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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Inclusion: My choice for social media marketing best practice

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Mitch Joel, over at Six Pixels of Separation, has challenged a number of us (and by playing the “tag” game, a growing list of other people) to share a social media marketing best practice. Mitch’s own post highlights consistency as a virtue.

Chris Brogan says ”Learn how to listen.” South African marketing manager Nelly Spencer talked about authenticity.

My contribution to the conversation is then notion of inclusion. It’s hard to find a critique of social media that doesn’t refer to the “echo chamber,” that metaphysical space where ideas and beliefs are amplified and reinforced by transmission back and forth among the same people in the same place. There is talk of cliques, exclusive niches of well-known social media luminaries, and the so-called A-list. (It has been suggested that the “A” in A-list stands for something else, but we won’t go there.)

I see examples of inclusion everywhere. Lynn Tyson, Dell’s vice president of Investor Relations, told Neville and me in an FIR interview that she’ll take a call or meet with the smallest shareholder; she does not confine her work to the big fund managers and investment analysts. She’s able to expand that philosophy through her blog, DellShares, one of the few IR-focused blogs in all of business.

Consumer-generated media is all about inclusion. When CNN runs one of its iReport videos during a hurricane or convention, it’s the voice of somebody who once would have been viewed as insignificant or irrelevant that gets the air time.

For my part, I try to answer every personal email I get, including dozens from students looking for help with their theses or dissertations, and hundreds from communicators looking for advice to help them kick-start social media in their organizations. I highlight new PR-focused podcasts. I cite ideas and observations from brand-spanking-new bloggers and link to them.

I suppose it’s only appropriate, since I was among the group that Mitch tagged, for me to tag others. So here goes:

Brian Solis, Donna Papacosta, Joe Thornley, Jose Leal and David Phillips.

The rules are simple (and you don’t have to be one of the five I’ve tagged to play). Here’s what Mitch is asking (in his own words):

1. Write a Blog post on your Social Media Marketing Best Practice. I’ll challenge you to choose just one (granted, you’re free to do whatever you want).
   
   
2. Include links to other people who have written similar posts for this Social Media Marketing Best Practices writing project that have caught your attention, or include their insights in your own post (just make sure to give them proper attribution).
   
   
3. Link back to this Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Blog. This will help me organize all of the content, it will help spread the word, and if you link back to this Blog and email me, I’ll make sure to include - at least - two links back to you. (note: you don’t have to do this, but I am trying to keep this as organized as possible).
   
   
4. If you use Technorati Tags (or anything like it), please tag your post “social media marketing best practices project”.
   
   
5. Feel free to tag other people in your post to get their opinion and help spread the project.

Oh, there are prizes. See Mitch’s post for details.