
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died.

We were singing,
“bye-bye, City Stages good bye.
Drove my Hummer to the drummer,
But he didn’t reply.
Them good old boys were nursing their black-eye
And singin’, “this’ll be the day that I die.
“this’ll be the day that I die.”

Helter skelter in a summer swelter.
Stages flew off with a writeoff shelter,
Half a million bucks and growing fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass,
With vendors on the sidelines in a cast.

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance,
Oh, but we never got the chance!
`cause the players tried to take the field;
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

We started singing,
“bye-bye, City Stages good bye.
Drove my Hummer to the drummer,
But he didn’t reply.
Them good old boys were nursing their black-eye
And singin’, “this’ll be the day that I die.
“this’ll be the day that I die.”

Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no cash left to start again.
So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick!
Jack flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devil’s only friend.

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan’s spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

He was singing,
“bye-bye, City Stages good bye.
Drove my Hummer to the drummer,
But he didn’t reply.
Them good old boys were nursing their black-eye
And singin’, “this’ll be the day that I die.
“this’ll be the day that I die.”

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the Stages door
Where I’d heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play.

And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.

And they were singing,
“bye-bye, City Stages good bye.
Drove my Hummer to the drummer,
But he didn’t reply.
And them good old boys were nursing their black-eye
Singin’, “this’ll be the day that I die.
“this’ll be the day that I die.”

They were singing,
“bye-bye, City Stages good bye.
Drove my Hummer to the drummer,
But he didn’t reply.
Them good old boys were nursing their black-eye
Singin’, “this’ll be the day that I die.”