Some say PR should own social media, since they’ve been dealing with the public faces of companies since time began. Some say marketing, as social media is the new email marketing is the new direct marketing is the new cold call marketing (but all wrapped up in a fuzzy warm cloak). Some say customer service; some say legal; some say sales. And so on, etc, delete where applicable…

You know who owns social media? No-one. Not an individual department. Not a niche. Not a job description. No-one.

Plenty (all) departments and sectors (should) own a piece of it.

Customer service should own the people-to-people side of it. Sales should own the business development side of it. Creative should own the strategy side of it. Legal should own the “keeping the shit off the fan” side of it. Every employee (ideally) should own some piece of it and help tell the company story. That’s the beauty of social media – everyone can have an impact.

But one single department owning social media? Sorry, personally I think that’s asking for trouble, not to mention limiting the potential of what it can offer you. Give me cross-department collaboration (over one department not collaborating and making everyone else cross) any time.

How about you?

photo credit: ernop

Who Owns Social Media? No-one Does originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

With the medium meaning so many different things to so many people, as well as how it can be used, I was interested to hear the views of the people I connect with.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing his views today is social media strategist Sonny Gill. His work emphasizes community-centric strategies through the use of social media. My sincere thanks to Sonny for taking the time to reply and share his views. To connect with Sonny or find out more about him, please visit his social media blog or connect with Sonny on Twitter.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

Ah, the elusive answer that many of us seek! Well, here’s my personal definition: Social Media is the new technological means that help us build, enhance and grow our communications channels, as well as our relationships – online and offline.

What is your reason for using social media?

Community – simple as that. I was intrigued by the medium a few years back as I became acclimated with the space by reading some of the top blogs in the industry. I was amazed at how a group of people, that you may or may not know, actually cared about what you had to say.

I’ve always been a marketing nerd at heart but the possibilities with implementing social media into the mix were endless – but more importantly, it gave me a place where I could better connect with people and actually build relationships with them.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

Not at all. We all have helped pave the road to get SM to where it is today, but there’s an even longer road ahead. That road consists of further education to clients, executives, naysayers – those who don’t understand how it can benefit their company but more so, who brush it off as a fad or a shiny new toy. It’s more than that and it’s our responsibility to prove them wrong. I think we all should keep this in mind as we move forward in this industry.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I can usually be found on Twitter for the better part of the day, along with Facebook and LinkedIn. Twitter is my original social media stomping ground. It’s where I first ‘got it’ and it’s where I’ve been able to connect with hundreds of people that I would not even had the chance to speak with otherwise.

Facebook has always been a safe haven for me and my personal friends that I grew up with or went to college with. Now, it’s kind of shifted into both personal & professional as I connect with people from my other networks and further build our relationship there while having the ability to share media (pictures, video) easier than I would on Twitter.

Lastly, LinkedIn is a site that I’ve always praised and hope that all my close friends and colleagues actively utilize. It’s your online resume, your background check for potential employers or clients, your own research tool. I connect with colleagues, old and new, as well as friends. I never know who I may need to know for that next pitch or possibly for that next employer – staying connected gives me a greater chance for an introduction, for myself or for a friend or colleague that’s in the same boat.

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

I think 2009 will bring SM to the forefront of marketing and communication strategies across many industries. The economic times is a sometimes overworked topic but one that can be addressed with social media, as there’s low monetary cost, though makes up for with the soft-cost of time.

For myself, I see social media further expanding my knowledge in the industry and in marketing as a whole. The great thing about SM is that everyone is willing to help, grow and learn with you. There are no limitations in this industry, as it’s all a matter of how hungry you are. Personally, I hope to utilize the skills I’ve learned and implemented within SM to hone my skills into a role where I can help a company maximize their potential, by tapping into what’s most important to their business – the people.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

Some are but most don’t get it, yet. With all its glitz and glamour, social media is still slowly being adopted by the corporate world. They’re getting their feet wet as some are on Twitter or have started a blog.

What misses the boat though is how they’re conversing with their community and the amount of time they’re putting forth.

First thing for them to understand is that social media is an extension of their current strategy, which needs to be understood throughout the entire company’s culture, as it’s not an end-all or going to save a failing strategy.

Listening and then communicating with your company’s community is a great initial step but use social media to help your community, not the other way around. This topic could definitely go into an entire post of its own but listening and learning is a good start for businesses to improve their use of social media.

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

I think by far the worst use of social media is the implementation of an MLM (multi-level marketing) strategy through Twitter. These tactics guarantee a massive amount of followers but what then? They fail to realize the time and effort aspect of social media and that it takes a lot of both to connect and build relationships, not numbers. They’re not utilizing Twitter for the benefit of conversation or relationships; they’re using it to get tons of followers.

Though this is one of the worst uses of SM that I’ve personally seen, it’s not something that’s sustainable. It’s easily seen / avoidable and the people who’ve done it will soon realize that there’s nothing more to their communities, than numbers, when there’s no substance behind it.

photo credit: Matt Hamm

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Discussing Social Media with… Sonny Gill originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing his views today is social media marketing consultant Jacob Morgan. Jacob runs a team of Technical SEO’s and has worked with brands such as Adobe, Conde Nast, Sandisk and Salesforce. He has also been a guest author on this blog. My sincere thanks to Jacob for taking the time to reply and share his views. To connect with Jacob, or find out more about him, please visit his social media marketing blog or connect with Jacob on Twitter.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

I would define social media as any tool, platform, or site that allows for collaboration or the sharing of information. Pretty much anything that allows people to talk or have a conversation with each other online.

What is your reason for using social media?

I use social media to build relationships with people. I build these relationships by sharing information and experiences and by interacting with people online. Social media has been a very valuable resource in terms of building trust and authority for me. Social media is also the most effective way to build and create an online presence. If you have the best product or service in the world but nobody can find you, then you don’t exist. It’s not enough to be great, you have to market great too.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

Depends on who you ask or what you do. If you take a look at the Obama campaign then I would say yes, they did an excellent job. If you look at corporate social media as a whole then I would say no. Social media will never be used to its maximum effect because we don’t know what that is. Since the field is so dynamic it’s just not possible to say that we are achieving our maximum potential. There is always going to be something else we could do to improve.

At this point I think we should be asking ourselves: is social media being utilized? If so, how? Was it successful? Why or why not? How do we repeat success or mitigate failure?

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I use WordPress, Twitter, LinkedIn, delicious, Feedburner, Google Reader, Google Alerts, Social Median, Flickr, Friendfeed, Facebook, and probably a few others I just can’t remember. I use each one of these tools to accomplish a particular goal, task, or objective. Overall all of these tools allow me to be an effective relationship builder.

WordPress is my the tool/platform I use to host my blog. I use Twitter to share information and content instantly, yet I also use it as a learning device and information source. LinkedIn has proven to be a great resource for business relationships and partnerships as well as client opportunities. Delicious is a very valuable tool when it comes time to save information that I feel I will use at a later time.

I use Feedburner to keep track of my blog’s RSS subscribers and I use Google Reader to organize all of my RSS feeds. Google Alerts is a great way for me to monitor target key terms or phrases as they pertain to me or clients. Social Median is a great information resource as I receive daily emails with content and information on my desired topics and categories. Flickr is my primary photo sharing tool which I am actually going to begin using more regularly soon.

Friendfeed is a social network aggregator that I mainly offer to users as a way to connect with me (for convenience), I actually don’t use Friendfeed actively. Facebook is just a great meta network – it’s a place where I can connect with friends, build business relationships, share photos, find out about events, etc.

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

It’s always tough to predict the future of social media but at this point I think it’s safe to say it will grow. Over time companies will continue to see the value of building relationships with users and customers and we will see new and creative ways of doing so. We have a few great social media tools to do so currently such as Facebook and Twitter, but look for more tools, more platforms, more features, and more creative ideas that will actually tie in social media with business goals and objectives.

I also think that we are going to see a tools that begins to show a more accurate Return on Investment (ROI) of social media, and perhaps tools that will be able to integrate social media with search engine optimization (SEO). Overall social media has a long way to go but it will grow.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

Some yes, some no. Comcast and Dell do an excellent job monitoring conversations on Twitter, while Victoria’s Secret is struggling to utilize their one million Facebook fans to achieve a business goal. This is a relative question and it depends on who you ask. It’s always easy to say that a business is not using social media effectively, but from the business point of view if they are seeing the results they want, then yes, it’s effective.

Overall, though, I think businesses need to focus more on personalization not automation. Relationships and brand evangelists aren’t built with robots, they are built with real people with real ideas and passions. Businesses need to be more clever and more creative!

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

I think the best part of social media is the ability for anyone, anywhere to build and online presence and relationships with the world. Social media is not bound by geography, race, religion, or sex. The instantaneous communication and open sharing of knowledge and information has changes the world we live in, this is amazing.

Just think, through Twitter I can find a client in China, even though I’m based in San Francisco. I can use Flickr to share a photo with my grandparents who live around the world.

As far as the negatives go, I would say that we are starting to see an increased number of spammers and hackers out there who are trying to take advantage of social media sites. It’s also tough to manage an increasing amount of connections and relationships across multiple platforms all of the time.

• You can find more “Discussing Social Media with…” interviews here.

Discussing Social Media with… Jacob Morgan originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing his views today is Stuart Foster, social media consultant at The Lost Jacket, a New Media and Web 2.0 Marketing company creating synergy between old and new website ideas. My sincere thanks to Stuart for taking the time to reply and share his views. To connect with Stuart, or find out more about him, please visit The Lost Jacket blog. You can also connect with Stuart on Twitter.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

I define social media as the effective crowdsourcing of ideas, information and thoughts into a readable and (sometimes coherent) stream.

What is your reason for using social media?

I use Social Media for marketing and public (People) relations. I was tasked with running/overseeing the PR wing at my company… one problem:  no cash to back me up. My answer to this conundrum was to turn to social media. I have had a great deal of success with this approach and was very satisfied with my results. I also finally saw the business applications for something I had been doing for the past 10+ years. It was definitely a pivotal moment in my life.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

No. In order for social media to be maximized in effectiveness… it needs to have the support of C-level executives. Some companies like Zappos and crowdSPRING get social media and have the support of their founders. However, until SM is approved and understood on a wider level… the same arguments against it are going to be used (example – Show me the Return On Investment, or ROI?).

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I’m addicted to Twitter via Tweetdeck. I use LinkedIN to keep my street cred up with the older folks. I am also a very active social bookmarker on Digg, Reddit, del.ic.ous, and StumbleUpon.  With Twitter I am able to talk with people who would definitely not get on the phone with me or even respond to an email…it’s a huge way to level the playing field. LinkedIN is great for maintaining an online (and regularly updated) resume. Social Bookmarking gets eyes on your page of choice…and if content is king: traffic is god on the internet.

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

Social Media is going to blow up in 2009 (In a good way). The reason for this being that people will begin to realize that the ability to soft sell on services like this is a much more attractive option then a cold call. Social Media can also make you a networking force, I predict lots more people will begin searching for and reaching out for jobs via the SM space.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

No. Some businesses are using social media but it hasn’t gained wide spread adoption yet. Also, it is still viewed as being an accessory or a shiny hood ornament. Companies will allow their message to be communicated by an intern and even worse often let their message become outdated and forgotten. Nothing is worse then a company offering information about their new sale for the summer of 2002…

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

Everyone gets to use social media. So in a way it is the best and worst thing about it. Your detractors, naysayers will be there (as will a few irrational trolls). However it’s great because you can directly address your naysayers AND have your fans come to your support. Making sure the process is transparent can greatly add to your credibility and success.

• You can find more “Discussing Social Media with…” interviews here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).

Discussing Social Media with… Stuart Foster originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing her views today is Kathryn Jennex, project manager at moovy.ca, an online space for film-makers to network, promote and mentor. Kathryn also recently became Chris Brogan’s personal assistant. My sincere thanks to Kathryn for taking the time to reply and share her views. To connect with Kathryn, or find out more about her, please visit  the moovy.ca blog. Or you can connect with her on Twitter – @northernchick.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

My definition is fluid and as I continue to learn more, always being added to, but the basis of the definition of Social Media that I adhere to is this: “At its most basic sense, a shift in how people discover, read, and share news and information and content. It’s a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologue (one to many) into dialog (many to many).”

To build upon that basic premise I also agree with this: “Social Media is the democratization of content and the understanding of the role people play in the process of not only reading and disseminating information, but also how they share and create content for others to participate. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in a conversational format between authors and people.”

I don’t define Social Media by the tools that are used  because I believe Social Media encompasses face to face networking, chatting around the water cooler and other discussions that occur off-line as well. (Definitions from Brian Solis).

What is your reason for using social media?

My initial reason was to promote a website I project manage, moovy.ca. When I became Chris Brogan’s assistant that changed – I live and breathe Social Media now and am beginning to help others new to the SM world.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I blog, am present on Twitter and Facebook and am trying to work more on my LinkedIn Profile. You can’t be effectively “present” everywhere. I think it’s necessary to pick 2 or 3 platforms and use them well. Remember, you choose those platforms based on the audience you’re working to engage with. It can change from project to project.

Just a comment ; building community takes time and effort, listening to the people you are trying to reach requires an investment, a level of commitment  and sincerity. These things don’t happen over night. The information about your Company, service, product, network etc. is already out there: choosing to manage it wisely, by using basic social media principals and tools, is a smart thing.

You can find more “Discussing Social Media with…” interviews here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).

Discussing Social Media with… Kathryn Jennex originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing her views today is Beverly Macy, a Managing Partner at Y&M Partners LLC, a strategic advisory firm in Beverly Hills. She also teaches Social Media Marketing at UCLA and is a lecturer at USC. My sincere thanks to Beverly for taking the time to reply and share her views. To connect with Beverly, or find out more about her, please visit her Y&M Partners blog.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

Social media is a set of online tools that enable community, sharing, connectivity, and conversation among people.

For years, marketers have talked about ‘listening’ to the consumer.  At the same time, Web 2.0 began to enable conversations to take place AMONG consumers. That conversation has evolved into video, picture, text, audio file… and it can be shared and passed on.

Blogs, podcasts, YouTube, Twitter, Wikis, Second Life, social networks, etc. are the tools we use to engage in this conversation with one another. Clearly, a fundamental shirt in the way we communicate has occurred.

What is your reason for using social media?

I use social media as a way to connect and share with clients, students, and business associates. I’m also beginning to use it as a personal branding tool. I wrote the course syllabus for the new Social Media Marketing course for the Executive Marketing Program at the UCLA Extension that launched this Fall, so social media has been a good way to communicate with students and demonstrate the power and immediacy of social media.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

Not yet. I saw an article proclaiming that “blogs are dead”. Are they? Or are they evolving into blog 2.0 or 3.0? In  2005,  most people didn’t know what blogs were. Who remembers Friendster? Is Facebook just Friendster 2.0? And where will Twitter be one year from now? The cycle time is incredibly fast and seems to be getting faster. The great news is that social media and social media tools are designed to keep pace with the increased cycle time. So we’ll see tools come and go and we’ll see new uses. As an educator I can say that business people – and even educators – are just beginning to “get it”.

My classes and seminars are full. We had to limit class size this semester and I’m running a 1 day Social Media for Business seminar in February on campus to help meet the need. I  received an email from an editor and publisher of a widely read magazine who attended the Social Media Marketing class at UCLA this fall. She asked me to give her “Private Twitter Lessons” after the class is over. Clearly, we’re just scratching the surface of social media for most online users. As they come up to speed – and as mainstream brands get in the game – we’ll see new uses for social media evolve.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I am an avid Twitter user – that’s my favorite right now. Twitter is proving to be incredibly useful – immediate, to the point, and provides a broad reach. I started a blog for the UCLA Class for teaching purposes that is getting wider attention beyond the class. Facebook is useful for some things but I find it a bit annoying.  I have contributed to podcasts and wikis. I have a Linked-In profile but don’t keep it up as I should.

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

Teaching a class in social media and working with corporate clients has put me in the catbird seat as far as trend watching.  I’m working with clients in pharma, healthcare, energy and entertainment who are beginning to think differently about the conversations they want to have with their customers. At the very least, these marketing professionals see a place for social media in reputation monitoring as a starting point.

I recently heard that hands-free Twitter may become part of Ford’s Sync offering. I’m seeing a rise in popularity and use of platforms like Ning, Pringo, Kick Apps, for white-labeling social networks around all types of groups. This will continue to grow. Associations, industry groups, sports teams, Girl Scouts, non-profits, mommy-bloggers, daddy-bloggers, teens, pre-teens, kids, baby boomers – anyone can start a network, and will. I’m also intrigued by iPhone and other mobile apps and believe there are terrific opportunities for business with branded apps.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

I’d say that most businesses haven’t even thought about social media as a viable part of their marketing mix yet. The adoption curve reminds me of websites in 1999. Early adopters had sites back then and were well down the path of using the Internet for business. But most businesses didn’t have sites – or useful sites – until 2001/2002. That’s what we’re seeing with Social Media.  It hasn’t hit a tipping point in business yet.

During this semester the Motrin controversy erupted. The mommy bloggers were highly insulted by Motrin’s ad about back aches associated with baby slings. It created an outpouring of negative response. Motrin apologized. We talked about how Motrin may have missed a great opportunity to communicate with those angry moms. Here was a whole group of very vocal consumers who could have become advocates, or a focus group, or Motrin could have launched a contest to create a better ad, etc. Missed opportunity

This semester we looked at a whole host of brands using social media as case studies. I also do this for my clients as they begin to consider social media tools. What’s interesting is establishing metrics for measuring the ROI, and not just from a financial returns standpoint. Brand awareness, conversation, customer engagement, reputation monitoring, are all measurements to judge the effectiveness of social media campaigns. We also looked at where social media fits in with a total Integrated Marketing Plan for a brand and/or company.

But Social Media practioners would be surprised at how far behind these business folks are, though. They’re worried about policy, privacy, lack of control. They are puzzled by the openness and the transparency. Most of them don’t even know what RSS feeds or bookmarking are, let alone blogs or Twitter.

We gave them an assignment to start a blog. That’s been a very enlightening experience both for them and for me. People had trouble with the concept, the idea that somebody would have to maintain a blog, even what ‘linking’ is and why it’s important. On the flip side, we had a full class this semester and had to turn some folks away to keep the class size manageable, so the business community is clearly hungry for the information and tools.

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

I’m loving Twitter right now. It’s a great connector, it’s good for business development, and it forces folks to be short and to the point. I think we’ll see new uses for Twitter continue to pop up.

The biggest complaint I hear is it’s hard to keep up with everything. And to maintain multiple profiles. Someone’s going to figure this out, but right now, it can seem like a time-sink.

• You can find more “Discussing Social Media with…” interviews here.

Discussing Social Media with… Beverly Macy originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing his views today is Amani Channel, Senior Producer at Visual Eye Media, a full-service video relations company providing media consulting and professional High Definition video production for individuals, non-profits and corporations. My sincere thanks to Amani for taking the time to reply and share his views. To connect with Amani, or find out more about him, please visit his My Urban Report blog.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

Social media is interactive nature of the Internet that allows individuals, businesses, and organizations to engage in conversations (communicate), and build relationships. It includes blogs, wikis, communities, and sites like Twitter.

What is your reason for using social media?

I use social media for a variety of reasons. I use it to stay in touch with family and friends. I use social media to share information about news, and events that are of interest to me, and I use it to promote and build business relationships.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

Social media is very time consuming, and can be overwhelming. I do my best to maximize my presence, and personal brand. Some people do a great job, others just add chatter.  I believe those who engage in industry specific conversations, share timely links, and focus on community building, will have positive results.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I use Twitter, which feeds my MySpace, and Facebook status updates, and Twitter updates are on my My Urban Report blog. I also use video extensively with my blog and blip.tv, and tubemogul is very useful especially for mass distribution. I also have a blog on my video production company website – however, I don’t update as frequently as I should.

Back to Twitter, I have two separate accounts.  One for Visual Eye Media and one for My Urban Report. I try to keep my tweets relevant to my brands. For urbanreporter I try to focus on sharing urban news links, and personal updates. For Visual Eye Media, I try to focus on social media, and online & video production information.

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

Many of those currently engaged in social media are early adopters, and we certainly have a heard start on others who are just getting involved in social media. I hope to continue to use social media to inform, educate, and build my brands.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

As a journalist, I find that many news organizations are doing a poor job of using social media. Twitter is a great utility for reporters to build followers and keep online users up to date with news developments. Many corporate news organizations have tight rules about reporters use of social media.  Also, I haven’t seen many popular brands on Twitter though many independent, and small business owners are catching on.

As far as improving a social media presence, I would say roll up your sleeves and jump in. You can’t understand social media unless you try it.

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

It seems we’re approaching a saturation point in terms of social media. Between my blogs, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blip.tv, YouTube, it’s hard to be engaged in all sites (and it seems more are popping up each day). I like the transparency, the community building, and communication that social media allows.

• You can find more “Discussing Social Media with…” interviews here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).

Discussing Social Media with… Amani Channel originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing his views today is David Leonhardt, President of The Happy Guy Marketing, offering multilingual SEO and online marketing services, as well as a variety of ghostwriting services. My sincere thanks to David for taking the time to reply and share his views. To connect with David, or find out more about him, please visit his SEO Marketing Express blog.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

Social media is any communications technology that allows interaction between users. Currently, that includes Internet and hand-held wireless applications. However, television applications could easily be envisaged, as could refrigerator applications:

Hmmm…I wonder what Mom has in her fridge…let’s check. I see. Ooh, she has some good stuff. Let’s just send her a message here… “Hi mom. Thinking of doing anything with that lasagna? I’m free to come over for dinner.” I suppose I should copy my brother on that one.

I expect that when fridges can do this, it will still be Web-based, perhaps through a FaceBook application or some other service not yet invented.

Although “social media” and “Web 2.0” have been used almost interchangeably, it is important to note that forums and newsgroups are examples of social media that have been around long before Web 2.0 was “invented”.

What is your reason for using social media?

Tricky question, because it depends on the applications. I would say there are essentially three reasons for anybody using social media:

1. To say something (marketing, opinions)

2. To listen to something (learning)

3. To build relationships (marketing, social)

Across the board, my number 1 reason for using social media is for learning, specifically for keeping my ear to the ground. In the world of SEO and website marketing, so much changes so fast that is impossible to keep track of it all without some tools. I like to follow the discussions at Sphinn.com and HighRankings.com because it helps me keep track of what is happening.

I am definitely a late convert to Twitter, but it took me only a couple days to be a complete fan. Twitter is like a pair of binoculars for monitoring the changing landscape. The short 140-character snippets, one after the other from all those people I choose to follow, gives me the ability to monitor a much, much wider landscape without spending any more time. They come from multiple sources, including dannybrown.me (of course), problogger.net, mashable.com and topseoblogs.wordpress.com, to name just a few that I have found most helpful to follow closely.

My number 2 reason is to build/maintain relationships. Even fairly loose relationships can be useful for business, because if there is an opportunity or an idea to present someone else, there is already a door open.

From a personal perspective, I am a bit of a hermit, compounded by living away from any urban center, so social media gives me a little more social interaction. This is important for anyone working alone in their home. In the case of Twitter, I have already met some very nice people in the nearest urban centers, Ottawa and Montreal – and even down the highway in Toronto – whom I hope to meet in person before too long. In the case of Facebook, I use it to maintain relationships with people I have known over time.

My 3rd reason for using social media is for marketing, but not because I expect to find any clients on FaceBook or Sphinn or Twitter. These are simply wonderful venues to let people you know about things you are doing and nudge them to spread the word. Again, this is about networking and making use of existing relationships. I really have not yet used social media for this, but I know I will.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

Social media, in the sense of Web applications, is really in its infancy. Its true effect will happen when political rallies take place online, or when people can log in to international economic summits and discuss with each other in real-time what is happening as ambassadors modify their positions based on public opinion, even as it is being formed. When we are able to join friends on impromptu holographic vacations in places we could never afford the time or money to visit in person… I feel that’s when social media will begin to get really interesting (sign me up for that hike in the Andes without having to fly for a day each way!).

I should also add that when I have to answer the question “What’s a blog?” at least once a month, I know how far we have to go.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I already referred to some of my favorites, but I also use a number of other websites, including Digg.com and StumbleUpon.com and occasionally Mixx.com and Searchles.com . And of course, I use my own start-up social bookmarking website just for Canadians, Zoomit Canada (I can’t resist slipping in a plug for that). I massively underuse YouTube and Flickr and MySpace and many others because I just don’t have the time.

One specific tool I really like is TwitterBerry. I’ve never liked to waste a moment, and this allows me to better “use” my time while my daughters are dancing (no WiFi there!) or even while waiting for the ladies to do their thing before stepping into a movie.

I also like the Facebook application for posting Tweets automatically to Facebook, which helps with certain time-management issues. I plan to add a similar function to Zoomit Canada sometime in the next few months.

I also like WordPress as a blogging platform. All my blogs and most of my clients’ are in WordPress. It’s simple and SEO friendly, and is loaded with plugins.

I also have to mention the social bookmarking script my brother and I created, called TheBookMarketer, which I use on all my blogs to make them easy for people to social bookmark.

And let’s not forget Wikipedia and LinkedIn and MyBlogLog, as well as probably a couple dozen forums that I also massively underuse (still waiting for that 48-hour day!).

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

The main obvious future of social media is that it will become more ubiquitous. For example, someone planning major renovations to their home in Chicago will expect the architect to place the plans where they can be easily seen and annotated by the in-laws in Davenport and the best friend who’s moved to Akron.

I also predict that Twitter in particular will reduce waiting times on hold listening to muzak and “Your call is important to us, please wait another 562 hours for an agent” messages. That’s because while on hold, there is very little a person can do except to tweet about how long they have been on hold with the company. And all the followers tweet back in sympathy. Customer relations will be revolutionized in ways we have not yet dreamed of.

Because I see search engine algorithms increasingly following people’s actions, I expect social media to play an increasing role in SEO, so I see it becoming a bigger part of my work. I already have short term plans for specific clients, but it remains a steep, steep challenge to get them interested in social media when “rankings” are so much easier to measure and there is so much more work (cost) involved in a proper social media campaign.

Longer term, I see a time when a plugin is not something you place in a WordPress directory, but rather something you place under your skin. No more hand-held devices, because we will be constantly connected, shifting our attention between communities and between individuals.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

No. Most businesses are not monitoring their reputations, and wouldn’t know if they are being dissed until it’s a wildfire out of control. The “Motrin Moms” episode is a prime example of this, but there are thousands of companies losing business because people are blogging and tweeting about their bad experiences. I said my main reason for using social media is to keep my ear to the ground. Social media is for communicating, and the biggest part of communication is to listen.

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

The people. They are the best when they share and when they connect. I find it charges me with energy. They are the worst when they just promote. I have no problem with promotion, but give me something useful with the pitch.

• You can find more “Discussing Social Media with…” interviews here.

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Discussing Social Media with… David Leonhardt originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing his views today is Mark Harai, a consultant at GAC Consultants, a social media marketing and business development consultancy. My sincere thanks to Mark for taking the time to reply and share his views. To connect with Mark, or find out more about him, please visit the GAC Consultants blog.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

Virtual communication platforms on the Internet for people to communicate.

What is your reason for using social media?

To expand my network, business and relationships.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

I do believe it is productive and will eventually arrive; but is still defining itself.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

Twitter – Linkedin – Facebook. In my quest to learn and participate in social media, these were/are the most suggested tools. Having immersed myself in social media now for the past 3 months, I have found that these are in fact the most effective tools for business and networking; mind boggling.

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

Here to stay for certain. For small businesses, it will have a profound affect on who does business and where they do it ‘globally’. Because social media has eliminated the barriers to building quality relationships on a
global scale, small business ($100 million or less) will have a more international flavor. For big business and branding – it will require personally touching consumers; no more hiding behind carefully crafted messaging and professionally managed images. This will provide many opportunities for small and emerging market companies/brands that know how to have relationships with people.

I fit in the first category; hence, I am participating with Danny Brown from the UK (now in Canada) that I would not have known were it not for Twitter. I also get to participate in a very productive exercise that I believe will help define social media. Pretty awesome if you think about it.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

Big and small businesses are certainly discovering ways to effectively use social media. But I feel there is a way to go yet to identify ‘THE’ successful uses and strategies of social media and to set the standards of this evolving industry. Business leaders are already participating and contributing to the growth and expansion of social media and everyday it gets better, more powerful and more user-friendly.

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

Best: transparency/building relationships.

Worst: abusive non-constructive use of the benefits – spamming and impersonal marketing approaches.

• You can find more “Discussing Social Media with…” interviews here.

Discussing Social Media with… Mark Harai originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

I came across the video Social Media in Plain English by a company called Common Craft. They have a host of similar videos for different themes – the key connecting factor is the simplicity in which they explain their topics.

I think Social Media in Plain English is one of the most apt titles I’ve ever come across.

What do you think?

Social Media in Plain English originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.