This is why I'm not a social media expert

This is why I’m not a social media expert

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Sometime in your life you will go on a journey. It will be the longest journey you have ever taken. It is the journey to find yourself. — Katherine Sharp

In the spirit of over-communication… I’m sorry.

Background

This morning I knew I needed to get the word out about this weekend’s New Media Cincinnati Second Saturday event. At only 5 days away, I personally felt a sense of urgency, since this group looks to me, Founder and Event Organizer, for direction. While this sense of urgency originated from a “good heart”, the way the communication was executed had a varied effect on others.

I remember many years ago, that the head of a consulting division would send out messages across multiple channels, prefacing with “In the spirit of overcommunication…” His intent was to make sure the message reach everyone, at least on one channel.

That’s a lot like what we have in social media, isn’t it? We have Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, e-Mail, and several other media channels in which to communicate. At any given moment, people are watching any one of these channels; many are watching them all.

Here’s what I did:

Created Eventbrite page for the June 2009 New Media Cincinnati Second Saturday event.
Sent e-mail invitations to people who have either come to previous events or have indicated an interest in getting an e-mail invitation.
Sent e-mail invitations to people in my address book whom I thought MIGHT be interested.
Total number of email invitations sent: 289
Registered for the event myself, notifying Facebook that I did.
Sent a message to the New Media Cincinnati Facebook group, notifying them of the Eventbrite link.
Total number of Facebook messages sent: 343
Set up a Featured Discussion at the New Media Cincinnati LinkedIn group, notifying them of the Eventbrite link.
Total number of people in the LinkedIn group: 143
Wrote a blog post at newmediacincinnati.com with the details with the Eventbrite link.
Let people know via the New Media Cincinnati Twitter account at the various stages above know that something was coming through public updates.
Sent direct messages to several local people who follow the New Media Cincinnati Twitter account, with the Eventbrite link. Total number of direct messages sent out: close to 1000?

And that’s when the kerfuffle started.

Too much of a good thing

Apparently, the direct message from Twitter was the breaking point. I only intended to get the message out as quickly as possible, across as many channels as possible, so that people can have an opportunity to respond to it. This is especially needed when the anticipated demand is greater than the seating capacity.

Even so, I was only seeing things from my perspective. I misunderstood why people follow or have become affiliated with the New Media Cincinnati social media group among its web presence as though it was permission-based messaging.

Not everyone sees it that way, as I have found.

The problem

I don’t know how to communicate with you. Everyone uses social media differently, and that’s okay. Even so, there comes a point when there is too much communication, too much information.

Some of you won’t come right out and say that I’ve been communicating too much; you just delete the messages you don’t need. But others have. It’s taken a few hours, and I’ve finally gotten the message. I need to rethink how I communicate with the group and even consider limiting it to one channel.

Whatever that channel becomes, I will need to better space out the communication and remain consistent. It also has to be something I can do efficiently, since I’m still running this group pro bono.

How can I communicate messages to the widest possible audience possible, in the most efficient way possible?

No social media expert

This is why I’m definitely not a social media expert. This has been one of the lessons that indicates I still have much to learn. As Katherine Sharp indicated, I’m just a guy on a journey.

23 Essential Elements of Sharable Blog Posts (chrisbrogan.com)

Tags: Communication, Facebook, LinkedIn, newmediacincy, Online Communities, Social Networking, twitter

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Community, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Brian Monahan, Expert in the Rough

Daniel,

You are humble you have a great knack for Social Media.

Take your feedback for what it is worth and make the necessary adjustments.

I joined your group because it interested me and the people have been so nice.

I figured your various channels of communication are just part of the great social media experiment.

Thanks for being the one that puts the time in to make this happen for others.

Keep up the great work,

Brian Monahan
Admirer of your Social Network
http://michellebeckhamcorbin.blogspot.com/ Michelle Beckham

Dan,

Love the honesty in this post and your desire to do what is right for the group is loud and clear. Yes, “You are just a guy on a journey”- but that journey is traversing a path that is connecting and uniting many very talented individuals in Cincinnati. Your creation and leadership of the New Media Cincinnati group allows for a physical coming together of individuals who share, learn, connect and create friendships. Isn’t that the point of social media: to communicate, interact and build relationships?

As Robert Frost said in his poem, The Road Not Taken:

“…I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

YOU are making a difference in the social media landscape of Cincinnati. Carpe Diem!
http://locivity.com Jason Farris

Dan,
I enjoyed reading your post… you certainly had the right direction in your efforts and did more than some of the so called ‘experts’ do.

I couldn’t agree more with what you said, “Everyone uses social media differently, and that’s okay.” I would venture to bet that for every one person that approached you saying ‘ok ok I know when the event is’, there are two people that wont attend because they never heard when it was.

Personally I don’t mind hearing a message more than once, as I know it comes with the turf of social media. That being said, I especially appreciate hearing the message more than once when its given to me in unique and creative ways.

Best of wishes for your event,
Jason (@Fresyes)
http://www.dreamhomesinidaho.com Pam Pugmire

Dan,
I was actually prompted to read your post because you said you aren’t a social media expert! I tend to not even pay attention to someone who dubbs themselves as a social media expert, basically for the reason you showed…….it’s all so new, I think we are all still trying to figure it out! ; )
I have removed myself from facebook groups because they sent out 4 or 5 messages in one day about the same thing. I think hearing the same message via different sources is not annoying however.
Good luck, and I’ll watch to see how you’ve figured out the dilema.
Rich

I guess my internal filters are pretty good. I’m a recipient of your message from various places, but don’t know which one registered for me. I just know I got it. All the additional methods must have been rejected by me without much consciousness because I had already processed.

Dan, we are all learning here. You are doing a great job at learning publicly while maintaining your passion to serve others. Truly one of your gifts. Thank you for what you’ve given us all.
http://mikeboehmer57.wordpress.com/ Mike Boehmer

Great post! I’ve been taught that strategic communication involves a four-step process:

* Research
* Planning
* Implementation
* Evaluation

It seems to me that you’re doing a great deal of research through your experimentation. You’ve been devoting more time to planning lately. You’ve been implementing, that’s for sure. And you’re evaluating your practices and making adjustments as needed.

In short, this is a process — not an event. Keep up the good work.

For some reason, this quote from Theodore Roosevelt came to mind:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
http://www.level-3-media.com Ralph Helm

Daniel,

Well, since I think that people who call themselves “Social Media Experts” are complete douche bags, I think it’s good you don’t consider yourself one. And, in fact, I don’t think you’re a douche bag at all. I appreciate all you’re doing to create community in the Greater Cincinnati/Dayton area. It’s refreshing to have outlets and venues to meet other people who see the benefit of Social Media tools to expand their horizons, be it personal or professional.

As someone who follows you on Twitter as “Daniel the Person” and as “Daniel the New Media Cinci”, I am used to getting multiple, and often, duplicate, updates from you throughout the day. Does it bother me at times? Sure. BUt, it’s an open society online. You’re allowed to do what you want., and who am I to say what is right or wrong in online culture. I have called you out before, and even stopped following you at one point, when you were essentially spamming Twitter, inviting people to join you and call in to a live podcast you were taping. I think I received somewhere along the lines of 30 Tweets from you in a 2 hour period. That was overkill, in my humble opinion. But, I couldn’t deny your passion for what you were doing. Nor can I deny your passion for wanting to have as many people as possible attend the event on Saturday.

So here’s my take on it:
You need to find a balance. Those of us who inhabit these spaces are barraged with huge amounts of information daily. We choose to filter out the things that don’t interest us, and tend to get a little punchy when flooded with the same message over and over again. Most of us use various tools to filter down the information so that it’s more manageable (spam filters, favorites or categories in TweetDeck, RSS feeds via Google Reader, etc.).
Knowing all that, target your message in a way that reaches the largest amount of people in the most effective way possible. Now, what that is depends on your audience. Perhaps ask your audience, “How would you like for me to communicate this type of information to you?” If it’s an invitation, maybe Eventbrite is the best way. If it’s an announcement about something else, maybe Twitter. If it’s a newsletter, email may work best.

Bottom line:

- Use the tool that works best for the message you’re trying to convey.
- Know your audience and be sensitive to them.
- TRUST your audience to be smart enough to get the message with the tools they already have in place instead of blasting it to any and every possible line of communication you have for them.

Thanks again for your humility, Dan. Can’t wait to see you on Saturday.

Cheers,
Ralph
http://www.pfoody.com Bryan Sherman

Daniel,

As the person who seems to have initiated the kerfuffle (and is humbled that you kept that name) I guess I should add another 2 cents…

My issue was over-communication in ONE channel, not across channels. I was just seeing if I could get off the DM list. Someone on Twitter said it better than me, the DM (to me and him) is a 1-1 channel, not a mass-mailing channel.

I treat DMs differently in Twitter, they are the only ones that go to my phone. I follow NMC to keep informed about events. I am not unsympathetic about your concern to get info to your followers of this account, yes they could miss a simple update, but you know, we are all adults, and at some point you got to let us take responsibility for ourselves

Especially since you provide the other channels. For those who may miss it in their twitter stream, they can signup for the e-mail notice. Let us decide.In fact, it may be helpful to create a landing page that spells out our communication options.

I hesitate to label ANYthing as Wrong in Twitter (except the inane, automated tweet back after a follow, that’s just stupid). Frankly, the beauty of Twitter is that I can always vote with my feet. The ONLY reason I sent you a tweet was that I valued the channel, and did not want to lose it entirely, just dial down the noise (for me).

So I guess there is that… I complained because I cared (cue cheesy orchestral music).

And btw, my first inclination was to DM so it was private, but I could not DM NMC, and forgot to try your regular account. In the end, I think you would agree it turned out better with a fruitful conversation. You know, if it doesn’t kill ya, it makes you stronger.., lol
danieljohnsonjr

Thank you for the feedback. I sincerely appreciate it.

Bryan, ironically, I wrote about how I was changing the New Media Cincinnati Twitter account last week, to concentrate on folks who actually participate in events and use my personal account to communicate with everyone else. Perhaps that wasn’t over-communicated enough.
http://everythingNorder.com Carole Hicks

Dan,

I love your humble, gentle spirit and heart.

I’ll keep this short and to the point. Advertising rule (or maybe I made this up). You have to remind people three times, and preferably in three different ways before they will take action. I am inundated with social invitations (not complaining, I love it!) and I don’t usually even notice an event until I’ve seen it several times.

I say, just keep doing what you’re doing. If you need to adjust slightly, fine…but for me all is well…just the way it is. You Rawk. Seriously.

I R Ur biggest fan…prolly
Carole Hicks
http://twitter.com/carole_hicks
http://everythingNorder.com
http://www.homersite.com Mark Homer

Daniel,

Good post/discussion. I am registered with NewMediaCincy on fbook, linkedIn, twitter, etc. I do that so my network in those communities see my support for the group. So I expect to get multiple channels of communication. It is actually good because I know that it will probably be the second or third one before I finally put it on my calendar and verify I can/can’t make it.

However, I am with @bshermcincy and feel that Twitter DMs are a sacred thing and meant for 1 to 1 communication. So far the twitterverse has been pretty respectful of that. I do not get too much DM spam, and when I do it is easy to ‘unfollow’- one of the great things about twitter.

Keep up the great work

- mark homer
[rq=1104,0,blog][/rq]Migrating over from blogger
http://www.exitrowproductions.com Jeff Long

Daniel,

You are doing a great job in an attempt to let everyone know about the event. I had a similar situation happen to me a fe months ago. I think some people put it upon themselves to be the “hall monitor” of social media and will let you know when too much is too much (at least in their mind). I’m guessing they didn’t offer to help with getting the word out, or any planning/hosting/presenting. It’s very hard to take that personally when someone criticizes your good intentions.

Thanks for helping to over communicate. And yes, if I get several reminders, I will read the applicable info and delete what is necessary. That’s the beauty of social media.

Just know that most of us think you are doing a great job and are an incredible encouragement to us all.

Jeff
http://socialgumbo.com Loki

Anyone calling themselves a social media expert is almost certainly lying. The leading voices in the social media world all acknowledge that things are evolving too fast for anyone to have become an expert as yet. (and this is coming from someone who makes his living as a social media consultant/instructor and pro blogger).

As with commenters above I follow NMCincy on multiple platforms because I wish to show my solidarity with the project. In New Orleans our social media and blogging scene was very tight and amazingly extensive. What you are doing is developing community in a similar fashion but without the impetus of natural and engineering disasters to motivate the process.

Creating community is one of the most important things you can do. Keep up the good work.

In the immortal words of Michaelangelo, “Ancora imparo!” (trans: “I’m still learning!”)
http://www.disciplesworld.com/ Rebecca

It may just be one of the challenges of the times we live in. Six months ago, I'd have said email is best for me. Today, Twitter. Tomorrow, who knows? We're in a fragmented networked phase (I'm sure a social media expert has a name for this phenomenon. I'm not one, so I don't…

Anyway, we also have a tendency to miss and ignore messages. Bottom line, just do your best. Others out there, cut Dan some slack (or if you're a person of faith, extend him some grace, please).
Name

I just realized that this is an old post. Nevertheless, my general request (re the cutting of slack, extending of grace) still stands. Thanks!
http://danieljohnsonjr.com danieljohnsonjr

Thanks for your comments, Rebecca. I really appreciate what you said. We're
all learning.
http://danieljohnsonjr.com danieljohnsonjr

Thanks for your comments, Rebecca. I really appreciate what you said. We're
all learning.
http://danieljohnsonjr.com danieljohnsonjr

Thanks for your comments, Rebecca. I really appreciate what you said. We're
all learning.
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