Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Don't Collect, Connect

The unexplored opportunity of social is to help people, teams, and businesses operating as a collective unit make connections and keep promises. Don't collect, connect This is true of data, of relationships, and of knowledge. 100 ways to connect to get you started: make things happen welcome relationships suspend judgment create experiences use multimedia for learners and readers with different styles/preferences use your content to elevate others be helpful show you care introduce peers tell stories help readers rock listen and ask questions stay humble keep learning participate fully accept take responsibility resist copying liberate your inner fan transform your... Read more →

Are You Helping Your Fans See Each Other?

As I continue to help companies build their Web strategy of the future working alongside a team who builds these experiences, I uncover green territory brands can claim to become the focal point for communities or groups of people who resonate deeply with what is on offer: the ability to see each other. Where it used to take several months and even years to organize impact at scale just a few years ago -- I remember organizing social network events when there was only a listserv provided through Fast Company -- today, it can happen in quasi real time online.... Read more →

What Kinds of Stories Drive Engagement?

If your question refers to news, and specifically local news, NPR Digital has an answer for you. Starting October 2011, NPR used geotargeting in five different regions to experiment with their Facebook Page content to see which would garner the most attention. Then, during the months of July, August and September 2012, they looked at the geotargeted content focusing on the stories that the localized NPR Facebook following liked, shared and commented on at a high rate. They found that nine types of stories typically attract readers. To identify a story's category, they asked a series of questions. Why did... Read more →

Why Have a Content Strategy?

Content allows you to build an audience, attract customers through opt-in (vs. the old opt-out tactics), and create advocates on behalf of your business or brand. In addition to planning for those milestones, you will need to plan content for each phase of the buyer's journey. With traditional media, you used to be able to "borrow" the audience media channels built. You paid to rent eyeballs and ears with TV, print, even digital, and radio advertising and promotions. They had the audience, not you. You got to interrupt it in exchange for money. In social media, you can go direct... Read more →

Customer Learning Curve

The headlines are filled with the cheer of earning curves around the holidays. It is particularly intense this season as retailers look to digital experiences as a path to supplement the in store sales. Where items might be in short supply at any one brick and mortar place, the online inventory can fulfil demand in most cases. Ironically, well-engineered digital experiences are better than in store when they remember who customers are, their product preferences, and buying patterns. Customers are, in fact, blurring the line between in store and digital. Given the right incentives and with varying degrees of transparency,... Read more →

Sharing Stories

I wish we did more of that in blogs these days. (increasingly, those are the blogs I read) Whenever I meet someone at an event, or during a trip, they never say "I wish I had more eight items to do today" to read. No, what they say is usually something along the lines of "I wish so and so shared more stories about his life", what she was thinking about or feeling as she was building a team, etc. If we are to write so that an eight year old might understand, we should also consider what we write... Read more →

Conversation Agent 2012 Recommended Reading List

People often ask me for book recommendations and it's been a while since I published a review. Here's a link to past reviews. This time, it's nine books -- an eclectic collection of new and evergreen titles mostly about creativity, social behavior, and willpower. 1. The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge by Doc Searls The book's premise is based upon the belief that the `free' customers are more valuable than captive ones. Relationships between customers and vendors will be voluntary and genuine, with loyalty anchored in mutual respect and concern, rather than coercion. So, rather than "targeting," "capturing," "acquiring,"... Read more →

Protecting Enthusiasm

"Take care not to casually discuss matters that are of great importance to you with people who are not important to you. … Most people only know how to respond to an idea by pouncing on its shortfalls rather than identifying its potential merits. Practice self-containment so that your enthusiasm won’t be frittered away." [Epictetus via Sharon Lebell] +++ As a natural enthusiast willing to share, over the years I have found myself in tight spots and moments of discouragement. My gratitude goes to the rare mentors and dear friends who have understood and nurtured my desire to tackle important... Read more →

The Problem with Blogging

The problem with blogging Is that it needs work. Just when it was becoming useful as a form of thinking out loud, of carrying out conversations with others through posts, across blogs, in comments, etc. it became a tool to convert -- so posts tightened, people stopped linking to content other than their own or for the opportunistic wink, and advice hit the recycle circuits. Two posts caught my eye in the last couple of hours that detailed ground well covered by at least a couple dozen people and probably four to five years ago. Indeed, it is always September... Read more →

Coca-ColaCompany.com Relaunches as Brand Journalism Site

In the beginning of the year, we talked about brands and content fluency -- and specifically Coca-Cola. This kind of fluency. It's about getting the mechanics and the execution right. In the illustrated examples, Coca-Cola's ambitious goals were: Coca-Cola needs to move from creative excellence to content excellence They need to develop content that makes a commitment to making the world a better place and to develop value and significance in people’s lives…while at the same time driving business objectives for Coca-Cola Through the stories they tell, to provoke conversations and earn a disproportionate share of popular culture I like... Read more →