In this interview, listen for Cathy’s PR approach to Twitter and her thoughts on the concentric circles of opportunity with influencers.

Susan Bratton: This is Susan Bratton. I’m here live at South By Southwest doing the Community Powered series and I’m with Cathy Brooks who is a consultant, runs a company called Other Than That. Welcome Cathy.

Podcast Here and Transcript Below.

Susan Bratton & Cathy Brooks

Cathy Brooks: Thank you so much.

Susan Bratton: And you have a little bit of a lack of voice.

Cathy Brooks: If Brenda Vaccaro and Debra Winger had a love child, this is what she would sound like.

Susan Bratton: I love it. Well you obviously have been busy at South By Southwest.

Cathy Brooks: Yeah.

Susan Bratton: Tell me what you came to accomplish here.

Cathy Brooks: So social media to me is only as social as the people who are in it. And so, that means you actually need to see people in carbon-based life form.

Cathy Brooks: So the opportunity to get together with these people who I know so well, who I see everyday, air quotes, who I talk to everyday, to get to spend quality time with them, it’s very important. I’m also here with Nokia this week, helping them navigate the social media landscape. We had a couple of events, we had a couple of tweet ups, helping people better use their Nokia devices, and they’ve been having a great time as well, and I think that’s part of where the voice lost big drama.

Susan Bratton: And what are you doing with Nokia? Are you letting people use those fun phones?

Cathy Brooks: It’s a little bit of that. And so what Nokia does very well of course is get the product into the hands of the kind of traditional product reviewers, right? So we’re talking, I’m talking to them more about who are those people out in the world? Who aren’t the gizmotos and uber gizmos? Who aren’t the Gary Vanderchuk’s and (unintelligible) that, they have that down already. There are so many people in so many markets and so many industries face this; politics, food, family, technology, all of it, so how do we take these devices and put these tools into the hands of people who really need to use them everyday?

Susan Bratton: I’ve heard a lot about that now, this kind of second, third tier of bloggers and Twitterers and people who can be brand advocates, who are influential to their own group. It might not be to 85,000 people or 100,000 people, but, you know, they might have two or three hundred people that follow them and those people look to that particular person as someone who really does influence the decisions of many. And so you’re helping brands like Nokia get to that next tier of VIP’s in the social media space.

Cathy Brooks: That’s part of it. And I want to comment on something that you just said, which is about the numbers of people. It doesn’t matter how many. Yes, there’s volume, great to have thousands of people following you. But I’d rather have 2,000 of the right people or 400 of the right people following me for the right reasons. And so it’s, the beautiful thing about social media is that it’s, it’s customized for everybody, and so whatever it means to you, you can take from it. So how can you help big companies figure out how to navigate those waters ‘cause they’re very hard to quantify.

Susan Bratton: Absolutely. And that brings me perfectly, thank you for the segway to the next question, which is what advice could you give someone right now as a brand, a brand advocate, someone who works within an organization, who wants to get into the social media space, specifically in the community? And I know you’ve had, you’ve done some work at Seismic for example with community around video content. What would you tell some who, that wouldn’t be apparent about how to create a community around a brand that would be satisfying for the constituents and work for the company as well.

Cathy Brooks: So you’ll not I’m smiling right now as you’re, as you’re speaking because frankly I don’t think that any of what we do here is rocket science. Now people might not know what to do because they don’t understand the tools. But I would say to people, a brand looking to come into social media, know your voice. Well first have a voice.

Susan Bratton: Right. Yeah, good luck with that…

Cathy Brooks: Unlike me today.

Susan Bratton: Yeah like, yeah…

Cathy Brooks: Don’t be like me. Don’t be like Cathy. But know your voice. And what that means is what is the authentic voice of your company going to be in the social media realm? What does that mean?

Susan Bratton: Anyone who helps you figure out what that voice is if you’re not really sure?

Cathy Brooks: Well there are a lot of places you can go. I mean, theoretically somebody at a company should know their company better than anyone outside, but there is many consultants, there’s so many people, many of them here at South By Southwest, people like Chris Brogan, who I know that you talked to, people like Brian Sulleys, people like Steph Agresta. These very, very smart people, Tara Hunt, another great example… We could sit here for the next several minutes and just list them all. Each one of those people has a slightly different skill set. Each one of those people has a slightly different expertise, so, just as you need to know what the voice is of your company or what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s like dating. Find the person whose voice is right for you tell help you find your own voice. Does that make sense?

Susan Bratton: Absolutely.

Cathy Brooks: And if like, I am not for everyone. If someone comes to me and it’s not a fit, I’m going to be the last person who wants to do that kind of work anyway. But I can point them to someone who I know.

Susan Bratton: Has that style that can help…

Cathy Brooks: Correct.

Susan Bratton: that can help them, because a lot of social media really is an editorial approach. You have to have, you have to have good writing skills and you have to have a passion for it. You have to want to do it everyday, ‘cause once you get in ain’t no getting out.

Cathy Brooks: Once you create the beast…

Susan Bratton: Yes.

Cathy Brooks: you must feed it.

Susan Bratton: That’s right. Absolutely.

Cathy Brooks: And it’s very hungry.

Susan Bratton: It is. So last thing, and this more just a Cathy Brooks question; what about social media is very interesting to you right now? What’s turning you on? What would you like to have a spare day to dabble in? Is it a technology, an idea, an innovation?

Cathy Brooks: That’s a very good question. And I think that, I think that for me, there’s, there’re two things, two kind of ariants…

Susan Bratton: Two buckets that come up?

Cathy Brooks: Two big buckets. One is the technology bucket and tools like this, this Nokia device that I found, and people shoot video on that. All of the new devices that are coming out of the software platforms, I love how they’re evolving.

Susan Bratton: And the real time connection that comes from…

Cathy Brooks: I love that…

Susan Bratton: those mobile devices, right?

Cathy Brooks: I love that.

Susan Bratton: Yeah, me too.

Cathy Brooks: That I can share with anyone, at any point in time, exactly what I’m doing then, and if there’s somebody who will actually care about them on some level. The other bucket is the behavior. I am proud to be part of this community because I am proud of how this community is stepping up to be responsible stewards of that which we’ve created, helping large companies, helping newbies, helping each other, learn to use the tools better, to share, to play nicely in the sandbox. A lot of sessions here this week about making the money, getting the deal, this kind of almost a desperate bad economy, you know, how are you going to survive. But what I’m feeling in the hallway, it’s more muted than last year, no question. But there’s this sense of camaraderie. There’s this sense that none of us, not one of us is alone, and that together we can help bring this platform, these platforms to average people so that the world can be persistently connected. I mean look, the rose colored glasses were smacked off my head a long time ago. I hold no grand illusions that social media is going to change the world, peace…

Susan Bratton: Oh, but it can have some help. Yeah.

Cathy Brooks: But we will help the world change, because at the end of the day it’s about the people using the tools. And I just, it makes me proud to say what I do everyday.

Susan Bratton: That’s great. Well thank you so much for sharing your wisdom…

Cathy Brooks: Pleasure.

Susan Bratton: and what’s left of your sweet voice, your husky little voice.

Cathy Brooks: Taverse and tea, plenty. And a whiskey.

Susan Bratton: Oh there you go…

Cathy Brooks: Maybe I should go have a whiskey.

Susan Bratton: Irish coffee or something, there you go…

Cathy Brooks: Yeah, whiskey and some barbeque.

Susan Bratton: Oh yes.

Cathy Brooks: I am in Texas, after all.

Susan Bratton: You are, absolutely. Well you have gotten to meet Cathy Brooks. She runs a consulting company called Other Than That. She’s incredibly experienced in this space, both from a pubic relations perspective, kind of the intersection I think of technology and pubic relations and social media, which is exactly the right place to be right now. Thank you so much Cathy. I’m your host, Susan Bratton. Thanks for tuning in to the Community Powered podcast series from South By Southwest. Have a great day.