Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Influencing Your Self

One of the aspects of influence many overlook as they seek to connect with others and get the word out is where they're starting from. That is critical if you want to develop influence with others -- both loved ones and the market (although a good idea to love your customers, too). How attractive are you? Do you like to spend time alone? Think about it. This is valid for organizations as well. Take a look around. Is everyone busy being busy or is there purpose to how they meet, discuss issues, approach work? What is the energy on the... Read more →

Strategy is Motivation

[5:47" YouTube] Even for business, strategy is motivation. In my video interview with Simon Mainwaring I explain a bit further the concept of buyers vs. customers, and the process I use when working with organizations to meet their goals. The most frequently asked questions teams ask during a strategic engagement range from learning what best practices like companies use online, to how to respond in a crisis situation. Yet, by far, the biggest challenge organizations face is that of building continuity and consistency in their interactions. Why is this such a challenge? For several reasons: many organizations operate in an... Read more →

Content and Community Building

In its 2011 edition of the State of Community Management, a report compiled from conversations with member companies, The Community Roundtable covers several areas of interest for organizations that are looking to add or improve their community outreach within and beyond their marketing and communications efforts. It was interesting to note how the majority of respondents are now using social approaches across a wide variety of functional goals, for marketing, and beyond it, for support, innovation, and collaboration. A few nuggets that will interest marketers looking to improve the relevance of their content strategy are: Marrying strategy to both audience... Read more →

We First

[3:37" on YouTube] I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Simon Mainwaring who was at SxSWi to talk about his first book and new company -- We First. The intention behind the book is to serve as a tonic against the "me, first" mentality that has driven thinking and behavior in the private sector for decades. And it's really got us in trouble in terms of behavior in the business sector, for example Wall Street. In the private sector with issues like over consumption. The net of all this is that it's unsustainable. We cannot keep practicing... Read more →

3 Ways to Go Upstream With PR

When used in combination with the term marketing, upstream means that you gather information from the market to drive product direction and strategies. Some correlate the term with "inbound". However, there is a lot more to going upstream than pull. Upstream marketing is the early stage investment you make in understanding the customer segments you wish to focus on, analyzing how people use your product or service and what triggers preference. All the stuff that happens before you launch will make your go-to-market activities even more successful. When people think about PR, they think buzz, getting the word out, press... Read more →

Connecting the Stream with Action: People as Conversation Agents

When I asked on Twitter about personal take aways from SxSW 2011, Andy Hayes responded along the same lines as I would have: #SXSW Lesson: that deepening connections with existing ppl is just as important as meeting new ppl. Twitter has been an integral part of the conference -- and of many lives in the last 5 years. Edward Boches also strikes a chord with the format of his happy birthday, Twitter post. Because it is about making connections -- with ideas, meaning, and people. What Bill Taylor and Alan Webber declared more than 15 years ago was alive at... Read more →

You do That, Too

There's a bit more than coincidence happening these days. Any given moment, you read about someone having said, written, or done something that someone else did. Crediting others has become more challenging given how everyone is exposed to similar information. Plus, speed is of the essence. Never has there been a greater need to connect the stream with action: big challenges needing solutions and our collective brains. Yet, never before the need for feeling heard and in control of one's experience has been felt more. This week alone, about three dozen people were breaking the news of the impending merger... Read more →

Creating Passionate Users with Kathy Sierra, Part II

This is part II of my conversation with Kathy Sierra. In part I, we talked about focusing efforts on what the person you want to support wants to do and about designing useful content. To me content is a business asset, a product. Which means you may need to redesign the organization to produce it. This conversation with Kathy is bubbling up many of the issues we face in that process. _____________________ There are so many favorites among your visual archives. Simple questions you managed to help us surface and remember in new ways: out spend or out teach; going... Read more →

Creating Passionate Users with Kathy Sierra, Part I

I'm thrilled to continue my series of conversations with practioners, authors and thought leaders by posting a two-part interview with one of my heroes. Technology and user experience have benefited greatly from the work of Kathy Sierra. _____________________ A big ah-ha I had a couple of years ago when I attended your panel at SxSW for me was the idea of focusing on what the person wants to do. I tend to go macro in my thinking and we do share common themes at a high level. Yet, I had not thought of taking that principle and applying it to... Read more →

Connecting the Stream with Action: Business Becomes Social

This is the third theme or trend I observed at SxSW 2011. I could have easily titled the post re-connecting business to people. While technology and humanism meet, and media embraces real time, business is finally showing signs it is becoming social again. As I said in the interview with genConnect right after my session, the biggest opportunity for companies in social media is that to transform buyers into customers -- to increase the number of transactions people have with them from one to more than one. In that sense, the big winner at SxSW was a brand everyone brought... Read more →