Dear AdAge, Here's How you Do Social Media

You took on the Power150 from ToddAnd, great. Now you've made it a list subject largely to the whims of Technorati and other tools that have no accountability to the community they purport to serve. You have an awesome group of professionals lined up in pecking order, which is really not a reflection of their skill or specialty.

You are content to have the link back to the list and your site at their blogs, when present, and occasionally blast offers and pitches to them. In my experience, you don't answer emails, either. Isn't this sort of 1.0-ish? I'm not even the first one to point this out.

I think that with greater power, comes greater responsibility - and visibility. You have the Power150 - nominally - the 150+ bloggers on the list still have their own power. Would you want your list to be a "check the box", "see and be seen", "been there, done it" list? Or would you rather it become a place where you help make connections? Can we make it interesting? Can we animate things a little?

How about we make it a conversation? Don't just manage - create, invent, mix things up, lead. Don't sell - ask, organize, open up, listen, explore, take some chances. As a publication, you are in the content business. Are you content to let so much great content go unseen and unused? There is a much greater opportunity there - that of context building.

Let's take for example the fact that probably not all marketers on that list know each other. Isn't this part of what you document companies should do with social media? A list is a list is a list. It means nothing without the people making it come alive. Help it along, think hub and comma, more than period, "and/and" more than "either/or". See if any of these thoughts appeal:

• Start actually reading and commenting on the blogs you list.
• Link to those blogs when you write about something in your publication that is topical to them - surely there is plenty of great content there.
• Copy Guy Kawasaki (in spirit). How is it that he came up with a widget so people in Alltop could stream topical content on their sites and you didn't? (That is a rhetorical question.)
• Give opportunities to all the people on the list to do something with AdAge - guest post, interview, do a podcast, a vCast, figure out the "what".
• Use Twitter to expand your circle. How about adding a Twitter link to the list for those bloggers as well? Isn't micro-blogging becoming popular?
• Bring in non marketing people to talk about customer service, operations, delivering products and services - that is marketing.
• Promote good work by any of the bloggers on that list. You'll be able to do that when you read and comment.
• Guest post at the blogs on the list and send real opportunities their way - Stumble, Digg, bookmark on Delicious.
• Organize meet ups, conferences, round table discussions, opportunities for you to be out of the office and with the community.
• Try new things, test them with the community, refine, repeat.
• Reach out in person - yes, I know some of the writers know some of the bloggers. How about  opening the circle wide?
• Connect the dots for the community, show patterns, stories, trends.

What else? What kind of opportunities are there? What possibilities could be awaken with a little bit of creativity, curiosity, and care? Social media is not about the tools and neither is marketing. If you accept the fallacy of that narrative, that whatever a broken Technorati, Alexa, etc. and their bots say is valid, you accept the fact that "advertising" as a push technique works.

Good execution is hard. It takes work and commitment. If this is just a game, can we see a little love for the game?

Comments

[Barry Martin]

Here's what's going to shock AdAge as members of the advertising establishment:
1. You just gave strategic advice away for free.

2. You're basically suggesting they join the conversation, and thereby become part of what's going on. That's not their model, and the establishment doesn't want to admit the old model is crumbling until they have a clear strategy to monetize the next one.

3. One also gets the sense from your comprehensive post that anyone and everyone can do this new stuff. Where's the caché in that?

Agencies have believed themselves the keepers of the strategic communications grail since the beginning of advertising. Media companies their meal ticket. And big business has been locked into a large broadcast spending dance with them that all three have grown comfortable with.

Corollaries like addage are hanging on like a parasite with a demented host.

Though for a series of reasons push marketing is working less and less, it's hard for an industry that has consolidated to a few colossal dinosaurs to suddenly shift to a value model.
By value model I mean that social media enables modern marketing in 2 ways that offer value to consumers:

1. People will only share/evangelize/discuss/etc actually useful products/services–so agencies will be in the uncomfortable position of having to tell their clients when their products suck.

When your bread and butter clients are multi- nationals who sell over-packaged, low nutrition non-essentials shipped all over the world, you're talking about getting some of the biggest companies in the world to change how they do busines.

2. The second way to offer value is to engage us.
Good agencies have always know there are two ways to sell parity products–negative tactics like irritating repetition or fear, and entertaining us. The former is working less than ever because there's no way to keep up with our media consumption patterns or the proliferation of credible media options.

Honesty, when I read your post I was in the middle of closing tabs on my browser–now look what I've done. And I'm supposed to be on vacation!

Thanks for the thought provoking work. I enjoy your blog.

Barry

[Ryan Moede]

Very insightful post! What do you think it will take to get AdAge to take on even a handful of these initiatives? I'll be curious to see if other publication's more social attempts (BX Exchange at BusinessWeek or TimesPeople at the NYTimes) have enough success to inspire efforts by others.

[Adam Singer]

Great post Valeria, I always wondered why AdAge didn't do some of the things you listed. It's a cool network they have built.

You know, PR Week could do something similar for PR, but they don't...so could Wired...it's actually a big opportunity for any large publication to build a community of bloggers in their niche.

You're right though, there is alot more they could be doing than merely keeping the list.

[Ryan Stephens]

Valeria,

Great Post! Per usual, you have given me some great (and actionable) things to think about.

While I'd like to think that my list of top 10 Gen Y blogs is significantly more involved and engaging in the community, there's so much more I can do with it (provided I can find the time).

You definitely got the wheels spinning, and I'm looking forward to trying some new things, with respect to the list, in the near future.

[Armando Alves]

I migh as well ad a videocast/podcast to the initiative. It's quite ease these days, and it would fit in AdAge's media vision of the world.

They already have a videocast (3 minute), so it wouldn't be hard to give back to the community and feature some bloggers on their web initiatives.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Barry - I hope you won't mind me basing tomorrow's post and discussion on your points. You've given us such good food for thought that I'd like to open the conversation to everyone. Enjoy your vacation and thank you for taking the time to lay all of this out for us.

@Adam - good suggestion to PRSA and AMA, etc. IABC has a blog, bot I do not think they keep up with member blogs... it really is a different world out there, isn't it? In my last year of actively organizing main events with Fast Company's network we created a Squidoo lens that syndicated member blogs. The challenge with those things is keeping up, of course, so I can see how making a commitment would be hard.

@Ryan - there you go, sometimes we follow the old media model unconsciously - that is the way we have seen things done. As you know from working with Seth, there are other ways of looking at things. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

@Armando - do you work at AdAge? I know you through A Source of Inspiration. I was throwing around ideas, I'm sure there are many more.

[Mark Dykeman]

I particularly love this suggestion:

"Bring in non marketing people to talk about customer service, operations, delivering products and services - that is marketing."

Lines up with what I was taught in business school: marketing is about the process of getting goods and services (note: the RIGHT goods and services) to the customer. When you think about it, virtually every business process falls under this umbrella.

Advertising and corporate communications are only pieces of that puzzle.

I really enjoyed this post, Valeria.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Mark:

I do wonder if a time will come when many B2B companies will realize that they should align under the marketing umbrella. In my experience, they are the laggards in understanding that marketing does not equal ads or press releases, but it is the whole process, as you stated.

[Scott Monty]

Excellent post and well said, Valeria. I just passed the Crain Communications building last night and thought about AdAge's old school thought process.

If they are indeed hopelessly stuck in the past (http://www.scottmonty.com/2008/08/advertisingage-hopelessly-stuck-in-past.html), couldn't they even try something as old media as free subscriptions for the top 150? If they're a worthwhile publication, odds are the influencers will tell their audiences about it and before you know it, sales might actually rise...

[Valeria Maltoni]

Scott:

What an excellent analog idea! How about using the magazine as a social object? This was a good brainstorm, I have been on the receiving end of, well, nothing - no responses.

[Todd Defren]

Brilliant. This list has been one-sided for too long. It is literally silly.

(Not that I'll be removing my Power150 badge in protest, but, still, the AdAge folks come off as so clueless for doing so little with this program. And don't get me started about PR WEEK.)

[Nelson]

I agree with you. Social media should be about engaging conversations, building relationships, and helping others.

Best Regards,

Nelson Bruton

[Todd And]

I just saw this was posted in two locations, so I'm adding my comment to this one too:

Hey Valeria,

Thanks for taking the time to write about this topic! While I don't intend to speak for Ad Age, I can tell you that they have done a few of the things you've suggested already and are planning several more. Unfortunately, as a large media corporation, they have hoops to jump through and can't move as quickly as we'd like.

A Power 150 roundtable discussion was held less than a year ago and an excerpt was published online and in the book. Unfortunately, they had to limit it to just 12 participants. Part of that roundtable discussion centered around enhancing the Power 150. Moving forward, I'd love to see annual or twice-yearly P150 roundtables and/or focus groups.

Ad Age has made some strides to promote bloggers and I know Editor Jonah Bloom encourages his editorial staff to use bloggers as sources, but it probably doesn't happen nearly as much as you, me or others would like. Also, Jonah has said before (at the round table and I believe in comments on past blog posts) that Power 150 "listees" are welcome to leverage Ad Age for press passes to conferences and events. If you have a freelance idea, an event that you'd like to attend (as a member of the media) or something you'd like to cover as a Power 150 blogger - or perhaps even as an Ad Age stringer - you should definitely contact Jonah and inquire about opportunities.

As for what the future holds, all I can tell you is that I'm hearing a lot of good things. Twitter integration is being brainstormed as we write this and they've always wanted to utilize more of the quality content being generated. I believe they are exploring partnerships with third-party vendors to determine the best avenue(s) for widget development and/or content integration.

Also, I'm not sure who at Ad Age you're sending emails to, but perhaps a phone call follow-up will help their responsiveness. I know Charlie Moran, who manages the Power 150 at Ad Age, always responds quickly when he gets emailed. (I know because I'm usually cc'd.)

Bottom line, I'm with you on the whole create, invent, mix things up, listen, take chances stuff. I'm content and being patient knowing that Ad Age is discussing, brainstorming and preparing new things for the Power 150. In the meantime, I'll forward your post to Charlie and suggest that he contact you to bounce some ideas around.

Thanks again for taking the time to write about this topic, Valeria! I hope to see you at Blogger Social 2009.

Todd

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Todd - heavens those buttons were designed by the brilliant Todd And and they stay!

@Nelson - thank you for sharing your thoughts on social media.

@ToddAnd - you have been patient and supportive of their efforts, I know. I emailed Charlie Moran upon your suggestion a while back. I cannot recall if I did twice, in fact. I must have gotten caught in the spam filter as I have not received a response. As for press passes at events, I already get invites (as I'm sure many others do) directly from event organizers... I know that some on the list have had more contact with AdAge. It will be interesting to surface some of the initiatives they have going.