When it comes to creating a social media strategy, there is one, often overlooked piece of the puzzle that falls through the cracks. The who is doing what piece of the puzzle.

I work with clients to create communication plans and digital strategies that usually include some form of social media. I often get an objection when the social elements of the program are introduced. Something along the line of “we tried a blog but it wasn’t a success” or “we have a Facebook page, but it isn’t doing anything for our business.”

Who’s Doing What?

Digging deeper into the failure, many times it is because the business did not understand who is doing what. The blog was a failure because posts were not written on a regular basis. The Facebook page was a failure because they were not engaging their audience, they were just collecting names. As my colleague Jay Baer preaches, social media is not about collecting names, it is about activating your fans. That can only happen if you know who is doing what.

It can get complex depending on the size of your social media program, but here are some tips to help make sure you’re managing social operations appropriately:

• If you are blogging, create an editorial calendar. You don’t need to know the what, just the who and when.
• Again with the blogging, make sure your blogger or bloggers want to do it, if they are forced into it, you won’t get your posts on time.
• If you have a Twitter account, set up a CoTweet account to help manage interactions, and define who is responsible for interaction.
• If someone asks a question in a social space, make sure you have an expert on hand that can answer the question if it gets too technical for the day-to-day social listener.
• If you are being badgered by someone that continues to post off-topic or negative comments in your space, what is the plan to engage them, and who is going to do it?
• If you have a Facebook page, know who is responsible for engagement. Who is responsible for adding content? Photos? Videos? It might be different people for each task.
• Who is monitoring social spaces where you don’t currently have outpost? There are tons of free and paid tools out there that help you to monitor the conversations taking place.

Take a look at the Social Media Responsibilities Worksheet we use at the Flint Group. Hopefully it will help you figure out who is doing what.

Social Media Responsibilities Worksheet

I encountered a billboard posted by a reputable national insurance company that said, “For all your insurance needs.” My immediate thought: “Really, that’s the best you can do?”

The statement, “For all your [insert term here] needs” is overused, ignored, and irrelevant yet multitudes of businesses continue to use it. To prove a point, out of curiosity I ran a Google search for the term, “For all your needs.” 1.15 BILLION results! So by using the term, you essentially are saying you are just like 1.15 BILLION other businesses out there… no big deal.

Think your business is unique enough to get away with it? Think again. You can search for pretty much ANYTHING with the, “For all your needs” statement and find millions of results and other businesses just like yours using it to generalize their services… and scoring no points with customers along the way.

How about, For all your fertilizer needs (10.4 million results). Or, For all your filtration needs (7.8 million). Or Logistics (19.8 million), or Catering (10.5 million), or Zoology (7.5 million), or Votive candles (What are votive candles anyway? Seriously, 1.3 million results for all your votive candle needs!).

I once worked with an esteemed copywriter who would bristle whenever he saw or heard the term, “For all your needs.” He would flat out refuse to include it in anything he wrote. He would say, “How do they know what I need? It’s impossible for them to have everything I need!” He had a book where he kept examples of ads that used the term and as you would turn page-after-page the statement would become more and more irrelevant. A wasted opportunity to share a meaningful message with a customer.

Every business is built on some point of differentiation, be it price or quality, service or product line, convenience or style. Every brand stands for something, so let your communications be about your differentiation. In most cases you have likely invested significant time and money to cultivate a point of differentiation for your business, so let it show. Communicate it clearly in everything you do. In your service, your marketing, your direct communications and your advertising.

Make your message meaningful and memorable. Your customers will appreciate knowing what makes you unique.

Colin is a senior strategist for The Flint Group. Follow him on Twitter @colinnclarke or on Facebook at Facebook.com/cnclarke.

Social media usage by businesses in Fargo, Duluth, St. Cloud, Grand Forks and Anchorage is increasing everyday and rightfully so. It’s a great way to connect and engage customers and prospects. And having a solid strategy to do so will allow you to move the needle and help you reach your goals and objectives for your social media program and your business.

With this increase in usage, however, HR directors are scrambling to govern social media activities by employees. This has led to companies large and small creating social media policies for their employees.

Mike Volpe from Hubspot takes a different look at social media policy development in his post Why Social Media Policy is Stupid. In his post Mike states “… the best “policy” is to hire smart people, give them the right coaching and training, set the correct culture around customer interaction, and then punish those who misbehave.” Although we have a social media policy for employees at Flint Group and have helped many clients develop social media strategies and social media policies, I kind of agree with him.

So what do you think, do businesses need a social media policy?

Some define play as the opposite of work. The Flint Group says otherwise.

When work excites and inspires you, it’s play. SimmonsFlint shared some playfulness on May 20 at our annual client party. Our theme this year: baseball. We became The Sparks, the newest baseball team in Grand Forks.

Nice lineup, eh? (Notice our catcher?)

The evening included a batting cage, live music, a client Hall of Fame and traditional baseball fare – chili dogs, popcorn, nachos with cheese and beer (but, unlike a baseball game, it wasn’t flat). Best of all – we got to play outside of work and share a great evening in celebration of our clients.

Manager Susan Mickelson keeps her eye on the ball (as usual).

Clearly, we work passionately and play seriously. We play with messaging and strategy, traditional and social media, words and design.
Play is proven to work.
Some insights from Leo Babauta at ZenHabits.com:
When work feels like play, we can accomplish so much more:
+ Unleash creativity for higher productivity levels
Creativity is essential. And not just in the world of marketing, but in any career. The ability to think differently can solve myriad issues in the workplace. Play encourages us to open our minds to new ideas.
+ Revitalize the mind and spirit to regain focus
Does sitting at a desk all day long ever get to you? Running away for two minutes to get an icy cold beverage can do wonders for our mental clarity. So can play. Shutting off the computer (and your mobile) and playing at night gets us recharged and revved for a brand new day. Tomorrow, bring it.
+ Eliminate stress and worry for a fresh outlook
Of course there’s stress in any job. Finding a playful way to relieve built-up stress is not only healthy; it’s fun. Doing something that takes little thought can help you recharge and solve problems.
+ Attract and keep talented employees
Talented employees are not only drawn to fun companies; they stick around longer. Companies who not only work together, but play together, make cohesive teams.
Long ago, Plato said: “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” He had a point.
+ Sweep out mental cobwebs and sharpen our thinking
Suffering from jumbled thoughts, hazy memories and anything-but-eloquent speech? Feel like you’ve drunk more than your share of work? Take time to relax and rejuvenate. Your brain will thank you by working smoother and clearer.
+ Discover what brings the most joy
In other words, play helps you find your passion.

The main reason we do the work we do is because we’re passionate about it.
We realize how important all of these things – peak creativity, focus, problem solving, mental clarity and passion – add up.

You’re always welcome to play in our world. It’s bound to be a good time.

As social media strategist for Flint Group, I’m often asked how I can keep up with the rapid pace of social media. By myself, I certainly can’t. So besides relying on Josh, Andy, Jen, and the rest of the Flint team to help me stay on top of the trends, I rely on my Google Reader full of social media blogs. Let’s take a peek inside my nerd arsenal:

Convince and Convert • Social media marketing
These days you can’t throw a rock at the Internet without hitting a blog from a social media “expert.” But among the so-called experts, Jay Baer stands out from the crowd (and I’m not just saying that because Flint Group works with him). On Convince & Convert, Jay lives up to his promise of being a “hype-free” social media consultant with brilliant insight into social media strategy. Not to mention, he’s a really nice guy.

Nielsen Wire • TV and online statistics and reports
I started my advertising career in the media department, so I have a deep respect for numbers and metrics. Nielsen Wire regularly publishes useful statistics, from the top TV shows to the leading websites.

Mashable Social Media • Social media news and marketing
As the most all-encompassing social media guide online, Mashable is not where I’d send beginners to get an overview of social media. However, it’s an excellent place to search for specific information, and they have written a wealth of case studies, guides, and how-tos. Looking for a conference or social media event in your area? Check the weekly Mashable Social Media Events Guide.

Advergirl • Advertising and branding
Leigh Householder (better known as Advergirl) doesn’t post often, but when she does, it’s worth reading. She pumps her blog full of thought and insight, especially the series she has written on Getting Interactive, her Social Manifesto, and Advice for Newbies. Leigh contributes to What’s Your Digital iQ, which specializes in digital healthcare marketing. She’s also an incredibly kind person.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics • Statistics and commentary on all things digital
Dirk Singer of Rabbit keeps this blog full of the most recent social media news and statistics, along with commentary about why they matter. I especially appreciate the mobile/smartphone data he posts, and the commentary on news articles such as Time’s inclusion of Foursquare in their “worst inventions” issue.

Smart Brief on Social Media • Social media headlines in daily e-newsletter form
I guess this might be cheating, since it’s not actually a blog. SmartBriefs deliver the headlines daily to your inbox. A few seconds of headline skimming alerts me to trends and new campaigns from major players.

I also regularly read The Social Path, Social Media Explorer, Dim Bulb, the New York Times Media & Advertising, AdAge, AdFreak, and over 100 others. What are your blog must-reads? Please post in the comments.

This year Bill and I will celebrate our 32^nd wedding anniversary.  It was a big year for weddings among our friends and family, but not all of these marriages survived. So every time I hear of the relationship between a communications firm and a client referred to as a marriage, I have to agree. There are great days, good days and bad days in a marriage. But the relationships that endure are those built on mutual trust and respect.

That was a point in a discussion that I had yesterday with Roger Reierson, Flint Group CEO and fearless leader. He had handed me an article printed in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail that he had kept entitled “In praise of older relationships” by business columnist Simon Houpt. Houpt’s article was in reaction to the news that Chevrolet had dropped Detroit-based Campbell-Ewald as its ad agency after a 90-year relationship. Frankly, long term relationships of that magnitude are rare in our industry, but at the Flint Group we feel blessed that we have bucked those industry averages. Many clients have been with us for more than a decade and several go back to our beginnings in the 1940s.

Houpt interviewed multiple clients and agencies for his article. Like several agency heads he talked to, we’ve lost clients that focused on the next hot agency (he called them the shiny new object) or because we didn’t give them “what they want” without questioning the positioning, the strategy or the impact on the brand. But inevitably their new relationships seem to fail as well.

The article and our discussions internally focus on the same truth, that the best creative work – and the best results – come out of deep, earned trust between an agency and the client. That kind of partnership is about working together, day in and day out. Much like a marriage. Don’t you agree?

Long before I was seduced by marketing’s vivacious curves, I spent the better half of my academic years studying organizational communication and culture.  I had the pleasure of rekindling this crush at the Silverpop Client Summit where the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, gave a keynote presentation on his company’s core values and keys to success (Hsieh sold Zappos to Amazon last year for $1.2 billion dollars). The man is brilliant, and if you get a chance to see him speak or read his book “Delivering Happiness”, do it.

For this post, I thought I would share a few of his corporate culture beliefs I know you’ll fall in love with.

1) Company culture trumps customer service

While delivering “wow” in every customer service interaction is a hallmark at Zappos.com,  Hsieh admits that company culture is the number 1 priority for Zappos.com.  In fact, when hiring, regardless of how impeccable a candidate’s work ethic or knowledge skill set may be, it is character that is always the deal breaker.  Hsieh credits “hiring for culture” is the single most compelling reason for his success.  “We interview people for culture fit.  We want people who are passionate about what Zappos is about—service.  I don’t care if they are passionate about shoes.”  As we have all experienced, it only takes one person to poison a positive culture so each candidate’s attitude and character is scrutinized above all else.  Once hired, to help influence culture, each employee goes through 5 weeks of standardized training (as I recall, I had around 5 hours).  Every new employee is given a culture book, a twitter account and, regardless of position, spends 2 of those 5 weeks on the phone taking customer service phone calls. Finally, to ensure everyone who is hired is there because they truly want to be, each new team member is offered $2,000 to quit at any time from their first day of training up to a few weeks into their job. Now that’s bold!

2) Inspiration trumps motivation

While managers are looking for someone who is motivated, Hsieh argues that what we really should be looking for someone who finds inspiration in their work.  Motivation ebbs and flows depending goals, projects, and deadlines but those who are inspired by their company and their job will consistently work more passionately and with more purpose.   Hire for talent and let them apply that talent every day.  Additionally, inspiration can grow through the vision and culture of a company.   A culture that lives those core values in it’s practices, procedures, and trainings is catalyst for organic grown inspiration.

3) No core values. No strong culture.

In order for a company to have strong culture, Hsieh claims a company must have committable core values, whatever those values happen to be.  They need to be more than a banner in the office or a card pinned up in a cube.   Check out this list of traits he looks for in prospective hires:

1. Deliver WOW through service
2. Embrace and drive change
3. Create fun and a little weirdness
4. Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded
5. Pursue growth and learning
6. Build open and honest relationships with communication
7. Build a positive team and family spirit
8. Do more with less
9. Be passionate and determined
10. Be humble

These traits line up to the type of core values and company culture that Hsieh desires and they may be completely different for you.  The bottom line is figuring out what your company values are and then committing to them, meaning that you are willing to fire and hire people based on those values.

Are company values as important to your organization? Do you think he places too much emphasis on values?

Acclaimed interviewer and broadcast journalist Charlie Rose engages America’s best thinkers, writers, politicians, athletes, entertainers, business leaders, scientists and other newsmakers in one-on-one interviews and roundtable discussions.

Mr. Joel Kotkin

An internationally-recognized authority on global, economic, political and social trends, Joel Kotkin is the author of a new book, THE NEXT HUNDRED MILLION: America in 2050, published in February by The Penguin Press. The book explores how the nation will evolve in the next four decades. It has received rave reviews from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Globe and Mail, and National Public Radio.

Mr. Kotkin is Distinguished Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, California and an Adjunct Fellow with the Legatum Institute based in London, UK. A highly respected speaker and futurist, he consults for many leading economic development organizations, private companies, regions and cities. Joel is also a Senior Fellow with the Center for an Urban Future in New York City; and a Senior Consultant with the Praxis Strategy Group in Fargo, North Dakota.

The Charlie Rose Interview

Praxis Strategy Group is a partner with the Flint Group of Companies

This is an excerpt from “Enterprising States: Creating Jobs, Economic Development, and Prosperity in Challenging Times” authored by Praxis Strategy Group and Joel Kotkin. The entire report is available at the National Chamber Foundation website, including highlights of top performing states and profiles of each state’s economic development efforts.

States throughout American history have done everything they can to cultivate, attract, retain, and grow the businesses that comprise the most fundamental building blocks of their economy. Even in today’s volatile global economy states with severe unemployment and budget woes can point to policies, programs, and investments that foster new economic opportunities and create jobs.

Read the full report.

Read part one in this series: The Jobs Imperative: Power to the States

Many state economic development organizations were originally established with business recruitment and attraction as their primary focus. But today’s mix of state approaches to economic development has moved well beyond earlier, sometimes singularly focused attempts to lure footloose businesses with huge financial incentives and/or by offering a business climate based on cheap labor, low taxes, and lenient regulations.

States, nonetheless, still compete with each other for companies in “traded sectors” and jobs in the global economy, either directly or by virtue of unique assets and resources, and this sometimes involves financial incentives and tax abatements. But there is growing momentum among governors and state legislatures to grow their economies from within by creating a new set of competitive advantages that include building human capital through workforce development and training, harnessing the power of science and technology assets, making strategic investments in infrastructure, reaching out to global markets, developing opportunities related to energy and the environment, and spurring entrepreneurship and innovation.

Generally, state economic development efforts include an interrelated array of policies, programs and investments, falling into three major categories: (1) an entrepreneurial approach focusing on new business and technology-based development, oftentimes with a focus on bolstering productivity and innovation; (2) recruitment, expansion, and retention strategies emphasizing financial incentives or investments and other programs, including international trade and export promotion; and (3) “fertile soil” policies28 that create the conditions for growth that will benefit almost any type of business by streamlining governmental regulation, optimizing taxes, investing in infrastructure, and/or by providing a better-educated, more highly skilled work force.

While it is up to state governors and legislators to set the environment for development to flourish, ultimately economic development success is defined by execution at the local and regional level. With well designed state-implemented development tools, effective workforce development and skills training systems, and strong infrastructure, states can give local economic developers the power to assist the growing businesses, to broker the key partnerships, and to lead the key initiatives that create the jobs needed to sustain our growing population.

Most of all, states must carefully weigh policy to refrain from constructing barriers to private enterprise growth. Many of the most effective economic development initiatives start from grassroots efforts or private sector business leaders, so supporting these efforts from the state level is imperative.

Measuring the States: A List of the Top Performers
A primary goal of any state economic development program is not only to increase the number of jobs in the state, but to improve the quality of jobs and the overall prosperity of the state’s residents.

This study combines metrics for each economic development policy area to measure overall high performers in each policy topic area. States are compared in each metric and top states are determined by a composite comparison of all metrics in overall performance and in each policy area. For a full description of all metrics and results for each state as well as top performers in exports, innovation, workforce development, infrastructure, and tax and regulation, see the full report.

To establish the overall best performers we combined measures of Job growth rate since 2000 and since 2007; Gross State Product (GSP) measures: real GSP growth since 2000, GSP per job 2008, Growth in GSP per job 2000-2008; and income: per capita personal income growth 2000-2009 and median four person family income adjusted for cost of living, 2009.

Top Overall Growth Performers

Growing Jobs: How Do They Do It?

A review of which states are high performing shows a diverse group—some big, some small; some rural, some urban; some inland, some coastal—but a closer examination shows a shared pattern of policies by these high performers.

There is no such thing as single a silver bullet strategy for job creation. Among our top ten performers, all ten have seen at least 4% job growth since 2002 in mid-level jobs requiring at least long term on-the-job training but less than a four-year degree. Five of the ten states increased those jobs more than 10%. At the same time all ten increased science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs by at least 4% over the same period, with 7 of 10 growing STEM jobs at least 14%.29

An assessment of top performing states, regardless of by what measure, eventually gets down to a state’s ability to execute successful initiatives. Aside from minding the basics of primary education and supportive infrastructure, success begins with an understanding of a state’s economy and demographics, including its strong points and its gaps. States that can mobilize the relevant partners to put together the strategic networks to build upon those strengths while addressing the weaknesses will be winners in the long run.

Adequately financing any initiative is paramount to its success. Top performing states have come up with winning formulas often based on combining state funding with federal programs and private sources. As regional workforce skills gaps become more acute, non-governmental agencies and private enterprises more are willing to join new collaborative development projects.

Programs such as Kentucky’s “Bucks for Brains” which requires universities to match state funds with donations from philanthropists, corporations, foundations, and other non-profit agencies, or Florida’s use of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding in combination with existing state funds to tackle major infrastructure programs illustrate unique solutions to sufficiently financing winning initiatives.

Examples of strong partnerships featuring open communication are especially evident in high performing export states. Export programs are based upon effective communication between the importing country, the exporting manufacturer or business, and the state program helping to facilitate the connection.

The TexasOne program creates promotional materials to market the state and its manufacturers to importing countries and leads trade missions to importing countries and hosts reverse trade missions to the state. Nevada works with a network of trade representatives in targeted markets throughout Asia, North America and Europe, focused on cultivating distribution channels and facilitating opportunities for foreign direct investment in Nevada enterprises.

Many high performing states offer an array of corporate, manufacturing, and land tax programs. So too, many states are shying away from direct subsidies for promised job growth in favor of highly targeted tax credit programs that require direct investment by the firm or venture investors wherein the tax benefits are only realized after new jobs are in place. Other credit programs target historically underdeveloped geographical regions.

Other states such as North Dakota, Florida, and Mississippi have turned to comprehensive tort reform as another key element enterprise-friendliness. Whether these reforms are specific to a particular industry or issue, they ultimately help businesses, large and small, remain competitive and free of excessive burdens from excessive litigation.

Private sector and academic collaboration is one of the most readily identifiable attributes of high performing states across all measures. Whether it is successful innovation and entrepreneur programs such as Montana’s TechRanch, Oregon’s Innovation Council, Rhode Island’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, or job creation and economic development initiatives such as Momentum Mississippi, these private and academic partners are providing critical input, oversight, and resources to bolster the effectiveness of state efforts.

Many states are locating business incubators adjacent to universities in partnership with the schools while others are building laboratory spaces and other specialized infrastructure to offer to growing companies on an a la carte basis. In either case, this business and scientific infrastructure can reduce start-up costs for new enterprises and provide students the chance for experiential learning while earning their degrees.

While there are obviously other policies or initiatives that high performing states share there are some commonalities: building on momentum; delivering adequate funding for initiatives; developing strong relationships and communication strategies; enterprise-friendly tax and regulation systems; and vigorous collaboration between business, government, and education institutions.

Read the full report.

Praxis Strategy Group is an economic development, analysis, and strategic planning firm and a partner with the Flint Group

Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050

This article originally appeared in NewGeography.com and joint Joel Kotkin and Praxis Strategy Group publication