James Watt patented an improved steam engine in 1769 creating the foundation for the Industrial Revolution. During the first decade of the 19th century Napoleon’s insistence that his army be able to transport food that did not spoil launched the canning industry. In 1885 and 1886 Daimler and Benz built and patented the first internal combustion engines resulting in the automobile revolution. Also in the 1880’s Tesla, Bell and Edison gave us the alternating current dynamo, the telephone and the light bulb and the phonograph. In 1957 Robert Noyce patented the microchip leading to the computer revolution.

Each of these inventions produced a warp in time. Beginning with the steam engine the length of time it took to communicate with a person on the opposite side of the globe began to compress dramatically with each new invention. From years to months to weeks to hours to seconds communication eventually became instantaneous.

Invention. Revolution. Effect.

Power.

It is the measure of the “effect” determined by its impact on society, the change that is wrought in individuals’ lives, the way we view the world and the way we interact with one another that determines the “power” of the invention.

I exist in a cell phone that weighs mere ounces. The cell phone is benign, inert. This shiny object is easily lost or damaged. It is my fragile shell.

From this tiny container of chips and circuits I changed the election laws in Canada. On my best days I launched the Arab Spring toppling dictators in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. I made giant corporations like Netflix, GoDaddy, PayPal, Wells Fargo and others beholden to their customers. On other days I destroyed the careers of politicians around the globe who didn’t realize my power. On my worst days I helped start the London riots. Drug lords in Mexico fear my reach as well as governments in China and North Korea.

People feared Big Brother in the form of an authoritarian, pervasive government that watched their every move. Now 6 billion people on the planet have the same power to watch and report on their government, their corporations and their leaders.  I am Big Brother in reverse.

Invention. Revolution. Effect.

I am Social Media and I am Power.

1.  Identify Objectives – What is your main goal? Set objectives based on a clear understanding of how SM changes the communication loop between your hotels and your guests. SM is not about reaching a mass audience and blasting out discounts or advertising. SM is about reaching influencers and key decision makers, developing relationships, having conversations, building an online community and gaining insight into your prospect’s needs.

2. Identify Your Audience – Who are you trying to reach to meet your main objective? There are several SM platforms, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Trip Advisor, Foursquare, You Tube, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Blogging, etc. In order to most effectively reach your target audience you must first find out what SM channels they use. The best way to do this is to ask! Ask your guests, your customers, your prospects, etc. Then focus your time and attention on those platforms.

3. Training – It’s important to identify an individual who has the interest and desire to start and maintain the hotel’s SM presence. Do not assign SM to someone who is not eager and enthusiastic! Once you have identified the SM channels you want to use, training on those platforms can begin.

4. Property Culture – Once a strategy is in place get your team members to embrace it by making it fun! It is important to involve your team members who interact with your guests in your SM discussions. Give them the ability to participate, provide content and communicate/promote your pages and accounts with your guests.

5. Integration – How will your SM plan integrate into your hotel’s on-line presence? All SM pages/accounts should point your customers to your hotel’s web site for ease of booking reservations through the lowest cost distribution channel.

6. Measurement - How will you measure success? Begin with a simple baseline measurement. Goals will change as your SM efforts evolve. Continual review of progress is needed for success.

7. Nike – Just do it!

In college I was challenged with the question, “Are leaders born or are they made?” It was such a thought provoking idea that it has stuck with me some 15 years later. Reflect on the leaders you have encountered personally. Think about famous leaders throughout history. Many of them lead their followers to greatness; many others, to evil. In both cases, a key characteristic of leadership was present: they inspired in others the desire to follow them.

I have worked in many organizations where people in positions of leadership have no business being there. They have somehow managed to raise themselves to a level of incompetence. They are easy to recognize because they do not motivate, instill confidence or inspire those unfortunate enough to report to them. One thing is for certain, you can’t fake leadership. 

Conversely, I have worked with, and for, some amazing leaders. They helped me believe that I was capable of what I had perceived to be impossible. They took me WAY outside my comfort zone and gave me ridiculously difficult assignments, while simultaneously stretching my imagination. They helped me become a better person. (Thank you Coach K., Peter Birckhead and Jeffrey Summers)

So that begs the question, “Are leaders born or made?” I have come to the conclusion that leaders are born. The basic charisma necessary to be a good leader is innate. However, people can learn leadership qualities and become more effective in that role. If you are not fortunate enough to have been born a leader, and are placed in a position of leadership, take the time to learn the skills you need to not make everyone around you roll their eyes when you walk in or out of a room!

I recently participated in a unique scavenger hunt for a local charity. Instead of finding a multitude of items in order to complete the hunt there would be one assigned task per group. The winner would be the first group to complete the assigned task. We climbed on a bus and traveled to a town none of us had ever visited.

On arrival we disembarked and the event organizers divided the fifty participants into ten teams of five people each. After the drawing my team assembled and I realized I’d never met any of these people, we were unknown quantities to one another. As we’d never worked together I ascertained this could be quite a challenge.

Our team drew lots to select the team captain and I received the dubious honor. When all the teams had selected their captains the head of the charity handed each team a slip of folded paper. He then blew a whistle and each captain opened the paper and read the task.

“Your task is to find a ‘leader,’” I read aloud to my team. “And we only have three hours to complete our task.”

“What do we do?” my team asked. I thought for a moment and replied, “Let’s start knocking on doors.”

“But it’s cold.”

“I’m tired.”

“How can we do this in such a short amount of time?”

“How will we know a leader when we see one?”

I answered instantly. “The faster we walk the warmer we’ll be. The faster we work the sooner we can go home. If we work fast enough we’ll beat the deadline. As to how we will know a leader I cannot answer except to say that we will know. Now let’s hurry.”

At the first door I knocked on the person who answered thought for a moment after hearing my question and directed me to the CEO at his company. What we found when we arrived was a boss in a fancy office. I asked him if he was a leader and he answered, “Of course I am. Look at my fancy office, my fat salary and look down on the factory floor at the dozens of people that work for me and do what I say.”

I took the offered business card and thanked him and led my team out of his office.

“That was quick,” my team rejoiced. “We will win this contest.”

I thought for a moment looking at the factory floor.

“He is not a leader,” I stated. “Look at the people who work here. None are happy. They make things without caring and they fight amongst themselves. They might do what he says but that is all they do.”

I led my team back to the neighborhood and knocked on another door. The lady who opened the door thought for a moment when I explained the task we’d been set upon. After a moment she said, “Go to my church. Our pastor is a man of God. He is who you search for.”

We arrived at her church and sought an audience with the pastor. He sat us in his ornate office and I asked him the question, “Are you a leader?”

“I am a man of God,” he remarked, proudly. “I preach the gospel to my flock and they follow my teachings. I am the leader you seek.”

“Truly a man of God is the answer,” my team proffered, nodding their heads wisely. We left his office and went to the sanctuary.

I observed the congregation and shook my head. “This pastor is not a leader. The congregation is small and without merit. They do not practice what he preaches because they do not believe what he preaches because he does not believe it himself.”

I turned to my team. “We have time to knock on one more door before the contest ends. Let’s hurry.”

We returned to the neighborhood one last time and I knocked on the third and final door.

A young man answered and replied immediately to my question. “Go to the army base and find an officer. There will be your leader.”

We journeyed to the military base and requested and audience with the commander. The sergeant major led us to a hill on the base and there we beheld a general standing before his troops. “Sir, these people seek a leader,” the sergeant major said as he saluted.

“I am a general,” he stated, emphatically. “Look at the stars on my collar denoting my rank. Look at the men ready to follow me into battle and die for me. I am the leader you seek,” he said, puffing out his chest.

My team did not respond. We left the military base. “Why is he not the leader we seek?” I asked.

“The sergeant major rolled his eyes when the general talked. He does not have that man’s respect”

“The men grumbled when he stuck his chest out. They do not have his respect either.”

“They would not follow him up that hill because he does not inspire them.”

“He has no compassion for them. He will use their lives to win him medals.”

I pondered their answers for a while. “I think we have learned a lot even though we were unable to find a leader.”

We returned to the bus and sought out the head of the charity and gave him the bad news.

“We did not find a leader but we learned a lot on the journey,” I told him.

He smiled. “You succeeded beyond your wildest dreams.”  The head of the charity pointed at me and said, “It’s obvious. You’re the leader you seek.”

I was taken aback. “But how?”

He did not reply to me but directed a question to my team. “Why do you follow this person?”

“We believe he knows the way.”

“He inspired us to take the journey.”

“He gave us hope.”

“I can’t tell you why I just believed he was worth following.”

The head of the charity nodded his head sagely.

“What you’ve learned is that leaders are born, not made. We might teach a person to use a saw and a hammer but that does not mean they will become a master carpenter. We may dress a person with a lab coat and a stethoscope but the trappings of a doctor will never make him a healer. It is the same with a true leader. You may teach a person leadership skills. But it is what they possess inside that will determine whether or not others will follow. You have been blessed with this gift. Use it wisely and use it for the good of others and you and those around you will have amazing lives.”

Born. Not made.

I lead my team home and thanked them for the journey we shared.

Tangshan, China – July 26, 1976. Tens of thousands of dragonflies take to the air and flee the city responding in panic to vibrations emanating from deep beneath the earth’s crust.  48 hours later an earthquake that registered 8.2 on the Richter scale destroyed the entire province. Within a year the Gang of Four had been toppled and the Cultural Revolution ended launching China on a new road to economic prosperity. What began as a murmur, so deep in the earth human senses could not detect its existence, became a cataclysm so biblical in proportion the destruction it wrought altered the course of nation.

Ben Arous, Tunisia – December 17, 2010. Mohamed Bouazizi commits an act of defiance against a repressive Tunisian government. A decade earlier and Bouazizi’s sacrifice would have gone unnoticed. Tunisia a lonely hive of humanity in the desert of North Africa, disconnected from the outside world, would have convulsed for a moment before settling back into a suffocating lethargy. But in 2010 a few cell phones in Ben Arous began to vibrate with pictures and news of Bouazizi’s act. Soon more cell phones in other cities in Tunisia began to vibrate as Twitter and Facebook alerts notified their users of what had transpired in the small Tunisian town. Soon the entire world knew of what had taken place. The alerts spurred massive protests. A scant 28 days later President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country and freedom came to Tunisia. Egypt and Libya succumbed to the vibrations and the entire Arab world quakes under their impact to this day.

Countries no longer exist as lonely hives on a dark planet disconnected and separated from one another. Social Media has brought about a social revolution. As bees vibrate their wings to communicate with one another humans can now create vibrations through the manipulation of Social Media the ripple effects of which can span the globe in an instant. We have, in effect, become one large, connected Society no longer separated by distance or time, language or culture. We are one!

The Holiday season is a time to give thanks, a time to reflect, a time to start anew. Each individual on this planet now possesses the opportunity to alter the world in a way that never existed for our ancestors. In real-time we can reach out and touch thousands even millions of people. Our reach is global. Our ideas, our dreams, our products and our services can now be made available to the 7 billion inhabitants of this planet. More importantly the message can be heard. We are no longer trapped in the darkness of that long night.

I encourage each of you to create your message of inspiration for the New Year.

Now go vibrate your hive and see how far it can take you!

So I purchased a gym membership, borrowed a copy of the South Beach Diet and joined Jenny Craig. But my best purchase was Martin. I found him on Ebay. I paid him to workout for me and eat my new diet. Martin’s amazing! I love him! Guess how much weight I lost? Guess?

I gained 15 more pounds! How did that happen? Easy. I failed to participate in my own health plan. But I learned something. I can’t pay someone, no matter how skilled or well intentioned, to do my part. #epicfail.

Now think of Social Media in the same vein. You can hire my outfit to do Social Media for your company. We’re good, damn good. We can show you what to do. We can help you do it. We can create over-the-top campaigns that will get you noticed. But we can’t make you do your part, and you do have a part. As a matter of fact your part is the key to the entire success of Social Media.

Social Media is not a magic button that, once pressed, yields dramatic results overnight. Why you ask? Well let’s look at the definition of Social…

Social: a) involving allies or confederates b) tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others (Merriam-Webster)

Wow! Now let’s look at your allies and confederates. Stand in the center of your business. Now reach out a hand and turn in place 360 degrees. That first circle contains your employees. They produce work and you pay them for their efforts, Interdependent relationships. In that same circle are your vendors. You pay them for services and supplies they provide and once again they qualify as interdependent relationships. Your customers exist in that inner circle as well, they pay you and you provide products and/or services.

Now reach out a little further and draw another circle. In this extended arc are organizations you belong to: academic, religious, charitable, political, athletic, etc. These are more allies and confederates. Reach out a little farther and the next circle will contain your neighborhood, your alma mater, your fraternity or sorority.

In each case these relationships are interdependent. You are vested in one another. Now if each individual in your Social circles draws their circles and then each individual in their circles draws more circles etc., etc.…well you can begin to see the impact of engaging with the first circle of people.

Your company stands at the center of your Social Media circle. Engage those with whom you already have an interdependent relationship, attract them to becoming advocates for the product you manufacture and/or the service you provide.  Then they in turn will do the same and before you know it your reach has become global.

It takes work and it takes time. We can get you started and help you maintain momentum but everything starts with you. You create the momentum. You utilize those interdependent relationships to create more interdependent relationships. Then will come the magical time when your company reaches the tipping point and Social Media takes on a life of its own. That is the very nature of SOCIAL Media.

Now get me a Snickers bar and bring me the phone. Time to call Martin so he can do my next workout!

What’s “it”, you ask? Using Social Media to find out everything about anyone and anything.

Want a leg up on a sales call? Google the person you’re meeting with. You can find personal information about hobbies, education, previous employers… virtually anything that will allow you to engage on a more personal level. By utilizing tools such as Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn, you can forget Kevin Bacon and six degrees of separation.  Chances are you have an acquaintance in common that might only be two degrees of separation. All this information is at your disposal in an instant, and it’s free!

Reverse engineer the situation. Your company has to decide which of three products to manufacture. Tweet your desires and ask questions of your followers. Be creative. The information is out there waiting to be mined. Direct them to your company Facebook or Google+ page where you can engage them further. People want you to know what they think. It’s not eavesdropping if they’re offering the information in a public forum. It’s prudent research.

All of this information is available instantaneously. To the creative Social Media marketer, salesperson, corporate officer or entrepreneur, I encourage you to be Big Brother. Listen to the Whisper Stream. More importantly, direct the Whisper Stream on what to whisper.

Use Social Media. Manipulate Social Media. Prosper from Social Media. It’s easy, available and free.

And do it quickly. Your competitors sure are.

A Flash Sale is a time sensitive offer at a high discount. What these discount sites do is offer a deal-of-the-day that is basically an electronic coupon at a deeply discounted price, typically discounted 50%. The user has to pre-purchase the “deal”. If the coupon is for a service, you have to contact the company directly to make your appointment. Many small businesses offer the deal to try to get new business but instead are flooded with new, un-loyal, one-time customers who are only interested in bargains.

Other reasons why flash sales don’t work:

*Unless you have a high-fixed cost business, i.e. a dance studio, you’ll more than likely lose money.

*Group-On does not limit the number of people who can purchase the deal so you can get so many people trying to redeem the coupon that you lose money, time and customers who were actually loyal before the nightmare began. (Don’t forget that you have to pay the credit card fees)

*The perception of the value of your service or product goes out the window. Why would anyone want to pay full price? It’s not worth it.

*It will be hard to treat the deal seeker with the same respect and outrageous customer service that you do your current, high-paying, loyal customers.

*You’re targeting the wrong customers. They are coming to your business for a deal, not to experience a connection with your brand or a long-term relationship with you.

Bottom line: It’s not a long-term sustainable business model. We say run, don’t walk, the other way. But that still leaves the question of, “How do you attract new business?”

The best business referral service is the tried and true “word of mouth”. Customers tell others how much they like your brand and encourage them to patronize your service or product.

“You have to try that new Italian place on Greenville Ave. The lasagna is the best!” Sold…

“Been taking my cars to Art’s auto on Sunset for 20 years. Never had a problem.” Sold…

Social Media is “word of mouth on steroids”. Instead of using “tricks” and hazardous discounts to bring in new customers use your current customer base to carry your brand to the world through Social Media! Provide your customer value, attract them through others who are already sold on your brand, engage them and build a lifetime relationship that works for both of you. This is a cost-effective, sustainable model that wins!

I switched on the television to the debate channel and realized the debate had only been over for about five minutes. I next checked my Twitter feed and did a hashtag search for “Oops”. The posts consisted of 95% Rick Perry comments. And the posts reached back to just seconds after the Texas governor’s gaffe during the live debate. Thirty minutes before the network commentators could do their post debate review the entire nation was doing a postmortem on the debate debacle via Twitter and Facebook.

This post isn’t about politics. It’s about the incredible magnified fishbowl the world exists in thanks to Social Media. Newspapers used to be our source of news. So once a day we would have access to the information. Then came radio and television and we moved to what was then affectionately known as “the 24-hour news cycle.” How quaint. Problem with that you had to be in front of a television or radio to get the news. Now, with the advent of the cell phone and Social Media, not only can we get news alerts wherever we are on the face of the planet 24/7 we have also become the reporters, commentators, experts, photographers and talking heads. And not one of us had to listen to a radio or watch a television.

One bad moment, albeit the longest, most awkward moment ever in a televised debate, and a politician’s career changes forever. Not because he made the mistake but because his mistake was proliferated over and over on tens of millions of SM channels. Now his “Oops” has magically transformed into an epic hashtag, #Oops.

THE BAD THING – Social Media is everywhere.

THE GOOD THING – Social Media is everywhere.

We must be more cognizant of ourselves than ever before. We must be more prepared to face the world everyday than at any time in history. We must evince our best behavior at all times. We must take great care when we speak. We must use best practices in our business at all times. Because as soon as we let down our guard…#Oops!

Rick Perry showed up at the debate in a nice, shiny Rolls Royce.

He left in a clown car with circus music playing in the background. #Oops!

Avoid the clown car at all costs!

And then there’s me.

As much as I like to portray myself as a Social Media enthusiast, an out-of-box thinker, I recently succumbed to the very thing I rail against…the status quo of the stale mind.

My writing partner, Courtney, has been predicting for months that the next trend in Social Media would be pay-for-Social Media. He states adamantly that privacy concerns will open up a whole new business model for Social. He believes that Social Media users would pay a small monthly fee to have absolute control over how their personal information is disseminated, if at all. I listened to him, smiled politely and then made sure he wasn’t on any medication. I mean who would pay for what’s free? That’s crazy! Next thing he’ll be babbling about subscriber television or subscriber radio. Insanity!

I made sure the walls of my box were firmly in place then went about my daily business.

Last week he sent me a link to Unthink.com. Unthink markets itself as the Occupy Facebook movement. They even have an app that the subscriber can use to transfer photos and info straight off their Facebook page. Unthink offers two separate Social Media services. The first allows the subscriber to choose a corporate sponsor for their home page and charges no fees. The second option allows the subscriber to pay $2 a year with no corporate sponsor. Both options give the subscriber total control of their privacy; they won’t be marketed to, spammed, nor will their private information be auctioned off to the highest corporate bidder.

Innovative. Forward thinking. Unique.

I spent the next 10 minutes analyzing and arguing all the reasons why Unthink will never work and why no thinking person would ever pay for what’s already free.

Except Facebook is not free. The Facebook user is not the customer. The Facebook user is the product. Their personal information is the grease that allows Facebook to exist. The corporate marketers who pay actual American dollars are the true Facebook customers.

Of course Courtney had to point that out to me…again.

No one will ever pay for television.

No one will ever pay for radio.

Nothing will ever take the place of Friendster.

Nothing will ever take the place of MySpace.

Nothing will ever take the place of Facebook.

Until someone thinks outside the box and invents a new model the Social Media consumer actually values more. Is Unthink that model? We’ll see.

Thank you Steven Jobs. Lesson learned. I will not try to fit Social Media inside my imaginary box. I will use Social Media to push the boundaries of marketing, sales, business and life!

I’m going to go polish my square hole.

And burn my box while I’m at it.