Before I close the books on Novell, I have a bunch of people to thank and great memories from the last two years.

• Thanks to my marketing communications people Ian Bruce, Kelley Johnson and my boss Phil Juliano for showing me what super high quality branding and marcom looks like.
• My peeps at PJA Advertising (Mike O’Toole, Matt Magee and Amanda Bird) for creative and moral support as well as donuts every Thursday morning.
• My content marketing mafia (Brian Singer, Todd Harris, Kyle Woodruff, Michele Hudnall, Ron Miller and my social media utilityman, Jeff Cutler) who helped me figure out how to get to page one on Google in 90 days.
• The maximum leader Dr. Matthew T. Grant.  I never knew cloud computing could be so entertaining.
• Joe “Zonker” Brockmeier who reminded me that bloggers need to live up to higher standards.
• Ben Grubin for providing the most entertaining story from the acquisition which I can not repeat in public.
• Ryan Smith for being there when I needed to vent.
• And finally the smartest man in the room, Justin Steinman for running away from  Novell when he did which got me thinking about my future…..

And finally, best wishes to everyone at Attachmate, Novell, SUSE, and NetIQ. There is a great opportunity ahead of you to make things happen.  Good luck and I’m sure our paths will cross!  Until then, enjoy your summer and stay tangy my friends.

Most recently I was discussing effective metrics and the role of benchmarks with a friend when it was then it dawned on me that one could reasonably argue that, like in baseball, “benchmarks are for losers”.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a numbers geek and love meticulously calculated points of reference. They are very useful as a sanity check to make sure you are in the right zip code when launching a new marketing program or trying something completely different.

My main complaints with benchmarks are as follows:

1. Specificity – In the B2B technology marketing, many benchmarks are aggregated across wide range of categories and in the end I can never seem to get that elusive number for my specific market segment or market leading competitor.
2. Mediocrity – Benchmarks are often stated as industry averages. Sorry, but I am not interested in being average.
3. Local optimization – Great, your PPC clickthrough rate is between your industry benchmark of 1-2%. Your part of the world is “meeting expectations”. So what. That number is directionally interesting but your CEO wants to know what revenue and pipeline you are driving. How are you contributing to the overall results of the business?
4. Laziness – Calculating marketing influenced revenue and pipeline is a hassle. It often requires some CRM alchemy and (gasp) assumptions about attribution. Worse yet, enterprise CRM systems make it virtually impossible for the average marketer to scrape, match and join the tables to connect leads to revenue. Those who can make this work have a huge advantage and can avoid the benchmark-based metrics trap.
5. Expectations – Winners look to set the standard of performance rather than measure themselves against the average. The choice is yours – you can use benchmarks to measure yourself against average performers or you can strive to set the standard. In my opinion, comparing yourself to benchmarks will never make you a winner. Only continuous improvement and pushing programs beyond worn performance assumptions will.

Winners disregard old assumptions about the way things are done and try new things to reach new performance levels. Unless you have firm comparables from industry leaders then you are likely comparing yourself to the middling your market and are destined to be average at best. I’ve ranted about ruthlessness before and without true results-driven metrics and benchmarks how can we truly hold people accountable and make the hard decisions about where to spend our increasingly scarce marketing dollars?

How are you avoiding the benchmarking trap?

Mike O’Toole and I talked about the practical aspects of running social for a public company. I really like the way we came up with a top five list of “rules” for helping an organization be more social.

1. Find people who are willing to speak in the first person and aren’t afraid to have a personal point of view. You need people who are passionate about a given topic and have the domain expertise to add value to the conversation.
2. Be ruthless. Help your team find time for social marketing activities. What will they stop doing to make time to join the emerging conversations?  Find the bottom 10% of activities and stop doing them – life is a zero sum game and something has to give.
3. Think small and simple. Social media can be overwhelming so people need to get started in simple ways and scale from there.
4. Use agile project management. Social media is still quite speculative and you will need to test things before making bigger investments. Agile provides an adaptive approach that helps accelerate learning.
5. Need to create an open, principle-based policy to provide guidance to the team. It is impossible to create rules for every possible scenario so you need to give people baseline behavioral guidance.

There is much more to the conversation if you have the time to listen.

Are there any other things we should add to the list?

One last ask: I could also use your support for my panel on Agile for Social Media at the SXSW conference.  Vote early and vote often my friends.  And as always, thanks for your support.

Identify your top influencers and/or sources of information – If you are like most people, you know your top 5 to 10 off the top of your head.  What are the sites you visit everyday?  What sites do you feel guilty about not visiting more frequently?  What does your boss read daily? You get the idea.  My suggestion is find 30-40 sources.  I know that sounds like alot but we’ll talk more later about how to deal with the deluge of content.
Setup a Google Reader account - I know there are many ways to read RSS feeds but I like the Reader’s ability to share feeds and connect with people on Google.  I also regularly use my feed reader as a convenient time waster on my new HTC Incredible. Just scrape the RSS feeds from your source and add to the reader.
Create Google Alerts – In my world, there are granular things that I want to watch daily.  I know it is vain but I watch my own name and “personal brand”.  Some other obvious things include your company, brand, or competitors.  You can decide on a comprehensive vs. blog search depending on traffic – one approach is starting with comprehensive and then refine if necessary.  I also suggest setting it up for immediate notification by RSS rather than email.   If it has more than 10 alerts per day then you are either too popular (yeah, right) or need to refine your search.  You can track these through your Google Reader like any other feed.
Setup a Twitter search – I think this is the hidden gem of Twitter’s offerings.  Just go to search.twitter.com and create searches on your keywords (use the same keywords from your Google Alerts if you want).  The best part is you can create RSS feeds for these search and then dump them into your Reader.  More advanced tweeters can add a search column in Tweetdeck.
Create lists on Twitter – I “follow” over 1,000 people on Twitter.  In reality, I probably care about 150 of them (sorry).  The best way to keep your signal-to-noise ratio high is to build a list important friends.  For example, I have on two lists on my personal Twitter account – Fresh Followers for new followers I’d like to get to “know” better and Friends of the Slice for people I really know or have met.  On the corporate Novell account, I created lists by our focus areas to reflect our most important press and analysts.  You can also easily find all of our Novell people on Twitter through a list.
Facebook - What to do about Facebook? I don’t have any simple answers here other than log in to read or get the Facebook app for your mobile device.  You can change your notifications but there aren’t many things you can do here.
Add an appointment to your calendar daily – This is where I often fall down.  I try for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes after lunch.  This is your social time – no excuses.  If you don’t dedicate time to being social, you are not going to be social.

By now you probably noticed that I didn’t mention “go out and drop a few grand a month on a commercial social media monitoring tool”.  There are plenty of posts about these products and if I had a dollar for every cold call I get from someone trying to sell me one, I’d have enough money for a Main Event buy-in at the World Series of Poker.  I have tested a few and am about to pull the trigger on one but am not still ready for an endorsement.  The fact is that very few people need the power of these tools and the dominant design just hasn’t emerged.  Also, as I have often tweeted, I am holding out for Google Analytics adding social media monitoring.

Did I miss any other obvious ones?  What is your listening strategy?  Any tips for streamlining things?

A press release – PR teams have a very specific role as the “official voice” of the organization for the media and other third parties.  This typically means speaking of your organization in the third person.  In contrast, effective blogging works in the first and second person as you would in a conversation.  This also invites comments, both positive and negative.

An email substitute – Just because your house email list is losing its pop doesn’t mean you can blindly move your promotions to your blog.  Blogs with no obvious value to your audience are spam.  You need to get beyond the facts and tell me something new, fresh or surprising.

A case study – Blogs are great for telling stories but again think in the first and second person rather than the third person.  You have to interview your customer for the case study so why not take the time to capture the narrative as a Q&A or podcast?

Buzz – You are not stupid.  You can see through it when there is no substance.  It is no secret that the best blogs are full of fresh content and interesting ideas. Why bother blogging at all if you have nothing new, original or real to share?

Advertising – If you are a consistent blogger with a thoughtful SEO plan, you can crank up your pagerank and generate significant inbound traffic that can replace expensive paid media.  Again it starts with compelling content that your readers want to read, share and link to.

Viral marketing – Sure a blog post can “go viral” and get shared broadly but you first need to create something your audience cares about and is worth sharing.

- Mr. Tangyslice thanks you for joining us today and wonders which of these things you see most frequently and if he missed anything?

Related articles:

• Top 8 Mistakes Of Blogger Newbs (davidrisley.com)
• The Power of Being Personal on Your Blog (problogger.net)
• 8 things I wish I knew before starting to blog (shoutmeloud.com)

Wake up everybody. The age of plentiful bandwidth is here. This means a streaming radio show can sound like the host is sitting right next to you. Last summer I blogged about my learning from producing a couple of online radio shows.  I created this post as a follow roadmap to help you create your own show.

My guess is that this is a new venture so I am a big advocate of testing new media programs in no-cost or low cost ways to prove the concept before “going big”. So how can we get from idea to fresh online radio show in an agile way? Here is my road map I used twice last summer and am currently employing as I produce a new show here at Novell.

Strategy:

• Write a short creative brief – This should be no more than 3 pages. Remember that the show is the product not the document.

• Sell the idea to the most important stakeholders – You need buy-in but don’t try to sell everyone. The first show (ie “the pilot”) will be your best tool for convincing people to do more.

• Find an executive sponsor – This person can advise the team and protect the idea from the corporate T-cell types that challenge anything new or different. Your sponsor could also be a possibly be one of your first guests.

Operational details

• Decide on a format – Will it be a panel? Will it be a one-on-one interview? Or a combination?

• Pick dates for your first three shows – Without a first show date, all you have is an idea. This creates a sense of urgency and catalyzes the team.

• Decide on frequency – My bias is towards weekly. Unless you have enough content, more than once a week is tough. On the other hand, less than once a week doesn’t give you the chance to develop a rhythm.

• Identify potential guests for your first three shows – The first shows won’t be perfect so you don’t need to call in all your markers to get  superstar guests. Save that for when you have worked out the kinks.

• Get all your technology straightened out. You don’t need much equipment these days to do radio but you do need someone who can plug it in and make sure it works seamlessly. TV/video has even more moving parts so plan accordingly.

• Figure out the streaming/hosting – Where will the show reside? There are a number of Internet radio stations to consider. You can also buy some bandwidth from a CDN and stay independent.

Content

• Find a strong host – I find this the most challenging part. Many people think they can do this themselves but in reality this is a specialized skillset. While I have a hairline for radio and charming demeanor, I know that make a better guest than host. Try to find someone who is a good interviewer and can control the conversation. This can be a difference maker.

• Pick a working title and theme – Don’t worry about perfection. This can be changed easily. In many cases you will learn from your first few shows and make adjustments.

• Have a pre-production meeting – Two days before the show, meet with the host and guests to make sure everyone knows what the theme is and how the program will flow. Also let people identify their role or position on an issue. This can help generate more controversy and a better overall program.

• I prefer a soft launch for the first show – This means emailing people you know will listen and provide honest feedback. Begin promoting the show through social media about 24 hours before airtime. Remember, this is a pilot and will not be measured by audience size for the first show.

The show

• Get everyone together an hour before the show – Like a sporting event, people need to warm-up and get ready.

• Give your team a pep talk – I know we are adults but chances are your guests and host will be a little nervous. Anything you can do to break the ice will make for a better show.

• Take care of your talent – Make sure they all have a beverage and are comfortable.  No brown m&ms in the green room is crucial.

• Double check with your engineer that you are recording the show.

After the show

• Publish the recording – Think MP3. That is the only format that matters for radio. There are a bunch of options for video (Youtube or Vimeo).

• Decide on your discussion hub – This is where you will engage your audience between shows, test topics and publish recordings. Options include a Facebook fan page, LinkedIn group or blog.

If you are looking for an example show, I particularly like what PJA Advertising has done with their “This Week in Social Media” show.

Full disclosure: I was involved in the development of the show but they have done all the heavy lifting and have built a pretty big audience.

Anyone else dabbling in online media want to chime in? Did I miss anything? Any risks in this format?

Here is the link

I particularly like Peter Kim ‘s wiki with social media use cases.  ** Name drop alert *** Peter, maybe we could grab another giant crab boil at SXSW this year with Mr. Cutler…

I still need to add a bunch of Groundswell related stuff and don’t like any of the conventional articles about measurement as they were mostly written by people who have never marketed anything besides themselves.

Did I miss any obvious ones.

Any ones I should delete?

Thanks and slice you later.

Yes, the “summer of Frank” is officially over as I settle in to a new office and working with a new team. I wasn’t actively looking for a full time gig but this was a pretty special opportunity.  Novell has a long legacy with online communities dating back to the Compuserve days and I am excited to help the team get the most out of this generation of social channels. I am also thrilled to be one of seven Sloanies on the team (that makes me lucky, Justin, right?).  I guess I am going to have to make things happen as Troy Monney who runs our Field Marketing team gave me the nickname the “silver bullet”.  How’s that for no pressure?

A couple of quick thank yous to my peeps at PJA Advertising. I learned a ton over the summer from Mike O’Toole, Phil Johnson, Hugh Kennedy, Matt Magee, Andy Kling and the rest of the team.  There are also too many great people to me who made this a memorable adventure including Paige Arnof-Fenn, Jim Storer, Rachel Happe, Bob Collins, Jeff Cutler, Mark Sutton, Matt Grant, and the wannabe food blogger known as Limeduck.  It was great to reconnect with everyone at Experian-QAS including Beatriz Santin and Richard Delahaye.  And finally, I’d say good luck to the graphic designer who replaced me at my previous company.

Please do keep in touch and stay tuned.  I am planning to share more of my learnings and continue to challenge the conventional wisdom of those so called “social media evangelists”.

Thanks and stay tangy my friends.

- Frank

1. Blog it
2. Tweet it
3. Digg it
4. Stumble it
5. Post in  LinkedIn groups
6. Add to email signature
7. Tweet it again later today
8. Post to Facebook group(s)/fan page(s)
9. Update your LinkedIn status
10. Share in customer forums
11. Reddit
12. Create a one minute podcast for iTunes
13. Record a one minute Webcam video for YouTube
14. Upload your PPT to Slideshare
15. Create a Friendfeed
16. Get your blog listed on Technorati
17. Tweet it tomorrow
18. Update/create your Wikipedia page
19. Post to vertical communities like Toolbox.com
20. Ask friends to retweet
21. Ask friends to “like” on Facebook
22. Beg your favorite bloggers to mention
23. Post picture from announcement party to Flickr

I’m sure I missed some.  Any other suggestions?

One B2B site that seems to be growing is LinkedIn.  I guess people are still job hunting.

OK, four months is not necessarily conclusive especially when they span the summer but it makes me wonder…

So what does this all mean?

• Is the traffic migrating elsewhere?
• Are people focusing on job hunting again?
• Do the students now have homework?

I guess we’ll really know we’re at the top when the Twitter guys sell out.  Insiders typically sell right before the crash, right?  FYI, they recently raised another round of VC money so I may be premature in calling the top.

What do you think – are we at the top yet?