Social Animals

Social animals
Navigating the jungles of social media

What do we mean by social media?
Any media in which the majority of the content is derived from the users
We are great apes – social animals
Social media reduces the friction of distance and time
Democratic
SOCIAL ANIMALS - Alistair Fairweather
8/25/2009

8/25/2009
Can’t see the video? Find it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE

Why does it matter?
It’s enormously popular...
If Facebook where a country it would be the 4th largest in the world (250 million users)
Twitter has over 20 million daily active users
There are around 25 million active blogs in the world
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Why does it matter (cont.)?
It’s enormously influential
Word of mouth on speed
Your brands are being discussed whether you like it or not
It’s happening right here in South Africa:
Aprox. 60,000 people on Twitter
Approaching 2 million people on Facebook
Around 10,000 active blogs
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The attention economy
People’s attention span is limited
In the last 20 years we’ve gone from dozens of channels to a quarter of a billion
So you are in a war to win people’s attention – and you’re losing
People no longer revere traditional media
People pay attention to other people
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3 Golden rules of social media
You can’t fake it
You can’t control it
You can’t ignore it
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3 Must haves
Your own site that you can easily update
Decent stats tracking (Google Analytics)
A daily / weekly / monthly commitment
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The Tools of the trade
Tackling Twitter, beating blogs and slaying social networks
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Good old-fashioned marketing
Plan / design
Launch
Drive
Measure
Rinse (adapt) and repeat
Timeline of days or weeks instead of months
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Twitter?
A free flowing stream of content, conversations and questions
Social media at its most immediate and raw
A “pure” social network
Totally meritocratic
The “pulse” of the real-time internet
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How do I use it?
Same way other users do!
Research
Expression
Interaction – instant feedback
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The lingo
“Tweet” (v) to say something in Twitter
(n) a single unit of conversation – an update
Retweet (v) to pass on a tweet and give credit to the source (like forwarding an email)
(n) see “tweet” above
“@ reply” (v) to reply directly to someone using their Twitter name
(n) one such reply
“Mention” (n) an @ reply directed at your account
“Trending topic” (n) any subject that is currently in the list of the top 20 most discussed topics on Twitter (worldwide)
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How do I measure it?
Followers
Retweets and mentions
Tweetmeme
Snip.URL
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Case Study: District 9
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Case Study: District 9
Virtually no traditional marketing
Starting tweeting two months before launch
By the time of the premiere was a trending topic for an entire week
RESULTS: $37 million in the opening weekend ($7 profit)
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Blogging?
Independent
Niche
Personal
Opinion based
Less frequent and more thoughtful
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How do I use it?
3 modes:
Media channel
Reader & commenter
Blogger
Much closer to traditional media
BUT require extra stroking
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Blog posts
Track or pingbacks
Comments
Google Analytics
Incoming links
Readers
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Case study: SteriStumpie
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Case study: SteriStumpie
A beloved but neglected brand
Started a blog based around “ambassadors”
Fun, fresh, friendly
Daily updates
Created an ecosystem with other social media channels
RESULTS: Re-invigorated brand
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Social Networking?
Any site or service whose primary purpose is to allow users to interact with each other on a personal level
Yes, that means email and chat
The most personal form of social media
Horses for courses (FacebookvsLinked.in)
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How do I use it?
Official brand presence
Representatives (personal touch)
Private messaging
Events (exclusivity)
Infiltration (aka research)
Custom applications
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Fans / group members
Activity (comments, discussions etc)
Number of messages your reps receive
Number of people who attend your events
Analytics
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Case study: Rocking the Daisies
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Case study: Rocking the Daisies
Built on two previous years of social media goodwill
Facebook group with over 6000 members and 1000+ wall posts
Event with 3000+ confirmed guests
2008 event was oversold by 50%
2009 has had to be capped
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Putting it all together
SEO, surface area and ecosystem
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Surface area
Reach in social media is not determined by how much money you spend, but by how many people you influence
Give your messages “surface area”
To maximise surface area you need to be:
On all appropriate channels
Shareable / portable
Approachable / reachable
Responsive
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Surface area (cont.)
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The social media ecosystem
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Other social media channels
Video sharing (YouTube)
Social knowledge (Answerit)
Forums
Social gaming
Custom social media offerings
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Small is beautiful
Don’t expect huge numbers right from the start
Social media engagement beats traditional media engagement 10 or 100 to 1
Niches are rich, mass markets are poor
Fail fast, fail often
Be present
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Thank you
Muchosgracias
8/25/2009