Seriously, people. As much as we like to talk about tools, do we stop and think about the purpose behind them?  Just because Flickr is getting redesigned and may look more like Pinterest does not mean they are competition.  To be fair to Mashable author Zoe Fox, she does not suggest this will happen in her article.  But I have seen plenty of articles or posts about Pinterest killing Flickr, Pinterest combining Flickr and Delicious, etc and this is not even mentioning the Twitter stream.

While you could theoretically use Pinterest in the way you use Flickr, that isn’t in my opinion what it’s set up for.  Flickr allows users to upload and share photos, create albums, etc. I can then share photos on behalf of my company, or share pictures of Piper’s birthday to the masses.  The cross over here, perhaps, is for artists that may post their photography on Flickr and then also create a Pinterest page to share their work.

Personally, I don’t WANT Flickr to try to be Pinterest. I love the focus on a more visual interface, and more power to you on the redesign.  But what I love about Pinterest is the ability to visually share ideas.  I can share products I love, which can also serve as a bookmarked visual list of things I love to buy and where to buy them.  I can share home decor items that all visually go together but are collected from hundreds of different websites.  And no matter whether the item is still available from that store or retailer, I have an idea of what it looked like and possibly what it was called or who made it so I can search elsewhere.

Then, there is the wonderful Pinterest stream.  I can view Home Decor again, for example, but this time see all of the other things thousands of Pinterest users are posting.  It is a great way to expose yourself to new items AND new retailers.  I think Pinterest will turn into an excellent referral source for online retailers.  While some of these home decor items, such as furnishings, are quite expensive…I still have my handy Pinterest board that I can reference later.

So do I see new Flickr taking away value from Pinterest? Not in the slightest.  Do I see Pinterest “killing” Flickr? No, not really.  I think there could be some crossover, but given the fundamental idea of sharing that is engrained in Pinterest, I only see crossover for professionals and why wouldn’t they keep both sites?

Lately, you’ve probably seen every guru come out of the woodwork trying to explain how you can use Pinterest for a business purpose.  I would caution that while you can think of ways to use this for any business, the current greatest value is in online retail.  For instance, check out how one of my favorite home decor websites, Layla Grace, is using Pinterest to share ideas and vignettes with users.

What do you think the greatest value is for Pinterest? And what is it’s greatest threat?

It always amazes me how people can get jobs by purporting themselves to know things, rather than having actual abilities.  I know I have made hiring mistakes with people like this…have you?  When hiring, it is imperative that you make sure someone knows how to DO the work. What if it was their manager or editor or coworker?  What if their portfolio has been heavily edited by someone else or is full of pieces by the “department” but not by the individual? 

Always get multiple references from reliable sources and unless you have first hand knowledge of their abilities, give them a test.  Check them out on LinkedIn…who do you know that they know?  Do they have a lot of referrals?  What do their personal social media profiles look like?  Why did they leave their last job?  Don’t just rely on that person’s answer, dig deeper into who this person is by asking mutual contacts for details.  The best case scenario is that everyone says the person is awesome.  Worst case scenario is that you save yourself time, money, and liability by not hiring a dud.

Perhaps the candidate wowed you in their interview by using all the right words.  They said things like “SEO” and “target audiences” and “integrated strategies.” Sometimes the biggest duds can give the best first impressions.  Unless you are hiring for a bullshitter, then by all means, just go on first impressions. Otherwise, test your candidates!  Can they spell?  Can they make good strategic decisions?  Would you trust them with your dog, let alone your company Facebook page?Design your test based not in a live environment, but based on a situation they may encounter.

Sample scenario: Our company is launching a new Facebook game. It’s targeted to this demographic.  Take two hours to research and present me with: a social media launch plan, a web advertising plan, and include sample tweets, Facebook posts, web ad copy, and keywords to target.

Then sit them in a cube outside your office and tell them to get to work.  If they know what they are doing, they should at least have an idea of where to start.  If they panic, run for the hills, or give you a cut and paste document with paragraphs from Wikipedia…well then you may have a problem.

Making a bad hiring decision costs you money and time…two things that are so precious when it comes to promoting a company, engaging customers, and maintaining a positive online reputation.  Don’t take your chances and go with your gut…back up your intuition with facts.

What do you think?  Any other advice for hiring in the social media or digital marketing arena?

Google Alerts is one of the best free listening tools on the web.  Many business professionals still do not understand the value that these alerts can bring them when they do client research and build content for their own social media voices.  (This is important for everyone…not just for those professionals “in charge” of social media.)

You define what’s interesting and Google Alerts finds it and brings it to your inbox as it happens, daily, or weekly.  If you don’t know how to set one up, visit www.google.com/alerts and enter your search terms, decide what you want to see (type), how often you want to see it, and how much you want to see (volume.)  Depending on the subject, you may only want news or you may want to also get blogs and videos, it’s all up to you.  You also may want to receive this information daily or weekly or narrow it down to what Google considers the best stuff, but for reputation related searches I suggest as-it-happens and all results.  I certainly want to know everything said or posted about me or my brand.

How Can I Use Alerts for Client Research?

• Identify the clients you want to monitor.
• What do you want to know? (Examples: awards, openings, reviews, etc.)
• Monitor client successes to give you a reason for contacting them.
• Monitor for client failures to help you in making sales.

Consider not only what’s relevant to you, but what’s relevant to the client.

• Monitor industry news so you know what’s relevant to them.
• Monitor location business news so you know what’s relevant to their business climate.

How Can I Use Alerts for Social Media?

• Who is your social media audience and who do you want it to be?
• What content can you provide that is relevant to this audience?
• This is value-added content that has nothing to do, in most cases, with your specific company.

Monitor alerts for relevant content and consider sharing on social media.

• Which social media voice is appropriate for this content?
• Has someone already shared the same content? I can still re-share or re-tweet.
• Does this content inspire me to create something for my company, such as a blog post or video?

Keep yourself in check.

• Is what I am sharing relevant to the audience?
• Is what I am sharing appropriate for the audience? 

Share good ideas and content internally.

• Take the time to forward good links and relevant content to other employees or on the employee Facebook page or intranet.
• Share ideas on generating new social media content to the relevant social media leaders in your company.

Final Thoughts

• Google Alerts are one of the best free listening tools for the web.
• Add and refine alerts as needed to help you on a daily basis or to help with specific projects or initiatives. They are customizable to your needs!
• If you do nothing else today, create Google Alerts for your name and for your company name.  This is essential to reputation management.

While candidates may understand the purpose of using social media for campaigning, if they haven’t been in office the past two years, they may not know a thing about Gov 2.0.  I blogged the other day about how candidates used social media in the mid-term elections, but actually transitioning that use into administrative use is a whole other thing.

For those politicians that aren’t aware, there’s been a big movement to actually use social media in daily government to engage with citizens.  This means that citizens can have an online relationship with programs and initiatives that matter to them: state parks, veterans services, travel and tourism, education, etc.  We’ve also worked to improve transparency and efficiency: providing information online, creating web forms, and more.

So when you walk in and take over the office in January, I suggest you consider the following:

• Is there an existing social media policy or guidelines for your state, city, agency, division, etc.?
• Who developed this policy and is anyone still around that knows anything about it? (you might ask this question before you clean house, otherwise your social media expertise will probably need to be replaced.)
• Who is empowered with the ability to use social media for business purposes? If these people are now no longer there, is someone going to take the reigns of maintaining online outposts and relationships?  (Interns do not count here. You need people who actually understand what you do and can adequately engage with the public on your behalf.)
• If there is no policy in place, or social media is not currently used, are you going develop this as part of your administration?  This is a priority you should discuss up front with your IT, communications, and program staff.

From my standpoint, using social media as part of government is becoming far less a value-added feature and far more an expectation.  Check out GovTwit and you’ll see there are over 3,100 people or entities at all levels of government that are already active.  Check Twitter and search for #gov20 and see what’s going on out there…the level of involvement and discussion may surprise you.

I guess my point is, you’re not the first administration or individual to grapple with the idea of using social media in government.  While you may not even realize the opportunity of using it within your administration or organization at this time, it benefits you to consider this sooner rather than later.  Find out what’s already been done.  See how you can actually build upon this to make government better and help serve citizens more efficiently.  Create more transparency. 

Because, in the end, wasn’t the point of running for office to actually create positive changes and make things better?  I hope you’ll consider how Gov 2.0 will be part of that equation.

The mid-term elections have been exhausting for most of us for a variety of reasons.  Whether you’re sick of emails or robo calls, or your job was on the line, chances are you are ready to take a well deserved breather.  I’m not going to talk about any specifics today…I’ll leave that to the pundits who want to dissect what went wrong or right for each candidate.  What I want to talk about is the social media echo chamber many of us witnessed this political season.

I have been one of the more active voices in Ohio advocating for the value of social media in government and, by relation, in politics.  But I must say I’m disappointed in how social media was used by all sides.  Somewhere along the line I think people got the impression that the Obama campaign used social media only to push messages.  To be fair, that may be somewhat true, but they also inspired people to share and push messages to their friends.  Even this week, did you notice how many people encouraged each other to vote on Facebook and Twitter?  The Obama campaign made things like this cool and exciting to participate in.

But what was lost on certain political staffers and advisors is how social media works best.  Things have changed in the past two years.  Social media participants generally expect more than one way communications these days.  They may follow your political tweet stream because they support you…but if you already have these votes, what are you gaining?  At most, perhaps a retweet here and there.  And your staff, who enjoy sharing every flaw of the opposing team, are surely quite vocal.  But they have hardly any followers, fans, etc.  And all of the ones they have are also the already converted.  So they spend most of the time talking to each other and getting each other hyped up.  This is the social media political echo chamber, and it’s not particularly useful for advancing your campaign.

Some politicians will wake up this morning and begin making the transition from campaigning via social media to the world of government 2.0.  Many more politicians are waking up this morning and know they have a few years before they make another go at any type of office.  Social media will continue to be a huge part of people’s lives, and campaigns should keep it central to their communications and outreach strategy.  But here are a few tips for building value through social media in the political world:

• Learn the space you want to participate in.  This does not just mean 6 months or 6 weeks before an election.  How do people communicate and what types of communications provide the most value to users?
• Figure out who to follow and how to target potential followers/converts.  Imagine instead of just tweeting to each other if you found people with actual concerns or questions in the social media space and reached out to them and answered them or engaged them in conversation.  Think how much more likely they are to go tell their friends about their experience.  This is similar to the idea of having a candidate knock on doors—but they don’t even have to leave their desk.
• Be real.  I understand that candidates or leaders cannot always participate on social media as themselves.  However, many other politicians do it.  Really.  Consider participating as yourself on a regular basis (even once or twice a week is a start!)  And learn to use a smart phone to update Facebook and Twitter.  It’s not that hard and people will think you’re more ”with it.”
• Social media is not just for the campaign trail.  If you want to build a lasting presence and relationship with people, make social media a part of your professional life, your campaign strategy, and your official use once in office.  Citizens are present on these channels 365 days a year and you will learn alot about yourself, the way you present your issues, and the way you govern.  It may spur positive changes on all fronts.

What have I missed?  I’m sure there are things you’ve noticed this season.  Please add your comments.

Let’s be clear up front, you’re brand is probably not Coca Cola or Apple.  Unless of course you are Coca Cola and Apple, then welcome.  But, more than likely, the group of people that relate to your organization as a brand is different than your potential customer group.  This is especially true in government and higher education.

While you might have your NASA or your Harvard, where people would proudly where shirts emblazoned with logos prior to building a relationship with you, chances are this is not the case.  Your regular government agency or university is not “sexy.”  And there are so many other agencies or universities that your constituents or potential students probably don’t even know for sure the immense variety of what you do or offer.

It is easier to spend marketing dollars on name recognition, however if no one knows what you offer them, what are you hoping to get in return for this investment?  The same goes for social media, it is harder to build a community with a group of people who do not already know and understand your core brand.

In order to get the most bang for your buck, take a look at the programs and services you offer.  Do you have a top notch state park system?  Do you have a PR program that is resonating with a whole new demographic?  These are the things that will resonate with specific groups of constituents.  If you identify areas to strategically market towards or build communities around, chances are you will be more successful and develop more engaged long-term relationships.

Remember, people care about what your brand/organization means to them…not necessarily what you want them to care about.