Era of Conversation - New Media Marketing Day Recap
October 10, 2007
Speaking at the Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s “Era of Conversation” conferencePhoto by CC Chapman
Last Thursday, I had the unique pleasure of speaking before a group of marketing executives at the Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s confab in DC. I spoke to one of the many break-out sessions on “new media basics” - fitting for me as there there is SO much I’ve yet to absorb about the social web. In fact, I began by telling my breakout session: “I have no business speaking before a bunch of marketing executives, but..”
From that jumping off point, I discussed my nascent (only been blogging since March of this year), but reasonably engaging blogging efforts, and my use of Twitter as primary tools of social media. Essentially I riffed that if I can do it, you can do it, and basic tools are a good place to start, especially when shifting from less conversational communication. Fortunately for me, and for the rest of the attendees, there was an abundance of thought leadership on wide-ranging strategies for launching social media efforts. Overall I think it’s key to find the tools that are right for you or your organization.
For me, blogging is most rewarding when I leave my posts open-ended, and people WAY smarter than me complete my thoughts in the comments section. Sure, you can be confrontational, and link-bait to generate traffic, but I like the notion of what Stephen Marino, of Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence practice calls “Return on Involvement”. The day was filled with terrific speakers, and I had the chance to meet some of the brightest minds in this space like keynote speaker Valeria Maltoni (she’s not yet convinced of Twitter so get over to her blog and give her a nudge!), and keynote speaker CC Chapman, who I’ve been eager to meet for some time. CC connected me with Geoff Livingston, another keynote at the conference who really did a great job of blogging the event with the help of Larissa Fair. Geoff pointed out, in support of Marino’s premise, that participation IS marketing.
In my presentation, I demonstrated how Twitter can be used and misused an engagement tool. At one point i called out to all of YOU on Twitter and asked if you’d say hello to the DMAW session. While waiting for some responses to generate, CC Chapman, in what can almost be described as a movie moment, stopped me and said almost chillingly: “Jim.. refresh the page”. You guys had come through!! Imagine if that hadn’t worked ;-). There were no less than 80 immediate responses. (thank you!) I think that aptly demonstrated Twitter’s immediate, conversational, attention directing value. I also pointed out that Team Twitter had helped shape my presentation in the comments on my blog. (again thank you!)
So despite this being my first ever presentation before a professional group, I think I was able to get people thinking about social media and what tools are right for them. Social media allows us to connect on a deep human level across social, cultural, and corporate barriers in a way we never could before. Conversations no longer happen from the top down. More importantly they are no longer controlled by corporations. Media that aren’t conversational or social are becoming less and less relevant. Funny that I felt like odd man out speaking at this event. At the end of the day I’m a network news cameraman, not a social media consultant. Ogilvy’s John Bell advises on his blog:
Spark ideas by mixing up odd-fellows and odd exepriences. Oh, and let go of the reins a bit.
John Bell
I think that’s fitting here. Social media enables the exchange of good ideas and allows the the best ones to take root and propagate, creating value, involvement, and engagement. So maybe that’s why I was invited. I want to thank Donna Tschiffely, Executive Director of DMAW, for bringing this all together. I hope i get a chance to do this again soon.
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Posted in CC Chapman, DMAW, Donna Tschiffely, Geoff Livingston, John Bell, Ogilvy, PR, Stephen Marino, Twitter, Valeria Maltoni, advertising, big media, blogging, business, conversation, disruptive media, mainstream media, new media, promotion, tradtional media, video blogging
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October 10th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Kudos to you!
October 10th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
glad that you asked the “@newmediajim” twitterati to be part of your presentation!
October 10th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Hurray, Jim!
I hope you inspired *something* in that DMAW crowd.
-Barbara
October 10th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Sounds like it went really well. Congratulations. Even more impressive as this was your first presentation before a professional group.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
You’re as comfortable in front of a crowd as you are behind the camera — in both cases you look like a natural. I’m really glad Stephen built on the concept of Return on Involvement (ROI ;-), it’s an important one and probably the most critical message from my warm up in the morning.
Which brings us back to you — you lean in the conversation, keen, interested, listening actively. How can anyone resist that? It was a delight spending some time learning about your work and ideas. I’ve been to the Apple store where I’m about to make the big shift to Mac. Then I’ll take a look at Twitter. Promise. Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience and that of your community. And the niche portal ideas with video interviews totally rocks!
October 10th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
It was definitely cool to see the immediate effect of the Twittering community, both during the presentation and through your blog comments from the day before.
Glad that you were able to present to the group, I think everyone enjoyed your presentation - only wish we could have seen more video!
October 10th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Jim, I knew you would do a bang-up job of presenting the basics — and benefits — of social networking. I hope it leads to many more presentations; your voice is animportant one.
And, as instructed, I popped over to Conversation Agent and left a comment reiterating your invitation to Twitter. *waves to Valeria*
October 10th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Valeria, we’ll make a Twitterer of you yet! It was delightful meeting you and look forward to seeing you speak at more events like this one. You are an inspiring, intelligent force in the social media space. I want to thank you, CC and Geoff for giving me moral support during the presentation.
Larissa, wasn’t that cool? First and foremost, you were amazing with your live-blogging maddd zkillzzzz. I wish i’d gotten to the video portion sooner, but before i knew it I was getting the five minute cue! Look forward to seeing you again!
October 11th, 2007 at 9:13 am
You are just the zeitgist, dude! You lay it on ‘em. Dawn some aquarius. Explode cyber into MSM, or back the other way. Everytime I get down about social media, and I do, way down, then I get re-inspired by you folk, most of whom I met soley through social media platforms, such as yourself, Jarvis, Brogan, Pulver. Not so much Scoble. But that’s another post altogether.
Did you get to catch JMS on AC360 last night? Rock on Georgia folk!
October 11th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
the folks at DMAW obviously couldn’t miss the fact that cameraman, twitterer, new media speaker… chef I imagine…whatever the topic… you are a born inspirer!!! and I LOVE “return on involvement”… brilliant!
K
October 12th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Thanks for sharing. I have heard from the gang that you were a real hit, and I am seeing Valeria in Philly in a next week, so let the Twitter Twisting begin. lol
October 13th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Jim, what’s your strategy for reaching out to people on Twitter. For me, it’s been somewhat random: basically checking the timeline and following people with interesting comments and basically following anyone who follows me.
I’m a comedian and I basically use Twitter, number one, for fun and to work on my “material”, connect with friends and also just to interact with as many people as possible.
…and, yes, I found out about you on twitter!
October 13th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Mike, I dont’ know if i really have a strategy per se. Overall, it’s wise to listen before speaking, which most of us do. I look at Twitter as this huge repository if disparate skill sets, disciplines, and knowledge.
I love to see what everybody is doing, from the mundane to the exciting. It all moves by so fast that something will catch my eye and I’ll latch on to a discussion. Other times I tweet what I’m doing because it may be of interest to folks. But overall, I think it’s important to listen, engage, and respond to people. Be real. Be human.
October 14th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Anyone who meets you knows you are more “than just a network news cameraman.” You are what you preach— a real human. And you are a fantastic communicator via video, text, and good ol’ fashion face to face chit chat.
October 16th, 2007 at 7:55 am
As an attendee of the DMAW conference and Jim’s session specifically, I can say you’re more than a man with a camera in one hand and a tweeting cell phone in the other. I mean, you have upwards of 1,000 people patiently waiting for your next thought… that’s downright impressive! But aside from your massive presence in the New Media world, you were a really great speaker (fantastic for your first time!) and brought the basics of new media integration to those of us who had no idea what twitter was and had never (gasp!) commented on a blog. Most importantly, you drove home the message that this kind of online CONVERSATIONAL COMMUNITY is the most organic form of human interaction via 21st century means. And I personally appreciated that connection because some people see social networking and new media and new and different, when in reality it’s bringing us back to the days of good old human connection.
Thank you, New Media JIM!
October 19th, 2007 at 6:40 am
[...] Long opened his session with the members of the Direct Marketing Association at their day long event in Washington DC with the statement that he was just a cameramen. Mind you, [...]
November 15th, 2007 at 4:33 am