Dave elsewhere: Measurement in the land of 140 characters or less

Just posted an article on social media measurement on IABC’s website that digs into what it takes to produce award-winning social media campaigns. Even if you’re not into awards, there’s some great tips from the judging process in this article that will help you start with the end in mind and create affective online communications.

http://www.iabc.com/awards/gq/judging/articles/meyer.htm

One Year… and Counting

As of today, it’s been one year since I struck out on my own to pursue BizzyWeb full time. It’s been a fantastic ride full of  new clients, networking, new business opportunities and countless new friends.

As I said the day I launched: “I’ve got entrepreneurism in my blood. I always wanted to have my own business, and growing up seeing my father work for himself certainly left an impression. When I got my MBA in 2003, it was in “venture management,” which is a fancy term for entrepreneurship.”

The tools I learned while working for my MBA at St. Thomas have been invaluable at helping me manage cash flow, run projections, market effectively and keep the big picture in mind. I also owe a huge debt to Tim Ferriss and his book “The Four Hour WorkWeek” for getting me off the fence and into the game. I’m not working four hours per week just yet (more like 60), but I’m definitely enjoying the benefits of answering to no-one but my customers.

At times it’s been tough, and I’ve worked far harder than I thought I’d need to in order to keep cash flowing in, but I don’t regret a single second of it. Knowing that every decision I make is going to directly affect the cash in my pocket has definitely sharpened my focus, but it’s also been incredible fun. This company is my baby, and its first steps — though rocky at times — have been forward.

The company has expanded to include another employee (twice the size!), and there’s bandwidth for more. My biggest challenge now that the dust has settled is to find ways to round out my talent, hand off the things I’m not good at and do what I do best more often. That means more client visits, more strategy sessions, more networking and more speaking engagements for me, and more of the back-end stuff to my trusted partners.

There’s also room for improvement, and I’m getting better and smarter every day. Associating with fantastic people who push you all the time to do more, better, smarter will do that. And that’s why I’m so glad I took on the role of President at IABC Minnesota. Without the encouragement, advice and example of some fantastic IABC connections I’m certain I would never have made it this far in just a year — people like Kare Anderson, Steve Crescenzo, Mark Schumann, Barb Gibson, Mary Ann McCauley and Cindy Schmieg have either made a lasting impression, offered me incredibly helpful advice or nudged me in the right direction (and a few even became clients!).

I’d go into a long list of highlights of the year here, but (though it may seem corny) every single day is an achievement that I’m proud of. My favorites run from every new client site to being on the Blue Ribbon Panel for IABC’s International Gold Quill Awards to speaking to hundreds of people on social media topics. I’m standing on my own two feet, making a go of it, and I’ve never been happier, “Bizzy”-er, or more successful.

Thanks for a great year! Here’s to the rest of my career doing the same thing.

Blue-ribbon communication tracks toward results

Last month I had the honor of joining an elite panel of communicators from all over the world at the blue ribbon panel judging session for IABC’s Gold Quill awards. It was an incredible experience to decide the merits of the best-of-the-best communications programs in the world with a group of judges from 10 countries and 6 continents. Panel judges paid their own way to serve on this committee — and for many that meant thousands of dollars in travel from thousands of miles away — which is a great indicator of how seriously everyone viewed the responsibility and how much value each judge received in return.

I’ve been banging around thoughts on my blue ribbon panel experience, and I agree especially with fellow-judge (and electronic communications guru) Shel Holtz’ assertion that a number of the entries “applied tremendous creativity and innovation in support of very specific and measurable business goals.”

That, in particular, is what truly set the exceptional entries apart from the rest. Managing toward real, honest-to-goodness business outcomes is the true hallmark of successful PR, whether it be via traditional methods, blogging or even social media.

Communicating strategically toward measurable results was always “the name of the game,” but the new tools available to communicators will only amplify the signal-to-noise ratio unless everything is done towards a purpose. Page views, equivalency to ad dollars, or even press mentions don’t achieve much other than helping communicators appear busy. I had the honor of judging the first-ever entries in social media this year, and it was crystal clear in the judging process which submissions took the time to think about what the desired end results were before they began their campaigns.

In the new age where content (and moreso relevancy) is king, you need to know how to make sure what you’re communicating is moving audiences toward action. And something as simple as an opinion survey or an uptick in sales or referrals (tracked against a benchmark of course) says a ton more than how many times your content has been “dugg.”

If you want to ensure that your next communication campaign produces real results, visit the Gold Quill rules and build your campaign around it. Even if you never enter, your communication effectiveness will skyrocket.

To offer a shortcut at how to make sure your communications are effective, I’ll paraphrase the key items we screened for from the perspective of someone just putting together a communication plan (note that I’ve worded the items below in the present tense to use as criteria/tips… the actual language in the entry criteria is past-tense as they’re intended to judge completed programs. The real list is available from the link above):

1. Identify as clearly as possible the Need/opportunity. Be as clear as possible in concrete outcomes.
2. Identify your audiences. Demographics, state of mind, background, likely viewpoints.
3. Goals and objectives: Describe what your communication project is designed to accomplish. Goals should be aligned with your organization’s future needs. Objectives should be realistic and measurable, and should examine outcomes such as quantity, quality, time, cost, percentages or other criteria.
4. Outline your project’s solution and the logic that supports it.  Think about your thought process, and use imagination in your approach to problem solving. Discuss how you’ll involve stakeholders in developing the solution. Identify key messages, tactics and communication vehicles.
5. Implementation and challenges. Discern your project budget. Regardless of how much money you have to use, make sure you’re being as efficient as possible. Decide time frames. Outline any limitations or challenges that you’ll face when communicating and implementing your ideas.
6. Measurement/evaluation of outcomes. How will you measure your project’s results? Every result should be linked to one or more objectives. Results must be shown to be valuable, thorough and convincing. Measurement should demonstrate outcomes, not outputs.

As I mentioned, I judged in the brand-new category for Social Media this year. I can’t wait for the winners to be publicly announced so I can talk about a couple of them — there’s brilliant outcomes-based thinking packaged in some really cool technology in the winners.

Networking tips

Alphabet Bash, Networking Event for Minnesota Marketing Communication Professionals

I just attended a great networking event in the Twin Cities last night. The event, in its second year, brought together a number of communication groups (IABC, AMA, AdFed, PRSA — hence “alphabet bash”) for the express reason to network contacts and generate leads, ideas and social networks.

Part of the site for the event, which was brilliant, was a section specifically on professional networking. Quick tiips to help you make the most of any business interaction. My favorites from the page:

• Have a positive attitude. It sounds cliché, but if you go in expecting to meet the right people, you will
• Follow-up after meeting with an email, note or call
• Find out how you can help others be successful
• Arrive early and stay late, so you make the most of your networking occasion
• Have a succinct and thoughtful 30-second commercial (to respond to “What do you do?”)
• Beware of holding both food and drink, it makes it difficult to shake hands or give a business card
• Approach people who are standing alone
• Approach informal groups
• “I’m here to meet new people. Do you mind if I join you?”
• “What is your specialty? …your area of expertise? What do you do? What is your connection to this group?”

I made a lot of great contacts, caught up with some old friends, and sent a few emails out today with my top prospects. I haven’t attended a true networking event in over a year, and it was fun to get back into the professional schmoozing vibe, and it was nice to meet up with a huge group (400 registered) of folks looking to do the same. After a while everyone fell into a pretty easy pace, talking and moving around, handing out cards… only broken when the band started playing and it became too hard to hear. Great experience overall.

IABC Leadership Conference: San Diego

Much learned, mostly about how to engage and manage volunteers. Things to look into: Wiki technology, or perhaps something simpler like Yahoo Groups or Google Groups, to manage documents, handle discussions and track progress of group activities/projects. More after I get a chance to pore over my notes.