Happy Holidays

My daughter showing off the Tokidoki/Sanrio iPhone case she got me for Christmas

I didn't intend to take a holiday blogcation, but it appears that's what I'm doing since I doubt my sister and her family, who are spending the week with us, will appreciate me sneaking off to blog. So I'll just take this opportunity to say thank you for reading Mizz Information. While I'm not really a number-watcher, I can't help but be proud watching the number of page views and subscribers for this blog skyrocket. Ok, well maybe not skyrocket, but rise higher than I ever anticipated when I started blogging about social media a few years ago. I wish you all a healthy, happy 2011, and I'll be back in January. Or possibly before...we'll see how long I can stay away.

Social and Silos

Great post by David Armano explaining how social initiatives span silos. This is something I struggle with daily; getting people to understand that even though I am the dedicated social media "person" it doesn't mean other departments can take a pass or not pay attention to social media. As I talked about in my recent rant, organizations need to understand that social media isn't something an organization can implement in a piecemeal fashion. Or, let me rephrase that--they CAN do it, but it's not a good idea.

"social" is bigger than a single discipline and requires coordination between them

Amen.

Photo by efikref

Don't Hire a Social Media Manager

I'm at the ASAE Technology Conference. LOTS of sessions about social media, of course...by now we association people should have this whole social media thing down pat, right? You need to be listening to what your members and others are saying online--about you, about the professions your org represents, etc. You need a strategy with clearly-defined goals and objectives. You should be thinking about who, on your staff, will lead your org's social media efforts. Because everyone knows, by now, that social media is not a fad and is not going away.

You have all those boxes checked and you're golden, right? Not so fast. For all the talk of strategies and techniques and engagement and, you know, unicorns and rainbows, there's one piece that is critical to social media success that is still not being addressed. That piece is the importance of your organization's culture.

Charlene Li spoke to this point in her keynote address yesterday (ok, I have that on hearsay only because I wasn't there, but read Open Leadership to get the gist). Her point? Is your organization really ready, willing and able to roll out these magical social media initiatives? Sure, you just got budget to hire a dedicated person for this role....but are you really ready to go there? 

Let me ask you a few questions: 1) what staff level is this new role benchmarked at? 2) Is your organization high on hierarchy? 3) If so, will this person have a seat at the senior management table? 4) I mean, who puts a coordinator at that table on a regular basis? 

Here's my holiday gift to you: if your answers to those questions are 1) support or non-managerial, 2) yes, 3) no, and 4) nobody, do yourself a favor and save that money--don't hire the budgeted-for coordinator or manager-in-name only. Just abandon your social media plans and stick your head back in the sand and don't bother.

Why? How can I, the champion of social media and/or community management, be saying don't hire for this role when I've been writing about how important it is for years? Because IF YOU ORGANIZATION IS NOT FULLY COMMITTED TO SUPPORTING A SOCIAL MEDIA/COMMUNITY MANAGER, DON'T WASTE THAT PERSON'S TIME. Or yours, for that matter.

That person will be passionate about doing the job right and well, and doing that requires you to dispense with your hierarchy, your non-existent internal communications ability, and most importantly, your "we've always done it this way" mantra. If you are not ready to break your overall organizational mold and open your mind and your closed senior staff meetings, your social media efforts--and manager--will fall flat.   

Why Associations Should Avoid Facebook's New "Tell Your Fans" Feature

On December 1, Inside Facebook announced a new tool available to some Facebook Page admins called "Tell Your Fans." The tool allows "“admins of any new or smaller Pages” (wording apparently Facebook's, although the link to Facebook's documentation about "Tell Your Fans" seems to be inactive now and I can't find anything in Facebook help about this feature now) to import contacts directly from supported email web services or uploaded through a contact file pulled from a database.

Photo by cogdogblog

I don't really understand how Facebook determines which Pages are eligible for this feature; "new or smaller Pages" is pretty vague. The page I'm an admin of is over 2 years old and has over 26,000 fans and this feature is not enabled; however, Inside Facebook says their page is years old and has over 21,000 fans and has the feature enabled. Granted, I suppose it's in Facebook's interest to enable this feature on Inside Facebook's Page, right? ;)

John Haydon, who is awesome and who I totally respect, writes about this new feature like it's a good thing, suggesting it's a good way for a nonprofit to leverage its email database.  However, I beg to differ and think that this feature is a TERRIBLE idea and one businesses should avoid...assuming it's available to them.

Why? Well, for starters, why on Earth would you dump up to 5,000 of your members/subsribers/contacts email addresses into Facebook? Facebook already has--and is monetizing--enough personal data and are doing just fine on the world domination front without you charitably giving them another big batch for free. Call me crazy, but the idea of members being fine with their organization dumping--without their knowledge or consent--their email addresses into Facebook--I just don't see it. If there's a sure way of making someone do the opposite of "Like" your organization or brand, I'd say handing their email address over to Facebook without their consent would probably be at the top of the list.

The Ogilvy blog actually has a really good list of further reasons why using this feature is a bad idea:

• You are not allowed to personalize the message that Facebook generates with "Tell Your Fans." Less functionality than an email you can generate yourself and NOT pull all those contacts into Facebook in the process? Fail.
• The email it generates invites itself the recipient to join Facebook, then states once you join you'll be able to connect with the specific Page. So basically Facebook is leveraging your database to get more members...nice.
• When the email arrives in the recipient’s inbox, there is no clear indication from the subject line that the email is from Facebook — the subject line just indicates the name of the Facebook Page. This leaves too much room for an email subscriber to be confused by who the email is from, especially if they are not Facebook users. Again, fail.

The good news is that you can leverage your database to increase your organization's Facebook Page: by creating your own email, customizing it with whatever language you want, even adding ads to generate additional revenue for YOUR organization, not Facebook, and sending the same way you send your other emails. e.g. NOT through Facebook.

But A for effort, Facebook...would have been a good way to pull blocks of 5,000 new users into your own coffers.

Safe Holiday Shopping Tips for Mobile Devices and Social Media

Those of you who read this blog know I a) don't generally do sponsored posts of any kind and b) don't consider myself to be mommy blogger. However, I have to say that I AM proud to be a member of the BitMom blogger network because internet safety, especially as it relates to kids and teens, is important to me. I also do most of my shopping online and am starting to do more shopping via my iPhone or iPad, so I found this piece on safe shopping from your mobile device timely and cool.

Photo by stevendepolo

Steven Depolo
The holiday shopping season is in full swing and BitDefender is here to share best practices for safe holiday shopping to ensure consumers don’t get lumps of coal in their bank accounts this winter.

Shopping via mobile devices and through social media instead of using home and office computers is a new trend this year. According to the MobileMarketing Association, 59 percent of consumers plan to use their mobile device for holiday shopping and planning. A separate study found 54 percent of retailers plan to use social media to reach consumers during the holidays this year. With so much holiday activity happening around mobile and social media sites, just as consumers need to know about deals, they also need to know how to avoid scams.

Follow these tips to stay safe:

• Be wary of the small screens on mobile devices — The small screen on mobile devices make it hard to see a full URL. A link may begin with a legitimate store name but actually redirects you to a malicious site.
• Avoid unknown messages on social media sites — Don’t click unsolicited links that come through social media sites. Social media messages are no different than email inboxes. Treat messages from friends or strangers that direct you to another website as spam.
• Keep private info to yourself — Don’t share personal information such as phone numbers and addresses. Be selective when choosing friends and followers. Set the strictest privacy settings available.
• Social research not referrals — Social media is a great resource for researching gift ideas but be wary of clicking links. More than 50 percent of people recommend a product or service on social media sites and hackers take advantage of this. Be aware there’s a big difference between “the iPad is a great gift!” and “click here for a free iPad.”
• Too good to be true? Run a background check— Found a price or product from an unknown site that’s too good to be true and you’re not sure if the site is legit? Check it out on respected review sites as well as with the Better Business Bureau.
• Avoid purchases while surfing on public Wi-Fi — It’s fine to search for gifts while sipping a peppermint latte at the coffee shop, but don’t enter personal information while you’re out and about. Open networks mean a hacker could easily steal information like usernames, passwords and credit card numbers. If that deal is too great to pass up, make sure “HTTPS” appears in the URL before adding any payment details.
• Be charitable, give reputably —
Social media messaging and text messaging are great ways to donate to your favorite charities during the holidays. However, hackers have proven they are quick to take advantage of these methods. They have been known to set up fake charities that divert your donation to their bank account or convince you to perform some malicious actions, like visiting a certain website or installing a certain application. Double check that your gift is going to a reputable charity by checking out the website and searching the Net for any scams that might be associated.
• Use protection — While preparing for the holidays – whether planning a party, shopping for gifts or posting photos - protect yourself against malware and privacy leaks with BitDefender’s safego Facebook security app. The new safego scans for viruses in messages and on your wall. It also provides alerts to privacy settings that may be exposing information. It’s the best way to stay safe on Facebook this holiday season.

From everyone at BitDefender…Have a happy holiday season and we wish you safe shopping now and throughout the year!

For more information about keeping yourself and your family safe online, visit BitMoms.com, a community dedicated to providing free resources and a place for parents to seek advice about keeping children safe on the internet.

Disclosure: I am sharing this information as a BitMom Blog Network Member. No compensation was received for this post, however, I do receive a stipend to attend a blogging conference of my choice.

Association Vendors: Are You Delivering WOW Through Service?

Every company wants to be Zappos these days, because "Delivering WOW Through Service" sells product. Service matters these days, because more and more companies are realizing that people who get great service talk about the company that provided the great service. Also influencers matter--those people who talk a lot, and talk to people likely to buy similar products or whatever...don't get me started on the stupid part of the concept of influencers--but the reality is that everyone is an influencer of someone in some way.

Whatever...my point is this: people talk--in real life and online. And you know who talks a lot? Association people. We talk to each other online on Twitter and Facebook and blogs and secret online groups you wish you knew about ;) We will be talking a lot when we come together next week at ASAE's Technology Conference & Expo. We'll be chatting, tweeting, and partying together. (BTW thanks Daxko for sponsoring the awesome YAP party!).

Even in regular everyday life, we association people talk to each other. Heck, some of us are even married to each other. I'm married to another association COO--Patrick McGary; Jeff and Meeghan De Cagna are another association couple--there are plenty more. So even when association vendors aren't directly marketing to us, we hear about them--the good and the bad--from our colleagues, our friends, and even our spouses. If they're having problems with a product or service, we hear about it. Especially if we happen to be married to a person having problems with a service...then we tend to hear about them a LOT.

So my question to association vendors is this: if you know your customers are talking to potential future customers every day, what are they saying about you and the service you provide after the sell? Everyone says customer satisfaction is a priority--but are you actually providing it? Sure, you can talk the talk at your booth or in Associations Now or during a demo--but are you walking the walk? Are your customers talking about how your talk is totally different than your walk? Are you delivering wow through service?

If not, you might want to reconsider directing some of that marketing spend into beefing up your customer support team, or doing something nice for your staff. Because when people have problems with your product or service, they talk about it--and their negative talk is a lot more powerful than your positive sales spin.

New Facebook Profiles Only Hours Old...And Already A Privacy Glitch

What was my first thought when I heard about the new Facebook profile layout?

So does the new Facebook profile come with any "oops" privacy roll-backs like previous Facebook changes? #skepticalofFBless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhonemaggielmcg
maggielmcg

Looks like we didn't have to wait long for the first privacy glitch to reveal itself; apparently you can now edit your friends' interests on Facebook. Surely there are more "surprises" to come; call me paranoid, bitter, or just crazy but I maintain that the reason Facebook makes such frequent changes is so they can slip some secret privacy-killers in without people noticing.

A few other things to be mindful of with this change:

1. The most prominent new feature is the photo montage at the top of your profile. It pulls in photos you've added and photos others have tagged you in. You might want to check your privacy settings for letting others tag you in photos. (Go to "account," "privacy settings," "customize settings," "things others share" and select "photos and videos I'm tagged in."
2. Check your info tab--are your address, email, phone number displayed at the bottom? You might want to re-think that. There used to be a way you could pull your interests and contact info into an app called The Green Safe that let you keep your information away from Facebook but still available to your friends, but it looks like now that tabs are gone from profiles that won't work anymore.
3. I went to add my kids in the new "relationships" part of the profile, but then had to smack myself. I don't check in on Foursquare at my kids' schools or places I go with them; I don't use their real names when I talk about them on Twitter--why do I want to give Facebook more personal info about my kids? 

Three Reasons I Already Don't Like Jumo

Lots of buzz about Jumo recently--the new social network whose mission is (ostensibly, at least) "We connect individuals and organizations working to change the world." Why am I so bitter about Jumo already, you ask? Three reasons:

1) You must have a Facebook account to use it. Seriously? What if all you want to do is change the world and you hate Facebook? Then apparently you're out of luck because signing up for Jumo REQUIRES a Facebook account.


2) You must allow Jumo to autopublish to your Facebook profile to use it. I signed up for Jumo just to see what it was about because, as the online community & social media manager for a nonprofit, I need to know this stuff. Why did Jumo need to autopost a message to my Facebook profile that I'd joined? I did go into my privacy settings on Facebook and was able to turn off autopost, but you cannot disconnect your Facebook profile from your Jumo account and still have it work (try it).


3) Jumo ties individual profiles to Company profiles. You'd think Chris Huges may have learned from Facebook the issues involved with connecting individual user accounts to company Pages/profiles. It took Facebook a while but they finally changed that feature earlier this year. It appears that Jumo company profiles can have just one page admin--granted, you need a company email address to be able to become admin for the page. Also, you can create a company profile without becoming an admin. At any rate, it's confusing and presents the same problem tying individual Facebook accounts to Facebook company profiles does: if that person leaves the organization, you're screwed.

Jumo is still too new to know how useful it will be--hell, you can't even use it now because it's so crashy. But I have to say, if it's really to be about social good and all that, they need to cut the Facebook tie. Facebook is already making enough money over at Facebook--do they really need to lord over this network too?

BTW, here are instructions for adding your nonprofit to Jumo. It must be a registered 501(c)(3) organization.