Comments on: 8 Social Media Commandments for VARs

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01:14 +0000

Jim G: The VAR Guy will check his notes to see if Nixon shared any case studies with tangible results.

By: jim g.

jim g. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:30:36 +0000

I agree. The list is rock solid. I’ve used many of those techniques as well. What I would really like to see from a Social Media expert is a method of truly measuring the impact and then tying those measures to meaningful business results — revenue increase, cost reduction, profitability increase, market share increase,etc.

I really like point number 6. At Velocity, did Nixon present any case studies with tangible results of how social media engagement truly helped a business using some of the measures I mention above? Now that, I would find very interesting…

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:52:28 +0000

Hey Jim G: The VAR Guy appreciates the constructive criticism. Our resident blogger isn’t endorsing McInnes’ track record. But that list above really is rock solid. Our resident blogger has used many of the techniques mentioned in the list and, well, TheVARguy.com has emerged as the IT industry’s most widely read channel blog… …

Still, constructive criticism like yours keeps The VAR Guy honest and focused. So keep it coming.
-TVG

By: jim g.

jim g. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:29:07 +0000

VarGuy,

I usually love your stuff but I think you missed the mark here. I visited the Nixon McInnes website after reading your post — more of a curiosity than anything else because I didn’t really see anything revolutionary from Nixon’s list. If you read the case studies that Nixon claims as “Great Work” (that’s the name of the tab), I’m wondering why the work was so great? What real business results that led to more revenue were delivered? If there were any, they certainly don’t tout them…

It seems like this is another case of a social media effort that is more about numbers of fans and a flurry of activity rather than real business results.

Sorry to be negative but I’m not impressed.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:07:45 +0000

Hey Richard: Thanks for your feedback. All credit for the list goes to McInnes.

By: Richard Hamilton

Richard Hamilton — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:42:54 +0000

Good post. As a publisher working in technical communication, I’ve observed a strong tendency for marketers to view social media as simply another channel for marketing information. Yet, an important reason that customers use social media is to solve problems or learn how to better use a product/service. That’s where technical communicators and support engineers can make a big difference.

I thought that point 6 (work together) addresses this nicely, along with point 3 of the “Four ways to succeed.”

But, most important, I think you nailed it with point 2 (listen). As with any conversation, listen first, then talk. That’s important enough that it’s the tagline for a book from XML Press that explores the ties between social media and technical communication, Anne Gentle’s Conversation and Community.

Her point is that you need to start as a listener, then participate in ways that make sense to the community. The nice thing about this strategy is that it fits right in with point 7 (start now), because you don’t need to be an expert to start listening.