Techno//Marketer - Matt Dickman on Marketing and Social Technology

Joining Weber Shandwick to lead Social Business Innovation

Today I’m glad I can finally tell everyone my good news: I’ve joined Weber Shandwick as EVP, Social Business Innovation. I also want to take a moment to thank my Fleishman-Hillard colleagues for all of your support over the past three+ years.

I’ll be working with the agency’s clients to extend Weber Shandwick’s long history of social business innovation consultation (and implementation) for some of the world’s most iconic brands. Weber Shandwick has been consulting with these brands on social business strategy since 2007, and this work is becoming increasingly important as social behaviors force businesses to fundamentally rethink how they build and protect brands.

Over the past several years, I’ve worked with some of the largest, most complex brands in the world, helping them to strategically align social technologies and engagement in a way that will drive the best results for the business. From automotive to insurance to telecommunications and healthcare, each industry and each company finds themselves in a uniquely challenging time. A customized, business-driven approach is the best way to make a real, measurable impact.

I was impressed by the strength of Weber Shandwick’s experience and results in social business consulting, and the leadership team’s commitment to increased investment in this space as a key growth driver. I am even more impressed now that I have met some of the people behind work I have long admired. Social business is, after all, about people: connecting them and making them more aware and insight-driven, ultimately adding business value. I’m excited to help build upon Weber Shandwick’s influential, innovative achievements to date. This was one opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and am very happy to announce.

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Micro is the new small. Progress, one micro step at a time.

A couple of weeks ago I attended Jeff Pulver's #140 Conference in Detroit. I have to say that it was one of the more inspired gatherings of people that I've been to in some time. The more conferences I attend the more I find that any conference with the words "social media" in the title are total crap. Same people, same thinking, no progress. I'm trying to diversify and find the other people who are doing the work.

The #140 Conference brought together storytellers who talked about how they are affecting change in the city of Detroit and the world. Two of the top presenters had something in common which I find fascinating and in both cases, revolutionary. It's the evolution of micro.

I've written about micromedia before as far back as 2007. The web has made big things small and small things big. New trends are emerging now around micro-payments, micro-fundraising and even micro-real estate. Meet "Lemonade Detroit" and "Loveland".

Lemonade Detroit:

Lemonade Detroit is a documentary film about the people who are in the city of Detroit who are not leaving and who are committed to making things better. Here is the trailer if you are interested:

The coolest part of the project, however comes in the way the filmmakers are trying to fund the film. They're allowing the public to purchase individuals frames of the film. Once purchased, that person will be listed in IMDB as an official "Producer" of the project. So, you get to help a filmmaker and get a cool bonus on the side. Such a cool way of thinking differently about raising money for a project like this.

Loveland Inchvesting:

Welcome to the microhood! Along the same lines as Lemonade Detroit, Loveland is trying to improve the city and allow people to invest (or inchvest) over time. Loveland is a small physical parcel of land (see map below) located at 8887 East Vernor Highway and Holcomb streets where people can purchase inches of land. Once purchased, the ownership is mapped to a digital environment where people can chat with their neighbors and form real relationships. People can earn badges, name the city and give it their own personality.

This way of thinking small can have a big impact. It's different, adds value to the community and to individuals and makes you sit back and think about the possibilities. Just think about micro funding a novel all the way up to a project to bring clean water to Africa. There are amazing possibilities that open up when conencted to mobility and mobile micropayment by SMS/RFID.

What would you do as a side project if you could? How would you change the world?

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Technorati Tags:
Marketing, Matt Dickman, Social Media, Strategy, micro

Enough is enough, the blog comeback and a new publishing venture

Ah, how things (kinda) change when you step away for a while to assess the environment. This blog has sat on the sideline for the past year and a half as my work has taken priority. It is very hard to talk about it and do it at the same time. In that year, I have backed off of Twitter, let my feed reader implode and focused on doing the work that a lot of people only dream of doing for some of the largest companies around. I've also spent time around people who are rocking out in the social/digital space on the corporate side and have built an amazing team at FH in Dallas that is second-to-none and doing great work every day.

So, what did I miss? Surprisingly not a whole lot. The same people are talking about the same things, the conversation hasn't really evolved since 2007 for many bloggers and "SM experts" and the conferences...ugh...have not evolved much since 2007 either. Some of my peers feel the same way. There is a bubble around this space and those who are doing the work will be the only ones to survive.

Reading through my feeds again, it seems like there has not been a lot of progress. I want to help change all of that. When I started this blog, there was no such thing as Mashable or GigaOm who cover this space, new sites, etc. better than I could possibly dream of. I thank them for that. It frees me up to talk about things from a higher level, backed with hands-on experience and still make it accessible to everyone, not just the elite.

So, the blog is coming back over the next two weeks with a new focus, with a commitment to you, my readers whom I have missed enormously, to publish at a new, higher level and deliver the value that you deserve. The focus will be on strategy, trends and innovation. I'll get back to videos to explain those areas, but will leave the site demos to the publishers who do it best. It's also nice to see people picking up on the Techno+Marketer thinking, even if it is narrowly defined and focuses way too much on the technology part of marketing.

On a side note, I have started a new project called "Techno+Culture". It's a curated site where I am going to post things that I think impact the future of technology, culture and media with less of a focus on marketing (which will continue to live here on Techno+Marketer). The posts are short, full of interactive content and have about a Tweet's worth of context to put it into perspective. I hope you subscribe and enjoy.

Thank you for sticking around, we're just getting started.

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Technorati Tags: Marketing, Matt Dickman, Social Media, Strategy

Technology redefines categories and experience

I was not waiting on line at 5am for the iPad like some other people around the US. It's a device without a niche for me right now.

Think what you will of it, however, the technology behind the iPad and similar devices is helping to redefine categories that have had relatively little innovation in centuries.

Take the book industry. Now, I love my Kindle and it's innovative enough, but it uses the same paradigm as a print book. It works for what I need (quick consumption and ease of travel), but it is limited.

The experience of the Kindle is okay. It could be smoother and reminds me of what Blackberrys were like about 5 years ago. Get your hands on a new Blackberry and you'll see what I am talking about. It's smooth and easier to use yet still functional. The Kindle will catch up quickly.

Now, think about what publishing can look like on a device that senses when you tilt it or when you touch it. Have a look:

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The experience that new technology provides opens doors and lets us shift our thinking about old standards and the experience that can be delivered.

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Technorati Tags: Marketing, Matt Dickman, Technology, iPad, Apple, User Experience

Five simple guidelines for social engagement

I have talked about the importance of developing and implementing social media policies within organizations previously on this blog. These policies not only protect the company, but go a long way to educating its employees on what the implications and ramifications are of engaging in social channels.

I've seen a number of instances where seemingly harmless information is posted on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and that person was not aware of the connectivity of the medium. Soon, people find out what they said and share it. In an age when the "delete" button means nothing (everything is stored forever in most cases even if you do delete) it's crucial to have informed employees.

In college, I had a professor who suggested that when making a tough decision that we look in the mirror and see if we believe what we're saying. Here are the five guidelines that I think are the core of social engagement when you are working within a company. They are my mirror test.

Five guidelines/questions before posting:

1. Assume your Mom reads/sees everything that you post
   
2. Assume your boss reads/sees everything that you post
   
3. Assume your biggest client reads/sees everything that you post
   
4. Assume your biggest competitor reads/sees everything that you post
   
5. Assume your children will read/see everything that you post
   

I run through these filters myself when I post things as a final checklist. If something doesn't pass, then it's out the window.

What guidelines would you add to the list? How do you make content decisions?

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Technorati Tags: Marketing, Matt Dickman, Social Media, Guidelines, Policies, Corporate