Some futurists predict that one day, we may not feel so compelled to post, update, check in and share as much as we do today.

But right now, the irresistible drive to publish what we’re doing, thinking and experiencing—and the social media platforms to do it on—seem to be getting more prolific by the minute. You also may have noticed your audiences are getting pickier to boot. Now, you pretty much need something new, interesting and unique to say, show or share on each social media channel you adopt (much to the chagrin of those who use handy little apps to simply spew the same thing across all their digital profiles).

This is a good thing for better, more fitting content, but it’s also causing users to have an identity crisis of sorts. The conflict is no longer just about whether to friend an old flame on Facebook. Oh no. The dilemmas of these new offerings draw out and surface the multiple dimensions and personalities that can be found within ourselves, forcing us to decide whether the reflection that social media mirrors back is an accurate one. Consider just some of the soul-searching the average social media user now has to ponder:

-        Should I let my personal and professional life mingle on Facebook and just how awkward could it get?

-        How and what do I focus on in conversations I have with my Google+ circles? Should I share with everybody?

-        Will my obsessions with unicorns and knitting be best featured on Pinterest?

-        Is Tumblr going to be about my serious professional self or completely focused on my cat?

-        Do I want to share my fondness for fried foods on Instagram?

-        What will my coworkers think when they see I’m the mayor of Spartacus on Foursquare?

-        Will my friends listen to my Spotify playlist and believe I’m hopelessly behind the times?

-        If I tweet about these things, will I confuse my followers or run the risk that my boss will see it on LinkedIn?

Here are a few suggestions to help you organize and manage your somewhat split social media personalities:

Partition out of respect, not because you have something to hide

Ok, so you mainly tweet about your profession via Twitter. Given that, it makes sense that the photos of your cat you upload on Instagram may not interest your Twitter followers. Therefore, separating the two is probably a good idea. But the idea is to look at it from your audiences’ point of view and spare them things they may not find interesting, not to try to hide anything from certain people out of fear or embarrassment about what they might see. With that in mind, however . . .

. . . If you’re worried your mother, boss, spouse, etc., might see something, it’s probably best not to share it.

Common sense rules here. It really doesn’t matter how protected you think your circles are, or how well you’ve blocked select content from certain groups of friends, someone can still easily quote you or take something you’ve said and share it with others. With social getting more searchable, and open APIs, it’s pretty foolhardy to believe online activity will always be protected from view and won’t pop up in a search somewhere at some time. Which gets us to the next point . . .

. . . Don’t be so rigid about building those walls

This may seem contradictory to the first point, but keep in mind that the most interesting folks and brands on social don’t always stick to the party line—randomness of conversation, sharing something that may not be strictly in the wheelhouse of what you mainly focus on—is simply part of the culture. So if you want to share that particularly adorable picture of your cat in the bathtub via Twitter, even if it’s outside the things you typically talk about there, do it. Just don’t do it all the time (again, respect for your connections always reigns). That said . . .

. . . It’s ok to sit on the sidelines

Just because you’re using a channel, you don’t always have to swim with the fish. Sometimes, you can sit on the banks and enjoy the stream. For example, amazing photos are shared via Instagram every day. If you don’t feel like putting your photos out there for everyone to judge, it’s perfectly acceptable to join Instagram simply for the viewing pleasure of seeing what others are posting.  Finally, as with everything else in life . . .

. . . Decide what’s right for you

Social media is awesome for people who like to discover and explore. But not everyone is comfortable revealing so much online. That’s smart, and it makes sense to be protective and cautious. Figure out what works for you and don’t feel pressured to participate just because everyone’s doing it and it’s the hot new thing. This also goes to the point of sheer practicality. Unless it’s your job, let’s face it, managing all this stuff is incredibly time-consuming, as it takes lots of care and nurturing. Therefore, decide on your personal favorites and focus time and energy there if you’d like, vs. trying to do it all.

As you try out social media tools, what are some of the ways you use them to share different dimensions of yourself with others? What are your thoughts and suggestions for how to best manage it all?

Perhaps you’re budgeting for and planning what 2012 conferences you’ll be hitting. Or maybe you’re even thinking about hosting one of your own.  With more conferences competing for dollars, I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a lot pickier. So as someone who has experienced plenty of vegetable lasagna luncheons, here’s my opinion on what makes a conference memorable (for better or worse):

- The ones that teach, but don’t do.  For example, if your conference is all about imparting the latest social media wisdom, for god sake, practice it. No excuses for not integrating social efforts, from responding (rapidly) to attendees’ questions and needs, to engaging and providing content through social channels, at the very least. That goes for any conference topic you are espousing: Green conferences with no recycling or waste reduction efforts onsite? #fail.

- The broad shotgun approach. Big crowds don’t necessarily mean a great conference. The best events understand their audience and plan the agenda, speakers and topics accordingly. I’m willing to pay more for conferences that cut out the 101 content designed for newbies and focus on intensive, higher level topics (please, no more “Facebook is a big deal” sessions at events that are billed as being for experienced social media practitioners. We get it.). Federated Media’s Signal events are an example of a well-crafted approach. These events are relatively small and by invitation only, but because they are designed for top-level online marketers and major brands, and they get incredible speakers and go much deeper in terms of content that is both thought provoking and helps spark new ideas. These conferences are definitely more expensive, but in terms of time and value delivered, they provide a far greater return than a conference that tries (and typically fails) to appeal to broad swathes of audiences. 

- The time wasters. Along those lines, less is definitely not more when it comes to conferences. Most pros who are investing in attending a conference want to jam as much in as possible. I’m not a fan of big long breaks in the middle of the day and too many structured “networking” sessions.  Most attendees are capable of deciding how they want to spend their time. SXSW is a good example; some people don’t like this show for the sheer magnitude of offerings, (go to one and you potentially miss 20 other fantastic sessions) but I love it. Find one session not to your liking? Pop over to another. Looking for something very niche vs general? It’s at your fingertips. Parties are everywhere and it’s more about discovery vs manufactured playtime experiences. It makes the energy of the show exhilarating.

-The hucksters turned speakers. Um, no thanks. Seriously, conferences that give speakership preferences to whomever bankrolls the event have got to go. I understand why events do this, but it’s shortsighted. Making your event one big commercial message pretty much guarantees the audience isn’t going to come back next year. Conference organizers, please either make it clear to audiences that it’s a paid placement (transparency, right?) or actually review the content (not just the speaker’s pitch). Set the bar high for sponsors’ presentations and work with them to edit out overt sales messages. That way, everyone, including the sponsors, will have a better experience.

-The “good luck and see you next year” send-off. Don’t know about you, but things move so quickly, the massive conference once a year schedule doesn’t really work. Neither does  providing only in-person learning opportunities. Creative conference organizers could cut down on the annual event and use smaller, ongoing, online and roadshow events to explore topics more deeply and carry on the conversation. That way, new developments could be better addressed through more frequent learning opportunities. I don’t actually know of a conference that has embraced this format but if you do, I’d love to hear about it.

It’s not just organizers that make or break a great conference. If you are an attendee, you have a role too. Don’t sacrifice honesty for the risk of offending organizers and presenters. I recently sat in a keynote session that had absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. The Twitter stream limped lamely along with people trying desperately to share something of value. Incredibly, no one called it for what it was. Hey, it’s your time, money and brain space, so demand more. SXSW attendees know that if a speaker isn’t delivering, the crowd has no problem sharing its opinion and being honest – sometimes brutally so. But the response on Twitter is like a real-time gauge. Smart presenters take that feedback in stride and use it to change things up midstream to help satisfy what the audience is seeking.

No doubt, a good conference can motivate, inspire and spark great creativity. A bad one does the opposite. What have been some of your most memorable conferences this year? What made them great?

But there everyone was, wedged into the doorway and standing on tiptoes in the hallway to get in. No, it wasn’t a massive PR announcement for the latest social media tool. Nor an in-depth exploration of cloud computing. Or the ever-popular analytics topic. The most jam-packed session during my three-day SXSW tour was the good old-fashioned topic of company culture.

Company culture? In the age of ROI, metrics and bottom line, hard-charging analytics? It’s true, at the epicenter of digital Nirvana that is SXSW, some of the greatest tech minds were focused on . . . the touchy-feely stuff.

Soaking in some local culture: CMDers embrace value #6

To those who have spent any time considering this topic, it’s pretty apparent why.  How to create a positive company culture is one of those “squishy” things that businesses—especially those that are growing and evolving rapidly—have a difficult time defining, and obtaining. You can’t run a P&L report on it and you can’t PowerPoint your way into it. Yet everyone at that session intrinsically understood that without it, keeping and attracting great talent, innovation and grabbing a competitive edge were nearly impossible.

In the room that day, there was an outpouring of suggestions for how to create good culture: “Have more fun!” suggested one person. “More pizza and beer parties!” added another. “Recognize star performers!” an enthusiastic participant called out. “Focus on better internal communications!” a panelist insisted.

All worthwhile tactics to consider, no doubt. But when it comes to culture and principles that a company and its employees embrace, most recognize it goes much deeper. As some of the best companies out there today demonstrate, culture is the way you treat one another, customers and community. It’s how you approach product and service offerings and how you build the right kind of talent. It’s not something simply stated or said; it’s woven into the very fabric of a brand’s being.

It’s clear that good culture starts not with tactics, but by first identifying what you value above all else. With the guiding principles of how business gets done at your place. And then, it’s how those values are embodied, instilled and upheld.

So at CMD, we decided to take a hard look at our values. We drew inspiration from companies we most admire (in particular, Zappos and Clif Bar) and landed on nine that hold the most meaning for us and define the agency we strive to be. CMD’s values are as follows:

1)     Deliver amazing service and solutions

2)     Demonstrate leadership through innovation

3)     Be best in class and craft

4)     Exceed expectations

5)     Own it: take responsibility for the success of CMD, our clients and the team

6)     Foster a passionate, collaborative, can-do spirit

7)     Be nimble, adaptable and contribute to positive change

8)     Pursue professional and personal growth

9)     Build karma with kindness: Do the right thing by people, community and planet

These values go hand in glove with our mission, which is simply this:  Empower brands. Boost business. Spur success.

It’s pretty energizing to be among a group of people who share these common beliefs and work hard to put them into practice. These are ideals that we can hold one another accountable for, and celebrate when we achieve them (over pizza and beer, certainly). At least for me, that’s what motivates, inspires and builds community inside agency walls. To that end, our film and video group created this internal piece—the CMD faces who represent and uphold our values each and every day. We hope you’ll recognize a few:

Have company values or a culture that inspires you?  We’d love to hear what makes your business tick.

Does having a sustainability statement mean we’ve perfected how to tread as lightly as possible on the earth? No, but by having some specific things that we all aspire to, can measure ourselves against and hold up as goals, we’re getting there . . . and we’re proud of the progress we’re making. So this being one of our favorite times of year, we thought we’d post—in its entirety—our sustainability statement (below), and show you how we’re celebrating Earth Week. We’d love to know your thoughts and ideas about incorporating sustainable action items into your company and culture, as the more we share, the more we can continue to reduce our collective impact and yes, make the world a bit greener.

First, take a look at this video of a few CMDers sharing the agency’s top five tips for living sustainably all year long.

CMD Sustainability Statement

CMD believes that operating in an environmentally sustainable manner is not only the right thing to do, it makes smart business sense. That’s why we actively encourage and promote environmentally sustainable operating practices among our employees, our business partners and our vendors. CMD understands that to be a successful, progressive, world-class company, sustainability includes environmental stewardship, as well as operating with the highest ethical standards and supporting the community where our employees live and work.

Our goal is to be an industry leader in environmentally responsible practices and to conduct our business in a manner that is sustainable, demonstrates environmental stewardship and provides our customers with environmentally beneficial options. Sustainability is not an afterthought at CMD; rather, it is a key core value and essential to our overall mission. To that end, the four cornerstones of CMD’s commitment to sustainability are:

1. Reducing waste: CMD focuses on reducing the use of raw materials by giving strong consideration to those vendors who use recycled materials, offer environmentally preferred solutions and help reduce waste/increase efficiencies.  We will continue to prioritize business partners that demonstrate a strong environmental commitment whenever possible. Waste streams are reduced at CMD through the use of reusable rather than disposable products.  The company has continued to expand its recycling program to include a variety of materials and hosts employee events to reinforce recycling best practices. Recycling is encouraged and readily available in all of our facilities.
2. Conserving energy and water: CMD makes an ongoing effort to be more energy efficient through employee incentives, communications and encouragement. We actively assess energy use within our facilities and evaluate solutions for continued improvement in this area.
3. Encouraging the use of alternative transportation: Promoting and rewarding the use of alternative transportation is not only important to the environment, it is important to the company’s culture. Activities such as participating in bike commute challenges, encouraging carpooling and alternative transportation are a key focus.
4. Making a positive impact on the community: We dedicate time, talent and resources to advancing the cause of select worthy, environmentally focused nonprofits that are working to make a real difference in the community. In this way, CMD’s influence to foster greater environmental stewardship reaches well beyond our own core business and affects many others within the community. At CMD, we believe this not only adds to our efforts to make a positive environmental impact, it is simply the right thing to do.

It is not enough for CMD management to establish values and set goals for how to become an increasingly environmentally sustainable business. These values are shared and acted upon at every level of the company. CMD’s employee-led sustainability team works to advance the company in these four key areas by setting goals, spearheading sustainability initiatives and engaging with employees. Our success is measured and validated through independent, third-party sources, including the City of Portland’s Recycle at Work certification program, and by being named one of the 100 Best Green Companies in Oregon by Oregon Business magazine. We are dedicated to continuing to provide education, training, programs and communication to help encourage greater awareness about what we can do, as a company and as individuals, to lessen our impact on the environment and to operate in a more sustainable manner.

I find myself continually amazed whenever I go to conferences like SXSW and hear brilliant marketing and business visionaries say the one stop-them-in-their-tracks, idea-killer thing they confront always boils down to the ROI question.

For too long, the ROI roadblock has been a convenient way for brands and companies to play it safe and resist change. Fact is, unless a tactic is the only way you are communicating to your customer, it is incredibly difficult (and more often, inaccurate) to evaluate true ROI by singling out any one communication avenue or marketing discipline and trying to analyze in isolation how much it generated in bottom line revenue. Sure, you can determine metrics, but that’s different than actual ROI.

At CMD, we measure the heck out of what we do and recently added a director of metrics and analytics because we believe it’s important for our success and our clients’ success. But let’s be honest: at the start of the revolutions in the Middle East, no one was worrying about ROI when it came to using social media. It was simply seen for what it is: a super-effective way to connect, recruit, build relationships, communicate and motivate like-minded people. And it finally woke many people up to the fact that we are in the middle of a fundamental shift in global communications in addition to experiencing regional revolutions.

Yet, essential questions continue to go unaddressed simply because they are deemed less worthy, (meaning not easy to equate to actual dollar value), and therefore are too often left out of the equation. Questions such as:

• Is having better, closer relationships with our customers valuable?
• Is learning what people really think about our brand and our products important?
• Will establishing ongoing connections with customers benefit our business?
• Is it valuable to have passionate fans recommend us to their friends and family?

The desired answers to these questions are simple. Breaking the reliance on ROI as an excuse not to do something is not. Seems to me it’s high time for a revolution. What do you think?

I’m not going to sink into the “hot new tools” debate and predict whether 2011 will see Foursquare’s demise while Tumblr takes on Twitter. No. There’ll be plenty of that already.  It’s much more interesting to take a higher-level look at how brands may evolve their social media strategies during the coming year. So here are some things the CMD Earned Media team is looking forward to in 2011.

1.      Taming the beast. Most companies have gotten some social media initiatives off the ground and they’re tweeting, posting, polling and checking in like mad. But once these channels have “matured,” it’s helpful to take stock and figure out what they are going to be when they grow up. Have they reached their full potential, have they plateaued, are they languishing or do they simply need to be redirected? Clarity in purpose and solid analysis is a welcome trend for the coming year.

2.      The paradox of choice. The social media enthusiasts will always be looking for the latest new thing that everyone flocks to, leaving in the wake abandoned user names and forgotten passwords when those channels don’t turn out to be the new promised land. But for the average users, social media preferences may trend in reverse and steer them to the more common one-stop shop—leaving the clutter of managing multiple, more-niche channels to select audiences. (Read the book—it’s great. So is this article from The Washington Post which ran earlier this year: http://wapo.st/ggW4mz).

3.      Ball hogs get benched. Social media was a bright spot in a dismal employment landscape—lots of companies hired social media and online community managers in 2010. The best of them took a team approach and served as coaches to put their company’s best social media foot forward vs. trying to be the singular star player. For example, I particularly admire Cisco’s approach; its social media group helps inspire, guide, inform and educate groups throughout the company to empower them to get involved—making the collective effort stronger than what any single individual could do.

4.      Cutting the website cord. Websites no doubt serve an essential and central brand purpose. But 2011 hopefully spells an end to the automatic response that everything ought to be on a centralized corporate website. Building a new site and trying to drive traffic there can be a lot tougher in some instances than simply going where the audience is already hanging out. So with 600 million-plus users, offering a deal or developing an e-commerce site on Facebook might make a whole lot more strategic sense than force-fitting it onto a site. Here’s to this being the year where the website isn’t the foregone conclusion to digital solutions.

5.      The year of the influencer. Pitching influential bloggers is nothing new, but building relationships, partnerships and sponsorships with other types of social media influencers, whether they be mayors on Foursquare, local community Twitter celebrities or administrators on Facebook, is virtually uncharted territory. The CMD Earned Media team is squarely focused on this strategy which involves a combination of solid research, pitching and outreach know-how, paid media negotiations and transparency/disclosure. This may be the year brands and realize that their efforts are better spent trying to build bridges with like-minded social media influencers rather than spending the time and effort to become one themselves.

Oh, and maybe this is finally the year we’ll see the end of the 5, 7, or 10 tips, secrets, guidelines, best practices and so forth trend on blogs and Twitter, but somehow I doubt it. So, what’s your top trend for 2011? What New Year’s resolution do you have for your own social media efforts?

That’s because it began as a kernel of an idea inspired by a popular video on YouTube we very much admire, (go on, guess which one), then was realized by some spontaneous performances and a flip cam or two. The result is a behind-the-scenes take on the many personalities here at CMD.  From account services to earned media, film and video, creative, digital marketing, production and many other groups, if there’s one thing we learned during this process, it’s this: CMD folks don’t shy away from a stage. Any stage. Ever.

So, here’s to all of our rock star clients, partners, associates and of course, staff. Whether we’re singing your tune this time around or not, thank you for allowing us to share another side of ourselves with you—and all the best for a joyous holiday season.

Melissa Lion: Will Condé Nast be able to pull up out of print media’s death spiral with a new revenue model? The New York Times article, Condé Nast Is Changing Its Blueprint, explores the possibility.

Sarah Biedak: Facebook has launched Facebook Questions, a Yahoo! Questions-esque service. This could be useful for seeking community feedback and research.

Darcie Meihoff: I have two favorites this week. Have you considered inviting a guest blogger to your blog? Get some helpful tips from HubsSpot’s recent post. I credit @DaveAtNorth for this one: a 14-page article from The New York Times, The Web Means The End of Forgetting, explores how your digital past is never forgotten and can haunt, or help you. Enlightening and a little frightening.

Erik Sebellin-Ross: New Forrester research shows that Foursquare doesn’t have a big enough user base to warrant its use in marketing efforts. Outside of major cities, sure . . .

Stefanie Week: Content is king, but only if it’s free. A new USC survey shows that zero percent of those polled would pay for Twitter. I think I’d have to agree.

Julie Yamamoto: Mashable reveals how to send an audio tweet.

Julie Ma: Having a case of writer’s block? Clarabela Media’s post, Nine Sites Every Freelance Writer Should Bookmark, will get anyone’s creative writing juices flowing.

It’s a topic that was covered yesterday at the PRSA Portland Metro chapter “What the Blog?” session that I moderated. With a panel representing some great points of view including those of our own Melissa Lion, (CMD earned media talent/blogger extraordinaire), Julian Chadwick of PDXPipeline.com, Kari Aakre of Intel PR, and Katlin Smith, whose blog is Southwest Washington ZEST, the answer was . . . “it depends.”

Clearly, there are many types of blogs, from online diary types representing personal thoughts and opinions and those whose sole purpose is to share information, to still others that operate as an extension of online news sources. Should this massively different and varied form of expression be required to adhere to the codes of professional journalism? From the panelists’ point of view, not necessarily. Even among the panelists, there were clear differences. For example, some bloggers welcome things such as incentives and giveaways for their readers, and others are guided by traditional journalism rules that don’t accept them.

Watch top tips from the “What the Blog?” panelists here:

So how do you know and what’s the guiding force when it comes to working with bloggers? As Stefanie Week pointed out in an excellent earlier post, certainly the FTC guidelines are a must and transparency across the board is the foundation. But the fact is that it’s hard to establish overarching rules for very personal and individual forms of expression, so there’s a need to go above and beyond that. The panelists agreed that successfully working with bloggers means getting to know each blogger’s intention, purpose and motivation for his or her blog—and respecting the operating guidelines that they have established for themselves.

Bottom line, it has to “feel right”—for the blogger, the audience and the story or client you want to cover, so knowing the “rules” will only get you so far—the rest is good old-fashioned common sense and a gut check.

Outside of the FTC guidelines, what other “rules” do you think bloggers ought to follow?

It’s the retweet that says you like what someone else has said. The personal reaction to a post that signals you’re listening. The random DM to a stranger to respond to a question or share a piece of information you think might be helpful. And when something bad happens, owning up to it and apologizing. Simple stuff, which unfortunately can also be pretty easy to overlook.

A recent example is one of our clients who had a not so great experience with a reporter. After stewing about what went wrong and owning up to how it could have gone better, they wondered whether it was worth reaching out to the reporter personally, to help clear the air. Even though it was a few days later, that’s exactly what they did. Yes, especially with the time that had gone by, it would have been easier to ignore it, move on, and take the chance that maybe the reporter would forget about it. But in the end, respect and courtesy won out, to the benefit of a stronger long-term relationship.

So many brands make major investments, coming up with massive cause-related campaigns. Certainly, those efforts are incredibly powerful, as well. But they don’t take the place of ongoing common courtesy and respect. After all, at the end of the day, isn’t that how we all want to be treated?

What favorite random acts of kindness have you seen, or experienced yourself, recently?