Category: Community

How to Extend the Value of In-Person Events with Social Media

The traditional way of meeting others at writing and publishing conferences and events doesn’t always work. At large events, you are a face in a fast moving crowd. Many conferences are heavily programmed, with 2-12 sessions to choose from per time slot. Ideally, a good event is a well-attended one, but the side effect is that it’s harder to chat with people at large events unless you are very social, or have an established network.

So today I want to explore how you can get more out of in-person professional events by using Twitter and blogs. The funny thing is, some of these tactics work even if you aren’t at the event.

The publishing world recently had a bunch of back-to-back events, most of which I attended: Book Camp, Tools of Change, Writers Digest Conference, Digital Book World, and AWP. The tips I am going to share are things I observed others doing: savvy, smart, useful things. From memory, these are some things I saw from the following folks: @VirtualDavis, @TheWriterMama, @Porter_Anderson, @JaneFriedman, and @RonHogan, but there are certainly others I am forgetting.

Each of the tactics below helped put the person who used them closer to the center of the conversation, helped others get more value out of the event, and connect people to each other. And of course, there work helped make the event itself a success. Huge benefits for everyone involved!

  • Follow Twitter event hashtags for weeks before and after the event.
    When Tweeting about an event, use the official Twitter hashtag for that particular event. For those I recently attended, these were their hashtags: #dbw11, #awp11, #wdc11, #toccon, #book2, etc.

    People begin following these hashtags well before the event starts and well after it ends. This is your chance to begin getting value out of the event and making connections before you ever set foot in the room.

    Before the event, share your anticipation, how you are preparing,
    and ask questions. After the event, share your takeaways, and links to recaps and presentations that people post.

  • Create a blog post before the event about why it is valuable.
    In-person events have a life long before and long after the time you are there. People are planning to attend, to speak, and anticipating who will be there, and the value they will receive for their investment in travel, their time, or the cost of the event itself.

    Begin writing about the event weeks before it happens, letting people know why you are going to it, speaking at it, or looking forward to hearing about it.

    This helps start conversations, it helps promote the event, and begins to set expectations for others attended or interested.

    Even if you aren’t going to the event, you can do this. Since you will be getting real-time reports while the event happens, this is your way to get into the conversation.

  • Use hashtags and @names liberally.
    Twitter is not a broadcast medium – engage with those who are attending the event, who are like minds. Share the work of others by using their @names, talk to them directly, and ReTweet your favorite Tweets. It’s up to you as far how far you take this, you want to find a balance between being present, and being overwhelming!

  • Create a guide to the event – what sessions you are attending and why.
    I seem to remember @JaneFriedman doing this for AWP, which was INCREDIBLY helpful for me. AWP is a huge event, and I only had 1.5 days there, with dozens and dozens of options for sessions to attend. Jane laid out the sessions that she was attending for each time slot. I have an incredible amount of respect for Jane, so her schedule became my schedule for the times I could attend a session.

    It is this type of filter that social media gives us – a personalized take on the event

  • Create a blog post after each session – what you got out of it, who was there.
    Plenty of people give recaps of the events overall (and I love these), but it can be very helpful to give specific recaps and details for each session you attended. I believe Christina Katz did these – and they were very helpful because they helped spread the message of individual speakers, and for those who weren’t in attendance, it gave them a more granular view of the value of particular session topics.

  • Create recaps quickly
    There are more people Tweeting from events and doing recaps via blogs. Quality is of course the real value, but if you can also match this with speed, then you get people who couldn’t be in attendance talking about sessions hours after an event – while it is still happening, instead of waiting days later to hear about it, long after it’s over.

  • Build relationships early
    At an event, oftentimes there are people you want to meet, maybe they are speakers or attendees, but you don’t always get the opportunity to do so during the event. Maybe there are a precious few moments to make a connection, and it’s hard to always relate the context of who you are so quickly.

    With Twitter and blogs, it gives you a chance to get on their radar early, to make connections early, to extend the value that meeting at an event (before, during, and after) gives you.

  • Share photos
    Lots of people Tweet about an event, but not as many share photos, showing you exactly what the sessions looked like, and seeing the faces of people who are there. This gives people more context, and makes everything a bit more personal.

  • Focus on people, not just topics.

    YES, we learn a lot at events, new ideas, new examples of what works and what doesn’t – but making real connections to others is often he reason people get on a plan or take 3 days off work. So when sharing the event, use photos of real people, using their names, quoting them directly. Help promote people, not just ideas.

  • Look for quotes that are shareable.
    I don’t want to reduce the world to soundbites, but there is a value in finding a brilliant shareable quote that gets someone’s message across. You see these happen via Twitter… someone shares a great quote, and it spreads like wildfire, being ReTweeted by dozens of others.

    And of course: ReTweet quotes that others share. You see relationships build on Twitter, just by people sharing each other’s thoughts.

  • Create HELPFUL content for others.
    Look for opportunities to help others. If many attendees are traveling to a new city, create a travel guide, if you know a lot of attendees have never been to an event before, create a primer on how to get the most out of it. I’ve seen people do this via video, blogs and photos. @FuseEight once did a great video going through the ‘swag bag’ at event – and giving tips on how to get through registration quickly. These seem like little things, but they help people go from ‘outsider’ to ‘insider’ before they event arrive.

    In December, I attended the first Book Camp event in NYC, which uses an unconference format. For the second Book Camp in February, I shared a photo recap of the earlier event to give people a taste of what the event – still unusual in its format – would be like. I had someone come up to me at the event and thank me for that – it gave him proper expectations for the day.

    Even a guide to the best coffee at an event would likely be welcome to many!

  • Know people’s Twitter names ahead of time.
    Know who is going ahead of time, know their Twitter names and be prepared to use them. I watched @RonHogan do this at one session at Book Camp – he pretty much knows everyone in publishing – and it was neat to be at discussion, following it on Twitter, and see him spout of a ton of Twitter names of all the folks sitting around him. He so innately connects the in-person world to the social media world, and doing so brings the conversation to another level.

    Maybe you won’t know the Twitter names for everyone at an event you are going to, but at least know the names of the speakers for the sessions you are attending. The more you prepare, the easier you will find it to create more value for others.

  • Extend the value of an event from days to weeks.
    With twitter and blogs, an event lasts weeks before and weeks after. How you engage with an event online can do a lot to make new connections, help create useful content for those attending and those who couldn’t, and yes, even raise your profile among those in an industry.

-Dan

Is My “Build Your Author Platform” Course Right For You?

Registration is now open for my 8 week online course: Build Your Author Platform. The class is nearly full, but I wanted to share some more info as to who this class might be for, in the event you are considering registering, or know of someone who might be right.

This course is for:

  • Passionate writers with vision
    So much of what I teach is about focusing, researching, defining – and then connecting it to the world, to a real community of people. A bit of uncertainty is absolutely expected for any student – that you may need help honing your brand, understanding how to communicate the value of your work, or identifying the audience who it will best connect with. This course does help clarify a lot about an author’s brand, their work, and their community – and help make it all a reality. But that vision and passion, that is what I hope the writer to come with.

  • A writer who wants to connect their work and vision with the world
    Someone who is not afraid of technology – you are comfortable with a mouse, and the idea of actually interacting with people online. You need not be an expert by any stretch, but if you want to spend as little time online as possible, it will be harder to engage your audience, which is something I am passionate about. Many writers I know are apprehensive about social media, and unsure of how to use it best. That is absolutely fine, I review the value, and specific steps to get on board. But the writer must have an innate desire to connect with readers.

  • A writer looking for a framework for success
    The success of a writer is not always a plug-and-play solution – ONE secret button to press. It is about establishing a process to create great work, and connect it with others. That the writer is willing to invest TIME in building their career. This course presents a valuable framework by which to expand your writing career, and to do so with your existing resources.

  • A writer who is focused on building a long-term writing career
    This course does cover specific tactics to get the word out about your work in the very near term. But overall, it addresses the needs of someone who is committed to their work and their audience for the long haul – that they are interested in building a viable career, not just marketing a single book.

Do you have questions about the course? Check out the course details and registration page.

I am incredibly excited for the course, it is something I have poured my heart into, and am constantly thinking of ways to make it even better. If you think it’s right for you, please don’t delay registering. Registration officially closes on Wednesday February 23, but I may need to close it early if it fills up. I want to keep the class size to a reasonable number, to ensure I can provide as much value as possible to the students.

I also recently announced a bonus to the course: Guest Lectures!
As a bonus to the regular course material, I have arranged for a few guest speakers during the course, including Jane Friedman, Kevin Smokler and Justine Musk. These are super-smart and passionate people on the topic of building your author platform – an incredible resource to have them as a part of this. I hope to add more guest speakers (my ideal is one per week), but these three are confirmed.

Thanks!
-Dan

How Should Writers Use Social Media? With Purpose.

As a writer or publisher, how will you affect the world? What is the purpose in your work?

These are questions I’ve considered often in the past few years, pondering how my work can help writers and publishers reach their goals. I often come back to the ways that digital and social media has enabled us to come together, to share, to find solutions. But there is one thing I always try to keep in mind:

Social media is neutral. It’s how you use it that counts.

I want to share a few examples of what I mean from outside the publishing world, and then consider lessons that we can each use in building our careers, and creating our work.

Story #1: Social Media is to Amplifies Your Purpose

There’s an interesting story being built one Tweet at a time, the story of Cory Booker. He is the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and has become known for using Twitter as a communication channel to the citizens of Newark. For instance, during a recent snow storm, he used it to help identify areas that need snow removal. And here he is helping to dig someone’s car out of the snow:

(link via SEO & Blogging Tips & Tricks)

But the thing is, Twitter didn’t make Cory Booker get out in the snow to dig a car out. What’s more, there are a million reasons why someone would think that Twitter is exactly the WRONG tool for his job – serving a city of people who may have never used Twitter before.

He is leading them to it. Not to Twitter, but to purpose. He is using Twitter as an open communication channel to reach him directly. When is the last time a city like Newark had a direct communication channel to the mayor via your mobile phone? And when is the last time something like a Tweet could bring the mayor himself out to dig out your car from the snow?

Twitter didn’t do that. The citizens didn’t do that. A passionate leader with values and a mission did that. One man.

Using social media is about scaling what makes you a decent human being. It is about focusing on goals, and being clever about ways of achieving them. It is not about ‘followers,’ but rather, it is about building real connections in any way possible. Mostly, it’s about caring.

It’s not what social media does for you, it’s what you do with social media.

Story #2: Purpose vs Features

This is the choice we all have: what to talk about on social media. We’ve all heard the jokes of Twitter just being people talking about what they are eating for lunch, but that isn’t often the case with the folks I follow. They are building something greater, sharing their purpose.

Here is an INCREDIBLE video of Steve Jobs talking about just this: the need to talk less about what it is you do, and more about why you do it:

(Video via Scott Gould)

This video was taken just after Steve rejoined Apple in the 1990s after being away for years. The company had declined a great deal, and was nothing like it is today. He talks about getting back to core values:

“Our customers want to know who is Apple, and what is it we stand for.”

And that’s what I think social media is about. That is the opportunity for you, be it personal or business. Be clear about what you want people to know about you, be clear about how your Tweets connect to a larger purpose – a larger contribution that you are making to the world with your work, with your career.

Steve shares the example of Nike:

“Nike sells a commodity. They never talk about the air soles. You get a feeling with them. They honor great athletes and athletics. They spend a fortune on advertising, and you would never know it.”

When these companies present themselves, they rarely talk about the features of the product. Apple is not about computers or iPods or iPads. Nike is not about shoes. They are about enabling. They are about the EFFECTS of those products.

What will your effect be?

(Further reading: This topic also the focus of the book Start With Why, by Simon Sinek. Worth the read.)

Story #3: The Long-Term Value of What We Create

I just found this inspiring video about NASA, made by a fan. This act in itself shows how we look for the inspiration of an entity’s purpose, not just news on their latest efforts – this fan was frustrated that NASA does such a poor job communicating it’s mission. The video talks about how our work today, leads to greater purpose, well beyond our own lifetimes:

Is your work this forward-thinking? Are you looking down the road at your effect not just this year, but beyond our lifetimes? It’s an incredible thing to consider.

How should writers use social media? With purpose.

All of these examples are challenging, mostly because they force us to focus on our deeper purpose, not momentary marketing tactics. I’ve worked with hundreds of writers over the years, and this is always the hardest part – not in the tactical elements of crafting and sharing, but in identifying their purpose, their value, their relationship to the community, and their goals. The tactics flow from that center.

And of course, all of this has me considering my own purpose – how I can best help those around me. It’s 4am as I write this, one of many late nights considering this topic.

This is why I am about to launch an online course for writers, one that focuses on everything mentioned above: how to identify your purpose and goals, how to use digital and social media to get your message out, and how to serve the needs of your readers and your community.

It’s called “How to Build Your Author Platform,” and it’s an intensive online course for writers. I’ll be sharing more info next week.

Thanks.
-Dan

Lessons From an Unconference – Book Camp NYC

Last weekend I attended an event that I feel represents what it means to be a part of a professional community, and why it is so important to mix social media with in-person events to create meaningful connections with like-minded people.

The event was Book Camp NYC, a gathering of about 150 publishing folks in an unconference format. At an unconference, there is no scheduled agenda, the attendees suggest topic sessions, and then rotate through them in a manner where the audience can contribute as much to a session as the person who steps up to lead a discussion.

Here are some photos to give you context:

Book Camp NYC
The event took place in a regular office space on a Saturday. This not only takes away a huge expense for organizers, but takes away a lot of the pretense as well.

Book Camp NYC
Everyone gathered in a room as conference organizer Ami Greko welcomed us and explained how the day would be structured.

Book Camp NYC
Attendees were invited to suggest sessions. Here a few people write down their ideas.

Book Camp NYC
Here I am suggesting a session topic: “How to serve and engage an online community.” I had to pitch it to the other attendees, and then add it to the schedule. (photo by Marny Smith)

Book Camp NYC
Here is the final schedule, with all the slots filled up. There were four time slots, with 5 options for each.

Book Camp NYC
This was the first session I attended. As you can tell, it was very low-key, with people grabbing seats wherever they could. It was nice to be organized as a circle, so everyone could contribute equally.

Book Camp NYC
This is the discussion I lead. Even though it looks like a traditional speaker/audience setup, my role was really to keep the conversation going among the other attendees. (photo by Calvin Reid)

Book Camp NYC
Here is Richard Nash speaking in another session.

Book Camp NYC
When all was said and done, we enjoyed drinks and conversation. Ami thanked everyone for their efforts and great attitude.

Here are the lessons from that experience I have been considering this week:

Online Connections Can Turn Into Real Life Relationships
Looking around the room at Book Camp, it’s as if my Twitter feed came alive. There were about 150 people in the room, and it was a who’s who from Twitter. The phrase I overheard most during the day: “I know you from Twitter!” And I will admit, I used that phrase a few times. It’s a fascinating thing, looking at someone standing in front of you, and trying to match them with that 100 pixel x 100 pixel Twitter profile image you have of them.

The Audience Is In Their Rightful Place: The Center
Unlike traditional conferences and classrooms, where there are a handful of people who are allowed to speak at length, and a mass of people who must sit quietly and listen, an unconference such as Book Camp flips this on it’s head. The audience has the real power, the real knowledge, and they are empowered to easily contribute to shape, to share, to help, instead of sitting passively in a crowd, waiting for an all-too-short Q&A after listening to someone else talk for 45 minutes.

Your Title Doesn’t Matter
There were lots of smart people at this event, some with amazing titles and accomplishments, and some whose notoriety is still ahead of them. This wasn’t organized as a hierarchy, where if you had CEO in your title, you were elevated and allowed to speak, and if you had intern in your title, you couldn’t. This brought together all levels on the org chart (and people outside of org charts all together), and from a wide range of places/companies. Some very much at the center of the traditional publishing world, some way on the outskirts.

When All the Pretense is Stripped Away, You Expose the Real Value
Sometimes, conferences can be so complex, they get in the way of the value they are trying to share. The best parts of live conferences/events are the connections between people, and what happens between the official structure. An unconference such as Book Camp was nothing but that – real conversations between folks, with nothing to get in the way.

When You Turn the Cameras Off, People Can Be More Honest
Without a podium, microphone, or the idea that sessions would be recorded to be repackaged as webinars or put on YouTube, people could risk opening up a bit more. At a small unstructured event like this, people tend to be more honest. At a big event, most people in the room would stick to the script when speaking in public, but here, it was amazing how honest people were about their efforts that didn’t work, and about what they didn’t know and were trying to figure out. And that is SO HELPFUL when you are working on similar efforts, and trying to judge if you are the oddball who is having a hard time of it. This is especially true as digital publishing and apps take a stronger hold on the industry, reshaping roles, business structures, product types, and relationships. We are all trying, all nervous, all failing, and all succeeding in small ways. And this is how the future is born.

There is an Opportunity to Get Involved
It is so easy to help at an unconference. I could easily volunteer to lead a topic discussion, which is exactly what I did. I didn’t need to attend weeks of meetings with the event organizers, I didn’t have to prepare some long powerpoint, I merely had to have an idea, present it to the group, add it to the board, and then moderate a conversation. I didn’t need to present at all, merely introduce the topic, some ideas, and keep the conversation going. The goal was to INVITE others to get involved, not just share my own point of view.

This is About Community, Not competition
We are all in this together. When you look at the state of publishing with the long view, people will not look back on this time and remember petty differences between companies and the people who comprise them. They will remember how we navigated these waters and worked together to create a viable and vibrant future, one that rewards authors and readers, and everyone in between.

A huge thanks to Ami Greko, OpenSky, and the many other Book Camp NYC sponsors: Cursor, Kobo, Moveable Type, and O’Reilly Media. Here are some links to other Book Camp recaps:

-Dan

What Happens When Businesses “Unlock Value” From a Community

There is this big gaping hole in the New York City skyline. Between the grand buildings of midtown and the financial district, is this flat spot. Don’t worry, this spot is growing, or should we say, it has a growth.

This flat spot is a great example of how communities form organically, and how once the community is firmly established, businesses rush in to “unlock value.”

It is also a counterpoint to how many media brands and corporations are diving into the online world to create “communities” online, via aggregation, social media and content marketing.

The flattest spot in the middle of New York is SoHo, the area south of Houston Street and above Canal Street. The reason it is so flat is because during the explosive growth of skyscrapers from the 1930s-1960s, buying property in SoHo was tantamount to throwing your money away. There are two reasons for is:

  1. It was a mixed use industrial area between more well established communities.
  2. From 1928 to the mid 1960s, Robert Moses and other city planners attempted to level a huge portion of SoHo to build a highway cutting across Manhattan.

No reasonable building owner or business would invest their money or move their operations to an area that may soon be taken over by the city, flattened, and turned into a series of on-ramps. This is what it would have looked like:

SoHo NYC

So, for those 30+ years, during one of the biggest construction booms in American history, SoHo entered a time warp. The 1800s cast iron buildings remained untouched as the rest of the city tore down smaller, older buildings to build towering skyscrapers.

As businesses closed up shop in SoHo, and real estate became nearly worthless, artists moved in. Renting or squatting in loft spaces, they turned industrial buildings into makeshift residential spaces. Today it might seem elegant to live in an open loft-like space but these artists pioneered that idea, embracing the lack of walls and light-filled space in.

And for years, this is how it was in SoHo. There was no reason for traditional businesses to invest in the area. The City Club of New York called it a “slum” in their 1962 report titled “The Wastelands of New York City.”

Artists established a community where none existed, they fought their way into spaces they didn’t own, that wasn’t even zoned for habitation, and they built something unique. They turned nothing into something.

In the late 1960s the battle for SoHo ended. Preservationists killed the city’s plan, and the highway idea was scrapped. What happened next was interesting. SoHo was a big area of the city that was free of grand design. It had evolved out of necessity for those decades, by the people lowest on the rungs of power – the artists.

But with the threat lifted, money could now enter the scene. When it was safe, when a community and culture and purpose was established, businesses were now ready to join in. At first, it was the more firmly established arts community, with galleries and those who could afford the art within them. Then the retail community, and most recently, Donald Trump erected SoHo’s first skyscraper. Can you find it in this photo?

SoHo

That building opened very recently, and is the perfect visual image of what it means to co-opt a community. For SoHo, it is the latest chapter in a long-running trend of money and power moving into the area, which has been out of reach for a starving artist for a long time.

With SoHo, I see parallels as to what is happening to communities on the web. Individuals and small groups slowly establish credibility, establish networks, and build up online communities over time. They evolve with purpose, with risk, with commitment. And then, when it’s safe, established businesses and power players finally “see the opportunity to unlock value,” pour in money, and take over what they can.

And sure, this involvement can be both validating and empowering. You see this in lots of small areas – the “mommy bloggers,” now sponsored by Tide and signing multiple book deals. More and more, you see a major consumer brands establish their own blog, recruiting established parenting bloggers to write for them in order to lend credibility.

This is one way that “content marketing” is evolving, and where businesses are targeting niche communities. This is happening in the both the consumer and B2B spaces, and within many different types of media brands.

And some of these efforts are great – something that benefits the many more than the few, and empowers both larger businesses and smaller individuals. Something that truly helps the communities they serve.

But I like to keep SoHo in mind. At what point does the money coming into the area no longer represent validation and much needed resources – at what point does it push out the community that established value there slowly over the course of decades. At what point does it not reward those bold early efforts that were full of uncertainty; at what point do the efforts of larger companies need to align with double-digit revenue growth, not community service.

And as content marketing continues to evolve online, I also want to keep in mind that communities are not established merely to market a company’s products. Yes, communities need resources, they need validation, and they need leadership. But to truly support a community, you tend to it, you serve it, you empower it. You don’t co-opt it for profit.

-Dan