Innovative Visionary

Okay so here is the post to really make you go “WHAT?” I’m actually going to give people props for doing things right overall and looking like they actually get it when it comes to social media and the web. For anyone who only knows me only from Twitter or hasn’t been around me that much in Real Life probably is about to have their mind blown. If you can’t handle it you may want to scroll to the end where I discuss why.

So the first person who receives a “Gets It” is Matt Dollinger. I only became aware of him yesterday through Dave Woodson. The beauty of this is in how I became aware of him and that it came about because of his proper use of Twitter.

What did he do? Well basically it all came from one tweet

This tweet was enough to spark my interest to see who this dude was responding to Dave. I looked at his bio and died laughing. “Real Estate technology and Idea guy. Working to innovate the best of branding, web 2.0 and customer experience.” I thought I had just found my newest target of a moron who spouted buzzwords to make themselves look better. So off I go for proof of my newest assumption and head to his website that linked to this video.

Matt Dollinger – The Rules for a Changing Game from SPARKt on Vimeo.

Okay watch it. Hopefully you will notice that he isn’t hyping himself or really trying to push his company as some kind of “innovator” or “visionaries” that you need to be blowing for magical powers. He didn’t spout any of your standard Social Media Expert or Marketing Buzztard bullshit. This dude actually gets it. Now you probably thought I was disappointed because I didn’t have the ammo I needed for an attack, but I was happy. I love being wrong when it comes to something like this.

Now do I agree with everything he said, no. Though, you can easily tell from the vibe he gives in this and other videos that he would be willing and able to converse about these things in a civilized and logical manner. We also come from different industries and would have different takes on these subjects because of that. An example of where this would be a case is in the ability to measure ROI. I would argue you can (and am basing some side work stuff on this) measure this, you just have to do a LOT of work and have an intimate knowledge of web development to get where I am coming from. As well, what I measurie is much more quantifiable then the market he is in.

Also, he uses the word innovative way to much for my taste. Again, this is another example of the difference in perspective because what he may find innovative on the web isn’t innovative to me. But this was also another thing that impressed me because he is actually using it in an appropriate way. He’s not saying “I” am innovative but that “they” are innovative. This is a huge difference that most marketing people don’t get. To often people refer to themselves as being a “visionary” or “innovative” when the truth is they are either a liar because they know they stole their idea from someone else or ignorant of what others have already done. If you put that title on yourself, you have just given proof that you are not. He’s 100% right that you do need to look to other industries to gain inspiration and to see what ideas you can modify or just straight steal for your own industry.

Now he can talk a good game, but can he actually do what he says? This is a huge issue for most of that “experts” who love to preach engagement but then hide the second you call them out. Well lets look back at how I found Matt in the first place, he responded to a tweet of a guy that he follows. Both guys are real estate guys, was this tweet about that? No. Do these two always talk and this isn’t anything out of the ordinary? After a quick search on twitter I find no previous conversation between the two. So what was this? This was a 100% pure form of engagement on a personal level with someone that he follows about something that is outside of his area. This was a personal tweet, not business related at all and is a perfect example of what people need to be doing with Social Media.

So what we have here is not only a guy who doesn’t spout the standard Social Media Bullshit, he also properly uses it to engage people. I would have never found him if it wasn’t for this and because of it I will be following him. Will I buy a house in Chicago? No. Is he getting a nice write-up praising him from one of the biggest haters in the game? Heck yeah. In the future could this lead to more? Possibly. He’s definitely getting a positive “Return on Engagement” from that 1 tweet.

Matt if you read this, while your bio still is full of buzzword bullshit, you in fact are not. Thank you for making my assumption wrong and proving that there are some genuine real people in the game that I can point others to as an example of Social Media done right.

Now for everyone else who has their jaw on the floor, let me explain what just happened. It hit me that many people probably don’t get that my hate is justified because all I ever do is hate. This is mostly to blame on the fact there is an abundance of worthless crap in the Social Media field and there are just so many targets to hit. I mean look at the jokes in Indy.

What I realized is that while people who know me really well get where I am coming from and have seen me give praise to many, those of you who follow me online or have recently met me have not seen this. While it is hard to find quality people to praise in this field most of the time I really have to be more proactive on pointing out who is doing it right. By doing this, you will actually see better that I’m not just hating to hate but that it’s 100% justified and because the person I am hating on is deserving. I hope this is a lesson to you, I’m not all hate. My anger is justified. And no I don’t have a heart like Rahsaan said today which made this happen.