This presentation, given at 2009 Social South, uses the lessons from the culture of "Southern Hospitality" as a foundation to discuss a critical aspect of a social media strategy - Can you be your authentic "self" while staying true to your company's value and culture?

1. SOCIAL MEDIA …
SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY STYLE
August 2009

2. Toby Bloomberg is a widely recognized “expert” on social media marketing
and author of one of the most highly respected marketing blogs, Diva
Marketing (divamarketingblog.com) launched in 2004. In fact, Toby’s blog
was required reading for marketing students at the University of Delaware,
Bentley College and the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Toby
Her consultancy, Bloomberg Marketing, helps marketers join new media
Bloomberg conversations, from blogs to social networking to blogger relations and
beyond .. without getting blown-up.
Toby organized the first coast-to-coast AMA (American Marketing
Association) Hot Topic series on Blog Marketing in December 2004.
She has been quoted about social media in INC magazine, BusinessWeek,
Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Business Chronicle. She is profiled in the books
about social media Naked Conversations, Now Is Gone, Twitterville &
Digital Handshake. Author of the 1st business book written using Twitter as
the major distribution channel and content platform
http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/smgps/
Toby speaks at conferences and works with organizations such as the Chick-
fil-A, AMA, 3M, CDC, Healthcare Blogger Summit, Cox Communications,
Mayfield Dairy, M/A/R/C, Blog World Expo, BlogHer, PRSA. She was an
adjunct Professor at Goizuetta School of Business at Emory University.
Toby holds a BA from Emerson College in Boston, post graduate studies
from Emory University and lives in Atlanta with her YouTube rock star Westie
Max. Connect with her @tobydiva

3. Successful Enterprise Social Media
=
Your Authentic Self
+
Authentic Self + True to Brand/Company Values
True To Your Brand/Company Values
Relationships Values Culture Change

4. What does social media mean to you?

5. Front porch conversations
develop relationships/community

6. Or on an urban stoop
Where everyone knows your name

7. Porch
People
Organize
Responsive
Contact
Hospitality
H
o

8. When you visit on the front porch, or on a city
stoop, you extend your world from
inside your house to outside into your
neighborhood.
Question:
How do you bring that type of interaction
and relationship to the digital world?

9. How Do You Take The Concept of Creating
(Offline) Relationships To The Digital World?
Social South Participants’ Responses
• Finding people with similar interests
• Being consistent, authentic, human, conversation
• Sharing – always make relationships beneficial for both parties
• Ask why they’re not online – bridge gap for them
• Invite them to connect
• Teach/educate
• Share content
• Prove value
• Find their currency/network
• Client/customer Advisory Boards
• Customer Service
• Provide an incentive: community, answering questions,
involvement, show-off expertise

10. How Do You Take The Concept of Creating
(Offline) Relationships To The Digital World?
Social South Participants’ Responses
• Make it safe for both
• Minimize fear
• Trust
• Provide information they can’t get any other way
• Make it more intimate
• Permission – contact them the way they want to be
contacted/communicated with
• Create benefits
• Engaging fans, friends to be a part of Facebook, Twitter (and those
you trust)
• Have a plan
• Use personal relationships to refer counterparts, friends and family
to your digital world/networks
• Build a community: blog, email, Twitter, Facebook

11. How Do You Take The Concept of Creating
(Offline) Relationships To The Digital World?
Social South Participants’ Responses
• Advertise/direct people to your social outlets
• Must be a part of where the people are online: leaving comments,
posts, etc.
• Gather input
• Friend people on social media .. Makes it easier to remember, old
friends and contacts
• Translating real life - networking into online networking
Follow up with social networking requests after real life meeting
Organic growth with your new friends’ networks
• Geographic networkings
Very different from digital networking with peers
Syncing up to other’s schedules (clients, customers, etc.)

12. Values impact how
relationships are formed.

13. Corporate values impact the way relationships
are formed in the workplace and may also
influence those in the digital world.
Questions:
How do your company and/or brand
values impact developing and
implementing a social media initiative?

14. Your personal style What might turn me off from
one person's approach
just might draw others in.
Christy Jordan.
Eating lobster rolls
is what makes you unique.

15. Fried green tomatoes or Bubba's jokes may not appeal to everyone.
Each of us has a unique personality and our own approach to social
media. Different styles appeal to various audiences.
Begin with understanding the corporate culture.
Clues:
How do people work together?
How employees are valued?
How are customers valued?
Understand the brand value.
How do your values align?

16. Challenge is to take your authentic style
from offline to online while maintaining the
culture of your organization.
Questions:
Is it okay to “vanilla down” your
personality to fit the culture of your
company?
How do you remain true to yourself?

17. How do you stay true to your authentic self and
to your company’s values/culture?
Social South Participants’ Responses
• Believe in what you share
• Values begets values
What’s in it for them?
What’s in it for me?
• Values, ethics, morals, honesty, transparency, listening
• Keep part of yourself to yourself
• Remember you’re always on the stage
• You have to take your company’s culture to represent them in
the social world.
• Be an advocate at all times for your company
• React positively to good and bad feedback
• Don’t work for dicks
• Infect corporate culture with (not your) personal style
• “Oatmeal world”

18. How do you stay true to your authentic self
and to your company’s values/culture
Social South Participants’ Responses
• Why would you be with any company that doesn’t fit your
values and why would a company hire people who don’t share
theirs?
• People don’t ask what corporate values are … people are
hungry for authenticity, open, honest.
• Reading off of a script … people can tell and don’t want to talk
to a robot
• Zappos and Southwest – they are deliberate in who they hire
and who fits their culture versus we need a “warm body”
• Different approach from different personalities

19. How do you stay true to your authentic self
and to your company’s values/culture
Social South Participants’ Responses
• Showing personality while still representing the company
• Sharing resources that readers would be interested in
• Behind the scenes update for followers and fans – How do
you know when it is inappropriate?
• Follow your brand strategy
• Your personality should be similar to your company’s public
culture if you are the PR guy
• Exhibit your personality as long as it stays in the guidelines of
your brand
• Do not compromise your personal values
• Get creative with ways to express yourself
• Easy to work for a company whose values you agree with
• Be flexible without losing your personal ethics

20. How do you stay true to your authentic self
and to your company’s values/culture
Social South Participants’ Responses
• Separate personal opinion from company message
• Be objective: professional opinion vs. personal opinion
• Find a company that shares your values
• Differentiate “friendly” conversation vs. “business”
conversation. Different way to present information
• Conversation is same but presentation is different
• Find shared values
• Exercise restraint
• Balance social circumstances
• Try understanding context
• Consistency/Internal-External

21. How do you stay true to your authentic self
and to your company’s values/culture
Social South Participants’ Responses
Interesting things you can’t talk about: religion, politics
Company/Enterprise You

22. When you invite people in
there may be unexpected influences

23. Opening the enterprise door to social media
impacts the enterprise from the way
communication is handled to customer
service to hiring decisions.
Question:
How do you prepare an organization for
the impact of social media?

24. 7 Tips For Preparing
An Organization for Social Media
1. Create cross functional teams
2. Identify impact on specific areas
3. Are the right communication processes in place?
4. Do employees have the right skills and
experience?
5. New job descriptions -> new evaluation criteria
may be needed.
6. Where does social media reside? Can it have
mulitple “homes?”
7. Who “owns” the customer relation? The answer
may hold some surprises.

25. Thanks to the great people at Social
South who played along with me.
@seankelley, @southernplate, @jasonfalls, @ikepigott,
@treypennington, @takinpitchas,@bethharte,
@mackcollier, @kdrewien, @resultsrev, @kellyecrane,
@navistarlpga, @barbersindy, @billpowell,
audreypannell, @charityhisle,@annehearnhuff,
@sailingbo, @betsyfgray, @sweetsheets, @anwith1n,
@thomascook, @dennispillion
Note: there were many more people
but unfortunately I don’t have their @s.

26. Toss Of A Pink Boa
From Diva Marketing To You!
www.divamarketingblog.com
@tobydiva tobyb1@gmail.com
Y’ALL COME BACK NOW!