Today I’m going to get a rare opportunity. I’m going to get to present to a group of government officials from another country. Ukraine to be exact.

Due to the security of this event I can’t really talk at length about what I’m doing till it’s over, but I was given this little blurb that I can give you:

“Five International Visitors from Ukraine participating in the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), administered locally by the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy (UCCD), are traveling to Utah August 22-25, 2010, to examine “Government Practices in Public Diplomacy.” As part of their professional program, I will be meeting with them to demonstrate new technologies in public diplomacy, including the use of social media outlets, such as Facebook. Despite the Global Financial Crisis, Ukraine has the potential of becoming a major European economy, closely integrated with its neighbors, because of one major industry: IT Outsourcing.”

I can also say that I will be talking about the use of social media in government and how it’s being done here in the U.S. of A. I’m pretty stoked about it and it’s one of those opportunities that don’t come along very often and I just hope I don’t blow it!

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Main Entry: interact
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: communicate
Synonyms: collaborate, combine, connect, contact, cooperate, get across, get the message, interface, interplay, interreact, join, keep in touch, merge, mesh, network, reach out, relate, touch, touch base, unite
Antonyms: not speak

Thanks for reading,
Josh “Shua” Peters

CHALLENGE: Can you do a similar “One Word” blog post? If you do, link it in the comments.

Image by Alejandra Mavroski

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Goals

Listening

Actions

Metrics

If you’re interested here’s the presentation and upcoming blog posts will be all about Social Media GLAM.

Social Media GLAM

Questions, comments, links keep them to yourself… just kidding. Would love to hear them below

Thanks for reading,
Josh “Shua” Peters

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This is a guest post from Erica Brown

Companies from mom and pops to multinational corporations are diving into, or at the very least, dipping a toe into the pool of social media. From Facebook to Twitter, businesses are listening to their customers and joining the conversation. So who’s doing it well? Who’s doing it not so well? And who is a case study in what not to do? Here’s a quick look at an example of each, in Salt Lake, from one girl’s point of view.

The Good

Coffee Connection

Twitter @CoffeeConnecton

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/SaltLakeCoffeeConnection

Why: Personality without losing sight of product.

One of the challenges of using social media in business is balancing the conversational nature of the medium with the need to discuss products and services. Coffee Connection has created a unique solution: allowing their baristas to shine. During each barista’s shift, he or she tweets the drinks they specialize in, thanks regular customers, and mentions specials or unique reasons to visit. It’s a creative solution that helps customers get to know the culture and offerings of a local coffee shop.

The Bad

Utah Olympic Oval

Twitter @Olyoval

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Utah-Olympic-Oval/107227219317489

Why: Abandoning a Twitter account.

Seven months and counting since the Utah Olympic Oval’s last Twitter update. The last update? Not very engaging. You see it more than you should: companies who master Facebook, but ignore their Twitter accounts. Another choice is to automate a Twitter feed to avoid the time it takes to build a Twitter network and original content. Like most quick and easy solutions, with automation, you often get what you put into it. In other words, not a whole lot. You may end up with a lot of followers, but odds are they are not listening to you.

The Ugly

Twitter @utahcoupons

Why: No relevant content used to drive traffic to another profile/business.

In a word: awkward. This Twitter profile has accumulated over 800 followers, but has yet to provide a single update in any way related to its stated content (coupons for Utah). It’s an extreme illustration of a sketchy practice to be avoided at all costs. And does it work? Judging by the last post over six months ago, it doesn’t look to be worthwhile.

So what do these three companies have in common? All three of these organizations have a business interest in building a network to talk to. The lesson we can learn from this is that your social media is a three sliced pie: one slice is the audience you’re building, one slice is the relevancy of the content you’re providing, and the last slice is the timeliness and presentation of the information. When all three elements are working, they combine to create a holistic communication strategy that will help you build relationships and future customers.

Erica Brown is the Director of Communications at Thanksgiving Point Institute and the Promotional Chair of the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City. Follow her on Twitter @bossybootsbrownor connect on LinkedIn

image by Intersection Consulting

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Guest post by Rob Caldwell

I went to Tahiti a few months ago.  I had a great time, and an experience I’ll never forget. Learning what it’s like to be locked-down in a hotel during a tsunami.  (Not so fun; though the waves were really, really big!) Everyone on all the islands of French Polynesia were affected in some way or another; anything from extreme tragedy to cabin fever.

After two days of lock-down, everyone was itching to get out. Friday was the first day back to normalcy and that night it seemed like the whole island of Tahiti decided to go down to the center of Papeete to hang-out and eat from the Roulottes.  As a foreigner (hanging out with some local friends) it was interesting to see all the people there and how everyone seemed to know everyone else in one way or another.  It was a great vibe with all the different people interacting with each other in this fun, relaxed setting. It really felt like a community.

Building a community like this doesn’t happen overnight and, hopefully, doesn’t need a natural disaster to spark people into action.  It takes time and effor. A desire to get to know your neighbor and keep relationships alive with old friends while building new friendships. I’d like to relate these same ideas to building a community online.

I think anyone reading this post knows quite a few people who have huge online followings and I’m sure whatever they do is more successful and easier to launch or promote when they can send it out to their communities.

More and more being part of a community and having fans of what you do is an important part of becoming successful. The question is: How? How does a person get to that point?

To me, building a successful community starts with your close family and friends. Next, Share your ideas, blog posts, products, etc., with those closest to you.  However, you need to make sure it’s remarkable enough from the start so they will naturally want to tell their friends. Some people need encouraging to go out and tell others and sometimes it’s ok to ask them to tell a few other people.  Finally, make it easy for them to share.

A couple things to remember along the way are:

• Be genuine.
• Ask others if you can help them and look for those opportunities.
• Twitter, Facebook and all the other social media tools are just that. Tools.
• Use what you like to get the word out and interact with your inner circle to pitch your ideas and then find that next circle of people to interact with.
• Follow Chris Brogan’s promote-yourself ratio.  1:10. That is: For every 10 times you interact with others, only promote your product once.
• Keep putting out interesting stuff (the hardest part in my book).
• Consistently use your tools to keep building.

I could go on, but those are some of the basic things that should get anyone going down the path to building a successful community. Just like I experienced in Tahiti, the community (if meaningful) is where everyone wants to be.

Rob Caldwell  blogs at Rob Caldwell, goes by kaldvel on Twitter and is starting up a new venture called Statesman Ties.

Image by ItzaFineDay

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Guest post by by Ivana Sendecka

For last ten and half months I am closely watching trends of educational system, both in my homeland (Slovakia) and world-wide via my online networks. Listening and talking to students is allowing me to get clearer picture about what is going on with education in 21^st century. I am out of school for 5 years and yet I am very concerned about “school issues”, because I believe that our future depends on how we will prepare for it today.

In the beginning of this year, I have done an “investigation” via poll on my blog, when I have asked following question: Have you ever cheated on exams in school? Results came out to be pretty alarming: 77% of respondents have confessed that they have cheated during exams…

Therefore I did follow up on the topic and I have invited my friend Tyler Shores, who is a graduate student at the University of Oxford, to elaborate more on the topic of cheating through education.

Tyler said in the part one of his hilarious guest post following:

“The ease of click, copy, paste is an obvious trouble that can enable some to misappropriate the ideas of others as their own“

(Look up whole paragraph called: It’s technology, stupid! )

I do totally agree with Tyler.

What matters is, what do we do with new inventions and technologies, which are available for us.

I believe that every invention can be used for good or bad purpose. Airplane can take you to your holiday destination or it can carry nuclear bomb on its board as well… or you can copy-paste Bachelor thesis, which is posted online or you can do amazingly creative things thanks to the same online tools.

I am a positive “half-full glass “kind of a person and I trust, that students will engage into honest usage of technologies, social media and internet. We just need to offer them a bargain, why to do so and provide them a platform where they can share their ideas and create valuable stuff, while learning.

I have been puzzled a lot when I have found out that majority of the schools (high schools and universities) in Slovakia have not changed ways how they teach from the times, when I have been a student. Teachers are not aware about current technologies or social media tools at all, so it is obvious that schools cannot provide their technology savvy students platforms where they can be engaged and where they can express themselves…

Therefore my mind is quite occupied with thoughts about how can we transform our schools 1.0 into schools 2.0? Brisk comparison of differences between schools now and then, have naturally brought up following question:

Why schools did not change the way they teach their students, even though everything around have changed enormously?

Few simple examples only confirm those obvious differences:

We search and share information differently (Google, wikis, social media)

We organize and store our work differently (USB keys, hard drives)

We document and capture our memories differently (cell phones, digital cameras)

We have an access to the world’s top thinkers and teachers (TED talks, youtube videos, blogs)

Our classrooms can become global with just one click of “video call” button on Skype…

If I could talk to Department of Education, I would ask them:

Why cannot we deliver our school assignments in a form of blog posts, instead of handwritten essay? Why cannot we create a wiki pages with the facts, which we have learned in the class instead of reading old-fashioned books? Why are schools signing contracts with providers of email services and pay lots of money for it, if every kid now is having their own free email address? Could not we utilize those money elsewhere?

I believe there are great opportunities in store for us laying behind technology revolution, which might still be quite spooky for many teachers.

Let me conclude with a quote by Clay Shirky from the book Here Comes Everybody:

“Young students don’t have to unlearn thousands of things, which people born before 1980 have to.”

So, let us re-learn and let us paint the future together, for us and for next generations to come.

Guys, I would love to know your take on the topic. Which new ways of learning would you propose to be implemented in schools? How can we truly engage both, teachers and students to make learning an exciting and creative experience?

See you in comments!;-)

Ivana Sendecka is:

Lifelong Learner | Business consultant | Coach | Blogger | Reader | Listener | Passionate about life & about unfolding talents in people| “Talk walker”|Person who cares| Living “Curiosity on steroids”|

She runs a project NGLS – Next Generation Leaders of Slovakia. She is “shipping” blogs and vlogs for Inspiring Shipments blog. She facilitates inspiring community around her blog, which is known as SCG – Super Cool Gang. Ivana’s “Live CV” will tell you more about her journey in moving pictures. You can follow her on Twitter @IvanaSendecka or simply “feed yourself “with Inspiring Shipments RSS feed.

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Part of the fun of being a communication professional today is the variety of platforms available to share information. Social media in particular offers a delicious menu of choices. But having and posting to a Facebook account, Twitter profile, or YouTube page isn’t enough. These popular services should be viewed as tools. All tools should be properly used for best results.

Those who use these tools daily hear over and over that social media is a conversation. It is no longer acceptable to talk at your audience members. You must talk with them and listen closely. To have meaningful, lasting conversations, you must also know your audience. Communicating without knowing who is on the other side of the screen can result in missed connections. Furthermore, maintaining positive relationships will serve your organization well in the long run.

Define your audience
You probably already use social media tools regularly. But have you identified your audiences and the most appropriate ways to communicate with them? Have you conducted research to determine who is already connecting with you online?

There are methods in place to help you get started. Facebook offers insights about your fans you can already access on your profile. If you’re using social media to send people to your web site, Google Analytics can be a powerful, free way to track visitors. Sometimes, though, you have to get in the dirt and check out the profiles of your followers to learn more about them.

Keep in mind that nearly every organization has more than one audience. Each needs to be individually defined and understood.

Determine your audience’s motivation
People become involved with organizations online for many reasons. Do you know why people have become your followers? If not, go to the source. Explore how they are already communicating with you.

Over the past couple months, Einstein Brothers has used Facebook to promote at least two separate weeks of free bagels. Over 600,000 fans later, it’s safe to say the campaigns were well-received. One day during a promotion, the offers tab wasn’t directing fans to a coupon. It was giving an error message. Was this understandable? Of course. Technology hits bumps from time to time. Did Einstein get a wall full of comments? You bet. Their audience was motivated by a desire for free bagels. When they couldn’t get the coupon, they let the company know.

This isn’t to say every audience needs free products. Often, people simply want to be heard. Audience members are happy to reveal their motivations. They’ve become your followers for a reason. Check out how they’re interacting. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Establish goals for each tool
Social media tools should be used to work toward goals. These goals must be defined and shared with your entire team for best results. The key is to ensure each goal is in line with the audience’s motivation. Goals should be unique for each social media platform. You may find you have different audiences for different accounts, and should use that knowledge to determine what is most appropriate to promote to each.

Once you’ve established your goals, make sure they’re measurable. However, don’t focus only on that which can be counted. The great thing about social media is that an initial goal can be simply getting your followers to start talking—with you and among themselves.

Make sure you revisit your goals periodically and allow them to evolve with your organization.

Join the conversation
Social media should always be used to facilitate conversations that are beneficial for you and your audience. These conversations can fuel best practices and determine the actions that will be well-received by supporters. In turn, those supporters will feel valued by you and will be more likely to help you succeed.

Bio

Ashley Bunk lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she works in nonprofit communications and as a freelance writer. She is an active runner, traveler, reader, and skier. Ashley co-authors the inspiration-focused web site www.365inspirations.com. You can connect with her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ashbunk.

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Alright TwitterSays fans, here’s the day you’ve all been waiting for. It’s time to unveil the winners of the book packages!

1. A signed copy of TwittFaced - Josh Austin (@JoshAustin)

2.Twitter Revolution and a signed copy of TwittFaced - Dan Sorensen (@SorensenPower)

3. The Twitter Book and a signed copy of TwittFaced - Steph Marshall (@StephMarshall)

4. A copy of I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What??? (A Guide to online PR),  The Referral Engine, and a signed copy of TwittFaced - Peter Tanham (@PeterTanham)

5. Grand prize = a copy of Trust Agents, Crush It, Marketing in the Groundswell, and a signed copy of TwittFaced!- Jared Paramenter (@Jared_Paramenter)

Thank you everyone who helped with volume 1 of TwittFaced. Vol 2 is soon to come.

Josh “Shua” Peters

p.s. I sent all the winner notification via Twitter. If they don’t respond back with their address in 1 week I’ll pick new winners.

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TwitterSays (292) is finally done and available for download. Big thanks to the 102 people who contributed to the book. When I first announced TwitterSays I also announced that I would be giving away some books with that and I’ll be doing that this coming friday (June 4th, 2010) but before I do I’m going to give out one more chance to enter. Just tweet the following phrase and get one more entry.

Check out the free ebook #TwitterSays and get entered to win some books http://bit.ly/9wDbwr

I’m excited to see what you think so please leave any comments, questions, or observations in the notes below.

Thanks for reading and participating,
Josh “Shua” Peters

p.s. There are apparently some typos on page 2 because I forgot to spell check that page… Sorry.

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I want you!… To write a guest post for me.

I’m at that next stage in this blog where I want more community involvement. I have a couple hundred wonderful people reading this blog and I want to know what you have to share. Do you have insights and ideas about social media, internet marketing, and online life you’d like to share?

I hope so.

In fact, I know so.

If you’re interested in doing a guest post here all you need to do is send an email to shua (at) shuaism (.) com and I’ll get back to you with some details about things like pictures and such.

Can’t wait to hear from you

Josh “Shua” Peters

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