So how are universities getting involved?

Research-inclined as this community is, growing statistics that social media marketing have not gone unnoticed. Surprisingly, educational institutions are not especially resistant to social media involvement. This fall finds social media buzz words are on the tips of many administrators’ tongues, and statistics and success stories are finding their way into the educational mainstream.

In fact, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research recently released one of the first statistically significant, longitudinal studies on the usage of social media by college admissions offices, collecting data on the adoption of social media by all of the four-year accredited institutions from 2007 to 2008. Their results surprisingly reveal that educational institutions (41%) are leading Fortune 500 companies in use of public blogs (13%). (Source)

In reality, colleges and universities have the perfect community model to bring to a virtual platform. Campuses represent multiple user groups, to include students, staff and the surrounding community. Beyond this, alumni, parents and prospective students with a personal interest in staying connected frequently lack the proper social tools to do so.

Common hurdles are the burdensome process of establishing social media policies and creating an open, but professional forum for discussion and social interaction, further complicated by many layers of administrative offices and departments who require involvement and agreement on all of the above. Once these hurdles are overcome however, the results can be significant. Through frequent use of Facebook, Twitter and custom social networks geared toward specific university communities, schools are more successfully and more regularly connecting with their target demographics.

As the authors of the study aptly surmised:

There is evidence of enthusiasm and eagerness to embrace these new communications tools but there is also evidence that these powerful tools are not being utilized to their potential. Schools using social media must learn the “rules of engagement” in the online world in order to maximize their effectiveness.

I think once the hierarchies of academia can learn how to exist within and then maximize the world of friends, fans and followers–the world that their “wired”  target demographic navigates so easily–they will really begin to tap the potential of their marketing and endowment goals.

While we’ve built several niche social networking websites, I don’t always personally fall within the target demographic for the website, but this site has engaged me in a way that few others have. When I’m not posting regularly, I can’t help but wonder if may not be doing enough regular good deeds. But when I do, I know that I am making time despite my busy schedule to go out of my way to do good things.

Admittedly sometimes it is hard to add conscious good acts to your to-do list. Work, family, friends, fun, more work, always so much to do. And in this economy, it’s harder and harder to budget for donations to charities and non-profits. There are many ways, however, to give to others without reaching for your wallet. As they say, “the smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention,” so it is our hope that through this socially conscious network, people across the globe will make the time to act on their good intentions and share those acts through www.dighu.com. Did you dighu?

On the flip side, Facebook is a growing example of the ultimate end-all be-all social network experience, packed with functionality–plenty of buttons to click and things to do. Thus, the dilemma when embarking on a social network concept. Aim for simplicity, or mash Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and eHarmony into one website and hope that it ultimately outgrows and outshines them all?

The more features you build into your network, the more time it will take and the more expensive your development fees will be. That represents your investment as well as the opportunity costs of launching months or potentially years after you feasibly could. As a builder of social networking websites, you might think that I would push for more features to sell bigger projects, but more often than not I will vote for the simple concept or the scaled down “Phase 1″ feature list. My philosophy is that you can always roll out more features down the road. It’s never too late to do this, but it can be too early in some cases.

I honestly find myself much more excited to work on the simpler websites that come through our doors. With the overall mission or goal of the site being simplified, it provides an opportunity to really optimize a few screens with a handful of key functions. Find the most intuitive experience to engage your users immediately and have them coming back for more without needing to think too hard or search too far. Once they like what they see and can do, that I feel is the time to surprise and reward your user base with new fun features to try out!

Looking at the potential features to build into a network is like being a kid in a candy store… for some. So how do you scale down your concept to achieve a simple but successful concept?

• Find your target audience. Don’t say “everybody.” Think about the specific type of users you want participating on the site. Then think about what they would want to see and do most. This feature should ideally be what fundamentally sets you apart from competing sites. Build off that one group and that key user experience to flesh out the most imperative features for your beta launch.
• In the struggle to identify these key features, don’t feel as if you are relinquishing other features that you really do want. Draft a running Phase 2 list. Once you launch your beta and start growing your initial user base, you’ll be able to periodically add in new features from this list, as well as feedback on desired features that you’ll likely receive from your users. Remember that what you think is critical may not necessarily be what keeps your users coming back. Your community will let you know through their activity and website feedback what they want to see to improve their experience. Even better, collect a focus group and survey what features they would find most helpful!

• Functionality aside, less can be more when it comes to design as well. Web 2.0, shiny, crisp and clean are all terms that our designers like to hear most of the time. It’s a style of design that is minimalist and uses subtle design elements to guide the user experience without overwhelming them with loud or overly intense graphics. This is not always the case of course, as sometimes a site theme calls for a bold color palette or rich, textured graphics. But over the years I have grown to appreciate the many shades of gray that can make up a very elegant design.
• Look to the social network giants as examples of what to do and not to do. While Facebook has an abundance of features, they still have a classic user interface, unlike it’s former rival MySpace which quickly became synonymous with sparkly graphics and cluttered pages. This out of control user experience may have been a key factor in its decline in popularity, especially in certain demographics.

In our consumer-driven society, it’s increasingly difficult to “keep it simple.” There are so many choices, so many possibilities. We rarely get to the store getting only what we set out to buy, we often walk away with much more, some of which we don’t really need or ultimately use. Don’t let your development project turn into a wasteful impulse buy. Drill down to achieve a sensible development plan and remember that simplicity can make all the difference.

Step two: Add “Social Media Consultant” into the Bio line.

Step three: Let the clients roll in.

Seriously though, that’s pretty much all it takes to call yourself as a Social Media Expert these days. Even though most people in our office would consider themselves experts in the world of social media, it’s almost taboo to don the title because of this overpopulation of supposed experts and gurus on the subject.

Silly as it may sound, I feel a bit like a veteran in this industry. I made my entrance “back in the day” when MySpace wasn’t even on the radar as a marketing tool, before every major household brand had an official profile and a fan page, before Facebook surpassed MySpace in growth, and way before Twitter was chronically over capacity. Part of my sales pitch was convincing companies why social media was relevant, and how creating a professional presence on sites like MySpace and Facebook would be a progressive and important step for their business. Nowadays, it’s more a matter what can we do, not why should we do it. Social networks are no longer considered just for kids, or just a passing phase. They are now widely known as vehicles for viral, targeted and cost-effective marketing campaigns.

This social media revolution has given way to a new brand of PR professional, who is more proficient with getting fans for your a Facebook page than drafting a pitch for traditional news outlets. So how do you identify the true experts when looking for a service provider?

1. Background

Before engaging with a so-called social media expert, you’ll want to make sure that you’re putting your marketing dollars in the hands of someone who hasn’t just recently jumped onto the social media bandwagon. What is the history of the company, and what have they done for their clients successfully using social media? A successful track record of clients, testimonials and cleverly marketed microsites is critical.

2. Innovation

How innovative are their ideas? Anyone–even my dear grandmother–can set up a Twitter account. Will your social media expert also customize it, bring sufficient fans, followers or friends to it, and brainstorm with you to create viral promotions that will drive traffic to those social media accounts as well as your primary website? Make sure that your expert can bring you ideas that are out-of-the-box and informed by a history of other successful campaigns.

3. Diversity

It’s important to see social media marketing beyond the social network giants. It’s true that Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are the most prominent sites, and it’s important to have a presence on them. But part of a solid marketing plan includes establishing your brand on niche community sites, utilizing blogs, and also supplementing new media marketing with traditional PR services as needed. Having a well-rounded approach will allow you to explore multiple avenues and measure the results for future campaigns.

On the plus side, contracting with a company who legitimately specializes in social media marketing is a great benefit to succeeding on those platforms, versus companies that offer a range of marketing services but don’t put emphasis on that particular method of marketing. Being especially tuned in to social media trends and applying them to your online presence is key to putting your business ahead of the competition and reaching your target market quickly and efficiently.

As Pearse Street evolved into a social network development company, I founded Social Focus Marketing, Inc. to focus exclusively on social media marketing and design. You can learn more about their service offerings at www.socialfocus.com.

The cold hard reality is that I am habitually, neurotically productive. As much I sometimes love the idea of kicking back and taking it easy, I can only realistically do that for so long before the train goes off the tracks from the wheels in my head running a little too fast with nothing substantial to do. I’ve spent the past five years running this business, and at the end of the day it’s much more efficient for me to be doing this than making jewelry professionally or devoting myself to scrap booking full-time, both of which I was seriously considering prior in the day.

Tuesday morning, after getting past the first morning in tears of leaving 3-week-old Eva in very trusted hands, I have since been fairly consumed with work. In addition to my usual responsibilities, however, I have also been charged with speaking with prospective clients. I have not worn this hat for nearly 3 years, reason being that, believe it or not, I am an innately shy person and I have always felt that sales required personality traits that I simply do not possess. That said, I have sold successfully in the past. If I hadn’t, remember I wouldn’t have a business. One of the main reasons why I phased myself out of a sales role is that when we were moving into more advanced development projects, I was less familiar with the technology and terminology than I wanted to be. That and I just acquired a general aversion to the phone, which is probably my biggest challenge this week. I talk to my lawyer and my accountant, and that’s pretty much the only people who get through to the C.E.O. on the phone.

Getting on the phone and not knowing what type of person will be on the other end of the line takes a little getting used to, but not having much choice in the matter, I can say that it’s been going better than I expected. I’ve had some very successful conversations, sent out proposals and generally I am surprised to find that the entire process is not as frightful as I have been making it out to be in my head since my second child was born and I effectively withdrew from this part of the business. There are a few things that I’ve found make it easier.

1. Believe in What You Do.
   Simply, I have immense confidence in the service that we provide to our clients, so when I talk about it, it doesn’t feel like a sales pitch. It feels like I’m presenting a series of facts and their subsequent benefits, which unless you have a real skeptic on the line, should come through to your prospective clients positively. Personally, I don’t like feeling like I’m being “sold.” I want the facts. I want to be educated. I want options to make an intelligent purchasing decision. I’m not selling a questionable product. With that mindset, I try to educate the interested buyer in our a high-quality and robust service, and in doing so, the package typically sells itself with only a little guidance about the best fit.
2. Get on the Same Team as Your Client.
   When someone calls and they have a specific need that they’ve thought out well, at that point it is my job to assess the need, make suggestions on the best solution and what I can do to make the entire process as painless and organized as possible. That could vary from helping them find the best package with our company, or putting together a proposal with details that they can present to their investors, or simply delivering materials and feedback on a time line to make their job easier.  Establishing yourself as a resource that your prospective client can rely on from the onset is key, especially when they are considering investing in your ability to deliver on your promises. It’s not provider versus buyer, but ideally a partnership that ends in a positive working relationship.
3. Be Yourself.
   We’re all just people. Some people are scarier or nicer than others. Being the boss, I think it’s a little easier for me to be myself on the phone. I don’t feel the need to really impress anyone because I’m confident in who I am and what I represent. Allowing yourself to be professional, but appropriately casual is usually a good thing. If I am being pitched by someone who is overly formal makes me feel a little uncomfortable, and secondly it makes me feel like they are possibly a little desperate to impress me. Unless you are pitching someone who themselves is exceedingly formal, this probably will not improve the sales process. Being able to connect on a personal level at some point, about family or interests or even the weather, is a nice ice-breaker to remind both parties that while it’s important to keep things professional, it’s nice to feel like you can connect with each other casually as well.

I think the terms “salesperson” has a stigma to it that turns people like me off. If you observe the tips above, however, I believe the experience feels less like sales and more like doing business. It has been an interesting challenge to come back into this part of the business having learned all that I have from the past three years and applying those experiences to informative conversations with future clients. I suppose sometimes the best learning comes from going to the places that scare you. For me, that place is the phone.

My typical day involves checking email, updating the project schedule, making sure all our employees have questions answered and a work agenda for the day, lunch, more emails, maybe some design and/or brainstorming, and if I absolutely have nothing else to do, dreaded paperwork. Paperwork includes payroll, retirement contributions, organizing papers for filing, budgeting, taxes, bills (ick!) and anything that requires a call to customer service (double ick!). This is usually the very last thing on my agenda. Of all the hats I wear in the office, the finance manager role is my least favorite. But alas, the work still needs to be done and as much as I may dread it or procrastinate, typically it’s just faster if I do it instead of delegating. If we hit it big, this will likely be the first position I hire for!

So today Eva and I decided to take our second field trip to the office (she is now 2 weeks old, so it’s only natural that we get a jump start on her work ethic). We arrived, I fed her, and my invisible timer was set at 3 hours. I had not factored in my employees randomly stumbling into my office to hold, coo and nudge the baby though, so my 3 hour window was more like 3 one-hour windows as I tended to Eva between interruptions.

Interruptions aside, I was able to tick all items off my checklist, including all the dreaded paperwork, an employee review, my usual work emails and checking in with my work peeps… because I know they miss my face.

Knowing that I had a limited window of time and having a clear to-do list, I was able to blow through the day’s work in just a few hours, where during a normal work week being at the office every day all day, it may have taken me all week or more to actually get around to doing everything.

The moral of the story is:

1. Make a list

2. Set a timer (or goal)

3. Get it done

4. Go outside and enjoy the rest the day!

***

Recommended for managing your to-do list: http://tadalist.com/

Typically coming home from the office was met with the exhaustion of immediately needing to jump from work mode to domestic mode, looking after our two boys, not to mention trying to address things that need attention on our fixer upper New England home. My work is never done! But being home the past several weeks has given me the opportunity to put our house on the to-do list, and multi-task to tackle some much-needed updates and repairs. Bringing our garden to life, throwing some paint up, reorganizing our living spaces are just a few things that my husband and I have been able to devote time to between feedings and Skyping. Making such regular progress in this area of our life has been really cathartic–especially now that the kitchen is done, and small jobs seem all the more manageable!

That said, Pearse Street is (as always) my other “baby,” and I am bugging my staff with questions and updates just as frequently if not more than I usually do. But so long as things are running smoothly, I don’t feel that I need to be in-office, in the flesh, when I can be occupying dual roles, at home and at work. The irony is that when I started the business 5 years ago, this is precisely what I had mind, until our business grew so quickly that my level of involvement was no longer open for negotiation.

This could all be a phase. As Eva grows and starts to be able to hold her own with her rambunctious brothers a little better, I will no doubt feel more compelled to return to my daily office regime once again. For the time however, I am glad to be able to take this reprieve and the opportunity to re-prioritize and take care of some long-neglected home matters, bettering our personal lives and my overall peace of mind!

That said… my head is still quite firmly in the new-blissful-mommy clouds. Our little girl is officially a true beauty and an amazing blessing. The experience of having children is well beyond words, as any adoring parent can tell you. It’s a combination of relief, bliss, excitement, anxiety and of course, the inevitable exhaustion. I have been overwhelmed by all of this, in addition to the great amount of love and support from our friends, family and extended network of Pearse Street team members and even clients!

A few weeks ago I told one of our long-time clients that it felt strange feeling or sounding apologetic for having to go through this experience. When I know their project is the highest priority for them, motherhood still happens! But I also still felt a little guilty about it. Not very feminist of me, is it? He immediately told me that I should not feel at all apologetic. In fact when I have needed to explain my situation, clients have been extremely understanding and encouraging for me to take the personal time that I need. Being so work-driven however, despite the support and encouragement of others, it’s been hardest for me to justify this inevitable change in how I can participate in day-to-day work. For months I have been anticipating the big arrival, writing up contingency plans, preparing clients and projects and staff on “what would Fuchsia do” when I am out.

Not without some anxiety of course, I have been able to maintain a physical distance from our office for the past several weeks without compromising our work flow. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a laptop and an internet connection! The physical limitations of pregnancy and now life with a newborn has forced this break, and consequently forced me to come with systems for contributing to and managing projects from home, with great success.

Typically I feel like the office can’t possibly function without me, until I need to take a break like this and realize that I have a very capable team who are more than equipped to keep projects moving forward and clients happy. My neurotic micromanaging is replaced with assigning more general goals and milestones and deadlines that everyone understands need to be met. Communicating with clients is opened up to both managers and production staff. And while I miss my work peeps, I know that my not being there every moment of the work day does not compromise our ability to perform at a high level.

While I am still heavily involved in each project, this has been a good lesson in how to step back, delegate as needed, and make my work time extremely efficient. When I can only be in the office a few hours a week, it’s amazing how much I can jam into that window of time when challenged to! Pulling myself out of the minutia has also allowed my brain to assess the business, our systems and our future on new levels, which is always a good thing.

On the whole, after months of unnecessary stress anticipating this momentous event, everything has really gone very smoothly and without incident. Our little girl is here, healthy and happy, and I have been able to keep my hand in work, from a healthy distance!

“Make it pop.”

“Can you make the logo bigger?”

“Make it look just like [insert industry leading website here]…”

If design feedback had a 10 commandments of things not to say to your designer, these four would very possibly be among them. Designers think in colors and styles and audience, and they pull inspiration both from current design trends and hopefully an overflowing pool of visual ideas. “Make it pop” means nothing, visually speaking. “Use your creativity” basically implies that we’re not already using it. We like your logo too, but we don’t agree it should be the biggest element on the page. And, honestly, we won’t and legally can’t make something look “just like” something that’s already out there. Getting vague and generic feedback is frustrating, especially when the ultimate goal by client and designer is to nail down a great design: a product that the client is excited to use and one that the designer will proudly display in his or her portfolio.

So, how do you give constructive feedback to your designer for hire, or in my case, to your designer employee?

As always, the best way to start off is to provide as much rich and detailed information as possible at the outset. A list of designs you, or the client in question, like and don’t like and the reasons why, competitors, color preferences, and how you want to be perceived by your target market. This should ideally give the designer some rich visual ideas to work with and results in some initial designs that are on-point, or at least a good starting point. Even having worked with some of my designers long-term, it’s sometimes not enough to rattle off a couple ideas and have them run with it. Typically, if I don’t give enough specific information about what I want to see, I’ll get something that is off the mark, and ultimately that’s my fault, not theirs. One of the great benefits of having a long standing relationship with the same designer or design team, however, is that the more designs you work on together, the more in sync you become with expectations, style and detail. This symbiosis and building off a history of successful design projects is one of the best things about being a creative director!

Specifics are not the only important element in giving good feedback. Giving honest, pointed and constructive feedback is crucial. If a designer tells you that they are 100% objective about their work, not at all affected by critical feedback, they are either lying or they don’t put any heart into their design work. I’ve had designers try to convince me they have no ego about their work, and those individuals ended up being the most hyper-sensitive ego-stroke-seeking designers I have ever met. There is a happy medium however, where constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated. While I wear the creative director hat at the office, I will still pick up a project myself on occasion and work directly with the client to nail down an initial design. In these cases, I have learned to appreciate a client’s intelligent feedback and allow it to challenge me to make the design the best it can be. Because at the end of the day, it’s actually a good thing to have a second or third set of eyes looking at a design after I’ve been staring at it for hours. A fresh point of view, and of course find out what resonates with the client who is tapped into the mindset of their target audience, is imperative for a truly quality product.

That said, destroying your designer’s artistic confidence by tearing down a design without acknowledging any positive points, is usually not good policy. I still remember a fairly simple technique from a creative writing course that I took my senior year at Smith, where upon hearing one of our classmates’ pieces, we each provided our positive feedback first (what we liked best about it), and secondly our critical feedback (what could have made it better). I have felt since then when it comes to nearly any creative endeavor, this is a good rule of thumb. If your designer gives you something that you have nothing positive to say about, you’ve either given them too little information about what you want, or you could simply not have the right designer. But hopefully there are at least a few things that hit the mark in your first draft design. It’s important to note these, to provide your designer with some reassurance but of course to also make sure that those elements don’t get lost in subsequent iterations of the design.

This is something, as a creative director, that I am working on improving myself. Unless a design really blows me away I usually just skip right to the “change this, change that” list, which I will admit is mostly due to lack of time for a thorough “creative review.” I hope too that my designers know that I appreciate their work generally speaking, otherwise they wouldn’t be gainfully employed by me! But as a designer, I know how much it means to be acknowledged for designing something that stands apart, so it’s important to give credit where credit is due.

One reality that I feel escapes many clients who hire graphic designers is that while this is a form of commercial art, the process is still art. The creative process is still emotional, inspirational and can be very personal, so it’s important to acknowledge that your designer is a professional, not just a Photoshop monkey doing your bidding. Appreciating the creative process and being a constructive and positive participant in it will do nothing but improve your results as well as the ongoing relationship you are building with your designer. Trust me!

* * *

Here’s a comic from humor site, The Oatmeal, that pokes fun at this process when it does not go quite right: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

A couple weeks ago I took the afternoon to enjoy the rare window of warm weather and sunshine that we were having here. I sat outside for about an hour eating cheesecake and doing nothing. Some might argue that I should have also been thinking about nothing, but achieving the “doing” nothing part is momentous enough for me, and the result was that I ended up having a really important idea for the business. After I finished my cheesecake (of course) I spent the next two days mapping out and implementing this new idea and service plan. Already it has made a significant difference in our ability to appeal to a broader range of clients and budgets.

Literally that one hour of silence and allowing myself that brief reprieve from being engaged in thought about work, kids or anything at all, gave me the clarity I needed to generate an idea that hopefully will have a lasting positive impact on the business for the next several months. I imagine this is an argument for practices like yoga and meditation, even walking which can meditative in itself. I imagine my hour in the yard is probably the closest thing to meditation I’ll get to experience for years to come until I can let someone else run my business and my children are out of the house. But I’ll take what I can get, if that’s periodic bursts of clarity and inspiration.

So, being habitually busy or productive can be great of course. Obviously as a CEO I have a go-go-go mentality, but I realize more than ever that having moments of silence can be just as important as pushing through on a project or a concept in other instances. Thinking outside the box in this case was more like being able to think outside of the hustle and bustle of the daily grind.

Spring is upon us. Don’t forget to take a moment in the gravity chair with an iced tea some afternoon and let your mind take five!