As I’ve mentioned often, Almost Famous, is probably my all time favorite movie.  The writing, casting, acting, music, story, etc. are all top notch.  Unfortunately, hollywood didn’t let Cameron Crowe show the his version of the movie in theaters.  Thankfully, he opted to release a director’s cut version on DVD.  While there aren’t a great deal of major changes, the subtle nuances make the movie so much better.  But, you’ll have to wait till nearly the end of the movie for the best scene that was added back into the movie.  Right after the band is notified that William’s story for Rolling Stone paints them as a bunch of amateurs struggling with their own success, Jimmy Fallon’s character explains to the band that Russel must deny the story…in denying the story he has to lie.

As Jimmy Fallon explains, the reason he needs to dismiss the story is so the band can hold on to their mystique.  It’s the mystique that keeps the fans interested.  It’s the ambiguity and the unknown that makes them interesting, marketable, and will ultimately make them rich, famous, and successful.

Too often we’re not content with what we have, because the allure of the unknown and the alternative is so seductive.  Think about the last time a recruiter sent you an email or called you about a job.  Did you automatically say no?  Of course not.  You’d be silly not to at least listen to the opportunity.  Even if you are perfectly content in your current job, you’ll always take the call and listen to what the voice on the other end of the phone is saying.  Why?  Because…you already know what you have, but what you don’t know is what you might be missing out on.

Oh yes, we love the known.  Hey, like the old saying goes…the grass is always greener on the other side.  But, as someone who’s speaking from experience, I can tell you, it’s not always greener or better.  Frankly, sometimes it rather sucks.  Yet, despite the number of times I’ve been burned by the allure of the unknown, I always remain open to it. Why?  Because, you never know.  You simply never know when the unknown will be better than what you already have.

I’m finding myself thinking a lot about the unknown lately.  Not with regards to my job though.  For the first time in a long time, I’m completely closed off to the idea of another opportunity.  Not since I was at Fallon, have I found myself in a role where I literally look forward to coming into the office.  The thinking I’ve been doing is much broader and more centered on everything else not named J-O-B.  I’m certainly too young for a mid-life crisis, but I’m definitely old enough to realize that you don’t get too many chances to shake things up and still have enough time to fix it, if you’ve chosen poorly.

2010 is going to be a hell of a year.  It’s going to be a year full of the unknown.  And I plan on chasing it.

By Keith Privette in Guest Blogger find me tweeting out

Consumers have become content producing machines; I guess that is somewhat of an understatement! They blog, connect, chat, email, status update, tweet, write reviews, post pictures and videos, and comment on each other’s blogs (that should be a good start).  I have been noticing somewhat of a concerning path The Consumer is taking in this ever changing world of being connected to Businesses and the “gotcha mentality”.  The basic premise of the “gotcha mentality” is that people (consumers), bloggers, social media aficionados, and other businesses (I rarely see this one but it sure would add to the conversation) go in search of the missteps, failures, and chances companies take in this new world of connectedness and flame them any which way they can, for what?  In the very rare occasion it sparks a good discussion.  So Consumers time for skin in the game! Time to put your money where your blog is!

We the consumers have been rather vocal about wanting openness, transparency and honesty of the people we purchase and use goods and services from.  So businesses have listened to surveys, case studies, and market research and said “ok we can do this!”  So the venture into the world of social media and for the next six months every blogger, every reviewer, and social media aficionado produce mountains of content and noise about all the failure, missteps, and chances businesses take to be open, transparent, and honest.  Do you see the contradiction you have set up for businesses that are trying based on your behalf?  Now I am not saying businesses should not be held account and responsible for their actions, but there are proactive ways to really truly start building these communities you have asked for!

So, you’re following a business on twitter, have a RSS feed from a company’s blog, you a fan on a facebook page and following an industry tracking website.  With all these connectednesses there are ways you should be a proactive advocate to help build and grow these relationships!  We should implore the Honey tactics here!

The first thing you should do as a good advocate is DO YOUR RESEARCH! Not all things you read or see are what they seem at first glance.  Believe me I have caught myself leaping before doing this critical step.  This first step helps you understand perspective, both the companies and your own.

The second thing to do is reach out to the company in a very proactive and calm manner.  The channel you choose and how you approach this conversation is the best first step you can take for starting a dialogue to help the community you want to build.

The biggest advices I can offer is try and make it privately to give the dialogue a chance to happen.  If the company is on twitter use the direct message or DM.  Sometimes you may have to ask for a follow which is ok to ask for.  Locate the Contact Us on the company’s website and send them an explanation of your perspective.  If a fan on the company’s fan page on facebook you can send a message through your InBox.  All these are effective channels for communicating your perspective to a company you are choosing to help.  That is the key to this approach Help!  I am making the assumption as adults we know the best approach to the communication.

Now for the payoff, to make the full circle of engagement work to really grow and build these communities for success even in the midst of mistakes, missteps, and risk taking.  Work with the company about how to express the interactions to establish true openness, transparency and honesty.  If you have a blog write about your experiences with care, kindness, and constructive appraisals and encourage people to write comments to further the conversation.  Give a tweetout on twitter about the engagement you had with the company and direct to your blog.  Write a status update on the company’s fan page and include links to helpful information.  Lastly, if the company has a blog or something like it, encourage them to do a write up on the experience also.  Once they take this action use your community of followers and direct them to this write up.

Hopefully with these few tips we can all learn to interact to calmly discuss experiences and move away from the “gotcha” mentality.  These tips will really make this whole new world of the interconnectedness of businesses and consumers really become beneficial for all that are involved.  To be open, honest and transparent I have not always taken my own advice when it comes to these tips, but about a year ago I started thinking and acting in these exact ways and believe it or not, companies truly want our help in this way.  Businesses and people (yes one thing to remember there are always people behind the channels you are choosing to interact with, thanks John Bernier for that advice!) are very receptive when you approach the interaction and experience with care and calmness to make the products and services better for the greater good.  Now I know you may think this is fluff and feely, but I feel and think we all have a chance to “#chainreact” to really make a difference.

We need to start approaching these channels from a different perspective!

I’m out on blogger vacation this week. The keys to TheKmiecs.com have been turned over to a few, select, awesome guest writers. The following has not been edited by me and is the work and effort of the original author. I appreciate the time and thinking that went into this post and hope you will too. Enjoy!

“The reason social media is so difficult for most organizations

It’s a process, not an event.

Dating is a process. So is losing weight, being a public company and building a brand.

On the other hand, putting up a trade show booth is an event. So are going public and having surgery.

Events are easier to manage, pay for and get excited about. Processes build results for the long haul.” – Seth Godin, December 10, 2009

Respectfully, I have to disagree with Godin. In fact, I think it’s this thinking that’s caused organizations and businesses to fail in the online space. You see, social media isn’t an event; it’s not even a process. Both of these classifications give too much credit to the social space. Social media is simply an extension. It’s as simple as that – a mere extension of already existing business functions.

For the past year, the entire “social space” has been given too much credit and too much hype. I’m as guilty as the next person, as I fell victim to its noise as well. You spend enough time on Twitter and you’ll be inundated with ponzi-like “get rich quick” talk. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing social media. I think it’s highly effective tool and it’s something I spend a lot of time and effort trying to get businesses to understand. But if you spend any time online, you’ll think it’s the second coming of Christ.

Social media is not its own entity. It’s not new. Its not innovative. Like I mentioned above, it’s merely an extension. I’ve come to realization that people don’t work in social media. There’s no such thing as a social media specialist, or guru, or expert, or whatever title you want to attach. Depending on what your goal with social media is, the space is simply marketing, communications, sales, etc. Frank Eliason (@ComcastCares) doesn’t work in social media for Comcast, he works in customer service. There’s marketing folks, communication folks, folks in sales. But there is not a single “social media [fill in the blank]”. It doesn’t exist.

We’ve all heard, or personally had, the stories of uphill battles with c-level suites that put hurdles in front of social media implementation. A lot of those hurdles were results of “experts” or enthusiasts approaching the online space as a separate entity. So if you had difficulty getting management to begrudgingly accept your entrance into the social space, why do you continue to treat it like a separate entity?

We’re finally beginning to accept the fact that while social media is about building communities and conversations, it ultimately comes down to sales and profit (see Adam’s post on conversion). With this reality check, I think it’s time to let a little wind out of the social sail. As people continue to trend toward mobile and online applications, it’s a natural progression for various business departments to follow. But let’s stop placing social media on its own pedestal. It’s time to go back to the basics and foundation that got us here. It’s about integration.

So quit talking about social media like it’s a separate entity. Stop acting like social media is this new revolutionary and magical department within an organization.

Until we stop trying to prove ourselves and make a name for ourselves online, social campaigns will continue to fizzle. It’s not rocket science, folks. Take a step back, integrate it with your traditional business plans, and watch the $$$$ come in.

Kasey Skala, owner of the consulting firm Interactive Revolution, focuses on integrating new media and emerging technology with traditional communication strategies for small business and nonprofits. Prior to Interactive Revolution, Kasey spent four years in the financial industry in various marketing and communication roles. He currently maintains the blog, The Electric Waffle. Follow him on Twitter at @kmskala

When a brand advertises, markets, or otherwise communicates a message to you it’s in fact making a promise. That company isn’t creating a campaign, website, print ad, or tv spot. Nope, they’re creating promises with their consumers/customers. Lately, I’ve been in several meetings and have take stock of several brand interactions I’ve had where there’s a clear gap between the promise being made and the ability to live up to that promise.

More specifically, I was in a meeting recently, where the brand architecture was essentially pointed to as being “optimistic” and not reality. However, even though it’s not reality yet, we should be leveraging it as the foundation for communication. In other words, even though they knew the product could not live up to how the product was going to be marketed, they wanted to do it anyway.

Huh? That’s like gas on a fire. If I send a blogger product X for review and in the communication to the blogger I describe the product as amazing, remarkable, the best, the gold standard, and sure to please – it better do all of those things. Because if it doesn’t, not only is my reputation tarnished with the blogger, the company/brand/product is going to get ripped to shreds.

BMW promises the consumer that when you buy one of their cars, you are getting the “Ultimate Driving Machine.” The foundation for that claim is “Independent. Unmistakable. Unique. Admittedly, we’re not the typical car company.” As a two time BMW owner and someone who worked on their business for 3 years, I can tell you two things about those statements:

1. When it comes to “driving” their is no substitute in their category. Audi, Porsche, Mercedes, etc. are all very nice cars, but they could never claim (well they shouldn’t) they are the “Ultimate Driving Machine.”
2. My expectations for customer service and mechanical service have always been underwhelming. When I see and hear that they aren’t the typical car company, my expectations are that ever facet of their business will be different than the norm.  The reality is, it isn’t.

Often I hear clients that operate a franchise model bemoan the inability to ensure consistency at each franchise location.  This often leaves me perplexed for several reasons.  But, primarily, it leaves me perplexed because I don’t understand why you’d spend millions of dollars to advertise one type of experience to generate millions of people coming to your store – only – to under-deliver on those messages and leave the consumer with a negative take on your brand.

Look, this is simple folks. In today’s rapidly evolving interactive world, if you break that promise people will know quickly. That’s a recipe for product, brand, and relationship disaster.  Please don’t try and pass off cat food as caviar, no matter how much the smell a like.