Time flies. It’s true.

We have had so many of you ask about the happenings lately at Lava7. Thanks for your interest and inquiries. We have SO many good friends in the social media world—I thought we should share a quick note because we have been AWOL.

Because of the growth of our My Social Practice product, we have been devoting 90% of our bandwidth to it. It has been a very fun ride. Still is. But, we have not been able to do any fee-for-service consultive work.

However, please stay in touch with us. We value the many Lava7 relationships we have. And in the meantime, if you are interested, check out our dental product blog and Facebook page.

SO, LET’S SAY YOU HAVE AN $8,000 stereo system in your living room, and a new $4,000 HD flat screen TV. On Thursday nights you spend 30 minutes watching The Office—and that’s about it (maybe a movie on the weekend).

On the other hand, you spend 3 hours a day (over 20 hours a week) on the web using Facebook, watching YouTube, tweeting, listening to music on your tiny computer speakers, etc.

A new integrated media delivery concept called over-the-top-tv is about to change our media consumption habits—and, it isn’t going to take years and years. In my opinion, it will happen fairly quickly, given the powerhouse companies that are on board. Then, as soon as it gains tiny traction, major networks will follow and so will advertisers. Yes, this is pretty huge—and huge for social media marketing.

THE INTERNET BROUGHT CONTENT—lots of it. Today’s web, coupled with practical integration using sleek, remarkable tools is beginning to bring context to the content. Most importantly, it’s beginning to bring content’s relevant application to our businesses and our lives.

Meet Nelson, Coupland, and Alice—IDEO’s vision of tomorrow’s book.

I’VE LONG BEEN A FAN OF MITCH JOEL. Back in 2006 he was named one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. He’s a marketing visionary, interactive expert and community leader. You can read his blog >here. If you haven’t heard about Mitch Joel’s new book yet, Six Pixels of Separation, check it out now.

When it comes to the way(s) in which your company is engaging with your audience, are YOU asking the right questions? Don’t get caught up in the tools. Tools come and go. Make sure, first, that your message and objectives are crystal clear.

Agree?

This is the first in a five-part series of posts about the importance of message clarity in your company’s social media marketing efforts. We’ll include specific “how-to” recommendations you can use to make your messaging more consistent and effective.

CONTROLLING YOUR COMPANY’S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD USED TO BE EASIER. Prior to the new marketing revolution, publishing and maintaining your message was pretty easy. All you needed to do was engage a good agency to help you come up with a sound value proposition—then, create well-written copy that flowed through your corporate capabilities brochure and legacy website. Ta-dah! There your declaration to the world sat—etched in stone forever (or at least for a few years), and nobody messed with it. Mission accomplished.

Things have changed (as cleverly shown in Tom Fishburne’s illustration above).

The dynamic, accessible nature of today’s new marketing methods allows you to leverage lots of people and many existing communities to move your message ahead. Employees, c-level types, boards of directors, customers, vendors, affiliate partners, shareholders, bloggers, minimum-wage interns, and other influencers directly (or indirectly) help tell your story—or detract from it.

And therein lies the rub. One of the drawbacks of such leverage is that there’s more liklihood that your message will be added to and/or subtracted from.

Now, let me be clear… I’m not talking about feedback, criticism, challenges, and two-way dialog. Those are welcome in new media marketing—and they absolutely come with the territory. I’m talking about additions and subtractions to your value proposition and point of innovation—the foundational blocks upon which your brand is built.

I recently had an opportunity to speak about this topic, in a five-minute, 20-slide “Crunch Lunch” format, at an entrepreneurial forum held at Novell:

Over the next couple of weeks, four additional blog posts here on our site will better develop the points covered in the video above. Please be sure you’ve subscribed to our blog (see subscription box at right).

WE’RE ALL MARKETERS. Whether you’re a blogger, advertiser, PR manager, programmer, SEO specialist, branding expert, or business owner—you’re a marketer. And if you’re reading this post, you’re likely a social media marketer as well.

Tough economic times, bailouts, loan difficulties and foreclosures have taken a devastating toll on the banking industry. Although the severity of conditions has varied from region to region, consumer trust levels have declined.

Western Community Bank (full disclaimer, Lava7 client), a three-branch community bank in Utah County, has always approached marketing with an innovative attitude. During difficult economic times, their commitment to starting a social media engagement strategy by launching a simple blog demonstrated a proactive community mindset and a willingness to assume some thought leadership.

Lesson 1:  Think Ahead Of The Curve

Enter, Adam Weight, VP of Marketing and Technology. During the bank’s blogsite development, a number of prominent social-media-specific articles began appearing in banking publications.

Adam was one step ahead. Are you? Ask yourself, “Am I being timid in my industry? Is there an opportunity—however small—to assume a leadership position? What’s holding me back?”

Lesson 2:  Be Human, Listen, And Participate

Western Community Bank (WCB) started with a simple premise…  Engage with customers and community members in ways that are honest and transparent, and provide clear insights and useful tools that are relevant to local audiences.

As one of the founders of the Social Media Club Utah Valley, I’ve noticed that the majority of our initial members are people inside our industry (meaning advertising, marketing, pr, branding, seo, etc.). There are few engaged members who either own or work in businesses from other verticals. Adam is one of them—and he makes a point of attending our club’s meetings and functions.

If you’re one of those people who falls outside “this industry” ask yourself, “Am I taking advantage of every opportunity to learn the mindset and tools that surround social media marketing? Am I attending SMCSLC (or Utah Valley, Cache Valley) meetings and thinking about how to leverage this wealth of passion and expertise to build my business? Am I using a blog, and/or other basic tools to listen and participate?”

Get involved! It makes a difference! And it doesn’t need to be difficult. Take off your marketing hat and put on your audience hat to better understand their needs and perspective. Here’s a recent, actual WCB Twitter exchange:

Lesson 3:  Don’t Quit. Your Tenacity Will Pay Off

Afraid you’re not a great writer? Maybe that’s true. But in Seth Godin’s words, “Stick with it and you’ll get better at it.” Are you afraid nobody’s interested in what you have to say? Perhaps…  At least today. But whether anybody reads your blog or not, the metacognition that takes place in formulating how you talk about what you do is priceless. Don’t stop. This is as much for you, and the way in which you view your business, as it is for your prospective audience.

Lesson 4:  Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

Let’s face it… Banks are, pretty much, boring. Agreed? They’re the epitome of traditional and conservative. The nature of what they do is all about regulatory requirements, privacy and safety. Not exactly a party. While remaining thoughtful and sensitive to their position and reputation, WCB isn’t afraid of having a little fun. It keeps them human—and here’s a good example.

So, dive in! Zig passionately while everyone else is zagging. Ignore the economic doom and gloom. There’s never been a better opportunity in history to take the four lessons above and turn them into a powerful blogging and social media marketing foundation for your business.

Onward!

Jack Hadley is CEO at Lava7, a Digital Engagement Marketing Agency

YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW WE’RE BIG SETH GODIN FANS AROUND HERE.

Download his new ebook, “What Matters Most” by clicking >HERE.

Digital engagement is fundamentally changing the way in which we communicate and interact. In this space (which ALL of us are in… whether you participate or not), the more you give, the more you get.

From Seth Godin, “Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up. Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. I hope a new ebook I’ve organized will get you started on that path. It took months, but I think you’ll find it worth it the effort.”

“Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O’Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here.”

WE OFTEN HAVE OPPORTUNITIES TO TALK WITH PEOPLE ABOUT CROWDSOURCING. Many of our clients have heard of the term before, but they’re not really familiar with its application and value.

If you’re new to the concept, here’s a simple video overview from Jeff Howe (the man who coined the term in a June 2006 Wired magazine article).

 
So, simply put, crowdsourcing is a distributed problem-solving and production model. It’s the process of taking an “open call” and “undefined” approach, and leveraging it using the power of the Internet.

With that basic understanding, the idea is still in its infancy—although it is working very well in some instances. There are some marketing people and creatives that believe crowdsourcing is a fad or gimmick. Perhaps some of them are worried about losing business to this model.

I believe crowdsourcing is powerful, and here to stay.
 

A New, Insightful Take On Crowdsourcing

Jason Falls recently interviewed Edward Boches about the integration of social media with traditional ad agencies and advertising. A snippet of that interview revealed an important additional benefit to crowdsourcing that we believe any company could benefit from.

 
Is your business taking advantage of the concepts behind crowdsourcing? What simple things could you do that require very little expenditure, but could stimulate participation—and perhaps yield huge benefits in learning what your clients or customers think about your products or services? What if your clients or customers became your virtual in-house marketing department for a day? How would they market your company? How can you gain insights into what’s important to them by using this model?

Please share your ideas with us!

ONCE AGAIN, ERIC QUALMAN DOES A GREAT JOB putting a relevant social media marketing topic into perspective using interesting stats and engaging video/audio production.

While these types of videos are useful in laying a groundwork for discussion, they’re not very useful as a basis for nitty-gritty evaluation of social media marketing measurement and ROI. There’s much more detail behind each of these case studies that must be considered in order to understand the complete social media measurement picture.

Last year I read a great article, entitled “Don’t Say ROI Unless You Mean It”, about the differences between ROI and VRM (Value Measuring Methodology). Wise marketers and savvy clients understand the value of both—and each is an important component in effective social media marketing.

WE TRY TO ASK OURSELVES the same rigorous questions we ask clients about their marketing efforts. We teach that tools must fit into the strategy—not vice versa. And, not every company needs every tool.

After founding Lava7 and setting up shop, we turned to our own marketing plan. One topic we struggled with was “How does Twitter fit into our strategy?” Each of the four Lava7 partners is active on Twitter, having spent time building their communities, finding relevant followers and actively posting. So, we weren’t sure how a corporate Twitter account would contribute to our goals. Should we take turns tweeting from the corporate account? Do corporate accounts feel impersonal? Would we confuse our faithful followers about how to reach us? Rich Brooks recently talked a little bit about this topic. Olivia Hayes has also talked about this before.

As we continued to look closely, we realized that we were already doing a pretty good job accomplishing our Twitter goals through individual accounts. We try to drive visibility, post thoughtful content in each of our areas of expertise, and reach out to thought leaders.

So we decided to put the @Lava7 account on ice (for now).

We’ll likely hear from naysayers who question why we don’t tweet from a corporate account. @Lava7 currently has a link that directs people to this post. We’d love to have you to follow our founding partners:  @jack_hadley, @mlkeone, @blakehadley and @lavarob (formerly @robjensendesign).

Another thing we encourage clients to do regularly is review their strategy. If one day our strategy changes, we’ll still have the tool in place. Reserving the right to change one’s mind is always a good idea.

How did you, or your company, decide what your Twitter strategy should be? We’d love to hear from you and get your feedback.

(photo courtesy: Paul Hadley)