Insight-driven action in a data-flooded age must be heart-centered. The most important segment of the customer-experience cycle is post-conversion (something was bought), pre-evangelization (the customer tells his/her friends). In that sweet spot, brands must engage the user in dialogue, be open to education BY the customer and take action based on opportunity occurring in the present.

A core list of key influencers drops one very quickly into mine-able territory for content, business connections, tools, and relationship. Useable social intelligence delivers punchy actions with targeted influencer graphs in which to carry out those actions. Chris Ramsey, EVP BizDev, Radian6, writes, “Social media is a two-way communication platform, not a broadcast platform, and it’s all about engagement and relationships.” Amber Naslund, Director of Strategy for Radian6 writes, “Social media marketing is contextually appropriate, just-in-time marketing where you find a chance to engage authentically, and you take it.”

Companies ought to consider the benefit of having in-house curators and/or relationships with 3rd party curators of vertical-specific content. In this way, they will own verticals and niches and be seen as authorities in both the internal development AND in listening to the customer of this niche. Those brands who rule niches through curation will be seen as thought-leaders. And the only way to be a true thought-leader is to spend plenty of time listening. We derive powerful insights and even more powerful action by listening.

Klout CEO and co-founder Joe Fernandez writes, “…target the few key influencers who have authority around a given topic and allow them to tell the story. The message is then amplified up through the network to reach a large engaged audience that trusts the message sender. We’ve basically flipped the funnel upside down.” The weaving of reflection AND action within such an approach is masterful and demonstrates the ideal ethos of actionable intelligence. Creativity around one conversation, one circle of influencers, one city can lead to immense opportunities. Product-centric thinkers are second to customer-centric action-agents. It is simply more practical to be relational vs. transactional in today’s business climate.

We live in times when independent operatives, moving swift and fast, have become more successful than giant entities, moving like cruise ships. Such operatives have an idea, angel-fund the idea and balloon the idea into a global community. Or such operatives provide specialized deliverables like comprehensive social intelligence reports (Business Intelligence), Community Manager training/supervision and Social-Action tools training.

Popularity: unranked [?]

“Myths and symbols are the language of the soul. A myth helps us to take a situation to heart and know what we must do: if it is to see the truth and act upon it, then the image of Psyche with her sword provides a magic perspective. A symbolic object can then be a talisman that helps us to do what we need to do. Like passing a literal torch, these are rituals that empower us by infusing an act with a deeper meaning. To think and act this way is magical, metaphoric thinking that can call forth the qualities we need from within ourselves and may also tap into sources of help that lie beyond us.” ~Jean Shinoda-Bolen.

When social media operatives discover a shaman’s name and gain the list of phrases he/she uses to enchant a tribe, the full membership and complexion of that tribe appears like holiday lights in a dark forest, guiding products/services down the CORRECT chimneys. Discover a tribe’s key influencer and study his/her way of phrasing things and you’ll have all you need to discover what draws the tribe inexorably. Chiefs always turned to shamans for the spells to influence the tribe.

In Greek myth, Eros was called an Eleutherios, or liberator. By some tellings, he is the son of Ares (strategy, intelligence, and warfare) and Aphrodite (love and attraction, the most influential of deities). Eros IS an important god for Social Media Operatives, along with Hermes. Social business IS erotic by nature, weaving corporate silos together and blending previously disparate departments like Marketing and Customer Service. To be clear on the sequence, it is Aphrodite (Influence) who seduces Ares (Strategy), producing Eros, “The Eleutherios”, who entrances Psyche EVERY single time.

To translate: True Influencers that gather masses of crowds are a combination of a Celebrity and a Celebrity-Maker, a King and a King-maker. The Celebrity may have a face and body that excites PLUS an idea of how to move that body and crack that winning smile. She elevates when in touch with a strategist who knows the words and the audiences best suited to her devices. This is why Aphrpodite the Influencer and Ares the Strategist create Eros, the Liberator. He is their device by which to attract Psyche, the mythic persona whose story matches the aching passage of all humanity from unconsciousness to consciousness. OR, to speak in marketing terminology, to introduce awareness of an excellent product/service into the mind of the buyer MOST prone to purchase.

A social intelligence document containing all the right keywords, largest audiences and key influencers for a specific product or service IS a shaman’s spellbook…a playbook, a war strategy, and the method to create Kings and Queens. Those who can analyze the social fabric of the Internet and deliver such documents are the kingmakers, the tribe-winners, and gain the ear of kings and queens. Aggressive pursuit has its place BUT to know a tribe’s perfect summoning spell, indeed, to know the right notes on the flute…well, we all know the rest of that story.

HOW WE DO IT:

a. KEYWORD ANALYSIS: We use best-practice leading keyword research tools to drill down on the search volume and Share of Voice of those keywords.

b. ALGORITHMIC AND HUMAN RESEARCH: We enter all keywords into best-practice, WOMMA-ethics-approved tools and run machine-driven research, and then do subsequent human analysis on those results in the social fabric of the Internet, web communities and blogs.

d. DATA COLLATION AND VISUALIZATION: We collate this information and create Excel spreadsheets following best-practice methods. These spreadsheets are then uploaded into several visualization tools to clarify/see the results.

e. CONVERSATION SNIPPET ANALYSIS BY HAND: We assign teams to hand-analyze conversation snippets and provide spreadsheets where conversations around topics of interest are tallied up and ONLY relevant comments are kept/segmented.

f. REPORT AND INFO-GRAPHIC CREATION: We distill all of this information into a report with digestible, punchy insights and best-practice info-graphics based upon the needs of the campaign.

g. TEACHING AND COACHING: We conduct a talent search for your ideal community manager and then teach and coach that individual in best-practice execution of social and internet marketing strategy.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Become a fit node in your niche, shaping your network into a star OR a hub with many spokes. This is done through finding within yourself what makes you beam AND the ROLE you will play in the CONTEXT of THE SOCIAL FABRIC OF THE INTERNET! Look at The Conversation Prism and ask yourself these questions:

QUESTION 1: Into which properties will I put content? (Go create content for THAT property!)

QUESTION 2: Into which CONTEXTS can you place this CONTENT to serve as a TRUE contributor? To be a contributor, orient yourself to the following identities that Brian Solis has identified in his excellent BEHAVIORGRAPHICS illustration:

BENEVOLENCE – “The unselfish and kindhearted behavior that engenders and promotes recognition and reciprocity, and in doing so, earns the goodwill of those around them. This is the hub of social networking with a purpose, mission, and a genuine intent to grow communities based on trust, vision, and collaboration.” ~Brian Solis

PROBLEM SOLVERS – “One of the most common sources of conversations and updates in social media are questions…people seeking information in the hopes that commenters will respond with resolution or direction.” ~Solis

EXAMPLE 1: http://www.ehow.com/
eHow.com is an online community dedicated to providing visitors the ability to research, share, and discuss solutions and tips for completing day-to-day tasks and projects.

EXAMPLE 2: http://www.wikihow.com/ wikiHow is a collaborative effort to build and share the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Like Wikipedia, wikiHow is a wiki, in that anyone can write or edit a page on the site. Thousands of people from all over the world have collaboratively written 88,510 how-to articles. Over 25 million people a month read wikiHow

COMMENTERS – “Providing thoughts, opinions, observations, experiences, and sometimes, unfiltered reactions to the information shared online. They are less likely to produce original content, but are compelled to share their views based on the introduction of content by others in and around their social graph.” ~Solis

EXAMPLE OF A COMMENT THREAD: A VERY VERY LONG FACEBOOK COMMENT THREAD

RESEARCHERS – “Peer to peer influence is prominent in social networks and researchers rely on their social graphs for information and direction to make qualified decisions. They are also active in championing polls and surveys to truly learn about the thoughts and opinions of those connected to them.” ~Solis

RESEARCH RESOURCES/TOOLS
SURVEY MONKEY
WIKIPEDIA
MASHABLE’S EXCELLENT LIST OF RESEARCH SITES

CONVERSATIONALISTS – “Participation in conversations through proactive updates seeking responses or direct responses to other content, conversationalists fuel threads within and across networks.” ~Solis

CURATORS – “This group works diligently to find and only share what captivates them as filtered by what they believe will interest their followers.” ~Solis

MAGNIFY: A MEDIA CURATION TOOL
THE CONTENT CURATION DEBATE: AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE ON CONTENT CURATION

PRODUCERS – “Among the more elite group of online participants, their stature is earned by the amount of content they generate within multiple networks.” ~Solis

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Everyone has destinations AND concepts of journeys to those destinations in Body, Heart and Mind. Body, Heart and Mind divide the lead, developing Context and Content. ~Nathaniel Hansen

With useage of social networks surging and relationship connections occuring at the speed of firing brain neurons, individuals face the freedom of search windows and countless rabbit holes of discovery. We are all in study hall these days, analyzing and synthesizing conversations, images, videos, music and ideas. The individual AND group mind is evolving at light-speed, particularly for those tapped into the global mind called THE SOCIAL FABRIC OF THE INTERNET.

Humanity now needs the power of ancient wisdom to inform the WHY of its collective and individual search. The phenomenon of quotes, scriptures, fables, wise sayings, anecdotes and fantastic new theories circulating at the speed of light from one mind to another EVIDENCES that this is, in fact, occuring. Humanity IS weaving ancient wisdom into this tapestry we are all weaving together. And there is no doubt that this is affecting the quality of our interaction with one another.

Is it possible humans are actually becoming better, wiser and more benevolent THROUGH the rapid dissemination of ancient wisdom through social networks. As our bodies, hearts and minds divide the experience of this truly etheric environment, a tactile spiritual sensibility MUST be growing among its participants. We are all interacting with intangible, highly subjective environments, driven by emotion, thought and image. And this REQUIRES the development of skills like “felt-sense”, intuition and discernment. Again, the social fabric of the internet becomes tactile as one develops narrative and nurtures its growth through a succession of writing, photos and video.

How do you experience social networking: physically, emotionally, intellectually….which dominates for you?

Popularity: 7% [?]

You have at least two tribes you can be a leader to RIGHT NOW: the tribe associated with your pain and the tribe associated with your joy. Both need you and social media IS one of the most powerful mediums to lead through. This is THE safest, fastest, most rewarding methods to find your inner leader: 30 second videos on a YouTube channel, an eBook of your thoughts, a blog re-purposing the thoughts in the eBook, tweets that condense these thoughts, an landing page announcing your vision/ideas, an aStore through Amazon where you make commissions on products aligned with your tribe, a NING social network where you invite your tribe to interact, a Second Life account where you dress yourself in the world you imagine and find others like you there. Study the Conversation Prism tonight and select the petals of the flower that you belong in and populate those social media properties with your gift to the world…NOW is the time! – Nathaniel Hansen

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The 10 Most Innovative Viral Videos of 2009 (according to Cashmore)click

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The Boxee Box connected to IT ALL!

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According to a second annual survey of companies conducted by Deloitte, Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research, 94 percent of the respondents (major global companies) indicated that they plan to maintain or increase investment in their communities, while only six percent plan to decrease investment. …read more

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If you are an advertiser who wants to drive large volumes of traffic to your site, there are two important things you are probably looking for: reach and ease of implementing your campaign. Facebook meets these qualifications. It is currently the third largest site online with 125MM visitors in September and it is quickly approaching parity with the #1 and #2 publishers, Google and Yahoo.

In terms of implementation, Facebook has made it very easy for anyone from a well known brand like Starbucks to a mom and pop shop to a student to create an ad campaign. Creating an ad campaign happens all on one page and takes just three steps including designing the ad (picture, title and description), selecting your targeting and setting a budget. This simple process makes it easy for companies to dip their toes and test advertising on social media sites. …read more

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YouTube How To

Official Under the Radar YouTube blog

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In the old days, before ubiquitous Internet connections and social networks, I always turned to TV Guide’s Fall Preview issue to get information about my favorite TV shows, find out what was going to make its debut and to find out when I could actually catch said shows. Today, technology and the web has made not only finding information, reviews and opinions of television shows easier and faster than ever before, the online video revolution means that we can actually watch most of those shows from the comfort of our laptops. …read more

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With the popularity of social media ever on the rise, it’s no surprise that industry experts are weighing in on SM trends for 2010.

Things to look for: Increased popularity in mobile and sharing functionality, tighter workplace regulations on employee profiles and a continuation in companies looking for cost-effective ways to serve their customers through access to online support – further proof that companies are looking to social media for cost-savings and optimal monetization.

Read on for David Armano’s full article on the Harvard Business blog Six Social Media Trends for 2010.

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http://siteanalytics.compete.com/facebook.com+twitter.com/

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Facebook is clearly on a roll and is knocking on Google’s door as the biggest site on the web. Will it continue to dominate or see its lead slip? Here are two potential outcomes. …read more

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http://bit.ly/huffington_post_facebook_accelerate

The BBC is attempting to embrace social media by appointing a social media editor in its newsroom and redesigning its website. As the September traffic figures for US political blogging site Huffington Post reveal, the strategy is clearly a wise one. In short: embracing social media boosts traffic.

The figures speak for themselves: after the Huffington Post launched a Social News site with Facebook Connect in the middle of August, comScore credited the site with 6,825,000 unique users in September. That is up impressive 50% year on year, and slightly overtaking the Washington Post website. According to the Nielsen’s September report, the Huffington Post is at 9.47 million unique users, compared with the BBC’s 7.2 million.

When Staci D Kramer from paidContent got a chance to interview the Huffington Post CEO, Eric Hippeau, he revealed some more details: Facebook referral traffic is up 48% since the launch and accounted for 3.5 million visits, so 15% of all the comments now come from Facebook. And according to the Huffington Post’s internal statistics, those numbers continue to build. … read more

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Jane’s video below demonstrates some important possibilities in SMM:

1. If you have a niche, begin marketing to it via short, punchy, informative videos NOW.
2. Don’t wait to get it perfect. You are already an “expert” in something. Get yourself out there.

Watch Jane here for inspiration: http://bit.ly/video_converts_to_fans

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http://bit.ly/successful_social_networkers

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Check it out: http://bit.ly/forddigitalmediaspending

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http://bit.ly/facebook_best_source_traffic

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