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Post-BlogHer '09: A Reminder of the Power of Listening to Influentials

My latest on Jack Myers.com. BlogHer '09 from the marketer's perspective

Some thoughts on BlogHer'09: A founder's and a blogger's view

Every year after BlogHer, I take a few days to take in the wrap-ups and accounts and to assess the role our event, and even our organization, plays in the women's Blogosphere. It's a level of introspection that I rarely achieve anymore on my personal blog, but considering that this blog, and the opportunities it created for me, are what encouraged me to take on BlogHer with Lisa and Elisa to begin with, so it seems appropriate.

If you read my personal blog you will notice a few things, other than I post so rarely that I am no longer participating in the BlogHer Ad Network (our community managers practice what we preach when we say you must post regularly to run ads!), namely this:

• I'm not a Mommyblogger
• I've never participated in a review program. In fact, the reviews I have written were mostly posted without the publisher even being aware I was planning to (I've only reviewed books and the occasional film). Many of the books I bought myself and felt moved to review them.
• I've never made more than $40 a month on my ads, never had Google Ads or BlogAds supplementing my BlogHerAds, never placed an affiliate tag or ad on my site, or ever optimized my site for making money (something my husband questions me about constantly)

Notes on Planning BlogHer--the Fifth Time Around

Prepping for BlogHer is, for me, like prepping for a wedding. You hear of what all of your guests are doing, packing, wearing. And yet for you it's like being in a bubble, even among throngs of people. You have to make sure you are getting things done. It's utterly anti-social, which is challenging for a social being.

And there are so many things to plan.

• Speaking notes--check
• Press meeting schedule--check
• Sponsor engagements--check
• Special events before, during, and after--check
• Underwear--seriously, I have forgotten before
• Booking info

For me, BlogHer is like a wedding because it's a coming-together of some of the most disparate groups. I recall at my own wedding seeing my California buddies chatting with my brother (who had never been out of the Midwest) and my business partners and thinking, "Where will I ever see THIS again?" BlogHer can feel very similar. Of course, you have your blog peeps, but there are the blog peeps I first met because I was a hard-core blogger and met them through reading them, and there were some I met later, as BlogHer grew and developed, and whom I got to know through the business. There are the employees of BlogHer, many of whom have embraced the community but have entered it in a different way. There's my husband, who agrees every year to this surreal experience of being around many women and asking us, "What do you need?" There's my mother, a long-time member of this community, and my twin sister, an absolute newbie, who will be there. There will be old friends from traditional media who have begun to embrace blogging, press, and of course sponsors--a group you can divide many ways, from small start-ups dipping a toe in the space to larger companies bringing throngs of people to work their booth and be exposed to the event. There will be women that I don't know but who will know me and introduce themselves, and women I've met but can't remember when I met them--what year, which conference? There will be women I'm close to now but don't recall exactly why; just over time it worked out that way. There are offline friends who are going for the first time, and offline heroes who, now online, will be speaking. There will be investors and partners and hotel staff and celebrities and ... breathe.

You can't plan for all that. Like a wedding, you just have to know your lines, try your best to take it all in, and, if possible, remember to eat and not accidentally tuck your skirt in your panties when you come out of the bathroom.

A few years ago I realized there is only so much you can plan. Sure, you have to know your obligations, but if you try to plan too much at BlogHer, you will be disappointed. You have to see what carries you. One year, I vowed to go to sessions, and I ended up in discussions with women I met in the hallway. It was time well-spent. For me, it was a needed catch-up with the community.

It's also important to have your own experience. I love "losing" Elisa and Lisa for a day. We often wander in our own directions and then have totally different stories to share with each other from the event, from conversations within panels to late night karaoke.

Some "Favorites" I've developed since the first BlogHer in 2005:

Favorite Day of the event: Saturday. Friday is usually spent running around and making sure everything is all set. Saturday I usually get to sit in sessions and have an extra glass of wine that night.

Things I never plan: meals

Things that get planned the weekend before: What I'm wearing, my schedule

Things that get planned a few days before: What Elisa, Lisa and I are going to say in the opening session. Though once it was the day before. Never again.

Biggest regret: I never get to do any of the hands-on sessions, and as a result I'm still at the blog skill level I was at in 2005.

Biggest anxiety: I forget to thank someone.

Thing I promise to do every year: Party more; stay up, and yet somehow sleep more.

Thing I forget to include in my schedule: Seeing people and catching up; spontaneous interviews.

Thing I've stopped doing for sanity's sake: Trying to troubleshoot sponsors' tech issues. Trying to memorize sponsor announcements without my notes; hold business meetings onsite. 

Things we always promise to do better next year: Not run out of tickets, be even greener.

Things I always promise to do better next year. Bring more comfortable shoes; not overbook myself.

Thing I've finally done this year that I should have done in the past: Scheduled a few days off immediately afterward.

"Hey Buddy, Wanna Buy a T-shirt?": Notes from Inside P&G's Digital Marketing Hack-a-thon

My take on P&G's very clever experiment to get their marketing leadership in-synch with best practices in social media marketing.

Context and Disclosure: Keys to Success in Compensating Bloggers

This was my response on behalf of BlogHer, which was also cross-posted on BlogHer.com, to the brouhaha over Forrester's recent report in support of "Sponsored Conversations" and compensating bloggers for mentions. We felt like the topic wasn't being addressed with the nuance it deserves.

Ask Not What Women Bloggers Can Do for You … Getting Things Done in the Blogosphere

Rosie the Riveter is the inspiration behind my latest observations of how women are taking their lives into their own hands, or blogs.

Who You Calling MommyBlogger? The Web's Most Influential and Diverse Community Begs You to Stop Generalizing

Understanding a group that's not so sure about their name, or what you assume to be true about them.

Are We Becoming a Bunch of Twitter Tales?: Looking for a Code of Smart Tweeting

Recently I was speaking with a colleague in the industry who was perturbed by an entry she'd read on Twitter by someone she'd just met with, who consequently mentioned their meeting in his Twitter feed. There weren't many details; how much proprietary info can you fit into 140 characters? Still, she told me, it irked her. The meeting was set to determine suitability for partnering with this person's company. With more than 20 years in media, she wasn't accustomed to publicizing any meetings with potential partners or clients unless they resulted in something signed and on paper.

"Total amateur move," she said. "This guy's showing all of his cards."

Honestly, I wonder then, how many "amateurs" are out there, and whether we need to be worried about showing our hands, so to speak, on a platform that makes mincemeat out of the subtleties of in-person communication. Or whether my colleague needs to get with the program (or platform).

Reading my Twitter feed this week, I found many innocuous updates, many promotional ones, and sprinkled in were a few from professional contacts that were politically partisan in nature--most of which I agreed with--but which made me question the wisdom behind mixing political affiliation with professional networking. And then there were some that struck me as even more dangerous. One contact provided updates on his corporate fundraising. The positive spin he took was likely a construct for the public, and one that seemed unnecessary. I wondered why he would bother mentioning his fundraising at all.

In mentioning this topic I feel a tad hypocritical. I've been coaching companies and small businesses to default to transparency for well-nigh four years! What's the harm in sharing where your company stands? Isn't this practically the duty of any new media leader?

As much as I agree with transparency, I do believe there are limits. And platforms like Twitter that require abbreviated, less formal communication provides a deceptive invitation to share things that are counteractive to the purpose for why people use the tool in the first place. Someone with no business or promotional aspirations may not suffer any consequences for sharing such opinions as "McCain is an idiot," but for me, someone who manages a "clientele" of bloggers with political views ranging from far left to far right, and with corporate clients that observe all degrees of corporate discretion, I've had to think hard about what I divulge. I don't recommend that companies clam up online; I only encourage them to think about their purpose, and the entire range of the people they are broadcasting to, and consider messaging from there.

I was sent a copy of Peggy Post's latest book to review, Excuse Me, But I Was Next. Not my thing to review on my blog, but fascinating nonetheless. I'm impressed with Post (the granddaughter of the famous etiquette expert Emily Post), whose advice still supports what I fear may be a dying art while still taking into account the need to communicate. In reading her section on making small talk in social settings I found myself agreeing with her advice. Divisive issues such as politics are not necessarily hands-off topics, she says, but you must get a handle on the views of the people you are talking to. And even then, consider the alacrity with which you express your views. I say, consider the purpose for being in the setting. For instance, I agreed with the views of a friend who was vociferously against Proposition 8 out here in California, but given that we were at a PR luncheon talking about a research study, where we were sitting with people I'd never met before, I kept my views to facts, not opinion, and certainly not insults when pressed for my take.

"I felt strongly about the issue," I said, "and our community on BlogHer landed in both directions on the issue."

But unless you are only following people with your political/social/sexual affiliation you can't "feel out" your audience on Twitter. Twitter doesn't allow us (yet) to create distinctions for the different types of people following us. We can't send certain messages to, say, go to those who are only Democrats, or polyamorous. We can't possibly know all of the proclivities of the people with whom we network.

Increasingly, my concerns are not just for corporate communicators. Bloggers who want to partner with companies should think about them too. I've spoken with many marketing execs who follow bloggers. There isn't a blogger blacklist, but there are a few that won't be asked to review product anytime soon. To be fair to advertisers, they aren't looking for the "yes" bloggers, whose sole blogging/microblogging purpose is to push product, though frankly that kind of enthusiasm doesn't hurt. But they do question bloggers who mix very loaded political and sexual topics in their posts, who use their platform to criticize and create acidic debate, and who love the F word and to talk about how drunk they were last night. This list is not exhaustive.

Of course, we often love to read Tweets for their candid content, but what's the ultimate purpose of your Twitter feed: to get as many followers as possible, or to attract opportunities? You get the gist.

I would love to create a Code of Smart Tweeting, for bloggers and marketers, and wonder where to start. Where do you draw the line? I'll publish responses in my various outlets, including BlogHer and JackMyers.com.

 
 
 

Let's Not Give Millennials a Swift Kick in the Pants (Yet): Consider the alternatives

My latest on BlogHer. A fascinating read by Ron Alsop about the largest cohort, which is entering the workforce and wreakig all kinds of havoc.

The Accidental Entrepreneur

I never planned on being an entrepreneur. Independent contractor, yes. Freelancer? Uh huh. But an entrepreneur? I never thought I had it in me.

I don't consider myself a risk taker so much as a demander of work I feel passionate about. I'm ambitious, but you don't have to be a risk-taker to be ambitious. You can get all A's in school, graduate from college early with honors, get a graduate degree and thereby hedge your bets that you will be "successful" in the more superficial sense of the word--money and job opportunities. I've always been a hard worker, but that, too, doesn't mean risk-taker. Just why, then, am I an entrepreneur?

It was an accident. I found myself in a situation where the mission, the people, and the timing were right. We didn't think that the market was ripe for us, we just wanted to do what we did. We didn't think about positioning ourselves at that time. We just created what we thought was missing. We had the time and the energy. Considering all of these factors that just fell into place I'm amazed that I became an entrepreneur. The opportunities where pure passion meet a market where it can be leveraged is SO rare.

I'm reading a book, the Entrepreneurial Imperative. I've just started, so no major takes on it yet. But I am struck by the author's premise, which is we will only help ourselves through entrepreneurism. It's the only way, not only in business but in philosophy. We must be willing to take our futures into our own hands.

This can be interpreted in many ways: we can become entrepreneurial by bringing our passions to the workplace, or creating our own workplace if we can't bring them to our current ones. We must allow intrapreneurism (Nina Simosko writes an interesting piece about the origins and true meaning of this word) in our companies.
 
Applying this imperative to the current world situation, we need to allow each other to think our way out of what isn't working. Waiting for cycles of change isn't effective. What will happen if we all take our career lives into our own hands? Make our jobs. Think of our best way to serve.

Perhaps, then, being entrepreneurial would not seem so risky.