Fiction writers are taught to avoid some words and phrases whenever possible.  Stories shouldn’t have lots of events happen “suddenly,” for example, and cliches like “dark and stormy night” are out of the question.  But there are even more terms that businesspeople should shun, and we’ve highlighted some of them below.

Megan Jones, a director at investment banking firm Hadley Partners, in fact laid out 17 words and phrases she doesn’t like to see in business plans.  The first of them are “next big thing” and stuff along the lines of “bigger than Google.”  Professionals need to see solid data, not wild claims.

“Best,” “top,” and “leader” were cited for similar reasons.  Then “guaranteed” is another problem word, and “game changer” and “paradigm shift” are too fuzzy, according to Jones.

Finally (we won’t repeat the entire list), Jones wrote, “Reality: when you are pitching an early-stage opportunity, you are also pitching yourself.  If you are talking to quality investors, most of the above words don’t tell them anything about your business.  But they do tell the investor something about you – you are prone to exaggeration, to vagueness, to hype, to lack of depth.  Those words are setting you back.”

So try to write or speak in clear, measurable terms.  Back up projections with statistics, and don’t get too sky’s-the-limit unless you enjoy setting off alarm bells.

Managers who follow this advice may be able to leave a better impression while making competing companies look more like TV pitchmen.

Why do brands that spend gazillions and employ teams of econometricians to ascertain the specific nuances of demographic reach and frequency in traditional media throw all of that out of the window when it comes to digital?  I’m sure you’ve been there.  The brand manager who pours over TGI, BARB and planning schedules to wring an extra juicy rating or nudge up an index by a few points throws all caution to the wind when it comes to online channels.  ‘Just make it go viral,’ or ‘we’ll need an app for that,’ is as far as the analysis sometimes goes.  This can lead to the unbecoming site of a stampede of brands running from one web service to another, driven purely by trend and fashion.  A world view I refer to as ‘Shiny Shiny Syndrome’ (SSS).

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Seems that a lot of people are under the impression that all community managers have to use social media.

Social media is one tool.  It’s one of the many tools available to marketers, community managers, PR professionals etc.  It is not a requirement for all roles that a community manager could possibly take on.

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The first time I usually mention Delicious as a tool to a client or prospect, they look at me a little funny. And, with good reason. Delicious isn’t exactly Facebook when it comes to critical mass and social tools people use regularly online. In fact, it’s far from it. But, in certain situations (especially B2B organizations), Delicious can be an incredibly effective tool for building thought leadership, inspiring ideas and getting smart as a team.

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Welcome to the fourth episode of (R)evolution, a new series that connects you to the people, trends, and ideas defining the future of business, marketing, and media. My guest in episode 4 is Charline Li, founding partner of Altimeter Group, author of the new book, Open Leadership and also my dear friend.

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I have written about crowdsourcing a bit on this blog (see for example: GE Crowdsources Green Ideas Through its Open Innovation Challenge, Building Enterprise 2.0 into the Product Development Process, and Cisco Launches Second I-Prize Competition) but it has been largely from a company perspective. Now Forester presents data indicating that sixty-one percent of all US online adults are willing co-creators, and they are open to co-creating across a large range of industries. At the same time, Forrester reports that consumer product strategy professionals indicated that half of all companies are not using social media to engage their customers in product creation, design, or strategy.

Forrester said that many companies are hesitant to engage customers in co-creation because they are unsure how customer willingness and do not have a strategy. In the Forrester report, US Consumers Are Willing Co-creators, Douglas Williams outlines conditions for co-creation engagement. I was pleased to receive a review copy.

The majority of willing participants will help with most products but expect some type of incentive, which is only fair. There is wide spread interest across a variety of industries. The top two industries in terms of willing participation are personal computers (76%) and TV (75%) following by consumer packaged goods. This third place finishers has gotten some of the most press.

Thirty percent will only help their favorite brands and these are probably the strongest helpers. Time commitment is an issue for even these strong advocates so it needs to be manageable. The report suggests that if a company already directly communicates with certain consumers via social media, it makes sense to target fans or frequent visitors for co-creation. I would agree and all the more reason to use social media to promote your brand.

The report recommends product strategists begin by targeting consumers who they are already engaging with the brand. They should also recognize that participation will be stronger if the interaction is appealing from the consumer’s point of view, in terms of the topic, incentive, and time commitment. These seem to be the important variables to consider.

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Some of you might know that I like to take Augusts off. While not completely off the grid (I still clean out my e-mail—although I don’t reply much—and I still moderate comments on my blog), I don’t write any blog posts (on my blog or here at Search Engine Guide), and I stay off Twitter. I also don’t read any blog posts or check out what others are saying on Twitter—it’s a social media fast. Each year, it’s interesting to find myself picking up a newspaper again. This year, I did something a bit different, because I actually returned to work on August 25th because of a client need, but I continued to stay away from social media for the last week, just to see what it was like. It’s one thing for me to avoid social media while I am on vacation, but what would it feel like during my work day?

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The third session was with Andy Beal and the turn-out for this session was quite less surprisingly, given Andy’s stature. The agenda of the session was “Keys to better Search Engine Reputation Management.”

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