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5 Warnings for Leaders: Brand Humanization Is Not A Social Media Fad

Notice how hard brands and company leaders are fighting for your attention lately? They’re trying Brand Humanization; to position products and services to appeal to consumers, de-position the competition’s (very similar) stuff, and a million other tactics. But has it worked? Do brands truly appeal to you at a human level? Maybe not in many, many cases just yet.

But they’re trying. One indicator is brands’ efforts with Trust Marketing. Spending as much time on Twitter and other social media channels as I do, I can see why. Trust is necessary if we are to think of brands in human terms.

Brand Humanization sounds like old school marketing spin, but it’s not.

Humanizing brands is more than marketing – it’s a necessity in a world where social media can sweep aside positioning and branding in a heartbeat.

After many years spent consulting with leaders at software technology companies to help them attract talent, I have come to believe Brand Humanization holds answers on how to move business forward in a ‘meh’ economy. Brand Humanization does this by emphasizing community and storytelling, which are powerful tools with which leaders can develop and nurture workplace culture.

As a big believer in the power of personality and culture fit, which, as it turns out, is a first cousin of Brand Humanization, I’ve worked with companies as they try to align workplace culture and brand. This usually takes place when they’re trying to recruit top talent. The executive team gathers to concoct a brand statement to describe the culture of the company with the goal of making the company appealing to candidates.

But this gets things exactly backwards.

Why? Because defining workplace culture and corporate brand is the front end of the recruitment process. Waiting to think about workplace culture and brand until you need to recruit new talent is like closing the barn door after the horses have left.

A company’s culture can ensure the success of its business objectives and its most valuable asset: Human Capital. AKA Human Beings, People.

To humanize a brand, you first must ensure the corporate culture is robust enough to sustain the good will of employees, your brand ambassadors. People’s stories and personalities inform your corporate culture, so it pays to make sure your workplace culture supports your employees and aligns with your brand.

Let’s look at five reasons why Brand Humanization is important and not a Social Media Fad:

1) Brand Humanization leverages the power of networks of people – to help tell stories about your brand and company culture.

These stories make your business interesting and compelling to consumers, employees, and investors. Each of your employees belongs to many networks – friends, families, business associates and so on. If you let people bring their humanity to your brand, they’ll also bring your brand into their networks. That’s a form of reach money can’t buy.

2) Brands which have been humanized attract and sustain communities of real live people.

Brand communication is not a one-way channel, these communities are critical to brand survival. Apple is a great example here. Go hang out at your local Apple store next weekend – it will be filled with people drawn in by the power of that brand, which is all about building technology to serve people.

3) Communities are groups of people who share interests and intent.

People join social communities because they have a purpose, an intent, and communities let them act on their intent. They are looking for a place to be (Facebook), a place to learn (Google +, Pinterest), a place to interact (Twitter). Communities are critical to crowdsourcing excitement about brand, which translates to brand value. Levi’s rises to the top here. Take a close look at what they have accomplished via social media channels.

4) Trust is the key to Brand Humanization. Trust creates value; it’s why people become attracted to your brand.

Social communities must trust your brand; if they don’t, they can easily destroy it. In order to humanize a brand, you must first assess your ‘trust quotient’ before turning to social communities to promote or socialize your brand. Look into Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s past work on Trust Economies for more. Trust is everything in Brand Humanization, and it comes before interaction with communities of employees and consumers.

5) Social interaction drives other behaviors.

It foreshadows brand involvement, it is the front-end of buying decisions, and it lets people tell authentic, engaging stories about your brand. Get this right, or the stories won’t be engaging and you’ll be forced into damage control mode. Be careful, though, not to think presence on Twitter or Facebook is the equivalent of social interaction. Many brands assume they’re in two-way conversations on these channels, but when you take the time to dig into traffic, very few real bi-directional discussions are taking place. This goes back to trust – only when you’ve humanized your brand enough to gain the trust of your communities will you see two-way communication on most social channels. It’s like SETI – you have to keep the channel open in the hopes of hearing back.

Brand Humanization builds on trust, community and social interaction and doubles down to create a powerful tool to sustain your brand and interact with your brand ambassadors (employees), consumers and prospects. Think about humanizing your brand, and do it soon.

A version of this post was first published on forbes.com on 5/8/2012

Photo Credit: chrisinplymouth via Compfight cc

Finding Value in Enterprise Communities #TChat Preview

(Editor’s Note: Are you interested in reviewing all of this week’s events and resources? Read “Communities of Practice and Purpose: #TChat Recap.”)

If you know me, then you know that I’m passionate about communities — digital and otherwise.

My interest in cultivating communities is what drives me as manager at HuffPost Live and TalentCulture, and as the founder of My Community Manager. It’s incredibly gratifying to help people build useful relationships, and to facilitate an ongoing exchange of ideas that is bigger than the sum of its parts.

Digital communities aren’t just a nice idea. They’re also a huge potential source of business value for enterprise organizations, according to management consulting firms like McKinsey. Yet large companies often struggle with how to connect the social dots among their various constituents — employees, leaders, customers, business partners, and beyond.

What Makes a Great Enterprise Community?

Of course, great networking and collaboration tools are helpful in creating and sustaining any kind of social community. But it takes much more than a solid infrastructure. What does it take? That’s the focus of our TalentCulture #TChat forums in the coming week. And we’ve invited two experts to lead the conversation:

#TChat Sneak Peek Videos

Both guests briefly joined me for a G+ Hangout to set the stage. First Jeff defined key terms — explaining how enterprise communities differ from other social networking groups:

And then Maria explained why communities are essential in today’s business environment:

#TChat Events: Why and How Enterprise Communities Work

Need I say more? As you can tell from their interviews, these two experts are just as passionate as I am about exploring the benefits of business-oriented communities. And they’re eager to exchange ideaTChatRadio_logo_020813s with a circle of like-minded professionals. So please join us next week, and add your unique perspective to this very special “community” conversation!

#TChat Radio — Tuesday, May 28 at 7:30pmET / 4:30pmPT — Maria and Jeff join our hosts, Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman, for a LIVE 30-minute discussion about enterprise community issues and opportunities.

#TChat Twitter — Wednesday, May 29 at 7:00pmET / 4:00pmPT — Calling all #TChatters to join us for an open online discussion on the #TChat stream. Come on over and share your thoughts. The more, the merrier!

Q1: What are the differences between social and enterprise communities?

Q2: Why has community development and management been more difficult for the enterprise?

Q3: What are best practices for enterprise community management?

Q4: What can business leaders and internal champions do to facilitate quality enterprise communities?

Q5: What community & collaboration technologies make sense for today’s enterprise?

Throughout the week, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #TChat Twitter feed and on our new LinkedIn Discussion Group. So please join us share your questions, ideas and opinions.

We’ll see you on the stream!

Face-to-Face with Brand Humanization: #TChat Recap

Social channels and tools offer a tremendous opportunity for business to create and sustain valuable relationships with customers, partners, employees and others. Digital technologies make it possible for brands to interact with their constituents in ways that are far more immediate, direct and authentic.

In short, it means that companies can “humanize” what the world has previously considered to be a distant, faceless brand entity.

But tools and technologies, alone, aren’t enough for this “brand humanization” to take root and flourish. What really makes a brand more “real” is its organization’s commitment to engage in a whole new level of open communication. And that’s the rub.

Stepping Outsidesnea the Brand Comfort Zone

Transparent, open communication can develop positive attitudes and behaviors that ultimately translate into business value. But opportunity often brings challenges along for the ride – and brand humanization is no exception. This concept challenges organizational structures, processes and norms at every level.

So, what does all this mean for professionals who focus on the “human” side of business? How can we lead constructive change and help our organizations breathe life into brands?

That has been the focus of our TalentCulture community this week, as we’ve examined brand humanization up close and personal – each of us adding our own experience and interpretations to the mix.

Humanization – New Term, Classic Approach

We invited an expert to help shape and guide the week’s conversations. Leadership consultant, speaker and author, Jamie Notter is deeply familiar with brand humanization. In his latest book, “Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World,” Jamie examines effective social business strategies, as well as the operational impact of embracing a social business philosophy.

It’s not easy. Cultural transformation never is. But by remaining focused on classic “human” principles, “Humanize” offers a roadmap that organizational leaders can use to navigate through disruptive waters. These principles served as a useful backdrop for our community’s exploration this week. Here’s what happened on our journey…

NOTE: For complete highlights from yesterday’s #TChat Twitter forum, be sure to watch the Storify slideshow at the end of this post.

#TChat Week-in-Review

SAT 2/16
Sneak Peek video: TalentCulture Community Manager, Tim McDonald, kick-started the week by asking featured guest, Jamie Notter, to define brand humanization and its benefits. Thought provoking!

SUN 2/17
TalentCulture CEO, Meghan M. Biro called upon business organizations to rise to the challenge in her Forbes.com post: “Dear Leaders: Humanize Your Brand”

MON 2/18
#TChat weekly preview laid out the week’s events: “Real Brands Humanize”

TUE 2/19
#TChat Radio Show:
Our hosts sat down with Jamie Notter for an up-close and personal discussion about the “human” side of business brand stewardship.

To frame the conversation, Jamie wrote a blog post, “7 Tips for (Seriously) Humanizing Your Brand.” It’s a must read!

WED 2/20
#TChat Twitter: Jamie returned, along with his Humanize co-author, Maddie Grant. This time, he moderated our freewheeling #TChat Twitter forum, as 250+ participants shared more than 1000 tweets that delivered 1.5+ million impressions. Now that’s what can happen when real humans show up and open up in a live digital exchange!

NOTE: For highlights from yesterday’s #TChat Twitter forum, be sure to watch the Storify slideshow at the end of this post.

Closing Notes & Highlights Slideshow

THANKS: Again, thanks to Jamie Notter for sharing your insights with the TalentCulture community this week. You brought clarity, context and dimension to this important topic.

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events inspire you to write about brand humanization or other organizational issues? We’re happy to share your thoughts. Just post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we’ll pass it along.

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week, we’ll look at branding from another angle, by exploring branded entertainment and the World of Work! Save the date for #TChat Radio, Tuesday, Feb 26, at 7:30pm ET. And #TChat Twitter Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7pm ET. Look for more details next Monday via @TalentCulture and #TChat.

Until then – we’ll see you on the stream!

Image Credit: Thumbprint via stock.xchng

#TChat INSIGHTS Slide Show: “Real Brands Humanize”

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Reflections on Community and Learning: #TChat Recap

“Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing.” —A. Solzhenitsyn

It was a full house last night in the TalentCulture community, as our #TChat Twitter forum celebrated two years of weekly chat events.

The celebration actually began on Tuesday night, with the return of #TChat Radio. Hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman discussed learning and social-media driven communities with three recognized #TChat contributors – ChinaGorman, Founder and CEO of CMG Group; Justin Mass, Learning, Technology and Design Manager at Adobe, and Vala Afshar, Chief Customer Officer and CMO at Enterasys.

This conversation extended to the #TChat Twitter community on Wednesday, as we shared stories about what originally attracted us to #TChat, and we discussed the value of being part of an online community. Personally, I believe that learning occurs in communities; the practice of learning is the participation in the community. Learning is the conversation between members of the community.

I can tell you that the stream activity was blazing so fast and furiously that we trended on Twitter! There were many great responses to this week’s questions, many of them personal. Following is just a representative sample …

(To see more complete highlights from the #TChat session, watch the Storify slideshow at the end of this post.)

FYI: A Note to Newcomers Are you new to TalentCulture? If so, you’re probably asking “What is #TChat?” It’s actually two valuable community resources available through a single Twitter hashtag. It’s both a weekly talent/career-oriented discussion forum, and it’s an “always on” knowledge-sharing channel. Both are freely available to anyone with a Twitter account. As founder @MeghanMBiro says, #TChat helps participants learn and grow personally and professionally. Why? “Because Community Matters!”

What attracts people to #TChat?

“This chat, more than any other, truly spans the world at work & shares a passion for making it great.” @AlliPolin

“Great info, embracing community, inspiring leading and learning.”   @TranslationLady

“I started about a year ago and developed my own community out of the experience to pay it forward.” @gingerconsult

What is the value of online learning communities?

“The power of online communities is the diversity of knowledge, experience and values. Communities are force multipliers.” @ValaAfshar

“The value lies in the diversity of ideas and practices all in one congenial environment.”  @EnZzzoo

“The strength of your network has never been a more important resource to draw from.”  @jmass

“Online learning communities are made up of professional colleagues that share & challenge = amazing learning.”  @AlliPolin

“Online learning communities allow professionals to interact with each other no matter the distance or time zone.”  @MZProhov

Why should you join #TChat on Wednesday nights?

“This is a true community that inspires conversation & thought. More like friends than strangers.”  @GabieKur

“I started to make more smart friends in our space. Simple. Follow the brilliance!”  @ChinaGorman

“#TChat is a learning-living platform. Community of insight, exploration, answers + growth.”  @justcoachit

“Some of the best hearts and minds are freely sharing transformational insights online.”  @ReCenterMoment

“The best part of #tchat is that you know you aren’t alone… others know exactly how you feel and share solutions.”  @DawnRasmussen

Ultimately, a community is only as viable as its participants. We value the thousands of smart, supportive business professionals who have contributed to TalentCulture. As long as you continue to show up at #TChat, this community will continue to be a source of inspiration, insight and support for us all. I’ll be there. I hope to see you, too, as we continue to tackle timely and important topics affecting today’s World of Work.

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NOTE: To see complete highlights from yesterday’s “communities and learning” #TChat anniversary session, see the Storify slideshow at the end of this post.

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Closing Notes & Highlights Slideshow

Did you miss the #TChat preview? Look here.

SPECIAL THANKS to this week’s inaugural #TChat Radio guests – who bring depth, humor and relevance to everything they touch. ChinaGorman, Justin Mass, Vala Afshar: you are a TalentCulture dream team.

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: If this #TChat session inspired you to write about social learning or the value of online communities, we’re happy to share your thoughts. Just post a link on Twitter (at #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we’ll add it to our archives. There are many voices in the #TChat community, with many ideas worth sharing. Let’s capture as many of them as possible.

WHAT’S AHEAD: You’ll want to make time for next week’s double feature! It’s all about productivity, prioritizing, and time management in today’s active World of Work. Tune in to #TChat Radio on Tuesday, Dec 4 at 7:30pm ET, when work/life experts Judy Martin and Cali Williams Yost talk with Kevin and Meghan. Then join the #TChat  Twitter discussion on Wednesday, Dec 5, 7-8pm ET to share your ideas and opinions. Look for a full preview early next week via @TalentCulture and #TChat. Thanks!

Image credit: tijmen at stock.xchng

#TChat INSIGHTS Slide Show: Social Learning and Online Communities

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High-Flying Talent Communities: #TChat Recap

Birds aren’t known to be mental giants. After all, does anyone really want to be called a “bird brain?” Yet, when it comes to communities, perhaps one of the smartest things you can do is to think like a bird.

At least that’s one way to summarize the wisdom shared at last night’s #TChat, where the discussion focused on the role of leadership and social media in empowering successful communities. These comments sparked my imagination:

“When birds migrate south they take turns being the leader. Drafting is tough.” @DavidSmooke

“And yet, they’re orderly.” @brentskinner

“And from afar the shape looks the same. The opportunity to lead as one.” @DavidSmooke

Similarly, human birds of a feather flock together in online communities. But the model must be sustainable. It’s essential for members to contribute individually, so the group can move forward collectively — whether the community is intended purely for the pleasure of social exchange, or for professional networking and talent development. As some #TChat-ters noted…

“Both social and talent communities are about learning, connecting and engaging.” @susanavello

“More similarities between talent and social communities than differences, it seems…” @YouTernMark

“Communication, connection and collaboration: a trio that works well…” @TaraMarkus

Just as with winged migration, every community has a purpose. Birds don’t fly for the sake of movement. They are en route to a destination, using both individual skill and collective strength to move the flock to its goal.

So, what are the implications for online community leadership? What’s the best approach to move a human flock forward in a loosely-coupled, but sustainable way? Some suggested that it requires a particular type of leadership, one that doesn’t easily fit into the classic command-and-control mold:

“The leader’s sweet spot is with the community – not behind or in front but listening & pointing the way.” @AlliPolin

“Leadership within talent communities is inclusive, open and dynamic.” @ReCenterMoment

On the other hand, some participants underscored the need for social leadership that carries over from the best real world organizational settings:

“No structure = chaos.” @RichardSPearson

“Leaders who foster communities in orgs break down silos – help develop more collaborative work relationships.” @nancyrubin

“The collaborate-&-bring-out-the-best-in-all thing? To me, that’s a big part of leadership, no matter what realm.” @AnneMessenger

“The best leaders lead by knowing how to ask the right questions, no different with a talent community.” @ideabloke

However, as our own community leader, @MeghanMBiro, observes, social engagement may not be a skill that many leaders have developed.

Regardless, for a loosely coupled talent community to thrive, its leaders and participants must embrace the community’s interests. Just as with birds of a feather who aim to reach a distant destination together, sustainable communities require individual skill, combined with collective engagement, and awareness of a common purpose.

Technology can provide tools to connect us in real time. Leadership can offer guidance and direction. But ultimately, the power to propel a community forward rests in the hands of those who show up.

Want to learn more? For complete insights from the discussion stream, see the highlight slideshow at the end of this post.

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Highlights & What’s Ahead on #TChat

Did you miss the #TChat preview? Go here. Are you looking for the highlights slideshow? Keep scrolling to the end of this post.

NOTE: If you’re a blogger, and this #TChat session inspired you to write about social communities, we’re happy to share your thoughts with others. Just post a link on Twitter (at #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we’ll add it to our archives. There are many voices in the #TChat community — with many ideas worthy of sharing. So let’s capture as many of them as possible!

We hope you’ll join us next Wednesday at 7pm ET / 4pm PT for another #TChat. We’ll be exploring issues related to military veterans in the workforce. Look for the preview early next week via @TalentCulture and #TChat. Enjoy your weekend!

Image credit: “Gulls Over Head,” courtesy of V Fouche

#TChat INSIGHTS Slide Show: Communities and Leadership
by Sean Charles (@SocialMediaSean)

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Top 20 Venues for Thought Leaders

While there are many ways you can establish your personal brand online and offline and inevitably stand out from others in your industry, functional area or even job candidate pool, one of the most powerful ways is demonstrating your unique value contribution through thought leadership.

A thought leader is by definition someone who is recognized for his or her innovative ideas, opinions, and/or perspective. However, if you want to be recognized as such, you must actually share your ideas, opinions and/or perspective with others.

Here are the top 20 venues for new and veteran thought leaders to share their value, expand their audience and grow their reputation and personal brand.

  • LinkedIn Answers: LinkedIn Answers is a unique Q&A forum that allows LinkedIn users to post questions and contribute answers to others’ questions. Getting involved in asking questions, answering questions and sharing insights and ideas related to your chosen industry is an effective way to establish your personal brand in an area of expertise.
  • Quora: Quora has combined the power of Q&A and Wikipedia into one platform where each question and answer become a living document that users can continuously discuss and update. Quora can be a great way to establish credibility and visibility. It also can be a comprehensive resource for networking and gathering information for future work and content, entrepreneurial ventures and/or personal efforts.
  • Your Own Blog: Blogging and contributing value-added content to better serve your industry can be an outstanding way to increase your visibility and demonstrate your unique value to potential employers and career stakeholders. Blogs are very easy to get started. There are both free and self-hosted platforms to choose from, including WordPress, Blogger and Typepad.
  • Guest Posting: If you’re not ready to commit to starting your own blog, consider writing content to contribute to other industry blogs. To find candidate blogs for your posts, do a quick Google search, check out the blogrolls of leading blogs in your area and check Alltop, an online magazine rack that provides a list of all the top blogs by industry or topic category.
  • Commenting: In addition to writing your own content, don’t forget to respond to the content that others publish on their blogs, as that can help you network your brand with other thought leaders and demonstrates your involvement. Again, use Google, blogrolls and Alltop to identify relevant blogs on which to become active.
  • LinkedIn Groups: There are thousands of LinkedIn Groups for you to join, including alumni groups, industry-specific groups, special interest groups and more. Start being active and contributing value from Day 1. Share interesting news with your groups, post links to intriguing articles and join in group discussions to show your investment in your industry or area of interest.
  • Facebook: While Facebook is intended to be more social than professional, this doesn’t mean it isn’t a venue for you to brand yourself. Share your activities and contributions or valuable resources in moderation with your friends, family and connections. They may already know you and your brand, but this will continue to reinforce it.
  • Twitter: Micro-blogging with Twitter is another way you can network with others, engage people in conversation and contribute value from your own blog, other industry blogs and websites and other thought leaders online.
  • HARO: HARO is a free personal branding service that connects professionals and students with writers, bloggers and journalists seeking sources for their articles, books, blog posts, etc. This can be a great way to get quoted in industry publications and increase your credibility and visibility among your peers.
  • Reviews: Writing a thoughtful review demonstrates your opinion of and take on someone else’s ideas and contributions. Leverage sites like Amazon to share your responses to others’ work.
  • HubPages: HubPages is an online platform where you can share your advice, reviews, useful tips, opinions and insights with hundreds of other authors and visitors without having to host, manage and market your own site or blog.
  • Squidoo: Squidoo is another platform for creating single webpages on your interests and recommendations, inevitably enhancing your online presence, search engine rankings and personal brand.
  • Google Knol: Google Knol is another platform where you can create, collaborate on, and publish credible web content without managing and driving traffic to your own website or blog.
  • SlideShare: Whether you have a presentation you have given before that you want to post, want to create a new presentation for others to view or have a portfolio of work to show off, SlideShare is a great tool that allows you to feature your presentations and documents and demonstrate your expertise and ideas in your chosen field.
  • Self-Publishing: If you interested in authoring longer works for your industry, consider self-publishing a book through CreateSpace or Lulu. You can also self-publish e-books in pdf format and share them via your blog, Scribd, SlideShare and across your networks.
  • Publishing: While there is no shame in self-publishing, getting published by a publishing house or publication does carry some prestige and credibility. You may know of publications and/or publishers in your industry to which you may want to send your content, but do check out the Writers Market series, as they provide invaluable resources and directories for writers.
  • Speaking & Teaching: Getting in front of an audience and sharing your expertise and ideas with them is an effective way to brand yourself as an expert. Identify something on which you can speak or present or even teach to a group of people and offer to contribute to an upcoming industry event or event put on by any associations you have joined. This will obviously take practice and may require you working your way up to bigger venues. You can also host your own events and market them to your local community and network. Promote your events online through LinkedIn, Facebook and Eventbrite. Remember, if you don’t have a physical space, you can also offer teleseminars and webinars which may attract larger audiences from around the country and world.
  • Video: More and more professionals are leveraging the power of video to market themselves, their expertise and/or their offerings. Sites like YouTube are popular platforms for featuring and marketing your thought leadership through video.
  • BusinessWeek Business Exchange: BWBX is a networking platform where you can both connect with fellow professionals in your industry and areas of interest, but also where you can share online articles and resources, including your own.
  • Networking: General career and business networking both online and offline will enhance your personal brand presence and connect you with other thought leaders, career stakeholders and potential followers. Attend in-person events in your industry, join local trade associations and make a point to network with at least one new person every week. Compliment your offline efforts by networking with other professionals online, using tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Networking Roulette by Brazen Careerist, BeKnown by Monster and any other tools or forums within your area of interest.

What are some other top venues where you share your ideas, opinions and personal brand?

Chris Perry, MBA is a Gen Y brand and marketing generator, a career search and personal branding expert and the founder of Career Rocketeer, Launchpad, Blogaristo and more.

Communities Go Mobile With Real World Exploration Apps

Thanks to a new set of location-based mobile applications that have cropped up over the past year, our social interactions online are beginning to impact our real world lives in very real ways. Here’s how they work now:

  1. Users open a location-based mobile application like Whrrl, Foursquare or SCVNGR and find recommendations from other users for how to experience different places near them.
  2. Within the applications, users bookmark recommendations that they want to do.
  3. Users then use their virtual to-do lists to explore the world around them.

Here’s a use case: I’m waiting in line at the ticket booth of the San Diego Zoo. To kill time, I open my Whrrl application. I view a few recommendations from other users who have been to the zoo. One recommendation from a friend of mine says, “Get to the back of the zoo right when it opens. You’ll get to see the lions eating their breakfast.”

I think to myself, “I don’t want to miss that!” and I dog-ear that recommendation. Forty minutes later, I’m watching the lions chow down with a few other spectators who were wise enough to download Whrrl. The rest of the park is waiting for the sloth exhibit in the front of the zoo to open. I click the “I did this” button on Whrrl and my friend who made the recommendation about the lions receives a reward within Whrrl.

That reality is evolving quickly, and with it, affiliate marketing is about to change forever.

Recently, Foursquare released its “Add to Foursquare” button, which allows anyone to tag places (and eventually recommendations) into the Foursquare network from anywhere on the web. Here’s where the fun begins. Remember that old  pay-per-click model affiliate marketers used to base their income on? It’s about to be taken to the real world. Here’s how these location-based exploration apps are going to work after a couple of more years of innovation:

  1. An affiliate marketer or influencer will be given designated links to specific recommendations and will plant those links using technology like the Foursquare button.
  2. Users will add those recommendations to their virtual to-do lists, and the marketer or influencer who planted the recommendation will be compensated for the real world “click.”
  3. If a user acts on the recommendation on his/her to-do list, the marketer will be paid even more.

When this world becomes a reality, my friend who made that recommendation at the San Diego Zoo will be compensated with a real world reward (monetary or otherwise). That new incentive may be enough motivation for mass adoption of mobile applications that guide real world experiences.

This is how technology will drive real world action. This is how social influence online can translate to the real world. So what does it mean for your social community? It means that with every new innovation in location-based technology, we are closer than ever to breaking down the boundaries between online and offline experiences.

Twitter chats and LinkedIn groups are on the verge of becoming experience-based, not just interest-based. Niche social networks on Ning will provide digital incentives for real world experiences. Facebook groups will be married to verticals of exploration and activity. As community managers, we no longer need to limit our thinking to what our communities can talk about on discussion boards, chats and blogs. We can now start to strategize about enriching our community members’ lives while they aren’t sitting at their desks pounding away on their laptops.

If you haven’t tried out a location-based app like Whrrl or Foursquare, I highly recommend it. Understanding the dynamics those applications use will be key to running a successful community in the very near future.

Crowdsourcing For Your Business Or Community

Crowdsourcing. It’s more than just a popular buzzword.

It’s a really useful community knowledge-sharing technique. Think of it as an open call for tasks, information or data collection – mostly through new media technology.

Often, a passionate, informed crowd can much more powerful in generating ideas or offering solutions  than an isolated individual, business or closed community.

Here’s How Crowdsourcing Works:

1) You identify and define a problem or a need.
2) You broadcast that need online and call for solutions.
3) An online crowd discovers that call and collectively contributes solutions.
4) You use the crowd’s suggestions to choose a way to fix your problem and reward the individuals who developed that suggestion.
5) In the end, you’ve fixed your problem and the passionate crowd gets that feel-good reward of helping someone out. Everybody wins.

 

Examples from the video:

NotchUp
Cambrian House

Another example of crowdsourcing at work:
Waze is a turn-by-turn navigation system that has been mapped and tagged entirely by its users. It’s a mobile application that aims to make driving a smoother and more social experience by giving users the power to inform other drives of speed traps, traffic delays, accidents and more all while their phones send geo-data to the waze network. Check it out at waze.com.

Image Credit: Pixabay