Some interesting and provocative stats. What we say to businesses however is that they to develop a strategy and a systematic approach to harness the power of social media.

Advice From Some Leading American Social Media Practitioners

Some good tips in this Techcrunch video that ties in with what we preach at Bua Consulting. Start with the business, its strategy and objectives before you even think of the tools....

The extract below is from an excellent article by Ann O'Dea which was in the recent University College Dublin Business Connections magazine. This extract is from http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/15074/special-events/basic-business-rules-still-apply

For clients wishing to read the full article please contact us and we will make our copy of the magazine available to you.

Readers in Ireland may be interested in attending the Digital Landscapes Conference in Dublin on 3 March 2010. For more visit www.ucd.ie/growingireland

Digital Landscapes: Basic business rules still apply

There can be no doubt that existing and emerging technologies can play a major role in business growth, but they are complementary rather than a replacement for sound business strategy and practice, says Prof Damien McLoughlin who chairs the Digital Landscapes conference in March.

Prof Damien McLoughlin of UCD School of Business will be chairing the Digital Landscapes event on March 3, and he cautions against losing perspective when tackling the seemingly complex world of new technologies and trends.

“The whole digital area is exciting and entertaining, probably in equal measure, but I think what is really important is to keep the excitement and entertainment in perspective,” he says. “I think it is changing the business environment in a very fundamental way, but it’s not changing everything, its not changing how we use core tools in management.”

That said, the new digital world has presented business with some fundamental challenges as well as positive changes, he says. “One key area is that it is absolutely impossible now for brands not to engage with the idea of integrity, so we continue to see all sorts of brands – Dove, Lynx, Coca-Cola, Nike, take your pick – being held to account by consumers who are dialoguing with each other about those brands.

“The big challenge for businesses as a result is how to engage in that dialogue. I think there are two ways of doing it. Firstly you have to participate, and secondly you can’t participate in a discussion where you have no credibility. That means that where brands have had practices that are not appropriate, or things they hoped in the past people wouldn’t find out, then they can’t engage honestly in that dialogue.

“That is something we have known for a while, but I think it will become even more widespread,” says McLoughlin. “The best example for me is the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. I think it was very courageous by Unilever to get involved in that. It’s a superb campaign, and it spoke to a certain segment of women in a very positive way. As a father of two daughters, I appreciated the ‘Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does’ message.

“However, today if you go onto YouTube and search for the Campaign for Real Beauty, you’ll find Unilever’s commercials, but you’ll also find a response by a guy called Rye Clifton, pointing out that, while Dove has put out this message about real beauty, the very same company uses a very, very different portrayal of women in their promotion of Lynx (Clifton ends his videos with the tagline ‘Talk to your daughters before Unilever does’). There is a contradiction there and Unilever needs to do something about that.

“Take another example. Innocent sold a part of its business to Coca-Cola recently, and the first thing that happened in a very, very public way was that customers of Innocent – not the shareholders, not the financiers, not the distributors, but the people who buy the product – called the company to account on a company blog where the founders of the company participate in a very real kind of way. I think that’s a good thing, and I think that is the future.”

A positive thing for business, says McLoughlin, is that this new type of dialogue imposes the need to learn new skills. “I’m thinking here about members of senior management whose assistant prints out emails for them to read at home in the evening, who own two mobile phones and that’s it. It’s very difficult for a person like that to appreciate things like Twitter, Facebook and so on. So that’s something businesses are going to have to grasp.”

Segmentation is key

The good news for sound businesses, says McLoughlin, is that many of the basic rules of business still apply. “Segmentation, the absolute core of marketing, and hence the core of growth strategies for businesses, is still as important now as it ever was.

“One of the perceptions is that more information means more power to customers, which means prices falling, but I think as the online phenomenon progresses we are actually seeing something of the opposite.

“We have a whole series of social networking sites – Bebo, Facebook etc – but those companies are not particularly profitable. One of the problems is you can have a Facebook page with your family, your friends and your business contacts on it. But do you necessarily want to have the conversations you have with your family online to be the conversations that you have with your business contacts? That for me is a challenge.”

McLoughlin points instead to LinkedIn’s business model. “What LinkedIn offers is a social networking site for people who wish to be connected to useful business contacts. And guess who out of these sites is making money? It’s LinkedIn. The reason for that is its segmentation strategy – it speaks to a particular need, which is to connect people to other business contacts.”

Ultimately, consumers will engage in, and pay for, what they perceive to be of value, says McLoughlin. He points to the newspaper industry, which is struggling with the online model and how to monetise their content. “Yet you look at the Financial Times, which has little trouble getting people to pay €250 a year for an online subscription. It’s seen as a business expense for an important service. I don’t think in a month of Sundays people will pay that for a generalist daily newspaper. So you’re back to effective segmentation.”

It comes down to looking at the information consumers have, identifying specific needs, and charging accordingly, says McLoughlin. “People will pay for what provides value for them and that’s the same as it always was, whether it’s in the old economy or the new economy. Business should be reassured by that.”

 Razorfish the well known US digital agency have produced this interesting presentation on the value of social media as part of a combined marketing approach. They have coined the term Social Influence Marketing which is essentially a customer-centric approach to marketing.

According to research done by Nielsen in October 2009, Australians spend the most time on social networks.

This was reported on in detail in Economist 30 January 2010.



For an interview with the Economist reporter Martin Giles click below.
 

This week we conducted a workshop with an independent film production company with regard to developing an online marketing strategy for their upcoming production. (More on this in future blogs)

While conducting our research prior to the workshop it struck me that the internet, and its potential for innovation, has been under-utilised by the smaller independent production companies in this industry to get a leap on the big players. Having said that there are some notable examples of innovative use of internet to generate hype, awareness and to build community around movies. (By big and small players)

Read the Wired article for more on Indie use of the web (we covered one below)

Below are some good examples from Mainstream and Indie productions:

1. Snakes on a Plane: This movie was perhaps the first to make extensive use of the web. Fans were given access to a Wiki where they could contribute to the script, fans also created posters and short movies online. This created significant hype before the movie was launched. IN addition a telephone campaign was launched where fans could send a semi-personalised message from Samual L Jackson to a number of their choosing.

^{For more go to:}

^{http://snakeplay.pbworks.com/}

2. Cloverfield: More recently the movie Cloverfieldwas supported by an internet campaign that sought to play out the story of the movie in the online world. Characters on the movie had their own blogs that were updated to correspond with important dates in the movie. Fictional products used in the movie were given their own corporate websites and fans were even asked to provide feedback for the development of new products. News postings were also put on YouTube to cover some of the major events in the movie. This was an extremely clever way to build up the sense of anticipation about the movie and was a truly immersive campaign for fans.
The movie also made use of more mainstream ideas such as widgets with embedded video, which were used to create a viral campaign, allowing fans to post the widget on their webpages, blogs and social networking pages.
http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/2008/01/17/movie-marketing-madness-cloverfield/

http://www.cloverfieldmovie.com/

Created websites:
http://www.slusho.jp/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KarNwKx5mGY

http://jamieandteddy.com/

3. Starwreck - Finnish director Timo Vuorensola released a Star Trek/Babylon 5 spoof on his Web site in 2005.
Star Wreck proved to be the beginning of a journey into related short films, fan productions, chat boards, and a role-playing game. Between sales of DVDs, merchandise, and TV rights, the franchise netted upwards of $400,000 — enough to fund his next movie.

See http://www.starwreck.com/ for more

Do you have any good examples to share? Contribute your thoughts in the comments box below.

Great video from Socialnomics author Eric Qualman with some thoughtprovoking stats on Social Media

Visit our Social Media Page for more...

by Mike E. Belicove

Social networking sites and services such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have followed the same path to the business world that blogs did only a couple years ago: They're all online hangouts that evolved into sophisticated branding, lead generation and sales tools for business. And with the right approach, they are an ideal way to quickly--and cheaply--promote your startup:

Facebook offers several applications and advertising solutions for promoting your website, products and services. For example, you can create a free group based on any topic and invite customers and Facebook members to join. Group content, which is usually created by Facebook members, lacks hard-core marketing messages and makes a strong soft-sell tool.

Creating a Facebook page for your company means you can share information about your business with Facebook's 220 million members. As they interact with your page, stories linking to your profile are shared with their friends--so news about your business can go viral.

You can also pay for premium advertising, which allows you to target those who are the best match for your brand. For information about paid advertising and other business solutions (many are still free), click the advertising link at the bottom of any Facebook page.

I recommend starting with a Facebook page that can function as your home base, then expanding from there.

On Twitter, instant messaging meets social networking as members share what they're doing right now. Each post or "tweet" is limited to 140 characters, and can be done via computer, cell phone or desktop app like Seesmic.

Tweets have a short shelf life, so don't expect them to drive substantial sales or replace a website or blog. Twitter is better for company announcements, spotting trends, conducting polls and posting on new products, services and in-the-moment specials. Visit Twitter.com to get started, and remember to include strong calls to action in your tweets.

LinkedIn provides a more traditional platform for business networking and is more useful for business-to-business relationships and harvesting talent. You can create a company profile to use as a research tool that helps other LinkedIn users "find the right companies to work for and do business with." Are you Socially Acceptable?

Most social networks enable you to integrate your website or blog, to some degree, with the network. On Facebook, for example, you can use the "connect" feature (on the advertising page) to connect your startupís site to a memberís Facebook account.

For LinkedIn, you can add a button to your website or blog that will let visitors click to your profile. Just go to LinkedIn, click Edit My Profile, then Edit Public Profile Settings. Under Public Profile, click Customized button to access HTML code to put into your website or blog.

To link to Twitter, simply add a Twitter button to your site that links to your Twitter URL. Google "twitter button" to find a good selection.

Mikal E. Belicove is a market positioning, social media and management consultant specializing in website usability and business blogging.

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/use-social-media-to-elevate-your-companys-online-cred-mikal-e-belicove

Over the last number of years, social media companies, and the tools they have developed, have received ever increasing column inches in the business press. It seems when real news is sparse business columns get used up telling us how the latest social media tool is being used by a large company or a quirky celebrity to do something fuzzy like generate awareness or grow their brand.

Naturally as an internet advisory company, these articles are of interest to us and we are constantly trying out the new technologies mentioned. However when we discuss social media tools with our clients they are not interested in hearing about the new features the latest social media tool offers. Small business wants to know one thing: how can social media add value to my business. The problem with articles on social media is that they don’t address the issues of delivering value to business.

Thankfully this area of the internet is maturing and we are starting to see the emergence of some approaches that promise to deliver value from social media.

The first thing to recognise is that every business is different, with different products and services, and even more importantly with different customers, with different behaviours. To get value from social media a company needs to begin with this understanding.

Forrester Research outlines a simple framework for implementing social media in its latest book “Groundswell”. It is called POST which stands for People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology. This is an approach we favour.

People: Begin all social media initiatives by analysing the people. What is your target market? How are your customers segmented? Once you know who they are you can start to understand how they interact on the internet and with social media in particular? Forrester Research has developed a social technographic s ladder to describe customer behaviour in relation to social media. It recognises six types of profiles: creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators and inactives. You need to understand where your customers fit on the ladder. This will tell you whether they are ready to embrace a social media initiative and, if so, how they are likely to engage with it.
Objectives: What are the business objectives of the social media initiative? Are you looking to build your brand? Do you want to listen to what your customers have to say? Are you looking to generate sales via social media? Forrester lays out five key objectives of social media (all related to interaction with the customer): listening, talking, energising, supporting and embracing.
Strategy: What is your strategy? How do you want to change your relationship with customers as a result of social media? Every business will have different strategies. However every business should have a strategy and a tactical plan outlining how you are going to achieve this strategy?
Technology: Interestingly, and as with all good technology projects, the technology comes last! Only when you know what you want to do with the technology should you begin implementing it. As with all technology implementations, have a good process to ensure you choose the right technology provider and implementer (we recommend developing a functional specification matrix, or at the very least a simple decision matrix (see http://www.bua-tools.com/decision_matrix/).

In conclusion, The POST approach will ensure organisations adopt a business oriented approach to social media that will ensure value is delivered to the organisation. For more on Social Media and the forrester tools outlined above visit www.buaconsulting.com/social_media

Twitter grew 3,000 percent in April. Facebook hosted 61.2 million visitors in March. LinkedIn counts 20 million users worldwide.

With a potential audience that big, it’s no wonder savvy entrepreneurs are looking to unlock the secrets of social media as another way to get the word out about their businesses. Free access to many social media accounts (and potential clients) just adds to the allure. 

But is social media right for your business? Could it be a free substitute for a traditional (read: expensive) advertising plan? How much time should be spent in the care and feeding of all those profiles? The answers may surprise you.

“Traditional advertising and marketing is not dead,” says Olivier Blanchard, business strategist and principal of The Brand Builder Marketing. Blanchard advocates integrating social media into a more traditional marketing and advertising plan, “so you can have a healthy mix, much like a diversified investment portfolio.”

Though the platforms will differ based on the type of business, Sarah Granger, founder of a technology communications strategy firm Public Edge, encourages small organizations to have a solid website, e-mail list and a contact database before venturing into social media. 

Blogs: Write Your Way to Success
If you want to build customer loyalty, Kristi Colvin says start blogging now.  “Many platforms allow you to blog comfortably,” says the chief creative officer at We Heart and Twitterface. She recommends Tumblr for smaller businesses, “because it is customizable, extremely easy to learn to use, and has an additional component that allows you to follow people and re-blog their content easily.”

Colvin believes blogging takes disseminating information about a company a step beyond formal press releases, ads, marketing brochures and websites. “That is where the magic happens in social media.  A well-managed blog invites peoples’ perspectives and provides an opening for real relationships to be formed which is a critical aspect of great customer service, and a good user experience. It can be a stepping stone to brand attachment,” she says.

That attachment doesn’t have to equal a huge time commitment, but expect to spend an hour or two to knock out a post. The rewards are immediate: Blogs that are refreshed regularly get a boost in search engine rankings. “It also helps to establish you as an authority,” says Blanchard who suggests writing during evenings or on weekends to maximize regular working hours.

Twitter: To Tweet or Not to Tweet
Granger says she used to advise companies to start with a blog, but now suggests getting on Twitter first.  She also advocates engaging in conversation. Connecting with a business owner on Twitter “produces the necessary personal touch so many clients and customers prefer,” she says, and offers a time management tip for those tweeting entrepreneurs. “[Free] mobile tools such as Tweetie and Tweetdeck can make it a lot easier to keep up with the ongoing conversation,” Granger says. That way, a company announcement of a new product or promotion could be tweeted with a link back to details on the company’s blog or website, all while standing in a latte line.

The rapid-fire conversations on Twitter have the added bonus of giving entrepreneurs who’ve built a network, “instant answers to questions, feedback on brand elements, product ideas, etc.,” Colvin says.

YouTube: Be a Star
Another way to capitalize on the fast pace of social media is by posting videos on YouTube. With a little creativity and relatively low overhead (Flip video cameras can be had for as little as $100) uploading a short clip can be a rapid way to test the market. “Release freebies to capture a niche. Then find the demand and create the product,” says Steven Weathers, who documents his adventures in China on YouTube.

As founder of American English Circle, and producer and host of Foreigner Perspective, Weathers uses videos to help the Chinese learn English and to give Westerners a glimpse of life in Asia. By hiring students he spends around $10 per finished minute of video, less if he tapes himself. 

To learn how to create good content Weathers suggests watching some viral videos. The payoff? “You will reach a wider audience than with network TV,” says Weathers.

LinkedIn: Business Networking Made Easier
A glowing recommendation is a gold star for any type of business, so why not collect and post them for all to see?  It’s easily done on LinkedIn.  Creating a profile allows an entrepreneur to create an online career history, then to connect with others they’ve worked with. Obtaining a recommendation from a former colleague or existing client may help sway a potential investor or customer. 

Additionally, Kimberly LeRiche of JK Virtual Office Resources says, “LinkedIn provides the opportunity to connect with others who are also looking to create partnerships or to collaborate.” LeRiche also notes that LinkedIn has incorporated additional social networking capabilities such as special interest groups and open discussion threads. Digests from these groups can be delivered by e-mail to scan or read in-depth, depending on interest in the topic and how much time there is on hand.

The Bottom Line
Time is money, but Weathers says it’s all about how you manage it. “Previously wasted down time like sitting in taxis for 20 minutes or standing in a bank line for 10 minutes is now spent on my mobile phone, bouncing between Twitter and Facebook. It's getting easier and easier, and for branding an entrepreneur, I think it's golden.”

No matter what the platform, Blanchard says the true value of social media is found in the conversation.  “You are not necessarily going to get 150 comments per day, but you are engaging a potential customer or client in the way you wouldn’t in an ordinary day.”