Social Media Introduction

72% of IT decision makers will refer to some form of social media during their decision making process!

Social Media Marketing Workshop
Felix HemsleySocial Media Marketing Manager

Contents
Who am I
Who are Essential & How Social are we
What is Social Media
What Social Media Isn’t
Why Adopt Social Media
Trends & Statistics
The Social Media Landscape & Platforms
Case Studies - Dell Hell & Ash Airlines
Organisational Infrastructure
Social Media Guidelines
Engagement & Partnerships
Ethics & Etiquette
Applications
Metrics and Monitoring
How this is all Changing the Marketing Model
Key Take-outs

Who am I
Felix Hemsley – Social Media Marketing Manager at Essential Communications
Experience :
Digital search marketing account manager working with B2C clients including Comet, Argos, Hallmark, RackSpace, Play.com...
Word of mouth account manager working with Nokia, Toshiba, 3Mobile, STA Travel, Charities...
Social Presences:
Twitter - @felixhemsley
Facebook
LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/felixhemsley
Wordpress – www.socialmogul.co.uk

Who are Essential?
Essential Communications is a Marketing an PR agency, specialising in the technology and it markets
Founded by Sam Rudland in 2002, Essential has grown to a team of 16 skilled marketeers
Working across both traditional and new media channels, from Social Media and Web Design to Direct Mail and Events
Where to find us:
www.essential-communications.com
www.twitter.com/EssentialComs
http://www.the-essential-blog.com/

What is Social Media
A leveraging of web 2.0 technologies which enable collaborations online
Enabling everyone online to have a voice and engage in conversations which matter to them
Extends beyond textual conversations, and includes social gaming, social documents, social editing, voice, video...
Social Media brings people with shared interests together into groups online to; share, recommend and direct others
As varied as the people who participate, from Gamers to Lawyers and Marketeers to Sportsmen
Above all, Social Media is comprised of multiple platforms including but by no means limited to; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning, Forums, Blogs, YouTube, Vimeo, MetaCafe, Wikipedia, Yelp, Flickr...

What Social Media Isn’t
A platform on which all web 2.0 content lives and breathes, it’s an umbrella term for web based conversational technologies
An arena for broadcast of messages
A quick win opportunity which can be turned on an off as needed, it requires attention and a long term view
A stand alone tactic which can support campaigns on its own
A place to hide behind banners and corporate jargon, openness and honesty are key
An experiment which may or may not work
Closed off into locked-down silos, it’s about creating opportunities for conversation and collaboration
A replacement for traditional marketing tactics
Most importantly however, Social Media isn’t something to be afraid of...!

Why Adopt Social Media
Social Media has empowered the consumer/buyer to level never before seen, giving them the authority to define your brand/product perceptions online
You no longer control how your reputation is portrayed in the digital space, but you can help to guide it with the correct interactions in social media
Many brands have reaped the rewards of well thought out social media strategies, building their brand advocacy online through focused initiatives and leveraging of technologies
Social media is increasingly becoming a channel used by decision makers to help them identify the correct solution to their problems. In some cases such as I.T. 50% of these decision makers are referring to YouTube for guidance and opinions!
With over 1000 marketing messages bombarding each and every one of us each and every day, traditional techniques need to be adjusted to meet new decision maker processes.
“Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.” – Seth Godin

Trends and Statistics

Platforms, Trends & Statistics
78% of the total UK online population now belong a social network
Facebook.com 23.9 million users
Twitter 2.7 million users
Bebo.com 8.5 million users
Windows Live profile 6.9 million users
MySpace 6.5 million users

22 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
Source: YouTube ‘10

It would take over 400 years to watch all the videos on YouTube
...but you couldn’t keep up even from today!

Social media platforms account for
almost 15% of all internet usage time.
Source: Cone, Business in Social Media Study Sept ‘08

There are Over 50 Million Tweets Per Day Between the 58 Million Registered Users
Tweet
Source: Twitter ‘10

47% of IT professionals watch videos to research technology solutions on YouTube, 25% of C-level executives prefer video over text.
1.5million business searches daily on YouTube globally.
Source: Tech Target ’09 & Google, Forbes, B2B June 2009

When ‘Search’ is being used for decision making processes, social media content is THE MOST respected and trusted during the early awareness stages.
Source: Forrester Social Media Study ‘09

95% of Social Media users believe a
company should have a presence in social media…
…and 85% believe they should be there to interact with its customers!

Currently, only 33% of businesses have a social media strategy in place.
77% of businesses are not yet engaging with their customers via their social media channels!

But remember:
Social Media is not a quick fix,
is not always the answer and not always appropriate!

Platforms

The Social Media Landscape
Image Source: The conversation prism image by Brian Solis & JESS3

Micro-Blogs

Forums

Media Sharing

Asset Sharing

Case Studies

The Do’s and Don’ts – Dell Hell
Dell Hell – Jeff Jarvis:
In 2005, Jeff Jarvis wrote a blog post titled “Dell lies. Dell sucks”
All Jeff wanted to do was warn other consumers by sharing his experience
Scores of people left comments and linked to the blog as he wrote of his ever lengthening saga
Having paid for home service, Jeff was dismayed at having his machine repaired and still not working
Further emails and blog posts went un-noticed by Dell

Dell Hell – Jeff Jarvis:
Jeff emailed the US VP and Chief Marketing Officer in a final attempt to resolve this issue
Finally he received a call from Dell offering him a new machine, he declined and asked for a refund and has happily been using Macs ever since!
“I told the nice lady that I was in the store right then getting ready to buy an Apple”
http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2005_06_30.html

The Result:
Dell's customer satisfaction rating, market share, and share price in the US all shrank
Dell adopted a new approach, stating that they would contact customers who blog about complaints or issues
Dell have considered the best way to engage with influential bloggers to ensure that brand issues are resolved as early as possible in future.

The Do’s and Don’ts – Ash Airlines
Airlines unexpectedly grounded, leaving passengers everywhere stranded
This presented a great opportunity to participate in conversations, informing customers
People collaborated to find solutions to their problems using social network, twitter. However whilst they were collaborating, airlines were ignoring!
Perceived inconvenience soon turned to frustration…
Many airlines adopted social media instantly, leveraging existing channels in the space to act as news feeds for passengers, though many sat by the wayside blissfully unaware or the repercussions
For those not participating and helping, the damage to their brand may be much longer standing than expected!

Approach

Internal Organisational Infrastructure
With social media moving so quickly and with issues needing attention as soon as they occur, structure and ownership are of great importance in an organisation.
Whether managed internally or outsources, the integrated nature of social media requires individuals from all sides to be involved.
Consistency is key here, as is openness:
Identify a core individual who acts as the social media advocate for the organization and the primary ‘face’
Copy writing is at the heart of this medium, so make sure literacy is a core attribute
Each discipline within an organization needs to be onboard – Support, Sales, Procurement, PMs….identify a willing rep from those areas.

Your employees are what make up your company, they are the voices and the advocates for what you do.
However sometimes illogical or ill thought out actions can lead to brand issues. The best way to avoid such circumstances and to have authority over their activity is to produce detailed social media guidelines.
Built with 3 underlying themes, social media guidelines set out to detail what can and can not be said or shared through employees personal social platforms, and how breaches of that code of conduct will be handled.
Some of the most respected guidelines are detailed below. These have been used as guides by many companies around the world to construct their code of conduct for social media.
Intel - http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_us/social-media.htm
IBM - http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html
Coca-Cola - http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/socialmedia

Theme 1 – Integrity:
Integrity is key to the ethical treatment of social media, as indeed it is key to all elements of professionalism. It requires that members are honest and open in their use of social media.
The three themes:
Integrity
Theme 2 – Transparency:
Organisations and individuals who do not respect this find themselves criticised for attempting to utilise social media networks without disclosing full intent – and this involvement can backfire spectacularly.
Theme 3 – Confidentiality:
Material posted using social media should not disclose privileged information. Confidential information should be treated as it is anywhere else online.

Engagement and Partnerships
With conversations at the core of social media, partnerships are crucial.
Engagement process:
Identify individuals and communities which are relevant to you/your campaign/your business
Monitor their activity, how they interact, build a psychological profile of them in your
Don’t restrict yourself to ‘your’ venues if the conversation exists elsewhere
Establish an individual who represents your brand online
Participate in conversations, DO NOT simply broadcast
Don’t be afraid to offer advice and be heard in a discussion
Provide information of use and value to the readership
Build long term conversations, “un-campaign” yourself
Be clear and concise, people don’t want to delve for information
“Un-market” yourself and become a resource for information
Most importantly, be open and honest, don’t hide behind any banners or logos. People talk to people, not brands.

Remember that social media should be accessible and enjoyable for your employees, they represent your organisation.
Don’t scare them with the concept of guidelines. They are there to help, not hinder.

Social Media Etiquette and Ethics
As with all social and professional relationships, there are some unwritten rules and beliefs:
Be open and honest about who you are through your alias, profile and avatar
If you wish to partner with a community member for a project, ask a moderator first for their permission
Partners (voices) should not be remunerated for their activity, this sways the content and becomes worthless, their integrity is as critical as your
Credit where credit’s due!
Balance any broadcast levels with interactive levels, what you have to say matters
Treat others as you’d like to be treated...an oldie but a goodie
Do not automate your accounts
Be accountable and have backup for what you say

Applications of Social Media
Social media is a very fluid and evolving medium which can be adopted to serve a number of functional areas within the corporate environment:
Sales
Procurement
Customer Service
Lead nurturing
Recruitment
Research & Competitor Analysis
Marketing
SEO
Brand Awareness

Having hopefully created and catalysed conversations online, we need to monitor them. There are many free tools available for doing this, so here are a top 5:
Social Mention - http://www.socialmention.com
TweetDeck - http://www.tweetdeck.com
Who’s Talkin - http://www.whostalkin.com
Blog Pulse - http://www.blogpulse.com
Addictomatic - http://addictomatic.com
In addition to these free tools, larger scalable applications also exist on a paid for basis and offer a much greater volume of information and capability to the user. My top three here are:
Scout Labs - http://www.scoutlabs.com
Alterian - http://socialmedia.alterian.com
Radian 6 - http://www.radian6.com

Example tool: Social Mention

How is this all Changing the Marketing Model
Brand control in a broadcast model no longer defines a brand
Interaction of customers mould and shape a brand/organisation’s shape
Campaigns no longer act in stand alone silos, they’re ongoing – “Un-Campaign”
Conversations need to be nurtured
Marketing messages and campaigns need to have a call to action, but that call to action needs to be conversational
You can’t afford to look on a micro level alone, when the bigger picture is making the headlines
Your employees are you ambassadors 24/7 – 365
Faceless branding leaves little justification for direct collaboration, become human
Respect is earned through helping and sharing, not for SHOUTING
Conversations are happening all the time, campaigns should be aligned to aid/tackle these – “Un-Market”
All functional areas have to work together to manage online issues
Online assets and content are your social currency, open up your knowledge...or your competitors will do it first!!
The time for adoption is now, the shift is happening

Key Takeouts
Don’t be afraid to exist within social media, be afraid of not existing
Be open and honest, put a face behind the corporate banner
Be creative and identify assets and campaigns which can drive conversation
Identify core community online and build the social relationship
Don’t wait for a problem to occur before adopting social presences
Be considerate in conversations online, what you say is potentially there to stay
Be respectful of existing relationships, this is no place to be gung-ho
Don’t adopt platforms just because you feel you should
Educate your internal staff members and construct guidelines to remove worry or concern
Above all, enjoy building relationships and participating in relevant conversations...you never know where they may take you!

Stop
Thinking
Campaigns…
…Start
Thinking
Conversations!
is
Because

Thank You
Questions:
Contact Essential:
Sam Rudland – Managing Director
Sam.Rudland@essential-communications.com
Felix Hemsley – Social Media Marketing Manager
Felix.Hemsley@essential-communications.com
Check out our Blog
Visit our Website
Follow us on Twitter

http://essential-communications.blogspot.com	6
http://blog.essential-communications.com	5
http://www.blogger.com	2
http://www.the-essential-blog.com	2
http://paper.li	1

Social Media Introduction

by Essential Communications on Jun 28, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

5 Embeds 16

Statistics

Social Media Introduction — Presentation Transcript