A year ago I had an amazing time at Blog World, 2008.  In many ways that event was an out of body experience.  It was my first ever speaking event.  I was on a panel with Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, Brian Solis, Toby Bloomberg and Becky Carroll.  I could never imagine speaking with such stars.  What I did not realize at the time (at least until the after parties), many considered me a star too. During the party, when people realized who I was, a crowd gathered around.  The whole experience was something I will never forget.  I am especially grateful for all the friendships that developed.

Well Blog World is about creating experiences people will not forget and 2009 was no different.  Again I was on an incredible panel for Social Media Success Stories with Samantha Gammell (Oscar Mayer — The wiener mobile!), Justin Levy, and Brian Wiegand.  It was great to be paired with such terrific people.  Blog World is so much more than a simple panel that I participated on.  Of course there were a lot of parties and meetings.  I had a terrific time at the Techset Party at the Bellagio, thanks Brian Solis!  AdvertureGirl also put on a great party at Lavo; thanks Stefanie (I also appreciated the burger!).  I also have to thank @WynnLasVegas for great conversation about social media and a terrific dinner at Wazuzu.

A big topic of conversation has been charities using social media to raise awareness and funds.  This is a topic that has been close to me.  As many of you are aware, I helped create the Comcast New Media Exchange, an event for non profits to learn how to use social media.  For Blog World, 2009 the topic came up the moment I was getting on the plane.  Behind me was a my friend Jay Scott, CEO of Alex’s Lemonade Stand (He and his wife Liz continued the effort of their daughter Alex, and are both hero’s in my eyes – read this prior post).  When I arrived one of the first discussions I heard about was setting a world record for conversations in social media.  The effort was to #beatcancer.  You can view some of the tweats on their website.  As you can imagine beating cancer is a big goal in my life.  When we ended my panel I put out a plea for the effort in memory of our Angel Gia.  Through the #beatcancer hashtag we reached a world record and raised a lot of money for cancer! Thank you Miller-Coors, eBay and PayPal!

The few days were a whirlwind of activity.  I met up with so many friends, and gained many new ones.  As it was all wrapping up, I was looking forward to going home.  I received a call to go on CNN to talk about social media with Don Lemon.  The spot featured Blog World found Rick Calvert, Jermaine Dupree, Tamara Knechtel, and my friend from Ford Scott Monty (The new Taurus SHO is very nice!).  It was an amazing opportunity.  I think I did okay, but looking at the tape I could see the nerves.  There is one clip online and it is the one I messed up the most.  Oh well, I was still happy with the experience, and hope to have it again some time.  After the driver brought us back, I went to dinner with Anthony Edwards (you may know him from Top Gun, Revenge of the Nerds, or ER).  I have met a few stars, and different than many, Tony was down to earth and a genuine nice guy.  I am so happy we had the chance to meet.  We were discussing his efforts to raise $10 from 500,000 people to help build a pediatric hospital in Kenya.  I provided a few ideas to create a viral campaign, but I know they would love more.  Please feel free to post them in the comments and I will share with them.  The effort is part of Shoe4Africa.  Visit their website to learn more about the effort. or watch the video below:

Social media, no matter if it is a blog, Twitter, Facebook or other space on the internet, gives you the opportunity to change the world.  Seize the opportunity and share your passion to make a difference.

I have been meaning to write this post since an event I was at last week.  One of the brand marketers had a great presentation that I agreed with many of the points, but one was, in my opinion, the wrong approach.  I am not mentioning the brand on purpose but I have a lot of respect for the presenter and the work they have done bringing their company to a new level in social media.

Well the reason I am writing this post now is because the NY Times posted an interesting article titled “F.T.C to Rule Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure.”  I have never been a fan of giving bloggers products, or in the case of the presentation I was at, rewarding those that speak highly for your product.  The reason is easy, once I heard the company rewarded positive commentary, I no longer believed any positive post I have ever read about the company.  I now questioned the true motives of anyone that has ever posted about them.  I remember about 6 months ago I was approached by marketers (that did not work for my company) wanting me to identify bloggers and provide free products.  They were offended by my simple one word answer “No.”  The reason was not because I do not want people to see the great products from my company.  It also was not that I was afraid of what they may say, but it was really about what people may think if they did say something positive and someone later found out.

I admit, I am cheap and would love free stuff, but if you offer it, please do not expect a blog post.  Ultimately it would hurt my own credibility and that of the brand.  I will admit that I was invited to an event to receive free products and listen to pitches from people.  I was tempted to go, but I declined.  My temptation was to see the product and to truthfully people watch.  But it did not fit in with my own belief structure for the social web.

I am not a fan of government regulation in this area.  My preference would be to see the blogosphere self regulate this, but at the same time for events like the one I was invited to or presentations mentioning rewards for good commentary, we are not doing as good of a job as we should.  I expect many will disagree with my thoughts, especially those within the marketing field, but I will say, from experience, allow your Customers to say the good and bad.  Listen to them and continually work to improve your product to meet the Customer desires.  For the bloggers, I understand the temptation for free products, but think about your own credibility and long term potential.  It is so important to be true to who you are.  That will bring the best long term results.

I tend not to post when I have a lot on my mind that I am trying to work through.  Sometimes it may be personal, other times work or even career.  In the past few years I have had a lot of new things happening in my life that cause me to ponder many things, especially about the future.  Recently I have been thinking about my own career path and what it all means.  Social media has added an interesting realm to my life and I am not going to say it hasn’t brought struggles too.  I strive to be as open as possible with things, but sometimes you have to come to conclusions on your own.

I love leading the way, whether it be with a team or a movement for Customer Service.  I never strive for the status quo, especially with work.  We all need to continually evolve our abilities and companies need to broaden their horizons to meet an ever changing Customer.  My style is not playing politics but instead concentrating on the Customer story and what is in front of me at the time.  Sometimes in doing this people that are close to the process work off of their own historical information.   I am lucky to work with many that have great experience in the cable and telecommunications industry; I learn a lot from them every day.  My background is financial services, which provides more of an outsider view.  Sometime this makes me feel like a misfit.

I talk to many businesses regarding their efforts in social media.  In fact I have been approached by many companies about helping them build their efforts.  Most companies channel their social media through marketing or PR.  It is funny the reaction I receive when I tell them that I am just a simple Customer Service guy.  The marketers tend to be so stuck on the brand and sales, so they do not always see the community and relationship aspects in the space.  I have many friends in marketing that have built a similar view as mine, but they are already successful in the space.  Some in PR concentrate on the message as opposed to the relationship.  My view is this space is about the Customers, helping, listening and having conversations with them.  So as I talk to these different companies I recognize what a misfit that I may be.

I then look at all my friends in social media and I realize how different we all are.  It is these differences that make social media such a great place and a way to hear others perspectives.  As I was sitting pondering recent events, my own place in life, and how we all connect, I started to realize we are all in this place of misfit toys creating a home for all to enjoy no matter who they are, what they have been through, or where they are heading.  Being this misfit is a trophy we all carry because we are leading and doing things in a different manner.  Whether we are doing this online, at work, or within our home life we are carving this new path.  The misfit toys have found their home with each other.

Photo of Jane Golden courtesy of Philadelphia Magazine

This is a follow up to my post titled “Part of Leadership is Giving Back.”  In that post I spoke of the importance for leaders to give back to the community, but I did not address what really makes a leader.  We call many people leaders as a sign of respect for a level they attained in life or business, but that is not leadership.  Leadership can take many forms and in many areas in life.  To me a leader is someone willing to take risks, and do something completely different.  Not because they are told to, or because others are having success doing it, but because they believe it is the right thing to do.  Leading the way has risks, and many failures, but that willingness to have the insight and accept the risks make the person a leader.

Holding Grandmother's Quilt, © 2004 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program / Donald Gensler, 3912 and 3932 Aspen Street, Photo by Jack Ramsdale

In business we see many following others.  One of the areas that I have seen a lot of following is with process improvement programs.  When Motorola had great success with Six Sigma, every company seemed to jump on the bandwagon in embracing the Six Sigma concept.  Black belts and green belts were everywhere.  I think it is a great program, in fact my wife was a green belt with GE and I was trained on the program at the Vanguard Group, but implementing this based on the success of others is not leadership.  It is simply following.  Risk in implementation was minimal based on the success already demonstrated by others.  I know many may say that even Motorola was following the lead based on work of many in Japan.  This is correct, but the tools and concepts developed by the Motorola team were innovative and took the concepts to another level leading to the popularity in American business.

So what does this all have to do with murals?  Well over the past 2 years I have worked at Comcast I have had an opportunity to be a part of incredible life experiences.  To me the greatest of these experiences was the opportunity to hear from Jane Golden about the creation of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, which has evolved to the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.  As part of the leadership program that I am luck to be a part of, Jane joined us to discuss the history of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.  Imagine the year 1984 in the streets of Philadelphia.   Graffiti was a major problem, just like most major cities in the US.  Jane Golden came in and took the unique approach of embracing those that were doing this graffiti and providing them a more structured outlet to release their artistic energy.  Many could not believe that someone would invite perceived criminals into her home.  She helped them harness this energy and release it into amazing works of art, like those on this page.

Bridging the Diaspora, © 2008 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program / Willis Humphrey, 5741 Woodland Avenue, Sponsored by the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health, Photo by Jack Ramsdale

Today the Philadelphia Mural Arts Programs is considered to be one of the best in the world.  Others often attempt to imitate it.  People travel from all around the world to see the amazing show that is part of the landscape of Philadelphia.  All started through the vision of Jane Golden.  Many of the people that joined the program from the streets have gone on to college and paved their own path in the arts, business and many other fields.  I am sure they are now leaders on their own, thanks to the mentorship of a true leader in Jane.

The moral to the learning was part of leadership is going against the expectations of others and setting a path that moves your team, organization or simply yourself into a uncharted territory.  As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the mural arts program, I would like to thank Jane for her leadership.  The work of the program is cherished by so many.

How do you lead each day?  Who are some of the unsung leaders that have made a difference in your life?

Visit http://www.muralarts.org/ to learn more.  If you are in Philadelphia, I highly recommend going on a tour!

In social media, the basics of service are no different than any other communications channel.  I find it interesting to watch companies work within social media to try to engage with their Customers.  It is obvious to me that there is still a fight as to who owns the social media interaction.  In most companies it is either PR or Marketing, but isn’t Customer Service the area that talks to Customers?  Many can say this is a new space and companies are learning.  I agree with that, but there is enough information out there to know what approaches tend to work best.  If you are there for PR, or even marketing, it may not be necessary to personalize the interaction, but for service it is a different story.  The trouble is many in marketing or PR view this to be all about the brand.  I have a little hint for you, the company or department does not own the space, your Customer does!

So how does the basics of service matter?  Because this is how all interactions should be, no matter the channel.  When someone calls your business do you answer the phone “XYZ Company, What do you want?”  No, most businesses answer the phone XYZ Company.  This is Frank speaking, how may I help you?”  The first key aspect that you learn is the human connection is so important.  Unfortunately this space, companies are too focused on the brand not their Customers.  You do not have to look at my Twitter handle to see this success, just look at Dell, who was truly a pioneering company in the space.  They have recognized this for years.  Now Zappos provides an even more in depth look.  They encourage, and teach, all their employees to participate in the space.  Now that is personal.

There are many ways to personalize Twitter.  My preference is different ID’s for different people, but I can understand why that may not be the preferred method for some companies.  Below are a few companies that are doing it right.  Ford has Shawn handling the FordCustService account.  QuickenLoans lets us know via the bio section that it is Kelly helping out, and Office_Live demonstrates a way to have multiple people on the same account.  Charter, and the UMatter2Charter team have been doing a good job in creating that personal connection.  They use separate accounts and they connect with their Customers.  Don’t you prefer to interact with a person?  I know I do.

Other basics to serving Customers is to have a conversation, do not sit there marketing outward the whole time.  Also, just like a call, make sure you resolve the Customers needs prior to offering sales.  This is where companies really make it about them, instead of their Customers.  I applaud all companies for trying to find ways to have success in this space.  I am always happy to see new companies learn about social media and ways they too can participate.

Who are some other companies that you view doing it right on Twitter?

I have had many discussions recently with people striving to be seen in this overwhelming world of social media.  They seem to want to be noticed, but find it difficult to be seen.  This caused me to think about what is different and similar between the world of social media and what we experience everyday.  I started to think about some of the people that are talked about in social media, such as Guy Kawasaki, Gary Vaynerchuk, Tony Hsieh, Chris Brogan, and even myself.  What do these individuals have in common?  We are all very different, but we show our passion everyday.

Well it is not as simple as the term passion.  There are a few things to know how the world of social media is different than a normal day at the office.  In the office a lot of it is about playing politics or the internal workings of a company.  Rewards are based on many factors such as who you know, or how you portray your performance.  In social media it is different.  Those that are false in any way are called on it or people do not connect with them.  People love to connect with people they relate too.  This has been the success of most of the people I listed above.

As soon as I thought of this post, I immediately thought of the best example:  Gary Vaynerchuk.  What is interesting I did not even know Gary was coming out with a book until I went to link his name to his blog.  The name of the book is “Why Now is the Time to Crush It!  Cash in on Your Passion.”  I was lucky enough to see Gary speak at a number of events.  Each time I have left inspired by his passion.  He has demonstrated how businesses can be successful in this social media world.  His passion comes through in every Wine TV show.  It is about teaching people about his love of wine.  I first met Gary at Blog World, sitting at the Bare Lounge.  He was a down to earth regular guy that I enjoyed speaking to.  Of course this did not prepare me for the dynamic person that I would see on stage.  Both were the same person, but when we were chatting it was not about his passion, just things like travel, Vegas.  But when Gary was on stage talking about his business, wine, social media and football (I still hope he buys the Jets) he shined.  Literally within minutes I found myself watching Wine TV.  Watch and learn and you too can cash in on your passion.  Better yet, buy the book I am sure you will see his passion.

No one would dispute Chris Brogan’s passion for social media, and it shows in everything he does.  He is always trying to help people have the same success and he loves to have that conversation.  Some will say Tony Hsieh’s passion is service, but from talking to him, the passion I always saw was the Zappos culture; Customer Service is just part of the culture.  One of the first stories I heard from Tony was when he grew his first company, it lost the culture he loved when it was a start up.  Just looking in Tony’s eyes when he said he was determined to not let that happen again.  It was at that moment, I knew the passion was Zappos culture.  I have only met Guy Kawaski once, but I have read a few of his books and he has a clear passion for business.  I can tell by his tweets that he loves social media, and new ways to incorporate social media with traditional print media, but I still think the passion people love to connect with is business success.

We have all seen movies where the reporter is doing the story, and when the camera cuts they are no longer the nice person they were on camera or they storm off to something more important for themselves.  Through many other means it is possible to fake it, but in social media the camera is on all the time.  You can not hide it.  You will be noticed.  I also believe social media will continue to change the culture of business, and I think it is always important to find ways to let your passion shine.  If you are in a position where you feel you can not, it might be time to find something better suited for your needs.  For myself I have been doing a lot to understand my long term goals, and how to achieve the most for myself and my family.  I thought long and hard about what at work drives me the most.  As I thought about it, it was not social media, marketing, or PR.  My passion is simple, Customers.  I want to always be in a position where I can let this passion shine.

What is your passion?  How do you crush it?

During my travels over the past few weeks I have had many discussions with people on many intriguing topics.  Many will become blog posts in the coming weeks.  One of the topics of conversation with Brian Solis can be summed up on his blog post “Who Owns Social Media.”  I fully agree with his post, with the exception of one word: influencers.  This is because I believe in this new world order, ALL Customers have the ability to be influencers.  Of course that will have to be a post for another day.  It is always fun to see friends and continue hotly debatable conversations.  One topic that kept recurring resulted from my last blog post “Are Companies Ready for Trust Agents.”  The discussion referenced Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s New York Times best seller “Trust Agents.”  Speaking of trust agents, I want to wish Jeremiah Owyang and Deb Schultz well with their new positions with Charlene Li at Altimeter Group.  I am sure he will see continued success.

I did not intend to continue the trust agent conversation from the prior post, but it seems to have warranted more attention.  I will take a stab at it in another post.  As discussed in that post, trust agents will happen whether supported by the company or not.  The fact is employees are already out there.  Some of the recent discussions were about branding of individuals verses the corporate brand.  I have a firm belief that social media is about individuals and relationships; it is hard to have a relationship with a logo.  Part of this belief stems from my Customer Service background.  I am not aware of any company that does not attempt to personalize a call with the name of the agent.  Even emails from companies are usually signed by someone.  Why should social media be any different?

The larger conversations investigate what a company can do when the groundswell is attracted to a trust agent representing the brand.  What do they do to prevent them from leaving, or losing equity if they do leave?  I am going to attempt to provide some thoughts to assist companies that may find themselves in this position.   The best approach starts by encouraging all of your employees to be a part of social media.  Many are probably out there already.  Hopefully you are building multiple trust agents associated with your brand.  If one decides to leave, you will have many others still out there helping your Customers and further strengthening the brand.  This has been my approach.  For those that pay attention you will notice that I am not on Twitter as much as I was when we first started these efforts.  This is to allow my employees to earn the trust of many people out there.  This is their opportunity to become trust agents.

There are other ways companies may want to consider protecting their interest with these trust agents.  Nothing fancy, but simply using reward and recognition tools and tactics that have been available to businesses for years.  First it all starts with respect and fairness.  Understand your employees and what drives them.  Some are driven for the “fame” and they will be thrilled that they are being recognized.  Others may be motivated by the job itself, and helping Customers.  Some may like to take on additional responsibility.  Reward them with that, they will continue to be happy with the organization.  There will be some that will be driven more financially.  This is a little bit harder, especially in tough economic conditions.  The trouble is everyone feels they are worth well more to the organization then maybe what is reality.  Here you have to be a little more careful in your assessment.  What is the value to your competitor to have someone like this person on their staff?  Is there a market for this individual?  What is the lost value if the person leaves the organization?  Is there a way that you can develop a contract with this person to ensure they stay?  This could also be a way to limit where the trust agent may go, if they do decide to leave.  Vested stock options are another way a company can strive to maintain a relationship with a trust agent for years to come.  These questions have to be thought through, but this is true of anyone that is a asset to a company, no matter the position.  As you can see this is nothing new, companies are always striving to retain top performers.  The only difference here the deciding factor is more due to the groundswell then internal assessment.  Social media does cause companies to lose a little control to the groundswell, but the right tactics will ensure continued success for most organizations.

What would you do to retain a trust agent?

Well, ready or not, here they come!  This topic has been on my mind for ages.  With Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s book out and Chris mentioning on his blog, I thought today was the right day to do it.

While at a marketing conference as a guest on a panel regarding Customer Service through Social Media, I started thinking about trust agents.  We heard introductions from each person.  The last panelist was a marketing professional from a very well known online bank.  He seemed like a really good guy.  During his introduction he mentioned how it was all about the brand, and the discussion must center around the brand.  I have heard this so often, typically from marketing people that desire to control the message in social media.  The message is really a conversation.  I tend not to speak with a logo, but rather the person.  The reason why certain people and brands are successful in social media is because they recognize that fact.  Even brands like @Starbucks and @Jetblue let the personality and the person behind the tweets shine through.  We’re all learning about the brand through the people.

Here are six secrets to being a trust agent:

1. Are you making your own game? (Are you following or writing the new path?)
2. Are you one of us? In the trenches and engaged in conversation in Social Media for your brand.
3. Do you understand the Archimedes Effect?  Do you understand how to take what you’re doing in one instance and extend it out into something bigger or better elsewhere?
4. Are you Agent Zero to several networks?
5. Do you relate well to others?
6. Are you ready to build armies? Working solo is easy. Do you share what you know to promote larger interactions?

Displaying some or all of these characteristics in social media suggests that you may be a Trust Agent.  This is not necessarily a role or title assigned by a company.  Nor can a company control the message of this person.  This is someone leading the way in this new medium call Social Media.  These are not the numerous self proclaimed experts, but truly the ones that are leading the way in thoughts and actions.

Chris has referred to me as a Trust Agent, but I can never even come close to some of those that lead the way.  I am not sure I will ever live up to the reputations of:

• Robert Scoble formerly from Microsoft, now with Fast Company
• Lionel Menchaca at Dell
• Pam Finnie at HP
• Matt Cutts at Google
• Kathy Sierra

This brings me back to the point of the post, we are still at an age where various “brand” professionals are doing what they can to control the conversation and the message.  They are missing the point, but I am not sure why since it has been out there for a long time.  Right now I am reading Brian Solis’ latest book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.  When I look back at some of Brian’s earlier work he was predicting this loss of control, and the need for companies to enter the conversation from a very different perspective.  Beyond all the expert opinion, the Trust Agent may not always build up their reputation with the permission of the company they work for.  In fact many are in this space now having conversations.  They are becoming the leaders in this new version of marketing.

It is time for companies to step back, realize the conversation is happening, encourage employees to be a part of it, and provide tools to make sure the employees are successful.  This is the right social media plan that every business should have.

Who are some Trust Agents that you know?

With Mad Men starting tonight, I thought it would be fun to talk about vintage advertising.  Of course I did not realize a story would hit me while driving last night.  Do you remember the Spaghettio’s commercial?  ”Uh Oh Spaghettio’s”

To help you remember here is a You Tube copy of one of the ads:

Today many companies strive to create commercials that get people talking, but this commercial was marketing basics;  an easy to remember jingle. I am not a marketing person, but really just an everyday consumer. I buy products all the time for a variety of reasons. When it come to kid’s meals I will admit that we purchase what our kids like. We also buy products that make life easy, including bulk purchases at Costco. Because of this, our usual kid’s pasta purchase is Chef Boyardee. But that brings me to the point of this post.

Last night we went to the Grange Fair in Wrightstown, PA. As we were driving home we hit a lot of traffic on the tight streets near the fair. When we saw all the car lights in front of us our 3 year old said “Uh-Oh.” This was followed by our 1 1/2 year old doing the same. With “Uh-Oh” echoing in the back seat I chimed in with “Uh Oh Spaghettios.” This caused Lily to repeat it numerous time, although she kept saying “Uh Oh the Spaghettios.” As we were driving we were helping Lily say “Uh Oh Spaghettios.” Of course this brought a question from her, “what are Spaghettios?” So we told her. On the way home we were stopping at the supermarket to pick up a few things. While we were there we picked up a few cans of Spaghettios. Well of course for lunch today, everyone can guess what Lily wanted. She had her first can of Spaghettios and Lily and Robyn loved it.

All this from a slogan I have not seen on TV in a long time. What other slogans can you think of with lasting power like that?