Invest in the Future –Notes from the Qwest Partner Conference

Qwest is an interesting company. On the verge of obliteration a few years ago, the folks in Denver are undergoing a remarkable rejuvenation, much to the delight of their channel partners. At the Q.Marketplace Conference this week, management announced solid 2009 results and thanked partners for doing a better job of retaining customers than direct sales. Qwest then committed to “Perfect What’s Driving Growth” and “Invest in the Future” by placing a big bet on the rising popularity of Cloud Computing. 2010 looks like it’s going to be a good year for them and, clearly, the comments were well-received by the partners.

My Breakout Session on Social Media was standing room only. A lot of Qwest Partners think Social Media might be a way to help them better connect with customers, but don’t know much about how it all works. So they filled the room and crowded the doorways to hear how other companies are doing it.

When asked about their Social Media experience, almost everyone claimed to have a LinkedIn Profile and about a third had Twitter accounts. But only a very few (maybe one person) said that they had connected with Qwest resources via Social Media. I showed them some screen shots of Qwest Blogs and Tweets. Many were surprised that “Corporate Qwest” was already blogging and Twittering away without involving partners. They were even more surprised to hear how Cisco and others were successfully engaging customers through social media already.

During the Breakout Session, we only had an hour to discuss a complicated subject and predictably we did not get to go into much detail. But the advice I gave these resellers was the same as I give every company just coming into Social Media. Don’t try to be everyplace and do everything. Pick the places where your customers “hang out” (if you don’t know, ask them which sites they visit.) Listen to what they are saying online and then respond accordingly.

After the session, a few Qwest partners found me near the coffee table and wanted to talk about 2010. They were already exploring Social Media and early attempts at finding or helping customers had been promising. They were eager to build on their Social Media successes. But they were also worried about making mistakes and wasting time. Unfortunately, Qwest was not providing any assistance in helping them figure it out.

My advice, pick a company goal and see if Social Media can help you achieve that goal. For example, if you want to increase the size of your customer base in 2010, spend time learning how to use a business site to get new introductions. If you want to increase your market awareness, incorporate Facebook or Twitter into your plan. If hiring certified technical people is important, find them in the appropriate on-line communities. In other words, have specific objectives: Social Media is the means, not the end.

Then let Qwest know social media is important. Vendors can’t have robust channel programs without paying attention to partner needs, and Qwest (like most vendors) is working hard to make partners successful. Since Social Media is an important enabler of future success, it’s a no-brainer for vendors to help.

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Invest in the Future –Notes from the Qwest Partner Conference

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Planning Your Personal Social Media Publishing

Lately, I have been talking to quite a few folks about how to setup your own personal publishing system.  There is no shortage of platforms for an individual to publish content on the web.  There is also no shortage of tools which can distribute your posts to other sites.  Without planning, the whole system becomes and echo chamber and your message gets bounced from one service to another.  Some services will get the same post multiple times, which leaves the message that you either don't know how to manage you publishing or don't care about wasting each constituent's time.   

The answer is to do an assessment of your publishing and distribution strategy. 

Publish 

Make sure you map out how you create original content.  For example, here is a generic process for publishing. 

Participate

Identify the properties that you want to participate in.  Each property has it's own audience and characteristics to consider. 

Facebook - Primary for personal interaction,  I try to only use Facebook for connecting with people that I know.  I keep the flow of business/technical items to a minimum.   Links in Facebook feed to Friendfeed. 

Twitter - Quick thoughts and links to interesting sites, feeds to Facebook and FriendFeed. 

Delicious , Digg, StumbleUpon - Quick bookmarks feeds to friendfeed

Posterous - Main blogging platform, where I post more in depth content feeds friendfeed. 

Distribution 

Social Media Interesting Highlights

Planning Your Personal Social Media Publishing

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Social Media Certification - Yes or No

Is it possible to really be an expert in Social Media Marketing? It’s very difficult to be an authority on something that is changing and growing so rapidly; and which, as a result, is embroiling the business world in a series of gut-wrenching adjustments that make a mockery of the term “status quo?” So when someone, especially a consultant, tells you they are a “certified” social media expert, it’s best to be skeptical.

What is the definition of a social media “expert?” Do they have a document that certifies their training and experience makes them a better advisor than someone who is not certified? Does this certification prove their competence? Is certification an early indicator of a successful engagement? These are important questions for executives to be asking.

Social Media certification is open anyone willing to pay a few thousand dollars and complete an on-line course. You can get certified from a variety of educational intuitions, training centers, and even from a few product vendors. Some certifications require that you actually show proficiency in using social media tools, others do not. After completing the coursework, “graduates” get to claim certification in their email signature line, on their blog, and everywhere else they want. Just look for the logo.

Understandably, there is a lot of discussion about social media certification in the blogosphere. Many very smart bloggers say that social media certification is rubbish. They argue that the only people who want to be certified are those who came to social media late and are trying to substitute a short training class for real experience. These bloggers say that real social media experts got started even before certification was available.

The truth is that there are a lot of people calling themselves Social Media Consultants. Some of them are very good and some of them are not. Most are in the middle someplace. And certification is one way to differentiate them when you don’t have a lot of information about their past work.

Does social media training matter? How do corporate decision-makers view certifications? Are they important or just interesting? In other words, given the choice between hiring a consultant that is social media certified (to have actually received some training) and hiring someone that only has experience and references, which one gets the project?

If you work for a company that hires consultants, answer the question (upper left column). If you are a consultant, share your thoughts on certification below.

http://xeesm.com/mikedubrall

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