I don’t think anyone can argue that Barak Obama made history this week.  While the popular vote was no landslide, unlike the electoral college, Obama had several strategic game changers during election campaign that separated him from his opponent. So it should come as no surprise that everyone is now writing about how organizations can use the same tactics and strategies and apply them to their own organization.  Here are just a few articles and blog posts worth reading over.

Obama's Seven Lessons for Radical Innovators - Harvard Business Publishing

What Newsrooms Can Learn From Obama - Recovering Journalist Blog

How Better Marketing Elected Barack Obama - Harvard Business Publishing

BNET: Obama’s Communications Moving at Warp Speed

While the use of technology will was not the only game changer in the Obama campaign, it played a significant role in my opinion.  His campaign strategically found ways to connect with his constituents by allowing them to campaign on his behalf through myBarakObama blogs, using text messaging for updates, using YouTube to let video messages go viral, and use of his ever growing email database. 

While I certainly can’t dissect his entire campaign strategy, he also brilliantly executed an integrated marketing strategy.  He took the concept of “small is the new big” by asking for small donations from individuals, not the maximum from them at once.  Additionally, he asked his database of volunteers and advocates to do small things such as calling friends and strangers about his campaign, which resulted in a huge workforce. 

I think Obama executed two strategies extremely well during his campaign.  First, he brilliantly used social media to empower his followers. Jermiah Owyang, a Forrester analyst on Social Media, researched and found stats on how Obama and McCain used social media.   While Owyang won’t draw any correlations to the use of social media to his win, Obama commanded the use of the Internet. I believe it was that use of technology that helped, if for nothing else, give him exposure to a larger population of voters. McCain followed suit by participating in the same space, but I believe the generation gap of a 70+ year old using MySpace and Facebook wasn’t as authentic as a 40+ year old.  In fact to compete with Obama’s “MyBarakObama”, McCain launched McCainSpace using social network took Kick-Apps.

Obama’s second strategic win was how he treated his volunteers, and that was with respect and authenticity.  He would send a message (or tried on several occasions to mixed results) to his volunteers and donors informing them of what he was going to do next before he would do it to the media.  He understood that by informing this audience first he not only respected that they want information, but knew that they would spread that message beyond what the media could accomplish.  However, by informing his volunteers and donors first he also put transparency on his campaign and that, in my opinion, is a level of authenticity that builds trust.

And Obama’s not done either.  Change.gov launched yesterday getting not only himself ready for the next four years, but informing the American people as well.  As technology evolves, going back to the U.S. Mail distributing pamphlets to America back in the beginning of our country to TV bringing a face and live debate to every home to the Internet, our public officials and government will change as well.  If Obama uses the Internet as much during his presidency as he did during his campaign, change won’t be just that an African American is at 1600 Pennsylvania, it will be how he has enabled the entire country to speak to him to make changes the American people want.  

Ah, and you thought you were going to see a post of genius did you?  Well, not yet. That's the topic of a presenation I'm giving on Thursday to a group of State Bar communications staff.  I have a few things in mind, but what are your thoughts?  Still room to tweak my presentation.  Add your top 5 in the comments. After the presentation I'll be posting the slides and notes. 

Today's Wall Street Journal called One Key Fits All tells a tale of something that has been on my mind a lot lately.  In the world where websites are requiring users to create accounts to participate from commenting on blogs to reading archives of a newspaper website, user accounts are inevitable.  However, from a usability perspective, it is a pain in the rear to remember all the different variations of user names, passwords, email addresses, etc. for all of these websites you may participate in.  The concept of OpenID enters the picture as a potential solution to this problem.  Ideally it would be the one-stop-shop of user account management. 

For those not familiar with OpenID, it is:

...a shared identity service, which allows Internet users to log on to many different web sites using a single digital identity, single sign-on, eliminating the need for a different user name and password for each site. OpenID is a decentralized, free and open standard that lets users control the amount of personal information they provide. (Source: WikiPedia)

Where OpenID gets interesting is when you think about taking it beyond social websites and think of it with larger corporations.  It is one thing for Yahoo!, Microsoft, or Google to accept an OpenID protocol, but entirely another with your bank, utilities, and investment websites start to accept it.  Think about all the different online accounts you manage, how many of them can you manage with the same login and password.  I "try" to use the same information for most of my sites, however, it doesn't work that way always.  Can it be more convenient?  Yes. 

However, it has several impacts beyond just logging in. Security, fraud issues, and framework maturity are still outstanding for other major corporations ot adopt it.  But think about a level of websites beyond blogs, but not quite your financial institutions.  Can associations adopt this and make it work?  Of course!  Can media websites adopt this an make it work? Of course!  Currently over 22,000 websites accept OpenID (including this blog) as a form of identification.  It is projected that this number of sites will reach close to 50,000 by the end of this year.  So if you have a login/register process for your website, why aren't you looking at something that will make it easier for users to manage their account with your site?  Take a look at offering OpenID as an alternative to your current login procedures.  

It's been a while and I've decided to start writing again. The focus of From the 21st Floor is going to change slightly.  It will still be about the BIG picture related to business and marketing.  However, I'm going to be writing a lot more about social media.  Social media has become a major focus for me at work and with my new department I run (Interactive Services).  However, while other sites are looking at the "newest" thing or keeping a pulse of all the Web 2 (3,4,5.0) start ups and companies, I'm going to be looking at what makes sense to use. 

I'm not done updating the site.  I've imported almost all of my previous site into this version (articles, blog posts, etc.).  I've added an Opinion Poll on the homepage, which I'll be updating regularly.  I've added my Twitter stream to the site, and you can follow me at faulknef if you want to see what I'm up to or thinking about on a regular basis between posts.  I'm shooting for at least one post a week. 

So nothing profound to start this up again, just an update.  Hello blogosphere...I'm back.  

The ABA Journal has won the People's Voice Webby Award for the category of Law today.  Thanks to all that voted. 

Last year you may remember me writing about a project I worked on redesigning and launching a new website for our flagship periodical, ABA Journal.  It was just announced that the ABA Journal website has become a finalist in the Law category of the People's Voice section of the Webby Awards (an online award for websites).  So spend a little time, vote for the ABA Journal and help us win a Webby!  Winners are announced on May 6th. 

ABA TECHSHOW 2008 starts today.  I will be popping in and out over the next two days, but if you can't attend, I recommend visiting the TECHSHOW Buzz page.  TECHSHOW Buzz was developed to bring social tools into the conference experience.  See attendees thoughts through Tweets on Twitter.  See photos from the conference with a Flickr tag feed.  See the buzz around the blogosphere with aggregates Technorati, Google Blog search, and more via a Yahoo! Pipe.  Finally, see what websites attendees are looking at via del.icio.us tagging. 

I'll be going over for the Keynote today on Internet Privacy with my new team. 

ABA TECHSHOW^® is next week and for all you legal professionals who dig technology--this is the conference for you.  Multiple days and multiple tracks of educational sessions, how-tos, and tips to get you through your busy day more efficiently.  This year it is at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, so new location for those of you who have gone in the past.  It's still not too late to attend.  I believe online registration is closed, but never fear, you can show up on site and still get in. 

Tracks this year include:

• Advanced IT/Security
• Client Relationships - NEW!
  
• E-Discovery
• Going Green - NEW!
• Internet
  
• Large Firm / Corporate Counsel - NEW!
• Litigation
• Mac Track - NEW!
• Microsoft Office
  
• Mobile Technology
• Paperless Office - NEW!
• Records Management
  
• Roundtables
• Show Me How
• Solo/Small Firm I
• Solo/Small Firm II

I will be in and out as I'm no longer directly associated with the group inside the ABA that puts the conference on.  If you are going to be there and want to meet up, drop me a line. 

Day one had a great line up of speakers and content. Day two looks like it will be no different.

Here is my Twitter Stream which I will be updating during the day. I'll then recap later.

Full Twitter String
RSS Feed

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Online Community Sites of Note:

Dell Community
IdeaExchange by Salesforce
Real World New Cast Member by MTV
IdeaStorm by Dell

Updated: 3:45pm

I'm at the Forrester Consumer Forum in Chicago today and tomorrow. I'll be writing my thoughts and observations on the content from the conference here.

So far there have been some great speakers. The theme of the conference is around the online world, social integration, advertising, and how your company can understand and take advantage of this medium. The format of the Forum is pretty cool. Short presentation on targeted topics, then a "coffee talk" type Q&A with the speaker (literally two chairs with an end-table on a stage w/ two large video screens on each side). The dialog is great and personal to those in the audience.

Kicking off the conference was Forrester Vice President and senior analyst Charlene Li. Charlene does a lot of her research around the social technographics. Who is using the social tools, how, and to what level of participation.

Christie Hefner from Playboy had a great keynote on how Playboy has truly been able to leverage the Playboy brand in ways that most companies would drool over. It is amazing how they have been able to integrate new solutions successfully from Print, to TV, to Online, and now Mobile. They have brought the brand beyond the print publication(s) to the real world, and now virtual world with an entry into Second Life. They also have been able to leverage a key demographic and target market by launching PlayboyU, a social space for college students with an .edu email address.

3:45pm
Richard Edelman, president and ceo of Edelmen PRgave one of the most forward thinking perspectives when it comes to PR/MR. It resonates with a lot of what I've been thinking about when it comes to control of messages, brands, and the interaction with your consumers (and in my work, members and consumers). One of the biggest take-aways was the reality of how the traditional media triangle works. It used (and in many corporations still is) to be that a few influencers controlled the conversation and distributed it to the masses. It has touch points of how it got distributed and they all came back to the same message. The internet, and social media such as blogs, ratings, reviews, etc. changes that model. Today if someone wants to have information about some topic, the influencers are now bloggers, customers, like-minded individuals who publish online. Companies have to realize that there is a limited amount of influential control they have left. Now, the mass audience make up their own minds--right, wrong, or in-different.

I also got to attend one of track sessions. It was about how User Generated Content, or UGC, can have a place in corporate strategies. The panel included representatives from Dell, QVC, and Baazarvoice. Each explained how they have taken UGC and integrated it into their company strategies. From Dell's IdeaStorm, a customer feedback site that allows users to rate feedback for popularity, to how QVC uses real-time feedback to inject into their programming. UGC is a tough cookie to crack and how to use it. Let alone if it really does. Many of us have wondered how to make it work. We are fearful of the backlash and if execs can even swallow the fact that they are not in control of what goes on. But that's OK. Rather, we need to find ways that work for us. For example, customer reviews. Having all positive customer reviews on a product page in reality is just product testimonials. You need negative reviews to show authenticity. Companies have to understand how UGC works, it is written by passionate individuals (for good or bad) and it is often intended to help like minded individuals (though companies can listen and learn from them). Monetizing on this type of feedback and content is still a challenge, but models are being formed and success is in the results--more products shipped and more revenue generated.

I'll be updating this more with my notes and perceptions. This is just the beginning so I can pay attention to the presentations and blogging at the same time.

Additional Coverage
Technorati
Forrester Marketing Blog
Flickr