Tags
Chris Hughes, Comcast Business Class, conversation, Facebook, Michael J Lis, Social Business, Social Media, WBBM NewsMakers
Who is Chris Hughes?
I’m not one for pomp and circumstance… others close to me would disagree, but I’m happiest when I’m at the bar having a glass of wine and talking social media or politics with someone I just met.
I get asked to social media events a lot and for the most part I stay away (why)? I believe that what has been said in social, has already been said… brands need to to listen, organize, engage and measure. If you aren’t doing those four things than I suggest attending a social media event to learn how.
But… Thursday I had an opportunity to eat, drink and talk with Chris Hughes the co-founder of Facebook.
It was a great event and tons of fun. Now… I basically I have a chance to be Kathy Griffin here and give you guys the “D” list breakdown of everything that happen at the WBBM NewsMakers Event.
Before Chris went on stage we had about 22 minutes of lunch conversation. My seat happened to be right next to Chris along with others (clients of SPECK), WBBM and Comcast executives also at the table. I have to say at 27 years old, Chris was very well spoken. When I was 27, the last thing I was thinking about was talking to CEO’s of Comcast. I was about what bar I was going to on Friday night and my conversations centered around women.
Obviously the conversation at our table was about social media. A lot of questions came up about the movie about Facebook the ‘Social Network’. Chris handled them really well, telling us that it was a purely fiction, that the details presented in the movie were modified in order to make it Hollywood material. The thing that interested me the most was that I was hearing these answers form the ‘the horses mouth’ not a from a blog or an entertainment column. I mean, this was the real person that was in the room when Facebook was being created!
Most people at our table tried to be cordial about questions and topics and I probed a little more asking…
“So did Sean Parker really try to cut out Edruado?”
To which my answer was – NO
I wanted more but what I got was very little.
I will say the best part of the afternoon was the general conversation about social media with Mr. Hughes. He acknowledged that what (my business SPECK Media) is doing was correct, that the story is crucial to social media and he talked about establishing business goals as the number one priority when it comes to starting social media. A huge smile came across my face. It was great to see the business leaders at the table hearing what I (and other) social media practitioners have been preaching for years.
Before Mr. Hughes had to go up and speak to (some 700+) people. He made mention to the fact that each social media channel should have a different set of goals. In my opinion this was a pretty profound piece of information that I started thinking about. As we enter year 5 of social media, the rush for companies to make their social channel more and more relevant is a number one priority.
Two Examples
- LinkedIn has allow business pages to post stats updates, ad videos and specific have advertising right on a brand page.
- Google+ has just started brand pages which has opened what seems like the wild, wild west of social media.
These two examples prove Mr. Hughes’ point… each channel needs separate goals. For example: why would your customer go to your new Google+ brand page if it’s communicating the same types of stories that your Facebook page is?
Companies need to rethink each channel.
- what’s the Game Plan
- who is our audience on this channel?
- what do we want to accomplish
- why would a fan or customer want to hear what we have to say on this channel?
These types of questions formulate a strategy for each channel and overall contribute to channels success.
I think I kinda diverted from my ‘insiders’ take on the Chris Hughes lunch… sorry. Basically, the rest of the day was filled with picture taking and the normal pleasantries that you see at these types of events. I was really shocked at the amount of time I was able to have with him as well as the his candidness after his speech. When it comes down to it this guy is worth millions, but when you put things into perspective Chris and the other founders of Facebook were not looking to make millions and be famous. The goal was to innovate, to make more out of the web and to give the public a new way to communicate socially.
